Description
EVH 5153 50 Demo Song
The EVH 5153 50 Watt (6L6) amp is a brute!
It’s been a while since I plugged into a 5150 but it was a lot of fun feeling the room shake again! Of course everyone knows that the 5150 is a highly respected Hard Rock/Metal Amp and that the EVH stands for the one-and-only Edward Van Halen. The “5150” part was the name of Eddie’s Recording Studio back-in-the-day!
My first experience with a 5150 (block letter version) was back in 1996 when I rented one to do some tracking for my band (One Hundred Days) album “Feels Like Love.”
My biggest take-away from back then was the “Resonance knob.” I had never seen this on an amp before and I had never heard the mammoth (pun intended) bottom end that it provided.
Thankfully, the 5153 has a Resonance knob as well, and it still ROCKS!
A few important tidbits you need to know about the amp.
There are 3 Channels:
Channel one (white) clean
Channel two (blue) (this channel has more than enough gain for ALL of your distortion needs)
Channel three (red) (this channel has even MORE gain)
While the 5153 is most famous for the 2nd (blue) channel, Channels one and three are fantastic as well. Truthfully you may never “need’ the third channel but I Love it!!
Channel one is truly a surprise and a real bonus for what is mostly know as a heavy/metal amp. However, Fender makes this amp so it kinda makes sense that the clean channel is so darn good. This channel is widely respected as a wonderful pedal platform!
Profile Naming Conventions:
It’s pretty self explanatory but if you see a TS in the profile name, that stands for Tube Screamer. The tube screamer used when creating these profiles was a Keeley Modified TS9!
v.2 = version 2 (a second, completely different profile with the EQ slightly tweaked on the 2nd day of profiling) … both are awesome!
g = (G12-65 speakers)
gr = (Greenback speakers)
HB = Humbucker pickups
P90 = P90 pickups
S = Strat
My over-sized Mesa 4×12 speaker cabinet is the perfect match for this amp and that cab was used for most of the profiles, however, I also profiled channel 2 with a Custom 2×12 Greenback cabinet and a Custom 2×12 G12-65 cabinet. These two cabs pulled the amp into more “Rock-land” rather than “Hard ock/Metal-land” which makes this pack super flexible!
Enjoy!….and thank you Eddie!
Suggestion: before going through all the profiles, watch the demo video and write down the names of the profiles that you like. Start by trying out those profiles first!
Have Fun. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Andy
The Profiles
1. EVH 5153 (channel 1 with Mesa 4×12)
5153 6L6 CH1-1HB (super clean)
5153 6L6 CH1-2HB 5153 6L6 CH1-4HB (edgy clean-ish, chug and slight drive)
5153 6L6 CH1-1P90 (super clean) best on bridge pup
5153 6L6 CH1-2P90 best on middle/neck pups
5153 6L6 CH1-3P90 bit of edge
5153 6L6 CH1-4P90 more drive
5153 6L6 CH1-1S (super clean)
5153 6L6 CH1-2S
5153 6L6 CH1-3S (nice groove sound, pretty upfront and clean)
5153 6L6 CH1-4S (nice edgy rock sound)
2. EVH 5153 (channel 2 with Mesa 4×12)
5153 6L6 CH2 1
5153 6L6 CH2 1 v.2
5153 6L6 CH2 2
5153 6L6 CH2 2 v.2
5153 6L6 CH2 3
5153 6L6 CH2 3 v.2
5153 6L6 CH2 4
5153 6L6 CH2 5
5153 6L6 CH2-TS 1 (Keeley mod tube screamer for lead)
5153 6L6 CH2-TS 2 (Keeley mod tube screamer for lead)
3. EVH 5153 (channel 3 with Mesa 4×12)
5153 6L6 CH3-1
5153 6L6 CH3-2
5153 6L6 CH3-3
5153 6L6 CH3-4
4. EVH 5153 (channel 2 with G12-65s)
5153 6L6 CH2-0g
5153 6L6 CH2-1g
5153 6L6 CH2-2g
5153 6L6 CH2-3g
5153 6L6 CH2-4g
5153 6L6 CH2-TSg
5. EVH 5153 (channel 2 with greenbacks)
5153 6L6 CH2-1gr
5153 6L6 CH2-2gr
5153 6L6 CH2-3gr
5153 6L6 CH2-4gr
5153 6L6 CH2-TSgr
