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.