View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Ben « Peavey 5150 Guitar Amplifier Head »
Published on 05/05/02 at 15:00I was searching for an entry level tube amp for a couple of different styles. I was looking on ebay at a couple of Marshall's. Namely a JCM900 50 watt head. Then I was approached about buying a used original 5150 head for $420. Well I thought to myself, thats a decent deal, peavey makes good amps, go for it. So I bought the amp in a private transaction, and the rest is history
I've had this amp about a year or so now, and its great. I put JJ tubes in and used the amp with a Carvin 2x12 with vintage 30's. With the right eqing you could get a lot of different sounds. Mainly complain about the clean, but if you lower the preamp gain, use an eq and a reverb, and punch in the bright button, it makes for a very nice clean sound. Also if you punch in the crunch button on the same rythem channal, you could get a gritty texas blues sound. Now we come to the lead channal. This channal is all about big gain. Since it was designed in part by Eddie Van Halen, you know you could get that Van Halen crunch out of this thing. It could really comp just about every other modern high gain sound
Well its heavy, at times noisy, and the stock bias setting is very cold. Its rated at 120 watts, this means lots of tubes, a big transformer, and a lot of wiring. This makes for an amp that weighs in at just about 60lbs. The rectangler shape of the head makes that 60lbs real heavy. The amp is a bit noisy, but with good tubes and a noise gate its quite controllable. Also the bias is fixed and set very cold. I've decieded to modify the amp for a bias trim pot. This should warm up the amp a bit, and add some picking dynamics. Generally just change a little of the character.
For $420 used, I have a rather well built amp. Peavey makes quality stuff, and they stand behind it. You won't get the maticulous construction you get out of a Soldano or a Bogner, but its sturdy and thats what matters.
In all I spent $420 on a big monster tube amp, that sounds good and could be toted to a gig. Combined with the $330 carvin cabinet, I have a complete rig that costed me under $800. To me thats a lot of bang for the buck
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I've had this amp about a year or so now, and its great. I put JJ tubes in and used the amp with a Carvin 2x12 with vintage 30's. With the right eqing you could get a lot of different sounds. Mainly complain about the clean, but if you lower the preamp gain, use an eq and a reverb, and punch in the bright button, it makes for a very nice clean sound. Also if you punch in the crunch button on the same rythem channal, you could get a gritty texas blues sound. Now we come to the lead channal. This channal is all about big gain. Since it was designed in part by Eddie Van Halen, you know you could get that Van Halen crunch out of this thing. It could really comp just about every other modern high gain sound
Well its heavy, at times noisy, and the stock bias setting is very cold. Its rated at 120 watts, this means lots of tubes, a big transformer, and a lot of wiring. This makes for an amp that weighs in at just about 60lbs. The rectangler shape of the head makes that 60lbs real heavy. The amp is a bit noisy, but with good tubes and a noise gate its quite controllable. Also the bias is fixed and set very cold. I've decieded to modify the amp for a bias trim pot. This should warm up the amp a bit, and add some picking dynamics. Generally just change a little of the character.
For $420 used, I have a rather well built amp. Peavey makes quality stuff, and they stand behind it. You won't get the maticulous construction you get out of a Soldano or a Bogner, but its sturdy and thats what matters.
In all I spent $420 on a big monster tube amp, that sounds good and could be toted to a gig. Combined with the $330 carvin cabinet, I have a complete rig that costed me under $800. To me thats a lot of bang for the buck
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com