MXR
EVH 5150
OVERDRIVE
REVIEW BY
DAVID A. EVANS
STREET PRICE
$199.99
For anyone unfamiliar with
the California Welfare and
Institutions code, “5150”
has a special meaning:
involuntary psychiatric
hold. Who needs it this
time? Well, it’s not a
person, but a pedal. It
turns out that Mr. Eddie
Van Halen—the king of
“insane” two-handed
tapping—has teamed up
with MXR to put out a
new pedal, the EVH 5150
Overdrive. This pedal is
dangerously, crazily “out
there,” and might very
well need an involuntary
psychiatric hold because
of that. Indeed, the pedal
possesses an unusually
high-quality sound, with
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GEAR REVIEW
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richness and depth that
one does not often hear.
But if we’re going to call
headquarters about a
5150, we’d better have
good reasons.
Here’s reason number
one: the vibrancy and
richness of its sound. The
5150 will distort a note
without mangling it. It’s
as if individual notes can
ring through, distinctly and
solidly, without becoming
buried in a mess of noise.
Even in the higher gain
settings, the 5150 acts
with finesse, producing
an overwhelming,
massive, and deep form
of distortion. It was a
pleasure to simply strum
MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive
an open chord and let
the thing ring out while
listening for the changes in
the tone as time passed.
Reason number two:
the 5150 has a very
good, three channel EQ.
“Amplifier under the
blanket,” “tiny amplifier,”
“hollow overdrive,” and
“telephone time” were
some of the names that
came to mind while
comparing the tonal
differences between
various knob settings.
This writer expected a
large increase in loudness
when the Bass knob was
turned up, but it turned
out that the signal simply
“thickened.” In retrospect,