“I was saying, ‘It’s going to get hot. It’s going to explode. We’re going to have a fire.’ He was like, ‘Don’t worry about it’”: From Eddie Van Halen’s “uncanny genius” to his brutal crash-testing, inside the making of the EVH 5150 III

Wolfgang Van Halen was only 16 when the EVH 5150 III dropped in 2007. Since then, the guitar amp his father Edward made famous has become a huge success.

With that, Wolfgang has made an observation, telling GW, “I feel like you can’t be in a metal band without at least having a 5150 or using a ripoff of some sort.”

“It’s one of the most successful amp brands of all time,” adds Matt Bruck, the man who helped EVH develop the amp. “The legacy continues. We were incredibly fortunate to have Ed for the time that we had him. I’m humbled and honored by what it is, but I’m not surprised.”

“There’s a lot of pride involved,” says Van Halen, who plays 5150 IIIs live and in the studio. “I certainly have no problem representing and using it at every opportunity. The amp is really Matt and my dad’s baby. I’m just happy to be here and see it happen.”

What do you remember about how this amp was put together?

Bruck: The process was long and difficult, because the amp was reimagined from the ground up, which meant we had to establish a new foundation to build up from.

This meant a new chassis and formulating the transformers, which are amazing, built like a tank, and over spec’d – the way they should be if you’re going for something great.

Van Halen: I remember Dad testing it up in the studio. You could hear it from the bottom of the house, this slight feedback. As you went up toward the studio, it started to get louder. Then you opened the door to the first room, and it was a little louder.

When you opened the door to where the guitar was, there was a guitar sitting there, with every knob pinned, feeding back. He literally kept it there for a week, just to crash test it and make sure it didn’t explode. [Laughs] I think that’s the most rigorous testing an amp could go through.

Bruck: I wrote down all this shit so I’d have some facts, but I forgot about the story Wolf just told. I’m so happy he laid it out because it’s true. We were just getting to the end of development, which took about a year and three quarters, and the last phase was called “crash testing.”

Was “crash testing” a phrase Eddie coined, so to speak?

Bruck: It was where he would just try to destroy a piece of equipment. [Laughs] It was so when it went to market, it would be reliable. He just dimed the thing, left it leaning against the cabinet, and created this eternal feedback loop. I was terrified the place was going to burn down.

What was Eddie’s reaction to that?

Bruck: I was saying, “It’s going to get hot. It’s going to explode. We’re going to have a fire.” He was like, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll see how long it goes.” After about five days, he was like, “Okay, it passed the test.” That gives you insight into the uncanny genius and how much of an outside-the-box thinker Ed was.

Van Halen: It was like Dad’s version of how they test video game controllers – where they have a robot pressing a button three million times before it breaks. It was the amp version of that. [Laughs]

• Review: EVH's 5150III 50-Watt 6L6 Head is the perfect gigging and studio amp for discriminating players
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.