Some Questions About The Original Peavey 5150

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Charvel1975

Charvel1975

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Hey guys you may have seen my other post about the 5150 II/6505+ but I had someone e-mail me a couple weeks ago that they have an original 5150 half stack that they've owned since 1997, no mods or speaker swaps in the angled 5150 4x12 cab for a really good deal.

Now I've heard the clean channel isn't the greatest on them but are there any tubes: preamp/poweramp that can kind of clean up or make the clean channel a little bit better without modding it? I had 2 guys, one had a 5150 II head and the other guy had a 6505+ head, but I think they sold them already and I haven't gotten any other e-mails, etc. with someone that has a 5150 II/6505+ head. My band plays modern metal in drop B but we do stuff too that requires a clean channel.
 
The rhythm channel isn't technically a clean channel, it's a crunch almost high gain channel in itself. With that said, it can do cleans, but only the most basic of cleans, you'd have to get some effects (reverb/etc..) or what not to give it a little more life, because it's stale.

Edit: IMHO
 
I use the rhythm channel for my high gain so do alot of others....try a couple 12at7's mabye?
 
There is no clean channel. There is only crunch and lead. The crunch channel could be modded to reduce the gain, thus making it a clean channel. Otherwise, a lot of people use the crunch channel for their rhythms. I actually prefer the crunch channel to the clean channel because the crunch channel pegged always sounded fatter. EVH used to roll back his volume knob on his guitar to get his clean sound. If you don't want to do that, run a volume pedal in front of the amp. Otherwise play brutal metal and brutal metal on it only. That's what it does well.
 
BeZo":p5k5qunz said:
There is no clean channel. There is only crunch and lead. The crunch channel could be modded to reduce the gain, thus making it a clean channel. Otherwise, a lot of people use the crunch channel for their rhythms. I actually prefer the crunch channel to the clean channel because the crunch channel pegged always sounded fatter. EVH used to roll back his volume knob on his guitar to get his clean sound. If you don't want to do that, run a volume pedal in front of the amp. Otherwise play brutal metal and brutal metal on it only. That's what it does well.
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Sounds like I should just wait then until someone has a 5150 II or 6505+ head they want to sell cause I definitely need a clean channel.
 
Charvel1975":2ocslqlc said:
BeZo":2ocslqlc said:
There is no clean channel. There is only crunch and lead. The crunch channel could be modded to reduce the gain, thus making it a clean channel. Otherwise, a lot of people use the crunch channel for their rhythms. I actually prefer the crunch channel to the clean channel because the crunch channel pegged always sounded fatter. EVH used to roll back his volume knob on his guitar to get his clean sound. If you don't want to do that, run a volume pedal in front of the amp. Otherwise play brutal metal and brutal metal on it only. That's what it does well.
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Sounds like I should just wait then until someone has a 5150 II or 6505+ head they want to sell cause I definitely need a clean channel.
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Just get the 5150 and send it up to Kirk. For like $50, he'll give you a clean channel.
 
The 5150 has a clean channel, it's not the greatest but it's very usable.
Jerry
 
It's the rhythm channel with the Crunch button disengaged.
 
The clean tone on a 5150 isn't exactly clean because it is still running through every gain stage in the preamp. Crunch mode simply switches the circuit that couples the input stage to the next with a different configuration which sends less signal to ground and gives you the extra gain of the crunch mode. The lead channel changes out the preamp and post controls with ones that again send less signal to ground, and also switches in bypass capacitors for the cathodes on V1B and V2B, as well as adds in an extra 220K grid leak resistor for still more gain.

It wasn't until the 5150II came about that they got smart and decided to dedicate V1B and the entirety of V6 to crunch mode, instead of simply tweaking the input signal to V1B for crunch mode.

Jerry since you have dealt so extensively with the 5150, if you could review this and give me your input, I'd like to make sure it's accurate and I'm not passing out misinformation here.
 
I found the rhythm channel on the 6505 usable for cleans, although you really shouldn't expect shimmering and harmonic tones. It is more of a darkish (some would say dull) sound, perhaps even good for modern-sounding clean passages in metal songs. A delay and/or chorus in the loop will work wonders. Having said this, I disliked the rhythm channel and its apparently better clean sound on the 6505+ I had bought so much that I sold it and got the original 6505.

Having now played amps that REALLY have a great clean channel, I can now see what people mean by saying that the Peaveys don't really offer that. But back then, the cleans on the 6505 were good enough for my kind of music.
 
MississippiMetal":1mfhvfbs said:
The clean tone on a 5150 isn't exactly clean because it is still running through every gain stage in the preamp. Crunch mode simply switches the circuit that couples the input stage to the next with a different configuration which sends less signal to ground and gives you the extra gain of the crunch mode. The lead channel changes out the preamp and post controls with ones that again send less signal to ground, and also switches in bypass capacitors for the cathodes on V1B and V2B, as well as adds in an extra 220K grid leak resistor for still more gain.

It wasn't until the 5150II came about that they got smart and decided to dedicate V1B and the entirety of V6 to crunch mode, instead of simply tweaking the input signal to V1B for crunch mode.

Jerry since you have dealt so extensively with the 5150, if you could review this and give me your input, I'd like to make sure it's accurate and I'm not passing out misinformation here.
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There is no definition of what a clean channel has to be. The number of gain stages means nothing, if you can dial in a clean tone it's a clean channel. As I said before it's not the greatest, but it is a clean tone.

The 5150 has 2 channels, rhythm and lead. On the rhythm channel there are options for clean and crunch. The amp also has a low input jack which 99.9% of the player never use or even try. The guitar has a volume control which also works wonders for getting it cleaner. In this day and age of stepping on a pedal and getting the tone and effects you want in one patch players are lazy.

Turn the master way up and the gain way down on the clean and you have a decent clean tone. Plugging into the low input and working your guitar volume takes it even farther. Using the rhythm channel like that doesn't mix well with the crunch setting, but a lot of guys use only the clean and use the lead for their rhythm tones too. My friend Dave King never takes his 5150 off the lead channel. He dials down his guitar for his clean tones. It's not a Fender or Roland JC clean, but it works.
Jerry

 
JerryP":16vryrnt said:
MississippiMetal":16vryrnt said:
The clean tone on a 5150 isn't exactly clean because it is still running through every gain stage in the preamp. Crunch mode simply switches the circuit that couples the input stage to the next with a different configuration which sends less signal to ground and gives you the extra gain of the crunch mode. The lead channel changes out the preamp and post controls with ones that again send less signal to ground, and also switches in bypass capacitors for the cathodes on V1B and V2B, as well as adds in an extra 220K grid leak resistor for still more gain.

It wasn't until the 5150II came about that they got smart and decided to dedicate V1B and the entirety of V6 to crunch mode, instead of simply tweaking the input signal to V1B for crunch mode.

Jerry since you have dealt so extensively with the 5150, if you could review this and give me your input, I'd like to make sure it's accurate and I'm not passing out misinformation here.
Click to expand...


There is no definition of what a clean channel has to be. The number of gain stages means nothing, if you can dial in a clean tone it's a clean channel. As I said before it's not the greatest, but it is a clean tone.

The 5150 has 2 channels, rhythm and lead. On the rhythm channel there are options for clean and crunch. The amp also has a low input jack which 99.9% of the player never use or even try. The guitar has a volume control which also works wonders for getting it cleaner. In this day and age of stepping on a pedal and getting the tone and effects you want in one patch players are lazy.

Turn the master way up and the gain way down on the clean and you have a decent clean tone. Plugging into the low input and working your guitar volume takes it even farther. Using the rhythm channel like that doesn't mix well with the crunch setting, but a lot of guys use only the clean and use the lead for their rhythm tones too. My friend Dave King never takes his 5150 off the lead channel. He dials down his guitar for his clean tones. It's not a Fender or Roland JC clean, but it works.
Jerry

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Thanks for the input, Jerry. I didn't mean to insinuate that decent clean tones couldn't be gotten out of one. I think you can get a usable clean tone out of even the gainiest of amps with the right EQ settings and volume knob manipulation on your guitar.

I find it a little bit harder to get a clean tone out of 5 or 6 gain stages than 1 or 2. :dunno:
 
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