The EVH 5150 III Owners Thread

[Kurt CoBrainmatter]

I was talking to a friend of mine in a band that plays anywhere and everywhere (they have a stage/truck) and he was telling me go solid state...he had just bought a used axe-fx as he was tired of spending 100 bucks a month on tubes was he doing somthing wrong if so what and thank you

 

[jc986]

I was talking to a friend of mine in a band that plays anywhere and everywhere (they have a stage/truck) and he was telling me go solid state...he had just bought a used axe-fx as he was tired of spending 100 bucks a month on tubes was he doing somthing wrong if so what and thank you

I can't think of a situation where you would be going through tubes every month unless something was wrong with the amp, or the bias was set WAY too high. If the bias is not set right and the tubes are running too hot then sure, you could burn through power tubes pretty quickly.

I play daily for at least a couple hours at moderate volumes as well as practice with my band at least once a week at high volumes and play shows occasionally. I replace power tubes on average about every 18 months. Sometimes sooner if I notice the sound start to weaken or degrade, but under no circumstance should you need to replace tubes monthly.

 

[hvdh]

Followed an advice on Rigtalk putting Sovtek 12AX7 LPS in V2 to cut some out of the harshness from the red channel. And a Ruby 12AX7 HG+ in V1. Everything else stock JJs

First impression is that it is indeed less harsh.

Tomorrow the loud band test.

 

[hvdh]

Wow, ball chrushing chugga chugga. Products of Poetin land create more oomph...
These tubes stay!

 

[mikespe]

Hi everyone! I found this thread in a Google search on a question I had about getting a cab for my EVH 5150iii 50w 1x12 combo. First off, this amp is LOUD just as it is with one speaker. But for a thicker sound & of course the cool factor I am thinking about getting one of the EVH cabs. I would LOVE the 4x12 but I just can't swing a $1000 yet.

Here is my question, Has anyone ran a cab with a combo and still had the stock speaker hooked up along with the cab? So with the 4x12 it would be a 5x12...or the 2x12 turns to a 3x12. I know I would have to switch the ohm's to 8 from the stock 16....but would either of these scenarios work? I figured I could use the 2x12 along with the combo speaker and have a 3x12 and have the same "thump" and air movement as if I had a 4x12. Plus, since I am a home player my combo won't be sitting 10 miles up on top of a 4x12 cab...yea the 4x12 would just look sick with the combo but it might be overkill...

thanks for the help! Time to poke around this forum a bit!

 

[TheShreddinHand]

Hi everyone! I found this thread in a Google search on a question I had about getting a cab for my EVH 5150iii 50w 1x12 combo. First off, this amp is LOUD just as it is with one speaker. But for a thicker sound & of course the cool factor I am thinking about getting one of the EVH cabs. I would LOVE the 4x12 but I just can't swing a $1000 yet.

Here is my question, Has anyone ran a cab with a combo and still had the stock speaker hooked up along with the cab? So with the 4x12 it would be a 5x12...or the 2x12 turns to a 3x12. I know I would have to switch the ohm's to 8 from the stock 16....but would either of these scenarios work? I figured I could use the 2x12 along with the combo speaker and have a 3x12 and have the same "thump" and air movement as if I had a 4x12. Plus, since I am a home player my combo won't be sitting 10 miles up on top of a 4x12 cab...yea the 4x12 would just look sick with the combo but it might be overkill...

thanks for the help! Time to poke around this forum a bit!

View attachment 50135

I have the 1x12 combo too and man is it killer! I don't have a need for an additional 4x12 or 2x12 at the moment but my plan was to do exactly what you propose if I need it.

When I was gigging and playing in a band in college (my gosh over 10 years ago), I had a 2x12 combo line 6 that I connected to a 4x12 mesa cab. What I'd do is just have the cab behind me and then face my combo amp at the drummer (as an extra monitor for him). Worked great! Especially clubs with crappy to no monitors.

Love your setup man. What do you have there controlling all your pedals? Is that switching multiple ones in and out or are you tap dancing? We may need to see a full rig rundown! Haha!

 

[mikespe]

I have the 1x12 combo too and man is it killer! I don't have a need for an additional 4x12 or 2x12 at the moment but my plan was to do exactly what you propose if I need it.

When I was gigging and playing in a band in college (my gosh over 10 years ago), I had a 2x12 combo line 6 that I connected to a 4x12 mesa cab. What I'd do is just have the cab behind me and then face my combo amp at the drummer (as an extra monitor for him). Worked great! Especially clubs with crappy to no monitors.

Love your setup man. What do you have there controlling all your pedals? Is that switching multiple ones in and out or are you tap dancing? We may need to see a full rig rundown! Haha!

Thanks for the advice and the compliment!!! That is a loop-master looper pedal. It's not programmable so I just have each loop for different types of pedals. Loop 1 is my wah, fuzz & vibe, loop 2 is my compressor, flanger & phaser...Loop 3 is all my other dirt...Loop 4 is my ambience...and Loop 5 is my Trio & Jamman. I also have an EHX SwitchBlade to switch between my PRRI & 5150iii. I have a separate delay in the effects loop of the 5150iii so I turn Loop 4 & 5 off when using the 5150 so the distortion won't effect those pedals. For the most part my setup is not going to change since I absolutely LOVE the tones I can get now. Took years of experimenting to get here. However I MAY move the Trio & Jamman to the effects loop of my 5150 since I am using that amp the most at the moment. I have my PA at work because I use it as a phys ed teacher for various lessons. But in the summer I bring it home and I'll just plug the mix output of the Trio into my PA so I will be able to use the Trio with both amps. I'll tell you when I walk past my rig everyday I get excited to play. MY rig is WAAAAYYYY too good for my abilities. I don't gig and have no plans to anytime soon.

 

[TheShreddinHand]

Thanks for the advice and the compliment!!! That is a loop-master looper pedal. It's not programmable so I just have each loop for different types of pedals. Loop 1 is my wah, fuzz & vibe, loop 2 is my compressor, flanger & phaser...Loop 3 is all my other dirt...Loop 4 is my ambience...and Loop 5 is my Trio & Jamman. I also have an EHX SwitchBlade to switch between my PRRI & 5150iii. I have a separate delay in the effects loop of the 5150iii so I turn Loop 4 & 5 off when using the 5150 so the distortion won't effect those pedals. For the most part my setup is not going to change since I absolutely LOVE the tones I can get now. Took years of experimenting to get here. However I MAY move the Trio & Jamman to the effects loop of my 5150 since I am using that amp the most at the moment. I have my PA at work because I use it as a phys ed teacher for various lessons. But in the summer I bring it home and I'll just plug the mix output of the Trio into my PA so I will be able to use the Trio with both amps. I'll tell you when I walk past my rig everyday I get excited to play. MY rig is WAAAAYYYY too good for my abilities. I don't gig and have no plans to anytime soon.

Sweet! Thanks for the info!

 

[raxter]

Hi, I've experienced a volume drop problem in my EVH 5150 50W amp.
It only occurs on the lead channel 5-10 minutes after the amp is turned on.
My guess it's one of the preamp tubes. If it is, then which preamp tube is it?
Any help is appreciated!

 

[mickrich]

My 50WT is currently running reamping an album into Zilla Fatboy.
Sounds killer as always

 

[tunafishwilliams]

Recently while at band practice, during one of the moments where we weren't jamming, there was a loud pop from my amp that kind of just came out of nowhere. After that instance, anytime I would mute my playing (any chugs or licks or something), there would be a bit of loud fuzz that would be audible and then quickly decay. That hadn't been happening until that popping noise.

Guess it would help to point out that I own the 50 watt head. I purchased it new a little over a year ago from Sweetwater.

Is it safe to assume it was a tube of mine that went? I don't know a ton on the subject and have never had a problem like this come up. I checked all of my cables and pedals and all of those were fine, playing through my buddy's amp and everything.

If it is a tube, I was looking at a complete set from Tube Amp Doctor (7 preamps and 2 outputs) and was wondering if that was a decent choice or if I should just order separate tubes.

Thanks for any/all help!

 

[EdgeCrusher]

I really want to love my 50 watt 5153 head, but I just can't seem to tame the high end harshness. I love the size and weight, but the cleans are only OK, and it just sounds a bit harsh overall to me. I've tried a JJ ecc82 in V2, which helped to tame the ridiculous amount of gain, but didn't kill as much of the fizz as I'd like.

The thing is that I've been spoiled from my old Mesa Mark III and miss the smooth lead tones. Should I just flip the EVH for a Mark V:25, or try to mod the EVH a bit? I do prefer the 6l6 power section of the EVH. I know a great amp tech in Atlanta, and the ch2 volume mod and some tinkering to smooth out the high end could potentially make this the perfect amp for me. Question is, can it get close enough to a Petrucci style lead tone?

 

[TheShreddinHand]

Recently while at band practice, during one of the moments where we weren't jamming, there was a loud pop from my amp that kind of just came out of nowhere. After that instance, anytime I would mute my playing (any chugs or licks or something), there would be a bit of loud fuzz that would be audible and then quickly decay. That hadn't been happening until that popping noise.

Guess it would help to point out that I own the 50 watt head. I purchased it new a little over a year ago from Sweetwater.

Is it safe to assume it was a tube of mine that went? I don't know a ton on the subject and have never had a problem like this come up. I checked all of my cables and pedals and all of those were fine, playing through my buddy's amp and everything.

If it is a tube, I was looking at a complete set from Tube Amp Doctor (7 preamps and 2 outputs) and was wondering if that was a decent choice or if I should just order separate tubes.

Thanks for any/all help!

PowerAmp tubes need to be changed in pairs while preamp tubes you can just replace the one that goes bad. If you figure out which tube is bad you wouldn't have to replace all of them.

I really want to love my 50 watt 5153 head, but I just can't seem to tame the high end harshness. I love the size and weight, but the cleans are only OK, and it just sounds a bit harsh overall to me. I've tried a JJ ecc82 in V2, which helped to tame the ridiculous amount of gain, but didn't kill as much of the fizz as I'd like.

The thing is that I've been spoiled from my old Mesa Mark III and miss the smooth lead tones. Should I just flip the EVH for a Mark V:25, or try to mod the EVH a bit? I do prefer the 6l6 power section of the EVH. I know a great amp tech in Atlanta, and the ch2 volume mod and some tinkering to smooth out the high end could potentially make this the perfect amp for me. Question is, can it get close enough to a Petrucci style lead tone?

Maybe try a eq pedal in the loop taming the high frequencies. I actually run my treble and presence knobs kinda low because of this but that works enough for me.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

It took me awhile but I am in the club!
Here's my rig for practice tonight: Kruse modded 5150 (stealth, supersonic, LEDS)

As for the post above, I love the cleans on this amp. I do use a para eq in the loop, but I seem to like that on just about any amp to surgically reduce some of the highs that whistle around 5 & 7k (tight Q)

 

[Brody]

It took me awhile but I am in the club!
Here's my rig for practice tonight: Kruse modded 5150 (stealth, supersonic, LEDS)

As for the post above, I love the cleans on this amp. I do use a para eq in the loop, but I seem to like that on just about any amp to surgically reduce some of the highs that whistle around 5 & 7k (tight Q)

Dude, this is INSANE. So sick.

 

[mikespe]

I just got the EVH 4x12 Speaker Cab to go with my 1x12 50w Combo 5150iii. I am having a speaker cable overnighted from Amazon since I only have instrument cables...however I VERY QUICKLY tried it out with an instrument cable (before you lecture me I know that is wrong! I just hit 2-3 powerchords and then unplugged it)...and all I can say is WOW!!! Now I know why players want a half/full stack! The fullness of the tone is far superior to one speaker! I can't wait until tomorrow when the speaker cable arrives so I can REALLY test out what this cab can do!!!

 

[RustInPeace]

Id love to pick up the 412. The 212 is awesome and I can imagine the 412 is even better!

 

[mikespe]

Id love to pick up the 412. The 212 is awesome and I can imagine the 412 is even better!

Yea I can't wait for that speaker cable to arrive today! I really want to push this cab! You could get another 2x12 for your rig to save some cash. I am sure it will be very good. I was going to get the 2x12 for mine but between the look of the 4x12 and that I heard the speakers were awesome in the 4x12 it was etched in my mind...I am glad I went with the 4x12

 

[RustInPeace]

I split my rig between home and jam space, so having a 412 at jam an the 212 at home would be ideal

 

[archetype713]

Could anyone give me a rundown on the headphone capabilities of these amps? I'll be in an apartment but also playing with a friend occasionally with some recording. Is the tone any good through headphones for bedroom uses?