EVH 5150 III stealth. How's the reliability?

[ob1clyde]

Im still waiting to try the stealth, I have owned a 5153 and currently own 2 Engls. Ive never had an issue with any of them. I dig the Engl stuff.. I have an Invader and an Artist Edition. Both have great, pristine clean channels and awesome gain..And very versatile. I have the OG 5153 in my top 5 list, for green and blue channels... But I did find it to be a bit noisey, whereas I dont have that issue with the Engls.

 

[Kevin11]

You can put a 12AU7 in V1 to tame the green channel. That shaves some gain off blue and red too, but there's more than enough on tap to compensate. You can also have it modded. My green channel sounds like a Twin Reverb, but it has some secret sauce.

This is what I did and it worked perfectly for what I was looking to get out of the amp. Made it much more musical and usable and can cover just about any style/genre. Green isn't Fender Twin by any stretch (no mods or secret sauce for me yet), but with a 12AU7, it's definitely one of the better multi-channel hi-gainer clean channels I've used. Not so much with the 12AX7. Blue channel way more than makes up for anything one might find lacking in Green or Red (I happen to like them all).

Oh, and the amp is solid, no reliability or noise issues whatsoever.

 

[MrSauce85]

Ok, thanks again everyone. For those of you that own or have played both the FB100 and the stealth...is there a vast difference in sound. I was set through and through on the fireball 100 but I'm not sure it matches the EVH stealth when it comes to down right brutality. As I mentioned, versatility and cleans are NOT a hug concern as most of my playing will be focused on more modern tones....but I do like George Lynch and Zakk Wylde-ish lead tones.

 

[155]

Ok, thanks again everyone. For those of you that own or have played both the FB100 and the stealth...is there a vast difference in sound. I was set through and through on the fireball 100 but I'm not sure it matches the EVH stealth when it comes to down right brutality. As I mentioned, versatility and cleans are NOT a hug concern as most of my playing will be focused on more modern tones....but I do like George Lynch and Zakk Wylde-ish lead tones.

both of them are brutal, just depends on which brutal you want , one that cuts or one thats more scooped and hifi(fb100), Ive had both and id take the evh everytime for all styles I think its a better amp..yes the blue channel on all evh amps is the shit!

 

[MrSauce85]

Ok. I really wish I had a way to try the fireball like I did with the regular evh, I know that the stealth version would more than likely sound better than the regular version so I'm not worried about it, the only gray area here for me is the fireball 100. I've heard nothing but good things about it but then again, the evh is a staple in heavy music right now.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Not to sound harsh dude, order it from GC or Musicians friend and play it at home for up to 45 days! Its really that easy Otherwise you're just your taking everyone else's opinions on the two amps.

 

[MrSauce85]

How much would that cost though? I don't have $1,850 just laying around lol... otherwise, I would already probably own the Fireball

 

[mnnt75]

Why don't you get the 5150 combo, same as the stealth and you can take it down to 1 watt.
I use mine as a bedroom amp as well and sounds great at low levels.
Not sure if the stealth has the same feature or not though.

 

[MrSauce85]

Well, thing is, I've been playing combos since I started playing 13yrs ago, though it's only been solid state combos but still, I've had my fill of them lol.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

How much would that cost though? I don't have $1,850 just laying around lol... otherwise, I would already probably own the Fireball

Not understanding you there If you don't have $1850 then why are you even fretting about the FB100? Unless of course your considering buying the FB100 used in which case your still looking between $1400-$1700.

 

[MrSauce85]

Well, when tax time comes, the wife is letting me upgrade.....a big upgrade and I'm trying to learn all I can before then so will be able to make a decision then with out all the hassle last minute. My price range will be hovering in the neighborhood of 2k which will leave plenty of our tax refund left to save. So...this is me preparing lol

 

[Dave L]

One thing to consider is that the Engls are artificially more expensive in the US since they´re made in Europe. That´s probably in the ballpark of a 30% upcharge, right there, so they´re generally not going to be made to the same standard as an american-made amp costing as much in the US. They´re comparable to, say, Peavey. Certainly reliable enough but not bomb proof.

The same thing goes the other way around, too, with a Boogie being as expensive as a Diezel in Europe.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Comparing Peavey to Engl Maybe I could agree fit to finish is comparable, but the articulation and musicality of the Engl stuff is considerably better than any Peavey I've owned/played.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Well... since you asked about reliability... I was at my local guitar shop, and they had 3 50W, 2 100W, and 1 Stealth 100S 5153 amps ready to ship back to FMIC for return for credit. These all had issues from the factory. Tubes, cold solder joints, something else... who knows.

I've owned 2 100W 5150 IIIs both of which had bad solder joints on the main pcbs either due to lead free solder, or not enough solder.

Also, if you haven't seen this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TIWa4Llc6I

Would I buy another... only if I could play it first and the store has a liberal return policy. I've been inside these amps, and the parts, pcbs, design, layout, etc. is nice. It's in the execution of the build and lack of quality control.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

One thing to consider is that the Engls are artificially more expensive in the US since they´re made in Europe. That´s probably in the ballpark of a 30% upcharge, right there, so they´re generally not going to be made to the same standard as an american-made amp costing as much in the US. They´re comparable to, say, Peavey. Certainly reliable enough but not bomb proof.

The same thing goes the other way around, too, with a Boogie being as expensive as a Diezel in Europe.

But see that same line of thinking doesn't apply in this case as all 5153s are made in Mexico and FMIC isn't passing that savings along to the customer. If you were talking about a US made amp like a Mesa or Fender, then yes. This fact is evidenced by looking at the 5153 used prices. There are 2 5153 100S Stealth models sitting the For Sale section right now at $1400... and you can buy a regular 5153 100W used for $1000 sometimes less all-day long.

The 5153 is a nice amp, with good parts, just poorly assembled and in need of better QC. They also look and sound pretty generic to me. I also prefer the PV6505+ myself. Mainly for sound and reliability. Way more reliable based on its history of use. Even though the newer models are now made in China.

 

[stompboxfreak72]

You can get a good clean sound out of the Stealth. You just keep the the gain barely on and the channel will not break up. It's there. I gigged with it and never had a problem getting a clean sound with no break up.

I have owned the 5153, the Stealth and the 50 watt. I sold the 5153 once I got the Stealth bc the blue channel on the Stealth slayed the 5153. I still have the 50 watt and the Stealth. Honestly the 50 watt is very stealth like except the green and blue channels share the same EQ which makes getting that true clean sound basically impossible. So I use the Stealth bc it has a better blue channel and a clean. The 50 watt is a great amp if you don't need a clean. If I had to do it over I may have bought the 50 watt and not gotten the Stealth at all. Just my opinion.

 

[MrSauce85]

It's exactly the horror stories mentioned above that make me hesitant about buying anything from the evh line, thought I'm sure there are going to be duds and know for a fact they can be as bad as Bugera amps lol

As for ENGL I've always regarded them as super high quality as I don't hear as much negativity about their reliability.