Peavey 5150 II

Two channel amp, nothing too fancy about it. It has four 6L6 power tubes and (6) 12AX7 preamp tubes. My particular amp has Tube Amp Doctor (TAD) 6L6's and Tung Sol preamp tubes. I run a TC Electronic G-Major II in the effects loop with an MXR 10-band EQ before returning to the power amp. I have upgraded the output transformer to a Mercury P5150-0 with the Mercury P5150-C choke replacing the standard choke resistor. The amp is intended for Thrash and clean, that's it! Drop D tuning, standard 440, and sometimes one step down. Not crazy, flappy B tunings, etc.

Amp is used with a bunch of guitars... Main ax is Tom Anderson Drop Top made for heaviness with passive, hot pickups made by Anderson. I also use a Gibson Explorer with active EMG 80, 85 pickups.

The amp is a bone-crush bad ass! If you want a heavy sounding amp, this is it. Understand that I make a decent living and have owned a lot of amps. I have a preference for Soldano, Diezel, and Elmwood, but for the money, this amp works very well! Distortion is among the best I have heard and unique. My amp is biased hot and has the bias mod on it, with very good tubes (not Chinese or JJ's). Clean is good enough, and the rhythm channel with the preamp dialed up, sounds vintage. That's not this amps best quality, but it does it decent. Some noise, but not too annoying.

This amp was build for Eddie, but with the right tweaks, turns into a fire-breathing monster. I play Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Kreator with this amp.

If you are a boutique snob, listen up... The name "Peavey" doesn't make people believe you are serious, but one power chord and a fast Slayer riff will change their mind. There are a lot of great bands still using 5150, and 5150II amps!

It has been perfect even with the bias adjusted to 60mA+! I know more than the average guy about amps, but not a qualified repairman. I've looked at the boards in the amp and have changed caps and replace connectors. This amp is not made like a Soldano or a Mesa. Tube sockets are plastic verses ceramic. Quality is decent with the components. What really counts however, is that it works and is reliable. It does that very well. Feel safe with this amp and make sure you know if it's been modded. If done right (like FJA does well), it will last forever.

Peavey answers the phone every day of the week! Don't talk to them about modding however, they will pass you around. Get your part or ask a specific question and you'll get good information. They get a 9 becasue they didn't like me talking about cheap plastic tube sockets!

Very good amp and all I (or you) will ever need for Thrash and Metal. I played it with a 7 string and it sounded good. Really good with drop D tunings! The amp is very loud, but can get great sounds with the pre dialed to 6 and the post at 1! That's the nice thing about the amp is that it sounds good down low. Turn it up and it makes your pant legs flap around like a fan is blowing on them. Harmonics sing on this amp with the magnetics upgraded!

If this amp was stolen, I would buy it again, but man... the time I put into this amp modding it and making it shiny would make me sad.

i bought this a couple years ago at guitar center. tisk tisk i know but they were the only shop around that had a solid metal head for sale.

I hated 5150's for ever. i was stuck on having something "different" . this is the longest ive owned and used 1 amp.
i bought alot of amps over the years, mostly trendy names i saw on message boards untill i realized they were only over hyped by people trying to sell their own, they are trying to get rid of it. i kept searching out these hard to find and expensive heads but all this time i ignored anything peavey. my bad.

one day i cracked down and talked my girlfriend into letting me use her credit card to buy an amp so i drove to all the guitar stores in a 2 hour radius and i tried out everything. i was looking for a triple rectifier or randall cyclone and hoping some dumbass was selling his voodoo, vht, bogner for way too cheap. after hitting up all the stores my last stop was guitar center. behind a row of cheap new marshall stacks was this head on a new peavey cab. i tried it out in the back room with a used mesa slant cab knowing it was the only good cab in the place. it was listed at 1499.00 for the combo but i told them i only had $900 for the head and used mesa cab and that i was going to just buy something off ebay, and they let it go for cheap.

i cant tell you how it sounds. everyone hears things different and every amp/guitar feels different to every player. i like this amp. its the only amp i have owned that doesnt need anything to help my sound. it does feedback alot but i blame that on my pickups or the fact that my decimator is broken/. its heavy, it cuts through but at the same can blend in with most other amps and a second guitarist. it is very controllable.

ive never had any problems with it. ive changed the tubes 1nce in the last 3 years. i never bring a backup. this is the one piece of gear i have that never fails me.

i had the warentee when i bought it new, im not sure if it ran out or not. i saved all the receipts and paper works but i haven't read them because i never need to. i use it at least twice a week and it gets banged around in cars for shows at least 3 times a month, regularly.

i give it an 8. i have played better sounding amps. they cost 2-3 thousand dollars. thats alot of money. im not rich. i have bills to pay. if i could afford it i would spend my money on a bogner ecstasy or vht or diezel but thats just baloney. i can buy an awesome car for 3 grand. or a kilo of good heroine. i declare the 5150 2 head better than heroine.

You already know the features it has. Let me tell you the features it doesn't have.

This amp does not feature reverb - though it could use one. It also does not feature a built in adjustable noise gate, but it's a good candidate for one (I still don't know why these aren't seen more often).

The amp has a hard-wired power cable - and would benefit from an IEC type plug cable so you can just take it off instead of winding it around the thing - not to mention replacing it because it wore out from being hooked to the amp all the time.

The amp has a bias control but it is quite limited. You have to mod the thing to get much variety there. In addition, the short bias range you do have is quite cold.

Some of the construction in the unit was improved with later models, i.e. the rivets that hold the power stage onto the chassis were replaced with screws. Doesn't mean anything if you don't plan on repairing it, but your tech might appreciate it.

The screen grid resistors on the power tubes are more fragile than most amps. Does your 5150 sound quieter than your friend's? You might be running on less than four tubes and not even know it (they'll appear to all be working). Be especially careful of this if you use Sovtek tubes.

The footswitch on this monster uses a 7-pin DIN cable. This is awful! They are hard to repair, expensive to replace (and hard to find).

The 5150 series has a particular sound that it's known for. It also has a particular gain structure that it's known for. It's not like other amps for the most part, but it has similarities here and there. What I'm saying is that you're not going to hear a wide multitude of different sounds from this amp - if you like hearing/playing it the first time, you probably will always like it.

Some things you may not like: the clean channel sucks. Unless this is the first review you've read of this amp, you've heard this before. Though it is greatly improved over the original 5150 head or combo, it still lacks warmth and distorts way too easy. The one thing I like about it is that you have lots of room for experimenting with adding different levels of distortion into your clean. The amp is good at fuzzing up your clean with shimmering sizzle without sounding like a real distortion.

A fantastic feature of this amp and all in its series is the way it creates a cranked tone at low volumes. Some of the best recordings I've heard of it were at volume settings of 1. Weird for a tube amp, eh?

Many believe that JJ power tubes are the best with this amp. I honestly am not sure why everyone thinks so. Before believing them, get them to back up their assertions. Or better yet, try them yourself. I've used Sovteks, Tung-Sols, JJs, and Groove Tubes in this amp, and JJs were by far the most average sounding of the four types. I recommend the Tung-Sols - huge low end and rock-like break up.

The resonance and presence knobs are nice, use them like hot sauce: carefully. Beware of the strain each puts on the amps tone - yeah you might like the big booms of the resonance on a high level, but what is it doing for your attack? Etc.

Like anyone will tell you, this amp has gain to spare. And then some. As such, it's noisey as hell. However: as you roll the Pre control back from 10, you'll notice that right around 6 or 5, your attack becomes much more pronounced, and the tone depth becomes deeper. At higher levels, the gain on the amp tends to saturate and mask other features of your sound. I play at 5, and I'm in a death metal band. I could get away with playing at 4, and I don't dare go above 6. The character of my sound is destroyed if I do.

The crunch is interesting and very warm - nice for hard rock tones. These amps are great for that. But it is unlike the lead channel's tone - more so than the other models in this series. It has its own character.

It's a tube amp, there are inherent issues with this. Always have a back up. Mine failed at a show once - I plugged into a Peavey Vypyr and set it to emulate a 6505. It sounded absolutely horrible. Emulation still has a long, long way to go.

Fortunately, when a tube amp starts acting up it's usually the tubes. Even if it seems wrong, just try it. Expect to have this happen.

Otherwise, it's built very well, save for two issues: one - the grill on the back is not supported in the center, so it bows with pressure, and two - the small circuit board that holds the preamp tubes is not properly supported in the center, and may crack if you're not very careful.

I have never dealt with peavey.

Overall, I'm really glad that this amp is out there. It and its brothers are my favorite by far for any and all distorted tones. High end amps of the same class can only be found for lots more money - for the value it's fantastic. And it's got its own tone - unique.

They should totally make a 1x12 combo version - under 40 pounds!

It's a pretty basic amps. The Rhythm channel has a crunch button to add some gain, which adds versatility to the amp. The Lead channel is pretty versatile in it's self. It has more gain than you could ever ask for so you can roll back on the gain to get a good Rock gain. It's got a resonance and a presence knob for each channel. Which only perfects already amazing tone. This amp has TON'S of power, I just played my first show with it and I only turned it up to 2. I had an equalizer which adds to the volume so if i didn't have it I would've probably had it at about 3 1/2 maybe 4. So it's LOUD. The effects loop is very handy when you don't wanna press a ton of pedals just to get one sound. Just press the effects button on the 6505+ footswitch and all your pedals in the loop turn on. It's nice.
Very simple, very easy, straight to the point.

I have a Squair Tele with EMG 81/85's in it. And the EMG's compliment the amp extremely well. I have only 2 pedals in my loop, they are a BOSS NS-2 and a BOSS equalizer. The equalizer adds so much to the amp which only makes it better. So know you know what gear i have you can probably guess that I play metal. I play Tech Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, and I play Jazz as well. Now the amp is AMAZING for metal. Almost perfect, it's low and punchy, the mids are super smooth, and the highs are, sometimes to high. It gets crazy. The amps is WAY loud. As i said I played in a venue mad for 700 people so it is a decent sized place. And I only had it on 2. It's extremely loud and powerful. The clean channel is not the greatest, but it's not made for Jazz, but i can get it to work if i keep the gain around 1 1/2. It's not bad at all. Just not the greatest. I never have the distortion past 8 ever. In my opinion it has to much distortion so don't use a pedal with it unless you just want added tone.

The amp is built like a tank. It ways almost 50 pounds.
This amp should live forever.

The web site is nice.
You can download the manual and everything. It's not really the most helpful but the amp is so easy to use why would you need it?

I've been playing for 5 and a half years and all i've ever played on are Marshalls at the music store and Line 6 solid state amps. And I HATE EL34 tubes so there for I hate Marshalls, and Line 6 has good practice amps but to have a my 6505+ is like having a trophy wife that you actually like talk too. Every time Imagine this amp I smile. If the amp vanished off the face of the earth I would just play on solid state amps because this tube is the best one i've ever heard for the style of music i play. The only this I'm not stoked on about the amp is that the clean channel is not smooth enough. If it had smoother clean tone it would seriously be perfect. If you play Rock, Metal, Country, Hardcore, or almost anything except Jazz it's perfect.

Not a ton of features, but enough for exactly what i need. The best feature is the seprate 5 band eq for the channels. The only thing i wished for is spring reverb for the clean channel, with reverb knobs in place of the res and presence on the clean channel, but it doesn't bother me one bit. I like the the simplicity of the amp, its so easy to get great tone. Knobs are very sensitive, esspecially the volume, but they do their job.

The hi-gain on this amp is as good as it gets, the only way to get better hi-gain is further shape it with graphic eq. Its suits me perfectly becuase the clean is clean enough for me to do third wave ska. The crunch lets me play those creamy blues and classic tones. But the lead channel is where its all at. Its perfect for drop tuning death metal, or EVH lead tone(obviously being designed by the great eddie himself) or anything hi-gain. Its much better than any mesa, thats for sure.

I can trash this thing and it will never die. but i love it and take care of it very well.

every bit of amplification i ever needed for only 500 bucks

You guys all know how many 'features' the 5150 or 5150 II has... not very many, but that's the point. Perfect gain/distortion tone through virtually any guitar and enough power to rattle dishes in your neighbours house! End of story.

Hands down the best gain sound in the whole industry. Mesa amps are good, but I find their distortion fuzzy and distracting. Marshalls are fine, but their weaklings alongside this amp. The 5150 has just the right amount of everything and it really does go up to 11!

I have had my 5150 II for 8 years now and at one point I had some soldering shake loose on the inside... I took it to my local 'amp tech' and it hasn't broke down since. Obviously, I've put several sets of tubes in it, but that's expected with any tube amp... especially ones that tour. My rhythm guitarist had his Dual Rectofier for 3 years and it melted down 3 times... it spent more time in the shop then on stage.

I dealt with Peavey once to get a new foot pedal... it was painless.

I've been playing guitar for 13 years, the 5150 II was my first tube amp and will be my last for rock purposes. I've recorded 3 albums with it, done over 500 gigs and probably triple that in rehearsals and it still brings a smile to my face to hear this amp rip! It is the best rock/metal amp on the planet and granted now they're not as easy to find as they were 10 years ago, but if you do find a 5150/5150II or 6505 and you play in a rock/metal band... buy it.

i'm not sure what year this is but you can emial peavey and they can find out quickly. i had a 5150 brand new straight outta the box and it was a lemon so i sold it for about half of what i paid for it. played thru lotsa amps for a year after that and was really disapointed with my sound. i found this 5150 ll in a pawnshop in mint condition for 350$ with trade. so far so good the sound is the best for metal or punk.

really i've been playing for 25 years in all sorts of bands and you can play ANYTHING THRU THIS AMP -reggea, blues jazz, rock, country-whatever.i use NO PEDALS AT ALL, just plug and play, twist some nobs and your in.120 watts (fuck ya). every guitar sounds good thru this amp and any cab that can handle 120 watts will sound excellent with this head.use 5881 tubes and any good 12ax7 tubes, change em maybe once a year or so and play in a good band ="BADASS"

take care of this thing and it should last at least 20 years or so. if you tour get a road case. if you play around town get a decent cover, and if bought this to play at home (your a FAG).

excellent, why u ask? well i'll tell you a little story. remember the hurricane catrina that fucked everything up? well peavey got fucked up to(in mississippi) and i placed an order for some parts rght after the hurricane hit em, and that shit was at my door in about a week and a 1/2. i was'nt expecting to see that stuff for months. i was gonna put my amp in the closet for awhile thinking it would be a long time before i saw anything from them. phone lines were down,people were injured, and shit was flooded.you tell me how 25$ in parts made it to my door in that amount of time.

if you TRIDE to steal this amp. 1- i'd kick your ass. 2-i'd steal all your shit, and kick your ass, then everytime i see you on the street(IT'S ON).no seriously, some addvice from a pro. if you tour in a van then get a mean ass pitbull or some kind of dog and take her everywhere with you and leave her in the van. and no one will touch your shit. just ask SUBLIME. (R.I.P. brad)

The EVH Business deal with Peavey! Hear today gone tomorrow. The 5150 II came out with an extra switching feature on the foot switch. Loop on or off. Unlike the first 5150.
Features smeatures...lets keep it simple. I wish it was a tad more quiet. Nugent used HUSH by Rocktron with his 5150's. So do I. I love the tone I get with my 10 band MXR EQ running through the Loop! I use this amp in my practice room and on any stage setting. Plenty of power!!
I use 4 5881's and changing tubes is fun actually. Learning how these days is becoming a thing od the past. Peavey told me that they wanted a amp to be user friendly so all that is necessary is to just simply pull your old tubes out and replace em with new ones! No Bias voltage to adjust like on many of the Laney and Marshall amps I have had. Just as long as it is a matter of ONLY needing fresh tubes that is. People also do not realize that Solid state can also burn out. Semi Conductors can also burn out and do the same thing a tube can. Except sound as good. I gave it a 9 instead of a 10 because I think it should have a noise reduction built in of some type. This is a comon problem so why not address it. Krank seemed to! The Krankenstein is quiet!

The sound is awesome! It can produce too much gain. It can be clear if wanted. I play Dean Razorback guitars with a Dime waw and a Digitech Wham pedal along with a MXR 10 band EQ and a Line 6 Uber distortion pedal on the floor. Up above I also have a Rocktron Expression for some reverb Delay and Flange when needed. The HUSH in the Expression quiets things down. Running all of this through the Loop is awesome! Way better than straight in!

ANY Amp can do just about anything at any time it is hot and running. This goes for Solid state too! I have had no problems with this amp. I also have had no problems with any of the amps I have owned through the years for whatever thats worth. Well.. My Laney Toni Iommi Signature head had a blue and red flame inside one of the output stage tubes right out of the box due to a loose wire on one of it's sockets. Check soldier connections with a bright light and make sure that they have not heated up and changed color. Check your tube socket pins and make sure that they are not burnt up and arch or anything. Keep it running clean and cool if possible....Any amp can tweek man! This thing made for a guy like Eddie Van Halen?!,,,very dependable to say the least!

Never needed a repair. I called Peavey and talked to a guy who built em and I told him I wanted to know the Bias voltage because I was thinking of installing a variable in it to adjust the bias for a tube job. He talked me out of it and said we made it user friendly so you didn't have to do that and you want to do what?!...&*$^&%$&
I have 5881's in it now and maybe this is where I get some of the noise I have mentioned from it. Maybe some 6L6's would quiet it up a tad considering the gear I am running through it too.

I have been playing for 28 years. Yeah...I am old. If it got ripped off?!! I couldn't buy another one since they don't make it anymore. Or at least that would change things as far as access to buy one! Eddie stopped endorsing it so it is a thing and model of the past!! A keeper for sure! Way better than my Marshall. I also run it on a Krank Cabinet. Awesome speakers!!
Just wish the amp had some built in noise reduction.
I can only remember the price was somewhere around close to $900.00 something new.

* clean, crunch, lead
* FX loop
* line out
* power amp EQ
* bass, mid, and treble - pre and post gain levels.
* selectable ohms rating 4, 8, 16
* footswitchable clean crunch and lead.
* all tube 6L6GC/12ax7

(i gave it an 8 instead of a 10 because the clean and crunch share the same pre, post and EQ settings.)

i have an ibanez RG320dx with EMG pickups, 81/85. i run this directly into the 5150II, then the 5150II into a mesa boogie 4X12 rectifer cab w/ celestion vintage 30's. i run a BOSS RV-5 for reverb and BOSS GE-7 for lead boost.(very good for creating extreme tones)

CLEAN
i personally find the clean channel to be quite awesome. i play many stlyes of music, jazz and country being included, this amp can handle it with ease. the clean is not as awesome as a fender, roland JC-120, or even a mesa boogie, but it does get really clean, it can sparkle even at high volumes. i dont like any dirt on my clean tones and i dont get that with this amp. it actually has its own sound. no matter what, its gonna be better than a solid state amp because its all tube, and tube tone is the best tone.

CRUNCH
for the crunch, i use it for dirty blues tones and for chord progressions that need a little dirt on them just before then switch into overdrive. it also be used for good oldschool metal tones if you run a tube screamer into the amp, i dont use one becuae i dont like to "tap dnace" when i play.

LEAD
now, for the lead channel, the bread and butter of the amp, it lives up to all the hype. ive played alongside mesa's, KRANK's, even high end botique amps, this thing is KICKS!!! yeah, they only cost like $900 bucks, that doesnt mean its not as good as any mesa or KRANK, it just might not have the features they do. either way, it has its own sound and no otehr amp can achieve the same sound this thing gets. this thing get get a BRUTAL scoop sound that makes you wanna kill, or what i like to do is keep the mids between 5-6 and have a smooth, snarly tone that cuts through the mix.

i have palyed a few gigs with it, ill never gig without a back up, but this thing will always perform, and im not afrad to take this out on the road. this thing is built like a tank, its meant to be handled rough. A+++

never delt with peavey. i got it though EBAY. but they were aweosme!

this amp can get an old jazz sound, or country brightness, or 80's midrange heavy snarlyness, or even a blistering shaved sound thats perfect for metal. the thing is, this amp has its own sound, just because the clean doesnt sound like a fender, the crunch doesnt sound like an old marshall plexi, and the lead channel doesnt sound like a mesa or krank, your right... it doesnt. you cant say it sounds better, but you cant say it sounds worse. you might not sound like other amps, but when you play country, blues, jazz, rock, or even metal, you do sound professional, and can achieve those tones. people are just picky.

I bought this amp roughly 2 years ago, I got it for 900 seeing as how it was the floor model. All-tube, 120 watts,2 and a half channels, effects loop, preamp out, Original tubes, never been modded, blah blah blah. A really simple amp, but what it does it does well. Loud as all hell!

After my crappy radioshack amp died on me, I decided it was time to get a REAL amplifier. I'm one of 2 guitarists in a metal band, not like that nu-metal stuff but more along the lines of In Flames or At the Gates, with a good amount of thrash influence (old-school metallica, slayer, etc.) thrown in for good measure. Seeking the most badass high-gain sound in all the land, I tried out a dazzling array of Marshalls and Mesas. I had my heart set on a dual rectifier until I gave the ol' 5150 II a try. And quite frankly, it rocked my balls off. Brutal, searing distortion that manages to retain definition and never gets "farty" sounding. I then had to choose between the two. It was a tough choice until I looked at the price tag. :) I'm currently using a Jackson DKMG with the matching 5150 slant-front cabinet, and I like a mid-rangey, defined slayer-esque tone as opposed to that poopy "mids at zero, gain at 10" sound that I hear many local bands using, and that's exactly what I get out of this thing. (But don't worry, if you're in a korn tribute band you can still get nu-metal rumble out of it.) I set the gain at about 6 and a half, and I get all the distortion I'll ever need, for riffing as well as leads, without the use of a boost or overdrive pedal! Speed-picking, grindy riffs sound awesome, every note stands out, which is near impossible to do with some amps. Same goes for leads, your mad chops will be well-defined and huge sounding. However, this also means that it doesn't hide your mistakes, so it forces you to get your shit together if you have a habit of playing sloppy. I love the sound of this thing sooo much. It's the sick metal tone I've always wanted, and it didn't cost me 3 grand! The crunch channel is kinda neat, but I never really use it. The clean channel is the amp's one real weakness. It's gnarly and grungy sounding, and it never seems totally "clean". If you want a nice pretty fender-type sound, you should probably look elsewhere. But I only use it sparingly, and the high-gain sound is so bitchin' that I feel it's worth the trade-off. It's also the loudest damn amp you'll ever play. I could overpower my entire band if I had to.

I have a Boss GT-6 (a really cool thing to play around with at home)that I use as a back-up, but the 5150 II has yet to fail me. I'm still using the original tubes, It's been through some horrific climate changes (I live in Buffalo, our weather is insane), it's been dropped and banged into stuff many, many times, a minivan drove over it's power cord, and it still rocks like a mofo. I'll probably die before this thing does.

I've never had to contact peavey, this amp has yet to give me a problem.

I've been playing for 6 years or so, and this is my only tube amp. If it were stolen, I'd track the asshole down and kick him in the face, and if it were lost, I would certainly purchase this same amp (or the 6505, which is the same thing but with a different name 'cuz Eddie Van Halen's endorsement is up.) I'd put it's high-gain fury up against anybody's, including marshall, mesa, bogner, etc. You can get a bitchin' amp from those companies, with a better clean channel to boot, but you'll pay an extra 800-2000 dollars for it. If you're looking for smoldering metal madness, this amp is a bargain and then some. Some reverb would be nice, but hey, I can use my GT-6 for that. Oh, and the resonance knob KICKS ASS! It adds heaviness without adding gain or volume. I don't know how they do it, it's magical.