Is a 5150III EL34 what I'm looking for?

I have the 6L6 100-watt Stealth. It is a beast of an amp. If you keep the gain extremely low on the green channel, it actually has a very nice clean tone. The Blue channel on the Stealth is everything I wanted the blue channel to be on the original EVH 5150 III amp. I use all three channels on mine- as I need three level of gain for the project that I am currently in. That said, I could easily use the blue channel as my main rhythm tone and the red just for leads if I were playing the stuff I tend to write.

I went with the 6L6 Stealth over the EL34 version for two reasons. 1. I got a screaming deal on the amp. 2. My recent experiences with getting good EL34 tubes has been a pain in the ass. Finding good quality 6L6s seems to be a much easier affair. At least that's been my experience. I do think the 6L6 Stealth gets some really good modded Marshal type tones.



The gain on both the blue and red channels was set at noon for this clip.
 
Spent an hour this afternoon jamming on a 40w Iconic combo at a store. I went in looking for a 5150III but the Iconic was what they had.

Unfortunately I confirmed my concern: The best sound I got out of the amp was the Green channel with the overdrive setting. The Red channel was really nice and chunky, but the Green with the OD on nailed the hot rod Marshall sound. I played it with a Gibson AFD Les Paul and it was that sound, for sure. I imagine with an SD-1 in front it would have been the shit too. But I didn't care for how it cleaned up with the volume controls on the guitar, so for me it would pretty much be a one trick pony.

It definitely told me I'm barking up the right tree with EVH though.

SFW said:
I have the 6L6 100-watt Stealth. It is a beast of an amp. If you keep the gain extremely low on the green channel, it actually has a very nice clean tone. The Blue channel on the Stealth is everything I wanted the blue channel to be on the original EVH 5150 III amp. I use all three channels on mine- as I need three level of gain for the project that I am currently in. That said, I could easily use the blue channel as my main rhythm tone and the red just for leads if I were playing the stuff I tend to write.

I went with the 6L6 Stealth over the EL34 version for two reasons. 1. I got a screaming deal on the amp. 2. My recent experiences with getting good EL34 tubes has been a pain in the ass. Finding good quality 6L6s seems to be a much easier affair. At least that's been my experience. I do think the 6L6 Stealth gets some really good modded Marshal type tones.



The gain on both the blue and red channels was set at noon for this clip.
Click to expand...

Tone and playing are both fucking fantastic there man. That blue channel in particular sounds amazing.
 
As luck would have it, an opportunity came up for me to rent a used 50w head. I've got it for a month, and I have the option to purchase (for 40% off retail) if I want to keep it.

The blue channel is very thick, but it is also receptive to attack - digging in makes it bite harder. The SD-1 tightens it up right into the sweet spot. I've got the gain around 1 o'clock and the volume at 10 or 11 - I find the character changes quite dramatically with the volume control, as it goes up it gets bigger and thicker without getting muddy, but it does lose some sizzle. Past three o'clock that , There is something very satisfying about the spongy low end. Even when boosted there is a ton of warmth, it's not at all brittle (which is a quality I've always associated with 5150s doing crunch). It's not a Marshall but it's Marshall-esque. For chasing a vintage Van Halen sound with my Super Strat I actually prefer it without the SD-1, it just feels right to have that low end bouncing back. But going into heavier sounds, the SD-1 is heaven.

The red channel is quite fun. The SD-1 tightens it up as well of course but I like it better raw, for more contrast with the blue. It's huge and thick but still punchy. I am running the gain quite far down.

The green channel actually gets a nice bark with the gain and volume cranked (I'm playing into a Suhr RL, so I can open it up as much as I want).

The green channel is obviously very easy to dial in clean, but the blue channel cleans up surprisingly well. My Les Paul with Blackouts can clean up on the neck pickup, and my Super Strat with a Jalen Origin cleans up just beautifully. I can even clean up a surprising amount on the red.

Apart from the SD-1, I'm running the line from the Suhr RL through an EQ-200 before it hits the IR-200. I've just got a slight bump on 1.6k and 3.2k, a slight cut on 400 and and heavier cut on 200, and that just adds a ton of clarity and punch to all three channels. What's nice about an amp that sounds this "full" is theres plenty of material to play with and sculpt out with EQ.

Right now I'm just using a blend of two IRs from the ML Studio "Impulses For Destruction" pack, which are taken from a Marshall 4x12 with V30s. But I'm going to spread out a bit and try some different things.

Also, the MIDI was very easy to setup. I built a little demo patch in my ES-8 and have footswitches 1, 2 and 3 assigned to the three channels. Footswitch 2 also turns on the SD-1. MIDI as a selling point is huge.

I still have a few weeks to decide on it, but right now I don't see any reason I shouldn't keep it.
 
So after a week of playing, I have some more in-depth thoughts.

I've switched to a G12H-based IR and I think it's a better fit for the amp, which makes sense. In the same vein, the amp reacts in a totally different way to my Wolfgang Special than to my Les Paul or Super Strat, it just gets into a much more natural sound that is of course very Van Halen.

There is an immediacy to the amp that I am still having to get used to. It feels touchy, like if you just tap the gas pedal you're flying at 100mph. It's an interesting feeling compared to my 2203 and I'm not sure I like it.

The SD-1 into the Blue channel is very tight and chunky. That's my go-to for rhythm playing. But I'm noticing, it doesn't work as well for leads. I can't put my finger on it, but it's like the settings that work for rhythm are too dry for a solo, it doesn't get as juicy and I find myself jumping to the Red channel for leads. It's not something I ever experienced on my 2203, my rhythm sound translated to a very fluid lead sound. On the 5150, I'm finding myself fighting a lot more to get it to sing.

When I went looking for a three-channel amp I was looking to get a great all-around hard rock tone on a rhythm channel, with the option of a high gain channel I can dial in for heavier metal rhythms. But in practice, I'm finding the Blue channel with the SD-1 gets me all the heavy metal I need, and the Red channel is more useful as a lead channel. Which kind of changes what I'm looking for in the first place.

So I'm not 100% sold on the amp yet. It's great and I'm having a ball, but I don't know if it's the best option I have.

I'm actually considering an option I had disregarded: The DSL100. I've played the DSL40C in a store and really enjoyed it, but I had hesitations about getting one as a multi-channel amp because of 1) the shared EQ across and 2) the "two modes per channel" thing like the Iconic. But my experience with the 5150 has taught me that I don't really care that much about shared EQ (I have the two tone-stacks set identically on the 5150). And with the dual master volumes and MIDI control, the DSL's four channels can be controlled and balanced more than I had thought. So my next goal is to get my hands on one of those and give it the same trial.
 
SFW said:
I have the 6L6 100-watt Stealth. It is a beast of an amp. If you keep the gain extremely low on the green channel, it actually has a very nice clean tone. The Blue channel on the Stealth is everything I wanted the blue channel to be on the original EVH 5150 III amp. I use all three channels on mine- as I need three level of gain for the project that I am currently in. That said, I could easily use the blue channel as my main rhythm tone and the red just for leads if I were playing the stuff I tend to write.

I went with the 6L6 Stealth over the EL34 version for two reasons. 1. I got a screaming deal on the amp. 2. My recent experiences with getting good EL34 tubes has been a pain in the ass. Finding good quality 6L6s seems to be a much easier affair. At least that's been my experience. I do think the 6L6 Stealth gets some really good modded Marshal type tones.



The gain on both the blue and red channels was set at noon for this clip.
Click to expand...

The stealth is my fav 5150 of alll time . For fear factory tones it’s amazing
 
GreatRedDragon said:
So after a week of playing, I have some more in-depth thoughts.

I've switched to a G12H-based IR and I think it's a better fit for the amp, which makes sense. In the same vein, the amp reacts in a totally different way to my Wolfgang Special than to my Les Paul or Super Strat, it just gets into a much more natural sound that is of course very Van Halen.

There is an immediacy to the amp that I am still having to get used to. It feels touchy, like if you just tap the gas pedal you're flying at 100mph. It's an interesting feeling compared to my 2203 and I'm not sure I like it.

The SD-1 into the Blue channel is very tight and chunky. That's my go-to for rhythm playing. But I'm noticing, it doesn't work as well for leads. I can't put my finger on it, but it's like the settings that work for rhythm are too dry for a solo, it doesn't get as juicy and I find myself jumping to the Red channel for leads. It's not something I ever experienced on my 2203, my rhythm sound translated to a very fluid lead sound. On the 5150, I'm finding myself fighting a lot more to get it to sing.

When I went looking for a three-channel amp I was looking to get a great all-around hard rock tone on a rhythm channel, with the option of a high gain channel I can dial in for heavier metal rhythms. But in practice, I'm finding the Blue channel with the SD-1 gets me all the heavy metal I need, and the Red channel is more useful as a lead channel. Which kind of changes what I'm looking for in the first place.

So I'm not 100% sold on the amp yet. It's great and I'm having a ball, but I don't know if it's the best option I have.

I'm actually considering an option I had disregarded: The DSL100. I've played the DSL40C in a store and really enjoyed it, but I had hesitations about getting one as a multi-channel amp because of 1) the shared EQ across and 2) the "two modes per channel" thing like the Iconic. But my experience with the 5150 has taught me that I don't really care that much about shared EQ (I have the two tone-stacks set identically on the 5150). And with the dual master volumes and MIDI control, the DSL's four channels can be controlled and balanced more than I had thought. So my next goal is to get my hands on one of those and give it the same trial.
Click to expand...
Have you considered the Marshall JVM series?
 
SFW said:
I have the 6L6 100-watt Stealth. It is a beast of an amp. If you keep the gain extremely low on the green channel, it actually has a very nice clean tone. The Blue channel on the Stealth is everything I wanted the blue channel to be on the original EVH 5150 III amp. I use all three channels on mine- as I need three level of gain for the project that I am currently in. That said, I could easily use the blue channel as my main rhythm tone and the red just for leads if I were playing the stuff I tend to write.

I went with the 6L6 Stealth over the EL34 version for two reasons. 1. I got a screaming deal on the amp. 2. My recent experiences with getting good EL34 tubes has been a pain in the ass. Finding good quality 6L6s seems to be a much easier affair. At least that's been my experience. I do think the 6L6 Stealth gets some really good modded Marshal type tones.



The gain on both the blue and red channels was set at noon for this clip.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome! Really enjoying watching listening to your vids…. Always top notch playing and some really cool rare songs!!!
 
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GreatRedDragon said:
So after a week of playing, I have some more in-depth thoughts.

I've switched to a G12H-based IR and I think it's a better fit for the amp, which makes sense. In the same vein, the amp reacts in a totally different way to my Wolfgang Special than to my Les Paul or Super Strat, it just gets into a much more natural sound that is of course very Van Halen.

There is an immediacy to the amp that I am still having to get used to. It feels touchy, like if you just tap the gas pedal you're flying at 100mph. It's an interesting feeling compared to my 2203 and I'm not sure I like it.

The SD-1 into the Blue channel is very tight and chunky. That's my go-to for rhythm playing. But I'm noticing, it doesn't work as well for leads. I can't put my finger on it, but it's like the settings that work for rhythm are too dry for a solo, it doesn't get as juicy and I find myself jumping to the Red channel for leads. It's not something I ever experienced on my 2203, my rhythm sound translated to a very fluid lead sound. On the 5150, I'm finding myself fighting a lot more to get it to sing.

When I went looking for a three-channel amp I was looking to get a great all-around hard rock tone on a rhythm channel, with the option of a high gain channel I can dial in for heavier metal rhythms. But in practice, I'm finding the Blue channel with the SD-1 gets me all the heavy metal I need, and the Red channel is more useful as a lead channel. Which kind of changes what I'm looking for in the first place.

So I'm not 100% sold on the amp yet. It's great and I'm having a ball, but I don't know if it's the best option I have.

I'm actually considering an option I had disregarded: The DSL100. I've played the DSL40C in a store and really enjoyed it, but I had hesitations about getting one as a multi-channel amp because of 1) the shared EQ across and 2) the "two modes per channel" thing like the Iconic. But my experience with the 5150 has taught me that I don't really care that much about shared EQ (I have the two tone-stacks set identically on the 5150). And with the dual master volumes and MIDI control, the DSL's four channels can be controlled and balanced more than I had thought. So my next goal is to get my hands on one of those and give it the same trial.
Click to expand...


Funny, I’m using the Blue Channel with an SD-1 for leads. because there’s just too much fucking gain on the Red Channel for how I dial in a lead tone (almost always less gain than a rhythm tone).

I’ve got the Gain around 5 on the Blue channel and around 4.5 on the Red. I need to spend some more time trying different boosts on the Red channel. I also notice it’s really sensitive to different pickups, my EMG 707 sounds like straight ass through it, but the 81/85 combo is great.
 
SFW said:
I have the 6L6 100-watt Stealth. It is a beast of an amp. If you keep the gain extremely low on the green channel, it actually has a very nice clean tone. The Blue channel on the Stealth is everything I wanted the blue channel to be on the original EVH 5150 III amp. I use all three channels on mine- as I need three level of gain for the project that I am currently in. That said, I could easily use the blue channel as my main rhythm tone and the red just for leads if I were playing the stuff I tend to write.

I went with the 6L6 Stealth over the EL34 version for two reasons. 1. I got a screaming deal on the amp. 2. My recent experiences with getting good EL34 tubes has been a pain in the ass. Finding good quality 6L6s seems to be a much easier affair. At least that's been my experience. I do think the 6L6 Stealth gets some really good modded Marshal type tones.



The gain on both the blue and red channels was set at noon for this clip.
Click to expand...


I have both the 100w Stealth and 100w EL34, and they are honest to goodness 95% identical. The Blue and Red preamps are absolutely identical, and the very slightly higher damping factor of the EL34's vs 6L6's means the impedance curve of the 100w EL34 bumps up the mids *just a hair* more overall, while the 6L6 power section in the 100w Stealth brings out *just a hair* more extended treble and bass.

Gun to my head, if I had to pick between them, I'd go with the Stealth 100w because of the very slightly higher perceived bandwidth. However I do wish the 100w Stealth had the extra resistor on the clean channel like the 100w EL34 does to make the Gain taper more usable. And I think the 100w EL34 looks better and the knobs aren't satin so they don't instantly change texture if you have any moisture on your hands, lol. But the 100w Stealth's slightly extended lows and highs (and who am I kidding, those frequencies would probably always get EQ'd out in a mix first thing) make it just a bit more modern sounding to me.

There are people I respect who get great tones, who would choose the 100w EL34 though. It's all about what you like, but imo you made a good choice.
 
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It's funny how things work out.

Another opportunity popped up, this time to rent a DSL40C, so I thought, why not?

I've disconnected the cab and I'm running the speaker output into my Suhr RL, into the same IRs and setup as the EVH.

A little fiddling to figure out the controls and dial in and yep, there it is, that Marshall feel that I wasn't getting from the 5150III.

OD1 compares pretty directly to the 5150III's Blue channel in terms of gain, but it just feels a lot better for lack of a better word. The post-amp EQ curve I was using the bring the 5150III to life is unnecessary with the Marshall. With the SD-1 on, both amps can nail that Zakk sound but the Marshall just feels a little juicier. It's hard to explain.

OD2 and Clean also compare pretty directly to the Red and Green channels respectively, at least how I use them. OD2, like the Red, is something that really only feels right to me for legato leads where I want a little more grease.

The DSL's Crunch channel is the most interesting to me. It's got the classic Marshall bark for sure. With the SD-1 on it still crunches really well, and cleans up very nicely of course. The Crunch channel can easily be played like a single-channel Marshall, at least with how I'm doing it.

My 2203 is modded with a gain structure switch, and the Crunch channel feels like the stock gain level while the OD1 channel feels like my 2203 with the gain structure engaged.

After all the wondering and searching for the right amp to get the Marshall sound with the features I want, it turns out the bog standard "budget" modern Marshall amp is what I was after. Go figure. So I think I'm going to return both the 5150III and the DSL40C and put in an order for a DSL100.
 
midnightlaundry said:
That dude doesn't like anything. Maybe he should make his own shit..
Click to expand...

Lyle's got very high standards and I respect that. He likes Friedman amps and says they are very well made.

He showed some of the problems with the 5150 amps in one of his videos. In another video he showed that Fender has been using shitty caps in a lot of their combo amps and EVH products are also made by Fender. Same old story, bean counters sacrificing quality to make more money.

He might be OCD, but I want an OCD amp tech. OCD means he pays attention to details.

He does make his own amps.



Dude calls out shitty quality control in Fender amps. I want to know that stuff so I don't invest my money in crappy products.



Fender Hot Rod Deluxe | Preventative Maintenance, Sample Size and The Horror


Hot Rod Deluxe | Bad Tubes Or?​

 
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