« This Has Nothing To Do With The 5150. »

Lately, I've been reading where people are making claims that the Rockmaster preamp was the "inspiration" for the Peavey 5150 amplifier. It was not. I worked for Soldano back in the 1980's. Ed Van Halen came in and bought three SLO-100 heads. He took one and showed it to Peavey. That's where the inspiration for the 5150 came from. The preamp of a Soldano SLO-100 and the preamp of the 5150 are identical. I remember Mike Soldano being a little miffed about it at the time. Eddie also took the Music Man guitar they made for him and showed that to Peavey, too. This is where the Wolfgang came from. Sterling Ball was not too happy about that, either. A person who I considered a good friend took one of my own amplifiers that I had built for him that contained a unique overdrive circuit and showed it to Fender. Later, a few of Fender's amps implemented that same overdrive circuit. Coincidence? I think not. In any case, the Rockmaster preamp has nothing to do with the 5150, no matter how badly you wish it did.

UTILIZATION

It's OK.

SOUNDS

Average.

OVERALL OPINION

It was cheap.