EV H 5150III LBXII

None more brown

Will it make me sound like Eddie?

It won’t give you Van Halen’s fingers, but the 5150III LBXII’s sounds are close enough, with two footswitchable channels replicating the Green (Clean) and Blue (Crunch) channels of Eddie’s head. There’s no ‘full burn’ option, nevertheless the gain is so insane that if you want to shred like Eddie you won’t notice.

What other features does it have?

The two channels have separate dual concentric gain and volume controls, with shared tone knobs and resonance on the rear panel. There’s also a series effects loop and a 1/4-power option to keep the neighbours sweet, although it’s still very loud on this setting. The 5150 is pure valve, with a pair of EL84s in the power amp and four ECC83s in the preamp for that legendary ‘brown sound’, with plenty of volume for small to medium gigs.

Will it last?

Yes. Behind the ready-to-rock looks, it’s built like a tank; we’re impressed by the black and white styling and the clever dual concentric pointer knobs, accented by that big red pilot light.