EVH 50 Stealth - Worth pulling the trigger?

  • Thread starter Thread starter napalmdeath
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I own it. No, didn't own any of the other EVH models but very familiar with them. And I did play the original 5150 for a decade plus, was my main amp from about early 90's to 2000's. And had been wanting to venture down that path again for the fun of it.

I like the Stealth. Clean - I personally think it's a great clean channel. Not as good a my Fryette but a great punchy clean. Blue - I can see why people love boosting this channel, but really it doesn't need it. Lots of usable gain. Red - well, it delivers the gain. Less articulate than the blue but it's all there, and useable IMO.

It's fun bouncing from my Marshall to this and the bloom of the 6L6's after playing 34's for the last decade plus. I think it's totally worth it plus it has midi. Lately I've gone through a few amps Engl Artist, Mezzabarba Trinity for example just for the fun of it and I like this one the most in terms of gain + tone ratio. It's a fun amp.
In the same boat. I can't decide between the artist edition, Blackmore, JVM, stealth. Your favorite out of all of these is the JVM? If so, why?
 
The fucking stealth killed it.
Hmm, not from where I'm sitting. The Revv seems to sound a lot more rounded out, bigger and less fizzy.
Listening on quality cans (Beyer DT990 Pro) here.
The Revv could be seen as duller in comparison, but if you take the Revv sound as a bench mark, then you could argue that the Stealth almost has this Line6 UberMetal type of distortion-pedal tone to it. This scooped, tight, but fizzy sound.
At least that's how Kyle has dialed them in. I see he has the presence of the Stealth at 1 o' clock! :eek: I never run mine (on my v1 6L6 50W) above 10 'o clock, 'cause it's fizz city above that to my ears.
To me the Stealth sounds tighter and meaner, but the Revv sounds more organic and versatile.

There are a few segments in the video, where I definitely prefer the Stealth, like the part he plays from 14m25s onward. That's where I think the Revv is too loose for those fast thrashy runs.
 
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Just get this OP… game over.

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In the same boat. I can't decide between the artist edition, Blackmore, JVM, stealth. Your favorite out of all of these is the JVM? If so, why?
It's just got gain for days and for me usable gain. It is "for me" the Marshall I always wanted. I do not boost with a drive in front and the gain is plenty tight. I know this amp can be polarizing, some simply cannot deal with it but for those like me, it's pretty much their main amp. I've never had one issue with mine. No squealing, no microphonic etc... and I do not use a gate either. It's midi integrated into my switching system and all in all, it's the longest I have ever stayed with one amp. Regardless of what I fiddle with, when I plug back into this thing I know immediately why it's remained my main amp for so long. It's home. As for the Artist I really liked that amp. I did boost it a tad i.e. to me it needed some juice. Really nice marshalleque Engl amp though, and I've owned a few Engls over the years. The Stealth, just a fantastic amp. Mean as anything you could want. Doesn't need a boost in the least and on levels of gain has as much, maybe a smidge more than the JVM. Granted you don't need near enough of the gain levels either of those amps provide but here's the thing for me...I don't like to boost an amp. I like to get all I need out of the amp and the guitar.

One note on the 50w Stealth, if that amp came in the same size head case as the original Peavey 5150 it'd be darn near the perfect amp. Granted it's just aesthetics but I'm not a big fan of the small box. Still what mean ass amp. It's not going anywhere, glad I bought it. It's a fun addition.

All in all you can't go wrong with the JVM, Artist or Stealth IMO. I have not played the Blackmore.
 
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I had the 50W stealth and really lked it as well. Not at all a fan of the Revv stuff. It is a feature loaded amp but I just didn't like the one I tried as much. I wish I had kept my JVM410HJS that I had. I made a serious mistake selling that one.
 
The 100watt el34 sounded way different to me than the 50w el34. The 50w was way over compressed.
The 100watt sounded great.
Wish I would have kept it.
 
Get a Slo 30, you'll thank me later!

Yeah! And he should make sure that when he orders one, he calls the dealer from his favorite diamond-encrusted phone while riding in his limo filled with caviar and champagne to mark the occasion!

If the guy can't afford that then perhaps you could arrange those things for him as, apparently, money is not something you need to think about.

edit: sorry to be a dick, and yeah the SLO 30 is great and all, but just flying in and recommending an amp that costs more than twice the OP's specifically expressed budget isn't exactly helpful.
 
I had the 50W stealth and really lked it as well. Not at all a fan of the Revv stuff. It is a feature loaded amp but I just didn't like the one I tried as much. I wish I had kept my JVM410HJS that I had. I made a serious mistake selling that one.

did you ever find the JVM410HJS to be a little….’dead’ feeling under the fingers compared to other marshall style amps?
 
I played the Stealth 50w again this weekend at a local store through the EVH 2x12. It is such a fun amp to play on the Blue and Red channels. Blue channel has enough gain for 80s hard rock ala Skid Row's first two albums, no boost needed.

I did figure out that for my ears, I was dialing the Treble almost to zero. Granted, could have been the H30s not being broken in. Also, it has some 'sparkle' in the high-end that could get annoying to my ears at lower volume, but opens up a bit a gig levels.

Overall: I love the EVH line for value and what they do and the Stealth jams.
 
did you ever find the JVM410HJS to be a little….’dead’ feeling under the fingers compared to other marshall style amps?

Not the one I had. It was great! I would imagine that the large choke on it did reduce some of the zing but that is exactly why I bought it. It just sounded right to me. When I first got it, I rebiased it as it was quite a bit off from what it was supposed to be.
 
I played the Stealth 50w again this weekend at a local store through the EVH 2x12. It is such a fun amp to play on the Blue and Red channels. Blue channel has enough gain for 80s hard rock ala Skid Row's first two albums, no boost needed.

I did figure out that for my ears, I was dialing the Treble almost to zero. Granted, could have been the H30s not being broken in. Also, it has some 'sparkle' in the high-end that could get annoying to my ears at lower volume, but opens up a bit a gig levels.

Overall: I love the EVH line for value and what they do and the Stealth jams.

Yeah those G12H30's in the EVH 2x12's have really nice low end but they also seem to have a very prominent treble spike that can make them pretty harsh.
 
I picked up a 50 watt Stealth about 2 months ago and previously had one of the original 50 watt 6L6 heads. There are differences in the power stage that effect the whole amp, which boils down to the presence knob being a lot more “active”. The original was more like the old Peaveys in that I found I needed to run it really high to get the right openness and attack. With the Stealth I usually have it between 11-12 o’clock.

Otherwise, as far as I can tell, the red channel sounds the same to me. The big difference is in the green and blue. The green is a lot dirtier but in a good way. The blue is tighter, meaner, and yeah leaner as well. To me it sounds and feels very different than the old blue channel, which I didn’t really like for metal. It was too bloated in the mids and too fat in the bass. It was good for more of a rock sound I guess.

With the Stealth I find I set the blue up for a boosted, tight, more open tone that with a knob tweak here or there can go 80’s metal/hard rock to thrash and power metal. The red I mostly set up for an unboosted high gain lead sound. I like running the green volume pretty high and gain low-mid just depending.

All in all this may be my favorite 5150 amp as a total package, but I the OG 5150 2x12 combo and the 5150/6505 head (in that order) still have far superior red channels IMO.
 
I see it happen all the time. People hear what other people think they hear.

While that may be true a lot of the time, the 50w EL34's Blue channel really is actually quite a bit looser than the 6L6 and Stealth's Blue channel. They're not universes apart, it's nothing like a VHT Ultralead vs Fender Bassman or anything. But the EL34 Blue and 6L6/Stealth Blue absolutely are different enough that people wanting a channel that feels inherently tight and articulate vs a bit more "vintage" feeling will want to pay attention.

The tradeoff with the EL34 is that you could argue the Blue channel sounds better boosted, as the extra fatness helps balance out the treble boost and bass cut thing that boost pedals typically do.
 
EVH prices going up... buy now if you don't want to pay an extra $100
Saw that on zzounds. I was like "hell no." the 2x12 combo 6L6 is $1699. $200 more. piss off. No way I would spend that on that amp.
 
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