Good Sunday morning, everyone. December is a busy month for many of us. For the gear hunters & tone chasers everywhere, we are in a better financial standing to consider a pedal (or two... three even) for whatever the occasion may be. Dunlop's MXR division has the new 5150 OD out not too long ago & it's finally in the shops here for our consideration. This should keep up busy, yes?
Build/ Features
The fact that you are representing someone's guitar tones in a pedal format is a little dangerous. That's because the pedal itself proves to be a fraction of the tone equation, the guitar & amp are other crucial elements in this understanding. The 5150 here is an interpretation of Van Halen's 5150 tone & we take this to mean his overdrive voicings from his amp. We do note the fact that Van Halen uses tube amps with a unique set of circuitry not reproduced by this pedal, hence the 'interpretation' understanding. On this note (no pun intended) the features on board are measured understandings of what this tone manifestation should consist of- an intense overdrive section with a boost capacity for some OTT responses as well as a 3-band EQ portion for adequate frequency sculpturing. The noise gate feature is the manufacturer's hint of what you should be supplemented with in view of the level of gain on tap (more on this later).
As with other MXR products, the 5150 is as sturdy as it should be & it isn't heavy should you be wanting this in your pedal board line-up. The pedal's flip side (seen above) revealed a no-frills battery compartment cover but you need a little bit of fingernail play here to get it open. Also, the pedal features allen-type access instead of the conventional slit/ cross top feature. All in all, the pedal was well cut & assembled at the factory, nothing dodgy to report here. Oh, those knob slit indicators- they glow in the dark.
Tone
If you choose to invest in this pedal (which could easily get you a starter guitar), it means you have a tone priority. The 5150 emulates Van Halen's current amp tones (lest you forget why it's labelled 5150), notably his Peavy/ EVH package. If you wish for his Marshall brown sound drive, it's not represented in this one. Engaging the pedal itself, you get a saturated amount of crunch bordering on the extreme. Putting that boost feature to use gets you some insane drive responses which could rival a heavy metal-type intensity. This brings the noise gate feature into play; the extra background hissing (further amplified by whatever gain-laden pedals you have in your set up) means you are better off with this application turned on (if you are using single coil pickups, it becomes mandatory). I personally feel it's a very useful consideration in this package & it's a quality noise gate implement, mind you, not a get-by standard.
Let me fill you in with the rather repulsive element included in this pedal- that excessive amount of treble. From the get go, you'd be taken aback by how much top end excess this pedal offers, even when you trim the amount down to zero- that's right, it's really excessive. You might say it's an oversight on MXR to be having this on board but the reality is, Van Halen has this much working top end in his amp so hearing that in this pedal simply means the manufacturer factored this peculiarity into it. The thing with any 5150 amp is, once the treble amount is checked, lower setting would simply turn the drive voicing into a smooth, polished tone we all love to hear but that does not happen with this pedal. So this, my friends, is a make-or-break consideration for you because you will be forking out a good amount of money for some Van Halen love which might not appease you personally.
Conclusion
How can you accurately replicate a tube laden voicing into a transistorized representation for the masses? You can't. The 5150 pedal is a very good reproduction of what we expect to hear from a Van Halen type amp response but it's missing some elements only players who had come across the 5150 amplifier would understand. If you worship this pedal in isolation, it probably means you are agreeable with what the manufacturer offers, not because you are blown away by how accurate the representation is. Treble issue aside, the MXR EVH 5150 overdrive offers a different overdrive experience & would easily appeal to those of us who are after an intense drive response, not the polite type typified by almost all overdrive pedals out there that make it a point not to cross into distortion territory in this aspect.
Rating: 80%
MXR: EVH 5150 overdrive
Availability: Swee Lee/ Davis GMC
Price: Please call for quotes
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