EVH 5153 50 Watt - Wow!

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Junk Yard Dog

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Love it. I'm playing it through my Lone Star Strat (1997) with a Duncan Custom5 and Van Zandt SC's. Mind you, all of this is after only 30 minutes of play and very little EQ'ing. I just rocked the bajesus out of it. LOUD. Got both volumes up to about 11oclock.

The cab is a Splawn 2x12 with Hellatone 30s. I'm not sure how much I like these speakers. More on that in a second.

Clean: LOVE IT! Best clean channel I've ever had (Budda SD30II and Voodoo Deluxe Mod DSL). Spanky as funk. My single coils sound REALLY bright through this amp and cab. Crank the gain to 10 on the clean channel and you have a nice overdrive, but it's not as much. AC/DC for sure!

Crunch: I thought this would have a bit more drive to it, but maybe I have not EQ'd it right just yet. Yes, there's PLENTY of gain for a "crunch" channel. I think I'm so used to boosting my crunch channels to tighten them up and get a bit more grit. This does not have "that" sound without a boost, but damn close. Enough gain for heavy rhythm and lead. If you EQ this channel exactly the same as the Lead channel (3), this one seems to have a bit more girth, but you can easily EQ 3 to have as much. I'm not finding this channel very tight, but it has a rich, raw sound to it.

Lead: Tight, mean, rich, TONS of gain, somewhat smooth, but it CAN BE RAW! I hear some say the Peavey's were more raw, but this to me is just as. You can hear that it is somewhat "refined" as some say, but make no mistake it has balls. I can't really use the Resonance on the back with this cab on this channel. It's just too much. PLENTY of lows on this amp, overall, but I could feel it more with this channel. AIC, Metallica, Pantera riffs were just heavenly.

Resonance: WOW! Don't let anyone tell you this thing doesn't thump. My Splawn is a deep cab, so it does seem a bit "woofy", but it still thumps hard. I love this feature.

Volume Diff. b/t Clean and Cruch: Yup, it's there, but it doesn't bother me. I never use a clean channel, though now I might! I always roll off my volume's guitar to get my clean's and it works great. This amp cleans up so well.

Splawn Cab: for $400 used in PRISTINE condition, I'm happy with it. Big, looks and sounds great VERTICAL!! I'm very happy with how it sounds vertical. Good bargain. If I decide to upgrade, I will, but don't feel the need now.

With the Hellatone 30's: Here's where I'm not sold. I know they are worn in G12H 30 Anniversary's, but once you get the volume up to about 11oclock, they seem to get a bit screechy and lose some detail. Sounds great at the lower volumes, but I think I do hear a bit of fizz or just too much breakup or gain or something. I might look at WGS Reaper 50 or Invader. Not sure. Any advice on this??

Boost Pedal: I have not used a boost, and my Keeley SD-1 has crapped out on me, so I need a new boost. Any suggestions on a good boost for this amp? Just to tighten it up for leads and stuff? Maybe to tighten up the Crunch channel (2).

Solo Boost: I plan to run a Boss GE-7 EQ pedal for lead boosts OR I'll just hang on channel 2 with a boost and use channel 3 for lead boosts.

I'll post more later. I am so excited!! I sound very gay, I'm sure (not that there's anything wrong with that!). So far this is EXACTLY what I expected with this amp and I'm sure as time goes on my expectations will be exceeded!

Cheers!
 
Channel 2 gets killer hard rock and early EVH'ish type tones. Channel three is where the metal starts without a boost. For me, I freaking love channel 2.
 
I boosted mine with an SD-1 like I did with my original 5150 and I like the mini without it. Congrats btw!!
 
I don't own the amp but for me metal starts with boosting an already perfect crunching amp. Channel 1 on 10 and channel 2 sound like all I would need really. Chubtone how would you rate the channel 2 to something like a splawn or Judge module? I use that as a reference now seeing as you are very familiar with it.
 
Chubtone":fn6hd9bv said:
Channel 2 gets killer hard rock and early EVH'ish type tones. Channel three is where the metal starts without a boost. For me, I freaking love channel 2.
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this :thumbsup:
 
Everyone is loving this thing. Can't be a coincidence. I'm going to have to check this thing out.
 
Pleased to hear this... mine will be here Monday... I'll be sure to make a video :)
 
Kapo_Polenton":320p3a0e said:
I don't own the amp but for me metal starts with boosting an already perfect crunching amp. Channel 1 on 10 and channel 2 sound like all I would need really. Chubtone how would you rate the channel 2 to something like a splawn or Judge module? I use that as a reference now seeing as you are very familiar with it.
Click to expand...

I need to spend more time with one before I get to comparing it to a couple of my favorite sounds. I'm a dealer for these amps and became one at NAMM, but all I have gotten in is the 1x12 cabinet and I did luckily get one of the Limited Edition 100w half stacks, but I am waiting for a stack of 50 watters as that is what everyone wants.

I only spent about 15 quality minutes with a 50 watter before the friend who brought it in had to leave. My initial thought was I very impressed, but I don't want to jump the gun. I know for sure I love the 100 watter though. That thing is monster.
 
I got mine... It def has its own rankings ,, I will keep it and use it live:)
 
I used it live last weekend for the first time with the EVH 4X12 cab (for the first time as well) and it was one of the best tone I've ever had.
Channel 2 is simply great as a crunch channel. Channel 3 as a lead channel sings.
It was great all around. I love that amp!
 
I flat out love mine! I ran it through several cabs, Splawn 4x12 with all V30s, Splawn 4x12 with V30/H30 X, '79 Marshall 4x12 with original G12-65s, EVH 4x12 and of course the EVH sounds best but the Splawn with a V30/H30 X was a very close second. That speaker combo makes it a bit more aggressive sounding, a bit tighter with more bite on top.

I tend to live on Ch3 on mine but after seeing Ed's live settings on his 100w from the new Guitar World mag I may try what he does just for kicks...nearly dimed gain on Ch2. I never bothered to try that with mine since that would kill the clean of Ch1, but who am I kidding, I never play clean anyway. :lol: :LOL:
 
I really want to play one of these but can't find one in my area.
 
Hmmm...Does anyone boost any of the channels? If so, what do you use?

Also, the Hellatone 30s, I don't think they sound bad at all, but when I get the volume up to 11oclock and gain maxed out on 10 on the Blue/2/Crunch channel, it loses articulation and gets pretty "squelchy" and piercing. I'm wondering if I should throw in higher wattage speakers, maybe a WGS Vet30 or Reaper 50. ...I had this problem with my other amps (Budda and DSL). Volume at 11oclcok and it get's pretty hard to stay defined. Is this normal? I think I'm EQing everything ok.

Thoughts?
 
I tend to play on Ch3 the most with the gain at just shy of 2 o'clock and no boost. However boosting Ch2 (I keep the gain at 2 o'clock so it works for clean and gain tones) does work quite well too for yet another tonal variation. I use a Way Huge Green Rhino which is great since you can adjust the mids (curve knob) and the bottom end (100Hz knob) along with having a typical tone knob.
 
Ok, I'll look into that one. I liked my Keeley SD-1, but it's not working properly and it may cost as much to fix as to just get a new one. I'm looking for something off the shelf like a Digitech Hardwire OD or OCD. Any other good off the shelf OD's for Marshall style amps?
 
I bought my 5150 50watt from Chad a while back and it's a pretty impressive amp for the $. I need to start messing with it again instead of tweaking on my AxeII :lol: :LOL:
 
I run an MXR classic OD with mine. The classic OD is a ZW OD/GTOD in a cheaper enclosure.

I mainly run the blue channel with the gain on 10:00 for my rhythm tone in my rock/country band. I'll kick in the Classic OD for leads.

The blue channel on the 50 has more dirt than the blue channel on the 100 watt at similar settings.

I love both the 100 watt and 50 watt 5150's.
 
Are ther any good vids or clips of this thing yet?

The YT video's I've seen are horrible. :thumbsdown:
 
I have determined I do not like the Hellatone 30's at high volumes. I cranked this amp up halfway and the Hellatone 30's in my Splawn 2x12 seem to get too gritty/fizzy/piercing.

For those who don't know, the Hellatone 30s are broken in Celestion G12H 30 Anniversary's; the same exact speaker the EVH 2x12's come with, so...hmmmm

The amp has a GREAT EQ range and my pickups seem to be so much clearer in every position. I love the cleans on this amp.

I'm on a budget, so I'm looking at WGS. They recommended a Vet30 and ET65, where the Vet30 is not as bright as the Invader or Reaper (like a Hellatone), they handle more watts, and the ET65 is a darker more balanced speaker. I was thinking the higher wattage GB, the Invader mixed with a Vet30. I don't want super bright speaker, b/c the amps presence can add so much already. I want more control at the higher volume.

Thoughts?
 
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