player opinions

Peavey 5150 combo

Peavey 5150 Combo

  1. Name: Tim

  2. Band: n/a

  3. Model Year: Don't know the year — from original run (as far as I can tell)

  4. Price Paid: $40.00 (No Joke)

  5. Performance

  6. It plays AMAZING. I like to play Christian, southern rock/classic rock sounding stuff (ala THIRD DAY) and this amp performs. It has a great tone and if you need ideas for setting the tone controls, they're all available on the internet. This is an awesome amp. Some how my circuit board got a problem, but it's really old, and the previous owner probably messed it up.

  7. Performance Rating: 9.5 (cause of the circuit board problem)

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Two Channels: Rhythm and Lead. Both will distort. Can get any thing from clean to crunch to full-blown throw-you-against-the- wall gain. And the bright and crunch switches further increase tonal options. The tone control are the normal Low-Mid-High plus resonance and presence controls to further shape tone.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Built like a TANK. Installed casters on mine so I wouldn't hurt my back. No matter what you do, you ain't hurtin' this. It's virtually indestructible, unless you do something to the electronics.

  13. Construction Rating: 8 (cause it's so heavy)

  1. Name: David A

  2. Band: -----

  3. Model Year: 2001

  4. Price Paid: $650

  5. Performance

  6. Perfect! Does anything and everything you need. Well made, with superb sound quality! Most touring professionals use 50 watt heads with 4 by 12 cabinets! They mic the amp and use the house system. All you really need for a high quality sound is 50 watts. Then you can crank it all the way to 9 or 10 and get a quality sound. The Peavey 5150 delivers all of that in a 2 by 12 combo! A half stack in a box! Add a 4 by 12 bottom cabinet, and look out!

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Does everything you need. I added JJ’s and the clean is bright and brilliant as ever! This amp will squeal like the old marshall tube and scream like the new Zack Wylde models. Sound quality is superb. You can’t beat the true sound of a quality tube amp like this. Does everything a Marshall is suppose to! I use a Power Brake, drive it to nine and get the best sound ever!

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Well made and durable! Eddie knew what he was doing, and the amp is to his specs! Great Job! Above and beyond the call! Superb quality!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Ron Haines

  2. Band: -----

  3. Model Year: Not sure

  4. Price Paid: $500

  5. Performance

  6. Well it was this or a Fender Solid State Half stack. And I am so happy I bought this, I didn’t care to even ask wattage knowing it was tube and the playing performance — shook the whole music shop at level 4. My two favorite things are 1. The crunch and bright push buttons for the clean channel, and gain so when you crank the gain you get a distortion naturally driven so when you are playing you don’t hear a buzz. And the second is 2. Is that the distortion channel when standing in front of it makes your legs thud like a sub woofer kinda deal. And when playing that channel you can hear so much feedback, I love that, because when not playing you hear the buzz, normally this would make me mad, but like I said about my clean channel makes me love that.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. I like single coils currently through this amp, but only because I don’t care much for my Tex Mex pickup on my custom wired Strat, with a slanted single coil in the front, and humbucker in back, so I use my Danelectro Single Coil guitar. Normally I would have done a lot of research on a amp, and when I went in to get my half stack, I just got this thing with out any. The sound quality is just so much better then solid state, this is my first tube. 60 watts is all that is needed, of tube that is. Very Warm Sound. I am surprised on how much sound comes out of 2 12’s. Just amazed, because I was gonna get a half stack and did not want a combo — at all. I have played out of other 212 combos and this is just like, How the Heck DO just 212’s do this? It’s weird. I haven’t turned this thing past level 6 yet.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. IT IS TOO HEAVY! You would think, like other combos, it would have friggin wheels, but to sum this up, THIS IS NOT A COMBO, this is much more. My 5 is because it seems like it’s built like a “tank” but really on other aspects I give it a 1. Because it’s way to heavy for one dude, one of my straps is broken.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Keifer James

  2. Band: Rooster Rock

  3. Model Year: 2002

  4. Price Paid: $420 Used

  5. Performance

  6. Very easy to use. Clear distinction between channels. In some ways what this amp “promises” is to create an EVH sound — and for sure it does that. The surprise is that it can do much more as well.

  7. Performance Rating: 9

  8. Sound Quality

  9. I have an ESP with a George Lynch Screamin Demon pickup and the lead channel sounds like nothing on earth (in a good way.) I just can’t get enough of that sound. This is the first time I’ve had an amp and when I go out for a casual jam with some friends I don’t even bring pedals — the sound is just so good out of the box, that pedals and effects are just “extras” for specific effects — no need for anything to modify the tone.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Extremely heavy! Side handles would be nice as the single top handle is very hard to manage — but that’s just the price you gotta pay I guess. I just make sure I have something with wheels handy to move it around. I’m giving it a 5 as I’m assuming that the solidity (weight) is part of the reason why it has such a great sound.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Curtis Jon Buck Jr.

  2. Band: Dark Autumn

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $899 (used)

  5. Performance

  6. The 5150 gives me a sparkling clean sound on the rhythm channel with the pre on 3 and the post basically anywhere. It’s possible to get a nice distortion out of it by turning the pre up to 10 and enabling the crunch and bright switches. The Lead channel is simply amazing. All these people out there say “don’t turn the gain past 7” on all these 5150 reviews, but that’s just when it gets good! Crank the pre to 10, low to 10, mid to 0, and high to 10, reverb to 3, presence to 10, and resonance to 10. THEN STRIKE YOUR FAVORITE POWER CHORD. Anyone would be pleased with those settings, and if you’re not, you are a grumpy old neighbor who hates metal bands!

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. My ESP EX-351 sounds great through the low-gain input, yet my stratocaster has to be attached to the high-gain to get a similar range of sounds. If I plug the ESP in the high gain, it sounds too muddy and clipped, if I plug the Strat into the low gain, it sounds like a country twanger! Experiment with this thing, and you’ll find your sound (it won’t take long....)

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. This product is solid as a rock, and the closed-back cabinet is really a compliment to the resonance feature. The footswitch is a plastic one, which I wasn’t very pleased with at first, but it turned out to be just fine! The only qualm I have about it is that it weighs a little too much, but hey, it’s a tube amp! It’s worth its weight in diamonds! Well maybe not diamonds, because I could buy a whole lot more than one 5150 with 85 pounds of diamonds.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Mark Arbogast

  2. Band: Mark Arbogast and the Swell-Tones

  3. Model Year: 1996

  4. Price Paid: $600

  5. Performance

  6. What can you say about an amp that works every time you turn it on, is built like a brick-house, sounds like a million dollars, and costs under a grand? I have had many MANY amps over the years and none sounded better or were more versatile than the Peavey 5150 combo. I have used it doing jazz, rock, and now blues/RandB. I hooked up a Strat with a modded Ibanez TS9-Tube Screamer, Vox wah, and Dunlop Uni-vibe into the clean channel and it’s like Stevie Ray was here in my basement (except he played JUST a bit better). If you are looking for a durable great sounding amp for a great price then dont waste your money on one of those high-dollar designer amps. This is a great bargain, and if you can’t sound good with this amp then you need to get a new hobby anyway!

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Awesome! It really nails the brown sound plus real shred if you want. Great blues sound if you hook up the right guitar and stomp boxes (Tube Screamer.)

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Built like a ROCK! But the price you pay is a sore back cause it’s heavy!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Damon Gray

  2. Band: Subjagator

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $500

  5. Performance

  6. This amp rocks!! When I bought this amp, I thought “Yeah right, this amp is just like the rest!” Turn this baby to like 5 and you better put on your seat belt! I love it loud, but if you can’t afford a half stack, pick up one of these! How can so much volume come out of 2 12’s? Trust me! Get one of these if you are a metal head!! All I can say is hold on!

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The clean channel is OK, but hit the lead channel and you are gonna head to the moon! Do not play this at low volume!! The louder the better! My neighbors hate my guts!

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. I had this amp shipped clear across the states and everything is fine! This is a real durable amp! Bottom line, get one!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: John Castle

  2. Band: -----

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $800

  5. Performance

  6. Works like it is supposed to. Easy to use: looks extremely cool. However, it would be nice if it was equiped with separate three band eq for both channels instead of sharing one.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The high-gain, or lead channel as it is called sounds incredibly warm and fat if it is set up properly. It took me a while to get it tweaked right. The pre-gain needs to be set somewhere between 2 and 4 to sound warm and full and believe me it does! If the gain is turned past noon, like you would normally do to most amps if becomes too fuzzy and you loose definition on chords. Over all though, it’s probably the best sounding high-gain combo I’ve heard. And yes I’ve heard all of the Mesa/Boogie combos. They can’t touch it on the gain channel. Their recto heads and 4x12 cabs are what’s cooking for them. The clean, or rhythm channel is decent. With the gain low, it’s a typical Peavey clean sound which in my opinion is very average. Crank the gain about half way and you get a cool vintage Bluesbreaker type tone. Or at least pretty close to one. With the gain cranked all the way on this channel it’s hard to tell it apart from the lead channel.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Heavy at about 80 lbs. Very thick dense plywood. Seems to be constructed very well. The two 12“ Sheffield speakers sound remarkably close to the 60’s Celestian’s and sound great w/ this cab which is closed in the back to give it the 4x12 thunk. I’ve been playing mine in clubs for about 2 years and have not had a problem yet. I think it’s time to do some re-tubing though.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Slick Hands

  2. Band: Mud Pie

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $975

  5. Performance

  6. Works like a dream. It’s easy to use, and has two channels with a bright and crunch button on the rhythm channel to allow you to create two different distortion channels.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The distortion channel is “crazy heavy” but not muddy unless you want to crank the gain to 10. I ease up on the pre-gain channel and what I got was a warm, very fat growl with amazing sustain. The rhythm channel is very flexible. It allows you to go from a glass clean tone to a slightly dirty southern blues rock sound. This is the first amp I have used that got me oh so close to that Stevie Ray Vaughn tone while using a humbucker guitar.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. I been playing mine out for about 6 months and have not had a problem. I guess time will tell its durability. The cabinet seems to be constructed pretty well, and I really dig the closed back cabinet, which is kind of unusual for a combo.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Bryan Short

  2. Band: -----

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $950

  5. Performance

  6. This amp is pretty simple, which is nice for a change. It’s a straight forward no nonsense set up, which has a couple of nice extras which include a resonance knob along with the presence, so you can tweak the low freq. as well as the high. It also includes a crunch button on the rhythm channel you can have two distortion channels to choose from. Overall it would be considered very user friendly.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The sound of the amp is amazing. The distortion or “lead” channel has so much gain that I found myself leaving it in the halfway (about 4 or 5) position. It growls very warmly with sustain that lasts for what seems like days. Hence, the meanest combo I’ve ever heard. The clean channel is equally up to par with a super glassy smooth sound with just enough bite to pull off any of those super cool blues riffs. This is with out a doubt the best sounding amp Peavey makes under $1000.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Construction of this amp seems pretty good. Cabinet is superb, which has not always been the case with Peavey amps. Comes complete with a five year warranty which is also hard to beat. The other note worthy aspect worth mentioning is that this is the only combo made with a closed back, witch attributes to the amps low end “thunk.”

  13. Construction Rating: 10

stats

  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 9.5
  3. Sound Quality: 10
  4. Construction: 9.8
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Company
  9. Peavey

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