Why I Sent My EVH 5150III 50W 6L6 Back... 

Hey all, I felt like I needed to make this video in order to give you guys a better image of the "full experience" I had with this amp. I wish it would have been different. Have you owned an EVH 50w 6L6? How has your experience been?

My personal experience: I bought the first series 6L6 in November 2012 ... I still have this amp, it sounds great ... one of the best amp on the planet. Never had a problem ! 👍

You made the right call, for that money it makes no sense to have to diagnose and repair anything. Send it back is what I do.

First of all thanks for the honesty, you did well to make the video. My experience with EVH 5150 50w stealth was horrible. First the BLUE channel lost all volume and the red channel was impossible to play, days later the GREEN channel did the same thing. It was under warranty and they changed valves and complete repair by Fender (Madrid). When they returned it to me 2 months later, the only channel that worked before the RED one was screwed after 4 days. While waiting between repairs and repairs I bought a second hand Orange Jim Root and fell in love. After a long wait Fender was kind enough to give me the option to wait for a new unit or get my money back for the Stealth . Jhon, I've been watching your videos for a long time and because of you now I have an Orange Rockerverb MKIII 100W :) THANK YOU

I was about to order the 6L6 5150, but after watching a bunch of videos on this channel I ended up ordering an Engl fireball 25 instead. It should be arriving today, I cannot wait. Thank you for the honest reviews, and for the awesome content!

The second issue sounds like a preamp tube or a cold solder joint. Such a bummer, thanks for the update and honest review. Can't blame you for sending it back

I've had 2 6L6's and 2x EL 34's never had any issues. Love my EL34, best amp I've ever owned.

There are random lemons in everything ever created... I've been an EVH player since 2012, toured a ton, have never had a single issue with my EVH amp. Best amp I've ever owned. Cheers!

Had mine for 3 years and no probs here. Having 7 preamp tubes leaves alot to go wrong in that area. Buckethead, Allegaeon, Eric Peterson (Testament), and many pro's have found them very road worthy. Just a bad time for tube quality IMHO. Bummer dude, that is an amazing amp. I played on two used and one new before getting mine and they all sounded exactly the same. 3 channels, MIDI, and pure brutality will never be able to part w/ mine.

I am sorry that you had these issues with the amps, but I appreciate your honesty and the details of what you experienced regardless. Everyone should be made aware of these kinds of things when buying any kind of product, specially during these times when components and especially tubes are in such short supply.

I had 3 different 6L6 models. I had the OG one, the white 6L6 and the Stealth. Never had an issue with any of them. This video surprised me considering I was 3/3 with 3 different ones. My best guess is that whatever company that delivered you the amp didn't take care of it. From my experience working in fedex, I would see so many guitars and amps get damaged and have holes from jam sticks or items getting crushed by other items weighing over 100 pounds. I once sent a Jackson though UPS and I wrapped that guitar with so much bubble wrap and other items to keep it snugged and they still found a way to damage the guitar. I put fragile on the top and it looks like associates ignored it and threw it from it from 10 feet up. It broke the headstock. My best guess is the shipping carrier. I would also see places like guitar center hang guitars and amps with dings and internal issues

I was deciding between EVH 5150III , JVM and Fireball. Thank to this video, now it is just between Fireball and JVM.

I bought my el34 head back when it came out. Purchased it from zzounds music. I played 8 to 12 hrs a day in Nashville Tn. I loved the clean, particularly very Fender. Had it a few weeks and it blew up, burned a component. I sent it back. Zzounds sent me a new one. I played it again for about two gigs(8 hrs) by now I recognized the smell. It blew again. Sent it back and they sent me yet another new head. This time I had a back up head with me. When it failed again. I had the number of the fender quality control guy in California. I called him directly but this time I had the actual failure reason my amp technician gave me. The power section has a heating issue and components were rated too low and we’re failing at the power section. Fender’s unofficial response was “just take it to a fender repair tech, they know what to do” to which I asked “will they just replace the components with the same value” to which he said “yes” I then told him that’s not fixing the problem. I told my guy to go ahead with voiding the warranty and Modify the amp to a reliable state. He also suggested 6550 tubes because they are all military grade and more stable. So now my amp running great and sounds better. The clean is alive with that fender vintage sound. Has had the same tubes since and has logged 10 years of gigging 30/40 hrs per week without issue. So fender knows, they just don’t care to fix the issues. I wanted a reliable amp. Now I have one. If Eddie knew this was going on with his brand he would lose it I’m sure. It’s a fender issue. That’s why I stuck with the amp, it deserved to be a great amp. Thanks for the video 🙏👏👏

Glad you took a look at the Pscionic Audio video, Jon. I've been learning a lot from him aboit how to troubleshoot amps if I experience similar problems. Glad you made this video. People should know if they risk buyibg a 'lemon' especially if someone buys one of these EVH amps used and doesn't get their warranty coverage.

ive had the 5150III 50w for a few years now and i never had problems with it. that being said i was never really worried about it since im an amp designer myself and can fix or build any amp i want. learning to be your own amp tech or builder will save you literal thousands. you can make big flagship amps for just the cost of the parts. (fun fact buying all the parts to make a marshall plexi should cost you under a grand. under 500 if you build your own cabinets. take that 5,000 price tag) i love the 5150 tho its such a good tone. in fact, i designed the preamp of my signature amp loosely off of the red channel of the 5150III

We appreciate it. We look to you and other RU-vidr's for honest content so we can make better informed purchasing decisions. Thank you for all you do for us.

Making this video was the right call. Especially since you previously made videos that could encourage someone to go out and buy one.

Just got one recently used and love it! Sorry you had a bad experience but for others out there, I'd still give it a shot. You probably won't have as bad luck as this guy

Ive had the opposite problem. I've had a peavey triple X, Engl Invader, and several Marshalls over the years. All of them have given me grief at some point - especially the triple X. My 50w 6l6 has been the most stable amp Ive owned up to this point.

Such a shame that you had a few bad ones. I've changed the tubes out in mine (its about 4 years old I think) and it's rock solid. Maybe they're putting questionable tubes in due to the shortage? It sounds great, and I feel that I can trust it. It's not as good on build quality as my Marshall JVM410H, but it's also half the price, so..

Thank you Jon, great video and very happy that you made it. In the end, if EVH takes notice to and listens to it's customers it could make for better products for us consumers! That coming from an EL34 and 6L6 EVH owner who has experienced a "static noise in all channels" in my 2021 50W 6L6 (video on my channel documenting it). Love the amp. Would love it more with no issues though, ha ha!

Good call. if the product breaks down in a few weeks, it's a DUD. Send it back.

Owned and toured with the OG 6l6 50w for years without a single issue outside of having to replace the tubes with use. Recently bought the 50w stealth and have been playing it daily with no issues so far.

Ive had (2) 5150 6L6 for the last 4 years giging problem free and I absolutley LOVE them!!!. Sorry that you had a bad run of luck!

I have this amp, and have had some minor humming issues, nothing to serious, I absolutely love these amps, I would never sell or return it, it has a most brutal sound I love. (Also I love 6L6 Tube amps, they have more punch than el34)

I had one of the first 50w versions, it survived a car accident unsecured in the back of my SUV. I did get their first lunchbox version and had a preamp tube die on me almost immediately. I've got a 5150IIIS 50w now. It sounds great and I've had no problems...but this isn't the first I've heard about EVH stuff having QC problems. Shame really, the amps sound truly amazing.

Thanks for the vid. I agree, this channel should include these negative aspects as well as the good. Hopefully videos like this will also help keep the manufacturers honest as well. Thanks again

My 5150 III 50w 6l6 is 4 years old, not a single failure. It would be interesting if there's a batch series with problems.

I was going to buy this so thank you!!

I have one, for about a year now. Played often at different volumes and different situations. I’ve had no issues. One of the best amps I’ve owned. For comparison, I had a Soldano Hot Rod 50+ that blew an output transformer under normal conditions and proper use.

I have a 50 watt stealth head into matching stealth 212 cabinet and the amp has held up to at least 100+ hours of killer tone and I expect it to work well for the foreseeable future.

My 100 watt el34 evh was fine for the first couple days and then the red channel gain would drop out completely. Green and blue channels were fine. So I just cracked it open and pulled each tube and just reseated them one at a time. Never had a problem since. Now that could be 100% different from your issue. I feel lucky thats all it was but it did take a couple months before I fully trusted my red channel. I totally understand not trusting an amp. Especially after an endeavor like yours. 2 whole amps acting dumb. Yeah I wouldn't trust it either.

I have an original 2012 6l6 50w and it has worked flawlessly since day one. I had it modded by Jen’s kruse also and he said it looked great when he had it. I still have the original tubes in It as well still.

2 years on and mine still rocks 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Thank you for the honesty. It’s hard to tell if you just had bad luck considering your el34 has given you no issues over the years. I almost wished you’d have gotten a third one just to make sure. You know, for science :)

I’ve had my 2x12 combo since 2017 and it just recently broke. Long story short, 1 resistor popped that caused a chain reaction taking out the next 4 in line. Basically boiled down to $12 of parts and $250 in labor. Still sounds great.

Glad that you made this video. These amps are very inconsistent. Besides reliability issues, which can happen with any tube amp, I’ve found that these EVH 5150 iii’s are inconsistent in sound quality from one to another. I’ve tested 2020 50w 6L6 against my friends identical 2020 50w 6L6 and they both sound different. Both have the factory tubes and both had exact same settings through the exact same cab (my Mesa OS 4x12). Mine sounds more shrill and harsh. I guess that’s what you get when you use Chinese parts with shitty tolerances.

Agree with your sentiment 100%. My 5150 III stealth 50W arrived completely busted, and just recently it seems like there's a pre-amp tube problem (went from no gain but volume control, to absolutely zero signal and an extremely loud hum on all channels). I've had more issues with my amp in the span of a year (which honestly doesn't get that much use) than I had during the entire lifetime with my Hughes and Kettner GM36. For how much money these things cost, you'd think they would have far better QC. Unless swapping out some 12AX7s does the trick I'm probably just going to find a new amp to replace it. It sounds great but it means nothing if it spends more time not working at all.

Hey John thanks for the updated video to the 6l6 Evh, I was on the fence and you just pushed me over it. I was about to pull the trigger on purchasing this amp but I think I’ll just wait. ✌🏼🤘🏼

I had the EL34 combo 2 x 12, and sent it back to Sweetwater due to the extremely excessive noise. Great sounding app, but the noise was just far too difficult to deal with and ultimately was a dealbreaker. Actually ended up buying a Marshall DSL 100 half stack and am completely content with the purchase. Now I’ve got the Orange Rockerverb on my radar, just not sure which wattage I’m going to go with. Apparently, I’m an EL34 type of guitarist, lol!

I'm glad I found this video. I was gonna buy one ,but not anymore . Thanks for letting people know

I have the stealth 100W version and all of a sudden the blue channel didn‘t work anymore. It just lost volume und reacted to the treble knob. Had it out for repair like 3 times and after a few days it broke again. Even changed the treble knob. Now I have a new one and it just works fine. But I can totally understand that EVH can be frustrating

A fearless gear review! Thanks! I'll be on the lookout in the future for dead ones to fix and improve the design, if this is failure by design am sure we can figure it out ourselves and improve it (if the circuit board is not turned into charcoal). Engl are made in Germany and they guys that make them are still actively involved from what I have seen, just saying. A balance between "do we want to make great gear, or do we want to make massive profits". Love your channel Jon!

I was ready to give a horrible comment without watching the whole video, I’m glad I didn’t. I have many amps, mostly Marshall vintage amps, my favorite of all is my Kemper, but I have wanted the EVH III 50S for some time. I literally received the new amp two days ago, and am extremely happy with it, especially the blue channel. I’m crossing my fingers hoping I will not have the same experience that you have had. I would like to know the diagnosis of your two EVH’s

Appreciate the honesty!

Ah Psionoc audio is a great channel, cool to see you give it a shout out. At least something good came out of this negative situation : )

You most likely got a defective EVH 5153 50w, just get another one, those amps are really good, 1 bad apple can happen on any other brands, I rather my EVH amp made in the USA, but prefer a Mexican made than a Chinese or Taiwan made amp etc, nowadays do to free worldwide comerse few things are made here in America unfortunately. New subscriber here great review!🤘🏻🍺

Hey thank you for posting this video I was extremely interested in this amp but after seeing your video I have completely changed my mind Thank you sincerely 🥂

Same problem here with my Iconic Series 5150 Combo! Sent two back!!! Fender says they had a bad batch of resistors. The sound was mindbendingly awesome!! So I'm waiting for the latest batch, although I'm of course worried about the third one breaking during a gig!! I always carry a Kemper Stage with me in case one of my Marshalls blows up, but you gotta do what u gotta do to get the sound. I can't live without an EVH amp in my toolbox. Cheers Sonic Drive Studio! Thx for posting this!

Thanks for your honesty! New sub. I have the stealth for a year+ and so far the power jewel light went out but the amp works fine. Fingers crossed.

Mine is 9 years old and still running perfect

I recently purchased the same amp from a local sale off Facebook. When I took it home, the amp had very low output on all channels, so something was obviously wrong. Not getting into the ethics of being sold what was a faulty amp, I took it to a trusted amp repair shop and it was a "bad phase inverter tube." I guess it's between the preamp/power amp and was relatively cheap fix ($100). No idea if this is common/uncommon or showcases the deeper issue here, but thought I would share.

I own a 50w 6l6, I believe it was made in 2012 so it doesn't have the concentric pots. I bought it used for a good price. I haven't had any reliability issues that weren't tube related, but I am aware that around the time my amp was made alot of units were being shipped back to factory. I believe they got the bugs worked out and the amps made after the first run are more reliable. I've had no issues with my amp wich leads me to believe mine may be made around the same time they worked the bugs out. I will say I've noticed alot of people disappointed to find unmarked tubes in their amp instead of JJs. I believe fender is sending these amps out with unmarked tubes that are similar to the JJs. This has to be more cost effective, and is not fair to the customer. I changed my unmarked tubes to tung-sols immediately after getting the amp, because the unmarked tubes were buzzing and fluctuating in volume. One thing I've noticed is that the 3rd pin on every preamp tube in my amp could potentially have a cold solder joint. It leads me to believe there was a consistent defect in their soldering machine around that time. I will have someone reflow these points for me soon. Aside from that I love the amp and hate to hear that anyone has trouble with them. When eddie died I found myself wondering how the brand would be affected without the captain steering the ship. Perhaps the crew has managed to cut corners.

I received my Squier Bass VI with an awful nut (awful setup also but it's the Squier signature). The low E slot was so near of the edge, it was just unusable. I contacted them to let them know about QC and they also just replied to me with the BS standard reply about warranty. Fender is so big they don't care about one customer. Sad but true.

I had similar issue with my EL34 50w and sent it back....on my first day with the amp the blue channel would drastically drop volume every once in a while, almost like a killswitch... it was annoying, I tried everything and then came to the conclusion that the amp was broken. They had to re bias the amp, now it works perfectly fine, but at first it was such a turn off because they're not so cheap, almost 2k new in Canada.

I read a lot of reviews on the EVH 6L6s before I bought one and I'm glad I did because there was quite a few negative reviews on them and some positive but the negative outweighs the positive for me and that's why I want with the EVH EL34 and I'm very happy that I did 🤘

I bought my 5150 III 50W 6L6 (in white of course!) new in December 2019 & have been playing it nearly every week since either at band practice or home, for hours at a time. I've never had an issue with mine, though I may need to replace the tubes soon after HUNDREDS of hours of playing. Sucks to hear you had such problems, but I suppose every brand has QC issues from time to time. I also own a Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36 which has also had it's fair share of issues posted in forums & across social media, telling of nightmares where the amps are nearly unrepairable without sending it into H&K for repair, however I've again only needed to replace the tubes in mine over the last 5 years of ownership. Here's to hoping this comment doesn't jinx my amps! Lol

Oh man, that sucks! I've been selling gear and saving because I was considering buying that exact amp. White, 50 watt 6L6 head. I guess my search goes on..... Thank you for this and your other videos. Really helps us all out. Keep up the good work!

Other stories I've come across recently, plus your experience, has knocked these amps completely off my radar. I think I may go for the REVV Generator 120 Mk III. I already had a slightly negative view of EVH amps due to the noise issues. I had a 6505MH that was so noisy I had to run a noise suppressor in the fx loop. When I eventually sold it to a friend I included the noise suppressor in the deal.

That sucks to hear man. I've had my 5150 iii 50w for 2 years now. Bought it off some old dude on Craigslist. It's a 2015 model.. It scared me once, i wasn't getting much gain out it, but I got it retube, and problem was solved!! I love this amp! It did just survive a fall at a gig last week. Hopefully that doesn't give me issues in the near future 🤞

Sorry to hear it! I am so happy with the EVH! it worked like a charm for more than a year. It must be a bad batch!!

I had this issue with a Mesa Mark V. I went through 3 exchanges. Third try was still bad but I decided to just replace the tubes. It’s been solid ever since. I think you could possibly blame shipping companies for treating everything like disposable garbage. These things likely get banged at least a few times before they reach your doorstep.

Great video, love your honesty.

It sucks that you had a frustrating experience and I can't blame you for not wanting to keep one after that. I know they had QC issues early on and moved the entire production line to Mexico(from Vietnam I think). I have one from the first run of Mexican built models(I got it in 2013ish?) and it has worked flawlessly since. I have gone through all the other models (100 and 50 watt)and the newer ones are not built quite as well. Having said that I have had no issues with any of them aside from bad tubes here and there but that isn't EVH's fault. As with everything else I'm sure EVH is struggling to avoid raising the price even more...my 6l6 50 watt was $999 and the price in the US now is $1,350. For me, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one, but for someone who has to save for a while to afford it I'd recommend saving a bit longer and get Kraken or Fireball...or go digital.

Had a 50w 6L6 with the shared controls for four years without issue. Replaced it with a dual concentric one which immediately broke. Got the money back for that then got a 50w Stealth which I've had since they came out. I've popped a couple of fuses in that and am nervous with it, but, it is still going other than that.

Bought mine used and it's still grinding on. Sorry it didn't hold up for ya man. I got a v30 and dv77 in my 2x12 and it's brutal.

I have 2 of them and have played lots of gigs. No problems.

I've had mine over 3 years and it only broke down once (it was a tube) in the US there are certified EVH repair shops and I think the warranty is good for 5 years. Too bad you got two lemons though. That's weird. I like my 50 watt EVH so much I even bought a brand new 100 watt stealth. Those amps blow my 6505+ away.

I am fairly confident you will hear from Fender any day now. I use to have the 5150 III lbx and it also had some weird noise when engaging the blue channel. It sounded AMAZING but the noise was there, I sold it to a guy in my building and of course he new about the noise. Since then I am back to Marshall, Orange and Mesa and I am fairly happy

This really sucks because I'm in the same boat as you. I've been dreaming of owning this amp and I was genuinely looking at buying one this week. I feel like I should wait because shipping (there's a good chance I'd be shipping it back when/if it broke) is a costly endeavor here. Thanks for the heads up. I really appreciate this video.

With the second one it really sounds like a broken pre-amp tube. Had the same problem with one amp I got from Thomann, just emailed them and they sent me a new 12AX7 tube for free, after that it worked like a charm.

Never had one problem..my Fender made EVH 100 WATT.. 21 yrs old js.. stiill killing it.. Its sad that everybody else is having issues..

I have a EVH 5150iii 6L6 and a EVH 5150iii EL34 and I’ve never had an issue. Other than one blown fuse, and these are the best amps I’ve ever played.

Have two without ANY issues ! Sounds like bad luck ! FedEx , UPS is pretty hard on their freight , it probably got thrown down , stacked on top of etc etc etc

My EVH5150 6L6 has had issues with the blue channel dropping out intermittently to where I could barely hear it, then it would go back to normal after a few moments. Eventually, I traced it back to the volume knob. If I touch the volume knob a certain way, the volume will drop. Last night for the first time it happened on the green channel. I knew to push on the volume knob (both blue and green channel share the same knob) and the volume came back. I don't gig so it's not a big deal at this point. If it ever got worse I suppose the first thing I'd try is to disassemble the thing and reflow the solder to that knob. That's the issue I've encountered with the same amp. Great sounding amp otherwise! I am going to watch the link to the amp tech, though.

EL34 owner - Solid. No problems. Thanks for the heads up!

Such a shame that you got a couple of bad ones in a row. As you said maybe something is up with their QC. I hadn’t heard many reports of them failing but clearly it isn’t uncommon. Also I watched that Psionic video a while back and it does give me pause. I hope mine don’t die but we’ll see!

This is extremely similar to my Orange Dark Terror. I had one that completely stopped working as you are explaining. Had it fixed. But only to have it shit the bed again. So they sent me a new/completely different version. It worked for a while, but then did the exact same thing. No sound. So after that, I found a UK made Dual Dark 100, for $1100 off the original price, brand new, in Canadian dollars. So I jumped. I have never have had any problem with it. But damn it is a beast, so loud! I am not sure what was wrong with my Dark Terrors.... maybe they were part of the same run? Never checked the serial numbers. Who knows. They were great amps though, until they stopped working unfortunately. I checked the preamp tubes though BTW, just to reference what the OP is talking about. Not sure what the problem was, I am not an amp tech. Many people love the Dark Terror though, and have had NO problems. Which is awesome, as they are great little bastards. Nasty little buggers.

You do have a great positive vibe man! Don't feel guilty if you have to express something that bothered you. Personally, ive only had one experience with a modern evh (white iconic combo). Noisy as hell, tried to play high gain and couldn't get it to clean up. Seriously sounded like a metal zone pedal set to outrageous haha! I took it back. I bought a Marshal DSL40CR. Fantastic amp, great alternate choice. I agree reliability is a big issue. I may look at the evh again, but i was really let down.

Glad you made this video. Sadly, it's not just their amps. I returned a brand new Wolfgang Special due to pickup failure. Apparently, this is an issue as well. I want to love them, but they're too risky for me.

Finally I'm not the only one having issues with this amp. I have the 50 watt el34 version that has failed twice. Plus the red channel is so noisy it's basically unplayable

The first 50watt 6L6 I got was doing a lot of popping and volume drops on both distorition channels after only a few hours of use. But the one I got as a replacement was used for an entire week in the studio with no issues. So I'm on the fence about their consistency, especially with the videos I've seen as well as my own experience.

Four years ago, I had similar experience with new Fender Bassbreaker 15 MIM. PERFECT amp sound for me. Went through three in 30 days. All had same defect. Low tube amp quality at Fender is a sad reality and a musical frustration. Still wish I had one but can not afford to throw away $799 U.S. Psionic and several other amp repairman on RU-vid also reveal substandard Fender Bassbreaker MIM amp quality. Fender EVH MIM amps are seemingly also poorly built.

I’ve had mine (same amp) for about 4 years now. No issues. Haven’t run it into the ground yet though but I have gigged with it.

Of all amps I have (Mesa/Marshall/EVH) the EVH is the only one i had a LOT of problems with.

It’s absolutely quality issues. The Fender Nassbreaker is another killer amp and mine blew a tube and I haven’t had it a year and then it had a hum after that, that could not be fixed because nobody could find where it was coming from.

I have one of the early versions of it, and bought it used off of a close friend. It was one that didn’t have the dual-taper pots to independently control the volume and gain of Channels 1 & 2 like the new ones. I eventually got it modded to have those put in. That being said, I’ve had the amp for roughly a year or so and haven’t had any problems with mine. Even tracked all the rhythm guitars on my band’s EP with it and it was solid. Used it for many rehearsals and gigs so far and it’s held up. I don’t know if it’s simply because I have an earlier version of the amp versus the newer versions. I will say the other guitarist in my band uses the EL34 version and he hasn’t had any issues with his either, and that’s technically a newer production model. It’s a shame that these new 6L6 versions have QC issues, because the EVH amps are some of the best sounding amps for the price. I absolutely love mine and I’m lucky that mine is one of the good ones.

Just watched this.... and had been itching to save for my first guitar amp. I saw similar reviews about the Fender Bassbreaker combo going out just like this, which bummed me out cuz i really liked that sound. Then I was thinking of a Blackstar and saw a lot of mixed reviews. Was originally wanting something with Fender cleans that takes pedals well. Then I saw the 5150 iconic combos which sounded great and then upon research, found out about these amps 5150 iii. I'm sort of new to electric guitar, but just play at home out of my GK Fusion 800 combo 2x12. 😂 So yes, I need a guitar amp, finally. Thanks for your honesty. Not sure what I will do at this point.... back to the drawing board. 🙂

I was at Guitar Center yesterday and they had an EVH 50 watt 6L6 available to try. Score! The blue and red channels sounded great, but the green channel was completely dead, green light was on but nobody was home. Now I get that a floor model at GC is going to be abused but a completely dead clean channel didn't give me a good feeling about the amp... Too bad because the other channels sounded really good, at low volume too!

It makes me sad when I realize how much you have to pay attention to every word in videos like this in order not to cause a shitstorm. For the money, some people have to save for a long time. And if it's not reliable in the end - it's just a crappy product. Reliability is everything. For people as well as "machines" ...

I’ve had the 5150 Stealth 6L6 version for a month now, and last night the amp head died. While playing some clean riffs with reverb and delay, the sound started to cut out - almost like a delay pedal but with every sound fading back in at increasingly longer intervals with no reverb tail. The amp only now gives slight channel clicks with channel 2-3. Otherwise the sound is basically inaudible. I contacted Sweetwater asap. If I get a new amp head and it happens again I think I have no choice but to look at other amplifiers.

My experience with these amps has been okay when it comes to build quality and reliability, but it’s difficult to rule out anecdotes that aren’t quite as positive. I found a similar attitude towards the Triple Rectifier. My own experience was great, and the general reputation seemed solid, but I personally knew of many people who were fed up with the amps malfunctioning. Best to just stick with what works and not overthink it until and unless it’s a piece of equipment that’s known universally to have problems. In your case, you have good reason to avoid, and looking at it another way, you have more than enough amps and EQ equipment to get a very similar sound, especially with the 6505 and the Invective. In other words, without the EVH 5150 III 6L6, you’re not really missing out on much given the amplifiers you already have.

I got an ex display EVH 6L6 combo, got it home and it worked great for 30 mins then packed in, sent it back to the shop, then it was sent back to EVH Fender UK, then it went to EVH Europe and they couldnt find the problem either, so replaced it with a brand new one, it seemed ok, but have now traded it in for a new 6L6 head, and so far so good..fingers crossed!!

Damn, sorry to hear about your experience. I've owned several 5150 III 50w heads and combos about 4 heads and about 5 combos (all 6L6).... Never had issues with any of them. I did have one combo that I moved after a gig that was real hot on a cobblestone walkway. Really messed up a power tube. Lesson learned.. I guess when you sell as many amps as they have (Fender/EVH division) you are bound to get a few out that are subpar. I see others here have had the same problem with other amps, but 2 in row? Wow..

My is the very first version made in Mexico and never broke whatsoever!

Im so sorry this happened, i hope they send u a new one FREE OF CHARGE. I have mine about 4 years and no issues (knock wood) but i have the gen 1 50 watt without the concentric pots.

I have one and would never let it go. Ive never had any problems and i got mine used.

I had one of these with issues too. First one showed up and the footswitch did not work. The seller had me send the whole thing back and replaced it. I got a replacement and it was OK. I had wanted to have this amp modded, so I sent it to Kruse to have the channel 1/2 separate volume controls added. When he got the amp, he discovered that channel 2 had a problem and needed a replacement part. Luckily, he was able to work with Fender to get the part and replace it, and I got the amp back and it worked fine. But yes, overall, I had a similar experience.

Now im definatley buying the fryette

MOST brands have been having QC issues since the pandemic!!....you can see it when you look closely at Guitars and other equipment too. I have an older DSL100 Vietnam, that's been great....although I'm leery of China(EVH 5150), I've had lots of good stuff from them too.