View other reviews for this product:
iamqman « Panama......Panama ha!!! »
Published on 07/15/11 at 09:37Eddie Van Halen has easily made more money of his line of products that he has with albums sales. One of the biggest bands in rock and roll history and probably one of the most if not the most influential guitar player in history. SO many young players as well as the old dudes worship this guys technique and ability to play the guitar. Eddie Van Halan was never an endorsement guy when the fab for started back in the 70's but late the saw the value and potential to make millions of amps, guitars, cables, straps, picks, pedals, clothing, cables, speakers, etc.
This amp has the same exact everything as the white ivory color 5153 but just in a nice black tolex color. Great solid amp for the money and extremely versatile.
EVH 5150 III Head Features
* Made to Edward Van Halen's exacting specs. This is the exact amp used in the studio and on stage by one of the only true living legends of the guitar.
* Heavy duty hardware and construction, vertically-mounted preamp tubes with premium sockets. It's rugged and roadworthy!
* Custom made transformers and special biasing help achieve Edward's fabled Variable AC effect.
* Lower-noise preamp circuitry. Less hiss & hum than many ultra-high gain amplifiers.
* Preamp designed to add extremely high harmonic content. Makes notes seem to jump out of the guitar, and inspires creative, unpredictable playing.
* Step on what you want footswitch with color-coded LEDs: instantly select any of the three channels with one button push; selection is easily visible on a darkened stage; FX loop can also be selected.
UTILIZATION
* Output: 100 Watts RMS
* Ohms: 4, 8, or 16 Ohms (selectable)
* Channels: Three channels with channel switching
* Covering: Black textured vinyl covering with a EVH striped metal grille
* Weight: 55 lbs. (25 kg)
* Dimensions:
* Height: 10.25 in. (26 cm)
* Width: 29.75 in. (75.5 cm)
* Depth: 11.5 in. (29.3 cm)
* Power Tubes: Four 6L6 tubes
* Preamp Tubes: Eight 12AX7 tubes
* Four-button footswitch included
SOUNDS
This amp is only cosmetic to the white ivory color. No tonal changes at all with the black version. This is the third edition of the 5150 Eddie Van Halen amplifiers. His first two were with Peavey and those were simply named 5150 and 5150 11. People nickname this amp the 5153 for simplicity sake.
This amp has three channels of operation. The first one being a very good and usable clean channel that can actually get a little overdrive to the tone. The next one being a rhythm channel which is a very high gain channel used for Eddie rhythm tone and basic plexi type settings. The third channel and this is the fire breather of them all is a no holds barred super high gain channel. It sounds nothing like the early VH1 or Vh11 days but more of what he has evolved into as a player. This channel is the lead for obvious reasons but the most explosive channel that any of his previous amps ever could match. The original amps were great too and still used by many players and even professionals, but there is a great versatility to this amp that the 5150 or 5150 11 could never achieve.
OVERALL OPINION
At new these amps come in right at around $2000. A good price for a great versatile amp. I have also seen them new for around $1799 at some online retailers. The used market is another ball game. I have seen them used other places for around $1200. So they drop about 40% on the used market. Great amps and I highly recommend them.
This amp has the same exact everything as the white ivory color 5153 but just in a nice black tolex color. Great solid amp for the money and extremely versatile.
EVH 5150 III Head Features
* Made to Edward Van Halen's exacting specs. This is the exact amp used in the studio and on stage by one of the only true living legends of the guitar.
* Heavy duty hardware and construction, vertically-mounted preamp tubes with premium sockets. It's rugged and roadworthy!
* Custom made transformers and special biasing help achieve Edward's fabled Variable AC effect.
* Lower-noise preamp circuitry. Less hiss & hum than many ultra-high gain amplifiers.
* Preamp designed to add extremely high harmonic content. Makes notes seem to jump out of the guitar, and inspires creative, unpredictable playing.
* Step on what you want footswitch with color-coded LEDs: instantly select any of the three channels with one button push; selection is easily visible on a darkened stage; FX loop can also be selected.
UTILIZATION
* Output: 100 Watts RMS
* Ohms: 4, 8, or 16 Ohms (selectable)
* Channels: Three channels with channel switching
* Covering: Black textured vinyl covering with a EVH striped metal grille
* Weight: 55 lbs. (25 kg)
* Dimensions:
* Height: 10.25 in. (26 cm)
* Width: 29.75 in. (75.5 cm)
* Depth: 11.5 in. (29.3 cm)
* Power Tubes: Four 6L6 tubes
* Preamp Tubes: Eight 12AX7 tubes
* Four-button footswitch included
SOUNDS
This amp is only cosmetic to the white ivory color. No tonal changes at all with the black version. This is the third edition of the 5150 Eddie Van Halen amplifiers. His first two were with Peavey and those were simply named 5150 and 5150 11. People nickname this amp the 5153 for simplicity sake.
This amp has three channels of operation. The first one being a very good and usable clean channel that can actually get a little overdrive to the tone. The next one being a rhythm channel which is a very high gain channel used for Eddie rhythm tone and basic plexi type settings. The third channel and this is the fire breather of them all is a no holds barred super high gain channel. It sounds nothing like the early VH1 or Vh11 days but more of what he has evolved into as a player. This channel is the lead for obvious reasons but the most explosive channel that any of his previous amps ever could match. The original amps were great too and still used by many players and even professionals, but there is a great versatility to this amp that the 5150 or 5150 11 could never achieve.
OVERALL OPINION
At new these amps come in right at around $2000. A good price for a great versatile amp. I have also seen them new for around $1799 at some online retailers. The used market is another ball game. I have seen them used other places for around $1200. So they drop about 40% on the used market. Great amps and I highly recommend them.