You know Eddie Van Halen 5150 voice coil for his infamous Amp was designed at the Peavey plant in Foley Al! Peavey moved this plant back to Merdian Ms after Hartley Peavey wife Malia died! I was the actual person who wound the 5150 voice coils! I was the one who got Eddie’s voice coil approved for the 5150
Corrections : 1. Eddie's '67 1959 SLP did not had any modifications at all by J.Arrendondo.Eddie spread the word around just to help him, to get in the business.Eddie only did the usual services/repairs.. The only difference was 6CA7 power tubes, because of the lack of EL-34 in US... (Book "History of Marshall amps" (1st edition)) . 2.The 5150 on the pre-amp stage is exactly the same in schematic on the basics of SLO-100 (Dual Rectifier also)... Eddie took SLO to the factory of PEAVEY. 5 multiple cascading gain stages by 2nd 12AX7...3rd for EQ/4th for fx loop/5th for phase inverter Output section SLO 5881/5150 6L6GC (stronger 6L6). Eddie asked Mike Soldano for free supply as endorser, and Soldano refused because wasn't in such position,like a big manufacturer, to produce more.. Soldano told him "Everybody's buying my amps.I'm a small store, I Don't have such financial power".. So Eddie took the amp to Peavey, to copy.. Soldano didn't patent the schematic (Big mistake), so Eddie and Peavey (and Mesa Boogie) stole him initially.. 3. Hartley Peavey kicked out Eddie from his company, after the bad behaviour to the people (cause of his dark period) and 2 hour latency, at 2004 NAMM.. Peavey's brain was out of his head for his company's disgrace... 4. 5150 II only had one 12AX7 (6 total) just for the extra clean channel which was the only difference.. Made in 2002 if I remember well.. 10 years afrer original 5150.. 5.James Brown was already at Fender for 5150III..
Correction. James brown didn't get into fender or EVH until today's modern iconic amps. Howard Kaplan is the guy who DID the evH fender amps then James Brown did the Iconic.
For clarification ... when Mike Soldano started tweaking amps for his own thing, he started his mods with a Fender Bassman learning from books that had been disregarded by the library. When he started understanding more of what he was doing, he switched over to using the Mesa Mark II's to base his models from. So, the clarification saying the Dual Rec / Mesa, Eddie and Peavey stole the basic layout from Soldano initially, kinda and kinda not, as Mike Soldano did a complete overhaul on the Mark II layout. Is the original mesa DNA there, maybe, but in a small percentage. Secondly, I will back up the Peavey reverse engineering the SLO100 for the 5150. Eddie bought 3 SLO100's from Mike Soldano. A blue ostrich tolex was bought 1st straight off the floor in Soldano's shop. A month later Eddie bought a pink ostrich tolex one. Then 6 months later Ed bought a 3rd that mike dyed the tolex into the EVH stripe pattern. Ive seen MANY pics and videos of the blue one, and the striped one. Ive never seen anything aside of the receipt from the pink one. I THINK the pink one is the one Eddie delivered to Peavey to reverse engineer. I say all this with no beef or gripe to any of the aforementioned companies, as I currently have a SLO100 and a 5150 II and have had MANY mesa amps in the past.
You using the original tubes ?... lol if it gets normal play, by now there is no different from the signature model.. All MK I versions will only be as good as the tubes you put in it. So the Block vs Sig version now is a wasted argument after changing tubes.
I had an original 5150 and ended up selling it in 1995. I wish I had that moment in time back. Stupid decision but it was a life lesson to think hard about something before you do it.
Im so glad i was able to track a 93 5150 block letter on reverb back in 2017🙏🙏 My 5150 is godlike! And no matter what i do it keep sounding like Burn My Eyes 🔥🔥🤘🤘
Peavey has come a long way. I remember back in the late 70's, hardly anyone bought Peavey amps because in the rock world, they didn't have a good reputation. Thier amps seemed cheap and the Peavey name just wasn't cool. They couldn't compete with Fender and Marshall. The only thing bands bought from Peavey back then was a PA because it was more affordable. When Eddie came along, Peavey's name and reputation changed practically overnight. Thanks for posting this video, it cleared up some confusions I had about Eddie's amps.
Steve Holstein Peavey was ignored by Rock and Blues players as I remember. The Country music players loved Peavey though, especially Steel Guitar Players. They would say that Peavey amps would give them more headroom and they also preferred 15” speakers and of course their PA’ were pretty much indestructible. I still have my old one. These days I go with whatever gives me a good sound I can use regardless of the brand or where it’s made. Peace
I have had some old peavey vtx and classic 212 from 70's with phase and they were good but I have the peavey Bravo, valve king, and 5150 combo and they are all better than the first peavey amps and I love em never gonna sell them, they aren't with much that is a good twin not to sell but yeah I love my peavey amps so much !
James Brown is also famous for the XXX which was to be the George Lynch model and never happened. Brown himself stated that the XXX was his favorite design The 3120 is a rebranded XXX. Does 6L6 or EL34. Picked one up for under $300 New in box. It's a beast. Also have a 5150 2x12 and a 5150ii Full Stack. All great guitar amps.
Bought mine new in 1995. 6 month waiting list then. Used it today. Use it almost every day. I have had a love affair with this amp for 24 years. Still sounds great. Best amp I have ever used and heard. Everyone that hears it says it's great. I will never part with it. My Les Paul I've had for 34 years, a Tonerider Octane pickup, my 24 year old 5150, J&J tubes (Sovtek phase inverter tube), and a guitar cable is all I need. Best of the best.
I biased modded my block letter almost 20 years ago and I think it made the amp sound a lot thicker and warmer. By using a cold bias you're chopping off the tips of the sign wave by adjusting the bias correctly you're getting a clearer sound. Most of the 5150's gain is coming from the 5 pre amp tubes.
I have 2 original block letter 5150s, both sound identical to eachother and sound great, I also had a signature 5150, no matter what tubes I put in it it sounded like crap next to the other 2 amps
I had a 5150 ll head that I had to sell for financial reasons. I regret that big time. Anyhow I loved the crunch "channel" more than the lead channel by playing a Boss Super Overdrive over it. Simply awesome. Killer tones.
great job Lucas. that mustve taken you forever. I just came into an original 5150 and was curious about the history. thanks, I appreciate all the info.
I have both a 1991 Peavey 5150 block letter and a 1995 Peavey 5150 combo and I love both for what each one does. My Block letter does the raw grinding distortion, where the combo gets that tight more modern distortion.
Ive got a first batch block logo 5150, from new, i pulled the sylvania tubes and stored them until about 2 months ago, i put them back in the amp and profiled the amp with my kemper to produce killer 5150 sylvania tones, thanks for your video its full of good information
Thanks man! I had to reupload because the part about the 6505 being discontinued wasnt true. I saw a Harmony Central forum post that said it was but I didnt double check it.
Great video! That took some time to research and deliver. Thank you! I still own my 5150 combo and it’s a monster with the JJ power tubes and cocktail of preamp tubes. It’s hard not to plug into my Lee Jackson XLS 1000 though.
Old guitar acquaintance of mine recorded me with and my cheesy band with a block letter 5150 combo waaaaaaaay back in the day. At the time I didn’t even know what good tone sounded like. But when I plugged into that thing and he started messing with the resonance knob my head tweaked to the side like a dog. I’d never heard anything like it before. This amp changed the market and moved gear in another direction. EVH was indeed an amazing innovator.
If you want a lot of background history on the 5150,check out Tone talk video where they talk with James for about 2-3 hours,mainly about how he built the 5150. He talks a LOT about it and you may find out a thing or two about the history of it,pretty interesting.
Haha, you're a funny little trol. Read the other comments , if Mesa copyed Solo thats their problem . James Brown products don't sound anything like them. He has his own sound.
Really good video, man! Other than the cold bias thing that somebody else has already adressed here are s few small things: The 5150/6505 has a slightly different gain stageing than the 5150 II/6505+. The volume jump on the original EVH 5150 III 50w head is between channels 1 and 2 (green and blue) rather than channels 2 and 3 (blue and red). In 2015 Peavey brought out a special edition 6505+ that was built in the USA, had a golden faceplate instead of a silver one and was limited to 50 units. German music store session has a review on youtube and they also still have at least one for sale on their site. The reviewer says these were supposed to cost 6500€ at first but were eventually sold for around 2000€. He also hints that Peavey used higher grade components for these and that they sound a little different. A guy in a Peavey forum told me that when they did R&D for the Invective, Peavey looked at some older amps and noticed that the output transformers on the older amps were slightly different causing them to sound a little different. I can't verify that though.
Thanks man! I had no idea about the special edition 6505+! That didn't show up anywhere that I searched!I also didnt know about the different gain staging!
As far as I know it's V1 V2 V5 V3 V4 power tubes on both channels of the 5150/6505. On the 5150 II/6505+ it's V1(half) V6 V3 V4 power tubes on the clean/crunch channel and V1 V2 V5 V3 V4 power tubes on the lead channel
Wow!! Thank you so much for that informative video. I'm trying out an EVH 5150 III 6L6 50W combo amp and I wanted to get some of the history on EVH amps. I'm comparing it to an SLO100 and a Mesa Boogie Mk III. I gotta say this thing rocks. Really digging the tone of the red channel especially.
Awesome job! Today I have the evh 5150 iii 50w 6l6 (version 2) and a evh 1 x 12 cab showing up in the mail from FedEx. I got matching ivory. Change it up from traditional black for once. Currently using peavey 6505+ 112 ( I love how there peavey logo lights up when turned on).
Back in the day, I was looking for an amp to rent while on the road. The store had just gotten the first 5150 and I plugged in and could not believe what I was hearing. I rented them locally for the rest of those road gigs.
Great overview of the 5150 history. I used to have a combo. Great sounding amp, but so heavy. Don't hurt your back hauling that thing around. I remember having a dolly I used with mine, and if my tires on the dolly were not fully inflated it would squat the dolly rims to the floor....LOL. It is a real power house with weight to match.
Solid list, learnt a lot about the Peavey years. The only thing I'd add is the green and blue channels of the 5153 stealth were modeled on the 50w head (more gain), and the circuitry of the blue channel in the stealth is closest to the EVH 2x12 combo. A big difference between the Peaveys and the 5153s is the Peavey heads were voiced for their Sheffield 1200 speakers, which are 75w and based on Greenbacks. The 5153 is voiced for the Celestion G12 EVHs which are only 20w each and also based on Greenbacks, but they specifically are based on the old "Black-Back" speakers. The Sheffields are designed for early breakup, but the low wattage of the EVH speakers mean they break up a lot more naturally imo.
Ed gave his Sheffield speakers to Steve Lukather as a birthday gift, and used Celestion G12T75 speakers on stage with his Peavey 5150 amps :) Most tube amps are designed with Greenbacks as reference, but as you say, there are different variants - G12L20, G12M25, G12H30, 8 vs 16 ohms, ceramic vs alnico etc
spot on amigo spot on. the "bs" behind this amp needs to be exposed and you did a great job on it. the amp is a staple but the history is all over the place and the thoughts on the "block letter"
@LucasLecompte so yes they did make the very first invectives in the United States. I actually have one and it has a sticker on the back that says assembled in the USA. I have actually looked pretty hard and have only seen one other amp with that designation so there couldn’t have been that many. Now where they got the parts…. I believe they are the same imported parts being used in the Chinese made invectives. They just were attempting to assemble them here in the USA. Misha himself has said there are no big differences and the invective ola Englund played was in fact Chinese. They sound great for sure!
Very good history of the 5150 amp I believe the only thing missing is the newer 5150s that have the numbers in front of the grill by fender and look like the classic ones eaves ones
Good video, and Thanks for the history of the 5150. I was confused for the longest time as to who was doing what between the different companies. Glen Drover
At 3:09 when you mention cold bias, that effects the power tubes, not the preamp tubes. Basically the amps power section will not distort or “give” as much at higher volumes as when the bias is hotter.
This might trigger some people. I've had my block letter 5150 since 2003, and I eventually had to change the tubes. I couldn't get the originals, so I just used GT 6l6s and I honestly can't tell a difference in sound.
love the peavey 5150. it sounds amazing if you dial it in right with eq’s and od’s people will sawy too much bottom end. but i like keeping the low end and resonance down and it sounds awesome
the 5150 3 is probably one of the best sounds ive heard- Steel Panther ive seen use them as well as Carcass.Just AMAZING clarity and tone. . I love the original though too, B tuned guitars or 7 Strings sound ideal through those, but it's little wonder since a lot of the Gothenburg Melodeath bands used them, as well as Carcass.
So, I have the 5150III stealth model. Even though Eddie himself say that channel 2 an 3 are more closely related, I would have to disagree with that statement. The tone between the two is quite different in my opinion. The low end on the blue 2 channel is much tighte,r or less booming than the red channel. But thred channel has a high end punch which is nice in its own way. So, I use a Tube Screamer on blue to boost for leads if I the same tone just hotter. Overall, my experience has been awesome to say the least. I also just aquired the USA stealth Wolfgang guitar with the D-tuna in the flat black finish. Truly unbelievable sound!
we all know peavy was making great amp heads in that time also a lil fella called joe satrani also had a great peavy amp head too.great review bang on ty sir
Rest in power EVH 1955-2020. Corrections: Cold Bias is POWER TUBES. 2016: 6505 Piranha 2010: 6505+ Combo 1x12 Peavey's 40th Anniversary was in 2005. 1965-2005 = 6505 (Thanks Van020280) 2018 upgrade kit for the original 50W 6L6's which adds the dual concentric knobs for volume and gain, so owners of the original 50W could get rid of the volume jump issue (@eyschwartz5150z) only the 50 watt EVH versions are midi compatible not the 100 watt versions (@Roger Parsons)
No, bias applies to all tubes, both power and preamp. But preamp tubes run single ended, with the whole audio signal running through any given preamp tube stage. Thus, the way that this stage is biased affects your distortion character. "Cold" bias/clipping gives us the majority of the overdrive tonality we like. When talking about power tubes, they are usually run in push-pull pairs and no single tube carries the whole signal. Cold biased power tubes run closer to class B or even class C. You don't want to bias them to class C or you get nasty crossover distortion.
@@Turboy65 What's being referred to here is the 39k resistor on the third gain stage cold biased tube that is taken from the SLO 100 that changes the distortion character. A typical Marshall and derivatives has the resistor at 10K. Typically most if not all Peavey power tube sections have them biased cold for extended tube life and reliability.
Great info on the 5150. In 2018 Fender came out with a "Concentric Mod" for the 5150 iii 50w 6l6 to add the stacked knobs like in the current (2018) production model. Just found some correspondence on that with my 50w.
As a studio engineer, I can say that there were 2 amps that had a steep learning curve for micing and recording: The Hiwatt 100 and the 5150 Block Letter. I was able to figure out the tricks to both. The 5150 was easier to learn compared to the Hiwatt but both were hard to dial in if you weren't familiar.
@@Bridging_the_Political_Divide Jazz Chorus of course. Fender Twin. Most Fender tube stuff really. Buddy had a Bogner Uberschall back in early 2000s that I liked a lot. The Mesa Recifier amps were cool but EVERYONE had those in the 2000s. Another guy had an Engl that I liked. I think it was the Blackmore model. That thing was great. My favorite amp was a Mesa Mklll that a friend had. He let me use it a lot. I liked Marshall stuff but not too many people came through with those. We did a lot of regional, independent stuff so it was always the studios JCM 800 or if somebody had some cool reissues.
@@DaryllHurst Of course the Jazz Chorus and Twin are super legendary amps. Ive had sooooo many amps and the only one that blew my mind, both with tones, and versatility was my Bogner Ecstacy. Its the only amp in a class of its own. A mind blowingly well thought out 3 channel amp that does everything superb. The old Mesa's are certainly great as well.
@@Bridging_the_Political_Divide I did all of my engineering from 2001 to 2012. Saw a lot of amps come through various sessions. I loved guitar players who were more in tune with sound than I was. It was cool to learn or experience different amps.
You know Eddie Van Halen 5150 voice coil for his infamous Amp was designed at the Peavey plant in Foley Al! Peavey moved this plant back to Merdian Ms after Hartley Peavey wife Malia died! I was the actual person who wound the 5150 voice coils! I was the one who got Eddie’s voice coil approved for the 5150
Thanks Jenn for your involvement in this legendary amp...
I am interested in knowing more about it if you are still around
Hi Jennifer, i just pickedbup an old Peavey 5150 combo 212... Just curious if the speakers are the same speakers?
Sweet Jennifer! 👍👊🏻
Thank you, Jennifer!!!!👍👍👍
Here on the EVH UA-cam tour! Who else got tickets?
Correction: Peavey's 40th Anniversary was in 2005.
1965-2005 = 6505
Corrections :
1. Eddie's '67 1959 SLP did not had any modifications at all by J.Arrendondo.Eddie spread the word around just to help him, to get in the business.Eddie only did the usual services/repairs.. The only difference was 6CA7 power tubes, because of the lack of EL-34 in US... (Book "History of Marshall amps" (1st edition)) .
2.The 5150 on the pre-amp stage is exactly the same in schematic on the basics of SLO-100 (Dual Rectifier also)... Eddie took SLO to the factory of PEAVEY.
5 multiple cascading gain stages by 2nd 12AX7...3rd for EQ/4th for fx loop/5th for phase inverter
Output section SLO 5881/5150 6L6GC (stronger 6L6).
Eddie asked Mike Soldano for free supply as endorser, and Soldano refused because wasn't in such position,like a big manufacturer, to produce more.. Soldano told him "Everybody's buying my amps.I'm a small store, I Don't have such financial power".. So Eddie took the amp to Peavey, to copy.. Soldano didn't patent the schematic (Big mistake), so Eddie and Peavey (and Mesa Boogie) stole him initially..
3. Hartley Peavey kicked out Eddie from his company, after the bad behaviour to the people (cause of his dark period) and 2 hour latency, at 2004 NAMM.. Peavey's brain was out of his head for his company's disgrace...
4. 5150 II only had one 12AX7 (6 total) just for the extra clean channel which was the only difference.. Made in 2002 if I remember well.. 10 years afrer original 5150..
5.James Brown was already at Fender for 5150III..
Correction it is a '68 plexi with a 12301 serial number
Correction. James brown didn't get into fender or EVH until today's modern iconic amps. Howard Kaplan is the guy who DID the evH fender amps then James Brown did the Iconic.
For clarification ... when Mike Soldano started tweaking amps for his own thing, he started his mods with a Fender Bassman learning from books that had been disregarded by the library. When he started understanding more of what he was doing, he switched over to using the Mesa Mark II's to base his models from. So, the clarification saying the Dual Rec / Mesa, Eddie and Peavey stole the basic layout from Soldano initially, kinda and kinda not, as Mike Soldano did a complete overhaul on the Mark II layout. Is the original mesa DNA there, maybe, but in a small percentage.
Secondly, I will back up the Peavey reverse engineering the SLO100 for the 5150. Eddie bought 3 SLO100's from Mike Soldano. A blue ostrich tolex was bought 1st straight off the floor in Soldano's shop. A month later Eddie bought a pink ostrich tolex one. Then 6 months later Ed bought a 3rd that mike dyed the tolex into the EVH stripe pattern. Ive seen MANY pics and videos of the blue one, and the striped one. Ive never seen anything aside of the receipt from the pink one. I THINK the pink one is the one Eddie delivered to Peavey to reverse engineer.
I say all this with no beef or gripe to any of the aforementioned companies, as I currently have a SLO100 and a 5150 II and have had MANY mesa amps in the past.
I was lucky enough to purchase the first batch of the block letter 5150 back in 1991 and I still have one of them. Sounds incredible!
gmlasam one from 91?
You using the original tubes ?... lol
if it gets normal play, by now there is no different from the signature model..
All MK I versions will only be as good as the tubes you put in it.
So the Block vs Sig version now is a wasted argument after changing tubes.
I had an original 5150 and ended up selling it in 1995. I wish I had that moment in time back. Stupid decision but it was a life lesson to think hard about something before you do it.
your not stupid, it was a wise choice, the boss katana is better
I'M never getting rid of mine
@@christopherdunn317 maybe someone will help you with that
Got rid of mine too get a carvin v3 not my best idea
Buy mine
Im so glad i was able to track a 93 5150 block letter on reverb back in 2017🙏🙏
My 5150 is godlike!
And no matter what i do it keep sounding like Burn My Eyes 🔥🔥🤘🤘
Peavey has come a long way. I remember back in the late 70's, hardly anyone bought Peavey amps because in the rock world, they didn't have a good reputation. Thier amps seemed cheap and the Peavey name just wasn't cool. They couldn't compete with Fender and Marshall. The only thing bands bought from Peavey back then was a PA because it was more affordable. When Eddie came along, Peavey's name and reputation changed practically overnight. Thanks for posting this video, it cleared up some confusions I had about Eddie's amps.
Absolutely. I also remember the same. Exactly the same way..Some of the best amps I've had both tube and solid state have been PV..
Steve Holstein Peavey was ignored by Rock and Blues players as I remember. The Country music players loved Peavey though, especially Steel Guitar Players. They would say that Peavey amps would give them more headroom and they also preferred 15” speakers and of course their PA’ were pretty much indestructible. I still have my old one. These days I go with whatever gives me a good sound I can use regardless of the brand or where it’s made. Peace
I have had some old peavey vtx and classic 212 from 70's with phase and they were good but I have the peavey Bravo, valve king, and 5150 combo and they are all better than the first peavey amps and I love em never gonna sell them, they aren't with much that is a good twin not to sell but yeah I love my peavey amps so much !
until the boys in Skynard started using them
@@mikeholmed7029 right on..at least someone here recognizes this. Thank you for knowing this..
Wow thanks man. I sat down with a nice joint and really enjoyed this presentation!
I sat down with a nice bong rip
LOL that was exactly my plan for watching this.
Oh my god, I would never think I'm not the only one
Doing dabs lol. This is a good one
I did a nice big speedball before checking this out.
Just trying to fit in. This is apparently THE party video afterall.
James Brown is also famous for the XXX which was to be the George Lynch model and never happened. Brown himself stated that the XXX was his favorite design
The 3120 is a rebranded XXX. Does 6L6 or EL34. Picked one up for under $300 New in box. It's a beast. Also have a 5150 2x12 and a 5150ii Full Stack. All great guitar amps.
Bought mine new in 1995. 6 month waiting list then. Used it today. Use it almost every day. I have had a love affair with this amp for 24 years. Still sounds great. Best amp I have ever used and heard. Everyone that hears it says it's great. I will never part with it. My Les Paul I've had for 34 years, a Tonerider Octane pickup, my 24 year old 5150, J&J tubes (Sovtek phase inverter tube), and a guitar cable is all I need. Best of the best.
Kyle Newman please post a video!
Kyle Newman - you know it man!!
I biased modded my block letter almost 20 years ago and I think it made the amp sound a lot thicker and warmer. By using a cold bias you're chopping off the tips of the sign wave by adjusting the bias correctly you're getting a clearer sound. Most of the 5150's gain is coming from the 5 pre amp tubes.
Awesome video Lucas! Have been a block logo 5150 player since 1995. Love all the versions of the 5150.
Man, Lucas.. GREAT coverage. A better summary than anyone has ever done all the history of this iconic sound. Thank you!
I have 2 original block letter 5150s, both sound identical to eachother and sound great, I also had a signature 5150, no matter what tubes I put in it it sounded like crap next to the other 2 amps
Great channel man, I've been geeking out all day on them. Very cool stuff!
Great Job man, Tone Talk pretty much confirms your work. Rock On!
Great stuff! I love my 5150 lll so much, and I'm still trying to track down a Blockletter. I appreciate your effort and research!
I had a 5150 ll head that I had to sell for financial reasons. I regret that big time. Anyhow I loved the crunch "channel" more than the lead channel by playing a Boss Super Overdrive over it. Simply awesome. Killer tones.
This is a really awesome video, thanks man! I love the Peavey 5150 style heads
great job Lucas. that mustve taken you forever. I just came into an original 5150 and was curious about the history. thanks, I appreciate all the info.
I have both a 1991 Peavey 5150 block letter and a 1995 Peavey 5150 combo and I love both for what each one does. My Block letter does the raw grinding distortion, where the combo gets that tight more modern distortion.
Excellent job! I knew a lot littler of this history but you really did a great job digging into it.
Ive got a first batch block logo 5150, from new, i pulled the sylvania tubes and stored them until about 2 months ago, i put them back in the amp and profiled the amp with my kemper to produce killer 5150 sylvania tones, thanks for your video its full of good information
My Block Letter still has the original sylvania tubes in it. Did you experiment much to replicate their tone? What 6L6's did you go with?
Repost? This is still badass and worth loads of views. The most succinct and entertaining history of the 5150 I've seen.
Thanks man! I had to reupload because the part about the 6505 being discontinued wasnt true. I saw a Harmony Central forum post that said it was but I didnt double check it.
Man, this was just a good video. Thanks for all that, really interesting stuff.
Great video! That took some time to research and deliver. Thank you! I still own my 5150 combo and it’s a monster with the JJ power tubes and cocktail of preamp tubes. It’s hard not to plug into my Lee Jackson XLS 1000 though.
Good work Lucas.
Appreciate you sharing this.
Old guitar acquaintance of mine recorded me with and my cheesy band with a block letter 5150 combo waaaaaaaay back in the day. At the time I didn’t even know what good tone sounded like. But when I plugged into that thing and he started messing with the resonance knob my head tweaked to the side like a dog. I’d never heard anything like it before. This amp changed the market and moved gear in another direction. EVH was indeed an amazing innovator.
Excellent video, thanks for posting, much appreciated bro : )
If you want a lot of background history on the 5150,check out Tone talk video where they talk with James for about 2-3 hours,mainly about how he built the 5150. He talks a LOT about it and you may find out a thing or two about the history of it,pretty interesting.
True, James Brown is the godfather of tone and designed the 5150 and several other amps. He also has his own company , Amptweaker
@@jamesmiller9823 A godfather who just copy the soldano design like mesa did...
Haha, you're a funny little trol. Read the other comments , if Mesa copyed Solo thats their problem . James Brown products don't sound anything like them. He has his own sound.
@@jamesmiller9823: Is it true or wrong James copied the circuit of the Soldano ? just answer the question.
Hints : Some elements here : robrobinette.com/Tube_Guitar_Amp_Overdrive.htm
Great job man! I just got the 6l6 50 watt head and it sounds so bad ass!
Great video man. 👌 I picked up a slightly used 5150 II head in 2006 and still treasure it to this day.
Good job on the history lesson Lucas! That was fascinating!
Awesome video pal, incredibly interesting!!!
Thank you for all the research!!! Very informative!
Really good video, man!
Other than the cold bias thing that somebody else has already adressed here are s few small things:
The 5150/6505 has a slightly different gain stageing than the 5150 II/6505+.
The volume jump on the original EVH 5150 III 50w head is between channels 1 and 2 (green and blue) rather than channels 2 and 3 (blue and red).
In 2015 Peavey brought out a special edition 6505+ that was built in the USA, had a golden faceplate instead of a silver one and was limited to 50 units. German music store session has a review on youtube and they also still have at least one for sale on their site. The reviewer says these were supposed to cost 6500€ at first but were eventually sold for around 2000€. He also hints that Peavey used higher grade components for these and that they sound a little different.
A guy in a Peavey forum told me that when they did R&D for the Invective, Peavey looked at some older amps and noticed that the output transformers on the older amps were slightly different causing them to sound a little different. I can't verify that though.
Thanks man! I had no idea about the special edition 6505+! That didn't show up anywhere that I searched!I also didnt know about the different gain staging!
As far as I know it's V1 V2 V5 V3 V4 power tubes on both channels of the 5150/6505. On the 5150 II/6505+ it's V1(half) V6 V3 V4 power tubes on the clean/crunch channel and V1 V2 V5 V3 V4 power tubes on the lead channel
This is great information!! Thanks so much Lucas!!
Really informative vid! Thanks a lot! :)
Very interesting and well researched!
That was really interesting. Thanks for putting all that together.
Awesome job man...the only missing thing is the 6505+ 112 combo and piranha...but it is by far the best video i saw on that subject. Thanks
Wow!! Thank you so much for that informative video. I'm trying out an EVH 5150 III 6L6 50W combo amp and I wanted to get some of the history on EVH amps. I'm comparing it to an SLO100 and a Mesa Boogie Mk III. I gotta say this thing rocks. Really digging the tone of the red channel especially.
Awesome job! Today I have the evh 5150 iii 50w 6l6 (version 2) and a evh 1 x 12 cab showing up in the mail from FedEx. I got matching ivory. Change it up from traditional black for once. Currently using peavey 6505+ 112 ( I love how there peavey logo lights up when turned on).
Back in the day, I was looking for an amp to rent while on the road. The store had just gotten the first 5150 and I plugged in and could not believe what I was hearing. I rented them locally for the rest of those road gigs.
Nice work dude. I’ve heard a few variations to some of the details and I’m sure everyone else has too. Kinda keeps the allure alive I suppose.
Great video, really dig it! good job thank you.
Got my old 5150 combo back home...so happy ! Thanks for you vid!
Great overview of the 5150 history. I used to have a combo. Great sounding amp, but so heavy. Don't hurt your back hauling that thing around. I remember having a dolly I used with mine, and if my tires on the dolly were not fully inflated it would squat the dolly rims to the floor....LOL. It is a real power house with weight to match.
Great video! Thank you for this information
Had a script 5150, put in Groove Tube #1’s( most crunch ) it was the best 212 combo ever!!!!
Great job of putting it all together
Solid list, learnt a lot about the Peavey years. The only thing I'd add is the green and blue channels of the 5153 stealth were modeled on the 50w head (more gain), and the circuitry of the blue channel in the stealth is closest to the EVH 2x12 combo. A big difference between the Peaveys and the 5153s is the Peavey heads were voiced for their Sheffield 1200 speakers, which are 75w and based on Greenbacks. The 5153 is voiced for the Celestion G12 EVHs which are only 20w each and also based on Greenbacks, but they specifically are based on the old "Black-Back" speakers. The Sheffields are designed for early breakup, but the low wattage of the EVH speakers mean they break up a lot more naturally imo.
Ed gave his Sheffield speakers to Steve Lukather as a birthday gift, and used Celestion G12T75 speakers on stage with his Peavey 5150 amps :) Most tube amps are designed with Greenbacks as reference, but as you say, there are different variants - G12L20, G12M25, G12H30, 8 vs 16 ohms, ceramic vs alnico etc
Killer rundown. Just got that 2x12 combo myself. So happy with it.
spot on amigo spot on. the "bs" behind this amp needs to be exposed and you did a great job on it. the amp is a staple but the history is all over the place and the thoughts on the "block letter"
Very informative, great work
Great video! You should do another video with more details (or a series).
This is THE most clear to make sense of the whole Peavey Eddie line Ive ever watched .
What I like is the "Gojira" T-shirt. Awesome.
Great video man - regards from a UK subscriber!
Thank you for putting this together. I have an early 5150. Sounds wonderful. I got it used for only $550.
Steve Warren $550.... classic. Same here. Let her go tho foolishly.
Good stuff. Thanks for the research
Amazing little documentary you have here. Just a note he used Eventide Harmonizer for chorus.
A lot of great info, for anyone shopping for a used 5150 amp! Thanks!
great info dude. maybe a couple dates off but other than that...good run down on the timeline. Good job!
@LucasLecompte so yes they did make the very first invectives in the United States. I actually have one and it has a sticker on the back that says assembled in the USA. I have actually looked pretty hard and have only seen one other amp with that designation so there couldn’t have been that many. Now where they got the parts…. I believe they are the same imported parts being used in the Chinese made invectives. They just were attempting to assemble them here in the USA. Misha himself has said there are no big differences and the invective ola Englund played was in fact Chinese. They sound great for sure!
Very good history of the 5150 amp I believe the only thing missing is the newer 5150s that have the numbers in front of the grill by fender and look like the classic ones eaves ones
excellent information in this video, thank you
Very informative video you clarified a lot of things I'm lucky I've got a 6505 made in USA I'm happy with it
Good video, and Thanks for the history of the 5150. I was confused for the longest time as to who was doing what between the different companies. Glen Drover
Great info! Thanks bro!
Well done. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for your efforts, appreciate it.
At 3:09 when you mention cold bias, that effects the power tubes, not the preamp tubes. Basically the amps power section will not distort or “give” as much at higher volumes as when the bias is hotter.
Awesome vid!
Great rundown!
This was excellent, thank you
Nicely done Lucas
Thorough, great video!!!
That was great. Thanks dude.
This might trigger some people. I've had my block letter 5150 since 2003, and I eventually had to change the tubes. I couldn't get the originals, so I just used GT 6l6s and I honestly can't tell a difference in sound.
It’s a placebo effect,like a lot of the guitar,majority actually
Tubes don't make tone anyway
love the peavey 5150. it sounds amazing if you dial it in right with eq’s and od’s people will sawy too much bottom end. but i like keeping the low end and resonance down and it sounds awesome
the 5150 3 is probably one of the best sounds ive heard- Steel Panther ive seen use them as well as Carcass.Just AMAZING clarity and tone. . I love the original though too, B tuned guitars or 7 Strings sound ideal through those, but it's little wonder since a lot of the Gothenburg Melodeath bands used them, as well as Carcass.
So, I have the 5150III stealth model. Even though Eddie himself say that channel 2 an 3 are more closely related, I would have to disagree with that statement. The tone between the two is quite different in my opinion. The low end on the blue 2 channel is much tighte,r or less booming than the red channel. But thred channel has a high end punch which is nice in its own way. So, I use a Tube Screamer on blue to boost for leads if I the same tone just hotter. Overall, my experience has been awesome to say the least. I also just aquired the USA stealth Wolfgang guitar with the D-tuna in the flat black finish. Truly unbelievable sound!
Yeah,he’s probably wrong and you’re right,are you high
Awesome info bro. I have a 6505+ that I acquired recently for $450 and couldn't be happier with it.
Excellent Info...thanks !
Awesome video very informative.
I'm wanting on the new 5150 IIII.V 45 watt Head and Combo amps!!
Great video man
The 5150 was pretty much THE sound of the grunge era. Now sold as the 6505 its in EVERY metal studio out there.
I have 6505 MH and it is truly excellent
Very, very informative video!
Nicely done
Great video. Only thing missing that I care about are the different speaker cabs that changed throughout the years with the amps.
we all know peavy was making great amp heads in that time also a lil fella called joe satrani also had a great peavy amp head too.great review bang on ty sir
The volume jump was from channel 1 to channel 2 on the 50w 5150iii's
Rest in power EVH 1955-2020.
Corrections:
Cold Bias is POWER TUBES.
2016: 6505 Piranha
2010: 6505+ Combo 1x12
Peavey's 40th Anniversary was in 2005.
1965-2005 = 6505 (Thanks Van020280)
2018 upgrade kit for the original 50W 6L6's which adds the dual concentric knobs for volume and gain, so owners of the original 50W could get rid of the volume jump issue (@eyschwartz5150z)
only the 50 watt EVH versions are midi compatible not the 100 watt versions (@Roger Parsons)
also the Invective 20?w is coming out soon or it's already out
No, bias applies to all tubes, both power and preamp. But preamp tubes run single ended, with the whole audio signal running through any given preamp tube stage. Thus, the way that this stage is biased affects your distortion character. "Cold" bias/clipping gives us the majority of the overdrive tonality we like. When talking about power tubes, they are usually run in push-pull pairs and no single tube carries the whole signal. Cold biased power tubes run closer to class B or even class C. You don't want to bias them to class C or you get nasty crossover distortion.
@@Turboy65 What's being referred to here is the 39k resistor on the third gain stage cold biased tube that is taken from the SLO 100 that changes the distortion character. A typical Marshall and derivatives has the resistor at 10K. Typically most if not all Peavey power tube sections have them biased cold for extended tube life and reliability.
Great info on the 5150. In 2018 Fender came out with a "Concentric Mod" for the 5150 iii 50w 6l6 to add the stacked knobs like in the current (2018) production model. Just found some correspondence on that with my 50w.
Awesome info !
The existence of the 6534+ just blew my mind
As a studio engineer, I can say that there were 2 amps that had a steep learning curve for micing and recording: The Hiwatt 100 and the 5150 Block Letter. I was able to figure out the tricks to both. The 5150 was easier to learn compared to the Hiwatt but both were hard to dial in if you weren't familiar.
What amp just never sounded bad in the studio? Your favorite?
@@Bridging_the_Political_Divide Jazz Chorus of course. Fender Twin. Most Fender tube stuff really.
Buddy had a Bogner Uberschall back in early 2000s that I liked a lot. The Mesa Recifier amps were cool but EVERYONE had those in the 2000s.
Another guy had an Engl that I liked. I think it was the Blackmore model. That thing was great.
My favorite amp was a Mesa Mklll that a friend had. He let me use it a lot.
I liked Marshall stuff but not too many people came through with those. We did a lot of regional, independent stuff so it was always the studios JCM 800 or if somebody had some cool reissues.
@@DaryllHurst Of course the Jazz Chorus and Twin are super legendary amps. Ive had sooooo many amps and the only one that blew my mind, both with tones, and versatility was my Bogner Ecstacy. Its the only amp in a class of its own. A mind blowingly well thought out 3 channel amp that does everything superb. The old Mesa's are certainly great as well.
@@Bridging_the_Political_Divide I did all of my engineering from 2001 to 2012. Saw a lot of amps come through various sessions. I loved guitar players who were more in tune with sound than I was. It was cool to learn or experience different amps.