5150 Iconic - New Budget 5150 from EVH Gear

[Hollowway]

Is it possible that the cab is making it sound that bad? In other words, is the problematic tone something that speakers can produce, or do we think it's something else?

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Have you guys seen L Torres' latest video? I don't want to encourage views for his channel but the latest one is really funny.

He goes to a Guitar Center to try the Iconic "once and for all" and even on his shitty cell phone recording you can hear the amp sounding just fucking white hot awesome, chugging, searing, all that stuff, and he's just looking bored saying "this is stupid, what a dumb amp, how could anybody think this sounds good" hahaha like he's so desperate to have been "right" this whole time that he's hoping his shit talking will just magically convince people that the Iconic isn't the awesome amp it's turning out to be, that he is SHOWING IT to be.

Bonus: sales guy comes in the room and asks him how it's going, he starts going on and on about the "huge internet drama" about the amp and the dude is like blank staring at him and says "yeah I haven't heard about that at all."

LOL

Well, not as bad as the Badlander "review". At least here, you get a video of him playing the amp. lol

I know the other Youtubers bought the amp and reviewed it.

 

[Emperoff]

Is it possible that the cab is making it sound that bad? In other words, is the problematic tone something that speakers can produce, or do we think it's something else?

Well, sound comes out of the speakers, not the amp, so...

It's a very easy experiment. Just try it with a different cab. I guess some youtubers will do at some point.

 

[MetalDaze]

After reading through all of the pages of this thread, I've come to the following conclusion: the title of the thread is correct - this is a budget 5150. That is a great thing, which leads me to the following decision tree:

1. If you have the cash and willing to part with it, buy the 50/100W 5153. It's the real deal.
2. If you are short on cash or just frugal in general, buy the Iconic. It sounds great and has some neat features.
3. If you already have a (or multiple) 50/100W 5153(s) and need a new toy, buy the Iconic too

I am just emphasizing that this was never meant to be better than the 5153. James himself said he had a budget to work in to create something that embodied the magic of a 5153 in a cost-effective way. Based on the positive reviews, he did it.

@Hollowway, this wasn't meant to give you buyers remorse. It just means you should buy a 5153 as well

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

After reading through all of the pages of this thread, I've come to the following conclusion: the title of the thread is correct - this is a budget 5150. That is a great thing, which leads me to the following decision tree:

1. If you have the cash and willing to part with it, buy the 50/100W 5153. It's the real deal.
2. If you are short on cash or just frugal in general, buy the Iconic. It sounds great and has some neat features.
3. If you already have a (or multiple) 50/100W 5153(s) and need a new toy, buy the Iconic too

I am just emphasizing that this was never meant to be better than the 5153. James himself said he had a budget to work in to create something that embodied the magic of a 5153 in a cost-effective way. Based on the positive reviews, he did it.

@Hollowway, this wasn't meant to give you buyers remorse. It just means you should buy a 5153 as well

YUP!
+1

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

After reading through all of the pages of this thread, I've come to the following conclusion: the title of the thread is correct - this is a budget 5150. That is a great thing, which leads me to the following decision tree:

1. If you have the cash and willing to part with it, buy the 50/100W 5153. It's the real deal.
2. If you are short on cash or just frugal in general, buy the Iconic. It sounds great and has some neat features.
3. If you already have a (or multiple) 50/100W 5153(s) and need a new toy, buy the Iconic too

I am just emphasizing that this was never meant to be better than the 5153. James himself said he had a budget to work in to create something that embodied the magic of a 5153 in a cost-effective way. Based on the positive reviews, he did it.

@Hollowway, this wasn't meant to give you buyers remorse. It just means you should buy a 5153 as well

I never got the "Man I already got a 5153, why do I need this?" takes.

Congrats, you already figured it out. You don't.

 

[Hollowway]

After reading through all of the pages of this thread, I've come to the following conclusion: the title of the thread is correct - this is a budget 5150. That is a great thing, which leads me to the following decision tree:

1. If you have the cash and willing to part with it, buy the 50/100W 5153. It's the real deal.
2. If you are short on cash or just frugal in general, buy the Iconic. It sounds great and has some neat features.
3. If you already have a (or multiple) 50/100W 5153(s) and need a new toy, buy the Iconic too

I am just emphasizing that this was never meant to be better than the 5153. James himself said he had a budget to work in to create something that embodied the magic of a 5153 in a cost-effective way. Based on the positive reviews, he did it.

@Hollowway, this wasn't meant to give you buyers remorse. It just means you should buy a 5153 as well

Yeah, I’m gonna try it out and see what I think. The quarter power mode and a good volume taper may make this a good amp to play while the family is home. I got it for $849, so that’s a steal of a deal for an amp with new tubes!

 

[Emperoff]

WEIRD MIDS ARE BACK, BABY!

Yeah, I’m gonna try it out and see what I think. The quarter power mode and a good volume taper may make this a good amp to play while the family is home. I got it for $849, so that’s a steal of a deal for an amp with new tubes!

Do they offer discount for amps with old tubes? I'd be all over that

 

[LCW]

Do they offer discount for amps with old tubes? I'd be all over that

They could ship amps without tubes… pick your own… lol

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

WEIRD MIDS ARE BACK, BABY!

Do they offer discount for amps with old tubes? I'd be all over that

Louis walking into GC ready to talk about weird mids with a sales associate that doesn't give af.

 

[BadSeed]

I was planning on doing a video about the Iconic through multiple different speakers/cabs, but I'm already sensing some viewer fatigue/burnout on the subject. I've already got 2 shootout videos in the can, so I'll have to let that one rest a bit.

I've honestly spent A LOT of time with it this week, and although I'm still in the honeymoon phase, here is what I've come to find:

- The Green channel according to JB, is voiced after the blue channel of the other EVH amps. I definitely hear that, as it's more open, especially in the highs, than the red channels, EVH or Peavey, and green channels on the Peavey.
- The Green channel was initially my favorite, but after really cranking it, the Red channel begins to shine. It's definitely not as insanely gained out as some of the other EVH red channels, and seems to have a good bit of clarity overall.
- That said, when I'm boosting the red channel with the BURN switch not engaged, I'm almost getting a weird unpleasant breakup on the attacked of the strings when hitting them hard, almost like the signal is hitting the front of the amp too hard and overloading the input. This happens with any boost I try, but is less noticeable on boosts with less output. Once I engage the burn, this goes away.
- The boost is a cool feature as well, but I find myself liking things better with the boost off.
- Regarding the "scratchy" frequency people are referring to, I think this is honestly primarily in the mid control. I like my mids, and the Iconic is much more relaxed in the mids than im used to from other 5150 family heads. When I turn the mid controlup, it primarily seems to add an unpleasant upper mid frequency as opposed to adding a more general mid bump to the amp. This is honestly probably my biggest personal critique, as I'd like the mids to be more forward and full on the amp, overall, and I think contributes to what people are hearing as far as "harshness, fizz" is concerned.
- Low end on this amp is absolutely massive and deep. Literally can't wrap my head around people saying the amp has no low end. They must be doing something wrong. It's not as full in the low mids, but the low end really fills out with the low dial between 6-7 and gets really big, really fast.
- Highs can definitely be biting, but are fairly easy to balance out between the treble and presence knobs. Again, I think the main point of harshness is from the mids.

So yeah. I'm still really enjoying the amp. Is it my favorite amp? No. Would I play it live? Absolutely. The right guitar and speaker combo really bring the amp to life and can fill out the right freqencies that the amp might be missing. You know, what most experienced guitarists do with their rig for any other amp they own. Find the right items to compliment or fill in the gaps.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

@BadSeed when i watched your video yesterday I noticed that weirdness when you boosted the Burn channel. It reminds me of why I sold my Rocktron Piranha. If you cranked the gain too high on the Modern channel or boost the front end of it, you get this unpleasant buzzsawness that reminds me of the HM2. It's something I also noticed with a silver stripe Peavey. I guess that's what happens when you have a solid state input stage set to such a high voltage? It'll clip when you boost the front end of it too hard?

Luckily with the Iconic, if I ever used it, it seems like boosting it wouldn't be necessary.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Sounds like the Iconic can benefit from less-bitey speakers. Something like Eminence Legends V12. Something to warm up the sound and tame the scratchy highs.

 

[amptweaker]

Never mind, I forgot what I was going to say....
James

 

[AussieTerry]

Never mind, I forgot what I was going to say....
James

You were going to quote my earlier comment and say "Listen up you cunts this guy knows his shit, SO SHUT UP

JAMES
EVH"

 

[DeathByButterslax]

hilarious comment section "fizzy, no balls, no low end" - I guess they've never watched any of his other videos?

 

[Hollowway]

Do they offer discount for amps with old tubes? I'd be all over that

I more meant that when I buy a used amp, I'm always wondering if I should replace the power tubes or not. Because you know how when you replace the tubes you kind of get that "new tube" tone, and start thinking you should have done it a while ago? I just don't know if the amp is sounding the way it should, so I usually factor in new tubes in my budget for used amps.

 

[BenjaminW]

Shoutout to this guy in the comments of Ola's half stack demo.

 

[Emperoff]

Problem is people are shitting on the Iconic without realizing the other 5153 models are now like 1500$. That's a 50% price difference.

 

[cardinal]

I was planning on doing a video about the Iconic through multiple different speakers/cabs, but I'm already sensing some viewer fatigue/burnout on the subject. I've already got 2 shootout videos in the can, so I'll have to let that one rest a bit.

I've honestly spent A LOT of time with it this week, and although I'm still in the honeymoon phase, here is what I've come to find:

- The Green channel according to JB, is voiced after the blue channel of the other EVH amps. I definitely hear that, as it's more open, especially in the highs, than the red channels, EVH or Peavey, and green channels on the Peavey.
- The Green channel was initially my favorite, but after really cranking it, the Red channel begins to shine. It's definitely not as insanely gained out as some of the other EVH red channels, and seems to have a good bit of clarity overall.
- That said, when I'm boosting the red channel with the BURN switch not engaged, I'm almost getting a weird unpleasant breakup on the attacked of the strings when hitting them hard, almost like the signal is hitting the front of the amp too hard and overloading the input. This happens with any boost I try, but is less noticeable on boosts with less output. Once I engage the burn, this goes away.
- The boost is a cool feature as well, but I find myself liking things better with the boost off.
- Regarding the "scratchy" frequency people are referring to, I think this is honestly primarily in the mid control. I like my mids, and the Iconic is much more relaxed in the mids than im used to from other 5150 family heads. When I turn the mid controlup, it primarily seems to add an unpleasant upper mid frequency as opposed to adding a more general mid bump to the amp. This is honestly probably my biggest personal critique, as I'd like the mids to be more forward and full on the amp, overall, and I think contributes to what people are hearing as far as "harshness, fizz" is concerned.
- Low end on this amp is absolutely massive and deep. Literally can't wrap my head around people saying the amp has no low end. They must be doing something wrong. It's not as full in the low mids, but the low end really fills out with the low dial between 6-7 and gets really big, really fast.
- Highs can definitely be biting, but are fairly easy to balance out between the treble and presence knobs. Again, I think the main point of harshness is from the mids.

So yeah. I'm still really enjoying the amp. Is it my favorite amp? No. Would I play it live? Absolutely. The right guitar and speaker combo really bring the amp to life and can fill out the right freqencies that the amp might be missing. You know, what most experienced guitarists do with their rig for any other amp they own. Find the right items to compliment or fill in the gaps.

From what I remember, my SLO had the same behavior with the mid pot. It was almost like a low-treble knob and you had to be careful with how you set it. I've not gotten the same feeling with the 5150s I have though.