Peavey 5150

Doesn't matter if the amp is not usable.

I played this amp with a 2000 Gibson custom LP and a relic strat of the same year, the amp has that ice pick in the ear sound I only
associated with crapy ss amps until now, the noise this amp generates
is unreal, the guy at the store was trying to get a good sound out
of it and tweeked every knob while telling me about the harmonics
this "thing" pumps out but as the demo came to an end the only
good sound was when he shut the damm "thing" off and the room went
silent. I left laughing (inside) thinking, man, I can't believe
someone would pay more than 200.00 for this half stack.

Looks like it was built by K-tell, LOL.

Happily, never have never will.

I have been playing for around 25 years and have heard some stinkers
in my time but this one takes the cake. After I heard this amp and looked at the price tag, I thought, someone should sue Peavy for
fraud, The fact that Eddy Van Halen put his name on this product
just shows what money will do to your morals......Woa!

I am a simple guitar player. Two years ago when I was looking to purchase anamp, I was mainly looking for something with a solid high gain channel. I had previously owned a Mashall solid state amp, and the Marchall JCM 900, but I wasn't satisfied with the high gain response I was getting from either of them. I play in a progressive hardcore band, so all I need in an amp is a lot of output, and a great distortion sound. The 5150 fills these for me. I give its features a 7 because it does not have a reverb unit or separate EQs between channels-somehting that I'm sure would deter many amp shoppers.Many nice features, however, such as three channel selection, impedence selection, resonance and presence controls, and casing that is built to last.

I use an Epiphone SG with humbucker pickups. The distortion channel is incredible. Extremely brutal sound, but still manages to sing every note in a chord (high and low) beautifully. Very full , crisp, modern sound. The clean channel I'm sure could be used for all syles of music, but it would require a little more effort. Recommended for players looking for a diverse range of high gain sounds.

I purchased this amp with problems-occasionally cut out during practice. Once when I opened it up to repair it, I dropped the exposed electronic unit onto a concrete floor. The fall was hard enough to cut a patch cord in half and make a huge dent in the front panel upon impact. Despite this, it worked like nothing happened to it! Electronic components are glued down to the circuit board to protect it from falling, etc-keeps everything stable inside to ensure a long life, even with the most abusive owners. Haven't had to change a tube once. The amp has since worked perfectly. Very reliable.

Was able to download manual from website. Also, after I dropped my amp in the basement, I had to order replacement dials (for cosmetic purposes). Items were reasonably priced and arrived quickly. Very friendly service!

I love this amp and do not desire anything from it that it does not deliver.

typical amp layout
pre gain for clean/crunch post gain for clean/crunch ( in other words gain and master volume )
pre gain for lead and post gain for lean ( same again )
treble, middle, bass, presence and something diffrent with resonance which controls the amount of bottom end like the presence controls the amount of top end !
if you want more detail read some other reviews

i play mainly gibson guitars with standard pickups nothing fancy no high output pikcups or anything like that...

i play mainly punk with a touch of ska so i do need a leanish sound of sorts and believe it or not this amp can do it, ok its not the best clean in the world its not a fender twin but it doesnt sound as bad as most people seem to say on here...
the distortion is brutal plain and simple ive never heard so much gain from an amp head and this is my spare head to my mesa dual rec and even the dual rec has less gain.. seriously.
i use the head through a marshall 4x12 with vintage 30s which to me are the best speaks for guitar heads they seem smoother with more bottom end and more even mids. Unlike the last reviewer said the cab can handle this head no problemo and it sounds great.. i tried the 5150 cab when i bought my mesa head as i was trying out various heads and cabs for the best combonation possible this included mesa of which i bought and is probably the best amp i have ever hear, the 5150 which did come second, laney gh100L, many marshalls, vht and soldano, the cabs i tried were the 5150, marshall v30's and normal, soldano, and the mesa 4x12 with v30's ( it was the best cab but it was either the cab or the head so i got the head and the marshall cab which sounded almost as good ) and IMHO the 5150 cab did nothing for me.. to much bottom end..
just to point out yes there is noise but what heavy distortion valve amp does'nt have noise..
like i said this is a good head and it does get used a lot and its probably the second best amp ive heard..
( oh and i font like more than 2 channels on an amp as i use my guitar and fingers more than my foot to get diffrent sounds.. )

its big, its heavy, it aint my brother but im sure if it was it would never let me down.. im in the belief that this amp is really built well, as i bought it from a friend who wanted the money to buy a dual rec after hearing mine and his band played about twice a week, practiced twice a week.. for the last two years of him buying it but before i bought it i did get him to fo a revalve ( even if paid him more for doing it )

never dealt with them

i think this is a great amp and if it was stolen i would probably kick the guy all over the place but with the shear weight of it i think he would proabably get a strain of some sort first if he tried to run with it ( built in security or what )

Simple, straightforward controls, Effects loop, switchable ohm settings to use different cabinets if you feel the need, the footswitch is a little cheeesy and could be constructed a little more road worthy, a pure dummy can tweak the amp the way they like as it doesn't take a rocket scientist to play with the tonal controls on the front end.....

Anyone lusting for Edwards tone straight out of a box look no further and don't waste you hard earned dollars on anything else if this is what you are looking for. I am currently using this amp with a Peavey Wolfgang, a Peavey Wolfgang Special, a PRS Mc Carty, and a PRS Singlecut Mark Tremonti Signature Model. The way it is run with my effects is just like Edwards setup utilizing an H&H V 800 Mosfet amp feeding two cabinets wet with effects in stereo with a center dry. If you don't know what I mean go into www.guitargeek.com click on Edward Van Halen and there you have it, my setup, effects and all is identical to his. Why you may ask? Well I play in a Van Halen Cover Band and wanted to nail his tone exact, effects and all and you know what....it is and anyone who hears it swears by it. All I can say is this amp has tone for days and doesn't quit.

I purchased this amp head and three cabinets when they first hit the market ten years ago. Never once has it ever seen the repair shop, blown up on me or given me one problem. I never once brought a backup with me anywhere at anytime as I have such faith in this amp. It has proven itself to me over the years and has been faithful like any good woman. Money well spent. You won't be sorry!!!!!!!!!

Never once did Peavey or the local dealer ever get a phone call. Amp and cabinets had a 1 yr warranty

I have been playing now for 25 years. I also own a Line 6 AX2/212. I only use this Van Halen Setup for the tribute band. The Line 6 Amp as well as the previously mentioned guitars take care of my other cover band which is a current rock/ alternative format. I would replace the 5150 setup in a heartbeat. this amp needs nothing and is all one could ask for to duplicate edwards tone. One other thing ......if you want to really nail his tone and you buy this amp, save some extra dough and do yourself a favor and pick up a wolfgang, at least the special which you can get for about $700.00.

You Know the features, and dispite what some of you morons might think these amps are extremely versatile.

Im writing this review in response to some of the dumbasses that are giving this amp bad reviews, and to offer a little advice to those that have one or are considering purchasing one.

1.) Cabinets
Both 5150 heads were designed and biased to be used in conjunction with the 5150 cabinet(s). If you look up the specs for either cabinet you will notice that the cabinet handles 300watts, each speaker being voiced at up to 75 watts rms each. Now, in a Marshall JCM-900 cabinet each speaker (usually Celestions) handle about 30watts rms each which in reality is only about 120 peak watt handling for the whole cabinet. On the other hand the speakers used in the 5150 cabinets are not your average guitar amp speakers, they are actually loudspeakers originally designed to be used in high-watt PA systems, but they have been slightly modified for use with the guitar amp. The JCM-900 cabinet along with other Marshall cabinets are designed to work with the distortion and power of the Marshall units(also notice that even the biggest Marshall heads only put out about 100 watts).

2.) Power
This is a VERY powerfull amp. IT IS LOUD. Now, even though it is listed at putting out 120 watts, when you put all the distortion of 5or6 12AX7 tubes and run them through 4 6L6 power tubes that is going to end up being the equivalent of about 600 watts. The 5150 cabinets are designed with this amount of power in mind, other cabinets made by other companies are not.

3.) "Lack of Reverb and versatility"
This amp was designed for EDDIE VAN HALEN by EDDIE VAN HALEN. Now this guy has at least $15,000 dollars worth of high-end equiptment to run the 5150's signal through so he doesn't really need an amp with reverb in it. So if you want this amp with reverb QUIT BITCHING and go buy a reverb pedal or good multi-effects unit.

4.) Volume
I say again, THIS AMP IS REALLY REALLY LOUD. So if you live with your parents or in an apartment complex this will not be the amp for you.
It was also designed to be played at high volumes so it won't sound very good with the post gain at .5 .

5.)Guitar
If you are playing a squire or some other guitar with shitty single coil pickups you will not be impressed with the sound of this amp. Get something with some good humbucking pickups in it. DO NOT give this amp a bad review because you are playing through a shitty guitar.

I play mine through a EVH Wolfgang with a BOSS GT-3 in the effects loop so it sounds absolutely awesome.

If you treat your amp like shit it will treat you like shit. This amp is built like a tank, however it is not invincible. It has delicate electronic equiptment inside of it that be damaged if not properly cared for.

Havent needed it.

This amp is the supreme GOD of all amps. LOUDEST AND BEST DISTORTION EVER. Again, dont buy, use, or give this amp a bad review if you dont know how to use it properly.

just like the rest of them. It has the EVH block logo, instead of the signature on the front though. I think it has plenty of features, I just wish that the bright and crunch settings could be footswichable on the 5150 I head. It still has all the essentials

Well first off it has a great distortion channal. At low pre gain settings you could get a great bluesy distortion, and on hi gain, well let me just say brown is a great color if you know what I mean. On the lead channal I don't put the post gain above 2. Its at a reasonable leval at that point, and thats really all I need. I run it through a Carvin 2x12 cab with Vintage 30s, and it sounds great at low volumes, and if I wanted to go higher it would go just the same. The clean is a little crappy, but if you keep the pre gain down, and add an eq pedal it sounds fine. I use a Sansamp GT2 as an overdrive pedal, and a clean pedal, depending on what setting I put it to. When I put the sansamp on a low gain setting, and turn on the lead channal, it kind of puts suger on top of the great distortion already there.

I got it used so it has a few problems. There is a rip in the power cable, that goes half way around the cable, which worries me a little. I put some electric tape on it and hoped for the best. Otherwise it looks sturdy. With a tube amp its never a %100 though, because you have to worry about tubes

Again I got it used, I don't plan on using Peavey's shitty customer service. From what I heard they aren't a good help anyway

Its my first tube amp, but compared to others I have heard, I really like it. It sounds great, and I really enjoy it.

Dont know what year it was made in but has block initials EVH on front. Rated 7 for amount of features not quality. For me there is plenty of features: 2 channels (both can be dirty as you like!) , presence and resonance ( mint), single EQ, all tube, effects loop, 4,8 and 16 ohm settings for cabs, two jacks for cabs, 120W! I never use the effects loop so i cant comment on that. its my first half stack so i may not have reliable opinion. suits me though as i play punk rock. presence can be used to get amazing ground tremors when palm muting. i dont like resonance - it gives me a head ache if its too high but on 5 it is fine and cuts through anything. there are earlier complaints about single EQ but i never get the need to have two completely different sounds on each channel. i like it.

I use cheap fender strat with seymour duncan custom humbucker at the bridge. on other pickups (very cheap) you get loads of noise and feedback on the same gain settings as almost silence with my humbucker. on maximum gain it is so noisy that you would have to stand quite a way from it to sound good. Ive only played in a pretty small room but ive actually made glasses fall of shelves at the other side of my house when on post gain of 2.5!! i love the distortion of this amp. i had the smaller peavey rage before which sucked. i used to only play new school punkrock like bigwig, greenday, NOFX, pennywise. with this head i had the extra head room to try new stuff and im now playing a lot of black sabbath, pixies, ACDC which to me is a lot harder than what i was playing before - 3 chords!
Im yet to get a clean sound out of this amp because it always seems desperate to go dirty. not a bad thing in my case. how brutal is the distortion?... brutal enough to not even resemble a guitar. will need a 2 mile cable to get far away not to feed back on max gain. MINT I can get perfect ACDC, black Sabbath sounds aswell as making my own tone which i now stick to no matter what i play. id say this amp can produce any rock sound you want. just leave it alone if you play gospel-folk-country. oh yeah and it would be wasted on limp biskit and papa roach although i cant think of what kind of music that is. theres no end to my progression since i got this amp.

Ive only had it a few months but looks sturdy enough. the 5150 cab however is alot lighter than i expected, comparing it to some old Laney 4X12 that ive used. Tubes are bound to go though. Its an older model but looks brand new. Well looked after

Havent dealt with them

ive been playing about 3 years. I have my strat, the peavey rage and this. and a rocktek distortion pedal which is now redundant. I love the power and distortion. SIMPLICITY. ive always like keeping stuff simple and this doesnt have any more knobs than my 15W practice amp yet it is far more versatile. i got it for 340 poonds seconhand aswell (in mint condition) which is well worth the money. I dont hate anything about this amp. itll be my first and last head. when buying it i also looked at the Marshall MG100RCD but the more i read reviews about it, the more i hated it. too marshally for me. Remember when reading this that I am only a 16 year old kid and i have only tried 3 half stacks in my life, marshall, laney and the 5150. This is by far my favourite, especially for that old school metal and punk that everyone seems to be forgetting about thanks to marlyn manson, linlin park ( hahaha), limp biskit. I was definitly born in the wrong time and so was this amp.

Features..not much to say here. You know the basics, one EQ for both channels, no reverb, all that. Footswitchable channels, one rythm one lead. The resonance feature is unique to this amp, and I think is a key to making it what it s.

I use a Les Paul studio...this amp is noisy. There isnt much in the way of tonal versatility, it sounds like a 5150. Very high gain, very throaty growl. I've read the other reviews, and I just dont see how people can use the max distortion on this amp, if you turn the pre-gain up past 5, it's VERY sloppy sounding. You can use the EQ to clean it up a bit, but it still sounds muddied. It's got a great rock sound, but if you use enough gain for crunch metal, it's sloppy. However, the throatiness and the growl on this amp is unmatched. Believe it or not, I use a Boss metal Zone WITH this amp and it SCREAMS!!! Low end thunk and crunch like you wouldnt believe! This amp is what does it, I've used the metal zone with lots of other amps, and never achieved this sound. The way the amp is voiced is perfect for metal...hard, growly HEAVY metal sounds. So to sum it up, I disagree with the rave reviews of the distortion on this amp...it does have INCREDIBLE gain, but the way it's used, it sounds sloppy if you use enough to get he really saturated sound.As for clean, it does well enough if you use some chorus to dress it up. Nothing spectacular, but if you're interested in this amp, you're not interested in sparkling clean souds. This amp is for HARD, rip your head off metal. The drawback is the one EQ, so whatever settings you use for dirty, you cant change for clean. You can get around this by using an EQ pedal, but it would be a pain. Get a chorus pedal. This amp will rock your world.

This thing is built like a bull, very heavy, very rugged.

Never dealt wih the copany, but I've got a 5 year warranty.

I've been playing for about 8 years, and this amp is my dream come true. My lead guitarist has one, and we always clashed sonds...two of these suckers together has an incredibly tight, smooth HEAVY sound. I own a tubeworks power amp, which I use with a KMD 4x10 cab. the sound is WEAK compared to this amp. I use a Les Paul studio exclusively.
I love the throatiness, growl, the ...sound. Those that have played long enough know THAT sound, just THAT sound. This amp does it for me. Marshalls and Boogies dont cut it. The key is to use it with a 5150 cab, they're designed for each other. evn with a pedal, I can get that real Tube-ey sound. If this amp were stolen or lost, I would buy another one immediately. Dont mess with the 5150 II, it's voiced a little differently. Overall, for metal, this amp ROCKS. There's nothing quite like it. If you can afford one, I highly reccommend it.

Let get one this straight: the Peavey 5150 is made only for rockers who can handle balls-swallowing METAL ACTION (or AXE-shun). So if you wearing some fucking backwards red baseball cap and thinking you're gonna be the next Korn Against the Bizkit or whatever the fuck you listen to, then you might as well just take that $5,000 Les Paul your uncle gave you and throw it under the tires of whatever pussy-ass sport coupe you're driving, because the 5150 doesn't have TIME for your PUSSY-ASS SHIT!

See, the people at Peavey were smart, because they put like twenty knobs on the 5150. Anyone who knows how to truly rock knows there's only one knobs that matters -- GAIN. That way, when the salesman sees you plugging in the Mexico-made Fender strat or whatever other pussy-ass guitar you pick off the rack, and he sees you start messing with every knob on the board while you insult the 5150 with your blatantly non-metal licks, he can kick your sorry ass OFF the chair and beat you like the REO Speedwagon fan you probably are, because no one who truly understood the 5150 would waste time with knobs when they could be pumping out some killer Sacrificium tunes on a Signature Randy Rhoads Jackson V at top volume.

You know what I use. SIGNATURE Randy Rhoads Jackson V, downtuned to B, with only my DOD FX-59 THRASHMASTER pedal between it and the 5150 (look up the THRASHMASTER for my other reviews). Yesterday, I took my 5150 over to my friend Dino's house, and he opened it up and disconnected every knob except the GAIN one, and then we busted that knob off so it's permanently stuck at 10, because that's the only number I need to know when it comes to pumping out my hot n' tasty licks with my new side project, LETHALICON, when we hit the stage at the Greenbriar Community Center every Thursday. After Dino and I modded my amp, every time i hit a low B, it sounds like the members of Hierarchical Punish are in my basement, beating the members of Civilization Hatred to death with amplified, unbridled metal brutality. This amp is for PURE, SLUTBANGING METAL, so don't even touch it unless you're ready to proclaim your dedication to annihilation!

I always say a good amp is like a good woman -- if it lasts through the first couple beatings, it's yours for life. This baby can take all the kicks and still pump out the hottest licks. Once, when I caught my little brother looking at my Signature Randy Rhoads Jackson V, I strapped his head to the 5150 and hung him out the window by his ankles. He kept squirmin' and hollerin' until finally I dropped him, but it was okay, because the 5150 was hooked back up in minutes, and none of the blood or snot stopped it from giving me the hot metal injection I demand. Let me put it this way: the 5150 will treat you better than any girlfriend, because it screams louder, it's easier to pick up, and it shuts up when you take your plug out.

You think I have time to talk to corporate non-rockers about this shit? No fucking way! Any time I got a problem with anything, my amigo Dino sets me up just fine. Sometimes, I'll call the customer service number, and when they pick up the phone, I'll put the receiver down by my amp and crank out "Fool for the City" by Foghat just to show my appreciation. They're never on the phone when I finish, but I'm sure they like to hear how at least SOME of us know how to use their amps for the prep-smacking ROCK they wanna hear.

I've been playing long enough to know that this amp kicks more ass and gets more chicks than my band's last bass player. Look, if you're still reading this review, then you obviously have some sort of cranial damage. If you do, that means you probably already own a 5150 and a Signature Randy Rhoads Jackson V, in which case, KEEP ROCKIN'! Because if you didn't already own one of these, by now you should be at Guitar Center, buying your 5150 head and telling them how they need to hold a Guitar Center 5150-a-thon, because it's the only amp that matters anyway.

1996 model
You know the feature.

INCREDIBLE TUBE DISTORTION!!
It takes some time to get the sound you want. I've had this amp for a while and now I could get any sound I want. Metallica, Tool, RATM, GnR, Cannibal Corpse, u name it!
I use chorus and reverb pedal to make the clean channel little more alive.
I can't believe some people put the gain on 10!! I never go past 5 or 6.
And people who said this amp sucked obviously didn't spend much time w/ the amp or didn't change the power tube.

I'm in a band and I can totally depend on this amp, it never let me down.

I emailed them with Q's, and they replied me the very next day.
They are very helpful.

I was going to get a Line 6 Flextone or a Marshall valvestate 102R brand new. But, I thought Line 6 was somehow lacking something in sound. So I got a Marshall 102R, but it broke down within a month. I wanted to excahnge it with the same new one, but that was the last one in the store. Then, I suddenly saw a used 5150 head, which I heard a lot about that they have monster gain and power. So I gave it a try and, "Boy was I glad my Marshall broke down!!!"
Without a doubt I felt like I've found the perfect amp for me.
Although it was a used one, it was in very good condition and costs less than Marshall 102R, so I even saved money.