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Published on 08/29/11 at 17:21The EVH 5150 III is an amp that is a culmination of famed rock guitarist Edward Van Halen's many years of research and development of the historic "Brown Sound" that he popularized with Van Halen in the seventies and eighties. Over the years Ed's tone has gotten more modern and gone from being a decidedly British Marshally tone to a more high gain hybrid of American and British tones. It's built under the EVH banner by Fender Musicial Instruments Corporation, and is a three channel head. Each channel has its own separate gain, volume and EQ controls. The amp puts out 100w and is powered by a quartet of 6L6 power tubes. Here's a more complete list of specs.
EVH 5150 III Head Features
* Made to Edward Van Halens 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. Its rugged and roadworthy!
* Custom made transformers and special biasing help achieve Edwards 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.
Technical Info
EVH 5150 III Head Specifications
* Type: Tube Amplifier (head)
* Output: 100 Watts RMS
* Ohms: 4, 8, or 16 Ohms (selectable)
* Channels: Three channels with channel switching
* Covering: Ivory 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
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp is pretty simple. The controls are laid out well and the interface is fairly intuitive and easy to use. It reminds me a lot of the Peavey 5150/6505 in how the EQ controls react and respond to changes and different settings. The EQ controls have a good wide sweep to them that allows for a whole range of tweaking the channels on the amplifier. The three channels go from clean to mean and everything in between very well. Channel one is a great classic sounding clean, channel two goes from lower gain crunch to some hot rodded British voiced textures, and channel three is the ultimate in high gain fury. It's quite versatile overall, and has that signature EVH type spongy and vintage feel that so many players covet.
SOUNDS
I've tried this amplifier with various Fender, Gibson, and Charvel guitars. It's definitely a great sounding rig that isn't just for fans of the mighty EVH. Starting with the clean channel, I was surprised to find that it was a fairly pristine and clear sounding clean tone. Complex and jazzy voicings work really well, as do country cleans. It's not quite as warm as I'd like for my cleans, but considering what it was designed to do, the clean channel being as good as it is is a bonus. Channel two is really where the classic EVH flavour begins to shine through. It's got a great upper midrange voicing that reminds me a lot of a good Marshall Plexi/JMP, but on steroids. It does everything well from Thin Lizzy/Bad Company type medium gain tones to the more high octane tones favoured by Van Halen, Ratt and Dokken. Channel three is the answer for the molten metal warriors who need the most punishing and high gain sound that they can find. There's so much gain to this channel that it doesn't NEED to be turned up past halfway or it just loses definition. That being said, when the gain is tamed, this channel is perfect for hard rock and modern metal and balances nicely with the other two channels as well.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the EVH 5150 III is a great evolution of the tones that Van Halen has used from the seventies to now. It covers that great Marshall/Soldano hot rod vibe as well as the more modern fury of the Peavey 5150/6505 type amps too, plus it has a cool clean channel as well. At $2,050 new, I think these are priced somewhat high for a Mexican made amp, but they can be had for significantly less used, and regardless of price it is a great amp whether you're an EVH fan or not.
EVH 5150 III Head Features
* Made to Edward Van Halens 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. Its rugged and roadworthy!
* Custom made transformers and special biasing help achieve Edwards 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.
Technical Info
EVH 5150 III Head Specifications
* Type: Tube Amplifier (head)
* Output: 100 Watts RMS
* Ohms: 4, 8, or 16 Ohms (selectable)
* Channels: Three channels with channel switching
* Covering: Ivory 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
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp is pretty simple. The controls are laid out well and the interface is fairly intuitive and easy to use. It reminds me a lot of the Peavey 5150/6505 in how the EQ controls react and respond to changes and different settings. The EQ controls have a good wide sweep to them that allows for a whole range of tweaking the channels on the amplifier. The three channels go from clean to mean and everything in between very well. Channel one is a great classic sounding clean, channel two goes from lower gain crunch to some hot rodded British voiced textures, and channel three is the ultimate in high gain fury. It's quite versatile overall, and has that signature EVH type spongy and vintage feel that so many players covet.
SOUNDS
I've tried this amplifier with various Fender, Gibson, and Charvel guitars. It's definitely a great sounding rig that isn't just for fans of the mighty EVH. Starting with the clean channel, I was surprised to find that it was a fairly pristine and clear sounding clean tone. Complex and jazzy voicings work really well, as do country cleans. It's not quite as warm as I'd like for my cleans, but considering what it was designed to do, the clean channel being as good as it is is a bonus. Channel two is really where the classic EVH flavour begins to shine through. It's got a great upper midrange voicing that reminds me a lot of a good Marshall Plexi/JMP, but on steroids. It does everything well from Thin Lizzy/Bad Company type medium gain tones to the more high octane tones favoured by Van Halen, Ratt and Dokken. Channel three is the answer for the molten metal warriors who need the most punishing and high gain sound that they can find. There's so much gain to this channel that it doesn't NEED to be turned up past halfway or it just loses definition. That being said, when the gain is tamed, this channel is perfect for hard rock and modern metal and balances nicely with the other two channels as well.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the EVH 5150 III is a great evolution of the tones that Van Halen has used from the seventies to now. It covers that great Marshall/Soldano hot rod vibe as well as the more modern fury of the Peavey 5150/6505 type amps too, plus it has a cool clean channel as well. At $2,050 new, I think these are priced somewhat high for a Mexican made amp, but they can be had for significantly less used, and regardless of price it is a great amp whether you're an EVH fan or not.