NAD/Review: EVH 5150III 50W head!

[paulbag]

I think I might pick one of these up. I haven't heard a bad thing about it. That with a matching EVH 2x12 sounds like a great rig for playing out. Great review.

Me too...but the 2x12 combo is about to drop with reverb and built in power attenuator...what to do...

[sambencuda]

Here's Chris Shiflet with Chevy Metal using one. Sounds pretty ballsy. I'm wanting one more and more and you know what? I could care less that it's a mini amp. I'm diggin the mini amp technology. Plus this one's is 50 watts. aside from it's size, is not really that mini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IikJZU-qeJ0&list=PLA6936D5DFD86BC9B&index=5

[Kempo Bulldog]

Me too...but the 2x12 combo is about to drop with reverb and built in power attenuator...what to do...

I read somewhere that there might be a 1x12 combo coming later in the year. If that is true and it comes with the reverb and attenuator then I think I might have finally found next amp.

[Radiohead]

For anyone looking for great tone at reasonable volumes (not bedroom but enjoyable practice at home) I use the EVH 50 watts head into the EVH 4x12. I have a few pedal on my board up front (OCD, Rusty Nail and few other boosts, Flanger, Phase). In the loop I have the a Deceminator, Volume Pedal and Delay. By putting the volume pedal in the loop you can push the tubes hard, achieve great tone and reduce the volume to the desired level. I have found this much better than using a Hot Plate.

[VitaminG]

you may be pushing the preamp tubes hard, but the volume pedal in the loop is just doing the same job as your master volume. You lower the signal before it hits the power tubes, so there's actually a reduction in how hard the signal hits the power tubes. In other words, less power tube saturation (not that you're getting any at bedroom levels). The Hot Plate will allow you cook those power tubes before attenuating the signal to the speaker because it's placed post-power tubes.

Not saying your method won't sound good. If you rely on preamp drive for your sound, I'm sure it does. And one advantage - it's probably better for controlling your volume at lower levels. Some amps get loud awful quick & a volume pedal would provide more precise control.

But if you're looking for power-tube-on-the-edge-of-destruction tone, the volume pedal in the loop won't give you that.

[Radiohead]

Hey ViraminG, what your saying makes perfect sense, but I have found having a volume pedal in the loop with the master wide open gives a better tone than having the master at 1 or 2. Not sure why, I have never studied the schematics of the EVH or other amps. Just find it works for me? I also did this with the Carvin Legacy I used to have and it worked great. That amp sounded like ass until it hit at least 5 or 6 on the master.

I have only use the THD Hot Plate and found it colour my tone a lot to attenuate to the desired volumes. I saw a Pete Thorn vid and he is using the new Suhr Attenuator. Perhaps there are better Attenuators then the Hot Plate.

[GodWentPUNK]

I was looking at this amp but I had a hard time convincing myself this was a useable 3 channel amp. I know it has 3 channels but I cannot figure out how to use channels 1/2 as separate channels effectively. I don't think I would ever want to use channel 1/2 with the same gain/volume setting, so when switching between the two, I would want to have control of at least the gain/volume for each. As it goes for a 3 channel amp, I would want channel 1 to be rhythm and 2 solo but of course, channel 2 I would want louder with more gain that 2. So how this amp work in a live situation when you want a difference between channel 1/2??

thank!

joe...

[Devotee]

I was looking at this amp but I had a hard time convincing myself this was a useable 3 channel amp. I know it has 3 channels but I cannot figure out how to use channels 1/2 as separate channels effectively. I don't think I would ever want to use channel 1/2 with the same gain/volume setting, so when switching between the two, I would want to have control of at least the gain/volume for each. As it goes for a 3 channel amp, I would want channel 1 to be rhythm and 2 solo but of course, channel 2 I would want louder with more gain that 2. So how this amp work in a live situation when you want a difference between channel 1/2??

thank!

joe...

Channel 1 is the clean channel and it shares gain, volume and EQ with channel 2. It sounds to me that you'd want to use channel 2 for rythm and channel 3 for lead so you can adjust the settings separately. Of course, this all depends on the style of music you're playing. For my purposes i use channel 3 almost exclusively and just use effects through the loop to give my lead sound more juice.

[GodWentPUNK]

Ok, got yeah...still makes me wonder on you would use 1 and 2 effectively. You never would want your crunch and clean channel as the same volume needless to say, you gain at the same level too. It almost seems like a 2 channel amp either clean(1)/crunch(3) or crunch(2)/solo(3)....

Thanks for the input.

joe...

[toejam]

Cool review! I'd love to check one of these out some day.

[toejam]

Ok, got yeah...still makes me wonder on you would use 1 and 2 effectively. You never would want your crunch and clean channel as the same volume needless to say, you gain at the same level too. It almost seems like a 2 channel amp either clean(1)/crunch(3) or crunch(2)/solo(3)....

Thanks for the input.

joe...

You'd probably want to check out a Carvin V3 or V3M then. They've got three channels that each have their own EQ.

[VitaminG]

or a Randall RM100

[mantis]

I heard V30s don't sound too good with this head. My speakers are small blocks which are greenback clones rated at 55 watts. They sound good and I think the EVH speakers are greenbacks or a close match.

I played this head with a Orange Cabinet loaded with V30's and I didn't care for the response. The EVH speakers are much better matched.