NAD EVH 50 blue chan ??'s

[mchn13]

In the process of downsizing my rig, I reluctantly got rid of my Vht, and picked up one of these used at my local GC.. I had played a friend of mines' at his practice space, and was surprised how big it sounded. Although I absolutely love the Vht's tone and sheer power, I am tired of lugging huge rigs around anymore.
The Evh sounds crushing without a boost, has plenty of power, and a lot of switching options to use effects now. Pretty impressed.
Evh 50 watt by steve moore, on Flickr

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Welcome to the party pal!

 

[PhloridaMan]

Nice! Love my EVH to death. I have 4 other amps sitting in the closet collecting dust because of it lol

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Congrats!

I just never got on with the 50w or the 100w EVH I had. Wanted to but I just felt the blue channel lacked gain/punch and the red ch was too overly compressed for my taste.

I will say that boosted the blue ch was to my liking and maybe now several years after getting rid of them I'd be willing to try a 50w again. At the time I just felt let down that I needed to boost for the gain I was after./punch.

 

[riffermadness]

In the process of downsizing my rig, I reluctantly got rid of my Vht, and picked up one of these used at my local GC.. I had played a friend of mines' at his practice space, and was surprised how big it sounded. Although I absolutely love the Vht's tone and sheer power, I am tired of lugging huge rigs around anymore.
The Evh sounds crushing without a boost, has plenty of power, and a lot of switching options to use effects now. Pretty impressed.
Evh 50 watt by steve moore, on Flickr

I love mine,I only add a little Reverb through the loop to moisten it up a little,and a small clean boost pedal always on will bring out the best of this amp IMO on the red channel for sure,just brings out its natural frequencies that the bass,middle and treble controls miss out..glad you like it ! It also likes preamp tube rolling,I run a mix of JJ's 83s's,Tungsol re=issue 12AX7 and I even now have a 9th gen Shuguang in I believe the 3rd slot,sounds even more awesome/brutal with these preamp tubes.

 

[mchn13]

Congrats!

I just never got on with the 50w or the 100w EVH I had. Wanted to but I just felt the blue channel lacked gain/punch and the red ch was too overly compressed for my taste.

I will say that boosted the blue ch was to my liking and maybe now several years after getting rid of them I'd be willing to try a 50w again. At the time I just felt let down that I needed to boost for the gain I was after./punch.

I haven't found that to be the case yet. The gain on 3.5-4 on red is more than enough for death metal which is crazy to me, and plenty of punch so far. Haven't even played with the blue channel yet... I get the compression, but it's making my job so much easier lol. The Vht was a beautiful metal tone, but I was working for it. I think getting older has made me soft lol.

 

[riffermadness]

Congrats!

I just never got on with the 50w or the 100w EVH I had. Wanted to but I just felt the blue channel lacked gain/punch and the red ch was too overly compressed for my taste.

I will say that boosted the blue ch was to my liking and maybe now several years after getting rid of them I'd be willing to try a 50w again. At the time I just felt let down that I needed to boost for the gain I was after./punch.

I haven't found that to be the case yet. The gain on 3.5-4 on red is more than enough for death metal which is crazy to me, and plenty of punch so far. Haven't even played with the blue channel yet... I get the compression, but it's making my job so much easier lol. The Vht was a beautiful metal tone, but I was working for it. I think getting older has made me soft lol.

Thats where I run my gain on the red channel..2-3 max and it sings along.and plenty of power.

 

[mchn13]

Congrats!

I just never got on with the 50w or the 100w EVH I had. Wanted to but I just felt the blue channel lacked gain/punch and the red ch was too overly compressed for my taste.

I will say that boosted the blue ch was to my liking and maybe now several years after getting rid of them I'd be willing to try a 50w again. At the time I just felt let down that I needed to boost for the gain I was after./punch.

I haven't found that to be the case yet. The gain on 3.5-4 on red is more than enough for death metal which is crazy to me, and plenty of punch so far. Haven't even played with the blue channel yet... I get the compression, but it's making my job so much easier lol. The Vht was a beautiful metal tone, but I was working for it. I think getting older has made me soft lol.

Thats where I run my gain on the red channel..2-3 max and it sings along.and plenty of power.

Nice. I've read that the blue chan boosted is the bees knees so may give it a shot too. Been using boost pedals so long it's weird not to hah

 

[napalmdeath]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

 

[mchn13]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Right on good to know. Really surprised how much balls it has at 50watts, thought I would miss the 120 watts, but not...

Anyone know what cable to use from the footswitch? Just a regular cable or a stereo?? Got the switch with it but no cord.

 

[Speeddemon]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Same here!

I did the RFT in v1 thing, + 2 5751's for the red channel (I believe V2 and V3 indeed). This seriously made the red channel more complex, less compressed, and could even coax some classic/hard rock tones at lower gain settings now.

 

[napalmdeath]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Same here!

I did the RFT in v1 thing, + 2 5751's for the red channel (I believe V2 and V3 indeed). This seriously made the red channel more complex, less compressed, and could even coax some classic/hard rock tones at lower gain settings now.

Yeah, I put a true Blackburn UK Mullard in V1, GE and Sylvania lower gain in V2 and V3. Blue channel was a bit tighter, and far more musical. Red channel was more useable, less compressed. Both were richer in harmonics, and it really did sound like a new amp. World of difference.

I sold that amp to TheHoff. I even threw in extra NOS tubes - never heard how he liked it, (or even a thank you for that matter).

 

[hammered]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Right on good to know. Really surprised how much balls it has at 50watts, thought I would miss the 120 watts, but not...

Anyone know what cable to use from the footswitch? Just a regular cable or a stereo?? Got the switch with it but no cord.

When I had mine I used a regular cable for the footswitch. I did a lot of preamp tube swapping and I found when cranked up a bit the best sounding tubes were either the stock JJs or an RFT in V1 combined with a Sovtek LPS in V2

 

[Speeddemon]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Right on good to know. Really surprised how much balls it has at 50watts, thought I would miss the 120 watts, but not...

Anyone know what cable to use from the footswitch? Just a regular cable or a stereo?? Got the switch with it but no cord.

When I had mine I used a regular cable for the footswitch. I did a lot of preamp tube swapping and I found when cranked up a bit the best sounding tubes were either the stock JJs or an RFT in V1 combined with a Sovtek LPS in V2

I've put a NOS Sylvania in V2 or 3, and the PI tube is now a Sovtek LPS as well.
My main reasoning was twofold:
-lower overall piercing/brightness of the amp (I could never run the Presence over 10 'o clock)
-lower gain and compression on the Red Channel.

By the way, (I believe I've mentioned this before), if you REALLY want to change the red channel, put in one 12AU7 (20% gain) in V2 or V3. No more insane-gain...but way more musical... think Gary Moore's "Oh Pretty Woman" levels of typical gain and tone. Rich mids.

 

[mchn13]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Right on good to know. Really surprised how much balls it has at 50watts, thought I would miss the 120 watts, but not...

Anyone know what cable to use from the footswitch? Just a regular cable or a stereo?? Got the switch with it but no cord.

When I had mine I used a regular cable for the footswitch. I did a lot of preamp tube swapping and I found when cranked up a bit the best sounding tubes were either the stock JJs or an RFT in V1 combined with a Sovtek LPS in V2

Thanks. I went in the office ond used a recular cable and it was solid. Another reason to like this amp. I hate proprietary cables/switches,etc...

 

[mchn13]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Same here!

I did the RFT in v1 thing, + 2 5751's for the red channel (I believe V2 and V3 indeed). This seriously made the red channel more complex, less compressed, and could even coax some classic/hard rock tones at lower gain settings now.

You guys have me curious about the lower gain tubes for the red channel. Does it still have more than enough and just lessen the compression? Does it alter the tone or less of certain frequencies?

 

[Beyond Black]

Congrats!

I just never got on with the 50w or the 100w EVH I had. Wanted to but I just felt the blue channel lacked gain/punch and the red ch was too overly compressed for my taste.

I will say that boosted the blue ch was to my liking and maybe now several years after getting rid of them I'd be willing to try a 50w again. At the time I just felt let down that I needed to boost for the gain I was after./punch.

Yo, MHM! Was your old one made in Mexico or Vietnam? I ask because I had one (Vietnam) years ago and I didn't care for the blue channel at all. It was really flubby and didn't have enough gain on it's own. Now I have a newer MIM EVH and the blue channel fucking rages plugged straight in. More than enough gain and fairly tight. It's not overly tight, and it's got a Bogner like chewiness to it. Clean boosted tightens and gives it more grind, of course. It sounds awesome either way. A ridiculous amount of amp for the money. Seriously, for $700 used, it's a no brainer.

 

[Speeddemon]

Good tubes, (especially in the preamp), REALLY wakes these amps up. The right mix, and some lower gain 5751/12AT7's in V2 & V3 really made a difference in the last one I had, (owned 2 of them).

Same here!

I did the RFT in v1 thing, + 2 5751's for the red channel (I believe V2 and V3 indeed). This seriously made the red channel more complex, less compressed, and could even coax some classic/hard rock tones at lower gain settings now.

You guys have me curious about the lower gain tubes for the red channel. Does it still have more than enough and just lessen the compression? Does it alter the tone or less of certain frequencies?

Yep, with two 5751's (70% gain of a 12AX7 each), you'll tame the insane gain a bit, but you'll still have more than enough gain left. And it will lower the compression a bit, open up the mids a tad, and most notably, make the gain range in the first 25% of the gain knob's travel more useful for hard rock tones.
I wasn't too fond of 12AT7's in there (even though I was using the revered Amperex Bugle Boys), but the JJ 5751 + a NOS Sylvania one...

 

[mixn4him]

I always suggest swapping out the power tubes and BIASING it correctly. Mine came with the stock JJ's and the bias was glued wide open from the factory ! Popped in a pair of Sovtek Waffer bottom 5881's and bias, made the amp so much better tone a feel wise. The preamp rolling will help but the output tubes seemed to make the biggest impact in feel..

 

[napalmdeath]

I always suggest swapping out the power tubes and BIASING it correctly. Mine came with the stock JJ's and the bias was glued wide open from the factory ! Popped in a pair of Sovtek Waffer bottom 5881's and bias, made the amp so much better tone a feel wise. The preamp rolling will help but the output tubes seemed to make the biggest impact in feel..

I had good luck with Svetlana 6L6's, (not SED).