EVH 5150 MKIII

[mesanomad100]

anyone got any views on this thing yet



I didnt like it


better off with a 6505+ or 5150II in my opinion

I dont think Fender are cut out in the seriously high gain amp department

 

[Rocky]

I liked it more than the 5150II or the 6506+


I think that the original 5150 was the best of Ed's post Marshall amps. I am not including his Soldano in my opinion here.

 

[Rocky]

I tried a 5150 III again a few days ago. Channel 1 = crap Channel 2 = excellent Channel 3 = total crap


It is also sickeningly overpriced for a Mexican made amp. We compared it with a Mesa Stiletto, Fuchs Overdrive Special and a Marshall JVM.

The Stiletto and the Fuchs were the favs of everyone, the 5150 was last with everyone except one person that was a complete fanboy for EVH.

 

[JamesChin]

Here's my review from another forum

I spent a good deal of time with the 5150 III halfstack in a demo room turned up pretty loud, using a custom shop Fender strat, a Les Paul custom, a Les Paul classic, and a Dean explorer with Dimebucker pickups. In short, it sounds very tight, but kinda flat to my ears - I kept wanting to get more girth out of the sound. The character is like the 5150 (not the 5150 II) but smoother, less harsh. The first channel is a good clean, not the best. The second channel does some great plexi sounds, great definition and shine without saturation. And then channel three is the refined Peavey sound.

I was a bit disappointed with the humbucker guitars through it,. The Les Paul sound spectrum is already compressed compared to a lot of guitars, with most of the sound in the lower-mid range... the amp didn't seem to help "fill out" the LP tone, if that makes any sense. The strat on the other hand sounded fuller in comparison through it, particularly in channel 2 playing breakup rock tones.

I'm using the Mesa RK, MkIV, Diezel VH4, VHT UltraLead for comparison. For playstyle I like heavy crunchy rhythm tones and juicy shredding lead tones. After owning the amps listed above, I can't say I felt tempted to buy a EVH III.

So there's my 5-cent review - Consequently another guy was in the room watching while I was playing; he was blown away and bought the amp right after I put the guitar down. So *shrug*..... take my opinions with a grain of salt.

 

[clutch71]

Great question mesanomad, just what I was looking for. I was going to post if anyone had tried one out.

I saw one for the first time yesterday in San Antonio. Read the the manual...all two pages of it. Gave the amp a good visual once over. It was loaded with Sovtek WXT+ 5881's. Couldn't see the preamps but willing to bet they were Sovtek's too.

Didn't play the amp. Big sticker that said please ask. I was manhandling the amp and turning it this way and that no one came over. I at least like to be treated like I'm going to buy something. Anyway I was not that impressed with the build quality or astethics of the amp. Missed the Made in Mexico part ironically enough.

They wanted $2100 for the head, who knows what for the matching cab. I love my Mesa and am looking for a second amp to capture sounds that the Recto doesn't do. This just seems a little steep for a Made in Mexico amp. No offense.

 

[sam adams]

I too think the price is kinda high. $2k is a lot for any amp. Even a lot of the boutique amp builders can keep it around or under that price range. But mass produced in Mexico... C'mon.

The 5150 and 5150II are great. And were both available for just under $1k new. The 6505/6505+'s have a mild price increase but are still under $1,200 new. This is more than reasonable pricing compared to the competition. And I think it's a huge part of the success of that amp line. Aside from just sounding good.

 

[scottkahn]

We published our review of the amp this week. It sounds really outstanding. It is definitely one of the next great-sounding tube amps.

http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/guitars/2007/0907_EVH5150.php

 

[scottkahn]

You know, I didn't even notice the country of manufacture! But I can say that it appears very solidly built, and I don't think it would sound any better if it were built here .

Our editor Derek bought it, and we play in a band together, too. The sound complements my Boogie Road King II tone beautifully.

 

[Eclipse]

I tried the 5150III yesterday and I'm now thinking of selling my tremoverb and buying this. Americans seem to be the only ones caring about the "Made In Mexico"-tag

The clean channel I think was okay, nothing more. I do not think I'm a very big fan of the Fender-style-cleans. I did not spend enough time with channel 1 and 2 to make a good review of them, however I spent quite some time with channel 3. And I loved it! I instantly got In Flames sounds from this and automatically started playing "Food for the Gods" . It was thight, had tons of low end without getting muddy and more gain than you will ever need.

Compared to my T-Verb it is tighter, less muddy and clearer all together. However, the 5150 is not as versatile as the T-Verb. Channel 2 & 3 are voiced very similar but channel 3 has way more gain. It is much easier to dial in good sounds on the 5150.

Here in Norway the 5150 III halfstack has the same pricetag as a Dual Rectifier top, an Überschall top, Engl Invader top (I guess even the Mark IV is in the same pricerange. Anyway I liked the 5150III and think it will be a sucsess here in Europe considering the pricetag.

 

[MesaENGR412]

I find it interesting that the cab has 25 watt Celestions in it. Didn't his old Peavey cabs come with his fav. Sheffield speakers and were rated at 300W? What prompted this change I wonder. OH yes, and another question, is it good to combine a head with a speaker cabinet that is rated at exactly the same wattage? Do you run a higher risk of blowing the speakers if you hook up a 100 watt head to a 100 watt cab vs. a 280 watt cab?

-AJH

 

[Eclipse]

The 5150/6505 cabs are loaded with Sheffields and rated at 300 w. I ran the 5150III through a Mesa Stilletto cab and I much prefered the sound of the 5150III cab.

 

[scottkahn]

We checked out the 5150 III head through Mesa/Boogie and Marshall cabs... it sounded best when paired with the 5150 cabinet. They were designed for each other, and it shows in the overall sound.