NAD: EVH 5150 III 50w

[jc986]

I had been wanting to get one of these for a while now, but was holding out to sell at least one of my amps first...but I was able to get a killer deal from my Sweetwater sales engineer, so I went ahead and got one.

So far I have mixed feelings about it, but I've only had about an hour or so with it thus far.

There is an issue (possibly with the effects loop) that is producing a loud hum. The idle hum is louder than my other two amps, even on channel 1. The hum is audible even while playing until the volume is increased to 2 or 3. The hum is present, even with the effects loop turned off. When turning the loop on, the hum gets louder and I would have to play at 3.5 or 4 not to be able to hear the hum. All I'm running in the loop is a TC Electronic Flashback, and an MXR 10-band EQ. It's worth noting that I'm using the same pedals / cables / signal chain with the EVH as with the Peavey and Mesa. I literally just unplug the FX send and return from one amp and plug into whichever one I intend to play.

To do some troubleshooting, I took the MXR out of the loop. The idle hum decreased drastically, and isn't audible anymore with the FX loop off. However, with the loop on, the hum is still there, just not nearly as loud as before. I can't hear the hum past volume 1.5 now while playing. Compared to my other amps though, the idle hum is still noticeably louder.

To isolate things further, I took the delay out of the loop, and just ran a 6" cable from the FX send to the FX return. Now, there is no noticeable hum with the loop on or off.

One thing I found a bit strange is that even with nothing in the loop except for a patch cable, there is noticeable difference in sound with the loop on vs. the loop off. With the loop on I'm hearing a slight midrange bump and perhaps a bit more clarity. It's not night and day, but I think you'd be able to hear the difference in the room, and perhaps even in a clip if I make one.

Prior to deciding to buy one of these, I read a lot about the volume jump from channel 1 to channel 2. I was aware of this, but WOW is it significant. If a clean tone is needed, then you basically forego having access to channel 2. That's a shame, because channel 2 with a boost is a really great sound. This is a non-issue for recording, but playing with a band this really is a 2 channel amp. I think I prefer channel 3 overall, so not a deal breaker for me.

Aside from those couple issues, the amp sounds great and I'm excited to get to play it at band volumes.

Any ideas on the loop issue/noise issue? Should I be contacting Sweetwater to see about a possible replacement?

 

[mystixboi]

Not sure about the loop issue but the volume level change between channel 1 and 2 isn't as noticeable at band volumes. I use a line 6 pod xt live as a midi switcher and add some eq as a volume jump to channel 1 so it isn't noticeable at all

Enjoy and good luck with the loop

 

[tech21man]

Many amps will not get along with some effects and the fact that they work great with the peavey and the mesa is not a guarantee that they will with the fender.

Circuit implementation is different and then there are ground loops etc issues. Can the pedals work with batteries or something?

As far as the loop changing the sound it is not weird at all. In some amps the patch cable in the loop is a means to either improve the sound (JCM 900) or maybe fuck it up (peavey 6505+ made in china 112). Depends on what the designer did or had to compromise.

As far as the volume jump many say that it is not so noticeable when you put the gain after halfway on the clean channel and in the end, the amp is midi controllable.

Throw a tc g major in there change amp channels with midi and make eq changes and volume changes per "channel" to balance things all with one tap.

Many, many amps have similar "problems" and it always work very good for that!

 

[evhfan]

Not sure about the loop issue but the volume level change between channel 1 and 2 isn't as noticeable at band volumes. I use a line 6 pod xt live as a midi switcher and add some eq as a volume jump to channel 1 so it isn't noticeable at all

Enjoy and good luck with the loop

if you set the gain on green/blue past 1 o'clock then there's NO jump in volume between the two channels

 

[jc986]

Not sure about the loop issue but the volume level change between channel 1 and 2 isn't as noticeable at band volumes. I use a line 6 pod xt live as a midi switcher and add some eq as a volume jump to channel 1 so it isn't noticeable at all

Enjoy and good luck with the loop

if you set the gain on green/blue past 1 o'clock then there's NO jump in volume between the two channels

That's not the case for mine. I've tried setting the gain anywhere between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock and there is still a serious jump. Even with the volume halfway up on the amp, the jump is pretty significant. Like I said though, I prefer red to blue, so it's not a deal breaker for me. I'm more concerned about the loop.

Many amps will not get along with some effects and the fact that they work great with the peavey and the mesa is not a guarantee that they will with the fender.

Others have had no issues with running an MXR 10-band and Flashback in the loop with their EVH's, so I don't think this is true.