Not waiting for Peavey 6505 to come to UK....Got me a 5150 MK 1 head today !!

[Rock Fella]

It comes on Wednesday this week in a flightcase and is 9 out of 10 condition.

I had ordered a new 6505 head sposed to come in July, then mid july, then August, then end of August , then Sept, then end sept, then mid oct, then end oct and upon phoning today its now november.

When the chance of a mint 5150 mk1 arose, I leapt at it.

I asked the seller , whats the loudest you have played her at ?

"never had it above 5 " he replied.

what was it like at 5 I enquired.

"Absolutely Intolerable head caving in volume " was what he replied....eek !

who here has experience of the 5150 heads ? Sounds like just my ticket.

jimmy

 

[Erik]

A good friend of mine plays one...we played the same Katrina benefit show yesterday. He was VERY LOUD in a live band situation...his volume was just under 3 (or 9:00). Believe me, that was loud.

 

[Rock Fella]

Originally posted by Erik
A good friend of mine plays one...we played the same Katrina benefit show yesterday. He was VERY LOUD in a live band situation...his volume was just under 3 (or 9:00). Believe me, that was loud.

was he piling on the drive and crunching it up or doin sumthin diferent erik ?

 

[Erik]

He plays with a healthy dose of gain...enough to make your teeth rattle. It didn't sound bad, either...very thick. He was playing a Gibson Explorer with a '59/'59 pickup config into the 5150 thru a Traditional Mesa Recto 4x12. His leads were boosted a tad with a GE-7 EQ...mids bumped.

I've played through his rig before...very simple, but very nice gain. He plays with more gain than I would...but it doesn't sound bad at all (to my ears). The gain is thick with a lot of "bite"...cuts through the mix really well. His bass player was using more mids than he should've...but the 5150 could still be heard perfectly, i.e., the bass player really wasn't stepping on him.

Don't expect the 5150 do have a good clean channel...it wasn't made for that. Oh, and one more thing...if you run a lot of effects through the loop, you may have to add another EQ pedal at the end of the chain as the effect loop isn't known to be that great. With all that being said, you could easily have those deficiencies corrected with some cheap mods. If you're going after some hefty metal/hard rock tones...no need to modify...the 5150 will do you just fine. For the price, they're REALLY tough to beat. (Not sure of the pricing on your side of the pond, though.)

Something tells me your Les Paul will be HUGE sounding through the 5150.

 

[Rock Fella]

Originally posted by Erik
He plays with a healthy dose of gain...enough to make your teeth rattle. It didn't sound bad, either...very thick. He was playing a Gibson Explorer with a '59/'59 pickup config into the 5150 thru a Traditional Mesa Recto 4x12. His leads were boosted a tad with a GE-7 EQ...mids bumped.

I've played through his rig before...very simple, but very nice gain. He plays with more gain than I would...but it doesn't sound bad at all (to my ears). The gain is thick with a lot of "bite"...cuts through the mix really well. His bass player was using more mids than he should've...but the 5150 could still be heard perfectly, i.e., the bass player really wasn't stepping on him.

Don't expect the 5150 do have a good clean channel...it wasn't made for that. Oh, and one more thing...if you run a lot of effects through the loop, you may have to add another EQ pedal at the end of the chain as the effect loop isn't known to be that great. With all that being said, you could easily have those deficiencies corrected with some cheap mods. If you're going after some hefty metal/hard rock tones...no need to modify...the 5150 will do you just fine. For the price, they're REALLY tough to beat. (Not sure of the pricing on your side of the pond, though.)

Something tells me your Les Paul will be HUGE sounding through the 5150.

using an eq to boost with a 120 watt tube head !!

tell me more please erik , see the crunch channel , if you turn the pre control up , it packs a mighty rhythm crunch tone, is that right erik ? i want to use the crunch for mighty rhythm tones and lead channel for liquid lead soloing. cleans interest me only mildly, nail you to the floor rhythm and liquid lead tones are totally my bag, my gtr idols are gary moore, john sykes and billy gibbons , you see what my requirements are from an amp then dude. my only fx are an analog delay and analog flange, would boosting the lead channel with an eq not cause huge noise and notes overcompressing ?

jimmy

 

[Erik]

Originally posted by Rock Fella
using an eq to boost with a 120 watt tube head !!

jimmy

LOL!!!

He just uses the EQ for a bump in his mids for solos...believe me, this is a loud amp. We played a benefit concert together and during rehearsals, he found it necessary to boost some mid frequencies during his solos in order to really stand out. (I do the same with my rig.) If you're the only guitar player in the band...it probably won't be necessary.


Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt because the head isn't mine...so I'm going off memory and conversations I've had with my buddy. We do gig out every so often together in a side project...and I've had his rig in my house for the last 2 months. The 5150 has "mean" sounding gain when pushed...there is a lot of saturation if you want it.

I know the amp doesn't get a lot of love on this board, but I'd put the 5150 up against many amps double or triple the price of it in the correct application. Many people just dismiss it because it says "Peavey" on it...IMO, that is a mistake. I've seen him drop his head (he did it yesterday before the gig) with no issues.

The 5150 tends to be a "forgiving" amp for leads, it isn't sloppy or muddy sounding...it is hard to describe...maybe it is the compression that levels out the pick attack. If you dial back the gain, that quality will probably disappear.

Regarding the Crunch Channel...yes, turning up the Pre control will give you a healthy rhythm crunch. The Global control does some pretty interesting things to the tone, too. I would like to spend some more time with that.

 

[Rock Fella]

Ive got zero time for looking down noses at the peavey name erik, ive found in my 26 yrs of guitar playing that peavey make damned reliable products that are bullet proof in build quality , add cracking tones to the equation and youve an amp ill place my trust in with no worries.

for gigs where im the gtr player in a band, the 35 watt EL84 hellcat head is more than enough, add a second guitarist who likes to turn his amp up and that compromises the hellcat in terms of cutting through an already loud mix , and as you are already well round the vol control, solo boost is limited.

my current situation is I am playing with a 2nd guitarist who really likes to wind up his 100 watt solid state head, its marginally louder than the 35 watt tube hellcat but it does prove frustrating. He will not know whats hit him when the 5150 comes into the equation, maybe he will learn to be more of a team player as a result and quit being the prima donna. from what you say, the 5150 sounds like it would bury him completely without breaking sweat. when he realises this, perhaps he will turn down and realise the importance of being a better team player and things will flow along very nicely, he is a decent player but he is 22 and those young uns just need to mature into an ole fart like the rest of us, im 36 LOL

you have certainly made me excited about my new acquisition erik, thanks mate , out of curiousity, how reliable has your buddy`s 5150 showed itself to be.

jimmy

 

[Erik]

Originally posted by Rock Fella
...my current situation is I am playing with a 2nd guitarist who really likes to wind up his 100 watt solid state head, its marginally louder than the 35 watt tube hellcat but it does prove frustrating. He will not know whats hit him when the 5150 comes into the equation, maybe he will learn to be more of a team player as a result and quit being the prima donna. from what you say, the 5150 sounds like it would bury him completely without breaking sweat. when he realises this, perhaps he will turn down and realise the importance of being a better team player and things will flow along very nicely, he is a decent player but he is 22 and those young uns just need to mature into an ole fart like the rest of us, im 36 LOL

The poor bastard has no idea of the impending a$$ whooping he's about to be dished out. His solid state head is about to face an all out nuclear assault.

Originally posted by Rock Fella
you have certainly made me excited about my new acquisition erik, thanks mate , out of curiousity, how reliable has your buddy`s 5150 showed itself to be.

jimmy

Extremely reliable...never an issue. (He's gigged regularly with it for about 5 years now.) Seriously, during load in yesterday he dropped the head from about knee high height...my eyes (and his) were about as big as saucers. Plugged in...fired it up...no issues. The only thing he mentioned he would like to do is add a trim pot to bias the amp a tad warmer. (But he's been saying that for about 2 years...and still hasn't done it...must not be THAT important to him!! )

 

[Rock Fella]

thanks dude

 

[Erik]

Anytime, Jimmy...let us know how it goes when you can fire it up!!!

 

[Rock Fella]

i certainly will erik

 

[JPenn]

I've messed with the 5150 very little, but the Crunch is what I dug on the amp. The Lead channel was too over the top for me and I never use a clean channel. The crunch had a nice Marshall vibe to it.