EVH 5150III 4x12 Cabinet

I’ve been on the hunt for a quality 4x12 cabinet to pair with my tube heads. I considered a Mesa Standard 4x12, but couldn’t get past spending $1500+ on a new cabinet. I also wanted to use a 4x12 with my lower gain amps. I liked how the EVH 5150III 4x12 Dynacab pack from Fractal Audio sounded for both crunch and high gain, so I was open to the idea of acquiring the cabinet. The cabinet is supposed to be based on the construction of the classic Marshall 1960B 4x12 and is loaded with EVH-labeled Heritage Greenbacks.

5150III Cabinet Front View

A blem EVH 5150III 4x12 from Musician’s Friend appeared in my Google searches for 4x12 cabinets. The cabinet appeared new in the images with the exception of some scuffing on the metal corner protectors. At $500 off the new prices, I didn’t think I would see this price again.

Celestion G12-EVH speakers.

The cabinet came single boxed with no padding other than a few pieces of cardboard at the base. The cab itself was in great condition, with the original tag and plastic over the logos still intact. Some minor bumps to the edges on the rear, but nothing that would lead me to return the cabinet. I opened up the cabinet to verify that the G12-EVH speakers were all accounted for. An inspection sticker was dated 09/05/2025, so still within a month of purchase. This cabinet most likely had a rough time during shipping and the original box was worn enough that it couldn’t be sold as new. The speaker connections are soldered, so I don’t think that I will be doing any speaker rolling in this cabinet.

Celestion G12-EVH T5600B code.

My first impressions of the cab mirror the experiences of others. The cabinet is darker sounding and the big low end of the G12-EVH is somewhat loose. The darker Greenback flavor conplements bright Plexi and JCM800 sounds, both in the room and under a microphone. The cab sounds good with high gain as well. I really liked how the voicing worked with my Peavey 6505, Mesa Dual Rectifier Multi-Watt, and Crab Marcus. The G12-EVH works better with the 6505’s Crunch Channel than any of my other speakers. I thought the low end was a bit much with my Crab Benzin’s VH3 channel.

I wonder what about the combination of construction and speakers gives the cabinet such a big sound. All of the G12-EVH speakers consistently sound thicker than my G12M25 (Jet City 2x12) and G12M65 (Line 6 4x12). 

More to come.

Speaker Impedance Curves

I've been wondering about how the Suhr Reactive Load compares to my speaker cabs as an output presented to my tube amps.

Suhr Reactive Load (Green) vs V30/H75 in my Jet City 2x12 (Blue)

I used a Dayton Audio DATS V3 to take some measurements to compare the impedance curves of various speaker configurations vs the Suhr Reactive Load. The Suhr Reactive Load is meant to mimic a Marshall 4x12 with Greenbacks as a reference. I was surprised how close its impedance curve compared to my Vintage 30/Creamback H75 combination (illustrated above).

I am looking into recording my tube amps with speaker loads when my playing environment is favorable to loud noise. The Suhr Reactive Load + IRs will continue to be tools that I utilize, but there is excitement in pushing air and moving microphones. 

The accuracy of my lower gain amp DI captures should benefit from using complementary speaker loads. The Suhr’s 4x12 response adds some beef for rock tones, but it can be a bit much for some edge of breakup tones.

For those times that I cannot turn my amps up, my plan is to capture my amps in NAM with a speaker load. 

NAM Speaker Load Captures vs Suhr Reactive Load Captures

https://www.tone3000.com/tones/vox-ac15c1-normal-channel-115dbu-ttsv10-input-31553

https://www.tone3000.com/tones/vox-ac15c1-top-boost-channel-115dbu-ttsv10-input-37813

NAM Full Rigs

https://www.tone3000.com/tones/full-rig-peavey-6505-1992-original-115dbu-ttsv10-36456

Varying speaker impedance curves is something I already explore in my Fractal FM3. Adding the contribution of my speakers to my digital tones via NAM is the next logical step.