Control 2 EVH 5150-50 watts via MIDI

Howdy. I have one EVH 5150-50 watt head and can control channel switching via the MIDI Out/Thru on the FX-8 with no issue. I will soon be getting a second head (exact same one) and want to know how I would go about changing the channels on both using MIDI on the FX-8.

I also have an RJM mini amp gizmo for when I had the 100 watt head and was able to use that on both amps (the 100 and 50 watt) at the same time with no issue. But the gizmo has a 7 pin port for the footswitch on the back of the 100 watt. I'm just wondering if maybe the gizmo would work with both 50 watt amps or do I need a different device...or if I can use both the Out/Thru and In on the back of the FX-8 instead.

Thanks.
 
All you will need is a MIDI Solutions MIDI Processor and three MIDI Cables. It provides two MIDI Thru outputs from one MIDI Input. It has active circuitry, zero delay, and doesn't require batteries or a wall wart. Works perfectly!
 
Since you will be using two EVH 5150 III 6L6 50 Watt Heads a second option would be to use one amp for tone and the second just to power the second cab (and serve as a backup). Watch the latest Pete Thorn Tour Rig video to see how he does this with two identical amps (John Petrucci does this too).

You may find it to be overkill to run two of the exact same amps just to power the second cab for stereo FX. A third option to consider is the EVH 5150 III EL34 50 Watt Head. The I/O and specs are the same, but the amp is voiced completely different (more vintage - less gain). Blending these two amps sounds glorious. Use the MIDI Solutions MIDI Processor for this setup as stated above.
 
Roxy, thank you so much for your replies. I did some searching after I posted and found the MIDI Solutions Thru, which I believe to be what you were suggesting (same brand at least). Stupid me...I used to have one of those and totally forgot about it. I went and bought 3 5-pin female jacks and tested connecting two of them to one and see if that will do the same thing as the MIDI Thru. And it does. I found an old enclosure I had and am going to put that all together. The 3 jacks cost me $2.02 and I've had that enclosure for at least 10 years and have never used it. So yay for saving some money.

As far as the two amps, I did have one of the 50 watt EL34 when they first came out. It blew up on me after about 4 weeks. To this day I have no idea what happened to it. Blew the fuse, and then the next 2 that I replaced. There was also something about the red channel that I didn't really vibe with on the 34. It just didn't sound right to me. That's all subjective anyways. I sent it back to Sweetwater and got the new 6L6 with the concentric pots. I only am going to use the two together at home to mess around with stereo effects. I mainly got the second one for a backup as I gig quite a bit and can't be without an amp.

Odd thing though (only making this reply longer)...I had both amps set up 4CM with the MIDI cable only going to one, and no footswitch or MIDI cable in the other, and when changing channels on my FX-8, on one amp it responded like it should and the other amp without the MIDI cable in it, it still changed the channels as far as what was coming out of the amp, but the channel light on the amp never changed. Not sure why or how that happened, but I didn't want to continue to do that as I was afraid something would get messed up.

Thanks again for the replies. Much appreciated. And I will watch that Pete Thorn video. He's pretty fantastic with everything I've seen him do.

DSJ
 
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