EVH III 50 Watt is the real deal.

[squank]

I really liked my 5153 50w. Only sold it because it duplicated what I have elsewhere, and I'm trying to stop buying amps whose tones I already have covered.

I REALLY liked that they chose not to make them in China. The Vietnam amp sounded fantastic, and I'm sure the MIM amp will sound great too.

 

[zepland73]

I had one pre-ordered and paid in full when they were supposed to be released. Was told it would ship within' a month of that, and after six months of nothing, I had them refund my $$$. Still would love to check one out, I heard a few folks were having switching issues with them (similar to the 100 watt problems) anyone know if that was resolved? Maybe the switch From Vietnam to Mexico will straighten things out.

Chris
www.retro-guitars.com

 

[mniel8195]

i think the switching issues have been fixed with newer releases. mine switches really fast but pops at lower volumes. i think thats one of the cons for fast switching. need to get it louder and see how it sounds

 

[King Guitar]

I had one pre-ordered and paid in full when they were supposed to be released. Was told it would ship within' a month of that, and after six months of nothing, I had them refund my $$$. Still would love to check one out, I heard a few folks were having switching issues with them (similar to the 100 watt problems) anyone know if that was resolved? Maybe the switch From Vietnam to Mexico will straighten things out.

Chris
http://www.retro-guitars.com

Hey Chris,

No trouble with the switching on the ones I got, I have both in stock at the shop if you want to try again.

B

 

[IndyWS6]

its not really an issue once you get it up to a decent volume

correct

What kind of volume level are we talking about? I'm really interested in one, but I need something that can easily go between clean and crunch/distortion to cover the stuff we do in my cover band. If the problem goes away somewhere between bedroom levels and stage levels, I'd be OK with that. No one around here has one to try out...

 

[madrigal77]

Nice!! I love the HELL out of my 100w.

 

[nevusofota]

I'm really interested in what the EVH company is going to put out next amp wise.

I'd place my bet on a true mini "lunchbox" style amp at 25w or less being up next. They pulled the name "Mini" off the 50w and it's just called the 5150III 50w now. So my guess is the next one out will be the true mini EVH head.

From Howard Kaplan himself (not quoted), the reason why the company didn't want the word "mini" to be associated with the amp is because they didn't want the public to think it sounded small or that it was a compromised amp. They didn't "pull" the word mini because it was never officially named that by the company, its just that the public and the dealers were labeling it that on there own.

Not really the point of my post. My point was that my guess is the next amp will be an actual mini or "lunchbox" as some call them 25w or less amp. However, they did pull the name mini...

look at the prototype they had at NAMM. Notice, no Fender "F" before the "5150III" on the badge and under the III it says "mini". It's easier to read in the videos from when it was first shown at NAMM but it's clear enough here....

Thus why many people still call it "mini" despite that not being its final name, and the company not wanting it called a mini. People didn't just make up the name mini at random it was how the amp was first announced then the name changed and the word mini was removed from it.

I think we're kind of saying the same thing . I meant that the name wasn't pulled in mid production but before the amp was released and mass produced. Exact quote from Howard Kaplan over at TGP:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hkaplan131
We have been trying to kill the 'mini' designation from the online retailers for a long time, but it seems essentially impossible. The amp is officially named-

EVH 5150III 50W.

Some are calling it the EVH 5153 - also not correct.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hkaplan131
The name 'mini' was proposed early on, but was thought in the end to not be good because even though smaller than the 100W head it by no stretch as a mini sound.

As far as calling in the "5153" in typing to each his own, but i have a 'thing' about all the 'abrevs' and short cuts everyone uses these days, a fallout from 'texting'.

 

[IntenseJim]

Make the thing 1" or 2" longer.

 

[supersonic]

Hey,

We just became dealers for the EVH line and I got my first shipment into the shop. Holy hell is the 50 watt EVH III awesome. 3 Channels, Footswitch, FX loop and it sounds amazing. No spam here I'm just saying for a $999 you get a ton of great sounding amp.

The green channel sounds great, the blue is great and the red is soaked in harmonic overtone and tons of gain if you want it with out mud.

Digging it so much so I brought home a white 5150III 50 watt and 2x12 cab and a TC 2290 delay in the loop to keep with the Les Pauls for awhile. Toneful.

Brad

Meh, give it some time you will hate that tone soon. It grates on my ears. I wish it didn't, cheap enough.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Hey,

We just became dealers for the EVH line and I got my first shipment into the shop. Holy hell is the 50 watt EVH III awesome. 3 Channels, Footswitch, FX loop and it sounds amazing. No spam here I'm just saying for a $999 you get a ton of great sounding amp.

The green channel sounds great, the blue is great and the red is soaked in harmonic overtone and tons of gain if you want it with out mud.

Digging it so much so I brought home a white 5150III 50 watt and 2x12 cab and a TC 2290 delay in the loop to keep with the Les Pauls for awhile. Toneful.

Brad

Meh, give it some time you will hate that tone soon. It grates on my ears. I wish it didn't, cheap enough.

 

[baron55]

Hey,

We just became dealers for the EVH line and I got my first shipment into the shop. Holy hell is the 50 watt EVH III awesome. 3 Channels, Footswitch, FX loop and it sounds amazing. No spam here I'm just saying for a $999 you get a ton of great sounding amp.

The green channel sounds great, the blue is great and the red is soaked in harmonic overtone and tons of gain if you want it with out mud.

Digging it so much so I brought home a white 5150III 50 watt and 2x12 cab and a TC 2290 delay in the loop to keep with the Les Pauls for awhile. Toneful.

Brad

Meh, give it some time you will hate that tone soon. It grates on my ears. I wish it didn't, cheap enough.

Well it does use 1N5246B 16V Zeners for the clipping diode circuit. Some people love that or may hate it. The Big amp is all tube distortion though.

 

[RockNRun]

Well it does use 1N5246B 16V Zeners for the clipping diode circuit. Some people love that or may hate it. The Big amp is all tube distortion though.

Taken from another forum:

"This forms a voltage divider with r20, marginally reducing the gain to the next triode. Anything from 520k to 820k sounded good. Remember the lower this value, the more signal gets bled to ground. In there original state, the zenners clip the signal passing them at 16.5 volts. Thats the reason you get so much distortion even at 1 on the gain."

I Want to clear up the comment about the zener diodes Z1 and Z2 at the 2nd tube of Channel 3 on the 100W and the 50W head. These diodes have nothing to do with the distortion characteristics of either amp. They are part of the CH3 mute circuit which shuts CH3 down (to avoid any bleed through) while CH1/2 is running. In the 50W head I also mute CH1/2 while CH3 is running. I was getting some bleed through of CH1/2 into CH3. On the 100W head this was not needed as we had a lot more circuit board space to play with to keep things further apart and avoid cross channel coupling.

Nowhere in the 100W or 50W head are there any solid state components used to create distortion! All is done with tubes and gain and how the tubes are biased. The 50W does have solid state Effects Loop drive and recovery, but these circuits are all low level and operate in a totally linear range.

 

[PBGas]

Great amp for the $. Still loving mine and it works perfectly for me both live, at home and in the studio.

 

[djpharoah]

I love mine to bits. I sold my Mesa Mark IV because this head just sounds ridiculous even with 7 strings. It's just brilliant!

 

[smucarolina]

I love mine to bits. I sold my Mesa Mark IV because this head just sounds ridiculous even with 7 strings. It's just brilliant!

I know you...come chat with us on SSO! I just bought one yesterday. Stoked.

 

[mniel8195]

sso is full of pure winners

 

[smucarolina]

sso is full of pure winners

Is that a compliment or insult? Can't tell.

 

[colimofsmoke]

Just played one of these and damn! I can understand the hype now. Channel 2 was a little dry sounding to me even with the gain cranked and probably wouldn't get much use with me, but holy hell channel 3 is awesome. Had the resonance knob all the way up, loved it. Sounded frigging great with a seven string in B and EMG's. Def wouldn't need a boost, sounds so good like it is. Compared to my Mesa, I had to play a lot tighter not to get unwanted noise/sound between notes. Actually I was surprised how similar it sounded to the modern mode on a Mesa, just less fizzy and maybe more/different mids. For the price and the smaller/lighter size, I'm def now considering trading my roadster for one. Only thing giving me pause is the lack of reverb and my love of the roadsters channel 1/tweed with a boost for a sludge/doom sound. Will most likely have to pick one up eventually. Very surprised at how much I liked it.

 

[colimofsmoke]

How's the effects loop on these?

 

[madrigal77]

Just played one of these and damn! I can understand the hype now. Channel 2 was a little dry sounding to me even with the gain cranked and probably wouldn't get much use with me, but holy hell channel 3 is awesome. Had the resonance knob all the way up, loved it. Sounded frigging great with a seven string in B and EMG's. Def wouldn't need a boost, sounds so good like it is. Compared to my Mesa, I had to play a lot tighter not to get unwanted noise/sound between notes. Actually I was surprised how similar it sounded to the modern mode on a Mesa, just less fizzy and maybe more/different mids. For the price and the smaller/lighter size, I'm def now considering trading my roadster for one. Only thing giving me pause is the lack of reverb and my love of the roadsters channel 1/tweed with a boost for a sludge/doom sound. Will most likely have to pick one up eventually. Very surprised at how much I liked it.

I'd say go for a used 100w. It's worth it for the independent controls for ch.1 and ch.2 and extra headroom. You can find them for the same price or just a little more than the 50w new.