EVh 5150 iii 100 watt mods on blue channel?

[nevusofota]

I have to agree with nevusofota on this. The 100s blue has the same amount of gain as the original 5153 red channel has. I like the voicing and clarity shift...but the amount of gain it has on the 100s blue channel is ridiculous. It IS like having to red channels as opposed to a blue and red channel. I would love to hear the voicing and clarity mods on the original blue.

As for cutting in the mix, I haven't had the chance to run the 100s live yet.

have to disagree with you on that. the 100s blue has more gain and sustain but is no way near the same as the red. it is almost the same as the 50w blue channel. that was the idea. EVH liked the 50w blue channel and resonance and wanted that in his touring amps.

EVH "wanted that in his touring amps" to support the hype and sell the product with a much larger profit margin.

I also own the 50w and it's matching 2x12. I still like the blue channel of the original 100w more at volume. The resonance knob was added to the 50w not because of a short coming of the 100w but to add thump when using lower wattage into a 1x12 or 2x12.

thats cool. only thing i have issue with you saying is that he wanted the hype and to sell the amps for a bigger profit. thats a little flawed because for the entire 2012 tour no one but a few people even knew his 100w heads had been modded. the 100s and whole buy the amp i am currently touring with schpeel came after he was done touring.

I have to agree with you on the "hype for profit" theory. It makes no sense.
If it was all about the money they would have made more than just 100 of them.

"Limited editions" are what companies do to freshen up product lines and spike sales without alienating their original customers/products.

 

[stompboxfreak72]

I solved my blue channel woes very easily but expensively.....

I bought the Stealth.

damn it.... is that amp really that good? i have a hard time justifying a $2000 amp

To me yes. I bought the standard head for $1586 from MF and flipped it for $1200 and put that on the Stealth. I kept the 50 watt as a backup.

The blue channel on the Stealth is really all I need. I back the gain down and boost it with a Ts9 ( gain off, volume up ) and its great for me. I just replaced all the preamp tubes ( Thank you Valve Queen) and it just smokes. The standard blue was just a bit anemic for me gain wise. If I boosted it and let the tubes start cooking it was great but it was hit or miss for me. With the S Im in like flynn everytime.

I'm not following. So the blue channel of the standard sounded great boosted. You then sold it to for a 100s to boost the blue channel with the amp gain reduced?

Follow this : blue channel on standard had to be boosted with gain maxed out and it was inconsistent from gig to gig. Some nights it ripped and some nights I could not get the sizzle I wanted. I like the feel of boosted channels so now I have plenty of gain on the Stealth so I can roll the gain back and boost and get a result much more pleasing to me than the standard was capable and get consistent results every gig.

 

[nevusofota]

I solved my blue channel woes very easily but expensively.....

I bought the Stealth.

damn it.... is that amp really that good? i have a hard time justifying a $2000 amp

To me yes. I bought the standard head for $1586 from MF and flipped it for $1200 and put that on the Stealth. I kept the 50 watt as a backup.

The blue channel on the Stealth is really all I need. I back the gain down and boost it with a Ts9 ( gain off, volume up ) and its great for me. I just replaced all the preamp tubes ( Thank you Valve Queen) and it just smokes. The standard blue was just a bit anemic for me gain wise. If I boosted it and let the tubes start cooking it was great but it was hit or miss for me. With the S Im in like flynn everytime.

I'm not following. So the blue channel of the standard sounded great boosted. You then sold it to for a 100s to boost the blue channel with the amp gain reduced?

Follow this : blue channel on standard had to be boosted with gain maxed out and it was inconsistent from gig to gig. Some nights it ripped and some nights I could not get the sizzle I wanted. I like the feel of boosted channels so now I have plenty of gain on the Stealth so I can roll the gain back and boost and get a result much more pleasing to me than the standard was capable and get consistent results every gig.

So in summary, you feel the Stealth's blue channel is more consistent than the standard's because the standard sounded inconsistent with the gain max'ed.

Not trying to come across as a nozzle, just curious to know your take on the difference.

I also really like EVH blue channel's boosted. I do that to both of mine. I feel I get more sustain and punch in my lower gain tones.

 

[eddyrox]

Not trying to take us off the OP thread topic, but I gotta jump in and support stompboxfreak72's thoughts on the 100S.
I too own/owned all of the 5153 heads (100, 50, 100S), and like SBF72 only have the 50W mini and the 100S.
IMHO "blue channel has too much gain" controversy rests with the guitar's pickup output, the master volume/gain level.
I've gigged with all 3 versions, and for my $$$, the 100S needs nothing - no boost, no OD808 help, etc. - to sound fukking awesome. It's just the right amount of everything, and I too, typically stay away from Channel 3 for all of the reasons mentioned.

But I/we cover 80's Heart (Alone/What About Love), Skid Row (18 and Life/I Remember You), Jefferson Starship (Jane/Find Your Way Back) as well as KISS (RnR All Night, Rock Bottom), VH, Ozzy and Journey (Dont Stop Believing/Lights) all through the 100S's blue channel, and none of my cork sniffing band mates have ever said "dude too much gain" or "not enough note clarity".

We (try to) play "politely", but the 3rd set usually means I get to "turn up". And when I play "Raise Your Glass" or "Blow Me (one last kiss)" from Pink, the 100S is in Blue and it is fukking loud, but still hanging and still singing without overtaking the song.

YMMV!

 

[eddyrox]

oh, and to the point of the EVH 5150 50W and the difference in the levels....yeah it's frustrating...
If I'm in a hurry and I don't bring an amp switcher (Mesa Boogie Express 525+ for cleans and the 5153 mini for gain), and only have the 5153 mini, I'll usually go with the blue at 130 gain, and red....also on lower gain, in order to get some degree of differentiation between channels.
The green mode is still at a lower output for my taste, and since our setlist is soooo diverse, I cant channel switch and then go to a boost fast enough (and Im NOT going midi - another story).
Guitar's volume knob and 5153 mini channel blue with the above settings is basically where i live all night long
Again...YMMV!
m.

 

[the4thlast1]

Yeah I agree with stomboxfreak also...

You just have to set the gain low on the stealth, dial the amp with your ears and not your eyes... I have the gain on the clean channel barely on and it is a pristine clean , no breakup. I set the gain on the blue channel at 9:30 and hit it with a boost , it sounds and feels awesome to me. Lots of clarity and the gain is not over the top by any means, its very controllable.....Just as any other amp Ive owned I swapped around preamp tubes to get the amp to exactly how I like. Its possible some guys had there amp ship with really hot JJ's and use high output pickups then turn the gain past noon and think "damn this amp has too much gain" lol ..... I also am not trying to sound like a jerk it just surprises me.

 

[the4thlast1]

double post sorry ...

 

[eddyrox]

Yeah I agree with stomboxfreak also...

You just have to set the gain low on the stealth, dial the amp with your ears and not your eyes... I have the gain on the clean channel barely on and it is a pristine clean , no breakup. I set the gain on the blue channel at 9:30 and hit it with a boost , it sounds and feels awesome to me. Lots of clarity and the gain is not over the top by any means, its very controllable.....Just as any other amp Ive owned I swapped around preamp tubes to get the amp to exactly how I like.

100%

Its possible some guys had there amp ship with really hot JJ's and use high output pickups then turn the gain past noon and think "damn this amp has too much gain" lol ..... I also am not trying to sound like a jerk it just surprises me.

waaaaaay too common an occurrence/ happens in our band all of the time - especially with when we play at new places and with the bartenders "as FOH" who think there's any correlation to knob tapers and the actual amp output/sound

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Fwiw I boost with a DOD JYM grey spec boost on the Stealth. If you have ever used one of these then you know its a different type of boost for sure.

The S and 50 watt need no boost at all. When I had the 100 watt standard I was running a TS9 really hot on the blue channel with the 5153 channel gain maxed out.

The S has way more gain then I would ever use. The 100 standard did not have enough for me.

 

[tommytom11]

can't believe anyone would want to boost a 100s. its perfect as is. why would you want to boost an amp like that. to each his own but i don't get it.

 

[nevusofota]

can't believe anyone would want to boost a 100s. its perfect as is. why would you want to boost an amp like that. to each his own but i don't get it.

You're thinking in terms of gain. There are other benefits to boosting besides just adding gain.

 

[the4thlast1]

Yeah..... I boost to change the feel , mostly the lowend. So I set the gain very low on a tube screamer type pedal and set the level very high. I end up with a tighter faster attack for rhythm playing.

 

[realdealblues]

I haven't tried the 50w model because I need separate EQ's for Channel 1 & 2 but I was considering trying the 100S Head but I think this thread has convinced me I wouldn't like it.

I use the Blue channel with the Gain set just over half, between 12 and 1 o'clock. It's so open, tight, articulate and pure sounding at that level. Any higher than that and it just sounds totally compressed. I then set that channels volume at 11 o'clock and I'm ready to go.

I play in three bands and with the Blue Channel am able to cover every thing from Zeppelin to Heart to Van Halen to Ratt to ZZ Top to Guns N Roses to Metallica just by adjusting my guitar's volume knob, my pick attack and playing style. I don't have any kind of boost pedal and have never needed more gain for anything.

So, while I can't comment on anything to help the original poster, I would like to thank everyone for helping me make up my mind. It sounds like the Blue Channel on the 100S wouldn't work for me at all.

 

[tommytom11]

can't believe anyone would want to boost a 100s. its perfect as is. why would you want to boost an amp like that. to each his own but i don't get it.

You're thinking in terms of gain. There are other benefits to boosting besides just adding gain.

thats cool. i just prefer to let the amp do its thing and that amp definitely does its thing.

 

[Dark Blue Studio]

OK just look at schematics :

put A 220k in // of the R25
Take off the R26

That's all, you have the blue preamp of the 50w version....
preamp voltages are little higher in 100w version too...
So try first resistances mod.

I'd like to do this to mine. Is the 220k a 1 watt resistor?

 

[eddyrox]

I solved my blue channel woes very easily but expensively.....

I bought the Stealth.

me toooo!

 

[stompboxfreak72]

I love my Stealth more than ever. I have heard via forums that more Stealths will be made. I hope that is the case as it is a great amp.

 

[Tahoebrian5]

Removed R26 on my 5150iii 100w. Where ch2 was lacking gain when dimed, now it's perfect with gain dialed at 3:30. Dialing gain at 2:00 sounds just like dimed before the mod. I don't see any downside to this and is easily reversible. If you want to try it just desolder and pull one side of the resistor. No need to mess with R25, plenty of more gain just modding r26

 

[donho]

i did the // to r25. used a 220k 1/2 watt. brought her down to 100k.
worked great. i would say almost double the gain on ch2.

did not realize that there was 2 mods for this??

 

[JeffHenneman]

I love my Stealth more than ever. I have heard via forums that more Stealths will be made. I hope that is the case as it is a great amp.

That's the rumor. I think 175 were in the first batch, 75 over cause a glitch in the ordering system. They are gonna do 250 this time and then they will make no more, like we have not heard that one before