100w Shootout: EVH 5150 III vs EL34 Stealth
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2024
- Let's shootout the modern classic EVH 5150 III 100 watt head and the EL34 Stealth 100 watt head and see what we (and you) think!
Big love to EVH for sending me the 5150 III head for this video!
EVH 5150 III: sweetwater.sjv...
EVH 5150 III EL34S: sweetwater.sjv...
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The raw OG tone sounds like it would cut through better, on live situations. Specially, on the red channel, for solos. The Stealth has an amazing studio sound. I wish owned both.
I can vouch for that. The 6L6 stealth is so amazing live i got rid of my diezel 4HT
The EVH 5150 III EL34 is one of the best amps I've ever heard.
Great comparison, awesome! Quick note: you can still get pretty clean cleans with the OG, you just have to dime the green channel volume and use the gain knob as your volume, it actually says so in the manual! Anyway, great video as always!
The Stealth sound's best to my 61 year old ears. But both are still really good. Very cool video sir and have a great Sunday.
The EL34 reminds me of the Framus Dragon, especially as it was recorded on KSE's End of Heartache album. One of my all time favorite metalcore albums and sound so I know what I'll be getting next :)
Pretty much yeah
I have all 3. I prefer the EL34 for versatility. I love the blue channel for rock and the Red for leads. I prefer the Stealth 6L6 Red for modern metal. But I needed to put a 12AT7 in the PI spot to reduce the gain and make the gain knob more usable otherwise anything after 9 o’clock was too brutal lol.
the "best" 5150 version is the 50w 6l6 stealth for me! most complete amp without any major flaws..! the big el34 stealth is my least favourite so far, very noisy and the crunch channel just sucks. there is a famous mod to help with that but it didn`t work for me so i sold it.. cheers 🎸
Agreed. I have the 50 watt stealth and thought it sounded the best compared to the other 50 watt variants
@@TYLERtheMAGGOT1 👍
😊 Yep, my favorite amp ever ! Stealth 50's watt head !
Both sound great, The 6l6 is my dream amp
Both sound great but I like the EL34 a little more.
been watching a bunch of playthroughs of the 5150 EL34 ever since playing one. it might quite literally be the greatest amp for metal ever made.
I have both as well, but the 50 watt versions, but I’ll still get the 100 watt versions, I bought these on a whim and I love them. The only thing I wish they did is I wish they had multiwatt version. So I can have both a 50 watt version and 100 watt version in one convenient package
The multiwatt is a mod most techs can do.
@@asnark7115also voids your warrenty
The og 5150 III 6l6 100 watt is still such a powerhouse and really cuts.
I have both of these amps. The el34 is the best amp I’ve ever played. The most beautiful cleans and the most brutal but articulate or distortion. I’m selling my 6L6 for a backup el34
the new synergy 5150 module is just insane, it just blows my whole peavey & 5150 collection of amps out of the water it just sounds so good imo 🙏🙏
At some point I'll dump the rest of my amps (except maybe my Wang's 5W, love that li'l guy) and invest in Synergy head/cab (can't go wrong with Egnater power stages). I might keep the Alchemist twin but I can add an Uberschall to it. I'll definitely keep the Roland JC200 head because that lives with the Rhodes Stage 88, of course.
@@russellzauner synergy is just amazing, i got 12 modules, the syn-50 head and syn-2 preamp but the syn poweramp is just bad imo i use good old engl, vht and mesa instead !
@@SinjaEs Nah the Syn Poweramp is absolutely amazing.
@@vincelupone 😂😂😂🙊 so the youtube experts speaks, amen 🙏
@@SinjaEs Don't know if I'm an expert, but the Syn 5050 absolutely shakes walls and is phenomenal with either the Synergy modules or modelers.
I have The EVH 5150 III S El34 100 Watt Amp. Absolutely one of my favorites I Own. I was actually confused what the " S" meant thinking it was a Stealth but when I emailed EVH/Fender they said the "S" stands for " Series" so its the EL34 series not a Stealth. The EVH 5150 III Black one is the Only Advertised Stealth with 6L6's.
It's a Stealth. The blue and red channel preamp circuit is identical to the "normal" Stealth. The only difference is there's 4 component changes in the green channels circuit to make the EL34 cleaner and the power section circuit has been modified to accommodate EL34s, that's it. It's just as much of a Stealth as the 6L6 Stealth
@@jhmusic1 It's not sold or advertised as " Stealth" that was my point. I had both, I kept the EL34 100 Watt. I agree it is just as much of an Amp as the 6l6 Stealth just with the El34 tubes.
@@jhmusic1 It is not advertised or sold as a " Stealth" . that was my point, in fact the EVH website advertises it as Modern "British" sound, nowhere does it say it's a Stealth. It's an amazing amp none the less and one of my favorites. The Black 616 50-100 Watts are the only true Stealth's. Call it what you want though.
It's funny, I dial in my own Stealth, and every variation of the 5150 in with the same EQ you have on the blue channels here. It's just what works for these amps.
Nice comparison! I love the OG version a little more!
That’s a beauty guitar Fluff. You sound great , as always 🤘🏼
On 100w el34 (and 100w stealth) a blue gain pot effects a gain structure the red channel. This pot is cutting a bass before distortion when you turn it up. Same character as og red channel you will get when you set blue gain pot on 3.5 while you are in the red channel on 100w stealth versions.
Resonance pot on the og is automatically set at noon.
Why I know these things? I had og and 100w stealth side by side and I did comparison too.
I have the OG and the 6l6 stealth and I use the OG more for the blue channel. It just makes me smile.
My favorite of all the 5150/6505 amps is the 50 watt 6l6 stealth.
Great vid Fluff, maybe try doing does comparisons on passive pickups. Active ones, even the fishmans, always add some extra compression which tend to blurry up the overall image of the amps
I want the 6L6s green channel and then 34s blue channel lol. Red I can appreciate the differences but don’t have a preference. As 6L6 50 watt owner myself this was a fun watch!
Would be awesome if Fluff checked out NAM and captured some of these great gear for us.. would be a good way to sell "packs" a la kemper ;)
I prefer the OG in this comparison. I like the brighter bitey top end.
Your shootouts are the best! 🤘
Hey Fluff. On the el34 have you ever used the red channel and played with the blue channel gain knob? Some interesting stuff happens! Im not the only one who is aware of it but just curious on your thoughts on it!
YEAH! Wild isnt it?
I have the el34 version in this video. I gotta say, it does big bright chimy cleans as well. I didn't see really any of that showcased in this video. I've heard its the cleanest clean of all the evh amps. I don't know for a fact if thats accurate but I can vouch for it having pristine clean capabilities. You gotta run the gain super low and pull the channel volume up quite a bit to keep up with the blue and red channels for live volumes but it absolutely will do it.
On the flip side of that, the red channel is possibly the meanest gain channel I've ever played on any amp. But I live in the blue channel with a boost. Its just a more open feeling channel overall and with a boost I can get that super mean sound out of it no problem.
I really enjoy owning my evh. The only thing I think they screwed up was the channel switching box and cable type. But they fixed it for the 50 watt versions. Its a 7 pin din cable rather than a standard midi cable. The 7 pins aren't even required to switch the channels. I have my amp switching via midi now but I had to jump through hoops to make it work. And I have a proprietary cable to deal with as well. I can't just grab any ole midi cable and rock n roll with my switcher. I do have it all currently under control its just the one gripe I have about this amp.
Overall for metal I say the el34 a 9.5/10 in my book.
I’ve seen so many shootouts with the evh amps I’ve came to the conclusion it doesn’t even matter,a good eq can make them sound identical,except guitarists hear with there eyes so they think they’re totally different
Surprisingly I thought the OG sounded better to my ears, seemed to have more grunt, less fizz. Just my opinion. Both sound great.
Same!!!! I have the og and someone is selling the El34 so I was thinking of maybe buy it to the sell the og but honestly? I’m really surprised that in this video I still prefer the clarity and the “cutting” of the og. The clean channel of the og can be really crystal clear and warm too.
Stealth models have Eddie's final tweaks from taking the OG on tour. Both stealth models have identical controls and features.
I love that sparkle paint on the guitar. beautiful. Both do sound great. My ears like the EL-34 just a bit better.
Very good side by side video!
Just what I noticed on my three 50 Watters....the red channel is the same on all of these models.
Plug a cable from the Preamp Out of the EL34 into the return of the OG, it it will sound the same as the OG red channel.
The power tubes make a big difference here.
Green and blue are different, that's right.
You can't go wrong with either really. I just bought a new 6L6 III 1x12 combo because I prefer the 6L6 tone, but when I want my EL34 fix I just fire up my Laney GH30R-112.
I have the og. There are some mods to get the green towards the el34 clean along with more articulate gain on 2&3 channels
I hear a lot of similarities between the EL34 and a Friedman JJ. Not exactly, but maybe not worth an extra $1400(?) for an amp with one less channel… Love the JJ, but damn.
I liked the green channel on the stealth more and the blue and red better on the OG. Stealth sounded a bit too compressed, but I'm sure if you spent time tweaking you might get 'em closer. Nice work!
I have both, The stealth needs the gain knob dialled back about 20% and it'll match the OG's compression.
For example my Blue Channel, OG gain knob is at 1 o clock, the Stealth is at 11 o Clock to match the gain/compression.
But i do still prefer the OGs Blue but love the Stealths Red.
My takeaway from this video is that the EL34 version is more balanced/well rounded. Through CZcams it doesn't sound like the EL34 is that much more gained out, the OG sounds louder too. Maybe its an in the room/feel thing?
I just got rid of my iconic to get the Ivory 100 watt head , I bought it at a really good deal. The only thing I’m not too much a fan of is these amps don’t have built in reverb gotta have it for sone leads and especially cleans.. I love the way these sound though. I was looking for a backup amp to my Mark V 90 watt. I could have gotten rid of some other stuff and gotten me the stealth el 34 but it seems s like the difference is not too big, it seems like you can get he same tones.
Great comparison! I was wondering what the speakers were in the cabinet 🗄️ you used though? lol Thanks for the video.
2:08 "Clean channel"???!!!
"Let's start on the clean channel"
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." 🤪
Great comparison.
Do you have a video on that Friedman JJ up top?
OG All Day
In order to be able to compare these amps, it would have been good to set a real "clean" sound on channel 1, this amp is more than powerful enough to keep the input volume rather low. Personally I hear exactly the same 3 sounds with more and more gain. The 2 amps are very close, the difference probably comes from the presence of resonance on the S which brings a certain nuance to the equalization, the power tubes having never made the sound of an amp.
Great review, this video shows how to do an amp review/comparison well. 👍🎸🎶
I love both.
On CH2 and CH3 i feel like to OG is a bit more mid forward and in your face which suits better for live playing expectations. The stealth is a lot lot more compressed.
The white one sounds much much better I think.
That Raw OG is my favourite, I prefer it over the el34 and 6l6 stealth, and is $500 less.
True metal heads clean channel has natural warm overdrive😂
No noticeable difference. Especially in a full mix. Choose one amp. It really doesn’t matter. If you want “that sound,” buy an EQ pedal.
6l6 all the way!
the tone of the stealth kinda reminds me of a 6505 but with way stronger mid range
Behold! The signature Fluff lick!
A5... A5 F5 D5 E5 (tuned down 1/2 step for added Rock Cred™)
5:58
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9:55 (FAST VERSION!)
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To me, the white one is tighter and a little more dynamic, it fits better for modern tones and very agressive yet controlled tones, for guys that want a cleaner and tighter sounds, while the black one is way more filthy and growly, fits better for more old school tones and very heavy and sludgy tones, for guys that want a grittier and filthier, out of control sound. White one would be more for Djent or Thrash bands while black one would be more for Death and Sludge/Doom bands. I personally prefer the black one because I find these kinda tones more satisfying to play haha
I recently shot out my 6l6 stealth 100 with the el34 stealth 100. I find the differences negligible, other than the clean channel. The 6l6 clean channel is basically another crunch channel lol but it can achieve a nice clean with extreme settings. I would like to try the OG 6l6 next.
Be fun to put them against their Bugera counterparts - I thought Bugera made a clone of at least one of the 5150 models. Haven't seen that many shootouts with the clones...Bugera also makes clones of bass amps, like the SVT. I'm not an advocate for them, I've just always wondered how close they got with models like their JSX clone and also why they were allowed to live in this age of massive litigation.
By itself I thought the OG red channel sounded better. But I feel the stealth voicing would be better in a mix.
To me,the og’s head space is much more forward and in your face. The el34 is towards the back of the room.
6L6 are more tight and clean
The OG!
The stealths are modded to Eddie's specs. They had better clean channels and better lead channels that the originals
I have a EVH 5150 III 50W Original (6L6). My green channel sounds nothing like yours... As it has shared Eq and gain controls, to make the clean "usable" I keep the gain at noon. And it is cleaner than your 5150 EL34 with just a slight drive in it - I could play "under the bridge" from RHCP with that setting. For blue channel at noon, it sounded exactly the same - putting a boost OD sounds amazing. I have a Gibson SG with SD JB and a LTD KH-602 with EMG 81 and don't think that the pickups compared to your Fishman Fluence would make that HUGE difference... I dunno... Maybe my 5150 is broken?
EL34 hands down.
Anyone have settings on the stealh 50 for a great clean tone. Well good as it can get. Thanks.
Pretty informative shit. Love it.
The el34. I believe the 50 watt stealth is differs than the 100 watt head. What I heard. Take that with a grain of salt. Lol.
When you have a metal level of distortion plus the compression of CZcams, you can't distinguish the difference.
How did you like the EL34 Stealth vs 6L6 stealth? I have a Bogner Helios cab and Mesa 4x12. Mainly play thrash/ technical death
I don't own a 100 watt 5150, but I do own a 50 watt Stealth. So I will say this.....Ice is cold.
Hey Fluff! Do you play both amps into your UA OX oder in a real cabinet? Or anything else? All the best.
Nice demo. Can you please share what the rest of the signal chain is? Were the amps into a speaker and mic'd or was this into a reactive load with IR's? If so, which ones? Also - what was the pickup in the guitar? It felt kinda JB-ish. Thanks!
I`d be very interested to know what speakers you're playing through, they both sound very flat through my monitors...
Where is that famous EVH clarity and bite that has coined the phrase ''Brown Sound"???
The "brown sound" if it exists has never come out in my opinion from a 5150 amp of any generation. Van Halen Hagar period had a much more compressed and "modern" sound very different from the sound of the beginnings
This!
I prefer the EL34 vibe but I get why people people prefer 6L6.
I'm curious if you were using the same cab/mic/IR for each or not.
Yep both going into a UAD OxBox
"Clean channel" reminds me of that video you posted a few years back making fun of the people that complained about your clean tone.
Fluff I have a question! Is it correct that there is no way to program a more complex channel switching with these amps? For instance, if I have an external multi-effects unit and I want it to change with one click from Clean channel with let's say chorus and reverb to Dirty channel with only od pedal up front and to Lead channel with boost, reverb and delay? I know the 50W versions have midi so they can do it. But seems like you have to switch the channels and all the effects manually with these EVH 100W amps?
You can do it but need some kind of device like the boss es5 or es8. There are a lot of options out there though.
i have the 6l6 evh 5150 iii 50 watt amp and it’s amazing , especially when you add a chorus with the red channel.. unreal. but i still need to get a boost pedal for the blue channel , what do you recommend for that? tube screamer?
A clean boost should do the trick, whether that be a tube screamer or a similar type OD pedal.
The OG has 7 preamp tubes, the el34 8
So does the original have the 6L6 tubes? And is it still in production?
Yes and yes
I always thought that the clean on the OG was clean . Turn the gain down
I wonder if we would hear the same difference if it was a blind test 🤔
Was this running through a cab or an IR?
cool👍👍👍👍👍👍
about time jeeeeeez
Would one ever use an overdrive pedal to clean up the bass?
I guess you could always do that but these amps seem like rare cases of gainy amps that don't need OD pedals
@@Slyness64209 all of these amps need a overdrives. They are tighter than peavey 5150 but if is a 5150 boosted it's way better than unboosted 5153.
@@TheSoulflytriber I don't agree. I'm not saying boosting it would be bad, I'm just saying that the natural tones of these are perfectly usable, they don't NEED to be boosted as bad as the old school amps
@@Slyness64209 I don't know the amp who doesn't need it. And I tried 6505, 6505+, triple xxx/3120, jsx, fireball 60, savage 120, powerball 2, prs mt 15, bugera 333, crate blue voodoo 150h, 5150 III, 5150 stealth 100w. Every amp needs something with mid boost. Only peavey 6505 is always too muddy. Without boost it's disaster.
The EL-34 version is the best and most versatile 5150 on the market.
Sadly the word versatile refers to something that lacks character. That's what makes the 6l6 so famous, it's got that edge in the high gain territory
@@trainofthough0242 yeah i can tell, I thought it was a regular el34 but this stealth version almost sounds like a 5150 on steroids
I tried the 50w Stealth at Guitar Center and it was too loud even with the volume on 0.5.
It's not an OG or a Boi. Ice T is OG!
Those aren't very clean clean-channels. That's probably about as much gain I use for my rhythm dirty sound.
the golden evh sounds brighter
There is no such thing as an EVH el34 stealth. It’s either stealth (6l6) or el34
What does the ‘S’ in 5150 IIIS mean then?
The 100w EL34 has the same blue/red channel preamp circuit as the "normal" Stealth.. it's a Stealth lol. The 50w isn't, but the 100w is.
@@RiffsAndBeards I originally thought it was the ‘EL34 Stealth’ myself. I was debating between the Stealth and EL34 with my Sweetwater rep. Then after some back and forth I said I’m gonna go for the EL34 Stealth. He said do you want the EL34 or the Stealth? I said I thought the EL34 III S was simply the Stealth version with the tube difference. He contacted Fender/EVH and they told him the ‘S’ stands for ‘Series’, not Stealth. So the Stealth is strictly for the 6L6. Don’t shoot the messenger! Great video!
@@jhmusic1 There isn’t a ‘normal’ Stealth. It’s either EVH 5150IIIS EL34 or EVH 5150III Stealth(6L6). Verified by Fender/EVH. The Stealth name is strictly designated to the 6L6 version.
sounds so dead and flubby. No amount of presence or treble will make up for the dull input signal.
Great video on the EVH amps. My problem was your last video on relic guitars. I am a Fender man, but you did not give Fender not enough credit. The way you talked like Gibson had the idea first, boy your not even in the ball park. I am sick of you and your cronies downing Fender and there Products. XRC and Aqufish.
I’m WTF … the Chanel’s aren’t even clean
Do you have the gain on the clean channels up high ???
Never heard anyone call the EL34 a Stealth before.
It technically is part of the Stealth lineup.
@@trainofthough0242 yea I had to google it, cuz no one calls it a Stealth
@@sqlb3rn wat 😂😂😂
A 5150 III Stealth is called Stealth since the day it came out 😂😂😂
@@JohnWiku your comment hurts my head to look at
That’s what the s on the literal front of the amp stands for
EVH amps have too much gain. Peavey is better: controllable gain and handle boost pedals better. The EVH red channel is just too much
Gojira Dying Fetus and Eddie Van Halen don't think so
@@sqlb3rn Trivium too, Cory uses the red channel for rhythm tone as well as lead. People that say "EVH has too much gain" don't know how to EQ them properly but that's not the amps fault, that's user fault.
@@sqlb3rn 1: Eddie never used boosts. 2: Gojira has a very low output pickup. 3. John said that he is not satisfied with EVH and a boost pedal. Any arguments?
@@trainofthough0242 gain is not actually eq.
@@kingpriapatius5832 You use treble, mids and bass to balance it out. I've never had any problems getting a great rock/metal tone from the red channel on an EVH without boosts. Boosts just further make it sound better.
I typically don't use the red channel besides for a lead boost on occasion and even then, gain knob only at 9 o'clock at the most. I used to use it all the time for both rhythm and lead though and it sounded great. The blue channel has more than enough gain for all applications and is more versatile I found over time, especially on the superior EL-34 version of the 5150.
Commenting just to see if the telegram fake account will respond to it LMAO