PRS MT-15 vs EVH 50 watt vs EVH LBX?

[ledvedder]

Ok, I think I've widdled things down to these 3 amps. Since I don't play a ton of lower gain, bluesy type stuff, I've decided that my DLS's green channel can get me most of those tones when I'm wanting to get the SRV/Hendrix thing going. And both the DSL's red channel and the Chupacabra get me some great hard rock tones. I was thinking about Vox or Fender, but I don't think it's necessary for what I want to accomplish. I have some questions about these 3 amps.

1. PRS - I've read that the volume is very sensitive on these, meaning they go from no sound to very loud with just a small turn of the knob. I've also read they are a bit noisy. Any comments about this?

2. EVH 50 watt - When I had one of these a few years back, there was a significant volume jump between channels. Is this still an issue? I've also read that the blue channel gets a bit flubby without a boost. Although I have some pedals for boosting, I'd ultimately love an amp that can also get there without a bunch of outboard gear.

3. EVH LBX - I really know nothing about this, other than it's 15 watts. And there a 2 different versions?

 

[shred-o-holic]

I owned the EVH 50........loved it. To me the channel issue wasn't as bad as exaggerated. However I used my processor to compensate for any volume problems. I think it has been addressed though. Have played both LBX and prefer version I over II. I just test drove a MT-15 last week was blown away at the tone. Volume seemed fine for me at room level. Glad the MT-15 sold in like one day. I was scraping pennies together to buy the local one lol.

 

[fek]

The new revision to the EVH 50's have concentric volume pots so no more sharing those. Fixed the issue you were describing.

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

Ok, I think I've widdled things down to these 3 amps. Since I don't play a ton of lower gain, bluesy type stuff, I've decided that my DLS's green channel can get me most of those tones when I'm wanting to get the SRV/Hendrix thing going. And both the DSL's red channel and the Chupacabra get me some great hard rock tones. I was thinking about Vox or Fender, but I don't think it's necessary for what I want to accomplish. I have some questions about these 3 amps.

1. PRS - I've read that the volume is very sensitive on these, meaning they go from no sound to very loud with just a small turn of the knob. I've also read they are a bit noisy. Any comments about this?

2. EVH 50 watt - When I had one of these a few years back, there was a significant volume jump between channels. Is this still an issue? I've also read that the blue channel gets a bit flubby without a boost. Although I have some pedals for boosting, I'd ultimately love an amp that can also get there without a bunch of outboard gear.

3. EVH LBX - I really know nothing about this, other than it's 15 watts. And there a 2 different versions?

I had a MT15 for about a day and returned it. It sounds fantastic through a 412 or even the stock 1x12 PRS cab, but it's 15w and won't ever feel like a big iron amp to my ears. Whether that's important to you or not (since you're looking at the LBX EVH) it may not be. Tones are great though, and yes it was inherently noisy. I didn't want to start rolling tubes in it to see if higher grade preamp tubes would help (maybe they would.)

New EVH 50w with the updates is a great amp for the money, sounds huge and is fun to play. I had one for a while and upgraded a couple preamp tubes as the stock ones were a bit noisy and frankly were a little muddy. New high grade preamp tubes in this amp is $60-$100 well spent. All channels sound great with the right cab.

EVH LBX, I think is EL84? So it won't have the same feel as the other 6L6 amps above, it wouldn't even be on the list if it were between the MT15 and EVH. If the MT15 were bumped up to a 30 - 50 amp with PRS using different power/output transformers it may be an incredible amp vs what it is at 15w which is a good/cool amp.

If you can play the EVH and the MT15 side by side through a good cab, that would be the best bet.

 

[Mikeyboyeee]

I have both the MT15 and EVH 5150 with concentric pots.

MT15- Loud little sucker. Not great Taper on volume pot. I use a volume box in the loop to control.
Good tones. Mine isn't noticeably noisy. I still use a boost and EQ in the loop. Not many low gainish blues tones to be had.

EVH 5150- BEAST. Great at low volumes - No taper issue on any channel. Concentric pots completely eliminated volume jump. I have the 6L^ and no flub on blue channel for me. With either the EVH 2x12 or my Splawn 4x12 with 12-65s and small blocks.

I havent played the LBX yet, but at 35lbs and fairly compact, I would (and did) opt for the 5150 50.

Like most here I have too many amps and trying to whittle it down by 1 or 2.

For sure the 5150v2 is staying!

 

[Mikeyboyeee]

Ok, I think I've widdled things down to these 3 amps. Since I don't play a ton of lower gain, bluesy type stuff, I've decided that my DLS's green channel can get me most of those tones when I'm wanting to get the SRV/Hendrix thing going. And both the DSL's red channel and the Chupacabra get me some great hard rock tones. I was thinking about Vox or Fender, but I don't think it's necessary for what I want to accomplish. I have some questions about these 3 amps.

1. PRS - I've read that the volume is very sensitive on these, meaning they go from no sound to very loud with just a small turn of the knob. I've also read they are a bit noisy. Any comments about this?

2. EVH 50 watt - When I had one of these a few years back, there was a significant volume jump between channels. Is this still an issue? I've also read that the blue channel gets a bit flubby without a boost. Although I have some pedals for boosting, I'd ultimately love an amp that can also get there without a bunch of outboard gear.

3. EVH LBX - I really know nothing about this, other than it's 15 watts. And there a 2 different versions?

I had a MT15 for about a day and returned it. It sounds fantastic through a 412 or even the stock 1x12 PRS cab, but it's 15w and won't ever feel like a big iron amp to my ears. Whether that's important to you or not (since you're looking at the LBX EVH) it may not be. Tones are great though, and yes it was inherently noisy. I didn't want to start rolling tubes in it to see if higher grade preamp tubes would help (maybe they would.)

New EVH 50w with the updates is a great amp for the money, sounds huge and is fun to play. I had one for a while and upgraded a couple preamp tubes as the stock ones were a bit noisy and frankly were a little muddy. New high grade preamp tubes in this amp is $60-$100 well spent. All channels sound great with the right cab.

EVH LBX, I think is EL84? So it won't have the same feel as the other 6L6 amps above, it wouldn't even be on the list if it were between the MT15 and EVH. If the MT15 were bumped up to a 30 - 50 amp with PRS using different power/output transformers it may be an incredible amp vs what it is at 15w which is a good/cool amp.

If you can play the EVH and the MT15 side by side through a good cab, that would be the best bet.

If you want to take a trip down to paradise (Miami, FL) I have both with a 4x12 splawn, 2x12EVH and 2-1x12 boogie cabs to try them out with.

 

[Apex1Rg7X]

I've owned all 3. I'm returning the MT 15, not that I don't think it sounds good, I just changed my focus and I'd rather return it and not deal with it later. The LBX was fun for awhile but ultimately felt "small". I had a newer EVH 50 watter with 6L6's and the concentric pots. I only sold it to buy something else I had to have. With that said, the EVH 50 is the clear winner of these 3 amps. Even as a 50 watt head it sounds and feels great at lower volumes if needed and sounds WAAAYYY better turned up.

 

[Bad.Seed]

I have owned both the LBX, LBX II and the 50W 5150 III. The 50 w is the clear winner for a couple of reasons.
1, you can find them on the used market for less than the cost of the LBX's are new. I bought my last 2 for under $500, and there's a ton of them out there.

2, The 50w is loud enough to play any show or venue and has good headroom for a 50 Watt amp, but also has a better sweep on the volume knob than the LBX amps. I found that both LBX amps are actually not good bedroom amps, as they get loud faster than the 50w, but they start to fall apart quickly because they are running on 2 EL84's in the power section. The LBX I also sounded worlds better than the fizzbox LBX II. I thought mine was broken when I got it, but they don't lose the fizz unless they're obnoxiously loud.

3, the 50w has the most versatility, especially if you get the concentric pot model.

Plus, with some nice preamp tubes, the 50w is hard to beat period. It's one of the best metal amps on the market, period. Boosted blue channel is nothing to fuck with.

 

[hammered]

Ok, I think I've widdled things down to these 3 amps. Since I don't play a ton of lower gain, bluesy type stuff, I've decided that my DLS's green channel can get me most of those tones when I'm wanting to get the SRV/Hendrix thing going. And both the DSL's red channel and the Chupacabra get me some great hard rock tones. I was thinking about Vox or Fender, but I don't think it's necessary for what I want to accomplish. I have some questions about these 3 amps.

1. PRS - I've read that the volume is very sensitive on these, meaning they go from no sound to very loud with just a small turn of the knob. I've also read they are a bit noisy. Any comments about this?

2. EVH 50 watt - When I had one of these a few years back, there was a significant volume jump between channels. Is this still an issue? I've also read that the blue channel gets a bit flubby without a boost. Although I have some pedals for boosting, I'd ultimately love an amp that can also get there without a bunch of outboard gear.

3. EVH LBX - I really know nothing about this, other than it's 15 watts. And there a 2 different versions?

With the 5153 50 watt , I'm guessing your talking about the channel volume jump between the green and blue channels ? I had the MIM version a few years back and while I used a boost on the blue channel the low end was pretty tight without it , I remember the red channel not needing a boost . At the end of the day I just could never fully bond with that amp and if I remember your threads and posts when you had the same amp that you couldn't either so I`d ask yourself if you think buying it a second time will somehow change things. FWIW I couldn't`t have been happier when I got rid of the 5153 and went back to Splawns , not that the 5153 is a bad amp it just wasn't the amp for me

 

[Metalone72]

I had the MT15 and thought it was a really good amp. There is the volume jump like everyone says. But I found the MT15 to be a little dark for my tastes and couldn’t get the right “Bright Bite” that I wanted on the lead channel. When I got the treble and presence up high, it just started to sound to artificial to me. So I bit the bullet and picked up a new 5153 6L6 from Sweetwater and decided to compare the two amps and decide which to keep. I literally played two chords and knew instantly that MT15 was gone. It had that crunch that I was longing for and essentially three channels. Blue channel is awesome. Doesn’t even need a boost unless you want to thicken it up. The 5153 is a Great amp. I am really happy with my choice.

 

[ledvedder]

I had the MT15 and thought it was a really good amp. There is the volume jump like everyone says. But I found the MT15 to be a little dark for my tastes and couldn’t get the right “Bright Bite” that I wanted on the lead channel. When I got the treble and presence up high, it just started to sound to artificial to me. So I bit the bullet and picked up a new 5153 6L6 from Sweetwater and decided to compare the two amps and decide which to keep. I literally played two chords and knew instantly that MT15 was gone. It had that crunch that I was longing for and essentially three channels. Blue channel is awesome. Doesn’t even need a boost unless you want to thicken it up. The 5153 is a Great amp. I am really happy with my choice.

What amps were you playing before those?

 

[D-Rock]

I had the MT15 and thought it was a really good amp. There is the volume jump like everyone says. But I found the MT15 to be a little dark for my tastes and couldn’t get the right “Bright Bite” that I wanted on the lead channel. When I got the treble and presence up high, it just started to sound to artificial to me. So I bit the bullet and picked up a new 5153 6L6 from Sweetwater and decided to compare the two amps and decide which to keep. I literally played two chords and knew instantly that MT15 was gone. It had that crunch that I was longing for and essentially three channels. Blue channel is awesome. Doesn’t even need a boost unless you want to thicken it up. The 5153 is a Great amp. I am really happy with my choice.

I have both amps as well but I still have the MT15. I found the exact same thing with the dark voicing. I initially found it hard to get the right sounding treble bite out of it.

What I ended up doing was changing out some of the gain channel JJ preamp tubes and putting in some EH 12AX7s. I also started running the amp with a pair of G12T75s instead of my V30 cab. This allowed me to turn up the meds a lot more on the PRS and the combination of the brighter EH tubes I need treble sizzle from the 75s put the amp voicing where I wanted it to be.

Put my 5153 50w isn't going anywhere tho. I love the voicing of both gain channels and my Mesa traditional size 412 is a perfect fit for that amp. So tight, so crunchy. Perfect pairing.

 

[peterc52]

I just bought the MT15. I like it. It’s a loud amp but works for me. I don’t need whisper volume. It’s a bit dark but can be dialed in.

 

[Beyond Black]

I had a MT-15, and it's a wicked little tone beast. That being said, my EVH 50 watt sent it packing. It's got a better master for low volumes, and at higher volumes it's just bigger and badder, plain and simple. The PRS also had a mid hump and lost low end at really high volumes, whereas the EVH gets meaner at volume. Factor in that their used prices are very close, and it's a no brainer.

 

[Metalone72]

I had the MT15 and thought it was a really good amp. There is the volume jump like everyone says. But I found the MT15 to be a little dark for my tastes and couldn’t get the right “Bright Bite” that I wanted on the lead channel. When I got the treble and presence up high, it just started to sound to artificial to me. So I bit the bullet and picked up a new 5153 6L6 from Sweetwater and decided to compare the two amps and decide which to keep. I literally played two chords and knew instantly that MT15 was gone. It had that crunch that I was longing for and essentially three channels. Blue channel is awesome. Doesn’t even need a boost unless you want to thicken it up. The 5153 is a Great amp. I am really happy with my choice.

What amps were you playing before those?

Mainly Marshall’s (2204’s) and Mesa (IIC+’s, III’s and IV’s).

 

[nightlight]

If you can stretch your budget, the PRS Archon might be more to your taste. I have a 25 watter and think it gets loud enough to play alongside a bigger amp. Just did a video in fact on how loud it gets. Do take a look at my settings, they may not be to your taste, but the amp sounds brutal imho ymmv etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O02Jke ... e=youtu.be