Shredder777
Roadie
- Messages
- 716
Another thing I want to say about the 5153, is that I have never played a high gain amp that is this quiet, besides the JSX with it's noise gate. The 5153 has to have a noise gate to be this quiet?
NAD: EVH 5150III 6L6
- Thread starter Shredder777
- Start date
HomespunEffects
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,136
50 then.
GuitarBilly74
Roadie
- Messages
- 326
XXX are good cabs. Going to a Marshall is not much of an upgrade, the construction is exactly the same.
The speakers are not bad either, but if you don't like them, just get new speakers. The XXX is a birch ply cab, as good as anything else out there.
KingsXJJ
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,066
Thanks. Notice anything tone wise?
KingsXJJ
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,066
Just exploring the best (for me) direct Marshall tones available. Someday I hope to have the absolute best (to me) Plexi, 800, modified 800 and 900 direct tones available.
Shredder777
Roadie
- Messages
- 716
I like it well enough to keep it for 20 years.
Only other speakers I have played are 75s in a 1960 Marshall cab, and I ordered a pair of V30s I swapped into the XXX, and then sold. They sounded spiky and not as big. The V30s were circa 2005 and I didn't take the time to break them in, but I liked the XXX speakers more at the time. I also had a PV 412MS which I liked well enough, but sold. People don't like those Sheffield speakers, but I thought they were fine. They were hifi sounding, probably modeled after celestion 75s. But that was in the 90s so I don't remember too much. Was using it with an ADA MP1 and Peavey Classic rack power.
But what I'm saying is that it would be interesting to try 75s again or the evh cab. The xxx is decent enough.
Last edited:
Jkist7
Roadie
- Messages
- 100
I second this.
The Mesa spec V30s are not as harsh on the top end, and have a wonderful bite in the mids. It pairs very favorably with the 5153, whose aggression can be tricky to tame.
I like this setup more than the EVH cab / speakers for sure.
A JHS Little Black Box through the FX loop is great for 5150's.
(Its just a volume pot designed to lower the volume of the amp without having to use a load box, or any of that stuff)
I call it a passive variac.
Aside from that I've used a Mesa Cab Clone 16 ohm through a 5150 for years to deal with the "load" and have never had a problem.
This is a 5153 LBX ii through a Mesa Cab clone & Behringer Guitar Ultra DI (no mics)
Speaker wise, I'm still using an old 5150 Peavey straight cab with 2 V30's and 2 g12h @ 16ohms, but haven't had the room to mic it in a long time.
A SM57 & BETA 57 were always my goto's though.
(Its just a volume pot designed to lower the volume of the amp without having to use a load box, or any of that stuff)
I call it a passive variac.
Aside from that I've used a Mesa Cab Clone 16 ohm through a 5150 for years to deal with the "load" and have never had a problem.
This is a 5153 LBX ii through a Mesa Cab clone & Behringer Guitar Ultra DI (no mics)
Speaker wise, I'm still using an old 5150 Peavey straight cab with 2 V30's and 2 g12h @ 16ohms, but haven't had the room to mic it in a long time.
A SM57 & BETA 57 were always my goto's though.
Shredder777
Roadie
- Messages
- 716
I've never owned an amp that is this easy to play. When I am just experimenting with song ideas, they come out sounding like they are almost ready. The XXX and JSX were similar, but they didn't have the same immediate gratification effect I'm feeling.
I think the amp just has more natural built in compression. Even when you lower the gain, everything has the same up front character. But the real magic trick is that it can do it with very little self noise. I've never had an amp that puts out this much gain, but also stays so quiet.
You can also pump the bass and it will stay tight and not get flubby. But this could also be seen as a con. The amp sounds generally a little bit too tight and "in your face". There isn't any bloom with this amp. I tend to run the mids on the low side because it regains a little sponginess. When you raise the mids it can sound strident and really too much / too fast.
The mids are neutral and don't have a character or impart any spike or pronounced frequencies. This is fine by me because it almost begs to be used with a boost pedal. I think it absolutely has room to be used with a character boost like and SD1. Contrast that with something like a Splawn which is the opposite and already has a pronounced mid character baked in.
I tend to like running the presence on the high side which helps to open it up. Also have the resonance near full, but the amp still sounds a little bit tight in the bottom. I can imagine that the 100W has a fuller frequency response. I don't think it has anything to do with the wattage, but just how the amps were designed to sound. This is a tight little compressed monster that pushes everything up front and does it with almost zero background noise. Nothing could be easier to set up and play, but sometimes I wish it breathed a little more. (I think the 50W EL34 wouldn't have enough low end to be satisfying.) At louder volumes this would probably be less of an issue; I haven't run it with my iso cab yet so I don't know how it sounds when pushed.
I like that the blue and red can be set up with different sounds, however I wish the built in gain on the blue went a little higher. It tops out at the classic metal level of gain, but its not a very classic metal kind of sound. I can understand why people would pick the stealth if they are all in with the red sounds and wanted another similar channel. I understand that the blue channel on the stealth gets higher gain. Not an issue for me with a boost, in fact with a boost they can be dialed in almost identical, but for a plug and play metal head, the Stealth probably better. I think for general use I will be using the red channel.
To its credit, I have had it for half a week and haven't felt a need to use it with any post effects, just playing it dry the whole time.
The switching is dead simple with 1 2 3. And it has midi. The pedal is almost necessary as the channel selectors are too close to the chickenhead volume controls.
I'm going to keep this and play it happily through 2025, because I don't know of any other amp heads that make everything so easy to play, but I don't think its the "be all end all" amp. I bet the 100W sounds fuller and more dynamic. The 50W is a "lets design an amp that will blow away a first time tube amp buyer" kind of amp. And then when you upgrade to something "better" you will wish your new amp had this level of gain and fast compression (at least on one of its channels.)
I think the amp just has more natural built in compression. Even when you lower the gain, everything has the same up front character. But the real magic trick is that it can do it with very little self noise. I've never had an amp that puts out this much gain, but also stays so quiet.
You can also pump the bass and it will stay tight and not get flubby. But this could also be seen as a con. The amp sounds generally a little bit too tight and "in your face". There isn't any bloom with this amp. I tend to run the mids on the low side because it regains a little sponginess. When you raise the mids it can sound strident and really too much / too fast.
The mids are neutral and don't have a character or impart any spike or pronounced frequencies. This is fine by me because it almost begs to be used with a boost pedal. I think it absolutely has room to be used with a character boost like and SD1. Contrast that with something like a Splawn which is the opposite and already has a pronounced mid character baked in.
I tend to like running the presence on the high side which helps to open it up. Also have the resonance near full, but the amp still sounds a little bit tight in the bottom. I can imagine that the 100W has a fuller frequency response. I don't think it has anything to do with the wattage, but just how the amps were designed to sound. This is a tight little compressed monster that pushes everything up front and does it with almost zero background noise. Nothing could be easier to set up and play, but sometimes I wish it breathed a little more. (I think the 50W EL34 wouldn't have enough low end to be satisfying.) At louder volumes this would probably be less of an issue; I haven't run it with my iso cab yet so I don't know how it sounds when pushed.
I like that the blue and red can be set up with different sounds, however I wish the built in gain on the blue went a little higher. It tops out at the classic metal level of gain, but its not a very classic metal kind of sound. I can understand why people would pick the stealth if they are all in with the red sounds and wanted another similar channel. I understand that the blue channel on the stealth gets higher gain. Not an issue for me with a boost, in fact with a boost they can be dialed in almost identical, but for a plug and play metal head, the Stealth probably better. I think for general use I will be using the red channel.
To its credit, I have had it for half a week and haven't felt a need to use it with any post effects, just playing it dry the whole time.
The switching is dead simple with 1 2 3. And it has midi. The pedal is almost necessary as the channel selectors are too close to the chickenhead volume controls.
I'm going to keep this and play it happily through 2025, because I don't know of any other amp heads that make everything so easy to play, but I don't think its the "be all end all" amp. I bet the 100W sounds fuller and more dynamic. The 50W is a "lets design an amp that will blow away a first time tube amp buyer" kind of amp. And then when you upgrade to something "better" you will wish your new amp had this level of gain and fast compression (at least on one of its channels.)
- Messages
- 4,660
I agree with your assessment. At its price point/size/feature set it’s basically the perfect high gain amp
As an added bonus, there’s a lot of modeling folks on this forum and it also serves as an immaculate powers amp for a modelled pre section
Just a very well thought out top notch product all around
As an added bonus, there’s a lot of modeling folks on this forum and it also serves as an immaculate powers amp for a modelled pre section
Just a very well thought out top notch product all around
Shredder777
Roadie
- Messages
- 716
For sure. For someone with the ability to play a little louder, I bet the 100W is more satisfying. While the 50W has midi and resonance knob, I think the 100W is probably more complete with a larger bottom. I don't think it has anything to do with it being 50W, I think they just designed it to be a tight little instant gratification machine.
