EVH 5150 III Revisions

[the4thlast1]

I am a big fan of the 5153 and have owned a few of them.. I have one that was made mid production, serial # around 3000, that one stays at my rehearsal space. A few weeks ago I decided to buy a brand new one for the house . I am talking about the 100watt model, not the new 50watt mini incase anyone was wondering... Ok so I remember reading an article and seeing a youtube video interview with the designer of the amp Mike Ulrich or something like that. Anyway he was hinting that the amp has been updated throughout production.

So the new one arrived, serial # close to 6000 and I noticed that on the inside of the headshell the amp is labeled Rev D .......

Right off the bat I do notice some differences in tone. I dont wanna jump the gun on exactly what the differences are yet until I bring my other 5153 home from my bands practice space. They both have the same preamp tubes , the power tubes are different, but both amps are biased around 25 ma......

If anyone has any information as to wether or not there has been revisions made that would be great.... I could be wrong, maybe all production models are Rev D ? I called Fender to ask but they are closed until next week.

 

[nevusofota]

I would love to know the answer. However, i thought that video stated that the amp has NOT been revised, but it's been about 2 months since I watched the video.

 

[glpg80]

most of the revisions deal with the insanely complicated op-amp based switching used and overall stability of the amp in general. tonally nothing has really been changed since eddie was the one that they designed it for - at least nothing would change without the artist being involved. what you are most likely hearing is tolerance variances of components. no two amplifiers will ever sound the same unless its a controlled environment and made with care - IE SLO 100's.

thats the downside of production. ive played 5150 II's in stores and said there was no way i would own one now had i played one originally that sounded like "those"

 

[Wayniac3]

I had to work on one before a show this year, after an out of box one blew a preamp tubes...
While troubleshooting, we found there was a fuse value change and the location of the fuse in the circuit was different

 

[232cap]

I was just talking to EVH and the guy said they are going to be some tone tweaks to the new EVH 5150 III heads. It sounded like a 2012 change though, he didn't specify it they were made yet. Give them a call.

 

[Stramm8]

I was just talking to EVH and the guy said they are going to be some tone tweaks to the new EVH 5150 III heads. It sounded like a 2012 change though, he didn't specify it they were made yet. Give them a call.

I'm assuming you were trying to find out what's going on with the 50 watt?? Any word on the delays?

 

[nevusofota]

Here is the recent Mike Ulrich 5150III design video:

http://bcove.me/y2cl2q8k

At about 3:52 he states that the early production models had less gain on channel 3 and now it is more over the top.

 

[the4thlast1]

Here is the recent Mike Ulrich 5150III design video:

http://bcove.me/y2cl2q8k

At about 3:52 he states that the early production models had less gain on channel 3 and now it is more over the top.

Yeah, He may be talking about very early production models ? So maybe not much has changed since then, I dunno I figure I will call fender just out of curiosity and see what they say..... Has anyone else noticed a REV D label on the inside of theres ? It says it on mine inside the headshell where that little tube diagram is.

 

[rrobertson]

I bought one of the first ones when it came out.. it was serial number 00453 or something like that.. I had to have it replaced and the replacement was in 2008 or so.. its within first 4500... and no REV anything marked inside..

 

[killertone]

Did they ever sort out the footswitching/Channel issues that some have had? I have seen many people complain about that and many others say it was never a problem in their amps.

 

[nevusofota]

Here is the recent Mike Ulrich 5150III design video:

http://bcove.me/y2cl2q8k

At about 3:52 he states that the early production models had less gain on channel 3 and now it is more over the top.

Yeah, He may be talking about very early production models ? So maybe not much has changed since then, I dunno I figure I will call fender just out of curiosity and see what they say..... Has anyone else noticed a REV D label on the inside of theres ? It says it on mine inside the headshell where that little tube diagram is.

I have #000422, bought it new the first month it came out. Went to buy a SLO with no intentions to buy an EVH. The tone was great but the versitility sold me. No "Rev" sticker on mine and it has the standard mix of Sovteck/EH preamp/power tubes that were used on the early production models.

I have had no issues other than a bad preamp tube (I feel came from bad power at an outdoor gig a few year ago) and a bad footsitch cable/connector. I only had popping issues on channel changes with this bad cable. I only used the footswitch for a few months after purchasing it, then I went midi and have had the quietest channel changes possible with no other issues. It has been gigged many many times over the years even going 3/4's of the way across the country for gigs. NO ISSUES.

I wouldn't doubt that a few changes in channel 3 have been made over the years, as I always liked my amp's channel 3 over the many I played subsequently. The "newer" editions seem to have too much "buzz" in the third channel with even more compression. I've always attributed this to the change to JJ tubes, but maybe there are some other modifications as the cause. I don't want to start a rumor that the early editions sound better, but I love mine. I think, as stated above, each amp probably sounds different due to varying tolerances. I am fully convinced that it is a rumor that there were quality issues with the early models. People tend to have the same issues now as they did back in 2007. And those issues seem to always be traced back to either a bad preamp tube or footswitch/cable. Things that should NOT give an amp a bad name.

Yes, I am a fanboi of this amp (and I am NOT chasing EVH's tone, in fact I don't prefer that sound), but I feel after 4.5 years and many gigs later I deserve the right to be .

 

[Philo Beddoe]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

 

[glpg80]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

wait what the hell is this shit? already it begins?

 

[Audioholic]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

wait what the hell is this shit? already it begins?

Nah, the ones with the channel switching pop sound the best, they have extra mojo because of the grounding issue, feeds the preamp tubes more....

 

[nevusofota]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

wait what the hell is this shit? already it begins?

Nah, the ones with the channel switching pop sound the best, they have extra mojo because of the grounding issue, feeds the preamp tubes more....

Tonez are fatter pre "rev D"

There, I started it.


I just check out ebay, a pre rev D 5150III going for $2500

 

[Audioholic]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

wait what the hell is this shit? already it begins?

Nah, the ones with the channel switching pop sound the best, they have extra mojo because of the grounding issue, feeds the preamp tubes more....

Tonez are fatter pre "rev D"

There, I started it.


I just check out ebay, a pre rev D 5150III going for $2500

Ha, thats crazy! well I guess ignorance is bliss cause I am really liking the sound out of this head, its like 5670 or something..

 

[JerryP]

There are circuit differences. One of them I had here didn't match the schematic I have.
Jerry

 

[Iceman8.6]

The block letter 5153's sound better than the script letter 5153's.

wait what the hell is this shit? already it begins?

Nah, the ones with the channel switching pop sound the best, they have extra mojo because of the grounding issue, feeds the preamp tubes more....

 

[Wayniac3]

There are circuit differences. One of them I had here didn't match the schematic I have.
Jerry

Jerry - I believe the latest ones started shipping in Sept.. that was when I had the issue and was on the phone with 2 different EVH/Fender reps, one who said I had to be seeing the schematic and layout wrong, and the other who said "oh wow, didn't know those started shipping yet".
Mind you - it was dropped shipped for an endorsse/DVD shoot, so maybe they were not being shipped to stores yet. It involved 2 small values fuses versus a larger nornal sized fuse, which was printed on the circuit board, but was bypassed/ bridge wired

 

[JerryP]

I'll have to look at my notes. I think one matched the schematic and another one didnt. They were substantial circuit differences.
Jerry