EVH 5150 Series Standard Electric Guitar - Stealth Black with Ebony Fingerboard Reviews

I'm selling all 7 of my other Guitars, Don't play them any more...Married now..
The search is over!

Absolutely love this guitar. Sounds great with my EVH 5150 amp. Incredibly easy to play.

I just received the guitar, have played about half hour, and I can honestly say this is a great guitar. I've been playing a few years (40 yrs lol) and I've had my share of guitars over the years. The EVH 5150 is loaded, pickups are great, very comfortable to play and I think an absolute steal at this price.

I've waited a long time for this type of guitar. I love it. Love the neck and overall balance. Great and wide tonal spectrum. Originally felt that the kill switch would end up being more of a novelty feature... However, I find myself using it a lot more than I ever thought I would. D-tuna and Tremelo bridge work perfectly. Lastly, I can't get over how fast Sweetwater shipped it out to me. Totally happy with the entire experience from start to finish... but, with the numerous interactions I've had with Sweetwater - I would have been really disappointed if it hadn't been exactly that. Thanks again!

This guitar is an amazing example of great craftsmanship and playability, I would match this guitar against any Strat style guitar on the market.
It is amazingly affordable and has taken my playing to the next level!

This guitar comes loaded with most of the features you would want if you are into modifying your guitars. The pickups are hot and sound fantastic clean or over-driven, they can sustain for a very long time too. The The Floyd Rose will allow you to dive bomb and stays in tune, the D'Tuna will drop tune your 6th string with little effort, that killswitch is a really cool feature. The overall feel of the guitar is comfortable and familiar, the neck is nice and chunky but not too thick.
I would not recommend this guitar for a beginner or someone that does not like to set up their equipment, like most guitars with a locking trem system it can take some time getting new strings stretched and acclimated, the D'Tuna adds a little more time to the process. But, once you get it set up it's good!
Sweetwater shipped fast and the guitar arrived in perfect condition.

Bought 2 of these and love them. Great tone from great pickups. Not a fan of the basswood. I am a alder guy but you cant even tell on these models of the difference in body wood/tone. Great overall..

I am by no means a high-level guitar player. I've been playing for about five years and mostly self-taught. I have had a Wolfgang special in the ivory color for a year that I kept in standard tuning and decided to give this guitar a try as my E flat guitar and true Van Halen fashion. It didn't disappoint! Had the guitar set up by Sweetwater and after some consistent playing to get the strings stretched out, I have no complaints. Wonderful craftsmanship, lovely neck and a great paint job. Also love the Killswitch and the different frictioned pots. Would highly recommend to anyone.

I really enjoy shredding on this guitar. The tone quality and feel of the instrument is smooth. I'd buy it again.

Just got the guitar today. The tone is fabulous. The playability is off the charts. Keep in mind that the last electric guitar I bought was a 1985 Fender Strat (in 1985) so I'm a little behind the times, but wow. This thing is great.

I played a green one.
Best attack that I've heard out of the dirty channel ever! I was out looking for a strat and love all the Eddie replicas, but all i hqd to do was chug, for it to pick me!

Fantastic!! Epic job, Sweetwarer!!! Love it!!!!! Thank you!

So I put an order in for this bad boy at the beginning of 2021 when I saw the stealth black version and fell in love so hard that I was willing to wait however long it took. Oh. My. God. I am so glad I did so!! These Wolfgang pickups mounted directly to the body are crazy hot and the neck is so fast it makes me feel like I can shred with the best! The kill-switch is a must have for me now because it's just the cherry on top of a guitar that I will love and treasure forever. God this thing can go from 'talk' to 'scream' in an effortless slide of the pinky across the low-friction volume knob and has had me hooked ever since I got it 10 months ago. It will always be in my "never sell" pile of guitars, and this is coming from someone that would rather have a medical procedure than change strings on a Floyd Rose lol! I highly recommend any of these 5150 models because they are Strats on steroids! It doesn't hurt that the neck has a 12-16" compound radius (which is amazing btw) and feels nice and slick on the back of it without having that sticky lacquer like other Fender branded guitars have. I would give this 5 stars until the day I die. Long live the guitar Mozart who is EVH forever!

This guitar screams. The neck feels amazing, not too slim and not too thick. The hockey stick headstock is beyond cool. This guitar feels very reminiscent of a 1985 Kramer Pacer. If you are a metal player, you will love this guitar.

Feels and sounds amazing. Pickups are top-notch, the satin finish on the neck is super easy and comfortable to play, and the tuners are super smooth. I could go on, but you get the idea. This guitar lives up to the hype.

I bought this shortly after purchasing the slime green one. The green 5150 played so well I just wanted another one! Lol!
Actually, what I really wanted was to give an EVH 5150 with the ebony fingerboard a try since I already had the maple board, so that meant getting this satin black-finished one. I am SO glad I did! This one sounds even better than the green one and, after a good setup (including some nut work), plays almost as well as the green one - falls just shy of it, but still a fantastic playing guitar! But back to the sound, this satin black 5150 is a beast! I'm not sure if it's due to the ebony fingerboard or the lack of a gloss coat over the black body, but it just has a great tone and attack! I perceive it to have more bottom and mid-range than the green one. It has the feel of a very high quality instrument and plays so smoothly. Makes a great stable mate to the green one and I am grateful to have both. I think I am in the process of converting from Gibson to EVH. They're just extremely fun to play, they sound great, play great, feel like high quality and, each day I play one, it inspires me to play beyond how I played the day before! That's worth every penny in my book!

I do not write many reviews, but I feel this one is worthy..I wanted a EVH
( shred ) guitar, I have a Wolfgang Std..2 MIJ Ibanez RG550s, and other Ibanez RG series made in Indonesia,that are main players for me.

Overall the EVH 5150 ( Stealth Black) is a pretty good guitar..The tones are pretty good...NO...dang good for that EVH sound...Roll that volume down for that easy bliss, and throttle it to 10 to set it on fire...It stays in tune well, even with the stock atrings, and the D Tuna works great. This guitar was mainly purchased for that EVH sound, and paired with my EVH 6L6 Combo, it delivers that for sure. The Killswitch is fun, and overall it is more fun and easier to play than the Wolfgang in my opinion..I find the Wolfgang neck too narrow at nut area for my thick fingers to easily grab complex chords..The 5150 Series solves that issue, and I find the neck very comfortable..If you are into a super thin "Wizard" neck feeling, this guitar's neck will feel slightly on the chubby side, but is honestly not any less playable..For some reason, it plays like a super thin neck..
Sweetwater had it at my door in 36 hours.

Now, the reason it gets 4.5 stars..
For the price, this guitar is not on the same level as the MIJ Ibanez RG550s. Those can be had for $.. I get it..We pay for the EVH brand..The guitar in my opinion is more of a fair deal at the $ price point..Again, my comparison is based on the MIJ 550s..
My 5150 guitar came with a slightly canted bridge PUP..Most would not notice it, but it drives my OCD mind crazy..It should be in line with the bridge, but mine is slanted so slightly..And since they are solid mounted, I do not know if I can correct it without drilling or slotting the PUP mount holes..
The Treble side of the front edge of the bridge, was on the body when I got it..I am glad I saw it before I divebombed the trem, because it would have damaged the finish and wood..I had to raise the treble side post almost one full turn to get body clearance..Fortunately it did not change the action much at all..The intonation is horrible out of the box..At least mune was..Just plan on having to do a basic setup before playing. The fine tuners are pretty gritty as well..Lastly, the trem bar has bumps under the finish..Almost like rust bubbles..Time will tell how that developes..
When compared to a sub $ Ibanez MIJ, these MIM " Fenders" are nowhere close in fit, finish and out of box playability at a price point of $..But the sonic sounds, and overall fun factor will get you over the slight imperfections..It really is fun and inspiring to play, and that is why I bought one..If these hit a sub $ price point, I would give them 10 stars..But overall I am happy..

The other three (five star) reviews of this guitar are on point.

I knocked off a half star because the fret edges came from the factory a little rough- my other two EVH guitars have frets that are silky smooth. This one minor flaw doesn't stop the 5150 from being my daily go-to instrument (and I'll get it fixed this summer).

There isn't anything tone-wise that this guitar cannot do. Its tone is slightly darker than my Wolfgang standard, and of all things, one of my favorite things to do with with this guitar is turn the tone knob all the way down to 0 and run it into the clean channel of my amp with some reverb. That gives me a neat Spanish guitars vibe that I really enjoy when I'm tired of doing Dime squeals and horse whinnies.

Oh, and this guitar is more metal than it looks, which is metal as you-know-what.

Great instrument.

Better looking in Person. Great playing, Great sounding guitar but has minimal fret sprout on both sides of the neck. I decided to keep it, but I had the fret sprout professionally sanded away by a local luthier which cost me an extra $. The reason I decided to keep it is because I really liked the rest of the features on the guitar and the sound.