Boss SD-1 boosting an EVH Stealth...

[Rick Lee]

I bought a standard 5150 III and a Stealth to do extensive side by side testing. I ended up flipping the Stealth because I didn't hear $1000 worth of difference between the two. But I got the Stealth back after FedEx trashed it, overpaid me for it and then returned it to me. So I'm getting it back tomorrow from being repaired and will flip the standard 100w.

I can't imagine needing a boost on any EVH amp. In fact, I put a 12AU7 in the V1 on the Stealth to tame the gain, and there was still plenty on tap for blue and red. I'm having a cap and resistor mod done to clean up green without having to use a 12AU7 and will try very hard to get red to sound as close to blue as possible and then just raise the volume on red a bit, so I can use it as a boost.

 

[Racerxrated]

I bought a standard 5150 III and a Stealth to do extensive side by side testing. I ended up flipping the Stealth because I didn't hear $1000 worth of difference between the two. But I got the Stealth back after FedEx trashed it, overpaid me for it and then returned it to me. So I'm getting it back tomorrow from being repaired and will flip the standard 100w.

I can't imagine needing a boost on any EVH amp. In fact, I put a 12AU7 in the V1 on the Stealth to tame the gain, and there was still plenty on tap for blue and red. I'm having a cap and resistor mod done to clean up green without having to use a 12AU7 and will try very hard to get red to sound as close to blue as possible and then just raise the volume on red a bit, so I can use it as a boost.

Like others have said, most high gain amps don't need a boost, but by dialing the gain back on the amp and then hitting it with different boost you get a lot of different flavors of your amp that you might like better than stock. Fun to try and see what comes out of you rig that way.

 

[Speeddemon]

As a boost recommendation, try the DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp.
Totally different character from a TS9/SD1, much more raw and has more volume on tap.
The circuit is designed so, that when you bring up the Gain on the pedal, it will 'thin out' the low-end progressively. So Gain 0, Level 10 means a nice, girthy clean boost. Try Gain 4, Level 10.

The DOD YJM308 (Malmsteen sig. pedal) is different, as it has a much smaller input capacitor (1nF instead of 10nF), which means that the YJM308 cuts more bass by default. Easily modded though.

I heavily modded my DOD 250 RI (I also have an '81 yellow box, fully original in box
-replaced the 1N4148 diodes with 3mm yellow LEDs for more crunch and volume, as well as a different crunch character.
-enlarged the input cap to 15nF.
-made the 47nF cap switchable (toggleswitch) for 'full boost/treble boost' modes. I use full boost with single coils only.
-replaced stupid ass center positive mini-jack jack with a standard center negative Boss/Ibanez one.
-added a blue on/off LED
-made it true bypass

This pedal does wonders on the Ironball, EVH, the Sig:X and even the Marshall Lead 100 MOSFET.
I A/B-ed with my recently acquired Ibanez mini Tubescreamer; Oblivion DC nailed the description with 'smooth bounce'. I would even venture to say that when boosting the EVH 5150 III 50W's red channel, the difference between boosting it with a TS9 makes it more Mesa Mark IV-like (tight, but a certain juicy smoothness to it), and boosting it with the DOD 250, unleashes the Inner-Sneap!

Disclaimer: my 5150III has been retubed though; RFT ECC83 in V1, Sylvania NOS 5751 in V4, JJ 5751 in V5.

 

[K-Roll]

I was boosting both my blue and green channel on standard 5150III with a TS808... and like some have said.. it's not about getting extra gain..

In my case, I went with 50% gain on blue channel and maybe 10% gain on red.. and then boosted with pedal max volume.. You get a much much broader/fatter sound that is not super compressed and still has enough attack for any chugga chugga..

In fact, i think I liked the blue channel with boost a lot more than the red (boosted or not)..

 

[nevusofota]

I bought a standard 5150 III and a Stealth to do extensive side by side testing. I ended up flipping the Stealth because I didn't hear $1000 worth of difference between the two.

^^This

It's the placebo effect if you hear a significant difference in the fundamental tone when compared side by side. Having more gain is not a change in tone. Remember, they have the same basic circuit except for a different gain sweep (resistor changes) and resonance controls. Fender changed a couple resistors, made it black, and added $1000.

 

[nevusofota]

I was boosting both my blue and green channel on standard 5150III with a TS808... and like some have said.. it's not about getting extra gain..

In my case, I went with 50% gain on blue channel and maybe 10% gain on red.. and then boosted with pedal max volume.. You get a much much broader/fatter sound that is not super compressed and still has enough attack for any chugga chugga..

In fact, i think I liked the blue channel with boost a lot more than the red (boosted or not)..

Totally agree, a boosted standard blue is the best tone/feel of all EVH's IMO.

 

[Oblivion DC]

As a boost recommendation, try the DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp.
Totally different character from a TS9/SD1, much more raw and has more volume on tap.
The circuit is designed so, that when you bring up the Gain on the pedal, it will 'thin out' the low-end progressively. So Gain 0, Level 10 means a nice, girthy clean boost. Try Gain 4, Level 10.

The DOD YJM308 (Malmsteen sig. pedal) is different, as it has a much smaller input capacitor (1nF instead of 10nF), which means that the YJM308 cuts more bass by default. Easily modded though.

I heavily modded my DOD 250 RI (I also have an '81 yellow box, fully original in box
-replaced the 1N4148 diodes with 3mm yellow LEDs for more crunch and volume, as well as a different crunch character.
-enlarged the input cap to 15nF.
-made the 47nF cap switchable (toggleswitch) for 'full boost/treble boost' modes. I use full boost with single coils only.
-replaced stupid ass center positive mini-jack jack with a standard center negative Boss/Ibanez one.
-added a blue on/off LED
-made it true bypass

This pedal does wonders on the Ironball, EVH, the Sig:X and even the Marshall Lead 100 MOSFET.
I A/B-ed with my recently acquired Ibanez mini Tubescreamer; Oblivion DC nailed the description with 'smooth bounce'. I would even venture to say that when boosting the EVH 5150 III 50W's red channel, the difference between boosting it with a TS9 makes it more Mesa Mark IV-like (tight, but a certain juicy smoothness to it), and boosting it with the DOD 250, unleashes the Inner-Sneap!

Disclaimer: my 5150III has been retubed though; RFT ECC83 in V1, Sylvania NOS 5751 in V4, JJ 5751 in V5.

Speeddemon - you've piqued my interest with that DOD 250. I'm definitely going to look into that at some point, sounds very cool. Since you've heavily modded your DOD 250 would you be able to go into some detail and describe the difference in sound from stock? How usable do you find the stock pedal (other than the annoying center positive power input)?


I'm also running NOS pre tubes - iirc I've got an Amperex Bugle Boy in V1, RFT's in most of the gain slots, a Siemens in the loop and a Telefunken in the PI. The Stealth sounds great with good glass in it.

 

[Rick Lee]

^^This

It's the placebo effect if you hear a significant difference in the fundamental tone when compared side by side. Having more gain is not a change in tone. Remember, they have the same basic circuit except for a different gain sweep (resistor changes) and resonance controls. Fender changed a couple resistors, made it black, and added $1000.

I had my drummer over to listen and kept going back and forth between the two heads. I had the 100s through my EVH 4x12 and the 100w through my Soldano 4x12. Then I ran them both through the EVH cab. The Stealth won every time and looks so badass. But again, it just wasn't $1000 worth of better. The resonance knobs and external bias points are cool, but I can live without that.

 

[Speeddemon]

Speeddemon - you've piqued my interest with that DOD 250. I'm definitely going to look into that at some point, sounds very cool. Since you've heavily modded your DOD 250 would you be able to go into some detail and describe the difference in sound from stock? How usable do you find the stock pedal (other than the annoying center positive power input)?

The stock one is already good, and DOD re-issued it again last year, this time with a normal 9V DC jack and a LED as standard already. I'm not sure, but the 2014 RI will probably have SMT components, so not really easy (if possible at all) to mod.

At home currently I have;
the '81 original yellow
a 90's yellow RI-heavily modded
a 90's yellow RI (only modded for Boss 9V DC jack), up for sale soon.
the YJM308 (up for sale).

And in the past I've built a few pedals both based on the yellow RI modded (which became the Hot Wire Audio MiG*Boost) and I built a true grey-box clone, including all original components (LM741CN op-amp, large disc ceramic caps, carbonfilm resistors, etc.)

Stock one (RI) is very good already. I just wanted even more open-ness and cleanness from it, hence the LEDs as clipping diodes. You could swap the KA4558P op-amp with an MC1458; which effectively is 2 741CN's in one, but with the same pin-out as the other usual suspects in the dual op-amp line. Modding an RI to accept an original 741 IC would require a few trace-cuts on the board, slightly more cumbersome. But while there's definitely tone in the IC choice IMO, the LEDs (instead of the 1N4148's) make all the difference. Nevertheless, I recommend picking up a 90's RI for cheap, or the 80's yellow one. (I'm in Europe, so selling you mine would probably be not efficient as shipping is insane these days, plus Ebay US always has a boatload for grabs)
See the difference here (different knobs and font too. 80's has serifed font

 

[Oblivion DC]

Thanks man! You're a bottomless font of really good info.

 

[Speeddemon]

Thanks man! You're a bottomless font of really good info.

No prob, man!
Here to give and learn!

Btw, nice deal here for ya:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/dod-overdrive-p ... 3d03ad7bf9

 

[Oblivion DC]

Thanks man! You're a bottomless font of really good info.

No prob, man!
Here to give and learn!

Btw, nice deal here for ya:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/dod-overdrive-p ... 3d03ad7bf9

I was just now looking at that very one. Gotta ok it with the wife first...

 

[Speeddemon]

Thanks man! You're a bottomless font of really good info.

No prob, man!
Here to give and learn!

Btw, nice deal here for ya:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/dod-overdrive-p ... 3d03ad7bf9

I was just now looking at that very one. Gotta ok it with the wife first...

Tell yer wife Speedy said it was o.k.!

And Ahnuld said it too!

 

[Oblivion DC]