Peavey 5150 Head question

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metalj

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I have a travel gig here coming up and somehow I ended up with this head in my backline. Instead of bitching about it, I thought I would just try it.

Anyone know how many channels it is, and if they can be switched with a footswitch with a 1/4" jack?

All I know is that it is a Peavey 5150 head is all that is stated on the invoice.
Thanks.
 
If you're into metal the 5150 is the shit. Just do a search on it, google that shit. Hell go to ebay and check out the plethora of pics. I'm pretty sure it's all the above you mentioned with 2 channels. It does high gain pretty fuckin well.
 
Beautiful amp. 2 channels. Yes they are footswitchable.

If you don't want it, can I have it? :p
 
If its a 5150 and not a 5150 II by chance - it is 2 channels. A rhythm channel and a lead channel. Either channel has shitloads of gain and it's own master volume. The footswitch does not use a 1/4" cable, it uses a MIDI cable, so you need the dedicated footswitch.

Depending on whether you need a clean channel or not will make or break it for you perhaps. The rhythm channel can be used for cleans, but it won't get real clean - at least not very loudly - but it's perfectly usable. However, if you're using the rhythm channel for distorted rhythm, you're out of luck for a clean channel.

If you're playing metal, I'm sure you'll like the tone, they are well established in those circles.
 
metalhead28 said:
If its a 5150 and not a 5150 II by chance - it is 2 channels. A rhythm channel and a lead channel. Either channel has shitloads of gain and it's own master volume. The footswitch does not use a 1/4" cable, it uses a MIDI cable, so you need the dedicated footswitch.

Depending on whether you need a clean channel or not will make or break it for you perhaps. The rhythm channel can be used for cleans, but it won't get real clean - at least not very loudly - but it's perfectly usable. However, if you're using the rhythm channel for distorted rhythm, you're out of luck for a clean channel.

If you're playing metal, I'm sure you'll like the tone, they are well established in those circles.
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Thanks, thats what i was wondering. I may have to change it then. I wanted to bring my mini rack that has a TC Gmajor processor that will change all the channels for me while changing effects, so it looks like it wont work for me with that set up.

I may still be able to get by with just a delay pedal in the loop.

Any idea if it has a lead boost switch that will kick in the effects loop too? Thanks
 
metalj said:
Thanks, thats what i was wondering. I may have to change it then. I wanted to bring my mini rack that has a TC Gmajor processor that will change all the channels for me while changing effects, so it looks like it wont work for me with that set up.

I may still be able to get by with just a delay pedal in the loop.

Any idea if it has a lead boost switch that will kick in the effects loop too? Thanks
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If you have the original footswitch, you can switch the FX loop on or off.
There will be one switch for rhythm / lead channel switching and an FX loop switch, so yeah you can switch the effects loop on independantly - but there is also a seperate master volume on the lead channel if you want to use that to boost your lead volume.
On a 5150 II there will be a third switch for switching from clean to dirty on the rhythm channel.
 
the 5150 was one of the best sounding tube heads i have ever owned, (i lost it in a house fire in 05) is a killer amp, great response and gain to rival a modded marshal
 
metalhead28 said:
If you have the original footswitch, you can switch the FX loop on or off.
There will be one switch for rhythm / lead channel switching and an FX loop switch, so yeah you can switch the effects loop on independantly - but there is also a seperate master volume on the lead channel if you want to use that to boost your lead volume.
On a 5150 II there will be a third switch for switching from clean to dirty on the rhythm channel.
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I downloaded a manual file off of Peaveys web site. Looks like the footswitch is a 1/4" plug. It doesnt say, but the black and white picture of the back pannell looks to be a 1/4" plug.

Not sure which does the channell switching though(tip or which ring)
 
I thought the original 5150's footswitch was on a 1/4" and the 5150 II's footswitch used the DIN connector? The guitarist in my old bands had both amps, and I remember wanting to make a switch to switch both amps at once but the one used the DIN connector.
 
A friend of mine has a 5150 combo that I've used quite a few times. I usually use the clean channel and add some dirt with the pre gain. It's not very dynamic but it's usable. The lead channel will cut thru about anything but it's not my thing at all, very mid focused. I rarely ever used the foot switch so I can't really tell you anything about it. I do remember that the foot switch uses a 1/4" jack. We were on a gig once and couldn't find the original foot switch so we tried a spare 2 button with a 1/4" trs plug but it wouldn't work.
 
Sorry, My 5150 II doesn't use the 1/4 inch cable, and I could have sworn that my buddies 5150 didn't either, I thought they were the same....I guess I'm wrong about that.
 
metalhead28 said:
Sorry, My 5150 II doesn't use the 1/4 inch cable, and I could have sworn that my buddies 5150 didn't either, I thought they were the same....I guess I'm wrong about that.
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You are still my favorite Metalhead ;)
 
metalj said:
I have a travel gig here coming up and somehow I ended up with this head in my backline. Instead of bitching about it, I thought I would just try it.

Anyone know how many channels it is, and if they can be switched with a footswitch with a 1/4" jack?

All I know is that it is a Peavey 5150 head is all that is stated on the invoice.
Thanks.
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The 5150 is a shitstomper. I own two. Yes, you can footswitch the amp (I use a Rockman MIDI Octopus to do the job) but I'm pretty sure a 1/4" mono jack and footswitch won't do the trick. I'm pretty sure you'll need a 1/4" stereo to two 1/4" mono "Y" cable and plug one of 1/4" mono plug to activate the channel switching feature. It's not a big deal, really.

This amp has 6 (that's right - SIX) gain stages and five 12AX7 hi mu preamp tubes. In distortion mode with the Lead Preamp set to 10, when the amp is cranked around 6 (if you can stand it that loud), the distortion suddenly kicks into a very creamy tone. I use a Sholz Power Soak in between the amp & cab to dial down the volume.

However, the downside is, the configuration of the 12AX7s makes the clean channel not so clean and the distortion channel pretty noisy & hissy.

To clean up the clean channel and calm down the noise, just swap out one or two of the 12AX7s with the lower mu 12AT7 (or an even lower mu tube of 12AU7). I'd recommend 12AX7-12AT7-12AX7-12AT7-12AX7 for a first listen but swap them around until you get the tone you want. The amp will still keep in gainy-ness but lose some of the noise.

WARNING: Keep one hand in your pocket and the other hand on one of the tubes AT ALL TIMES when you put your hand inside the amp. Stored voltage from tube amps WILL kill you!
 
DamnYankee said:
WARNING: Keep one hand in your pocket and the other hand on one of the tubes AT ALL TIMES when you put your hand inside the amp. Stored voltage from tube amps WILL kill you!
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I highly highly highly recommend taking it to an authorized amp repair guy to do this. No point in taking the risk if you're not 100% what you're doing.
 
IronFlippy said:
I highly highly highly recommend taking it to an authorized amp repair guy to do this. No point in taking the risk if you're not 100% what you're doing.
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Good grief...there's no need to take it to a shop and pay someone to swap tubes.

The point is to not touch anything else other than the tubes. Unplug the amp and use one hand to pull/insert the tubes (and touch only the tube). Keep the other hand in pocket (to avoid temptation of sticking a 2nd hand in there). He'll be just fine. The filter caps are the primary hazard, and since most folks don't know what/where they are, the-one-hand-to-pull-insert-tube/other-hand-in-pocket rule applies.
 
If you unplug the amp it's no longer grounded.

As long as you're not grounded, voltage needs a difference in potential to pass.
 
thanks guys. I did the show. all the way to palm dessert, cali. from my wintery state of Minnesota. What weekend of plane cancellations.

anyways....the company we rented our back line from totally sucked. Guitars with missing strings, guitars with no strap pegs on them. I actually played a less paul with my guitar strap duct taped to the guitar, wrong pedals, wrong amps. My SG had terrible action and was WAY out of intonation.
They subbed Fender squires for strats, and an Epiphone V instead of a Jackson Roads V.

My 5150 head became a 5150II(they even hand wrote the II with a ink pen on the invoice). THis all after we went over the invoice like 1 month before the show.

THe 5150II head is a powerfull amp. If I was doing a whole night of metal, great, but wasnt what I needed for the show. With no footswitch and a duct taped les paul with a volume switch that went from 0-Full, no inbetween. i sounded like Megadeth all night. I had no clean channell and no techs to do the switching for me.

oh well. the drinks were free :p

Thanks for all your help.
 
Why couldn't you bring and amp and guitar? Is it just the traveling thing?
 
jonnyc said:
Why couldn't you bring and amp and guitar? Is it just the traveling thing?
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The company that hired us paid for everything, flight, hotel, backline.

Plus I would hate for the airline to loose/damage my guitar and amp, which they did my luggage until the day we left. Not to mention the cost of checking a guitar into baggage at the airline was $80(NWA) one way I think, so total would have been $160 just to take my guitar, then for the amp may have been a different cost, not to mention none of us in the band have flight approved cases for anything yet.
 
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