Peavey 5150 212

Built in 2002. Decent clean channel through low gain input, so that covers the clean. It is not a fender type clean but still very good. The amp is versatile enough for me. I play hard rock, metal and blues. Clean channel has the crunch switch which is very cool. Adds alot of gain and you can get alot of different tones on this channel alone with that switch. Good feature. Reverb is included. I only use it when playing clean. I gig every week with this amp. Plenty of power. Extremely loud and cuts through a full band well..

This is the best amp ever! Pure tube, sweet, warm, and nasty. I use a Peavey Wolfgang, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Standard and gibson es-335. I can get any rock and roll sound you can think of.I have played for 22 years and have not heard a finer sounding piece of gear. I have the matching 5150 cabinet and a Marshall 1960B cabinet That I can use with it. Both cabs sound great through it though I like the sound of the 5150 cab slightly better. It does Vintage 30 better than the real thing. The thing I like the most about it is its ability to sound great at low volumes and then just explodes and sounds 10 times better when loud (master at 4-5)The volume just slams you in the chest like a sledge hammer. I never take the gain on the lead channel above 4, I just crank the volume and that does the rest. There is a misconception that the more gain you use the better. This is not true. You must drive the output tubes as well to get a truly great sound. I played for years using too much distortion and it just thins out your sound. Cleaner = fatter tone and better technique. You just can't hide behind alot of distortion although this amp has more gain than You could ever use if you want it. This amp is also unforgiving to sloppy technique. If you can't play this amp will show it.

Never had a problem. Nuff said.

never had to deal with them .

Like I said , the best amp ever. Why pay more for tone?

I am not sure what year the amp was made in. I bought the combo used on Ebay. It has new power and pre amp tubes with less than 5 hours on them.
It has 3 channels, effects loop and a foot switch option.
We all know the specs
The amp is loud

I can't get close to any VH type sound. Think has nasaly mids. The EQ, presence and bright swtich (on rythym channel) are useless. They hardly do anything. I thought the amp was broken but the local repair shop gave it a clean bill of health.
The clean channel isn't very clean
The distortion is brutal and sounds like shit. Lead channel is not needed rythm channel has enough gain that anything past 7 is unusable.

I was able to dial in a Zakk Wylde type sound but that was it.
I've heard several audio clips of this combo producing a really good tone. I am completely disappointed and I no longer believe the sound clips I head came out of a 5150 combo.

I haven't had it long enough.

Called Peavey to get a replacement panel, (yeah I wanted to make it at least look pretty since it sounded so bad). After navigating through the PBS the phone in the parts center just rang and rang for 6 minutes nad 14 seconds.

I have been playing for 12 years. I am just getting back into it now after a 12 year hiatus.

1996 block letter 2X12 combo 60 of the LOUDEST watts I've ever heard.
everyone knows what these amps are all about feature wise so I'll just move on. I give it a 6 because I wish It had separate eq's for the 2 channels and I wish the crunch was included in the foot pedal.
got it used on Ebay from the original owner and he took really good care of it. looks brand new!
I wish it had a line out and a headphone jack but no biggie.

I play a Jackson SL2H-Mah soloist and GMW Charvel strat clone and a San Dimas Jackson bolt on strat. All 3 have Seymour Duncans in them.
I play mostly old school 80's type of rock/metal- Van halen, Ratt, Dokken, Ozzy, Yngwie,Megadeth etc, but I also play alot of fusion and some Jazz. This amp is not for fusion or jazz, it is a kick ass rock/metal amp period and as far as that goes I have to give this amp a 9. when I got it it still had the original chineese tubes in it. I did a total retube with JJ's and it made a very noticable difference. the lead channel on this thing is really noisy, but the JJ's did eliminate a lot of the hiss ( an ISP Decimator in the loop kills the rest), and the overall tone greatly improved. It also cleaned up the rhythm channel nicely, now it actually sounds good clean.
As far as what this amp is supposed to do,it does it really well. I have a real good Megadeth "Rust in Peace" tone dialed in right now on the rhythm channel with the crunch in. It just sounds f'n amazing, even at low volume this thing sounds great but it really shines when you turn up the post gain past 4, then WHOAHHHHHHHH, freaking loud as hell but man what a great sound you can get out of this thing.
When I plug in my GMW (solid maple quilt body and maple neck) and adjust the EQ a little bit and add on the slap back delay think Ratt" Lay it Down", it's almost like Warren is in the room with you!
The lead channel is great for .......... ah leads, the tone is voiced just a little differently on the lead channel from the rhythm channel and it gives you a little range in tone. I wish the crunch was included in the foot pedal but no biggie. I don't really get a real "Early Van Halen" sound out of this amp but I can get close enough. With a marshal cab with a mix of V30s and g12h-75s I know I could get real close. VhAholic (check it out http://www.jasonjosephphotography.com/soundclips.html)
nails that VH tone with his 5150 combo and I think the difference is in the speakers.
Regardless I love this amp!
I have a B-52 AT-212 combo that I use for Jazz and fusion and more mesa sounding metal tones,but for old school metal, browner tone
this amp just Kicks Ass! I'd give it a 10 but you really only get one tone out of this thing albeit it is a killer tone, so you lose 1 for lack of versatility.

haven't had it long enough to tell but it certainly is built like a truck. I don't expect to have any problems with this thing at all.

I have not ever dealt with Peavey but I've never heard anything bad. The Peavey forum is certainly helpful enough.

I've been playing on and off since 1975, I wish I had this amp back in the early 80's when I was doing a lot of gigging and playing all that cool 80's metal in clubs.
If this thing dies on me I would probably get a JSX combo, only because it's more versatile, and it sounds a little better at lower volumes than this does, but I think 5150s are a kick ass amp.
If I was playing in a metal band that was gigging out a lot, this would probably be my amp of choice. I can't ever imagine having a hard time cutting through the mix using one of these amps. This is easily the loudest 60 watt combo I've ever heard. the guy I got this from on ebay was the original owner and installed wheels and included the manual and a cover, and took really good care of it. so I did really well on this one. SCORE!

I bought the amp used on Ebay - I was told it is from 2000 or so. Features are pretty basic - Rhythm and lead channels both with gain controlls but no seperate Eq. It it also has effects loop and reverb. Beyond that what else do you need - it's a tube amp! If you want an amp to be able to model a hundred different amps buy solid state. One very large plus for this amp is that, at least mine, has a great sound at low volume and obviously it is a world shaker at high volume. I give it an 8 because it would be nice to have separate EQ controls for the channels

I have had this amp for about 18 months and have been foolishly trying to scale down and get rid the 5150 since I bought it. It is a lot of amp! Here is what I have discovered - I can't get rid of it because is blows away everything I have tried to replace it with. Since I bought this amp I have played an '84 Kramer Focus 3000 (with a really beefy Dimarzio humbucker) and have been happy with the sound. I can get wicked thumping metal through the lead channel but also really nice bluesy sound in the rhythm channel - SRV like stuff with the bridge pick-up. Recently I switched to an Epi Les Paul (yes this is also and endorsement for the Epi Les Paul) and my feelings for this amp are set in stone now. This is a great amp that can do almost anything - I run from Metal to Blues to Punk to Cow Punk and Psychobilly - this amp can do it all. You just have to tweek the gain and reasonance. I have had no noise problems. I think my tube selection has a lot do to with the versatility - Groove Tube power tubes and JJ preamp tubes - a ying and yang tube philosopy that seems to be working. If you are looking for shimmering clean sound or twang this is not the amp for you.

I have had no problems - I live on a nice quiet street and do not drive the amp much but do play loud enough to really feel that I am playing. Tubes last me quite a long time - if you are out gigging a lot they will not last as long. The amp is very heavy and very well built! In transit the spring reverb is very rattly - does not affect the sound - it's just odd. I have had other spring reverb amps that did not make as much noise when moved.

I have dealt with them only in the 80's after I bought a Stereo Chorus 400. I had a problem and they replaced the amp. My only gripe with Peavey is that their warranty is non-transeferable. The warranty on mine ran out long before I bought it.

Epi Les Paul has become my main guitar - I cannot believe how long I played a strat copy. I will hold on to the Kramer for sentimental reasons. I have a pretty long row of Boss effects that work well through the effects loop.

Here is what I have tried to replace the 5150 with - a Mesa Boogie 50 Caliber Plus, Marshall JCM 600 and a Peavey Triple X. Of the three the Marshall was hardest to part with (traded it for the Les Paul). The Triple X was fun but a one trick pony and the Mesa...I do not understand the status Mesa enjoys.

One thing that would be a nice addition - Clean channel with no gain control and stronger reverb. If it were stolen I would certainly replace it!

Please read the other reviews for the feature list. I've modded mine for an external bias control pot (I mounted it near the power tubes). I also added a "master" volume pot, which I mounted underneath also. This allows me to turn the PRE and POST pots to my liking without meltdown. I wish it had an EQ on each channel, but I added an additional tone stack with sweepable mids for that also.

For the $1100 retail price, it's lacking features.

Excellent sounds. The harmonics that come from the lead channel are rich, high, and outright incredible. The distortion is heavier than any other amp I've played. It's also noisier than any amp I've played. A noise gate in the effects loop tames this. The rhythm channel can be clean, but it's not "chimey" like Fenders and Marshalls can be.

I rebuilt this amp from 50% up. It was destroyed when I got it. All pots broken, bias resistor burned, PCBs not even in the chassis, reverb not working, etc. Fortunately, I can fix these things myself. It's reliable now.

Mine has been out of warranty since before I owned it. Peavey's parts department is a freaking joke. Those people don't know what part goes where. They don't even have diagrams to look at. You'd better know the 11-digit part number when you call... which is hard to do when you need a "4 long screws that bolt the chassis to the cab", of which there are 10 different sizes. 6 out of the 8 orders I called in resulted in either the wrong parts or nothing at all. They never even bothered to call and tell me that they were out of a part... just took my credit card info and left me waiting. Amazing. If my company ran its business like this, we'd be finished. Yep, basically worthless.

I've been a fan of Peavey's amps for quite a while. But if they can't get their act together in the parts department, I'll videotape myself pushing my Peaveys in the swimming pool and share it with you all. Yeah, melodramatic, but today was another wrong parts shipment. The parts department is killing their rating here in my review.

I've got an XXL head and 5150 4x12 cab also. It's a great SS amp for the money.

just got my second 5150 combo. Made in late 2004 I believe. Identical in all ways to my first. I got another one so that I can run stereo. I also run an ADA MP-1 tube pre-amp, and a Digitech GNX4 digital modeler into the effects returns on both amps for a stereo sound. The 5150's make a great power amp too! Absolutly huge sound! Has all the features.

This is why I am writing a review again. Using the same Musicman EVH and Peavey Wolfgang guitars as before, This combo sounds way better than my other one. WAAAYYYYY better. I have never heard so much shredding gain from any amp I have ever heard, PERIOD! My friend has a FRAMUS COBRA head and it does not compare to the 5150. Tight, articulate, even ordered harmonic crunch. Almost violin like distortion. Just unbeleivable. I opened it up to check the tubes and guess what? The tubes are what is making all of the difference. My other 5150 has JJ tubes and the new one uses Sovtek wxt+ power tubes and Electro Harmonix 12ax7eh pre-amp tubes. I swapped them and the first combo sounded like the newer one. The JJ's sound good too, but the Sovtek-Electro Harmonix combination takes it for sheer gain and note definition. Overall better tone. No buzziness or harsh overtones. No noticable increase in background hiss. We will see how long they keep sounding that good. Good tubes mean everything boys and babes!

As before built like a tank. I fully expect this one to last for years

Good People. I had a pickup fail on a brand new Wolfgang and Steve Smith from peavey had another one out to me in two days. Very cool!

Been playing, sound teching and consulting for 25 years. This is one of the top 5 best Rock and Metal amps on the planet. I have heard others that only sounded slightly better for 3 times the price and there is a cut-off point where all that extra money does not get you that much more of an amp. I have compared it to Soldano, Marshalls of all types, Bogner, Framus, Engle, Boogie, Deizel, and Line 6 Vetta, It, and it's little brothers the the Triple XXX and the JS-X can hold their own with any of the high priced stuff for Overdriven distorted tones, especially with the right tubes. Spend that extra $1,500 dollars you will save on another guitar or a night of sin in Vegas. Peavey Rokkkkkkkkkks!

Peavey 5150 212 combo, 60 watts, 5 12AX7 Preamp and 2 6L6 Power Tubes. 2 Channels (lead/rhythm) shared EQ. Bright and Crunch controls on rhythm, resonance and presence on lead. FX loop. I do wish it had seperate EQ controls. Unfortunately peavey never made a 5150 II combo, only the head version. The combos are fixed bias and from my experience a little better on clean tone. Don't get me wrong, this is still no Fender Bassman or 65 Twin Reverb..Its not made for clean. Loud Loud Loud!!

The amp sounds ok at low volumes as long as you crank the presence control. The louder you turn the amp (post gain = volume) the less presence you need. With postgain on 1 i keep resonance at 8. With post gain at 3 I bump presence back to 4. (keeping resonance up for low end). I use Fender Atomic Humbuckers and Stock MIM single coils. The humbuckers sound great but the single coils are not so hot. I purchased this amp because Ross Childress used this amp when touring for Collective Soul and he has a very long sustain, hot lead tone. I later found out his lead tone came from his Fender 65 Twin Reverb with an Ibanez Tube King and/or an Ibanez PUE5 Tubescreamer and he just ran the 5150 dry along side of it to thicken up his sound.

The amp is fairly quiet on the rhythm channel..on lead with the pre-gain past 5 and it'll hum like the dickens. Doesn't really matter if your going to be riffing anyways. The clean channel is do-able. Raise the post gain to around 4 and drop the pre-gain on the rhythm channel to 1.5 bright switch in, crunch switch out and it has a very decent clean tone. The distortion on the amp is not very versatile..It has that Peaveyesque flavor to it that you can't shake (not necessarily a bad thing) off..... I did put JJ tubes in and it helped the sound a little.. Not sure if an untrained ear would be able to notice the difference but it did help the sound a bit. The louder the amp is, the less gain you need and the better it sounds. For this reason I'm trying to sell mine (if your interested email me). Because I have kids and I don't get a chance to explore the amps full potential..I would rather have something I can get nice hi-gain tones at low volumes (Tonelab SE, POD..something along those lines)

This weighs 85 lbs, very solid. Manufactured very well. Easy to replace tubes. Tubes are well protected..

Better than Fender but its not Robert Keeley/Dr. Z service...

I've been playing for 7 years. This is a good amp but I would get something else if stolen. The tone is great but its just not my tone..I'm still searching for my own unique sound..I'm going for a saturated (almost synth like) distortion that allows some chord work without completely fuzzing out. I'm leaning toward a Vox Tonelab SE in conjunction with some gear and an old Fender amp I have.

Overall If you like metal/rock and will be playing gigs and shows. Go for this. Csoul, 3 doors down..lots of bands use them (lets not forget EVH used them at some point..but not anymore) If your a bedroom player there is more practical gear that you can buy for $500 to $1000.

Everyone knows the features.
My only problem is the lack of 2 seperate EQ's for each channel.
But thats what the 5150II is for. Another thing...people complain about there not being a clean. If you want a clean amp, why are you even looking at this? You should know that the 5150 is a Hi-Gain amp. I play mainly a mix of grindcore, hardcore, metalcore, and doom metal...and this thing gets the job done.

Firstly, I plugged my Dimebucker-equiped LTD M-100 into it. Brutal. the Rhythm channel has a nice cutting crunch, and when you click the crunch switch off and roll the gain back a little, it gets a really nice, fat, ballsy blues sound. Now for the Lead channel. This thing gets waaaay more gain than I'll ever need!
Next was my 1964 single coil Jaguar. It had a lot of hum and feedback, but still retained some clarity and had a nice fat sound when i used just a little overdrive on the Rhythm channel.

This thing is built like a frickin' tank! It's all of 85 pounds, and it shows! The thing as almost as big as my Marshall cabinet. Other than a few cosmetic issues (that were there when i got it), this thing rocks!

Havn't had any problems yet.

I give it a 9, just because I wish that there was an extra EQ for both channels. But like stated above, that's what the 5150II is for.

All-tube, 2 channels: Rhythm & Lead. Rhythm has Bright and Crunch switches. Both channels share 3 band parametric EQ and Resonance and Presence functions. Also has reverb, FX loop (very handy). Fairly steamlined design--simple is good. Still, eminently tweakable given these features. 16 ohm extension cab jack. Insane amount of gain. 60W, louder than God.

I use several humbucker guitars--MIA Wolfgang Special FT, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Deluxe Fat Strat--and play mostly classic rock and metal. I have it hooked into a 16 ohm 5150 4-12 cab--holy shit, can that thing move air. You could die from the concussive force. (If you use an extension cab, WATCH YER OHMS!!) Now I know what those Al-Qaeda fuckers feel when one of those Daisy Cutter bombs go off overhead. I've Ebola-tized my brain many a night with this amp.

I usually just use the rhythm channel, pre-gain at 5-7, post-gain no more than 2. I have literally knocked shit off walls and shelves. I retubed the power section with JJ6l6s--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, worth the price (which is modest), and Bob at Eurotubes is a helluva good guy. This amp does NOT like pedals in front of it, especially any OD/distortion. I run everything through the FX loop, but really don't need *any* distortion devices. If you think you need more gain, you're nuttier than a North Korean dictator.

It's a little noisy, and doesn't get Fender-clean. That's what they make Twin Reverbs for--but it's clean enough for me. Best of both worlds--TR for clean, 5150 for sonic mayhem. This amp is about as subtle as a horde of meth-stoked bikers kicking in your front door and crapping on your froo-froo Persian rug.


So, 3 words of advice: use an ext. cab, retube with JJs, and run pedals (if you think they are necessary at all) through the FX loop.

The fuse has gone out a coupla times, but no big deal. The original tubes got kinda flakey once, so I replaced 'em.

I have hit up the Peavey online amp forum a number of times, and Roger Crimm (Peavey tech dude) and other users have helped TREMENDOUSLY. Roger is Da Man! I've never had to look elsewhere for help. Those guys diagnosed problems online that my local tech could not identify by physically inspecting it. It's preternatural, and I suspect voodoo is involved. That said, the few problems I've had were minor.

I've been playing 8 years and have had tons of gear--most of which I dumped in Stalinesque purges. I've had the 5150 about 3 years, and no way will I part with it. This amp is all about RAWK, dudes. And it sounds killer without having to use any pedals to color it.

It would be nice if it had separate EQs for each channel, like the 5150 II head, but no biggie. It's a heavy mother, too--casters would be nice. You need an industrial grade floorjack to move this thing, unless Jason Giambi or some other MLB 'roid freak is yer friend. The reverb is kinda lame, but then again, it ain't a surf-amp.

This is a classic amp, right up there with Fender blackfaces, Marshall plexis and JCM 800s, Vox AC30, Mesa rectumfriers, and stuff like that--it's pro-level equipment. It's relatively cheap for what you're getting in terms of quality, too.

If it got ripped off, I'd follow the blood trail at a walk, as the perp will be dragging his bleeding entrails out his ass trying to carry this, slowly.

This, according to the Peavey rep, was the second last 5150 combo made for Canada in late 2004. You know the features by now, 2 channel, all tube, high gain, loud, etc... This amp is a rock and roll amp, pure and simple. It does not have a 'clean' channel. It has rhythm and lead. Very basic Pre/Post and EQ controls. Serial effects loop, footswitchable channels and reverb on/off. 60 Watts, can output to another speaker cab. This is amp is a very loud amplifier for 60 watts. Turn the post gain up to 2-3 is usually too loud for just practice level at home. At band rehearsals and the like, it is perfect. My only complaint about the amp, is its weight. It is easily 80 pounds or more, and is not very easy to move around. No casters or side handles. I'm knocking of a point or two for this only. This is not a very feature rich amplifier. It is very simple. Simple is good.

I'm playing through this amp with an Musicman Axis guitar usually. Combined with the 5150, it is a tone monster. The amp totally cooks for rock/hard rock styles. The amp does have a fair bit of hiss when idle, but this is more or less the norm for high gain amplifiers. Replacing the stock tubes really cut this down alot for me. I replaced the stock Electroharmonix 12ax7/Ruby 6l6 tubes, with JJ tubes. Trust me, you want to do this. Really improved the amp for me. I generally get a great tone from the amp, I can nail early Van Halen sounds as well as more modern tones as well, if I want to. As I said earlier, the amp doesn't have a clean channel, clean sounds can be coaxed out of the rhythm channel, but they're not the greatest. It's not what this amp is about. If you're looking for a sparkling clean sounds, buy a Fender amp. This amp will do just about any kind of rock/hard rock/metal sound, but it don't do clean well. The distortion on this thing is over the top, most people won't ever need to put it up to what it can do, I usually have my lead gain setting at about 4-5. The resonance/presence controls on this amp give it alot of control for high/low end sound. You can really tweak your exact tone with them. Tweaking the amp is a very tricky thing, for me anyway. It took me a while to figure out how to use it correctly. It seemed simple enough Bass, Mid, High, Resonance, Presence, but it seems that all these controls effect each other more than other amps I've tried. You really have to experiment to get them just right. So to sum up, this is a tone monster for rock players, clean players should look elsewhere, so a point or two off there.

Not much I can say about it. I only got it in December and haven't gigged it yet. I'd carry spare tubes and a fuse or two maybe if I were to gig with it. It is a Peavey, and they're pretty solid so I'm not too worried about it. The unit is built like a tank, and about half as heavy as one.

Peavey is Peavey, I'm sure you know of them. I've spoken to some of thier customer support people recently and in the past online. They seem helpful enough. They're usually quite informative as well. Authorized Peavey service centers are everywhere. The amp comes with a 2 year warranty, and if you register your amp with Peavey I think they extend it another 2 or three years.

I've been playing for almost twenty years and have had a few nice amps over the years. I've always had tube screamers or overdrive pedals in front of my amps, eqs in front and in the loop, etc.. Always trying to get that perfect rock guitar tone, I've been close, but since I bought the 5150 I'm closer than ever. Probably as close as I'm going to get until I cave and buy a Soldano or something of that caliber. I'm quite happy with the amp, other than the weight issue. If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another if possible. I love the sounds this thing can make, and the way it makes my guts move when cranked. I hate its cumbersome weight and dimensions. I compared this to a couple of Marshall combos and a Mesa Boogie. I picked this one because it sounded different than the Marshalls, and was much cheaper then the Mesa, I didn't really dig the sound of the Mesa either, I sounded like every other player with a Mesa, yawn. For the price, this amp cannot be beat as a kick ass rock guitar amp. I do wish it could do better clean sounds sometimes, but then I switch on the lead channel again and forget all about that.