Metropoulos Forum

EVH® 5150III®S 100S EL34 HEAD
Experience classic EL34 tone — the sound that helped power Eddie Van Halen’s groundbreaking work on his earliest Van Halen albums — and lethal gold and black looks in the ferocious new EVH® 5150III®S 100S EL34 Head.

The EL34 power tubes deliver smoother contours, and greater sag and saturation that evoke a more modern “British” sound, all with more sustain and versatility than ever before. Channel one boasts an even finer clear-and-compressed clean tone, while channels two and three now possess even more compression and saturation.

Other features include a rear-panel Resonance control section that tailors low-frequency response for each channel and a bias testing and adjustment port that allows you to fine-tune the tubes with more ease than ever.

http://www.evhgear.com/extras/newfor2016/

Really not surprised that this new 5150 is NOT for his old tone.
he did not even use EL-34's
This head is a EL-34 STEALTH and nothing more.
anyone with a stealth can replace the power tubes to EL-34's
IF eddie really wanted to market his old head it would not have 6 preamp tubes and 18 knobs and would use 6CA7 power tubes.

This baffles me. EL-34's were not in any of Ed's amps. WTF?

No offense to EVH or anyone else, but I'll take my chances with a Marshall or a Metropolous...

Betting it sounds way balsier than the 6L6 version....

I haven't been on this forum forever but, thought I would stop by to see if there was any activity or comments on this new EVH head

Clips/ DO NOT sound like VH1 to me

But, I did pull trigger and bought one today thru ZZounds

I will let you guy's know my thoughts ( will be here in couple days )

Part of the decision was due to Clean channel being really improved


we shall see

Cool. Please do. I'm interested in your opinion on it.

fivecoyote wrote:Betting it sounds way balsier than the 6L6 version....

Quoting myself because if it is ballsier and/or "less modern" I can't tell at all from the YouTube clips....

I am also interested in some reviews from our members. I really like a lot of the EVH branded gear. But, I am suspicious of this new amp. I have the 50 watt 5153, and really like it over the original 5150 series. But to me, all of the preamp heavy amps have a certain unmistakable sound that is unlike Ed's main Marshall from back in the day. This EL34 amp is being marketed to the fans of the old sound, so I am thinking it is going to have to deliver something more than just a re-voiced 5153.

ok // this beast just landed at my office today !

If it only sounds like it looks , should be killer

but again we will shall see

I have a newer EVH Wolfgang special ( matte army green and maple neck ) to test it with tonight

but, damn thing LOOKS incredible.

ok here is my review of this amp

and the only other evh amp I have owned was a 5150 head (peavey model ) so I have not really anything recent EVH gear wise to compare ( but this new amp kicks it to the curb hard )

but, as an owner of the EVH overdrive pedal that is supposed to mimic the Stealth amp / this amp is not voiced like that tone at all / which is good

My opinion is that Channel 2 / is very warm and very similar to a VH2 tone / sounds like they got it right with the mids / very easy ...too easy to get a great sound

thick and warm

Channel 3 --- although higher gain channel / even with the gain cranked / not out of control; or nasal sounding --- with volume on pick up backed off / hardly any noise / very quite for a high gain amp

even this channel cleans up decent

Clean channel sounds great but didnt mess with it much

here is a one take clip using only 3 channel / no pedals / one take

didnt eq clip at all but, did add reverb to a copy of clip for vh vibe

so guitar / amp / sm58 / daw

http://picosong.com/HBdH/

Tx for posting TJ! Sounds super-distorted to me (which makes me want to ask you to try Dirty Movies thru it!) but I guess it didn't sound that way when you were in the room?

How's the "beef?" The 6L6 version didn't thrill me -- just seemed like it was missing some oomph.

it was the hot / or channel 3 to show the gainer side

it is distorted and gain was on 6 at low volume

I will actually do 2 clips of Dirty Movies

channel 2 and then channel 3

channel 2 is darker, woodier and not so distorted

I think it will have a better Fair Warning tone

Also another HUGE feature on the amp / I wasn't even aware of

Is the 3 resonance knobs on the back of the amp

That last clip I posted had resonance knob virtually off and with a 2x12 cabinet you need it dialed in

so where Presence dials in more bite and brightness

these resonance knobs for each channel dial in more / ( I don't want to say Bass , not accurate )
more thump , balls
or ummmpfff

Didn't even know was there until this weekend / still dialing it in

HUGE tonal difference !!! / helps match amp to cabinet ......


I made some FAIR WARNING clips / will post when edit them shorter

Unchained and Dirty Movies

far better clips than what I posted earlier due to Resonance knobs being used / backed off gain too

http://picosong.com/Uvg9/

new clip / trying fair warning tone

channel 2
low - 10 oclock
mid- 12 oclock
high - 2 oclock
gain -12 oclock
presence = 4 oclock