just bought another 5150...argh!

[moltenmetalburn]

haha

I have a 5150 that was given to me for free that I disassembled with the same intentions. swap the caps, bias mod, choke, OT etc....

it still sits on my bench in pieces collecting dust almost three years later. I dont even know if i remember how to reassemble it.

i really should just put it back together and have a working amp or sell it...

If you have any questions about putting it back together give me a shout.
Jerry

Very kind of you, thanks

 

[fuzzyguitars]

i love my block logo 5150

i did have the adjustable bias mod done to mine though.

 

[lolzgreg]

Just picked up a 92' Blockletter myself. Looks like it's in mint condition. It will be here tomorrow. I will post clips, asap.

I hope mine is something special.

Also on that note, some of the best recorded tones ever, IMHO, have been recorded with a stock 5150.

I have a 5150II with MM PT, OT, and choke, the bias mod, and the circuit converted to original 5150 specs. That amp is also a killer, but I have an odd feeling I'll like this blockletter more.

I also have a 5150III halfstack coming.

These amps are just entirely awesome, nothing sounds as good to me aside from my Baron K2.

 

[K Odell]

FYI, I just confirmed what I already knew, the 5150 never changed and the early block logo amps were the same as the later amps.
Jerry

yeah as far as I knew the only difference was the tubes they were originally shipped with, which ends up meaning about as much to me as whether lady gaga has a dick or not.

 

[glpg80]

yeah jerry went straight to the source - thanks again for the small chat

i had brad remove my topics to keep from passing falsified information

although the quoted topics still exist

i appologize, as i told jerry i would not have said what i believed in if i had knew it was false information. it sucks, but we each learn and move on

 

[lolzgreg]

What year was the 5150 released? Mine is from May 5th, 1992.

 

[glpg80]

What year was the 5150 released? Mine is from May 5th, 1992.

5150 was designed pretty early on, Jerry do you think you could get ahold of James and ask when he started on it/when it was released?

i know van halen went on-tour that summer with the 5150 series under cover to test it out/debug/etc and to release their new album F.U.C.K.

im not sure they toured in 1992 to re-release the album a year later, as most people see the 5150 starting in 1992. but i know that eddie wouldnt let the amplifier go until he was satisfied after the carnal tour.

Once they got back from touring in the summer the amplifier was then released.

i think the 5150 II series was released the following year in 1992.

i have read that the first 100 5150 block letter's are signed by eddie van halen. no-one has found them quite yet though. dunno if that is true.

 

[XSSIVE]

so now that it's confirmed that the block and script 5150 are the same, what about the 6505? is it the same as Peavey says it is or are there slight differences between it and the 5150?

-Mike

 

[glpg80]

ive got my own personal opinions on the newer models, but nothing that can be proven.

ill search the forum and find the links to quality control on newer models later. i believe peavey is choosing overseas parts suppliers for resistors and caps to save cash, and the quality difference is substancial - values drifting +- 20%.

is why so many of them sound so different to me - ive played models that sound great and models that sound like ass.

again, all personal opinion here. i think the quality control isnt the same as the earlier models.

the name difference has nothing to do with the amplifier though, the name change from 5150 to 6505 is strictly legal purposes and eddie owning the rights to 5150.

6505 means 1965 to 2005 which was given to the 5150 in march of 2005 for how long peavey had been in business.

if eddie leaves fender, fender will have to rename the 5150 III just as peavey did.

 

[XSSIVE]

sorry for the confusion, im familiar with the reasons for the name change and all that i was curious about the circuit and components...which you've made mention of. i wonder if anyone knows for sure that's been inside both amps.

my main amp now is a 3120 and i'm considering selling my Dual Recto and replacing it with a 6505 or 5150 and i honestly much rather the 6505 since it would be newer but i also rather have the better quality amp...thus why i was curious about differences.

-Mike

 

[glpg80]

sorry for the confusion, im familiar with the reasons for the name change and all that i was curious about the circuit and components...which you've made mention of. i wonder if anyone knows for sure that's been inside both amps.

my main amp now is a 3120 and i'm considering selling my Dual Recto and replacing it with a 6505 or 5150 and i honestly much rather the 6505 since it would be newer but i also rather have the better quality amp...thus why i was curious about differences.

-Mike

theres nothing to appologize for bro

3120 is a re-worked XXX, the schematics are extremely simillar, minus a few changes.

dual rec to 5150? you can get a 6505 or a 5150 - just make sure you play the amplifier before you buy it. 5150's wil have a much more solid low-end available especially after the bias mod and new set of decent tubes in comparison to the dual rectifiers. a 5150 is definately an amplifier you gamble with because they can all seem so different yet be the same amplifier at the same time. play before you buy if you can at all possible

the best erra 5150's that i think exist are the early model 5150 II's that say 5150II and not 6505+, and the 5150 combo's. to me a 5150 combo running through greenbacks sounds absolutely floor dropping awsome. only downside is the weight. but the combo that i played that had that setup sounded much better than a stock 5150 through two 5150 straight cabinets or my 5150 II through original G12-65's in an 80's marshall cabinet.

if i could do it over again though - id still choose my 5150 II. i love the headroom it has, much higher than the combo. and running two cabinets has always been something i have loved. not sure i could ever get used to a combo as my main amplifier.

if you are still looking for a head after thinking about it for a while,just know that once you junk the stock tubes and get the amplifier biased properly - all 5150's sound night and day difference - much better after

 

[XSSIVE]

yup, i'm familiar with the 3120s lineage, my first tube amp that i bought for myself (my brother handed down others before it) was actually an ultra plus which lead to the XXX which lead to the 3120. i always dug the ultra plus but sold it and decided to give the 3120 a shot and am really diggn' it with the EL34s...even though i'm usually more of a 6L6 guy in general.

i don't really need clean (i have other amps to cover that when needed) thus why i'm leaning to the 5150/6505 vs the plus and II versions with better clean. heck i only use my dual recto on the red channel anyway so the rest is a bit of a waste so i figure the less BS the better and the 5150/6505 should fit that bill well. i was also considering a splawn supercomp since it's just the gain channel of the nitro but that's another topic. i'm honestly still trying to decide if i want to let the recto go and then what amp to replace it with and i have my eye on a few with the 5150/6505 being on that list.

i have a '79 marshall JMP and the matching cab which has G12-65s in it so i could certainly try that with the 5150/6505 if i got one but odds are it will run through one of my V30 loaded splawn cabs since they've worked well with every amp i ever ran through them (ultra plus, engl powerball, blackstar, 3120, dual recto, JMP)

-Mike

 

[glpg80]

5150's love greenbacks and v30's.

best speaker for mine is V30's IMHO. but i dont have a v30 cabinet and alot of experience with V30's, so i cant say for sure the tonal differences guys here on the board have with them. my ears just arent used to very many different speakers.

5150's and G12-85's sound terrible. im not sure how 75's would sound, but with a 5150 i couldnt stand the mid-range EQ of the 65's with a 5150.

a regular 5150 block letter through a set of 65's sounds even worse than what mind did. mine sounded like a mid-heavy marshall that had alot of grind (not grit) but the EQ of the speakers were all squished in the mids area.

sounded great for D chords, not much else - until you had the volume up again which ive wrote about many many times.

i dont like the clips of the newest model 5150's, i dont know their number but they were just released this year at NAMM.

i still think a 5150 with an OT upgrade and biased properly with a decent set of tubes is all anyone would ever need.

to give you an example, i can literally shake foundations with my amplifier. i was testing to see if i ever got any blocking distortion in my new design, and i had my 5150 II on 6.5 through my 5150 straight cabinet, it vibrated the concrete walls so much that a guitar cutout made from cheap wood fell off of one of the foam soundproofing pads.

WAY more low end than anyone would ever need. im actually dialing my low end back a bit in my overhaul.

i havent seen or played a recto that had that tight kind of control.

i had a best friend who had a 5150 early model series - not the block letter but a signature model one - that after he did the bias mod and had a new set of tubes in it - he literally vibrated the same basement walls so much that the basemet window shook out of place. he was holding the floyd rose all the way down - picking up low low notes, but the power that 5150's have are truely underestimated

but yeah the model you get would all depend on your flavor of taste in gain. i dont like early model block letters, i think they have too much gain in general, and i dislike new model 5150's - something component wise isnt the same. i dont like the 2010 models from the clips i have heard, seems like they did a bunch of small tweaking for no reason at all. 5150 II's did it for me - nice open sound - less gain - and extremely tight and focused. especially after the MM choke/OT. 5150 combos do sound the best out of all of them i think, less raspy and alot more open and the low end is still there if you want it. but having a 100lb combo as a main amplifier would really sucj. granted my head isnt light, at least it fits in my trucks front seat