Peavey 5150 II

I'm not to sure when this amp was made. I think this amp is very versitile. I play metal. Straight-up kick you int he ass metal. I tried this out at Sam Ash along with the XXX, XXL, and Ultra Plus.

The Ultra Plus gave me a fucking headache, I got a good sound but the foot controller wasn't working and I had an employee dick around with it for 20 minutes. I liked the distortion but said "eh". Then I went to the XXX.

I tried the XXX out months ago and shot a load in my boxers, but this time I was dissapointed.

The XXL, kick ass! I loved it. Then an employee said to try out the 5150 II. I already tried out a 5150 they had, I liked it but people at Sam Ash bashed it. So I got a thing implanted in my brain that 5150s and 5150 IIs suck. So I said fuck it.

This amp blew me away. I plugged innto the 3 channel all tube head and was immediately destroyed. This thing is gain-machine. Seeing as how I'm a GAINIAC, I fell in love with the ultra. The crunch channel was a great rhythm sound. The clean was nice. It could have been better.

I used my ESP LTD H-301 to play with amp. It suited my needs perfectly. Gain, Gain, Gain, Gain. The distortion was amazing. Really nice. The nicest I've heard in along time.

I've been playing for 3 years. I've played lots of amps form Mesas, Crates, Marshalls, Line 6s, but in the end Peavey had the tone I wanted. I can't wait to buy my own. I'm probably going to set it up with 2 Mesa/Boogie 4X12 cabs. It will be a wall of sound.

2000 or 2001 model. I play mostly Heavy Metal like Metallica, Black Lable Soc. and Slayer etc. This amp more than suites my needs. Not very versatile, if you want that get an Ultra or a XXX. I only wish the clean channel had a reverb, with my boss reverb I can get a very nice fender like clean sound but I really hate to use pedals, I think they are bad joo joo. I mostly play this amp at home but I recently started a band so we will see what happens.

I play a Gibson Gothic Explorer with stock pick ups, a Jackson DR3 with EMG pickups, and a Mexican Fender fat strat with the Satriani pick ups. The amp really lets each guitar through...you can hear a major difference between. String gauge plays a big role too. My vote is for the gibson, they just rule. The 5150 II is definatly a metal amp. No frills and just chills up my back everytime I hook it up. To get a similar sound out of a marshall or Mesa, I have to tweek for at least 20 to 30 minutes, but the peavey is meant for the high gain balls to the walls raw brutal sound and nothing else...I wouldn't want it any other way. Clean chanel is very bright and has a lot of headroom if you set the pre amp around 2 or less, very shimmery but it does lack depth I think. It gets a 9 because of the clean. Distortion is insane. Very mid rangy although with the mids all the way down you get a good chug, but I usually have the mids around 4 or so and I slice through any mix. This is not a good amp to jam along to early metallica CDs with, it stands out a little too much I think and sounds "too good" for the recordings. Very good slayer type tones and stuff like that.

So far the only problem I had was my own. I was trying to re tube it with Svetlanas and broke a tube puting it in and stupididly tried to run it with only 3 tubes and blew one of em and blew a fuse and a transformer. But the warranty covered it all (in which they didn't have too) and I have since not even looked at the back of my amp!

Like I said before they fixed MY problem. they are very good with their customers, and the amp forum they have is the best I have ever seen.

If it were stolen I'd be very upset and wouldn't buy another only because I would want mine back. I believe that even thought it is not a living being that guitars and amps have personallities. It is corny I know but we all have had the amp gremlins come out in our sleep and secretly turn the nobs around so that the killer sound we had before we went to sleep is no longer there! I wont play any other amp.

2000 model. Acquired in a trade for a Marshall 9200 power amp. Has Clean, crunch, and a lead channel. It also has a switchable effects loop and is rated at 120 watts. It is plenty loud even on it's lowest possible setting. If you are looking for an amp you can play at a quiet volume keep looking.

Using it with a Schecter A-7+ guitar. Have ordered a T.C. Electronics Gmajor processor and a Fender Sub-sonic baritone guitar. I'm a metal head and loves tons of gain. This amp more than delivers and what you get is ferocious and very usable gain. I was going to sell my Marshall and buy the Peavey Triple X, but after playing them side by side, I couldn't justify ponying up more cash when I could just trade for the 5150 II that a guy offered me. People had been hyping the heck out of the Triple X, but I wasn't that blown away after trying it out.

To be honest I like Eddie Van Halen, but I wasn't thrilled with getting an amp that I percieved as copying his tone. How wrong I was!! This amp offers gain beyond what he does and has plenty of it's own personality. I even prefer it over the Mesa Triple Recto, which was my dream amp before I ran into this bad boy. I'm a huge fan of bands like Black Label Society, Pantera, Deftones, Fear Factory, and this amp can deliver any of those tones effortlessly. From thick-ass crunch to piercing harmonic overtones to articulate solos......this amp delivers in spades!

Only had it a couple of weeks so of course no probs.

N/a

I've been playing for 20+ years and I can honestly say that this amp is the best sounding amp I have ever owned. It surpasses the highly priced Mesa Rectos and to me it sounds better than the over-hyped Triple X.

you all know the features from reading the other reviews...i think its got everything i wanted out of it except for reverb. but its not a major issue cause i use this amp for playing loud and distorted. you dont need reverb for that.

i play this amp through at Epiphone Les Paul with the origional pickups in it. the clean channel sounds good to me. its not the most amazing clean channel on the market, but it definitly not the worst...ive tweaked with it and ive been able to get some good sounds out of it.
DISTORTED----this is where this thing blows me away. I play Hardcore...not fake hardcore like limp bizkit or whatever..im talking real hardcore; 100 demons, Death Threat, Hatebreed...you get the idea. anyways...it gives great "chug" and the distortion sounds awesome. I just bought this amp a couple weeks ago and ive had my first practice with it today. everyone in the band was pretty much in awe of the way it sounded. it is definitly a "high gain" amp, but dont let that fool you...this thing will put out some bottom end chugs like you wouldnt believe. i am definitly impressed with it. my other guitar player has been saving for a Triple Rectifier, but when he heard this thing he has seriously started considering getting the 5150II. if you are at all into playing heavy music then definitly check this amp out...this amp costs alot less than the Triple Rectifier but gives a great sound.

i havent had it long, but if its like any other peavey stuff ive had then i feel i can trust it.

ive never dealt with them so i cant really say.

for the style of music i play and the price i paid all i gotta say is this thing was everything i could ever have hoped for...i know that sounds cheesy, but its true...i wanted an amp with great distortion and also something that had balls, and this was it. im definitly happy with it. ohhh...i didnt mention..i am also playing this through the 5150 cabinet.

Brand new, out-of-the-box 5150 II. I previously owned a 5150 Combo, so the additional EQ controls, and footswitchable crunch are welcome additions. This amp has more than enough power, probably too much for my needs (rehearsal and gigging in relatively small venues). I plug the amp either into a MESA 4X12 Traditional cab, or a Carvin Legacy 2X12 for the basement, rehearsal, or small venues. I've come to appreciate a footswitchable effects loop, though I really wish it had a send/return mix controls like my previously-owned MESA Dual Rectifier had. From what I understand, this version of the 5150 has a differently voiced lead channel, and an "improved" rhythm channel that is supposed to have a "clean" tone now. Basically the amp has all the features I need, though a more sophisticated loop would be nice.

I am using a variety of instruments with this, PRS CU22, EB/MM Axis, Les Paul Std, Fender Strat. My band plays a variety of music, mostly heavy rock and some modern rock, and this amp suits the style very well. This amp does one thing really well, and that is high gain tones. I have found my settings for the controls, and I rarely stray from them, except for the volume on the guitar. Maybe not terribly versatile, but its gets THE lead tone for which I'm looking...super heavy, rich with sustain, and not a whollop of bottom-end like some newer, more modern sounding amps. This is definitely an amp for a guitarist who plays LEADS, and not just rhythm. I personally have never played an amp that has a better lead tone than a 5150, regardless of price (though I've never played a Bongner, SLO100, etc...). I have noticed that I need to use the lead pre-gain at 6.5 on this, whereas I rarely used it above 5 on my old combo. Still, more than enough gain to turn your tone into mush. I think the high gain tones are fairly similar between the 5150 amps...the kind where you hit a chord, let is sustain, and in about 10 seconds it turns into beautiful feeback. That's sustain. Leads are effortless, and rhythm work can be very tight. Sqealing pinch harmonics, any string, any fret. This is a fun amp. The clean tone is pretty uninspiring, very bright, and you really have to keep the pre-gain at or below three for it not to break up. However, its usable, I'm just a bit surprised that it hasn't been dramatically improved over the previous model. The crunch is basically useless in a live situation, as the volume jump using crunch is absurd. However, if you use it as a stand-alone tone, its can get a nice, medium-gain tone. Just don't mistake this for anything remotely resembling a pseudo 3 channel amp. All in all, I really dig the tone on this amp, the clean tone and the crunch volume could have been better executed, though. For the lead, the score would be 9, but taking into consideration the clean tone and the crunch volume issue (which really account for a small % of my use) I'll give it 8. For someone who does not use a high gain tone most of the time, but rather relies on low-gain and cleaner tones, this would not be the amp.

My old 5150 combo, bought used, knocked over twice (once in the car, once trying to push it across a carpeted floor)no problem. The pots got noisy and a fuse blew once, but for the most part, very trustworthy. I take very good care of my gear, and since I'm the first owner of this 5150II, I am fairly condident that it will be fine. I believe you also get a 5 year warranty if you register the amp with Peavey. I have spare tubes/fuses, so for this to really go down on me, it would require something pretty nasty. I have no rating since its so new...but previous experiences with Peavey have been favorable.

The only experience I've had with Peavey Customer Support has been on their website/forums. They have staff regularly monitor threads, and actively particpate. That's impressive. I've had no experience with repairs however...but if needed, the 5 year warranty is nice to have. This rating is only based on the Peavey website.

I've been playing for many, many years. When I bought this amp, I also had a new Dual Rectifer as well. I have nothing but respect for MESA products, and I thought the Dual Rec was going to be my holy grail amp. However, in the end, it did not have a lead tone that came close to the Peavey. For my purposes, the 5150 II proved to be the better amp for what I need. I was able to sell the MESA for almost what I paid for it, so I consider it a learning experience. Despite the fact that the 5150II is fairly affordable, I believe it is a benchmark for high gain lead tones, and that I what I truly love about the amp. I'm quite sure that I'd have to spend alot more money to drastically improve my high gain tone. If another version of the 5150 comes along, I will be very interested.

Features include a clean or dirty rythym channel and a lead channel, an excellent,sturdy, and well thought out foot switch, 6 ax12??? pre-amp tubes, and 4 6l6 power tubes. There are a few other features too but they can be found on other peoples reviews. I have been playing for seven years and am in the punk rock band Deliberate Strangers. We play music comparable to Misfits, Rancid, Lower East Side Stitches, and U.S. Bombs with elements of metal, country, rock and other types of music and this amp can handle it all! Even though the amp lacks reverb I couldn't ask for more out of this beast.

I play a Strat and a Les Paul stock pickups. Most bands who play our type of music usually play through Marshalls however I can't not afford one and the music shop I frequent only carries Peavey so in order to have my gear worked on it must be Peavey or I'd need to leave town to get it mantinenced but this amp handles that marchall tone quite well so it doesn't really matter. It' s a little noisy but what can you expect from an amp with so much gain? The 5150 II is very versitile and I use a Delta Stomp for effects. The distortion is brutal and I never have to turn the gain above 5. Also this fucker is loud I don't have to crank it above 5 even in a band setting.

I have only had this for 3 days so I don't know, However I did have a Peavey Ultra Plus for about a year and in the last 3 weeks that I owned this it broke down twice. Hopefully the 5150 II is more reliable.

This amp is great! In a few weeks I have an option to trade it back to the store for a Peavey XXX with no additional cost to me but I'm not sure if I want to now because this amp is wonderful.

Read the other posts

Guitar is an old charvel with dimarzio pickups (double whammy at the bridge PAF Pro at the neck) spent a full day in my local guitar shop trying out various Amps, tried Line 6 head out first sounded ok until you rolled the FX off, a synthetic tone to it i thought, mesa rectifier was next not a bad amp it lacked the gain i require but had a nice tone and a huge price tag, don't like Marshall's sorry marshall lovers so i never tried them, peavey 5150 mark2 was the last amp i tried and i played it in the shop for about 1 1/2 hours, i've been practising and playing guitars for over 16 years now and this is the first amp i've played through with insane gain, no stomp box required here, my band NuFutureCowboys play heavy metal type music i took it to rehersal and shit how loud this baby is (noisy too) if you play metal this is your bag, the tone of the amp is excellent and needs to be played quite loud to get the best out of it 5 upwards, the clean channel is ok nothing to report here and the rhythm side to it is just an overdriven version of the clean, one thing is for sure if you play too many duff notes everyone heres them, the note separation is staggering, harmonics, pick squeals, just flood out of this amp, if your in a band take it to rehearsal and crank it up you'll be on a drip connected straight to hell in no time, this amp works for me and the type of music i play, it takes a little time to get to grips with but i like it and that's all that matters really, as for the sonic differences between this Amp and the original 5150 i don't no i never tried the old version but i no you can mod the 5150 mark2 to the original sounding amp if you like....

not had it long enough to break

same as the above

it's getting a 9 cos it's a noisy little dude and the lack of 3 independent channels but that's just bitching

I'm sure you all know the basic features of this head. It has 4 power tubes, 6 pre-amp tubes, 2 channels - dirty / clean and lead. 2 EQ's etc..the reason why I am giving this an 8 is because there is no reverb with this head. They did put it in the combo models through and I am not sure why they couldn't add it to the head. That is the only feature that is very disapointing. A good spring reverb would of been nice,seeing as everything stomp box reverb really sounds like crap! Getting a rack tpye unit would sound better, but it is a hassle if you gig a lot and you have to drag another piece of gear. I'll bet the next version of the 5150 will have reverb and I would sell the 5150II to purchase that when and if it ever comes out.

I use a Peavey Wolfgang standard as my main guitar and a Gibson Les Paul Classic as my back up. My band plays mostly cover tunes ( VH, Zep, Aero, Sabbath )it sounds great on all those different styles. I had a Brand new Marshall TSL60 head and traded it for the 5150II, because I wanted a bigger sound. The 5150II is quite a bit noisier than the Marshall, due to all the gain the 5150II has. I am still getting used to the much different settings, meaning the marshall gain was always on 10 and the master volume was also on 10 to get the nice warm crunch. The 5150II, my pre gain on the rythm channel is on 5 and my post is set to about 4. On the lead channel my pre gain is set to about 6 and my post is on 5. I used to use a noise gate, but stopped because the noise is not noticeable while you play and between songs, I just click over to the clean channel and all the noise goes away. It is a good work around. The clean channel is fine for me. It is certainly not as clean as the Marshall I used to own, but it is clean enough for hard / classic rock. As far as distortion goes, there is more than you will ever need. There is so much gain, that if you turn it up past 8 the sound gets muddy. keep the pre betwen 4 & 6 and you will have no problems.

I have only had this head about a month and it seems to be built much more solid than my past Marshall. I have no worries on gigging with out a backup. My band is a two guitar player band and we do have a old crate head we bring just in case, but not because I feel my 5150II would break down.

I had to olny ask one question to tec support and they were helpful, so I would imagine that if you needed something, they would be able to help you without a problem

I have been playing for about 10 years. I have owned Marshall's and Fenders, and the tone on those were fine, but I play in a band that has two guitar players. We both share the lead guitar duties, so there is no one rythm guitar and lead guitar player. I loved my Marshall but I always had problems cutting through the mix when needed. No matter what settings, pedals etc.. that is why I traded it for a 1 year old 5150II. The 5150 sounds different but it sounds much "bigger" and cuts right through. Once you get the amp tweaked in to your liking, which is taking some time for me but I am very happy thus far. I am not even playing through a peavey cab. I am using my Marshall 4X12 loaded with 25 watt green backs. I may try different cab's in the near future. The one thing I noticed is that everything sounds crystal clear which means any mistakes jump right out which is something my old Marshall did not do. I would say that this is a players amp for sure.

THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL 5150 WITH THE EXCEPTION OF AN ADDDED EQ SECTION----THERE ARE NO EXTRA TUBES AND THE CRUNCH CHANNEL IS NOT NEW TO THE 5150 SERIES ALL VERSIONS HAVE IT(AS THE PREVIOUS REVIEWER WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE)

I DONT KNOW IM STILL WAITING TO SEE A COMPETENT-ADULT H-C POSTING OF THE SONIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL AND THE II(IF THERE ARE ANY)I FOUND THE ORIGINAL TO HAVE THAT ANNOYING ADOLESCENT FUZZY HIGH END AND A RATHER FLABBY BASS RESPONSE.I DONT KNOW HOW ON EARTH EDWARD VAN HALEN WOULD LIKE THESE THINGS IT SOUNDS TOTALLY UNLIKE HIS ORIGINAL MARSHALL OR THE SOLDANO HE USED BRIEFLY(THE AMPS THAT MAKE-UP THE BEST 'HALEN SOUND)AS FOR THE CLEAN SOUND? WELL,ITS A PEAVEY 'NUFF SAID

I'LL ASSUME ITS LIKE ANY-OTHER PEAVEY PRODUCT-VERY RELIABLE

ITS PEAVEY

WELL UNLESS I TAKE THE TIME TO GO OUT AND RENT ONE TO REVIEW I'LL GUESS WE WILL NEVER KNOW (THE REST OF THE REVIEWS JUST DONT TELL THE STORY-IF THERE IS ONE)

Ok, so basically this is a souped up version of the 5150 as we all know. Its got a quasi-extra-channel (crunch), where its just an juice boost to the clean channel. I personally think its a good addition, especially that the crunch switch is foot controlled. 120W of power makes it more than freaking loud. It has an extra preamp tube i believe...so theres 6 now (more expensive to change the set, etc). Most importantly, the clean and distorted have 2 different sets of EQ's now. Personally I would never have the same EQ settings for clean sounds and distorted ones, so this amp did it for me. I give it a 9 just coz the crunch 'mode' doesnt have a volume control (like my old Marshall VS102R for example.

This is my signal chain : ESP H-S strat right into the 5150 II thru a Marshall 1960A cab and an EQ-20 in the effects loop (excellent peice of EQ btw). I have a SD- Custom in the bridge and a SD single coil vintage in the neck. Lets talk about the clean sound first. At first i thought it distorted too early and sounded tinny, but after changing out the tubes (both preamp and power) it sounded sooo much better, and since the single coil is a lower input, it doesnt drive the amp into distortion THAT much , even at relatively high volumes. So Im quite satisfied with the clean. This is not to say that i havent heard better cleans, like the Marshall JTM-60 for example (yes yes, a marshall). I havent heard a Fender Bassman yet, so i dont know how it compares to that.

Now comes the distortion...: I have heard the major triad as i like to call it : 5150, Decatone (soldanos), and the Mesa Rectifier. The 5150/5150 II is by far the best sound I heard. I usually play with a lot of gain and the Peavey gives really high gain yet awesome tone. The Decatone comes next in line i think, but that f***er costs 3 times as much. The Hot Rod i think is next in distortion sound next to the mesa rectifer (im talkin tone here not gain). Personally I wasnt impressed by the sound of the MESA, even tho it did have tons of gain. SO if u want a reallllly good distortion per dollar, this is by far the best thing. Add a good EQ and its perfect.

Well its not really that robust. I got it with crappy power tubes and I ended up switching them to svetlanas, that made it sound much better and crackle much less, I ended switching the preamp tubes too. Other than that it seems pretty solidly built.

I hope I dont have to deal with that...but i never did.

I have been playing for almost 2 years, but i have heard tons of shit in the guitar realm. I definately say its a steal if u can get one for around 800 new. If it were stolen, I would be pretty pissed, and i would probably get another new one, but i might look around for something that has a better clean sound first.
Ummm...the only problem i have with it really is the not quite so perfect clean channel, and the crunch mode not having any seperate volume control.
The distortion is spectacular... dont get a MESA before u try one of those, trust me on that one.


One last thing Eddie shouldve added to this amp... REVERB, altho not essential, it wouldve been a plus to this already good amp.