EVH 5150 III (50watt) - Mexican v.s Vietnamese made

There were some issues on my Vietnamese made EVH 5150 III.
Hence, FMIC sent me a new replacement unit which is made in Mexico.

Thank you for following persons from BGW/Swee Lee and FMIC to made that happened.
Michael Roberts, Howard Kaplan, Godfrey, Brendon and others.



The country of origins are stated on back panel where Resonance knob located.


The amp handles are different. I prefer the handle of current Mexican made version.
Right: Vietnamese made and Left: Mexican made.


The speaker cables came with amps are different.
I prefer the speaker cable of current Mexican made version because they use Neutrik jacks and US made cable.
Top: Mexican made and Bottom: Vietnamese made.


The footswitches are different.
I prefer the Vietnamese made version because the jack ring is made of metal.
Top: Mexican made and Bottom: Vietnamese made.


The channel indicators, LED are different. I heard the way of how they mounted are different too.
I prefer the current Mexican made version because they are smaller and better quality look.
Right: Mexican made and Left: Vietnamese made.



The stock tubes are still made by JJ. However, they have removed the ink prints on the tubes.
There is a white colour rubber grommet to secure the Phase Inverter tube on Mexican made version.
Right: Mexican made and Left: Vietnamese made.


For overall workmanship, I would say the workmanship of Mexican made version is much better.

The major tone difference between Vietnamese and Mexican builds comes from Ch2 - Blue channel.
We have compared another two Vietnam built units with my Mexico unit,
the Mexico unit obviously sounds tighter on Ch2 - Blue channel.
There is also NO popping sound occured when switching between channels on Mexico unit.

Initially when I raised my Ch2 flubby complaint to Howard Kaplan (EVH, Fender), he mentioned
there is "small change" needed to bring the Vietnam built head to the exact same configuration
as the Mexico built head.

Since my Vietnam built unit had couple of cosmetic flaws as well, they just shipped me the replacement unit instead.
Else, I would need to send my Vietnam unit to authorized service center for a "Mexico built spec upgrade"
according to Howard Kaplan.

EVH 5150 III (50 watt)

My EVH 5150 III (50watt) finally arrived.


I'm so excited when opening the box because I have been waiting it for quite a long time.


Here it is. I ordered a black tolex version.
It comes with pretty awesome accessories - footswitch, user manual and a decent speaker cable.


Eddie Van Halen signs with Fender (FMIC) since year 2007,
therefore all the EVH products are made in Fender Factory now.

50watt version of EVH 5150 III amp head was unveiled in year 2011 NAMM show.
The first batch of 50watt version are made in Vietnam,
but now all of them are made in Mexico at the same factory as 100watt version.

In year 2013, they introduced a EVH 5150 III combo with digital reverb (50watt, 2x12" speakers).


Ch1 (Green channel) shares all the controls with Ch2 (Blue channel) on 50watt version of 5150 III.
Luckily, Ch3 (Red channel) has it own independent controls as I mainly use Red channel.


You can find a Master Presence control from front panel, but Master Resonance control is on back panel.
There is NO Resonance control on 100watt version of EVH 5150 III.


The Power and Standby switches are on back panel too which is really bother me a lot.
In my opinion, they should install Standby switch on the front at least.
And the 50watt version supports MIDI switching function, but that is not for 100watt version.


Compared to my old Peavey 5150, the EVH 5150 III sounds much modern, brighter and more refined.
It has more picking dynamics and not compressed as my old 5150.
It also has "Fenderish" style clean tone in Ch1 (Green channel) which you properly couldn't get from Peavey 5150
and Ch2 (Blue channel) has the gain to fit into the heavy metal territory pretty well.
Ch3 (Red channel) is the KING of high gain !!! Slightly mid-scooped thrash metal rhythm tone.
This Red channel has the gain more than you ever need. I always keep the gain knob below 12:00.


PCB circuit of  EVH 5150 III 50watt version.
All the components and soldering skills look pretty cheap. You definitely get what you pay for.


Bias trim pot.


Both preamp and power tubes are JJ.
Factory bias setting is pretty cold, only around 19.6mA @ 490V plate voltage.