NGD: EVH 5150 III 6L6

[GreatGreen]

So!

I've been testing it out and it has some great sounds. But... the main problem with the amp is no MV and touchy volume knobs. No worries, I knew this going in and was planning to use it in 4cm into another amp's return, but putting a cable into the 5150s send doesn't disable the signal to its power section, so it seems that the amp is always ON. Putting it in standby seems to disable the preamp section so that doesn't work.

I have to figure out how to use just the preamp section of the 5150 or it is useless to me. I was planning on running it 4cm 4cm along side another amps preamp, into the other amp's return (that has a MV), but it seems the amp is always on and needs a load. No, I'm not going to run a load on the 5150 so I can use it as a preamp. This sucks, usually inserting something into the send breaks the path to the poweramp..

I had a long review typed up, but until/if I can figure this out, I can't give my final verdict on it.

The short review is that it has some great sounds, but the 3/4 size chassis, the pushbutton channel switching (which accidentally move the adjacent volume knobs) and lack of MV is a MAJOR bummer. The full size head doesn't have resonance or midi and has even more punishing volume, so thats not in consideration.

I want it to work like every other amp I've owned, when you insert into the send, that disconnects the signal from the power amp. So if it doesn't get anything back into the return, the amp gets no signal and doesn't need a load. And usually you can put it in standby which disables the poweramp, but not the preamp.

This is a shitty design.

It’s not shitty design, it’s intentional. It’s for W/D/W rigs so you can run a preamp send to a wet rack while maintaining your core dry tone.

Plug a dummy jack into the Effects Return to disable the poweramp. The poweramp is always outputting something though, even if it’s just an imperceptibly quiet noise floor, so I’d also plug the speaker out into a resistive load or something just to make extra sure you don’t damage anything though. But yeah it’s not “shitty” design, like it was just overlooked or something. It was done for a purpose, just one that doesn’t exactly cater to your specific use case.

I also don’t think a master volume is necessary with these amps, but if you really want one, just add a small volume knob pedal right after the effects send and there you go, master volume.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Afaict, only Evh and Mark series amps are lacking master.

Not even close. 800s, 900s, DSLs, SLO, Friedman Runt, PT, DS and many others are like that. The "master volumes" on these amps are channel volumes and the power amp runs wide open.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Did you guys with the EL34 50w do the C137 mod? I left mine stock and didn't love the blue channel that way for what I do. It wasn't awful but didn't really match …

I’d love to hear more about this c137 mod. It affects the blue channel only I believe.

But how? Gain, tone, etc.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I’d love to hear more about this c137 mod. It affects the blue channel only I believe.

But how? Gain, tone, etc.

It takes the low end flub out. It doesn't change the gain. Definitely worth doing IMHO

 

[deadpool_25]

I’d love to hear more about this c137 mod. It affects the blue channel only I believe.

But how? Gain, tone, etc.

The stock setup results in a somewhat muddy blue channel. The C137 mod un-muddies it. You just clip that C137 out of the circuit. Snip, snip!

Yes it only affects the blue channel. It was actually a mistake that the amp's designer wanted to remove but Eddie said he liked it and that meant it was gonna stay in lol.

 

[GreatGreen]

GuitarBilly pointed out the best way to do this. I thought about having a cable into the return at first, but I agree it would still need a load. The headphone jack completely disables the amp, per the manual.

I plugged in one of those 1/4" to 1/8" headphone adapters and it blocked any sound to the cab.

The only thing I'd say to that is the headphone out of the EVH 50w amps adds filtering to kinda sorta emulate a preamp that has been put through the smoothing effects of a poweramp and cab, so it greatly impacts the preamp's tone. Personally I don't think it sounds all that great.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Maybe I missed it, but a simple way to solve the master volume “issue” is just put a volume pedal in the FX loop


What’s -really- annoying IMO is that the channel volumes on the badlander are post FX loop, which disables one from using that hack. If it was just a matter of channel balancing it wouldn’t be that big of a deal; but I do some hyper specific shit with a looper that forces me to keep both “masters” at the exact same level, which creates some limitations

 

[GuitarBilly74]

The only thing I'd say to that is the headphone out of the EVH 50w amps adds filtering to kinda sorta emulate a preamp that has been put through the smoothing effects of a poweramp and cab, so it greatly impacts the preamp's tone. Personally I don't think it sounds all that great.

He is not using the headphones out to get sound, he's just plugging a dummy plug in there to mute the amp.

The actual signal is taken from the effects send or preamp out jacks, which are not affected by the cab sim.

 

[TubeStack]

 

[Genghis]

Figured out some more stuff.

To make it aggressive, you can boost presence and treble beyond normal and pad it out with bass. It stays tight.

That’s how I tend to set my EL34 version to get an aggressive rhythm tone.

 

[CorrosiveMatter]

Did you guys with the EL34 50w do the C137 mod? I left mine stock and didn't love the blue channel that way for what I do. It wasn't awful but didn't really match the rest of the amp.

I still say I liked the 6L6 best, followed by the Stealth.

50w porn (all are sold now)

View attachment 35654

I have the 6l6 Stealth and the EL34 so I left it alone for mare variety (and I am lazy)

 

[deadpool_25]

I don't love the EVH cabs. Favorite has been a Mesa 4x12. You might consider a speaker swap instead of a new cab. I've found V30s (ordered from Mesa's site...they're different than others, even other UK made) and Creambacks to be a great combo.

 

[HomespunEffects]

The III is such a great amp. I do prefer the EL34 version but that's only judging from the sales floor. Not any real home time with it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

It sounds like you want the amp to be able to be used with no cab? The only way to do that is with a load box. Like the vast majority of amps it needs a load of some kind.

Headphone out works for this and requires no external load. I actually like the speaker emulation on that headphone out more than I should

 

[KingsXJJ]

I love this amp!

I've been playing it more and figuring out how the eq works. The mids are not surgical, most of the tone shaping happens between the treble/presence, and you can add a ton of bass without it getting wooly or flubby. It stays tight.

I read somewhere that the 50W has less mids than the 100W and this is fine by me. So while the mids may not be surgical, it really loves a boost pedal in front. Both the blue and red channels take an SD1 perfectly.

The big surprise though is that even though the amp has a single presence, I can get two completely different sounds on blue and red channels. On the blue channel, I can get mild rock to high gain liquid solo. And on red channel I can get thick, evil metal rhythm and engage boost for sharp and aggressive solos.

With the right boost pedal, it feels like a six channel amp.

I do think you have to choose the right speaker cabinet to get your perfect sound. The XXX cab works well enough, but is a little smooth on top. I'd love to find a used 1960 or evh cab. Searching for a used Marshall cab now. I haven't been able to crank it, and I know everything changes when you get some volume.

I was worried that because it doesn't have alot of options, it wouldn't be a versatile amp, but it is really versatile. (Still need to find a boost that gives edge of breakup on clean. ) In a perfect world, it would have something like a bright/raw switch to give it some more top end aggression so it would pair better with dark cabs.

I use the 5153 4x12 loaded with the EVH20’s and wouldn’t trade it for any Marshall cab. I use it with my JVM410H as well. I just love it.

An EQ in the loop would help add some versatility. It’s also good for adjusting bedroom level tones.

 

[deadpool_25]

Headphone out works for this and requires no external load. I actually like the speaker emulation on that headphone out more than I should

Yup. Totally forgot about the headphone output!

 

[KingsXJJ]

The III is such a great amp. I do prefer the EL34 version but that's only judging from the sales floor. Not any real home time with it.

Why do you prefer it?

 

[deadpool_25]

The III is such a great amp. I do prefer the EL34 version but that's only judging from the sales floor. Not any real home time with it.

50 or 100w?

 

[HomespunEffects]

Why do you prefer it?

With my very limited experience with it, it could have been preconceived bias. I do tend to automatically like EL34 amps (I'm a Marshall guy, deep down).

 

[HomespunEffects]

I haven't loved V30s. I like 75s better, but unknown which is better with this amp. The XXX is supposed to be Peavey's v30, but its not as sharp as a V30 and sounds like it has more bottom, so not the same thing.

It seems that they do better in certain cabinets. I do like them in my Marshall 1960A but not in my Peavey MS412S. And tangentially, I like the G12T-75s in my MS412S but not so much in the 1960A.