Peavey 5150 212

This is a follow up to the review I posted earlier when I first received my 5150 combo. My issues with the amp to begin with were the thin low end and the harsh noise that the amp produces. Since then I have found a few things I would like to pass along to others.

The first thing I would suggest to do is to take the back off of the cabinet. I really do prefer the sound of the combo with the back off since it seems to help with the low end, or at least a lower volumes it does. The main improvement that I would suggest is to look up Eurotubes.com and check out the full retube kits that Bob has to offer. After reading a few other reviews about Eurotubes I thought I would check them out for myself and do some research and I'm extremely happy I did. After reading the entire site I decided to check out the tubes Bob had to offer and decided on purchasing the high gain retube kit for the 5150 combo (approximately $85 with S&H). After plugging these tubes in this amp really reaches it's full potential. The hiss from the amp is reduced to a hum, much much quieter than before, even on the lead channel. The tone is much more refined, less muddy and just awesome. Plus I did notice an increase in the gain of the amp, which is what I was after. Finally, with the balanced ECC83S in the phase inverter socket this amp truly sings out every note, before some where quieter than others. The power tubes are matched to tight tolerances and are the correct rating to get the bias just right, they sound excellent with great lows. Do yourself a favor and check this out, it's more than worth it.

Just fine so far, no problems

Haven't had to deal with them.

If something were to happen to this amp now, I would definitely get another one, or get the head version and modify it the way that Bob at Eurotubes did. I cannot get enough of this amp now and I think that it sounds as good as or better than it's much higher priced competitors.

Everybody knows this.

I have a jap strat with holygrails and a 91'prs ce24 fitted with seymoure duncans. This Amp Has alot of gain, abit too much in fact. With the strat as it has lower output ( noiseless as well ) clean sounds are average. nothing beats a twin reverb. Rythm channel provides a much tighter and focus chug gain at 7-8 w/the crunch switch on. Lead channel has a irritating hiss even at low volumes, present with single coil or humbucker guitars. Gain will never hold definition after 6-7.Could be the china tubes. EXTREMELY LOUD. EXTREMELY GOOD DISTORTION. PERFECT FOR METAL AND ROCK. you will need to noodle with the settings and eq abit. but once you're set . you will be killing most plant life and small animals within a 20m radius of your amp.

i enjoy playing various genres- speedmetal/neoclassical metal/bossa/funk/Rock/blues(who doesnt play blues..?)/jazz
i play as much clean as i do dirty. This amp's clean channel will satisfy most people. but if you really want the best of both worlds. Get a twin reverb and A/B it with your 5150. *drool*

its REAlly REALLY heavy.took 2 guys to carry it up a flight of stairs into my room. i will be installing casters to ease the movement of this amp. Lightning stuck my home the first day i played it. Could be Gods way of warning me about the destructive gain of this amp. I stuck a finger in the air , cursed loudly... and bought new fuses. Jammed a power chord and the tree infront of my house burst out in flames killing a few children.

never dealt with them. Not like "customer support" means anything nowadays. they dont "really" want to help you. they just want you to buy their stuff.

been playing for 6 years. my first tube amp. if it were stolen which is unlikely as this amp weighs like a cow. i would probably buy another amp. probably a lower wattage one. this one is abit loud. it would be cool if they came with Attenuators... then it would be perfect. i tried a marshall jcm900 , mesa dual rect and the line6 flextoneIII head. initially wanted the flextoneIII , but the 5150 is just too kickass not to have.

I won't go through the specs since they are all over. The amp is very versatile for me. I can get both good clean and over the top distortion sounds. I'm in to playing music similar to Tool and I get all the sounds necessary out of this amp. It could have a second set of controls to allow settings for each channel, but with an EQ it's not a very big deal. This amp is very powerful and loud. I accidently got to close and thought my ears weren't going to stop ringing.

I think the sounds on this amp are very good, and it's tremendously loud. I can get a really nice and warm clean sound (has a little to do with the EQ) by keeping the rhythm pre amp setting around 1.5 and then adjusting the post control to the desired level. I'm not sure why everyone says the channel cannot get clean. Could cause I like my hearing and don't play it at extreme volumes. Distortion is what this amp is known for and it delivers, it can really kick it out. However, I did think the amp sounded thin and really didn't have the low end response like I had heard about with the closed back cabinet. I ended up taking the back off and I think it helped the low end tremendously. The only reason I didn' give the amp a 10 is because it does have a whole hiss and noise. I haven't changed the tubes yet, but that's the next step. Then I'm planning on trying a MXR smart gate. I hear that the combos came from the factory with flaws, so I might try to have that fixed if the tubes don't improve it much. Just FYI, I use a ESP EC 1000 Deluxe with EMG 81's, through a morley wah, and a MXR Kerry King 10 band EQ.

Can't say a whole lot about this yet, haven't had the amp to long yet. Construction seems pretty rigorous, don't expect to have any problems.

Going to check in on the flaws and see if there's any help from them as to how to fix them. They've been good any other time I had to deal with them.

I've been playing for almost 10 years now, off and on. I've had a Laney half stack and a Hughes & Kettner Attax (great amp). I wanted a mesa (of course), but didn't think I could convince my wife of the price tag. I'm extremely happy with this purchase and would look to replace it if something happened to it. The sounds are great out of this amp, but I could really do without all the extra noise. It's a tremendous value, get a lot of sound for a lot less money.

The gain on this combo is definitley all that is needed if you are pursuing heavy music. Wouldn't recommend this amo to someone if they are looking for blues sounds at high volumes, yes this is amo very loud but for metal nothing else.

Clean channel is not very good, I have a fender deville, that is what clean is about !!!! I didn't buy this amp for clean though, I brought it to play loud metal solos, which it does fine
VERY IMPORTANT HERE.... THE LEADS WILL SOUND HARSH AND UNPLEASANT, I LEARNED THIS AS SOON AS I STARTED TO PLAY. THE STCK TUBES SUCK IN THING. I HAD THE TUBES CHANGED TO GIVE ME A WARM SOUND AND STILL RETAIN THAT LEVEL OF GAIN, NOW IT SOUNDS WAY WAY BETTER, SEE FOR YOURSELF, LEADS ARE NOT SMOOTH AT ALL CHANGE THE TUBES!! IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE SHIT TUBES I WOULD GIVE IT A TEN, BUT BECAUSE OF THIS REASON I AM GIVING A 8 NOTE.. THE PEAVEY XXX DOES HAVE A WARM TONE TO IT, SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME, AND GET A XXX BUT BE PREPARED TO HAVE AN AMP NOT AS LOUD AS THE 5150 THATS WHY I STAYED WITH THE 5150.... IT'S LOUD AND NOW ITS SMOOTH !!!!

VERY RELIABLE SO FAR

NEVER DELT WITH

GOOD AMP OVERALL
ONE MORE TIME FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T LISTEN
CHANGE THE TUBES
CHANGE THE TUBES
CHANGE THE TUBES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My 5150 combo was made in 1996. Bought new from a peavey dealer. Original power tubes blew in first month. Replaced with Groove Tubes and never touched for all the years since.

I play a Gibson LP with a 500T in the bridge and a Strat with a hot double humbucker. Our band plays a hard rock/hard blues mix of music from 60's to 00's.

The combo, by itself, has the right amount of power but lacks bass. I purchased a 4X12 5150 cabinet and set the combo on top for a total of 6 speakers. This helped to boost the bass output substantially and improved the overall sound. It also elevates the speakers so that they can be heard on stage at a closer to ear level. The 60 watt power output allows me to crank the amp to properly clip its output without blowing my head off and let the sound man do his job by micing the amp and properly bringing it into the mix.

The amp has built in reverb so i simply run direct from my guitar into the amp.

I adjust the controls: bass up, resonance up, mids scooped, treble halfway up and presence less than halfway up. This creates a great chunky sound. I play generally using the cleaner channel with the gain all the way up and adjust my desired sound with the volume control or pickup switch on the guitar. This gives me a dynamic range from very soft overdrive to strongly overdriven. I use the high gain channel for only about 20% of songs where super high gain/sustain are necessary like Van Halen songs. The high gain channel compresses the dynamic range so the clean channel turned up sounds better and give more flexibility. Two other guitar players I know have purchased 5150s as a result of hearing mine.

I love the amp: it is simple to use with great tone.

Downsides:

It is missing a second set of tone controls for the two channels, but you can buy a 5150 II if you want that. It is also very heavy. You'll be tired by the time you get it carted in to a gig.

Other than tube blowing early, it has been perfectly reliable. This was a blessing in disguise as the new tubes sound much better than stock. It has had probably a dozen beers spilled into it, sat in a flooded and moldy basement where it grew green mold, the top is covered with burns from smokes and it still works and sounds great but the adjustment knobs seem a little sticky from the beer spills. I couldn't ask for more.

Peavy dealer helped me install the new power tubes and properly biased the amp to run a bit hotter than factory. Other than that no contact with Peavey.

Overall a 9. I love this amp. I have been looking at triple rectos lately but not because I'm unhappy, just looking for a new toy.

I Play with an American Fender Strat and an Epiphone Les Paul Zakk Wylde Custom with EMG 81 and 85. The only effect I use is a Dunlop Cry Baby and thats it. This amp is the only amp I have ever played that I did not need a distortion box for and I like that a lot. I previously owned a Peavey rage 158 and then steped up to a Peavey Classic 50 Full Stack and with both of those I was not happy, I had too much shit on the floor. Finally I broke down and sold the Peavey Classic 50 and saved up for the 5150 combo and am very happy with it. Great Job Peavey

Its a Peavey and Van Halen Tours the world so what do you think???

Doubt I will ever need them

Excellent Rock amp with a lot of good tones to work with. Bought Brand new from Musicians Friend

Kep Rockin........

Rythm gain w/ crunch and bright switches,lead gain,treb,mid,bass rythm and lead master volumes,resonance and presance.High and low gain inputs FX loop.Haveing two seperate EQs is nice but thats what the 5150 II is for.

Well I playing in a metal band doing national club tours so I traded up another tube amp for this.I also play in a rock band for fun(and extra dough)in my down time.I was surprised the rythm channel kicks @ss w/ gain on 5.5 and crunch on w/ my Dimarzio super equiped strat it sounds very much lie a Marshall JCM 800 2210 for luesy rock tones,very nice.And ofcourse the lead channel will do the metal distortion thang.Gain to about 6.5 is insain and much past that gets to be to much.The resonance control reall helps the lowend thump for metal.

I have only had it a short time so I dunno yetPeavey is known for there reliabilitie though.

Dunno

I've been playing over 10yrs.I really like this amp will do the Marshall clean/crunch smooth bluesy rock tone with out the grainy buz you get from other amps.(Note the master must be atleast 4 for this amp to start sounding right,its a tube amp a know)The lead channel is waaaaaay to grungy for rock but I like it for metal.For those who complain about the cleans not being clean.Why did you buy a high gain amp??Thats kinna like complaining your fender twin don't do metal.Espcially the louder you get the output valves distort(Its just nature).Also for those who complain about the amp being thin,its a tube amp and tube amps need to be played fairly loud(at least 4) to get the output tubes cooking for decent tone(again nature),if its too loud get a attenuator.

It's one off the earlier models from 1998 I think.
Bought it new in 2001 here in Belgium for a very good price because the shop
wanted to get wrid of it because it didn't function well or not at all.
In general it has all the features I need.I've have owned a
line6 vetta and that has to mainy features and not good enough sound.

This is where it gets tricky.When people say that this amp doesn't sound good it is mostly because they have played it at a music store.
In the first months that I've owned the amp it sounded very valvestate,and had no punch or dynamics at all, I must say i was very disapointed. Then i brought the amp to a good amp tech here in Belgium. According to this man some series of the 5150's have flaws comming out of the factory witch can be easily solved by an experienced technician. He solved the flaws, putted new Sovtec tubes in it and it sounded very good. Instand Vanhalen and AC DC.
I use this amp with my fender strat, peavey wolfgang and gibson les paul, I also use a delay and chorus pedal and a marshall guv'ner2 pedal to boost the amp for my solo's.
The Rhythm channel is very much like a hotrodded plexi, and I can know this because I own a Jimmy hendrix plexi stack.
The lead channel is very good for 80's solo's, but like al pros do
when you want a more modern sound out of this channel you have to boost the mids with a eq.pedal.
Overall this is a very good sounding amp and also very versatile.

Before I took it to my amp tech it wasned very reliable.
But when the flaws are corrected it is very reliable.
Like others say, it is build like a tank, almost ways as much too.
If you buy it new and have one of the normal working models you have a very reliabel amp. When people say it's not reliabel it's because the tubes aren't reliabel. Those stock chinees tubes aren't worth shit and they make the amp sound bad.

Always good customer support.
Whenever I mailed them they responded the next day.
They are very helpfull and always know what the problem is
and how to solve it.

I've been playing for abour ten years now.
I've owned a marshall valvestate 8240 and a line6 vetta1 and not one of those amp can be compared to a good valve amp.
Know I own a marshall limited edition jimmi hendrix purple stack and this combo. Effects: Boss od1,ds1,ce3,dd3 ,Dod Ygm308, Dunlop cry baby, eh muff pi and at last a roger mayer classic fuzz.
In may oppinion it can sound as heavy as a mesa bougie rectifier and with good tubes it's in the same leage of the bougies,vht,soldano,bogner,brunetti and all those other high grade amps. If can't get stolen because it ways a ton. Overall it's one of the best amps I've heard and believe me I've heard a lot of amps.

Unsure of the year mine was but it has the cursive EVH signature. Not a very good clean amp, you can back off of the volume on your guitar and get some decent semi-clean tones from the rhythm channel. For this reason I use an ABY box to run one to the 5150 and one to a Fender M-80 for clean tones. I also use an az1000g in front of the m-80 so I can run distortion through both amps. Has effect loop and pretty good reverb built in. I give it a 7 due to lack of clean.

I'm using a Fender Toronado and a Fender Strat -->Dunlop Wah -->Ibanez TS7 Tubescreamer-->Morley ABY: A channel goes to an Korg AX1000G processor and then a dod grunge and a ibanez SM7 smashbox (which i'm thinking of trading for 535Q wah) into the fender. I run the B side straight into the 5150 after the tubescreamer. Sounds great with both guitars, can be very noise but thats what you get w/ an amp w/ so much gain. I put JJ tubes that are tweaked for a little more gain so that doesn't help the noise problem at all. I've been thinking of running a boss noise supressor in the fx loop just to see what that does. Distortion is the best amp distorion I've ever heard, you can get a nice crunchy rhythm sound and a searing lead. Main reason I bought this is Ross Childress plays a 5150 live and I could never get the response and the screams that he had. Now I can.

It weights 85 pounds, Its probably more reliable than most amps out there. HAven't had a problem yet, bought it used so the first thing I did was replace the tubes. HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY. If your gonna use this in your house get those moving men pads you put underneath and just slide it around. If you gig get some casters and some side handles, Its a beast.

Haven't had to deal w/ them. Purchased used, may contact them to get a footswitch.

I love this amp, I was always skeptical about tube amps until I played one. This amp is worth every cent. The amp can put out some serious low end or boost up the presense for the brown sound. The louder you crank the amp the less presense you need. Distortion is versitile (not the clean) I was getting sounds from skynard to Satch. Great Great amp...Buy it used, you can find it for half the price.

The is a nice little beast. Raw, simple balls out power. 212 Sheffields are better than I expected and handle the power this amp throws out well. The quater stack design is great and gives its a ballsier feel then a normal combo, plus the 60 watt head is frikkin great. Enough controls to tweak 2 very nice tones on each side of the switch.

Using 85 strat (emg89,sa,sa), 1988 kramer usa (duncan distortion tb, hot rails, hot rails) and 2002 Les Paul (emg85,89). Play mainly metal.

Dont get this amp if you play anything that doesnt demand a heavier guitar sound. There is no clean channel, the rythym channel is dirtier than most marshalls tube amps, the lead channel is off the page gain, ive never heard this much gain outta tubes before in my life, heeping slabs upon slabs of dirt. You really have to hear it to understand how filthy it can get.

When i first got it the stock tubes had been blown to bits and sounded like it, best thing to do with this amp is too have the tubes replaced immediately.....the rubys are terrible. I have the new Sovtek 6L6 WXT+ installed, for preamp one EH, for rythym side install cleaner sounding tubes! like sovtek 12ax7a's , and for lead ax7b's.....you want as contrasting tubes as you can get in these slots.

After tubes are done this way youll get much better tonal variety and power than you had off the floor. and thats when this amp is gonna kick your ass. it will still be hissy on the lead channel at high dirt but there is no way you can get that sweet assed gain without a little noise. use your footswitch and gain controls right and you wont have any problems.

this amp is great for anyone who plays metal, or real dirty blues...you will never get a truly clean sparkling sound out of it like you would with a laney tube head, but you can get some nice rich cleans.

as for volume....i jam with full bands with my post gains on 3. this thing will get you noise complaints and will cause hearing loss =-)


some people have commented than the reverb is weak...maybe but i like tight reverb so i think its great....nice to have control of it on the stomper too

would use it to record, but havent tried a mic on it yet so cant comment

you cant hurt it without resorting to power tools...same construction as a full size cabinet basically, weighs a ton and is a pain in the ass to lift around.
electronically its top notch, fixed bias.

havent had the need but ive easily found the schematic and owners manual online

ive used everything imaginable in my 20 years of playing and i know a good amp when i hear it, this amp is frikkin great, not for everyone but great in its own way. You wouldnt get a jcm900 to play with a church band so dont get this and expect to play george bensons greatest and then complain. this amp is loud and dirty.

for the price i got it at i couldnt have gotten anything better.
highly recomended if you play metal.