Let's settle this quickly.

[Steinmetzify]

Always cracks me up too; people always say it like they're the king of amp dialing and know secrets that the rest of us don't. Not directing that at Brent, btw...just seems like that most of the time.

I just didn't like the amp, that's all. Still weirds me out that I dig the sim occasionally though.

 

[Racerxrated]

Always cracks me up too; people always say it like they're the king of amp dialing and know secrets that the rest of us don't. Not directing that at Brent, btw...just seems like that most of the time.

I just didn't like the amp, that's all. Still weirds me out that I dig the sim occasionally though.

I'm with ya. Its like people bitching about the mids and harsh high end of a Marshall...simple fix. Dial them out!!! You don't have to clip the bright cap. You have a treble, presence and mid knob....use them!!!!!

 

[biggness]

5153 50 watt, with a Bulb boost, winning out over here...

 

[BrentSSL]

No offense Brent....but I always laugh when dudes try to defend their 'amp' by saying "you just didn't know how to dial it in." Lol. Most guys here dial an amp in with their ears, not eyes......the truth is if I had unlimited income I'd have kept one of my 5153s. Decent amp. But I have one 'king' (Jubilee ATM) and a backup....was thinking about another EVH until this JCM 800 bass amp popped up for less than a used 5153.

I don't own a 5150 iii but I have a hard time dialing in a bad tone with one and it does sound like a metal zone pedal or randall head but it's tubeD loud and awesome and if you spend a little time with it it starts to sound less like a pedal imo

 

[BrentSSL]

Always cracks me up too; people always say it like they're the king of amp dialing and know secrets that the rest of us don't. Not directing that at Brent, btw...just seems like that most of the time.

I just didn't like the amp, that's all. Still weirds me out that I dig the sim occasionally though.

It's very synthetic sounding I think that's why I like it to me it's like a mix between a 6505 and a the power of a dual rec but caged I don't think the used gc prices are right though going for $1300 or more seriously that amp price should be the same as the rectifiers and 6505s but the EVH name adds like 300 eww plus being made in Mexico bums me out hence I do not own one lol

 

[Steinmetzify]

Dude that is as PERFECT a description of the 5153 as I've ever heard. It DOES sound synthetic to my ears, and that's not something I'm used to out of tube amps. It always sounded very one dimensional to me...not that it was hard to dial in or didn't have some good tones in it, but it sounded fake somehow and that's why I didn't like it. It took about a week, but after it showed up in my ears I couldn't get rid of it and it was gone soon after.

Dan the Mailman loves his Stealth though; I wonder if that one sounds better in that regard.

 

[borninwinter]

Dude that is as PERFECT a description of the 5153 as I've ever heard. It DOES sound synthetic to my ears, and that's not something I'm used to out of tube amps. It always sounded very one dimensional to me...not that it was hard to dial in or didn't have some good tones in it, but it sounded fake somehow and that's why I didn't like it. It took about a week, but after it showed up in my ears I couldn't get rid of it and it was gone soon after.

Dan the Mailman loves his Stealth though; I wonder if that one sounds better in that regard.

I had the 50 and the Stealth at the same time for a couple weeks. The Stealth sounds a little more scooped and grindy, while the 50 is a little brighter and more middy. This is at the same settings. Tweak a little and I could get them to sound so close you'd never pick which was which. So I sent the Stealth back. I was using them through a Two Notes Torpedo though. Maybe you could tell a bigger difference actually cranking it through a real cab. The 50 has enough oomph though that I don't have to really readjust the Torpedo vs a 100 watt amp, so maybe not...

 

[nevusofota]

I can sort of understand the "pedal" comparison when talking about channel 3 of the EVH. However, cranking the volume and mids of channel 2 is pure organic tube tone. At least it is with my 100w standard. When initially demo'ing, too many gainiacs go right for channel 3 and scoop the mids while keeping the volume below 9:00.

 

[Anonymous]

Agree. A cranked blue channel is very nice!!!
I really like my 50 watt, now all I need is a 1959slp HW,
and I'd be set.

 

[4406cuda]

I am on the Blue Channel 99% of the time. It is a beautiful thing! Rich, harmonic and organic.

 

[anomaly]

I've NOT played them both extensively. Only for short sittings at music stores.
With that said, they both sounded good but I definitely preferred the VH4.
I've yet to hear an amazing recording with a VH4. Seems like every time someone points me in a direction of a song, I really don't dig it.
People have pointed me in the direction of some amazing sounding metal recordings with the EVH.

Hetfields tone also blows with the Diezel. Maybe I just associate him with a Mesa.
Anyway. You could get up on stage and make music with either amp.
I'm not guided by price. That's useless to me. Either an amp sounds good or it doesn't.

I really like the tone the dude from Tool gets with his VH4.The clarity of it is remarkable. It's so clear and defined at really high gain levels... almost hi-fi. I think that is what makes it such a desirable amp. That and it's got a unique sound that makes it stand out from the typical high gain crowd. The EVH 5153, while a big improvement over the original 5150's, it's still just an amp for players that want that grinding, buzzy modern metal tone that has become so popular with young metalcore, melodic death metal players in the last 10 years.

 

[ejecta]

I've NOT played them both extensively. Only for short sittings at music stores.
With that said, they both sounded good but I definitely preferred the VH4.
I've yet to hear an amazing recording with a VH4. Seems like every time someone points me in a direction of a song, I really don't dig it.
People have pointed me in the direction of some amazing sounding metal recordings with the EVH.

Hetfields tone also blows with the Diezel. Maybe I just associate him with a Mesa.
Anyway. You could get up on stage and make music with either amp.
I'm not guided by price. That's useless to me. Either an amp sounds good or it doesn't.

I really like the tone the dude from Tool gets with his VH4.The clarity of it is remarkable. It's so clear and defined at really high gain levels... almost hi-fi. I think that is what makes it such a desirable amp. That and it's got a unique sound that makes it stand out from the typical high gain crowd. The EVH 5153, while a big improvement over the original 5150's, it's still just an amp for players that want that grinding, buzzy modern metal tone that has become so popular with young metalcore, melodic death metal players in the last 10 years.

Lol!! That's fucking hilarious. That is by no means the music style I write or like to play and I use a 5153 50 watt. I tend to go for more classic with a some modern mixed in. This amp totally allows me to mix as much as I want either way. Buzzy metal tone..... Thanks for the laugh.

 

[Badronald]

I've NOT played them both extensively. Only for short sittings at music stores.
With that said, they both sounded good but I definitely preferred the VH4.
I've yet to hear an amazing recording with a VH4. Seems like every time someone points me in a direction of a song, I really don't dig it.
People have pointed me in the direction of some amazing sounding metal recordings with the EVH.

Hetfields tone also blows with the Diezel. Maybe I just associate him with a Mesa.
Anyway. You could get up on stage and make music with either amp.
I'm not guided by price. That's useless to me. Either an amp sounds good or it doesn't.

I really like the tone the dude from Tool gets with his VH4.The clarity of it is remarkable. It's so clear and defined at really high gain levels... almost hi-fi. I think that is what makes it such a desirable amp. That and it's got a unique sound that makes it stand out from the typical high gain crowd. The EVH 5153, while a big improvement over the original 5150's, it's still just an amp for players that want that grinding, buzzy modern metal tone that has become so popular with young metalcore, melodic death metal players in the last 10 years.

Lol!! That's fucking hilarious. That is by no means the music style I write or like to play and I use a 5153 50 watt. I tend to go for more classic with a some modern mixed in. This amp totally allows me to mix as much as I want either way. Buzzy metal tone..... Thanks for the laugh.

Yeah, I agree. I use a 6505+ and I don't play metal. I play in a pop/rock band. Amp sounds great for rock. No buzzy tone here. Just big tube, rock tone.

 

[BrentSSL]

I've NOT played them both extensively. Only for short sittings at music stores.
With that said, they both sounded good but I definitely preferred the VH4.
I've yet to hear an amazing recording with a VH4. Seems like every time someone points me in a direction of a song, I really don't dig it.
People have pointed me in the direction of some amazing sounding metal recordings with the EVH.

Hetfields tone also blows with the Diezel. Maybe I just associate him with a Mesa.
Anyway. You could get up on stage and make music with either amp.
I'm not guided by price. That's useless to me. Either an amp sounds good or it doesn't.

I really like the tone the dude from Tool gets with his VH4.The clarity of it is remarkable. It's so clear and defined at really high gain levels... almost hi-fi. I think that is what makes it such a desirable amp. That and it's got a unique sound that makes it stand out from the typical high gain crowd. The EVH 5153, while a big improvement over the original 5150's, it's still just an amp for players that want that grinding, buzzy modern metal tone that has become so popular with young metalcore, melodic death metal players in the last 10 years.

Lol!! That's fucking hilarious. That is by no means the music style I write or like to play and I use a 5153 50 watt. I tend to go for more classic with a some modern mixed in. This amp totally allows me to mix as much as I want either way. Buzzy metal tone..... Thanks for the laugh.

Yeah, I agree. I use a 6505+ and I don't play metal. I play in a pop/rock band. Amp sounds great for rock. No buzzy tone here. Just big tube, rock tone.

I think we are not factoring in playing style and fingertone I feel a great guitar player can make the worst amp sound amazing and the not so good guitar players make a great amp sound bad. I have played both amps and actually played a VH4 today it's a better amp but the 50 watt at 700 kicks its ass because of the price point and the vh4 is a rhythm amp first lead amp second. The 5150iii can do leads and rhythm no problem especially the hundred watt. I want to hear both together and A\B d also because both a great amps with flaws lol

 

[Racerxrated]

One of the best recorded tones IMO is from Tool's 10000 days.."The Pot" is simply awesome. But that's a combination of a few amps, mainly a 76 Super bass and VH4. A Rivera, Recto, and a Peavey(not a 5150 or variant from what I remember) were also a part. But live he uses the Diezel and Marshall. Saw them in 2012....killer tone.

 

[borninwinter]

"Barresi explains guitarist Adam Jones' recording setup: “Adam mainly runs three amps: He has a Marshall that he loves, a Diezel and then he was using a Mesa Boogie at one point. I brought in a Bogner Uberschall head and a Rivera Knucklehead Reverb, and several other things. Then we just experimented with combinations of heads and cabinets until it worked for the song. Most of the 4×12s were Mesa Boogie cabinets, which are superior for their low end, except for the Marshall head, which went through a Marshall cabinet, and the Rivera went through a Rivera cabinet. I usually used stock miking. For me, that's a Shure SM57 and a Sennheiser 421 on every cabinet. The third mic could be anything that I felt the sound needed more of.

The signal chain for tracking guitar was a bit complex. “Adam would play into whatever pedals he needed,” Barresi says. “That signal then went into a Systematic Systems Splitter. Then it would go to between three and five heads. The signal from the heads went to their own individual cabinets. Each cabinet had two or three microphones on it. Then all the microphones came back to the console, and they were blended down as separated for each amp. The Diezel amp went to its own track. The Marshall amp went to its own track. The third track was a blend of the Bogner and the Rivera, or whatever I liked for the song. And that would be one take — three tracks of guitar.”
http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/ ... F99vI.dpuf

 

[Racerxrated]

Well, I almost had it right lol...I guess the Peavey part was wrong and I left out the Uber.

 

[Badronald]

I've NOT played them both extensively. Only for short sittings at music stores.
With that said, they both sounded good but I definitely preferred the VH4.
I've yet to hear an amazing recording with a VH4. Seems like every time someone points me in a direction of a song, I really don't dig it.
People have pointed me in the direction of some amazing sounding metal recordings with the EVH.

Hetfields tone also blows with the Diezel. Maybe I just associate him with a Mesa.
Anyway. You could get up on stage and make music with either amp.
I'm not guided by price. That's useless to me. Either an amp sounds good or it doesn't.

I really like the tone the dude from Tool gets with his VH4.The clarity of it is remarkable. It's so clear and defined at really high gain levels... almost hi-fi. I think that is what makes it such a desirable amp. That and it's got a unique sound that makes it stand out from the typical high gain crowd. The EVH 5153, while a big improvement over the original 5150's, it's still just an amp for players that want that grinding, buzzy modern metal tone that has become so popular with young metalcore, melodic death metal players in the last 10 years.

Lol!! That's fucking hilarious. That is by no means the music style I write or like to play and I use a 5153 50 watt. I tend to go for more classic with a some modern mixed in. This amp totally allows me to mix as much as I want either way. Buzzy metal tone..... Thanks for the laugh.

Yeah, I agree. I use a 6505+ and I don't play metal. I play in a pop/rock band. Amp sounds great for rock. No buzzy tone here. Just big tube, rock tone.

I think we are not factoring in playing style and fingertone I feel a great guitar player can make the worst amp sound amazing and the not so good guitar players make a great amp sound bad. I have played both amps and actually played a VH4 today it's a better amp but the 50 watt at 700 kicks its ass because of the price point and the vh4 is a rhythm amp first lead amp second. The 5150iii can do leads and rhythm no problem especially the hundred watt. I want to hear both together and A\B d also because both a great amps with flaws lol

Absolutely. I'm sure I dial in the 6505 quite differently than a metal kid at a Guitar Center.

 

[Deanmachine]

What about Friedman and Wizard does the EVH crap all over them too ?

 

[BrentSSL]

Ooooh no lol