Love the Ultras,I have a PLUS and a 112 thats been turned into a head, darker sounding amps for sure, they sound great, I always have an eq in the loop Great comparison 🤘
Great video!!! I owned both (actually I sold my Ultra Plus last year but regretted it ever since so lucky enough I got to buy one again and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow! haha) and while I played mainly with both the EVH 6L6 100w and 50w for many years...at the end of the day I think I still prefer the Ultra Plus (I don't have any EVH anymore). It was way ahead of its time because added to the fact that the amp had features like a reverb, a half power switch, a boost button on both crunch and lead channels (it could've been cool by the way if you would've shown the difference between when they are on and off for people who never heard that amp ;) and a master volume, like you see now on many amps, it's pretty tight on its own. You don't need an external overdrive and that's awesome! I also have a Peavey 3120 (same model as the XXX, which is the follow up of the Ultra Plus, but with a different cosmetic) loaded with KT77 and it kills! haha The EVH 50w sounds great on its own, but I noticed that in a band situation it lacks low end and is pretty thin sounding. I thought the red channel was ''it'' for me, as far as distortion channel goes, until I noticed that it was way too compressed and oversaturated and I got lost in the mix. It's still a great amp don't get me wrong but the 100w is way better in a live situation, same for the EL34 version. I don't know if you knew or not, but all the Ultra line (Ultra Plus, XXX, 3120 and JSX) have active eqs instead of passive like most amps so every change you make on one eq affect the other. It gives a wider range of tonal possibilities vs passive, but it's harder to dial in so the eq you're used to on a passive eq could be totally different on an active one to get the same sound ;)
Damn I totally should of pointed the differences out like that. Ultra was def beyond its time. Even the 120 sounded awesome. Everything you said is true! the 100watts always have a bit more girth and I agree the 50watt did sound thin in a band practice, live wouldn't matter because it's typically mic'd. I do get a little lost with the active eq so you're right its not a 1 to 1 compared to a passive. 6L6 being passive tho it had more range than the Ultra. Thanks for the comment man and sub! Def a huge fan of the Ultra Plus here.
@@DeathMetalDevin Sure thing! :) And you’re right though, in a live show it doesn’t really matter(unless you’re not mic’d) haha I played a gig 2 weeks ago at a festival and the backline was the infamous Marshall JCM900 and you know what? It sounded great live haha That’s why (to me) the gear I have for practice is more important than for gigs. My main amp is a custom Ceriatone King Kong but I’ll never bring that piece of art to a gig cause I don’t trust people hahaha Hence the reason why I have a 3120 and soon an Ultra Plus again. Great amps, not too heavy (the Ceriatone weight a tooonnn), built like a tank and relatively still cheap on the market ;)
I just got an Ultra+ 120 last month. You can disconnect the reverb tank, kick the reverb on and use the knob as a presence knob. Definitely a cool feature. The Ultra absolutely ended my tone search. Just sounds perfect to my ears.
@@DeathMetalDevin it brightens it up a bit. Also the EQ is tricky since it's active. I run treble 7, mids 3.5, bass 5.5 and set on tight. Another thing I've noticed is it sounds better with the preamp volume on like 8. At least to my ears.
I didn’t know that!!! Do you have to reconnect anything? I have one that is getting cleaned up by a tech but I’m wondering if I should ask him to disconnect it haha
I had a VTM. Great amp. But then I got an Ultra plus. Those are really cool amps. Especially through a quality cabinet like Orange or Randall. That is huge. Peavey cabinets are kind of crappy. Particle board, Sheffield speakers..
@bruceniblett959 absolutely. I actually just posted about another head conversion I did on a silver stripe Bandit that had an issue with the efx loop and the man himself James Brown gave me a quick to fix it and it worked. Dude made some awesome amps
@@DeathMetalDevin well the thing about Peavey amps at least from that era, they didn't have high voltage transformers so they can't get power tube compression even with an attentuator. The EVH 5150 can do it all. An example. I played a solo on a song once and I took a Mesa boogie duel rectifier stack and I cranked the clean channel and master to max. If you can play with that sound, you will have a total godlike tone. But you need strong technique. It blasts the purity of you real playing, but if you suck it sounds like a super loud awful mistake. But my solo had massive headroom.
The flubbiness of the VTM did a nice job if emulating that sound. You need to get used to it. Actually my fave Peavey. I mean so many great amps. I had THD Bivalve. Cool. The VHT pitbull 50 is one of the best sounding rock amps. Tons. But a Peavey classic 30 is $999 or something. Wtf.. I live in Asia so I'm shocked at the inflation here. Fooked
Love the Ultras,I have a PLUS and a 112 thats been turned into a head, darker sounding amps for sure, they sound great, I always have an eq in the loop
Great comparison 🤘
Love the ultra as well, held up very well compared to the 5153 6L6
Great video!!! I owned both (actually I sold my Ultra Plus last year but regretted it ever since so lucky enough I got to buy one again and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow! haha) and while I played mainly with both the EVH 6L6 100w and 50w for many years...at the end of the day I think I still prefer the Ultra Plus (I don't have any EVH anymore). It was way ahead of its time because added to the fact that the amp had features like a reverb, a half power switch, a boost button on both crunch and lead channels (it could've been cool by the way if you would've shown the difference between when they are on and off for people who never heard that amp ;) and a master volume, like you see now on many amps, it's pretty tight on its own. You don't need an external overdrive and that's awesome! I also have a Peavey 3120 (same model as the XXX, which is the follow up of the Ultra Plus, but with a different cosmetic) loaded with KT77 and it kills! haha
The EVH 50w sounds great on its own, but I noticed that in a band situation it lacks low end and is pretty thin sounding. I thought the red channel was ''it'' for me, as far as distortion channel goes, until I noticed that it was way too compressed and oversaturated and I got lost in the mix. It's still a great amp don't get me wrong but the 100w is way better in a live situation, same for the EL34 version.
I don't know if you knew or not, but all the Ultra line (Ultra Plus, XXX, 3120 and JSX) have active eqs instead of passive like most amps so every change you make on one eq affect the other. It gives a wider range of tonal possibilities vs passive, but it's harder to dial in so the eq you're used to on a passive eq could be totally different on an active one to get the same sound ;)
Damn I totally should of pointed the differences out like that. Ultra was def beyond its time. Even the 120 sounded awesome. Everything you said is true! the 100watts always have a bit more girth and I agree the 50watt did sound thin in a band practice, live wouldn't matter because it's typically mic'd. I do get a little lost with the active eq so you're right its not a 1 to 1 compared to a passive. 6L6 being passive tho it had more range than the Ultra. Thanks for the comment man and sub! Def a huge fan of the Ultra Plus here.
@@DeathMetalDevin Sure thing! :) And you’re right though,
in a live show it doesn’t really matter(unless you’re not mic’d) haha I played a gig 2 weeks ago at a festival and the backline was the infamous Marshall JCM900 and you know what? It sounded great live haha That’s why (to me) the gear I have for practice is more important than for gigs. My main amp is a custom Ceriatone King Kong but I’ll never bring that piece of art to a gig cause I don’t trust people hahaha Hence the reason why I have a 3120 and soon an Ultra Plus again. Great amps, not too heavy (the Ceriatone weight a tooonnn), built like a tank and relatively still cheap on the market ;)
I prefer the Evh for its aggressiveness. Great demo! BTW, what speakers are you using?
In this cab at the time I was using the stock speakers which were line 6 custom 4x G12h-90. Absolute sleeper speakers.
@@DeathMetalDevin great, thanks a lot!
Just keep in mind that the Ultra is up in age and still working and I think its a little easier to repair. The 5153 is a pain to repair.
I just got an Ultra+ 120 last month. You can disconnect the reverb tank, kick the reverb on and use the knob as a presence knob. Definitely a cool feature. The Ultra absolutely ended my tone search. Just sounds perfect to my ears.
😮 I did not know that! Is there documentation on that?
@@DeathMetalDevin no documentation that I know about. I think it wasn't intentional but it just works. I did it with mine and it's great.
@@alreadydead6914 will def give it a shot. It's a dark sounding amp for sure. Thanks for the tip!
@@DeathMetalDevin it brightens it up a bit. Also the EQ is tricky since it's active. I run treble 7, mids 3.5, bass 5.5 and set on tight. Another thing I've noticed is it sounds better with the preamp volume on like 8. At least to my ears.
I didn’t know that!!! Do you have to reconnect anything? I have one that is getting cleaned up by a tech but I’m wondering if I should ask him to disconnect it haha
came for the title alone just to say... peaveyultraplus...... ya.... 👌 lol
Love the NWO shirt! Sounds great
I had a VTM. Great amp. But then I got an Ultra plus. Those are really cool amps. Especially through a quality cabinet like Orange or Randall. That is huge. Peavey cabinets are kind of crappy. Particle board, Sheffield speakers..
The only peavey cabinet that I was over the hills for was the triple X cab with triple X speakers. Absolutely loved that thing
@@DeathMetalDevin Peavey had some really innovative stuff that was affordable. The classic, the Butcher, VTM, Triumph, the Bravo.
@bruceniblett959 absolutely. I actually just posted about another head conversion I did on a silver stripe Bandit that had an issue with the efx loop and the man himself James Brown gave me a quick to fix it and it worked. Dude made some awesome amps
@@DeathMetalDevin well the thing about Peavey amps at least from that era, they didn't have high voltage transformers so they can't get power tube compression even with an attentuator. The EVH 5150 can do it all. An example. I played a solo on a song once and I took a Mesa boogie duel rectifier stack and I cranked the clean channel and master to max. If you can play with that sound, you will have a total godlike tone. But you need strong technique. It blasts the purity of you real playing, but if you suck it sounds like a super loud awful mistake. But my solo had massive headroom.
The flubbiness of the VTM did a nice job if emulating that sound. You need to get used to it. Actually my fave Peavey. I mean so many great amps. I had THD Bivalve. Cool. The VHT pitbull 50 is one of the best sounding rock amps. Tons. But a Peavey classic 30 is $999 or something. Wtf.. I live in Asia so I'm shocked at the inflation here. Fooked
Not gay here, but you look better without the mustache bro.
🤣
The Ultra + really benefits from a BBE Sonic Stomp in the loop
I does! Have you tried disconnecting the reverb tank and making the reverb knob a presence knob?