evh 50 watt review!

mniel8195

Active member
Evh 5150 111 50 watt review/ matching cab.

Hey guys I've had time now to really delve into this head and matching cab. Here is my review.

Green channel clean. I would say that the closest thing I can compare this channel is to a fender. When you max the volume and use the gain you will get a very pristine clean sound with virtually no break up. Like every channel on this head there is a fair amount of compression. Unless you are really going to that country compression or a funk sound this channel does not need a compressor pedal to keep all of the strings sounding even in volume. You can also approach this amp by cranking the volume and using the gain to add some dirt. This is cool for light leads and even blues. don't expect to get into rhythm territory with his channel withought using a boost. And even the it would be more of an alternative soft rock kinda thing. Overall I like to play this channel as clean as possible. This channel sounds great with various delays and reverbs I have tried. This chAnnel does lack some of the dynamics of old fenders and other boutique amps I have played but makes up for that with he fact That you don't need a compressor..

Blue channel
I would say this channel is somewhere between Ed's Marshall tone and what he achieved on his later albums like ballance and 5150. I feel like it sounds more like the old 5150's than any Marshall I have played because of the amount of gain on tap and the compression factor. You will have no problem taking the gain to he max on this channel and when I put a Maxon 808 on this channel it came alive! It is much more mid focused and vintage sounding than channel 3. To me it sounds like a different amp than channel 3. It's great for 6 string guitar especially because I love 80's metal and this thing defiantly nails that. it has just he right Amount of saturation a mid cut. All I can say is I love this channel for Completely different reasons than channel 3. And it sounds better than channel two on the old 5150. There's just more tone.

Red. Channel
The first thing that really struck me about this channel is that It has and unreal amount of gain. Keeping it at 1-3 o'clock will no doubt be your sweet spot on this amp. Even though there is so much gain it is all very usable and I would have to guess that has to do with the tightness of this amp. Overall this amp is more scooped modern sounding than green channel. I think it's a hard channel to beat for modern metal. It's insane yet still musical. The one thing I will say is watch your pressence with this channel because it can be fizzy especially at lower volumes. That factor seams to disappear after you the the amp above 3/10. You can eq this like Ed does for a fat saturated scooped sound or you can go for your classic 666 settings for a leaner more focused sound that cuts well the mix. I like to keep the mids below noon and the bass between 6 and 9. Adding the Maxon tightens things up and adds that great mid hump that you would be other wise missing. Presence starts really working halfway past noon. This is one of the only amps I have liked equally with or with out a boost.

The other qualities I should mention about this amps is that it sustains for days and is incredibly loud. Way louder than my brothers jcm800. This is a very harmonically rich and saturated sound. It is basically a 5150 evolved it is a little less rough around the edges and smoother do to the JJ 6l6 tubes and the overall design. I've been playing my bernie rico jr hesperin 7 string with holy divers and this thing is plenty tight. It was incredibly easy to dial in Van halen tones all the way up to white chapel.

2x12 matching cab.

I'll keep this short and sweet
Compared to other cabs and speakers I've played this head through this cab sounds the best And you can tell that's it's speaker design was not an afterthought. I didn't realize at first that this cab did not have evh greenback in it! it actually has g12h30's in it. I find this speaker to be somewhere in between a v30 and a greenback. It compliments this head well and i have to think they chose this speaker for a reason. My 2x12 sounded bigger and better than my brothers old jcm800 lead cab with v30's. I think this amp sounds awesome with v30's with the. Correct enclosure but I can see why some may find it overkill because of the tightness you already achieve with the overall compression and boost that most people will use with this amp. It's cool to that you can hook the head to the cab and tilt it back. I couldn't imagine owning a cab with out this feature moving forward.

Cons. Green and blue share the same volume/gain control. Not a huge issue because i like the green and red the most. i use the green channel almost as a different amp sound for my 6 string guitars

Could live with out the resonance control. I keep it at 12 o lock a d forget its there.

Foot switch pops and lower volumes.

Very heavy for such a small head.

Pros 3 unique and versatile channels

Tons of gain

Fast switching.

able to turn effects on and off with foot switch

Louder than some 100 watts "really this this is loud!"

Killer cab and great speakers. Love the tilt back feature!

Great price.

Most importantly great tones that are versatile. Each channel seams like a different head. Also a tone of fun to play.
 
I really like the EVH heads. Why do guys seem to diss them so much? They sound great, have a real aggresive yet musical tone, the lead channel can sustain forever even at bedroom volumes, and you can dial in a huge monster bottom end. Plus the head records very well.
 
I've been itching to try one of these out, but no one around here stocks them yet. I've been eyeballing a bunch of modded Marshalls for that early VH sound, but I would also like to see how well this one does it.
 
mniel8195":2rw6n52q said:
Evh 5150 111 50 watt review/ matching cab.

Hey guys I've had time now to really delve into this head and matching cab. Here is my review.

Green channel clean. I would say that the closest thing I can compare this channel is to a fender. When you max the volume and use the gain you will get a very pristine clean sound with virtually no break up. Like every channel on this head there is a fair amount of compression. Unless you are really going to that country compression or a funk sound this channel does not need a compressor pedal to keep all of the strings sounding even in volume. You can also approach this amp by cranking the volume and using the gain to add some dirt. This is cool for light leads and even blues. don't expect to get into rhythm territory with his channel withought using a boost. And even the it would be more of an alternative soft rock kinda thing. Overall I like to play this channel as clean as possible. This channel sounds great with various delays and reverbs I have tried. This chAnnel does lack some of the dynamics of old fenders and other boutique amps I have played but makes up for that with he fact That you don't need a compressor..

Blue channel
I would say this channel is somewhere between Ed's Marshall tone and what he achieved on his later albums like ballance and 5150. I feel like it sounds more like the old 5150's than any Marshall I have played because of the amount of gain on tap and the compression factor. You will have no problem taking the gain to he max on this channel and when I put a Maxon 808 on this channel it came alive! It is much more mid focused and vintage sounding than channel 3. To me it sounds like a different amp than channel 3. It's great for 6 string guitar especially because I love 80's metal and this thing defiantly nails that. it has just he right Amount of saturation a mid cut. All I can say is I love this channel for Completely different reasons than channel 3. And it sounds better than channel two on the old 5150. There's just more tone.

Red. Channel
The first thing that really struck me about this channel is that It has and unreal amount of gain. Keeping it at 1-3 o'clock will no doubt be your sweet spot on this amp. Even though there is so much gain it is all very usable and I would have to guess that has to do with the tightness of this amp. Overall this amp is more scooped modern sounding than green channel. I think it's a hard channel to beat for modern metal. It's insane yet still musical. The one thing I will say is watch your pressence with this channel because it can be fizzy especially at lower volumes. That factor seams to disappear after you the the amp above 3/10. You can eq this like Ed does for a fat saturated scooped sound or you can go for your classic 666 settings for a leaner more focused sound that cuts well the mix. I like to keep the mids below noon and the bass between 6 and 9. Adding the Maxon tightens things up and adds that great mid hump that you would be other wise missing. Presence starts really working halfway past noon. This is one of the only amps I have liked equally with or with out a boost.

The other qualities I should mention about this amps is that it sustains for days and is incredibly loud. Way louder than my brothers jcm800. This is a very harmonically rich and saturated sound. It is basically a 5150 evolved it is a little less rough around the edges and smoother do to the JJ 6l6 tubes and the overall design. I've been playing my bernie rico jr hesperin 7 string with holy divers and this thing is plenty tight. It was incredibly easy to dial in Van halen tones all the way up to white chapel.

2x12 matching cab.

I'll keep this short and sweet
Compared to other cabs and speakers I've played this head through this cab sounds the best And you can tell that's it's speaker design was not an afterthought. I didn't realize at first that this cab did not have evh greenback in it! it actually has g12h30's in it. I find this speaker to be somewhere in between a v30 and a greenback. It compliments this head well and i have to think they chose this speaker for a reason. My 2x12 sounded bigger and better than my brothers old jcm800 lead cab with v30's. I think this amp sounds awesome with v30's with the. Correct enclosure but I can see why some may find it overkill because of the tightness you already achieve with the overall compression and boost that most people will use with this amp. It's cool to that you can hook the head to the cab and tilt it back. I couldn't imagine owning a cab with out this feature moving forward.

Cons. Green and blue share the same volume/gain control. Not a huge issue because i like the green and red the most. i use the green channel almost as a different amp sound for my 6 string guitars

Could live with out the resonance control. I keep it at 12 o lock a d forget its there.

Foot switch pops and lower volumes.

Very heavy for such a small head.

Pros 3 unique and versatile channels

Tons of gain

Fast switching.

able to turn effects on and off with foot switch

Louder than some 100 watts "really this this is loud!"

Killer cab and great speakers. Love the tilt back feature!

Great price.

Most importantly great tones that are versatile. Each channel seams like a different head. Also a tone of fun to play.
I agree with the assessment of the amp 100%.
Although, I prefer running the 50w through a 4x12 with 70th Anniversary Celestions.
The Scumbacks are gonna be next on the list for another 4x12 !!!
 
slaveunit":1mx8nb34 said:
This one has been on my short list.

First off - mniel8195, Thanks for the great, in-depth review! This amp has been in my cross-hairs for quite a while now. I haven't even GAS'd after another amp after playing one in my shop a few weeks back. Just blew me away. I actually asked the guy working there if it was biased a little hotter and was told it just came out of the box and got plugged for the first time when I asked to try it out! :2thumbsup:
When you lose track of time while playing...you got a damn nice amp. The only thing that I'm not digging is channel 1 and 2 sharing G/V/EQ levels and the drop in sound when switching over. Not a deal-breaker, though.
(UN)Luckily I'm in the midst of closing on my house so, no big purchases for me otherwise I would have definitely had one by now!
 
Great review! You hit channel 2 on the head!

For people that don't like the sharing if controls, just get the 100 watter.
 
devil_666_metal":2sngyomt said:
Nice review... Is the 50 watts enough loud to play with a band in a 4x12?

Absolutely. I've run mine in a six-piece band with two guitars, keys and a loud drummer. The amp sits in the mix really well with both my EVH 2x12 and Bogner 4x12 (V30s). The cool thing about it is it seems to be voiced so you don't need insane volume to be heard. Volume-wise, I don't think I've had it above 10 o'clock at a gig yet.
 
I have tried for over a month to be satisfied with my 50 watter but it just doesn't have enough 'balls' for lack of a better term.
 
The singer of a band I was in has one of these so I would use it for practices rather than bring my setup for practices. I played out of the 100W version of this head with the matching 4X12 cabinet numerous times through different guitars. I was absolutely floored with both the clarity and versatility this amp offers. Whether I was playing chord shapes utilizing all 6 strings or just single note rhythms, the clarity was the same. This is so much more than a metal amp, and IMO, the Peavy versions are not even in the same league as the Fender EVH. The sound has bottom end, but it's super tight, and this thing really cuts! I was always told to "turn down" during practice sessions!
 
I just ordered one of the new 1x12 combos. I will give a review on it once I've spent some time on it. I played around with the 2x12 recently and loved it…but at 85 lbs it is just too much of a beast.

Not that 64 or so is much better...
 
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