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50 watt head, with 2 6L6 power tubes, and 7 12AX7 preamp tubes.
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3-channel: Channels 1 and 2 share EQ, gain, low, mid, high, volume. Channel 3 gain, low, mid, high, volume. Master presence and resonance controls.
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Selectable impedance (4, 8 or 16 ohms).
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Dual parallel speaker output jacks, effects loop, headphone jack, line out.
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Included four-button footswitch has 1/4" input jack; also accommodates MIDI footswitching.
- Compact size
- Fairly simple controls layout
- Lots of gain on tap, but not very fizzy, and sounds great at lower gain setting.
- Resonance and presence controls
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Rear mounted controls
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Shared EQ for channels 1 and 2
Haven't had it long, but it was Sweetwater's demo amp, and shows no signs of wear.
Haven't had to deal with EVH or Fender in the past, always solid gear in my experience.
Like the 5150's before it, the EVH 5150iii 50w is a great sounding amp, the cleans sound ok for a high gain amp, breaks up way too soon and easily, a Fender Twin it's not, but if you're buying this amp, you couldn't care less about cleans anyway. The high gain channel doesn't get fizzy with the gain up, and still sounds great when the gain is rolled back. This makes for a pretty darn good lead boost for the crunch channel, which itself has a good amount of gain on tap.
50 watt heads have a rep of sounding a bit neutered compared to their 100 watt brothers, but this 50 watter maintains the low end balls of 100 watt amps, and just sounds massive, thanks to the resonance control. Out of the box the amp sounded boxy with it off.
I like that the control layout is basic. There are no What the hell does this knob do controls... I think to many players out there today can't be bothered dialing in their amps. But on the other hand, I don't like rear mounted controls, but they are probably the least used controls, if you're reaching back there, it's either because you're just starting, or you're done.
Really don't like the shared EQ for channels 1 and 2, but it's not that big a deal.
I really wish this amp used EL34's, I think there is an overabundance of 6L6 biased amps these day... Truth be told, it's all in my head, I really can't hear much of a difference between tube types.
Should be noted, the model I bought was made in Vietnam, in 2013 production moved to Mexico.