mo
a tiny monster for rehearsals and small venues
the 5150 - in all its iterations and versions - is one of the most celebrated high gain amplifiers ever.
being able to get an iconic tone in an extremely small and portable (and relatively cheap) package is an almost irresistible opportunity, and EVH jumped on the lunchbox train quite early, with two 15W variants that sadly were both a bit disappointing, for different reasons.
the third lunchbox model (this one) is the solution to almost everything that didn't work in the previous versions. and has a cool LED lighting "extremely similar" to the PRS MT15. i absolutely love LED lights!
so, this amp comes with two channels (green and red), with shared eq but two concentric pots for gain and volume. that means, they're both fully usable (very much unlike the blue and red channel with shared gain on the LBX1), an fx loop (sadly not flootswitchable) and one of those awful round peavey footswitches that scream 80s-90s and cheap in equal measure.
the green channel is not the strongest feature of 5150 amps, but unless you play brutal death metal chances are that you'll need cleans, at least sometimes. and this is a perfectly decent clean channel. and glows GREEN.
the red channel is - on the other hand - one of the main reasons people play 5150s. many prefer the blue channel, but the red is awesome nonetheless. and glows RED.
it has a stupid amount of gain - i love cascading gains (= using an overdrive), and practically never go above 4, both on my 6L6 and on this small guy. and it's still a ludicrous lot of gain.
the red channel is supposedly modelled after the new stealth series, but it's hard to compare a 15 W head with EL84s to an EL34 or 6L6 powered amp, so who knows.
it sounds smaller than my 50W 6L6v2, but not alarmingly so. the gain structure is definitely the same,
so, in conclusion, YES. this is a great way to have the 5150 mkIII tone in a very compact and light amp. it's loud enough to sit comfortably in a loud band, but for live use a mic is pretty much mandatory.
i don't think i've ever played anywhere without a mic in front of the cab anyway. maybe just a couple of times, in very small venues.
it looks cool (did i already mention the LED lighting?) and well, is not only cheap, but definitely a lot cheaper than it sounds.
highly reccomended!
*if i must find a specific downside, i'm not asking for a switchable fx loop - not in this price and power range - but, having to deal with coaxial controls, i'd have liked slightly firmer potentiometers that need more than a couple of photons to turn where they weren't supposed to
being able to get an iconic tone in an extremely small and portable (and relatively cheap) package is an almost irresistible opportunity, and EVH jumped on the lunchbox train quite early, with two 15W variants that sadly were both a bit disappointing, for different reasons.
the third lunchbox model (this one) is the solution to almost everything that didn't work in the previous versions. and has a cool LED lighting "extremely similar" to the PRS MT15. i absolutely love LED lights!
so, this amp comes with two channels (green and red), with shared eq but two concentric pots for gain and volume. that means, they're both fully usable (very much unlike the blue and red channel with shared gain on the LBX1), an fx loop (sadly not flootswitchable) and one of those awful round peavey footswitches that scream 80s-90s and cheap in equal measure.
the green channel is not the strongest feature of 5150 amps, but unless you play brutal death metal chances are that you'll need cleans, at least sometimes. and this is a perfectly decent clean channel. and glows GREEN.
the red channel is - on the other hand - one of the main reasons people play 5150s. many prefer the blue channel, but the red is awesome nonetheless. and glows RED.
it has a stupid amount of gain - i love cascading gains (= using an overdrive), and practically never go above 4, both on my 6L6 and on this small guy. and it's still a ludicrous lot of gain.
the red channel is supposedly modelled after the new stealth series, but it's hard to compare a 15 W head with EL84s to an EL34 or 6L6 powered amp, so who knows.
it sounds smaller than my 50W 6L6v2, but not alarmingly so. the gain structure is definitely the same,
so, in conclusion, YES. this is a great way to have the 5150 mkIII tone in a very compact and light amp. it's loud enough to sit comfortably in a loud band, but for live use a mic is pretty much mandatory.
i don't think i've ever played anywhere without a mic in front of the cab anyway. maybe just a couple of times, in very small venues.
it looks cool (did i already mention the LED lighting?) and well, is not only cheap, but definitely a lot cheaper than it sounds.
highly reccomended!
*if i must find a specific downside, i'm not asking for a switchable fx loop - not in this price and power range - but, having to deal with coaxial controls, i'd have liked slightly firmer potentiometers that need more than a couple of photons to turn where they weren't supposed to
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