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Guitar World Verdict
The EVH 5150 III Hypersonic 6L6 blends the benefits of a modeling amp with the feel of a real speaker cabinet. It plays like a real amp in a room, but with some of the upsides of digital technology, such as an IR-loaded XLR out and lower power modes. In short, despite a few usability-related shortcomings, it’s an ideal gigging solution for any high-gain player.
Pros
- +
Lighter than the tube version.
- +
Real guitar speaker cabinet bypasses any chance of digital fizz.
- +
Fantastic 5150 distortion.
- +
Decent built-in IRs.
- +
XLR output can be run with the cab muted.
Cons
- -
Heavy relative to other digital equipment.
- -
The top half of the dual concentric controls gets in the way of the bottom half.
- -
Clean channel is a little lacklustre.
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What is it?
For any rock guitar player, Eddie Van Halen and the 5150 moniker are nothing less than Iconic. As the title of the Van Halen album that ushered in the Sammy Hagar era, the name of Eddie Van Halen’s home studio, and his signature series of amplifiers, 5150 is synonymous with the influential, high-gain, high-octane rock that Van Halen propagated.
The original 5150 valve amp started life in 1992 as a signature amplifier built by Peavey for Eddie. After moving on from Peavey in the early 2000’s, he took the 5150 trademark with him into his own brand - EVH(Peavey continues to produce its take under the 6505 name).
Fast forward a few decades, and the 5150 III 6L6 amplifier has been brought into the modern era with the release of the EVH 5150 III Hypersonic 6L6 combos. The EVH Hypersonic series follows in the footsteps of parent company Fender’s Tone Master range, turning to digital modeling technology for the amplifier but marrying it with a real guitar cabinet to create a digitally modeled combo amp.
These digital versions of the 5150 III 6L6 should, on paper, be about as accurate as it is possible for digital modeling to be for two reasons. Firstly, all of the digital processing power is dedicated to recreating one amp well, rather than a collection of iconic amps and effects and fancy (but useful) routing in floorboards such as the Quad Cortex.
Secondly, utilizing a real cabinet bypasses digital cabinet emulation and puts the player directly in front of two 12” Celestion G12H speakers, reducing the number of digital steps between the modeled tone and your ears. We should note here that there is cabinet emulation for a direct-to-desk sound on the amp, should you need it.
So far, the Hypersonic range consists of the 5150 III FRFR speaker, the 5150 III 6L6 1x12 combo, and what I have here, the 5150 III 6L6 2x12 combo. Looking forward to getting stuck into some high-gain tones, let’s see if it delivers what it should.
Specs
- Launch price: $1699 | £1399 | €1625
- Type: Three-channel digital combo amp
- Origin: China
- Output: 50 watts
- Speaker: 2x12, Celestion G12H 30W anniversary series
- Channels: Three
- Controls: Independent three-band EQ, Gain and Volume for each channel, Presence, Resonance and Reverb, Power Mode switch, IR selector
- Connectivity: 1/4" input, IR-loaded XLR output
- Footswitch: Included
- Weight: 56lbs/25.5kg
- Dimensions: 27.5”x11.8”x24.4”
- Contact: EVH
Build quality
Build quality rating: ★★★★½
Generally speaking, one of the biggest up sides of digital technology is increased portability, but this does not apply in quite the same way when you start making digital combos big enough to house two 12” speakers. Even considering this, the EVH 5150 III Hypersonic is pretty big at 27.5”x11.8”x24.4”.
At 56lbs/25.5kg, it is also relatively heavy in the context of digital equipment (for example, the 2x12 Boss Katana Gen 3 is 43lbs), but, when compared to the 85lbs of the tube equivalent, it is a significant, back-saving reduction.
So, best avoid if you need to work with a relatively small space on stage, but thankfully, there is a 1x12 version for those who need a smaller footprint.
I say on stage, because unless you're playing live, there would be little point in buying the oomph of the 2x12 over the smaller 1x12. And, EVH has built the chassis with live use in mind, as evidenced by the thick plywood sides and reassuring metal bracings on the corners.
Big clunky switches for the power and mute functions also offer an impression of industrial strength, as do the sliders, rotary selectors, and knobs that control the I/O on the back of the unit.
The only place where I feel there is a little room for improvement is the chicken head controls that form the top half of the dual concentric setup on the top panel. They feel a little loose in use relative to the other controls, so they don't quite have the same premium feel as the rest of the amp.
The lower of the dual controls for the Green channel (channel one) and the standalone chicken head knobs for the Red channel (channel 3) happily don’t have this issue and meet the high bar that the amp sets.
Usability and features
Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆
Another benefit of digital technology is the ability to include some extra features. The Hypersonic EVH 5150 III makes use of this, but builds it around a faithful recreation of the real thing, which includes three footswitchable channels, each with its own Gain and Volume control, plus a master Presence and Resonance control, an effects loop, a sturdy footswitch, and MIDI connectivity.
A little note, as we go forward, the three channels are canonically called the Green, Blue, and Red channels. Green for clean, Blue for rhythm, and Red for lead.
The extras on this digital version include a three-band EQ for each channel (on the tube version, channels one and two share an EQ), a noise gate for each channel, and a speaker-emulated XLR out with two built-in Impulse Responses.
For running a silent stage and utilizing just the XLR output, there is a mute switch around the back.
These IRs can be swapped and changed with the EVH IR manager app. Using the app requires a firmware update for the amp, which is easy enough to do, but finding out how requires some browsing around on the EVH website's support page. I would rather have this outlined in the included manual, as it is an operation everyone who buys this amp will need to carry out.
The only omission in my eyes is a Master volume control
Additionally, instead of the Power Level control featured on the valve amp, the Hypersonic version has selectable 1, 5, 25, and 50-watt outputs.
In short, there are plenty of features for almost everyone. The only omission in my eyes is a Master volume control, as with three channels that have their own independent volume, a master volume would be handy in changing the overall output of the amp without having to worry about accidentally changing the balance you have set between each of the channels.
Adding a Master to a tube amp can bring some compromises depending on its placement in the circuit, but this is a digital amp, so I can’t help but feel this is a missed opportunity.
However, the benefit of the amp being styled after something more traditional is that there are no menus to scroll through or screens to look at. It’s the upside of digital modeling with the plug-and-go sensibilities of old school tube amps.
For the most part, it’s plug your guitar in, tweak the EQ, gain, and volume to your liking, and go. A breath of fresh air in the context of digital floor boards that are getting increasingly complicated.
But that’s not to say there aren’t a few awkward quirks.
The biggest issue being the chicken head knobs positioned on top of the dual concentric controls for EQ, Gain, and Volume on the first two channels (the Green and Blue channels). The Green channel is tweaked by the lower control, and the Blue channel by the chicken head control on top (the Red channel gets its own dedicated knobs).
The top and bottom of the chicken head knobs are bigger than the control below it, and therefore, get in the way when trying to turn the lower control.
The chicken head knobs are bigger than the control below it, and get in the way when trying to turn the lower control
This is more than a little annoying. These controls can be done effectively, as demonstrated by Boss in pedals such as the JHS Angry Driver. So on the EVH, I find this to be a good idea that falls short in its execution.
Switching channels with the footswitch is easy, with the channel you are on properly indicated by the LED alongside the switches. Without the footswitch, the LED that indicates what channel you are on is built into the mini rotary knob that is each channel's noise gate control.
I found this confusing, initially believing, as most would, that an LED lighting up a noise gate control would indicate the noise gate being on. Nope, the noise gate is always active (turn the dial to zero to effectively have it off) and the LED indicates which channel is currently being used.
Getting back to the positive, the noise gates themselves are straightforward to utilize and a godsend on an amp with this much gain on tap. EVH has elected to avoid in-depth parameters like attack and release, and has just included one mini knob to control how severe the gate effect is.
Assuming the more in-depth parameters have been set well (we’ll cover this later - spoiler alert - they have), the result is we only need to turn the relevant gate up until the hiss goes away. Easy. And I particularly appreciate having three of them that are independent for each channel.
Having three channels with independent EQ and volume controls makes the amp a versatile beast when it comes to live use, by providing clean, rhythm, and lead sounds without the need for pedals.
Having said that, I’m sure that most of us would prefer to have a pedalboard with perhaps a nice phaser and delay to spice things up a bit, and for this, you will find an effects loop around the back, should you prefer to run things that way.
Sounds
Sounds rating: ★★★★½
Things get a little bit muddy in the low mids when that gain is pushed beyond halfway, so be careful here
Making some noise, when it’s run squeaky clean, the Green channel is a little lacking in those harmonic overtones that make a clean tone feel lively.
However, turn the Gain control up until it growls a bit, and there is a healthy, but not unpleasant, amount of high-end that is complemented by a tight low end, making for a very rewarding pushed clean tone.
Testing with both my Gibson SG and Music Man Silhouette Special, things get a little bit muddy in the low mids when that gain is pushed beyond halfway, so be careful here.
For tone shaping, the channels three band EQ sports powerful High and Mid controls, but is more subtle on the Low control. And then we have the master Resonance and Presence controls, which are both quite conservative in their effect, but help control the low-end thump and airy high end of the amp's character, without giving you enough to ruin a tone with.
Let’s face it - most of us will be looking at this amp for its driven sounds. And it does not disappoint. The Blue channel immediately adds a ton more gain, with the control ranging from a heavier crunch to all-out distortion in the first half of its travel, and then adding more than you would ever need as you push it further.
What makes it so much fun to play is that it stays tight throughout. No flubby low end here, so use that neck pickup to your heart's content. On a bridge humbucker, it’s perfect for the chuggy, high-gain, eighties rock thing, with palm mutes benefiting from that tightness.
The Red channel is similar to the Green but gets into distortion territory even earlier and has a slightly more pronounced mid-range, whilst staying super tight in the low end. In short, the perfect high-gain lead.
We also have a little space, courtesy of some digital reverb. Again, this is kept simple with just one control to adjust the amount, and is voiced with a controlled low end that keeps things mud-free even at higher settings. Being picky, I’d say it feels a little bit separate from the dry signal at lower settings, but not problematically so.
As previously mentioned, the XLR out on the back comes with two stock IRs. These are based on the EVH 5150 III cab and speaker, one with an off-axis SM57 and the second an on-axis SM7B.
Testing both, they are impressive IRs. I find myself preferring the on-axis SM7B as it is just a little rounder and has less of that digital fizz. In both cases, utilising the high cut built into the IR Loader app is a good option for mitigating that.
When compared to the real cabinet, there is a little less beefy mid-range in both, which is the sort of thing I would expect when hearing a cabinet through a microphone rather than standing in front of the real thing.
The IR loader app allows for the user to load in their own IR’s, too, so if these don’t do it for you, you are covered. Personally, with a little bit of that high cut, I would happily use the built-in IRs as a direct-to-desk solution.
Verdict
The provenance of the 5150 moniker means that there is a certain expectation on gear that bears that title, as we immediately think Van Halen and great high-gain tones. Thankfully, that is exactly what the EVH Hypersonic 5150 III 6L6 provides.
While I’m not a massive fan of the Green (clean) channel, the super tight, high-gain sounds of the Blue and Red channels are what we are all really here for.
Having three channels, each with its own individual noise gate and EQ, plus the benefits of a direct-to-desk XLR output equipped with decent pre-loaded IRs, makes the amp all any high-gain shredder will need to get through any gig. And that is in both high-volume and silent stage contexts.
In short, when playing through the cab, I forgot it was digital
The real win here is in taking cabinet emulation out of the digital equation and running a modeling amp into a real guitar cabinet and speaker. A lot of that amp in the room thing comes from the experience of being in front of a real cab, so it makes sense that this would result in a digital combo that feels real.
In short, when playing through the cab, I forgot it was digital.
The uncomfortable truth is that valves are not going to be around forever. But if this is the future of guitar amplification, I’m okay with it.
Guitar World verdict: The EVH 5150 III Hypersonic 6L6 blends the benefits of a modeling amp with the feel of a real speaker cabinet. It plays like a real amp in a room, but with some of the upsides of digital technology, such as an IR-loaded XLR out and lower power modes. In short, despite a few usability-related shortcomings, it’s an ideal gigging solution for any high-gain player.
Test | Results | Score |
|---|---|---|
Build quality | It's an industrial level feeling of strength throughout, despite some knobs feeling relatively less premium. | ★★★★½ |
Usability and features | Enough features for any shredder playing live, but with some annoying controls. | ★★★★☆ |
Sounds | A somewhat lacklustre clean, but we are all here for the excellent and iconic distortion. | ★★★★½ |
Overall | A fantastic digital version of the 5150, that should reassure those who are considering stepping away from valves. | ★★★★½ |
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