EVH 5150IIIS 100-watt EL34 Tube Head Reviews
The EVH 5150 III 100S EL34 100-watt tube head is for players looking for a modern high-gain weapon that will also effortlessly nail that old-school Van Halen Brown Sound. The 5150 III 100S EL34 boasts all of the updates of the 5150 III Stealth with the addition of a new British-infused voice thanks to the EL34-based power section. And EVH gave the amp a facelift as well, with the aggressive-looking black-on-gold motif ensuring the amp looks ready for business. The EVH 5150 III 100S EL34 is sure to be a popular high-gain choice.
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Highest Rated Reviews
ITS ALIVE, ITS ALIVE!!!
Well… I finally found what it is I've been looking for. This amp by EVH has it all, a Crystal clean channel and two overdrive channels that'll melt your face clean off! And at 100 watts of power, you'll feel this beast in any size room/venue you play it in. A BIG thanks to Brad Jahn and Sweetwater Music for making sure this treasure got to me in one piece. 10/10+ score!!!
5150 evh el34 100 watt amp
Ok ,I finally got my 4th amp sent to me, and its working fine, I have to say ,I really love this 5150 EL 34 !00 watt amp, it does sound better then any amp iv ever played, Thanks to Casey from Sweetwater for making it happen, and I also bought the 5150 Chours pedal too and it really sounds great with this amp! If your a Rocker you have to buy this amp it Rocks!
Whoa hahahaha!!
This amp is definitely a middle finger to your neighbors Hahaha. I just got mine in and I set it all up, and it had perfect clean tone for jazz but then you have the death metal kind of distortion. I will definitely use this with the Orange Dual Dark that I'm about to receive. It has a really dark tone. I used the black matter distortion with it and OMG it is heavenly in HELL. It can handle the low drop B and A I use without it falling on it's face. I'm using an old Marshall Cab with it and I'm thinking about buying an EVH one but I have insufficient funds right about now. It reminds me of my old VHT Pittbull I used to have. That amp I just played out of power. It died on me haha. Love this Beast and you will too.
Maggot Out!!!!
EVH 5150 iii EL34
Originally bought the 5150 iii 50 watt and got tired of the volume jump and I came across a deal for this amp so I jumped on it. First off the build is very good quality. The foot switch works as should and there is no click between channels which is nice. The cleans on the green channel are very good with close to no breakup. For me personally I enjoyed how the blue channel has its own character vs. being the sound/mixture between green and red. It's got plenty of sag for guys trying to hit that brown sound. Red channel is as heavy as you can want it. It's very easy to get a tighter gain while having a heavy low end. My only gripe is they still haven't fixed having the standby and power button on the back.
British 5150s
Very dynamic! The improved clean channel is awesome, doesn't break up; very usable for gigs that require clean only.
The Blue channel is very well designed, very responsive to your playing technique.
The Red channel is saturation glory, very unforgiving. You must play precise, every nuance shows up.
When picked softly the amp is sweet, play hard and tear your head off.
The overall tone is pure EL34 character. Upper midrange emphasis.
You must understand this, it sounds a bit different than the 6L6 output tube versions. Very tight and quick attack. Perfect on all three channels for accents.
This amp has it's place.
5150iiiEL34
I purchased the 5150iii 50 watt and 2x12 cabinet from Sweetwater a couple of years ago. I have enjoyed the 50watt as it sounded great. When I heard the EL34 come out I did some research and decided that I had to have this set up. I ordered the 4x12 and the EL34 head. And OMG this amp is om point! The amp is so versatile. They have thought of everything on this one. Crystal clean sparkle, crunch, and over the top tones. I have no regrets with this amp. Matt Alexander took good care of me. Thanks.
THis Amp Does it All
I got this amp in latter part of 2016 when it first came out. Already had the 50 watt 5150iii I bought from Brian Loney and was already happy with that purchase, however, I wasn't happy with the sharing of clean and crunch channel.
I play around 4 nights a week and needed a clean, crunch and lead solo sound with different volume levels on each channel. This amp works perfectly for what I need. I set the levels and tones at each sound check. I make minor volume adjustments during the night and that's pretty much all I need to do. I just play and enjoy.
Thanks Brian Loney. Great purchase for me. I haven't seen an amp yet, that does it all like this one. Three independent channels. Great effects loop too. Loud as you would ever need. What else is there (except go stereo). This can be the fundamental tone to expand from. All analog as far as I know. it has some self noise though. I combat that with an isp decimator II last in the effects loop chain. Like I said, this is the best way to have 3 self contained channels that i've tried and I am very happy with it.
EVH 5150 III 100S EL34
just got it with matching cab wasn't to impressed with EVH speaker cab looks nice though but i like g12t-75 which i have Marshall cab sounded great with that note it's big will be to big for slant cab that's why they use straight cab it's to deep not by much about 1/4 to 1/2"
Blown away literally
It's almost to mach power I seldom get it above 3 - you hit the power switch and something comes alive in this amp, this is not normal it's like plugging your guitar into a 747.
Perfect marriage of modern and vintage
This head is phenomenal. I was looking for a head that was along the lines of american modern but still had that british classic crunch. And this is it.
The blue and red channel are indeed very similiar, so jumping from one to the next for a natural boost is seemless and tight.
I don't use cleans much, but for such a high gain amp it does sound quite clear.
Like all the other amps in the 5150III line, this thing is LOUD. At my first gig with this thing I played a nicely sized venue and didn't dare push it past the 11 o' clock position. These tubes scream. No OD pedal needed, seriously. The natural gain from this amp is close to perfection.
If you're worried about the compression listed in the details, I wouldn't. This amp has tons of clarity and the tiny amount of compression it has really does just make it feel powerful and punchy when playing rythym. Just add a tiny amount of presence to make leads sing at full dynamic capacity.
Shout out to Ryan, my Sweetwater representative, for hooking me up with such an beastly tone.
Swiss Army Knife of Amps
I've wanted a 5150 lll el34 for a few years. I play a lot of doom and sludge and that's what my Orange amps do very well… But I also like psychedelic rock blues and high gain metal. That's where this amp shines good cleans,blue channel rocks red channel is a beast and it's very good at dialing in certain frequencies I want. It takes boost very well and has a ton of Headroom
Power tube blew!
This is my 2nd review of this amp head. And I stand by my first review (read that one), however, only on the second gig I used this EL34 head, (we do 3 one hour sets), on the 3rd set half way through it, I lost 50% of volume on my guitar, only to find out that one of the EL34 Power Tubes (3rd one along from right to left), had blown, it was milky on top.
Sweetwater replaced it immediately by sending out another with a return pre-paid shipping label. So.. some tips for you,..
1. Have Sweetwater test the bias on the power tubes before shipment, for the 4 x EL34's they should show a total of 120Mv (30Mv each). If not, then test yourself upon receipt before you use it.
2. Be sure to use the "stand by" switch and turn it off in between sets on a gig.
3. In hot weather for an outside gig, it wont be any harm to place a small 6" fan at the back of the amp and it doesn't have to be full on, but will give it air flow as these heads tend to run hotter than most.
4. Be sure to use a 16 AWG cabinet/speaker cable, always best to be safe than sorry. I think it comes default with a 12 AWG speaker cable.
5. Never power on until EVERYTHING is completely connected.
6. The foot switch, turn on 'Effects' (series loop) only when on the green channel. (else for some reason it will work backwards??)
Such a shame I had sheer bad luck here on an awesome sounding head, 45 years as a classic rock musician, no mistakes made by me either and.. no fault of Sweetwater at all, they came through for me without question and replaced it. My thanks as always go to Sweetwater's Ed Nystrom who perpetually takes care of me.
I'll come back in a few weeks and let you know how this replacement works out, but if it blows another Power Tube again, I will be mighty angry and I'll have to come up with another solution I guess.
Thank god I had a back up head for my other gigs (Peavey 6505+), now 7 years old, and never blown a tube - ever!
Exactly what I wanted!
My EL34 just arrived!
Been a classic rock musician for 45 years, I play a lot of Van Halen stuff too. have 22 guitars and many, many amps. My previous head was a "high gain" modded Peavey 6505+ (ex 5150 ii), and I have been using it for the last 7 years, quite pleased with it except it has not much of a clean channel .. it uses JJ6L6 Power tubes.
Lets talk about the cons (and not too negative) about this EL34 first and then onto the good/great stuff....
The footswitch cable is the 7din-pin type, long enough for gigs, but I immediately put electrical tape around the connectors, because after gigging for a while those screws come lose and eventually fall out. I would have preferred a 1/4 inch jack like some of the Marshall heads have. The power cord is long enough too.The power on/off and standby on/off switches are at the back of the head with only one light in the front, I wish these switches were on the front panel and with two lights. Also at the back, are the 3 Resonance controls for each channel, same again, I wish those were in front. I have already ordered an extra/spare footswitch cable and 3 gold knobs for each of the 3 volume channel controls, so I can see them clearly during gigs. I didn't see a ground switch on this at all?? (maybe its built in)?
Now for the good stuff....
The EL34 head is bigger (and heavier) than my Peavey 6505+ head but still fits snugly on top of my Marshall 1960A slant cab with GT75 speakers. Lots of breathing room in the head, you can see right through it. Great for outdoor gigs in the heat.
As with any high gain amp (and this is super high gain), you must have a noise gate through the series loop to cut out the usual hiss. I also have my reverb and delay through the series loop. They work like a charm, I use an attenuator too, to really drive the amp, tone can change at higher volumes.
The EL34 power tubes definitely makes a nice and an improved difference from the 6L6 power tubes, my thinking is perhaps the JJ6550's might be even better than EL34's? (but I don't care at this point). It doesn't take too long to dial in your tone for each channel, the clean channel (Green) is awesome, much like the Fender clean sounds and the best I have heard yet. You can plug in an Acoustic if you want, its that clear. The rhythm channel (Blue), has plenty of gain, and I mean plenty, EVH/Fender really fixed this gain issue from the original. The Red solo lead channel has even more gain and again, very sweet sounding. You can switch from each channel (2 & 3) and boost your solo's while 'virtually' keeping the same tone and gain. The trick is to have no hiss on any of the channels which incidentally, switch quietly and instantly.
I was wary about the mentioned compression, but my ears are not hearing it, I have the presence knobs turned quite high anyway. I no longer need to use a soft overdrive pedal over the gain (2 & 3) channels, again, plenty of gain here and nice clear gain, no fuzz at all. Harmonics of any kind and high squeals are too easy! (think the intro to Mean Street and many other VH songs).
It sounds much like a Marshall-Plexi-ish and basically you can dial in the exact same tone as Van Halen's first 4 albums with ease. This is exactly what I wanted. Its not all about EVH though, if you are a Randy Rhoads guy, Hendrix, Jake E Lee or Jimmy Page fan, you can dial in their tones with ease too. Remember, with the clarity of this head on any channel, if you play a wrong chord or hit a wrong note during a solo, folks are going to hear it. That's a good thing!
Overall, well worth the money, don't waste any time, get one now! I can't wait for my next gig to use this!
Thanks as always to Ed Nysrtrom and his assistants at Sweetwater, they spent time with me, which I was deciding to go with the Stealth or the EL34 and the improved clean channel made go with this one.
Hope my review was helpful.
..Trev.
This head rocks! ... If you get a good one.
When I initially received this amplifier head everything worked great and it sounded killer, however within 2 months I had a tube socket go bad (V1 preamp tube would not even light up). Sweetwater were gracious enough to extend my replacement period and send out a new amp! Thank you guys! This amp sounds killer, plenty of gain, plenty of low end thud, yet plenty of clarity. The footswitch is of sturdy construction, however these amps have an audible *pop* when switching channels. Not as noticeable at high volumes or in a band setting, but will irritate you at bedroom volume. The amp has an incredible amount of mids, almost too much (never thought there could be too much mids!) The JJ tubes that come stock in these amps, combined with the already pronounced midrange built in, make for a difficult to use mid control. Im finding for the first time I'm actually turning the mids below halfway to get a less nasal like sound. I would recommend swapping out preamp tubes to get a more usable mid control. Effects loop is super simple, works great. In conclusion: quality control on this amp could be better, if you get a healthy one its a beast, and Sweetwater customer service rocks!
Sounds like a Fender. Harsh tone. Not great distortion.
Maybe I got a dud. Who knows. (For a breakdown of issues I had, please scroll down past this paragraph)
EVH recommended having it inspected at a brand recognized repair center, but the closest one is an hour and thirty minutes on a good day. It was also recommended I swap one out through guitar center, but that's close to an hour away and they were down to only 4/120 amps the week prior, so I doubt they had any available to swap out without cutting further into the return period.
I played a 5150 100s mk III 100w EL34 (Mouthful) a month before I bought one.
The one I received sounded harsh out of the box. It just didn't quite have the rich mids of a Marshall with the crispness of a Fender, and the power of an EVH like it was sold as.
I like Marshalls. I like Peaveys. I like Mesas. This amp sounds like a Fender. I had hoped the EVH logo meant the Fender production was all in name and it was not. If you like Peavey or Marshall distortion, get a Marshall or Peavey in my opinion.
Pros:
Beautiful amp
Good cleans
EVH Legacy of course
Decent blues tone?
Cons:
Very harsh tone overall. Thin and almost grating no matter how you played with the resonance, presence, and EQ.
Very heavy
Distortion just doesn't quite sound like it has enough power. More angry fender and less Marshall/Peavey
Using the presence to attempt to balance out its harshness muddied the sound and heavily dampened the distortion.
Heavily compressed sound.
(The Stealth sounds even more Harsh)
Over 8 days, I had 4 friends/family that play try to get a good tone out of it.
I bought distortion/OD pedals
Ran my BOSS GT through it in the fx loop
Tried a Detuner
Chorus, reverb, delay, flanger
EQ from the BOSS GT
Ran it through a TwoNotes Captor X and through Pro Tools with every simulated Cab on the captor
2 Marshall Cabs
Tried 4 different guitars through it.
I know people say these amps can be hard to tame, but there's a difference between trying to get your sound versus getting a GOOD sound. You can get a good sound fairly easily on many amps. This amp was excessively harsh on the high end. Not a very warm tone. It was brand new out of the box. I played it long and often for a few days to break in the tubes, let it warm up, and tried 3 different means of reducing outgoing volume to crank it to the sweet spot. Nothing did enough to improve the tone.
I happened across a Peavey 6505+ in guitar center a week later and within a half hour had dialed up a tone with a warm saturated distortion and balance between mids, low end, and high end with clarity. No harshness. Threw a brainwave pitch shifter detuned on there and it sounded exactly like the 5150 VH album. I'm aware that should be the case, but the 5150 wasn't even approximating early VH for me. Just extremely thin. Sounded like an angry Fender blues amp, not an EVH Signature.
WWill send audio files taken through the Captor x into pro tools.
Keeps breaking!!
I am now on my second EL34 100W head, and it recently started malfunctioning (about 7 months after receiving). My green channel has an immense hiss coming from it, my blue channel doesn't even work anymore, and my red channel sounds like it has more hiss coming from it. This was suppose to be a brand new replacement from my original EL34 100W that had a faulty power transformer if I remember correctly. These things sound absolutely amazing but if they keep breaking down on my I might not purchase anything from EVH ever again.
5150 evh el34 100 watt amp
I bought this EVH 5150 el 34 100 watt amp, and 2 weeks later it blew up,they sent me another amp and it Blew up 2 weeks later they sent me a 3rd amp and it Blew up too, and now they are sending me my 4th amp, if it blows uptime going to buy a Friedman amp,I did love the sound of me EVH 5150 EL34 100 watt amp while it worked, I think the Factory needs to take a better look at these amps, or they might of made a bad batch of amps! That what my amp repair tech said,