5150III LBX-S 15-watt Tube Head Review

An amazing little amp!

I had been looking at this amp and the EVH 50-watt Stealth head. I decided on the LBXIII even though I was iffy on EL-84 power tubes as I'm not a "VOX" kind of guy. I tell you what though, I can't tell the difference between the 84s and their El-84 brethren in this amp. Used in combination with an EVH 5150 series guitar(stock Wolfgang pickups) the pair sound amazing. All the… read more crunch and sustain you could want in an amp but with tone that sounds warm and fat - EVH style. I generally don't play with too much gain but even with it set at 2-3 on the red channel this thing sounds great. The cleans are great too. A nice little feature is backlit LEDs that change from green to red when you switch from clean to crunch. I plug into a Marshal 2x12 (1936) cab with 75-watt Celies in it and it's a killer combination. If you don't have $1500+ to spend on an amp, get this one. You won't be sorry.

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EVH 5150iii LBX-S 15

The amount of gain on this lunchbox is incredible. 15 watts is enough for me to play clubs and outside venues. The tone is pure perfection and the green channel will get you some great clean sounds. Paired with my EVH 5150iii 2-12 cabinet is a perfect match. My man Forrest at Sweetwater was a big help too…

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Beastly Little Guy

So I had been staring at this on back-order for what seemed like forever before calling my Sweetwater sales rep, Kent, to see what the deal was. As per usual he was enormously helpful in tracking the item down and finding out when new pre-orders would be filled. In all truth it showed up quite a bit faster than I was expecting. They don't charge you for anything until a pre-order… read more is shipped which is great and they keep you up to date with e-mails and sometimes even a phone call to make sure you received everything and that it's in good order. The amp itself sounds great on both channels and was well worth the wait. It's my first EVH amp so I don't have a huge knowledge-base to compare it to but for the home studio application this amp checks every box for me. Dual knobs for the eq to seperate the two channels as they did on the gain/volume knobs would have been a great but in a home studio setting where I'm not actively bouncing between channels this wasn't a big deal to me. I will say that there doesn't seem to be any difference in volume with the 1/4 power setting switched on. Maybe it just doesn't max out as high on the 1/4 power setting? I haven't been brave enough to try it out as it's plenty loud enough to drive a speaker cab for recording.

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Best Kept Secret

This small amp head made me sell my Synergy rig. It's that good and I am NOT a metal guy. I only play classic rock and have owned loads of other tube amps. Good green channel and versatile red channel not just for metal belying its aggressive appearance. Gain below noon you get classic rock crunch, above noon you get all the dirt you want. Cleans up well with your guitar's… read more volume knob. Sounds amazing at whisper quiet volume levels and gets very loud and punchy when you need it to. I feel this Stealth version is superior to the previous 2 iterations in versatility and tone. I feel it is a great value for the price too. Great work EVH. RIP Edward.

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Flame thrower

Amazing tone in a lunch box sized amp. I've had a few others and none compare to the raw tone this displays.

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