Is the EVH 5150 III underrated?

[EyesOfTheSouth!]

I think they are pretty mediocre. I keep reading stuff like this and buying them thinking I’m missing something. I’ve owned the OG 6L6, the concentric 6L6 (twice), and the Stealth. I agree with the “plastic” comments. Also found a serious lack of punch…….just a flat SS type tone. I greatly prefer the 5150/6505.

 

[Geo]

I think they are pretty mediocre. I keep reading stuff like this and buying them thinking I’m missing something. I’ve owned the OG 6L6, the concentric 6L6 (twice), and the Stealth. I agree with the “plastic” comments. Also found a serious lack of punch…….just a flat SS type tone. I greatly prefer the 5150/6505.

The Iconic may appeal to you more.

 

[Racerxrated]

The Iconic may appeal to you more.

This.

Forgot to mention that the Iconic is for me the clear winner of the 5153 line.

 

[Mikeyboyeee]

Haven't fired mine up in a bit, but no plans to move it.

 

[Bad Brain]

How much internally do the 5153’s and iconic share with the original?

 

[Geo]

How much internally do the 5153’s and iconic share with the original?

Good question but the Iconic sounds a lot more like the original than the 3.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

This.

Forgot to mention that the Iconic is for me the clear winner of the 5153 line.

The iconic smokes the 100watt 6L6 version. Imo

 

[Geo]

The iconic smokes the 100watt 6L6 version. Imo

I guess it all depends on your style of music.

 

[Racerxrated]

The iconic smokes the 100watt 6L6 version. Imo

Yep! Totally agree. Didn't expect it to sound as good as it does, but at the Chi amp fest it was killer. Far better to me than any of the 5153s that I owned.

 

[Shask]

Yep! Totally agree. Didn't expect it to sound as good as it does, but at the Chi amp fest it was killer. Far better to me than any of the 5153s that I owned.

I never played an Iconic until last week when I plugged into the combo just to test a guitar. I was more impressed than I thought I would be with them. That little combo has a lot of bass chug.

I think the preamp is a tube/solid state hybrid design.

 

[Racerxrated]

I never played an Iconic until last week when I plugged into the combo just to test a guitar. I was more impressed than I thought I would be with them. That little combo has a lot of bass chug.

I think the preamp is a tube/solid state hybrid design.

The way it was dialed in that day, really sounded great. Very open and raw, where I was expecting compressed and more compressed lol.

 

[Shask]

The way it was dialed in that day, really sounded great. Very open and raw, where I was expecting compressed and more compressed lol.

The way people talked about it, I thought it was going to sound like an Amptweaker Tight Metal into a Poweramp. It definitely has more dynamics than that though.

 

[romanianreaper]

I've seen Van Halen and Sevendust with the 5150-III amps and tones destroyed. Was so clear and heavy and sounded amazing.

My 6l6 50w stealth sounds awesome and really dig it. Once I biased it, definitely came to life. They are great for bedroom players because they sound killer at low volume with all of that gain on tap.

 

[PaintChipsAreVegan]

I think it’s adequately rated

 

[DrewJD82]

I don’t think they’re underrated just because she sheer amount of them out there at this point, but being so commonplace keeps them on the “Yeah, those exist” level instead of something you’re not going to see inside every Guitar Center.

I love my 6L6 50-watt, but it is selective with which pickups work well with it. If the pickups are too hot, it’s just too much for as much gain is on that head.

 

[jabps]

The 5150 III series of amps are great. They are just not the flavor of the month anymore. There are plenty of them on both professional and bar band stages across the world.

100% this. Just not flavor of the month anymore and the guys who are always chasing the latest and greatest are on to other things. Kinda depends if you wanna be on that treadmill or not, I don't anymore and why my few amps have stayed the same for a long time.

However like clockwork, give it a few years and the resurgence will happen same as it did with the OG 5150, or the JVM's or other high gain amps that still deliver today i.e. "I forgot how good these amps are" type of thing.

 

[Speeddemon]

I love my 6L6 50-watt, but it is selective with which pickups work well with it. If the pickups are too hot, it’s just too much for as much gain is on that head

Did you try the tube swaps yet that I recommended you?
Makes a ton of difference and makes the red channel far more useable.

 

[Bad Brain]

the guys who are always chasing the latest and greatest are on to other things

Like what?

 

[mcstinger]

Like what?

Currently overrated gear?

 

[DeathlyFighter]

Actually underrated amp would be something like the Crate Stealth, bit of a one trick pony but it's a really good trick if you're playing pretty much anything from Glam to Death Metal.