You know Eddie Van Halen 5150 voice coil for his infamous Amp was designed at the Peavey plant in Foley Al! Peavey moved this plant back to Merdian Ms after Hartley Peavey wife Malia died! I was the actual person who wound the 5150 voice coils! I was the one who got Eddie’s voice coil approved for the 5150

Here on the EVH KZfaq tour! Who else got tickets?

Correction: Peavey's 40th Anniversary was in 2005. 1965-2005 = 6505

Corrections : 1. Eddie's '67 1959 SLP did not had any modifications at all by J.Arrendondo.Eddie spread the word around just to help him, to get in the business.Eddie only did the usual services/repairs.. The only difference was 6CA7 power tubes, because of the lack of EL-34 in US... (Book "History of Marshall amps" (1st edition)) . 2.The 5150 on the pre-amp stage is exactly the same in schematic on the basics of SLO-100 (Dual Rectifier also)... Eddie took SLO to the factory of PEAVEY. 5 multiple cascading gain stages by 2nd 12AX7...3rd for EQ/4th for fx loop/5th for phase inverter Output section SLO 5881/5150 6L6GC (stronger 6L6). Eddie asked Mike Soldano for free supply as endorser, and Soldano refused because wasn't in such position,like a big manufacturer, to produce more.. Soldano told him "Everybody's buying my amps.I'm a small store, I Don't have such financial power".. So Eddie took the amp to Peavey, to copy.. Soldano didn't patent the schematic (Big mistake), so Eddie and Peavey (and Mesa Boogie) stole him initially.. 3. Hartley Peavey kicked out Eddie from his company, after the bad behaviour to the people (cause of his dark period) and 2 hour latency, at 2004 NAMM.. Peavey's brain was out of his head for his company's disgrace... 4. 5150 II only had one 12AX7 (6 total) just for the extra clean channel which was the only difference.. Made in 2002 if I remember well.. 10 years afrer original 5150.. 5.James Brown was already at Fender for 5150III..

I had an original 5150 and ended up selling it in 1995. I wish I had that moment in time back. Stupid decision but it was a life lesson to think hard about something before you do it.

Im so glad i was able to track a 93 5150 block letter on reverb back in 2017🙏🙏 My 5150 is godlike! And no matter what i do it keep sounding like Burn My Eyes 🔥🔥🤘🤘

I was lucky enough to purchase the first batch of the block letter 5150 back in 1991 and I still have one of them. Sounds incredible!

Peavey has come a long way. I remember back in the late 70's, hardly anyone bought Peavey amps because in the rock world, they didn't have a good reputation. Thier amps seemed cheap and the Peavey name just wasn't cool. They couldn't compete with Fender and Marshall. The only thing bands bought from Peavey back then was a PA because it was more affordable. When Eddie came along, Peavey's name and reputation changed practically overnight. Thanks for posting this video, it cleared up some confusions I had about Eddie's amps.

James Brown is also famous for the XXX which was to be the George Lynch model and never happened. Brown himself stated that the XXX was his favorite design The 3120 is a rebranded XXX. Does 6L6 or EL34. Picked one up for under $300 New in box. It's a beast. Also have a 5150 2x12 and a 5150ii Full Stack. All great guitar amps.

Bought mine new in 1995. 6 month waiting list then. Used it today. Use it almost every day. I have had a love affair with this amp for 24 years. Still sounds great. Best amp I have ever used and heard. Everyone that hears it says it's great. I will never part with it. My Les Paul I've had for 34 years, a Tonerider Octane pickup, my 24 year old 5150, J&J tubes (Sovtek phase inverter tube), and a guitar cable is all I need. Best of the best.

Wow thanks man. I sat down with a nice joint and really enjoyed this presentation!

I have 2 original block letter 5150s, both sound identical to eachother and sound great, I also had a signature 5150, no matter what tubes I put in it it sounded like crap next to the other 2 amps

I biased modded my block letter almost 20 years ago and I think it made the amp sound a lot thicker and warmer. By using a cold bias you're chopping off the tips of the sign wave by adjusting the bias correctly you're getting a clearer sound. Most of the 5150's gain is coming from the 5 pre amp tubes.

Old guitar acquaintance of mine recorded me with and my cheesy band with a block letter 5150 combo waaaaaaaay back in the day. At the time I didn’t even know what good tone sounded like. But when I plugged into that thing and he started messing with the resonance knob my head tweaked to the side like a dog. I’d never heard anything like it before. This amp changed the market and moved gear in another direction. EVH was indeed an amazing innovator.

I had a 5150 ll head that I had to sell for financial reasons. I regret that big time. Anyhow I loved the crunch "channel" more than the lead channel by playing a Boss Super Overdrive over it. Simply awesome. Killer tones.

I have both a 1991 Peavey 5150 block letter and a 1995 Peavey 5150 combo and I love both for what each one does. My Block letter does the raw grinding distortion, where the combo gets that tight more modern distortion.

Great stuff! I love my 5150 lll so much, and I'm still trying to track down a Blockletter. I appreciate your effort and research!

Ive got a first batch block logo 5150, from new, i pulled the sylvania tubes and stored them until about 2 months ago, i put them back in the amp and profiled the amp with my kemper to produce killer 5150 sylvania tones, thanks for your video its full of good information

great job Lucas. that mustve taken you forever. I just came into an original 5150 and was curious about the history. thanks, I appreciate all the info.

If you want a lot of background history on the 5150,check out Tone talk video where they talk with James for about 2-3 hours,mainly about how he built the 5150. He talks a LOT about it and you may find out a thing or two about the history of it,pretty interesting.

Very informative video you clarified a lot of things I'm lucky I've got a 6505 made in USA I'm happy with it

Man, Lucas.. GREAT coverage. A better summary than anyone has ever done all the history of this iconic sound. Thank you!

Awesome video Lucas! Have been a block logo 5150 player since 1995. Love all the versions of the 5150.

@LucasLecompte so yes they did make the very first invectives in the United States. I actually have one and it has a sticker on the back that says assembled in the USA. I have actually looked pretty hard and have only seen one other amp with that designation so there couldn’t have been that many. Now where they got the parts…. I believe they are the same imported parts being used in the Chinese made invectives. They just were attempting to assemble them here in the USA. Misha himself has said there are no big differences and the invective ola Englund played was in fact Chinese. They sound great for sure!

Had a script 5150, put in Groove Tube #1’s( most crunch ) it was the best 212 combo ever!!!!

Back in the day, I was looking for an amp to rent while on the road. The store had just gotten the first 5150 and I plugged in and could not believe what I was hearing. I rented them locally for the rest of those road gigs.

Solid list, learnt a lot about the Peavey years. The only thing I'd add is the green and blue channels of the 5153 stealth were modeled on the 50w head (more gain), and the circuitry of the blue channel in the stealth is closest to the EVH 2x12 combo. A big difference between the Peaveys and the 5153s is the Peavey heads were voiced for their Sheffield 1200 speakers, which are 75w and based on Greenbacks. The 5153 is voiced for the Celestion G12 EVHs which are only 20w each and also based on Greenbacks, but they specifically are based on the old "Black-Back" speakers. The Sheffields are designed for early breakup, but the low wattage of the EVH speakers mean they break up a lot more naturally imo.

This is THE most clear to make sense of the whole Peavey Eddie line Ive ever watched .

Awesome job man...the only missing thing is the 6505+ 112 combo and piranha...but it is by far the best video i saw on that subject. Thanks

Thank you for putting this together. I have an early 5150. Sounds wonderful. I got it used for only $550.

The 5150 was pretty much THE sound of the grunge era. Now sold as the 6505 its in EVERY metal studio out there.

Awesome info bro. I have a 6505+ that I acquired recently for $450 and couldn't be happier with it.

What I like is the "Gojira" T-shirt. Awesome.

Ppl who complain about the block/script differences really argue a mute point because it was just the tubes, and any old amp, youre going to have to replace tubes anyway, and odds are theyve already been changed before so if you really want an original, get either you can for a good deal and then source out the tubes you want. Personally my 1st amp I ever got was a 6505+ half stack in 06 and I love it. I do plan on saving up and getting a 5150 III, though Im torn between original and the stealth.

Very good history of the 5150 amp I believe the only thing missing is the newer 5150s that have the numbers in front of the grill by fender and look like the classic ones eaves ones

This might trigger some people. I've had my block letter 5150 since 2003, and I eventually had to change the tubes. I couldn't get the originals, so I just used GT 6l6s and I honestly can't tell a difference in sound.

So, I have the 5150III stealth model. Even though Eddie himself say that channel 2 an 3 are more closely related, I would have to disagree with that statement. The tone between the two is quite different in my opinion. The low end on the blue 2 channel is much tighte,r or less booming than the red channel. But thred channel has a high end punch which is nice in its own way. So, I use a Tube Screamer on blue to boost for leads if I the same tone just hotter. Overall, my experience has been awesome to say the least. I also just aquired the USA stealth Wolfgang guitar with the D-tuna in the flat black finish. Truly unbelievable sound!

Killer rundown. Just got that 2x12 combo myself. So happy with it.

Great Job man, Tone Talk pretty much confirms your work. Rock On!

Nice work dude. I’ve heard a few variations to some of the details and I’m sure everyone else has too. Kinda keeps the allure alive I suppose.

Repost? This is still badass and worth loads of views. The most succinct and entertaining history of the 5150 I've seen.

Great job man! I just got the 6l6 50 watt head and it sounds so bad ass!

Really good video, man! Other than the cold bias thing that somebody else has already adressed here are s few small things: The 5150/6505 has a slightly different gain stageing than the 5150 II/6505+. The volume jump on the original EVH 5150 III 50w head is between channels 1 and 2 (green and blue) rather than channels 2 and 3 (blue and red). In 2015 Peavey brought out a special edition 6505+ that was built in the USA, had a golden faceplate instead of a silver one and was limited to 50 units. German music store session has a review on youtube and they also still have at least one for sale on their site. The reviewer says these were supposed to cost 6500€ at first but were eventually sold for around 2000€. He also hints that Peavey used higher grade components for these and that they sound a little different. A guy in a Peavey forum told me that when they did R&D for the Invective, Peavey looked at some older amps and noticed that the output transformers on the older amps were slightly different causing them to sound a little different. I can't verify that though.

At 3:09 when you mention cold bias, that effects the power tubes, not the preamp tubes. Basically the amps power section will not distort or “give” as much at higher volumes as when the bias is hotter.

Great overview of the 5150 history. I used to have a combo. Great sounding amp, but so heavy. Don't hurt your back hauling that thing around. I remember having a dolly I used with mine, and if my tires on the dolly were not fully inflated it would squat the dolly rims to the floor....LOL. It is a real power house with weight to match.

Great info on the 5150. In 2018 Fender came out with a "Concentric Mod" for the 5150 iii 50w 6l6 to add the stacked knobs like in the current (2018) production model. Just found some correspondence on that with my 50w.

And NEW for 2020 we have the all black 5150 III Stealth 50W with the dual knobs on the volume and gain like the regular 6L6 or EL34 heads and the Stealth LBX using the Green and Red channels also with the dual knobs like the previous lunchbox.

Rest in power EVH 1955-2020. Corrections: Cold Bias is POWER TUBES. 2016: 6505 Piranha 2010: 6505+ Combo 1x12 Peavey's 40th Anniversary was in 2005. 1965-2005 = 6505 (Thanks Van020280) 2018 upgrade kit for the original 50W 6L6's which adds the dual concentric knobs for volume and gain, so owners of the original 50W could get rid of the volume jump issue (@eyschwartz5150z)​ only the 50 watt EVH versions are midi compatible not the 100 watt versions (@Roger Parsons)

As a studio engineer, I can say that there were 2 amps that had a steep learning curve for micing and recording: The Hiwatt 100 and the 5150 Block Letter. I was able to figure out the tricks to both. The 5150 was easier to learn compared to the Hiwatt but both were hard to dial in if you weren't familiar.

the 5150 3 is probably one of the best sounds ive heard- Steel Panther ive seen use them as well as Carcass.Just AMAZING clarity and tone. . I love the original though too, B tuned guitars or 7 Strings sound ideal through those, but it's little wonder since a lot of the Gothenburg Melodeath bands used them, as well as Carcass.

Awesome job! Today I have the evh 5150 iii 50w 6l6 (version 2) and a evh 1 x 12 cab showing up in the mail from FedEx. I got matching ivory. Change it up from traditional black for once. Currently using peavey 6505+ 112 ( I love how there peavey logo lights up when turned on).

The only thing you missed (for me anyway) was when they had like 6 and 7 preamp tubes, what they actually did in circuit... so thanx for a cool vid and... cheers

Awesome video pal, incredibly interesting!!!

Great channel man, I've been geeking out all day on them. Very cool stuff!

The volume jump was from channel 1 to channel 2 on the 50w 5150iii's

Got my old 5150 combo back home...so happy ! Thanks for you vid!

I have a first year Block Letter in showroom condition. It has the original preamp tubes. JJ power tubes. Sounds killer! It's my favorite amp. Try a Boss SD-1 in front of it and use the rhythm channel. You'll love it.

This is a really awesome video, thanks man! I love the Peavey 5150 style heads

I have the 5150 2x12 combo, 6505+ 1x12 combo and now a 5150 iii 50 watt 6l6 head!

Great video. Only thing missing that I care about are the different speaker cabs that changed throughout the years with the amps.

Man, this was just a good video. Thanks for all that, really interesting stuff.

I have a 6506+ head.. USA made in 2012... i think that was the last year of the american made 6505’s...... i LOVE it..... absolute killer of an amp

Peavey employee for years here! Made the speakers and voice coils for all the amps! Oh dear God did we go through the tubes!!!!!!!! Was horrible

This was excellent, thank you

I have 6505 MH and it is truly excellent

I have the 50W EVH combo and to me that's all the amp I'll ever need. The distortion in it is insane!

Amazing little documentary you have here. Just a note he used Eventide Harmonizer for chorus.

Just started playing guitar and i picked up a Fender Ultimate Chorus and a Block Letter 5150 head.

Great video! That took some time to research and deliver. Thank you! I still own my 5150 combo and it’s a monster with the JJ power tubes and cocktail of preamp tubes. It’s hard not to plug into my Lee Jackson XLS 1000 though.

Great video man. 👌 I picked up a slightly used 5150 II head in 2006 and still treasure it to this day.

Thank you, i can't imagine the hours of research that went into this. Perhaps the next generation 100w head from either Peavey or EVH will have a variable bias adjustment to accomodate 6l6's or el34's (or others), which they should have done in the first place. For right now i'm still staying put with my original 5150 combo. Great amp and i've heard alot of others comment that they wish they'd have kept there's.

spot on amigo spot on. the "bs" behind this amp needs to be exposed and you did a great job on it. the amp is a staple but the history is all over the place and the thoughts on the "block letter"

James brown made some of the best amps ever made, I got lucky and bought a 3120 in great condition for 500 bucks. It’s good crazy amounts of gain along with that British style mids which sounds great for a old school thrash metal tone

I want to say I bought my 5150 II in Sep. 1998....Still have, she is a beast....great vid

I have a 5150 combo signature, sounds great for rockin' out but I'm not crazy about the clean channel. I have a Peavey Heritage 1983 with 130 watt output, 4 6L6 tubes in the power section and the clean sounds amazing on it. My biggest complaint for both amps are they're too frickin' heavy. It sucks to have to lug either of these amp around for gigging so I usually just grab my Peavey Bandit in most cases. Getting old sucks.

Very interesting and well researched!

we all know peavy was making great amp heads in that time also a lil fella called joe satrani also had a great peavy amp head too.great review bang on ty sir

Wow!! Thank you so much for that informative video. I'm trying out an EVH 5150 III 6L6 50W combo amp and I wanted to get some of the history on EVH amps. I'm comparing it to an SLO100 and a Mesa Boogie Mk III. I gotta say this thing rocks. Really digging the tone of the red channel especially.

love the peavey 5150. it sounds amazing if you dial it in right with eq’s and od’s people will sawy too much bottom end. but i like keeping the low end and resonance down and it sounds awesome

Excellent job! I knew a lot littler of this history but you really did a great job digging into it.

5150II SCREAMED!

The existence of the 6534+ just blew my mind

I have the 5150 III 6L6 50 WATTER AND IT KICKS ASS, HAVENT TOICHED ONE OF MY OTHER AMPS SINCE I GOT IT.

5150II came around 1998

A lot of great info, for anyone shopping for a used 5150 amp! Thanks!

The 5150 combo can bias well with the right tubes unlike the head which needs a bias pot to really do its thing.

Most dorks know this info but its awesome you made this Documentary man good job.

FFFFFFFFUCK DUDE THAT'S A LOT TO TAKE IN! I am totally looking forward to mindfucking my band mates with this and what ever other gear history you have to offer! Kudos Lucas! ! 👍😎🎸

Awesome Job Lucas , The Only Problem I Have is They're All Way To Expensive , You'd Think Eddie a Guy in All His Interviews Who Expresses Why He Did Everything The Way He Did Was Because Gear Was To Expensive and Out of Reach Would Make His Gear at a More Affordable Price , I Have The 50 Watt 34 Head on My Wish List !!

El 34 50 watt head came out in 2018

Thank you for all the research!!! Very informative!

That episode of undercover boss was shocking!!!!!

The 5150 V2 50 Watt is excellent. I have played every version of 5150, own ENGL and Marshall amps and the 5153 is a even contender and excellent solid build for a great price. You can play funk, blues, classic rock and metal on this, no pedals needed. Blue channel gain @ 11:00 - 12:00 will get a very accurate Lynch to EVH sound with the very thoughtfully and usefully placed EQ center freq's. The clean channel is better than most amps but not the ultimate. Could use a little more punch & gain as it is really clean and a little bit sterile but absolutely usable. 3rd channel is gain city 10:00 gives you more gain than a JCM800 with a tubescreamer or SD-1. I just shake my head when I see guys cranking the gain on this channel or adding pedals to it. Midi control & the loop works great. Just add a switcher rack effect & 1x12 for a small & powerhouse versatile live rig! This amp can get VERY crunchy and I have heard people say they are fizzy/thin but they either don't know how to turn down the treble/presence or I have a magic one. Turning the presence at 9:00 and the treble down a bit gives a Morse/Satriani like musical soft on the attack feel & tone. A really wonderful tube amp that does a ton of types of music. Nothing comes close to the range for the price IMO.

Exactly nthe info i was looking for .... Was really confused by so many evh & peavy models out there 😂😂🎉🎉...gr8 job !!

wow. Im 56 & put my band days behind me & just play bedroom now ..........but u got me wanting a 6505 now .....

What drugs were Electro-Voice on to think anyone would confuse EVH with their company?

Great video! You should do another video with more details (or a series).

makes sense why my script logo 5150 has had the tubes swapped out by the previous owner. the cheap chinese ones originally put in kinda held back the amp a bit. sounds killer now tho i must say.

Love the 5150/6505 sound

wow. That's a lot of info.