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Finally, snagged myself an EVH 5150III 50W head in ivory. This isn't truly an NAD since i bought it a month ago, but i only got my hands on it last week when i travelled to London for a gig with my band; the amp was waiting for me at our drummer's place.
I bought this amp used off the Bay for £700 including postage. I've seen these being sold for for £750 new but this one came with a nice dust cover and an extra pair of 6L6 power tubes in addition to the footswitch it comes with, so i think i got a pretty good deal. I say used but it's pretty much dead mint - no dings or scratches anywhere to be seen!
First some photos from the auction:
Since i had a gig coming up, i had the perfect opportunity put this amp through its paces. This is one of the earlier 5150IIIs which were made in Vietnam as opposed to the ones you find now which are made in Mexico. Nonetheless, it's built like a motherfucking tank. The EVH is about 3/4 the size of a Peavey 5150 and 10kg lighter. It's still a hefty 15kg (ask me how i lugged it back home from London). The pots are tight but nice and smooth and all the jacks and switches are fat and chunky and the indicator LEDs are super bright. Front panel is pretty simple, shared EQ for channels 1 and 2 and independent EQ for channel 3. Global Presence knob on the front and Resonance knob on the back. Maybe the front panel push button channel switches are a little too close to some of the knobs so you may inadvertently end up turning master volume up or down while changing channel if you have fat fingers, but that's hardly a reason to complain when you get a nice chunky footswitch. The footswitch weighs a fair amount by itself and can definitely take a combat boot stomping.
Like i said, the EVH is built like a tank and i actually almost had a heart attack when i dropped it (yes, that's right!
) from about a 2 foot height when i was trying to see if it would fit in a duffel bag (it did) and the shoulder strap snapped when i tried to lift it. It landed on its feet onto a wooden floor with a thud that shook the whole room but it didn't seem to mind at all over the next few days of abuse i hurled at it. Needless to say i did feel like a total dumbass afterwards. 
Soundwise, it's surprisingly versatile! The first few days i tried it out through my old Hughes & Kettner 4x12 loaded with Celestion RockDrivers and also got to try it through a Marshall 1960 4x12 at rehearsals and during the gig. I played my Elite King V loaded with SD Invaders through it. It sounded great though both cabs but i'm looking for a nice 2x12 to play it at home and in the studio.
Channel ONE (green): The clean channel is sparkly and bright very much like you would expect from a Fender amp, it's not brittle and flat like the Peavey 5150. The clean stays squeaky clean until you push the gain up around 2 o'clock, then it has a really nice crunchy breakup. I use a Boss CE-5 in the loop quite often (during leads for colour mainly) and the clean channel sounded beautiful with it. I'd be really curious to see how it sounds with a Tele, Strat or even a hollowbody. My only complaint is that there's no reverb so the clean sounds a little dry, but apparently the EVH 5150III 50W combo has addressed that. Otherwise, a very usable clean provided you're using the right guitar.
Channel TWO (blue): This channel offers a nice, thick boosted Marshally-type tone with a slightly looser low end than channel 3. It's a little warmer than channel 3 and far less gainy but can easily handle teh br00tz if you turn the gain up to 10. At some point i tried a Boss HM-3 in front of it and nailed that classic Entombed/Dismember Swedish Death Metal tone as well. At lower gains you get anything from fantastic crunchy classic rock tones to sleazy Glam tones and screaming 80s Metal. I know i kinda compared this channel to a Marshall, but this amp has much more cut and grind than a Plexi and incredible note definition.
Channel THREE (red): This is where things get dead serious. The low end tightens up like an altarboy's asshole after Mass, the gain opens up like the jaws of Hell and this amp becomes a fire-breathing beast. Fuck me this thing roars! The highs are cutting with an incredible attack but without being harsh and brittle, mids snarl and bark and the low end is super tight and fast but punchy. As i said, this amp has amazing note definition and even at high gain every note is bell-like, even playing full chords you can hear every single note clearly. The downside to this is that it's quite unforgiving, so make sure you warm up before you go onstage.
My band plays really fast Death Metal in Eb standard so definition and punch is important, so i had the gain around 1 o' clock which gave me a really juicy, thick distortion with plenty of stabbing attack. Power chords seem to soar and palm mutes are like fucking gunshots through this thing. The other guitarist in my band plays through a Peavey 5150 MKI and i have to say that the EVH cut through a lot more during rehearsals and live. The EVH has a more defined mid range snarl and far tigher low end than the Peavey as well.
This thing loves pedals too, my Morley Bad Horsie sounded great in front of it and a very useful feature the EVH has is the footswitchable effects loop. In my setup, i use a Boss GE-7 and the aforementioned CE-5 in the loop to give me a boost and add some colour to my leads. You can prearm the pedals in the loop and just hit the footswitch instead of having to tapdance all over your pedalboard which is a nice useful feature, especially when tremelo picking riffs up and down the fretboard at 280bpm. It would have been nice to be able to pre-arm the effects loop switch per channel though, so you could switch to channel 3 with effects on for instance and going back to channel 2 for rythm, etc.
All in all though, a fantastic amp! If you're considering one of these, just buy it - you'll love it.
I bought this amp used off the Bay for £700 including postage. I've seen these being sold for for £750 new but this one came with a nice dust cover and an extra pair of 6L6 power tubes in addition to the footswitch it comes with, so i think i got a pretty good deal. I say used but it's pretty much dead mint - no dings or scratches anywhere to be seen!
First some photos from the auction:
Since i had a gig coming up, i had the perfect opportunity put this amp through its paces. This is one of the earlier 5150IIIs which were made in Vietnam as opposed to the ones you find now which are made in Mexico. Nonetheless, it's built like a motherfucking tank. The EVH is about 3/4 the size of a Peavey 5150 and 10kg lighter. It's still a hefty 15kg (ask me how i lugged it back home from London). The pots are tight but nice and smooth and all the jacks and switches are fat and chunky and the indicator LEDs are super bright. Front panel is pretty simple, shared EQ for channels 1 and 2 and independent EQ for channel 3. Global Presence knob on the front and Resonance knob on the back. Maybe the front panel push button channel switches are a little too close to some of the knobs so you may inadvertently end up turning master volume up or down while changing channel if you have fat fingers, but that's hardly a reason to complain when you get a nice chunky footswitch. The footswitch weighs a fair amount by itself and can definitely take a combat boot stomping.
Like i said, the EVH is built like a tank and i actually almost had a heart attack when i dropped it (yes, that's right!
) from about a 2 foot height when i was trying to see if it would fit in a duffel bag (it did) and the shoulder strap snapped when i tried to lift it. It landed on its feet onto a wooden floor with a thud that shook the whole room but it didn't seem to mind at all over the next few days of abuse i hurled at it. Needless to say i did feel like a total dumbass afterwards. Soundwise, it's surprisingly versatile! The first few days i tried it out through my old Hughes & Kettner 4x12 loaded with Celestion RockDrivers and also got to try it through a Marshall 1960 4x12 at rehearsals and during the gig. I played my Elite King V loaded with SD Invaders through it. It sounded great though both cabs but i'm looking for a nice 2x12 to play it at home and in the studio.
Channel ONE (green): The clean channel is sparkly and bright very much like you would expect from a Fender amp, it's not brittle and flat like the Peavey 5150. The clean stays squeaky clean until you push the gain up around 2 o'clock, then it has a really nice crunchy breakup. I use a Boss CE-5 in the loop quite often (during leads for colour mainly) and the clean channel sounded beautiful with it. I'd be really curious to see how it sounds with a Tele, Strat or even a hollowbody. My only complaint is that there's no reverb so the clean sounds a little dry, but apparently the EVH 5150III 50W combo has addressed that. Otherwise, a very usable clean provided you're using the right guitar.
Channel TWO (blue): This channel offers a nice, thick boosted Marshally-type tone with a slightly looser low end than channel 3. It's a little warmer than channel 3 and far less gainy but can easily handle teh br00tz if you turn the gain up to 10. At some point i tried a Boss HM-3 in front of it and nailed that classic Entombed/Dismember Swedish Death Metal tone as well. At lower gains you get anything from fantastic crunchy classic rock tones to sleazy Glam tones and screaming 80s Metal. I know i kinda compared this channel to a Marshall, but this amp has much more cut and grind than a Plexi and incredible note definition.
Channel THREE (red): This is where things get dead serious. The low end tightens up like an altarboy's asshole after Mass, the gain opens up like the jaws of Hell and this amp becomes a fire-breathing beast. Fuck me this thing roars! The highs are cutting with an incredible attack but without being harsh and brittle, mids snarl and bark and the low end is super tight and fast but punchy. As i said, this amp has amazing note definition and even at high gain every note is bell-like, even playing full chords you can hear every single note clearly. The downside to this is that it's quite unforgiving, so make sure you warm up before you go onstage.
My band plays really fast Death Metal in Eb standard so definition and punch is important, so i had the gain around 1 o' clock which gave me a really juicy, thick distortion with plenty of stabbing attack. Power chords seem to soar and palm mutes are like fucking gunshots through this thing. The other guitarist in my band plays through a Peavey 5150 MKI and i have to say that the EVH cut through a lot more during rehearsals and live. The EVH has a more defined mid range snarl and far tigher low end than the Peavey as well.This thing loves pedals too, my Morley Bad Horsie sounded great in front of it and a very useful feature the EVH has is the footswitchable effects loop. In my setup, i use a Boss GE-7 and the aforementioned CE-5 in the loop to give me a boost and add some colour to my leads. You can prearm the pedals in the loop and just hit the footswitch instead of having to tapdance all over your pedalboard which is a nice useful feature, especially when tremelo picking riffs up and down the fretboard at 280bpm. It would have been nice to be able to pre-arm the effects loop switch per channel though, so you could switch to channel 3 with effects on for instance and going back to channel 2 for rythm, etc.
All in all though, a fantastic amp! If you're considering one of these, just buy it - you'll love it.
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