EVH 50 watt question

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flimz

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Is it possible to get a fat warm tone from the Evh 50? Or is it all aggression all the time. I realize it's geared towards cutting high gain tones. But am I barking up the wrong tree?

I'm interested in the Evh stealth or the Bogner 50 watt 3534.
I'm very familiar with Bogner tones. I've had many of their offerings. I've never had a 5150 variant.

I like the clarity and tightness of the Evh tone straight into the amp.
I know I could get creative with lower gain preamp tubes in the Evh, but that wont change its dna.

The other consideration is the price difference.

Opinions are appreciated!
 
I made some pretty good warm sounding clips with the EVH, using the clean channel and overdrive pedals.
That channel takes pedals well, and you can shape it however you want with gain and eq knobs.

The Bogner 3534, og, was def nicer and warmer for cleans and crunch tones. In fact, one of the best amps for that stuff.
 
I love my EVH-5150 III 50w 6L6 and definitely isn't just a super aggressive amp. On the blue channel, I typically have the gain set between 10 and 12 o'clock and will even use a boost sometimes. Thr clean channel is great as well and to me, it is a bonus being able to bias it externally myself.
 
flimz said:
Is it possible to get a fat warm tone from the Evh 50? Or is it all aggression all the time. I realize it's geared towards cutting high gain tones. But am I barking up the wrong tree?

I'm interested in the Evh stealth or the Bogner 50 watt 3534.
I'm very familiar with Bogner tones. I've had many of their offerings. I've never had a 5150 variant.

I like the clarity and tightness of the Evh tone straight into the amp.
I know I could get creative with lower gain preamp tubes in the Evh, but that wont change its dna.

The other consideration is the price difference.

Opinions are appreciated!
Click to expand...
On the blue channel, yes. Red, total insanity. Hit the blue channel with a TS-9 flavor.
 
Yeah...key is the presence knob. I run mine around 10:00 and use greenbacks....If you use celestion heritage speakers even better for more warmth if ya need...or scumbacks. The presence knob is very good. minimal turning gets big differences.
 
Come to think of it, check and make sure the bias is up a bit as well...I need to check it on mine. Got another one after years with the first one i owned...this one is a bit more cold/compressed sounding. Problem is I have the combo, and I have to pull the damn chassis to do everything on it.
 
Bogner is oblivous choice for fat and warm tone. Golfinger is even better for that kind of sound. The crunch channel on EVH is synonyme of stiff and lifeless tone, there is no tube in the world that can change that :) Yes, I am little biased against EVH 50W, I bought it 3 times to sure that I am wrong and internets are right...nope, still most overated amp on the forums...after IIC++ of course :)
 
Thanks everyone!
It seems that most opinions center around the blue channel. And the red is just over the top gain and compression. Would a lower gain preamp tube in that slot help channel 3, or just neuter it?

I really gravitate towards 3 channel amps.

Contrary to popular practice, I'm not a big fan of boosting. The only amp I boost is my 800, cuz that's the thing to do. But still I always prefer amps that dont need it.
And it looks like the stealth doesn't need a boost.
 
The blue channel with the gain low can get pretty fat if you keep the presence and treble in check. I've found some "odd" settings to be pretty good, such as turning the treble way down and presence up, or vice versa, to keep the cut. However even on the EL34 version it's not going to do that upper mid gritty crunch thing, it's just not designed that way.

I also love the green channel, unboosted, with the gain up a bit or even maxed out. It's looser feeling than blue but a similar core tone. Both blue and green share the same signal path just with a couple of switched values along the run.

Red has its own separate path with 6 (!) tube gain stages. Personally I really like Red but I've never really tried it for anything that wasn't high gain metal stuff or leads.

flimz said:
Thanks everyone!
It seems that most opinions center around the blue channel. And the red is just over the top gain and compression. Would a lower gain preamp tube in that slot help channel 3, or just neuter it?

I really gravitate towards 3 channel amps.

Contrary to popular practice, I'm not a big fan of boosting. The only amp I boost is my 800, cuz that's the thing to do. But still I always prefer amps that dont need it.
And it looks like the stealth doesn't need a boost.
Click to expand...

You could try an ECC832 or ECC823 (sorry, I forget which one is which) in V1. V1A is used for the first stage of Red, while V1B is used for Blue/Green, so those tubes have a 100 gain factor on one half and only 20 gain factor on the other. Essentially you could leave blue/green untouched with the V1B side having the 100 gain side (same as a regular ECC83/12AX7) and the V1A side would only have 20 gain, and since that's the input gain stage it'll be a pretty noticeable effect on that channel. Whether it is a good effect is up to you of course. V2A & V2B are also only on the red channel so you could try something lower gain in there too, but either way that channel is always going to have 6 stages and the same shaping, so it'll have an effect but it may not be what you're thinking in your head.

I'm also not a big fan of boosting. I like an amp that *can* be boosted but sounds good without it, because I feel like I have two options. Same amount of gain/saturation but two different textures, boosted or unboosted (well, more than 2, since different boost pedals exist). The stealth isn't alone in not needing a boost, both the regular 5150 and EL34 version all have the same circuit and same amount of gain, with just a few different values changed between the models.
 
I love the boost VS. Unboost Argument here. Every time i encounter someone who doesn't like their 5150 boosted or their recto boosted & then they hear my amp vs. Theirs & ask the question " why does yours sound so good?" It's almost always because it's boosted. when i ask their favorite tones from a 5150 or a recto, it's almost always a boosted tone....Can't make this shit up folks.
 
Nothing wrong with boosting, but sometimes it's nice to just plug a guitar and cable into an amp and play without worrying about pedals. Many modern high gainers are plenty tight and saturated without it, it's just another tool in the toolbox. Not a necessity for "good tone."
 
The One said:
I love the boost VS. Unboost Argument here. Every time i encounter someone who doesn't like their 5150 boosted or their recto boosted & then they hear my amp vs. Theirs & ask the question " why does yours sound so good?" It's almost always because it's boosted. when i ask their favorite tones from a 5150 or a recto, it's almost always a boosted tone....Can't make this shit up folks.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. After going through about 2 dozen "modded Marshalls" I came to realization that the best "mod" is whatever boost you choose that day in front of a good old Marshall.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
Nothing wrong with boosting, but sometimes it's nice to just plug a guitar and cable into an amp and play without worrying about pedals. Many modern high gainers are plenty tight and saturated without it, it's just another tool in the toolbox. Not a necessity for "good tone."
Click to expand...
Please Know i didn't make my comment to sound shitty. i have had that happen many times where people tell me their favorite tones & they are almost always boosted. I had a guy recently tell me his favorite tone was an unboosted Recto specifically the old 2 channel or Rackto because his favorite player Steve from 36 Crazy Fist uses one unboosted.

Well, i happen to be a fan of that band.....mainly their first 3 albums & i've talked with steve many times & stood in front of his rig....he uses one of those DBX compressor/gate what is model number again 266xl or something like that? he uses one as his gate but also to boost the front end to make it tighter. if it's not pedals it's usually boosted somewhere along the way.
 
The One said:
i have had that happen many times where people tell me their favorite tones & they are almost always boosted
Click to expand...
I think people tend to lower their amp gain when putting a boost in front which--as long as you ease way back on the pedal's "gain" knob--adds sustain and punch without distortion. An EQ or compressor also works.
 
crwnedblasphemy said:
Come to think of it, check and make sure the bias is up a bit as well...I need to check it on mine. Got another one after years with the first one i owned...this one is a bit more cold/compressed sounding. Problem is I have the combo, and I have to pull the damn chassis to do everything on it.
Click to expand...
Yeah definitely check it man. When I biased mine, instantly was the tone.
 
As @crwnedblasphemy already said, don't run the Presence too high. ALWAYS below 11 'o clock, IMO.

Step 2: pair the amp with juicy/smooth, meaty sounding speakers. Greenbacks, G12-65's, stuff like that.

Step 3: replace some (V3, V4?) tubes to tame the red channel. If you want to tame it gently, put in 2 pcs. 5751's (70% gain).
Or, put in 1 (!!!) 12AU7...and the Red channel=instant Gary Moore. But you'll lose the extreme chugga-chugga from that channel.

I tried both tube swap options and settled on the two 5751's...mine is classic rock/hard rock on the red channel from 7 to 9 'o clock on the gain knob. And the real insanity only kicks in after, say 2 'o clock. So, the whole gain range is properly shifted.
I did put a nice, thick sounding NOS RFT 12AX7 in V1 to further enhance it.
Mind you, it still has some of those plasticky mids... Only the 12AU7 (but to be fair, that was a early 70's RCA I was testing with) took care of those.
I wouldn't be suprised you get a better fat lead tone out of different amps, like a Bogner 3534 or a Soldano 30, but yeah.... $$$.
 
crwnedblasphemy said:
Yeah...key is the presence knob. I run mine around 10:00 and use greenbacks....If you use celestion heritage speakers even better for more warmth if ya need...or scumbacks. The presence knob is very good. minimal turning gets big differences.
Click to expand...
I have everything, presence, bass, treble, mids, at 11 o'clock.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I'm also not a big fan of boosting. I like an amp that *can* be boosted but sounds good without it, because I feel like I have two options. Same amount of gain/saturation but two different textures, boosted or unboosted (well, more than 2, since different boost pedals exist). The stealth isn't alone in not needing a boost, both the regular 5150 and EL34 version all have the same circuit and same amount of gain, with just a few different values changed between the momodels.
Click to expand...
I like boosting when I am just jamming at low volumes but barely ever boost at practice levels. I have my gain at about 11 o'clock and just soars with hard rock goodness in the blue channel.
 
Im not against boosting at all. My 800 is nothing without a boost. Every Recto I've had definitely needed a boost.

This really wasnt a boost/unboost quest. It was just to see whether the 50 watt EVH line has some other vibes besides being a naturally aggressive amp. And everyone has been very helpful with their experience. Especially with the various preamp tube suggestions!
Thanks!
 
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