5150III 50-watt Tube Head - Ivory Review

Perfect Amp

I love this amp. I have had the EVH el34 for a couple years and finally decided to try this one out. The 6l6 just does metal so much easier. The el34 is very versatile and also does metal well but this 6l6 just does it so much more effortlessly without needing to tweak pedals and eq. As always, the customer service with Alex, my Sweetwater rep was 100%

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Tone monster

This is going to be a long review. I hope you find some enjoyment reading it. Thank you to my excellent sales engineer Ian Roegels for always making sure things are right and for making great recommendations. Over the past few months I have purchased an MXR EVH Phase 90, 5150 III head and cabinet from Sweetwater. All arrived quick and safe as usual. I'm really happy with this EVH… read more 5150 III 50 watt 6L6 amp head and 2X12 cabinet. It's very versatile and has great tube distortion and clean sounds. I purchased them separately buying the head first. The head sounded great through several different cabs. I read reviews about the 5150 III 2X12 matching cabinet with several saying the cabinet matches perfectly with the head. So I purchased it. They weren't wrong. It sounds amazing. I got the head to add some different tones to my recordings. Having several heads that I really love, each with their own unique tones. 1982 JCM 800 2204 Marshall 50 watt, 1967 Alamo 2578 Superband piggyback, and a Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 18. All those heads have made great tones that I like. I'm not going to compare those to the EVH because they are all very different. I will say this. The EVH combination head and cabinet just blew me away. From great clean sounds to face melting distortion. While I didn't buy these to chase Edward Van Halen's tone, I couldn't resist playing some of his music. Well , I might have chased it a little.

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Everything you could want and need

The EVH 5150III 50-watt Tube Head has everything you want and need. The tone in incredible. The THREE channels allows you to switch gears from clean, to rhythm/gain, to lead with insane gain! I had the same head for 18 years and never thought I'd find anything better... This amp is it!

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Worth all the hype!

This amp is definitely worth all the hype it gets!I've been addicted just like Eddie to chasing tones all my life. I am never fully satisfied, I always want just a little more of this or that. I've been playing for many many years, I'm a well rounded musician, not a one trick pony and play all styles so I hope my opinion may help some who are on the fence.It seems that I've played… read more just about every amp over time, I own so many different amps, and I like each one for what it does. When I finally plugged one into my own rig in my personal studio up to a couple of 4x12 cabs, I just couldn't believe what this lil 50 watt was pushing out, it was ridiculous! First off, it's super loud and the sustain and gain is just monstrous. The gain sizzles man, it's thick, it's huge, it's open, it's airy, it's raw, it's punchy, it's throaty, it's friggen awesome. I did not even need to add a boost pedal in the front, no need whatsoever it has that much gain. I tried several guitars on it both passive and active pickups and I pushed this amp hard and twisted knobs all over the place and I just could not make this amp sound terrible, now that is saying something because in my experience, most amps have maybe 1 or 2 sweet spots. This amp has several.Now channel one the green clean channel sounds glassy kinda like a fender twin with some compression added & my Strat or Tele hooked up, it's great for when I'm feeling like doing some country & some chikn pikn. Channel 2 has become my favorite due to all the sweet spots it has. I'm able to lay down some nice bluesy stuff, country leads, heavy rock riffs and even some fully rung out strummed and picked type of chords never ever sounding muddy. Channel 3 is just pure luscious gain, those beautiful glass tubes just glowing away saturating out some pure glory. The effects loop takes pedals really well and I also ran a headrush pedal board through it. It just sounds fantastic even at low volumes!

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Best Metal Amp

Ts9 and the EVH 5150iii 50watt make a awesome combo

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