1992: High Gain Tones For The Masses 

5150 is the people's champion. It's affordable

I was too poor for a 5150 back in the 90s so I suffered with trying to make decent tone without it. By the time I could afford one I had other options. I finally played through one in the 2000's and realized I should have sold a kidney back in the 90's.

I still remember hearing the 5150 full stack in a local musicstore in Holland 1993 and i was stoked!...but didn't have the money. I convinced my dad (old rocker!) that my Peavey Bandit 112 wasn't good enough and asked him to come and listen in the musicstore. I had the seller demo the 5150 because he was a much better guitar player so I could convince my dad more easily, it didn't take much to convince my dad! He bought the amp and a 4x12 slant cabinet! To this day I use this set and will never get rid of it... Dad, i hope you can still hear my 5150 up there in heaven?...but I guess that's not too hard with this loud beast! ;)

Let just take a moment to thank Mike Soldano for all this.

I remember just a few years ago you could still get the 5150 for $400 at pawn. Less than 5 or so years. Great Video

Over the holidays I recently upgraded my amps (a DSL40 and Katana) to a block letter 5150 + an old Laney cab that I bought from a friend's studio. I was lucky enough to have access to EVH heads, used Mesas, and even spend more for an ENGL but man lemme tell you nothing made me smile like plugging in to that OG 5150 for the first time. It was the sound of about 80% of my favorite records and it was right here in my hands. This amp will always be awesome, will always be important, and will always stand for something so incredible for the everyday player. This video was on point and made me appreciate my little half stack even more.

Ill NEVER forget the first review of the Dual Rectifier in Guitar World. The author wrote something to the effect of "I wish everyone could plug in to this magazine so they could hear it- it's THAT good. " The 5150 was cheaper so I bought one of those .

I was in my last year of high school when the 5150 came out. I remember my best friend was working at a local music store that was the main Peavey dealer in our city. I went in to check it out and he plugged me in to a full stack they had there. I was 17 and HOLY SHIT IT WAS IN SANE! I don't even think I could get the master past 2 and even then it was squealing like crazy from me never have played with that much gain! It was GLORIOUS!!

Can't wait for the Line 6 Spider mini doc in 10 years

I remember the 5150hitting stores as well. It was the darling. BUT peavey was on top of its game. At about the same time they also had the the ultra 60/120 heads with active eq and TONS of gain on tap with three channels. These morphed into the Ultra Plus. I still regret selling off my plus, but toured for years with my blue line after that and thankfully still have mine. If you were a rack person, the rock master pre and a 120/120 power Amp was the epitome of guitar violence. Team that up with some peavey cabs loaded with the celestion 1285 speakers and you were a force to be reckoned with.

I don’t think Peavey gets enough love. Affordable and made in the USA are usually things that do not go hand in hand.

I'm roughly the same age as you, and I had a very similar experience with hearing a 5150 for the first time in a music shop. I'll never forget hearing "that sound" for the first time, absolutely mindblowing at a formative age.

I remember hearing one locally at a gig and I knew that was want I wanted. Fast forward years later after saving my money, I got a train into Sydney to buy one from the only Peavey Dealer I knew near me and when I got there… they had just sold it. I was super bummed but I tried out a Peavey XXX and a H&K Warp T, and after an hour or so of bad playing 😂😂 I went with the XXX. It is such a great amplifier and will never sell that. For years of it being the one that got away and learning more as the internet became what it is today, I learned about the Block Letter and Signature debates and always said I will hold out for a Block Letter. Fast forward til NYE just gone and after having multiple Block Letters fall through the last 2 years when they occasionally pop up in Australia. I seen one for sale an hour away and immediately grabbed it. It is everything I hoped for and such a goddamn good feeling knowing I have a part of history and something that was a very important in my own guitar playing journey as it really motivated me to want to play when hearing that live for the first time. To think it shaped metal as we know it today, is quite the legacy for Eddie, John and Peavey.

man the fist time i ever hear a 5150 face to face was on a local show and man the tones from that amp i still love it and i think there's no better high gain metal sound than a 5150

I still have my Peavey Supreme 160 full stack amp l purchased back in 92. At the time I only knew solid state. Just got into tubes and I have to say I love them. Keep up the good work Fluff.

Ryan, as a HUGE EVH fanboi, i loved your retrospective. You NAILED the way i remember hearing it for the first time back in the day :P Thank you for such a fantastic reminder of the insanely iconic work of Edward, James and Hartley

I bought a full stack, block lettered 5150 in 1996 at Black Market Music in NorCal for $750 out the door.. I was in love. Not just for the high gain, although it was brilliant, but I dug the crunch as well. I was fortunate to have a Mesa Tremoverb as well at that time. Which was brilliant as well.

All true....BUT.....back in those pre-5150 days, we were all doing the rack thang. ADA MP-1s and the copycats hit around 1988 and ruled the day. An MP-1 into a JCM 800 was the “secret sauce” being used by the high gain aficionados. I got my first MP-1 in ‘89 and still have one in my effects rack to this day. I’ve never been a Mesa guy.....but 5150s have been fair game. They really are great amps!

I remember hearing both of these amps when they came out. The low-end thump was immediately noticeable when seeing a band live back then.

I remember back in the day a Local music store had these, I was to caught up in the " Randall" vs "Marshall" back then to give it the time of day. I should have plugged in back then and gave it a try. What a Killer Amp it is and how it changed the Guitar community. Thanks Eddie for all you gave us! Rip.

I remember our local guitar shop stocking a 5150 halfstack, it was massive and impressive.

Hey, awesome video, I was just talking about this not long ago and you laid it out super clearly and I love it. 92-93 was a huge turning point for amps - ENGL Savage, VHT Pittbull, Marshall 6100, and not long after the Diezel VH4, Bogner Ecstasy, and LM version of the Marshall 6100 came along. I think the only other pre-92 high gain amp the average player might run into would be a Mesa Mk III, or maybe the Mk IV which came out in '90. Either way it was a lot of high end stuff - we're really spoiled for choice these days even in the budget category for great sounding amps. Cheers!

I remember when I first heard a 5150 played live around 1997. The crunch was just so special compared to everything else I had heard before this. Absolutely epic sound for the masses!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh the 90's were such a great time.

I remember wanting a 5150 or a 6505 I guess when I was 14. I had a 1994 Peavey Bandit and I boosted it but for the money Peavey was awesome. They were also the most reliable piece of kit that I had.

The first real amp I got was a Peavey 5150 2x12 combo. I was so blown away that I was able to have Eddie's tone and it was affordable at the time for me.

I still own a block letter 5150. I bought it used in 1994 for $250 from a shop in Arizona. It was missing the rear grill which I since replaced. Built like a tank, still works today like new. I don't really use it anymore but I just can't bring myself to sell it.

I think the first time I saw the 5150 was at a local show maybe in 97 that a friends band was playing and the guitarist had this amp. I fell in love and have been playing them since

Fella, this is the best speak about the 5150. I was in the U.S. Army in Germany at the time and 25 years old. The previous year, 1991, I had bought the Peavy Bravo 112 combo, still have it, cost me about $300 American. I had to finance that amp and my Gibson Studio Les Paul at a local music store in Bremerhaven Germany. The following year I saw that peavy had released the 5150. I could not get it in Germany at that time. But I still enjoyed my Bravo 112. I love the older Peavy tube amps. My Bravo has the original 12AX7 and EL84 tubes in it.

Hi Fluff! Thx for that video around the tone and around the gear! Bought mine (signature head) round 2001 for something like 1200 EUR (early revision of euros I should say, when we switched to that money in France). It wasn’t my first choice though, ‘cause I was heading to build a stacked gear with some Rocktron gainiac or things like this… only because there was “gain” on it and I was looking for more gain… more than a Marshall I mean 😅 Then, I realised that that Eddie’s designed amp had all the tubes, all the power I needed, and obviously tones of gain! I ordered one to my local Music store, without even a test, or a Kyle or Fluff’s video that didn’t existed and that time 😅 I spent all my student grant for that amp (“sponsored by French gov”!) and sold my Marshall vs100r combo to get enough money. 5150 was the best friend I can rely on for all the shows I played! Was like i was in a bromance with my amp 😂 never one without the other! we had great times, and he never deceived me in terms of tone or “loud”. But… I finally sold it round 2010 and for a very low price 🤦‍♂️ fortunately i put my hands on a combo 4 or 5 years later for a low price too. I run this combo I still have with a 5150 straight 4x12 cab, and it’s still fuckin crazy! I have never used any boost (honestly… why???) and I’m a huge fan of crunch channel. Also I play the lead with the pre gain on 4, and it’s crazy too! Fluff, it’s funny, I own a DR Rev D too, for a year now, and i’m not confortable yet with it, while with the 5150 it has always been plug n thrash!!! 🤘🏻

I love these kinds of videos with a history lesson. Haha I was playing a fender combo in 1994 and that thing had quite a bit of gain on it... Then I moved on to a 4x12 with a H&H head with a MetalZone for a few years cause I couldn't afford a 5150. Good times lol.

In 1992, I was very happy with my Rat pedal in a Sovtek Mig 100 (not the H version, the first one)... Great to play Morbid Angel/Obituary... The Recto Rev D I've played later (I don't know about the C btw) is still one of my favorite grain

Great video. Love this stuff, this era. VH140c also came out that year, humbly I’d say included that one if you are looking to complete the stack of legends

My first High-Gain Amp was a Mesa Son of Boogie (S.O.B.) Man I miss that Amp, despite the permanent hearing loss.

Botch shirt ftw!! Great video, I wonder what the jcm 800s sold for back in the 80s.

Even the Mesa's weren't really that readily available until the later 90s. I remember most of us were stuck with Crate's or Marshall Valvestates until we were older and finally saved up for a Dual Rec.

The Peavey 5150 was my 2nd tube amp bought in 1996 for about 500.00 brand new when I was about 18yrs old and remember playing on a few dual rectos around that time and just thought they sounded thin and low gain? Little did I know that I did not know how the tone controls worked and just moved on the something that are more user friendly. Flash forward to today and I own 10 mesa rectos!!! lol

I won't ever claim to be a pioneer, but I remember when my brother and I turned up to a gig with matching brand new block letter 5150s and both guitarists in the other band playing started giving us a load of abuse for our "pussy hard rock amps" and asking us if we were going to play Hot for Teacher. The reason for this abuse is because we were in death metal bands, at that point you had a boosted JCM900, maybe with an ADA MP-1 in front of it if you were lucky.

Informative. It's good to hear history and context like this.

Man lol be your video I was just 16 in 94 when I started really playing . My dad had always played so I was always around music my hole life . Now 45 lol my dad had always had peavey amps I'm not a huge fan of them but yes they're where widely available everywhere. So that's what most people had in homes . I wish I could go back to 94 when I first started playing what some times there where . A lot of good memories then now I play only on Mesa boogie amps that started 10 years ago and man I can't find anything else that can sound as good as one or close to that . I had seen Mesa boogie in my music store way back in the day but could not afford them . We are so spoiled now and days vrs back then with all the options out there now it's amazing .

I had a 5150 block letter in 2003 and was playing in screamo and hard-core bands with it. I really miss that head. BTW sick botch shirt maybe I'll see you and the reunion show in Seattle in February!

Fluff....I'd love to see a video on the Sunn)) Model T100 original or re-issue (90's i believe) Which I played on live for years in the '90's in the One Eye Jack's in San Francisco. As far as your video here I totally remember going to Coast Music in Costa Mesa during the Cuckoo's Nest days when we were starting Moral Sin ( Later became Uniform Choice ) and hearing the Boss Distortion pedal which I purchased along with a Yamaha 12" combo amp that had crappy distortion but with the Boss it made our early shows sound good. It was years before I finally got my first Marshall then years later Mesa Mark IV then the Rectifiers. Never played the 5150's but it was decades waiting for good distortion amplifiers and the points you made here are so true and I think kinda weird it took so long for high gain amps to come to a more common place. Great content as always......dave nOwheRe marriott

I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize how important a tube screamer was for the 5150.

Thx. HEY! FLUFF thank you for the video. It took me to school, briefly.

I remember those days. The closest I could get to a high gain tone in the UK was a Marshall jcm 800 or guvnor pedal.

5150 will always be the GOAT. I couldn’t live without my Stealth 5150 head

I love this style of video. Keep up the good work, Fluff!

According to Mike Soldano, the Dual Rectifier's preamp schematic is an EXACT COPY of the SLO.

Crazy when it was 900 bucks back in 92', that was still considered expensive 30 years ago, now that they're rereleasing a near replica of that head for 1,300 bucks today that's considered a steal.

Thx for this vid Fluff… really! You make my mind come back to the 90s and my first approach to guitar and alternative/punk music! Thx for sharing with us your remembers and sensations as a young guitarist!

Hey Fluff, what about the Mesa Mark IV? Is it in the “write check and send it to Mesa and wait” category like a IIc+? It was out in ‘89 or ‘90, correct? I’m unfamiliar with the cost of it new when they came out.

1000$ in 1994 is 2058.77$ in today's $$ . I have the LBX-S. I paid 550$ in today's money. I love it. Thanks Eddie!

Love the Botch t-shirt nod...when I saw them the guitarist was using a Dual Rec/5150 stereo setup!

Really enjoyed this video man!

Still loving my $400 100watt peavey 5150 and my $225 2x12 5150 combo to this day...haha

1988 the Carvin X100B worked for me. perfect gain for 80's thrash. Boost in front got you almost modern high gain for even back then. Carvins were cheap and built like tanks. And they had incredible clean tone. I always wanted a MESA but could never afford them. When I think 5150 I think Carcass. The first time I saw a 5150 was watching carcass live early 90's

And the Mesa DR and 5150 sound amazing when played together in a band setting. Between myself and my buddies we play Mesa Dual Rectifiers, Mesa Nomad 100 (really good amp regardless of the haters), Peavy 6505s, EVH 5150s, and Victory Krakens. Personally love the Mesas for Rhythm and 5150/6505 for lead. They just mesh well in a mix

These are definitely iconic amplifiers, but personally I would go with the peavey 5150. Especially since I’m a huge peavey fan. I’ve always like these amps for its raw and heavy tones.

I have both these in my living room too :) Ref F and a block letter 🤘

Nice work Fluff

It's funny, I had the rectifier and loved it, but I vividly remember the 1st time I played a 5150 in store when it was new and messed with the resonance knob and I was like OH, this is gonna big for dudes that play metal.....

Solid State Randall was very popular due to Pantera and every band that they mentored.

Back in 2010 ish I could find 5150 heads all day on craigslist for $500 - $700. Wish I had picked one up.....

I picked up a 5150II half stack all original in mint condition barely played for $950 a month ago. I already have an 5150 Iconic playing through 2x12 Mesa but could not pass on that deal.

Super weird coincidence that I spent so much time yesterday researching amps and pedals from 1992 yesterday. I was born that year and am wanting to build a full 1992 rig

I dont know about the build quality, but for me the sound of 5150 is the best for metal.

...and now interested to see/hear the new "1992" that Peavey has coming out **one day**

My friend Mike bought a 5150 60W 212 combo when they were first released. I was very impressed. Lots of low end chunk but still defined and clear. I liked the sealed speaker cabinet idea but it was also very heavy (weight wise).

What about a JCM800 plus an OD?

5150 always gets it done, it has a certain low mid and fizz that makes it great to mix with other amps i.e. Elmwood M60 or Dual Rec

Great video man.

Mesa boogie are the og's of high gain!!! However much respect to peavey for making incredible amps at a reasonable price plus kim thayil from Soundgarden used a peavey vtm 120 on badmotorfinger his tone on that album is the best high gain tone of all time!!!

Have you ever played a Peavey Rockmaster 😳 Massive heavy tones 💪

Can’t beat a solid Peavey!

I got a block letter EVH sounds amazing!!!

the peavey ultra 60/120, butcher, and vtm 60/120 we available viable options as well and not too far off the 5150.

This was rad - I'd watch more of these.

And both are essentially takes on the SLO

Can't wait for your video on the 6505 ii

Listen up kids! True story right here! 🤘🏾

Ed's the GOAT on so many levels

When I first started playing Guitar (about 23 yrs ago) I drooled over the Dual Rectifier, and couldn't wait to own one. Fast forward roughly a year or two later when I tried one out I really didn't like it lol Peavey Amps/Heads were the ones that actually surprised me the most(even Marshall too), but Boogie Oversized Cabs I swore by.

I remember in the UK around that time we had the Peavey Bandit. It was an awful amp and I think because of that it had an impact of the 5150 in the UK. It took a while for it to take off because Peavey had to first get rid of the name it had got for the shit that was the bandit. I had a TSL100, DSL50 because it was the UK and Marshall. But towards the end of the 90s I got a Mesa Boogie Quad and Studio Pre Amp. The Duel Rec and Triaxis were totally out of any ones plans back then. I did get a Mesa MK3 and that thing was a monster. Its really interesting how this high gain story played out in the UK and the US.

That 5150 sounds like the pedal running through the loop of another amp would actually sound better. That pedal rules.

Peavey is supposed to be re-issuing them As "6505/1992"s.. I want to hear a side by side.. Was hoping that's what this was..

Laney AOR should get an honourable mention

nice 👍🏽 video dude.

Mesa MKIII, MK IV, 50 Cal, studio Pre and Quad Pre were available in a boogie dealer stores before these guys came out. Funnily enough, many today would still prefer a 2204/3 Marshall with a boost. I remember when the recto first came out, I was about 22. It just seemed like a bit of wooly mess. Too much low mid and bass emphasis with a sizzly top end. Was not a fan. I rocked a Sig 5150 in 95-96 and it was much better plug and play heavy amp. Les Paul in drop C and it was fantastic. Eventually went back to Marshall with some detours into “boutique” here and there. Ironically, I now play mostly Boogie but they made amps since then that work for me pretty good.

Would love to hear about the solid state amps like Ampeg and Crate amps used by early death metal and florida death metal

Thanks Ed!

I don't miss the 90's but I do miss being a kid.

I only use real american tube amps. No modelling. No digitizing , fender twin for cleans. Peavey half stack for distorted

Luv the channel. So what is your opinion of engl? Rock on 🤔👍👍✌️

I didn’t know they sell Topo Chico in the US.

Yooo! comin in with that Botch shirt

1992. Good year to be born.

I never liked the sound of the 5150. I have owned a couple different Rectifiers though.

Love that Botch shirt tho

Bandit 65 was all I could afford in 92. And I had to mug a load of grannies just for that.

Loved my 6505, but had to sell it many years ago when I moved out of my parents' house and into a tiny studio apartment. I'm thinking about getting one again. Never liked the sound or feel of the recto. Too stiff and harsh for me. The 5150 and 6505 have a nice squish.