Peavey 5150 II

68custom · Post by **68custom** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:02 pm

Was wondering if anyone has played a 5150 II through an orange 4x12 cabinet? Im wanting to buy one but want to make sure it will sound good. All ive used is Marshall. A local band was using an orange cab with a jcm 900 and it sounded awesome. Any help would be appreciated.

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:23 am

Do a search and you'll find lots of opinions on the cabs.

IMO, the short version is that they're very dark, focused, grunty, directional, and have a lot of bottom end and lower mid presence. What they lack in sound dispersion they make up in girth and thickness. Personal preference really.

-Nick

VintageJon · Post by **VintageJon** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:33 am

The Peavey 5150 is problematic in my experience- unless noise and a certain ampount of harshness is not a problem for you.

IMHO is a goofy design. Damn shame as Peavey was well-designed and very reliable in the 70's and 80's. Now you may as well buy a Crate.

Just speaking from experience,
Jon

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:20 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by VintageJon
 The Peavey 5150 is problematic in my experience- unless noise and a certain ampount of harshness is not a problem for you.

IMHO is a goofy design. Damn shame as Peavey was well-designed and very reliable in the 70's and 80's. Now you may as well buy a Crate.

Just speaking from experience,
Jon
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">They actually warm up a good deal if you get the bias up on them a bit. I've seen 5150's running anywhere from 6W-8W, with the (non-adjustable) factory bias setting.

The pre-amp has a lot of buziness, but the clean channel set to crunch mode is much better.

-Nick

68custom · Post by **68custom** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:04 pm

I guess I should have specified. I have the amp and love it, i've just always played it through a marshall cab. I was wondering if anyone has heard one of these amps through a orange cab?

JosserkX · Post by **JosserkX** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:38 am

hey man, i got a 5150I, and let me tell you, a change of cabs wont save you from the bad tone =/. 5150's are built to sound like you are running a crate head with a metal zone pedal. What i like to call "The buzzsaw and tin foil effect" . My suggestion, keep the marshall, and instead of spending another 1k for a cab, re-do the bias and wiring for a dual rec configueration. For about 300 US , you can get it to sound like a mesa rec. That, or just buy a rockerverb. I **** you not, the rockerverb can get as heavy as the 5150, but with amazing smooth and full tone. ALso, if you really want the orange cab, i suggest you spend 80 or so on a bbe sonic maximizer. They actually improve the 5150's tone a tad on an effects loop. =P

Satanic_Versus · Post by **Satanic_Versus** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:52 pm

first off I want to say that no matter what head you have an Orange cab will make it sound better, those Orange cabs are built RIGHT, in my opinion they are the best cabs out there, you get what you pay for when you buy an Orange cab

the 5150 was build to be a Marshall plexi clone, only with 6550 tubes. there was a big article a couple of months ago in Guitar magazine about the whole design of it, I have a 5150 and I think it is an awesome amp, sounds like pure ROCK AND ROLL. and YES it works great with an Orange cab. but then again i can't see any amp not working well with one.

right now i running the 5150 into a Randall with vin 30's.

01/02/06
WOOPS, I had to make a correction, above I say 6550's in the 5150.. I meant to say 6L6GC's ..

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:34 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Satanic_Versus
 
the 5150 was build to be a Marshall plexi clone, only with 6550 tubes. there was a big article a couple of months ago in Guitar magazine about the whole design of it
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">You don't have a link to an online version of that article by any chance do you?

The 5150 is very far from a Marshall 'plexi' (not that there is a specific amp that was ever called that). Very far. To call it a 'hot rodded' version of an old Marshall circuit would be a stretch. To call it a clone is just plain wrong.

-Nick

Satanic_Versus · Post by **Satanic_Versus** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:06 am

ok, maybe i should not have used the term "clone"

BUT

they based it on eddies Marshall that he used for years. it was a 3 page article about the history of peavey how they started and where they are at now. I tried goggle to find the details which will explain much better than me. when he worked with peavey on the design he wanted an amp that would feel like the one described below..

In Van Halen's early years Ed's now classic tone was a partly due to his 1960's(66 or 67)Marshall Super Lead 100-watt "Plexi" head. The Marshall ran on standard EL34's Sylvania' tubes

after the marshall eddie went over to a Soldano SLO100 then to the 5150

I'm still looking for more info online, I still have the mag, I will have to find it..

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:10 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Satanic_Versus
 ok, maybe i should not have used the term "clone"

BUT

they based it on eddies Marshall that he used for years. it was a 3 page article about the history of peavey how they started and where they are at now. I tried goggle to find the details which will explain much better than me. when he worked with peavey on the design he wanted an amp that would feel like the one described below..

In Van Halen's early years Ed's now classic tone was a partly due to his 1960's(66 or 67)Marshall Super Lead 100-watt "Plexi" head. The Marshall ran on standard EL34's Sylvania' tubes

after the marshall eddie went over to a Soldano SLO100 then to the 5150

I'm still looking for more info online, I still have the mag, I will have to find it..

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Oh...i'm not picking on you. I'm just curious as to how they could say that. I've worked on 5150's and they're VERY far from a Marshall 'plexi' (a number of Marshalls were made with Plexiglass control panels, but the term 'plexi' usually refers to the late 60's 1959 Superleads). I pulled up the schematics just to double check, as it's been a while, and it was as I remember it.

Different amount of gain stages (different pre-amp topology all together). Different plate/cathode resistors/cathode bypass caps. Different mixer resistor/cap values. Different tone stack (additional parts in the Peavey, different slope resistor, different mid knob value, different trble cap value). The PI is similar, but most long-tails are. The coupling caps are the same value for the gain stages, but it's a VERY common value. Different negative feedback circuit (presence). Different power amp with different power tubes, different screen grid resistors, and different control grid resistors.

Take a look at them, see if they look even remotely similar. They sure don't to me. Even without getting technical, the 5150 is a channel switching amp with 5 12AX-7's, an effects loop, and a number of things that the 'plexi' doesn't have (resonance knob, clean/crunch switch, bright switch...), and it runs off 6L6's.

5150:
https://schematicheavencom.secure.powwe ... vh5150.pdf

Marshall 1959 Superlead:
(pre-amp)
https://schematicheavencom.secure.powwe ... vh5150.pdf

(power amp)
https://schematicheavencom.secure.powwe ... weramp.pdf

-Nick

Satanic_Versus · Post by **Satanic_Versus** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:30 am

I do not feel at all like "you are picking on me"

I don't know anything about how they are built, its just what I read, go and find a guitar world magazine, I think maybe July? or around that month I forget? anyway it was the history of peavey.

And again ITS NOT A CLONE, I used that word where I should not have, they did not say in the article that it was a clone, just that the worked with EVH on the design and they, should I say VOICED it like eddies "old Marshall" to have an amp that made Eddie feel like he was using his "old Marshall" the 5150 has 6L6GC and the "old Marshall" that he used had EL34's. so yeah its not built the same.

they had to rename the 5150 and went with 6505 because of Peavey being in business for its 40th year, 1965 to 2005, I also learned all kinds of other interesting peavey facts in that same article. why they choose to make crappy guitars for department stores and crap like that.

I don't have a scanner but when I find that magazine I will have someone scan it for me so I can post it here on this thread, I will just need a few weeks. I'm almost positive I have that magazine around.

Satanic_Versus · Post by **Satanic_Versus** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:08 am

OK, i found the mag, i just went thru my whole house to find this, i don't have a scanner so a snapped a photo with my crappy dig camera.

this is a very small part of a 3 page article.

it is the Holiday 2005 issue..

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:51 pm

Cool...neat to see the pic. Thanks for digging that up. I'm not sure what the rest of the article says, but that section mentions absolutely nothing about the 5150 being based on a Marshall or even laying any claim that it's remotely similar.

"Engineers came up with an amp that greatly improved on Eddie's beloved and legendary 'Plexi' Marshall"

"The 5150 is basically a hot-rodded conventional-type amp with added presence and resonance controls and a different type of tube"

"Ed's other amps had EL-34 power tubes but I prefer 6L6's, and we got the tone he wanted with them. Ed wanted a particular kinda of brown sound. He has an unbelieveable ear"


The first statement is a bunch of marketing hype and pure opinion. I agree with the second one.

The third one tells us what kind of tubes his old amps had, that the designer like 6L6's better and was able to make Ed happy with those, and that Ed wanted a particular sound and has a great ear. I can't dispute any of that.

-Nick

peatywheatgrass · Post by **peatywheatgrass** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:18 am

the guitarist from underoath does.

Peavey 5150 II

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