Ep. 17 - James Brown of Amptweaker, Peavey Van Halen 5150, Satriani JSX, Synyster Gates 

I did have one funny story I forgot to mention....I used to do the Peavey Seminars every month when the dealers would come down to the factory and we'd teach them about gear and stuff. Well coincident with one of them we had Eddie coming in to do some tweaking on guitars and amps, and I was next to the auditorium setting up for that tweak session...of course I was playing EVH licks getting ready, and didn't realize a seminar was going on next door. I heard that one guy in the audience said 'hah, who does that guy think he is, Eddie Van Halen'. About an hour later Eddie comes walking into the seminar room to say hi, and everybody turned and looked at the guy like 'dude, you just said that stuff about EDDIE VAN HALEN'! I told that story at every seminar afterwards! James B

This was awesome. Great show and episode. The stories and history this man has are fabulous. EVH gearheads are grinning from ear to ear right now. Thank you.

James. You designed a classic. The 6505 plus is the best amp I HAVE Ever owned.

Mark and dave you need to bring james back again this was one of the best episodes!!!!

In amps like the 5150 with all those gain stages I see why tweaking each stage to satisfy an artist that won't even use a click switch and say he likes b better than a is frustrating at best, impossible when way worse. I think it is cool that Eddie's first suggestions was to start with an actual PV product, the VTM according to this interview. It had many switches that were common things to try as mods. He wants to start with the one with the most options then remove them. Well not remove but have it set to one setting that EVH wants all the time. BTW if you want to mess with a PV to learn about mods like trying different cathode bypass caps the Windsor is pretty good. Many mods I did on mine didn't even involve taking the circuit board out. Many mods for beginners are solderless involving cutting the leads on certain capacitors. Add an iron and a lead snip combined with a switch to uncut it and I have a Bass Amplifier ala Black Sabbath but not near as loud. The no switch version involved cutting a lead or two and wire wrapping a jumper to the left behind leads. Four dabs of solder once it sounded correct for both bass and guitar and I just made my gig pack contain less gear.

Sitting here on s Sunday night in February 2024 watching this one again. Let's party.

Another awesome show guys. How cool is James Brown? I hope you have him on again someday. Well done.

Omg! You out did yourself Marc. This show was amazing! Thanks for asking my question about Ed’s exact amp settings. I really appreciate it. You have THE best show on YT!!!

What an absolute gift James is...smart, humble and hilarious

Thank you for that Classic 30 and that whole Classic series. One of my all-time favorites ❤️

Fantastic episode. Very cool insight into the workings behind the scenes of some of the most important modern guitar amps.

This is such a great video! Maybe someday would love to see John Fields, Bobby Baldwin and/or Lee Santilano on here. All of them are friends and work(ed) at Peavey. Those guys made the VB bass amps and to me are some of the most innovative designs for large power tube bass amps including the SMPS of the VB-3 and VB-MA for Michael Anthony.

I wish peavey would bring back the xxx and move production back to the usa

To cool... two of the best James and Dave!!!!

Great to hear these stories James.

What a great guy and interview. I was laughing about the Jose amp that never showed up. Why? because I have gut shots of it, ha ha. Its a well built amp with some serious tricks from back in the day. George has them also from Metro. Cheers.

I used to have a 5150 combo, and it was just too loud and too heavy. Other than that, it was a great amp. One of my first amps was a Bandit with the Scorpion speaker. That was about 1980, and what a great little solid state amp. If I bought a Peavey today it would probably be a Classic thirty. Great interview!!!

Cant beleive how james and dave can remember so much technical stuff

Great video , these guys have so much knowledge between them

the only problems in 5150 are the molex connectors for filaments,they tend to burn out,and the screen grid resistor open easy,other than that its pretty good to work on,transformers are really massive.

James works for Fender now? Is he part of the EVH line of amps now?

As soon as I plugged the Black Peavey Vandenberg into the VTM60 full stack in the showroom here in Norway, and then the Triumph 60 amp, I knew that this was the start of a totally new era for Peavey, and that is still going on :) So the comp switch on the VTM really step down the amp to half power?? My amps become 30 watts each, with double the preamp gain :) Another gem was the Bravo 30 112 ... think about a reissue of that little hot rod amp in a head version! BTW I have 2 pictures somewhere, from Ed's studio with the prototype Peavey I call "cardboard" sitting atop of a pink turkey-skin Tolex Soldano SLO ;D

Love the roll bar on his pedals

Nice to see the sub-numbers increasing! Great show!!

Idk why it took me so long to find this channel. Amazing content!

I watch this show and the food network..

God! I love you!

Guys it would be amazing if you got Jeff Diamant from Diamond Amps and Guitars on here!

I want my VTM cover! 😂 I had to sell my Super Lead 100 because it was the loudest thing on earth.. So loud I couldn't ever use it but in an open field.

This may sound bad due to my ignorance but is that Peavey XXX really similar sound wise to the Mesa boogie mark IV? I know he mentioned a similarity. I tried out the vypyr vip with that xxx modeled in it and it sounded good.

Goddamn this was a good one!!! James is so fukin cool! Love his stories. Rip ED

Dangit missed my chance of the buxom boost pedal......lol

i play 5150 a number of time at the rehersal studio. still cannot really control that amp =)

Love van halen 3

Machine Head has a killer metal tone... 5150 with a tube scream in front :)

That whole apologizing to Marshall for spreading misinformation at the beginning of the video was super weird. I don’t know what it was in reference to because I have not seen the previous video but I feel like he should’ve went into detail about what was incorrect and what the facts are… Anyways those are just my thoughts this is the first episode I have ever watched

I really want to know who it is That if responsible for the peavey valvking amps combo and head units because THAT valvking sounds better than the 6505+ and the 5150 to me !!!!

2:39 it is not going to be the availability of tubes, it is going to be government regulation of efficiency vs power consumption. That is a good thing in principle, meh. Available tube for new designs? There are hundreds of millions [unless thrown away] of old NOS tubes that although not intended for audio as they are intended to be in TV horizontal or vertical deflector circuits. Plus Compactron with many functions that can easily be 'forced' into audio use. I know there are small builders doing it, but everyone wants to believe 6¿6 12¿¢7 were designed for guitarists they so not dude . What about the all American 5 . Low power rigs can made that absolutely kill soundwize. You must have an isolation transformer. So, what!?!? B. Wait their is more. I rebuilt an 800watt power amp for PA out of Horizontal Hold circuit transistors. When I looked up the transistors I needed they were discontinued. The alternatives were all fromTV horizontal deflector. I'm guessing there are roolz that do that, duh. I Good enough for Live gigs. It is an old Yamaha design from the mid 90's I pretty sure.

BAN THEM BOTH !!!

Mark I realize this is years ago but man going umm um is something a interviewer doesn't do that something you do for yr wife so she doesn't go you listening to me love you and yr show but the um um is to much not needed just a suggestion

love the channel but no musician i know can afford an amp that costs a 1000 bucks and up. real musicians are poor

I worked at the EVH Wolfgang plant in the late 90s as final assembly, paint, buffing and pickup assembly manager in the late 90s and had an opportunity to meet James and a few of the R&D guys over lunch one day. Very cool, very humble, very highly revered guy.

"This beer is defective." That's GOLD.

James Brown.. I built a tube amp for $299.00 made in the USA..!!! LOL We give him LOTS of Credit..!!

Can't wait to hear Mike Soldano on this channel!

Awesome interview! I could hear James talk for hours. Bonus at 1:45:09 EVH's settings

Legitmately the coolest guitar discussion channel on RU-vid. You bring in legend after legend, and set up a comfortable environment that opens up insanely deep discussion.

Best one, James is THE amp man!

Wow, I just now got the chance to watch this one and it's absolutely stellar. I've been playing James Brown's Peavey amps all my life (VTM, 5150, JSX, Classic series) and this was a real treat to get to hear him tell the stories behind some of these amps. Great work guys, and thanks James for all of the great products through the years!

I've watched this tone talk about 4 times now lol I have way too much time on my hands apparently

In Feb 2000, a friend of mine told John Petrucci he wanted a noise gate to stop notes from ringing out. Petrucci told him: "Just learn to play".

A lot of this detailed amp chat is way over my head but I’m so fascinated by it. As a noob guitar player the history of tone especially Eddy’s sound is so interesting. Another banger of a show, cool guy.

Sooooo that's where the name "Brown Sound" comes from, great interview!

If you just met him on the street, you’d never know ol’ James was a damn fine electrical engineer?!?! Makes him even cooler in my book 🤘🏼

Alexander Howard Dumble as a guest would also be nice. It would do wonders for your channel. ;-)

This gentleman is a legend and a very nice guy!

I laughed out loud for about 3 min straight uncontrollably when James was going through Eddies settings and got to master volume & said “too loud for Any human” 😆😆😆

What nice guy James is..

Everyone who's ever worked on or inspected Ed's Marshall says the same thing... It's a STOCK Marshall with the exception of some replaced parts(like P.T. Tubes, etc.) due to wear & tear. Even Ed says the Jose stories were just to help give Jose some business. Btw, the "Top Jimi Brown Sound" profiles(video here on RU-vid) were all done with a stock Marshall and a Variac(to lower the voltage). Those profiles sound so dead on Van Halen, it's freakin spooky!

I had a VTM 60 back in 90 and ran a Yamaha Spx,90 in the effect loop with some gain!!! Man that was a great amp!!! A friend of mine had the butcher and I loved the sound of that too!!!

I just found this my chance. Google searching differences of the models of peavey 5150s. This was excellent!!!!

Definitely one of the best episodes so far , james is awesome.....👍🏼🇺🇸

James is such a nice guy, met him and his wife at NAMM. Thx for all the tone my man!!

Honestly, the combo is by far the best version in terms of sound. IMHO Best amp I’ve ever played and I got mine for 400 bucks.

Please have James on again.

Way back when I worked at a music shop, we the employees always had our favorite "misfits". Great gear that was ignored by most because they didn't know the brand or it didn't look cool etc. Anyways... big standout misfits were Peavey's Vht and the Kustom Koupe amps. I loved hearing that they came from the same mind. I clearly enjoy his work! Great show. This was my first episode

Classic is the best i love them CLEAN !!!!!

Thanks for another great show guys! James you ARE the coolest! Cheers!

Killer episode. James was awesome.

One of your best shows, love hearing from these cats who have such rich histories and this guy was so personable you just have to like him. James, you are a treasure!

James is just a cool and genuine guy. Love the show! Thanks again Marc and Dave!

All hail James Brown , a true genius!

I just re-watched this for the third time but, I think the Triple X became the 3120 and the JSX became the Triple X 2

I love the 5150 tone, the only thing I dislike about it is that every guitar sounds the same on lead/crunch channel. Great interview, hell of a history. Thanks.

i read an interview where eddie admitted he lied for years and didn’t use a modded amp all he had “at the time” was a marshall that he bought but didn’t know it was a 240 volt version and that helped him get his tone because the amp running on 120 volts made the amp sound like it was cranked at lower volumes.

This guy's so nice and seems so witty!

Just bought a 6505. This guy is a TRUE LEGEND

Hittin' the button? That's what I used to do a lot more in my 20's than these days...

This is a fantastic interview..!! I met Hartley Peavey, in Florida and he has told me so many of these stories about working with EVH. There was a lot of issues with Eddie and how he wanted things to be built and of course the sound quality.. RIP EVH,,!! The EVH disconnection from Peavey happened when Eddie showed up at the NAMM show drunk and couldn't play crap and acted very poorly in the Peavey Booth..

Just looked online...a variac is around $70 and a small plug-in digital volt meter is $10.

It would be great to have a downloadable MP3 version of this, to be able to listen to it offline (like a podcast).

I have seen this interview about 4 times, and at this point I would like to know what does Dave think about what he said on 2:39:10 hahahahaha holy shit! Cheers guys!

ADRIAN Vandenberg, not Adrienne...Thx for the show!

James, you're the best! I love your stories, experience and intelligence. Plus your accent and speach cadence remind me of my dad (passed on) and his brother, both born in Alabama, and both lived all over the south, the north, the entire world, and still retained that southern charm.

Amazing and informative interview with a true American hero! I'm about to crack open a Michelob Ultra and crank up my 5150! Thanks to Marc and David for making this happen.

What a cool guy

Love this guy! And he has a cool name James Brown you are the man!

wow..great job Marc...more knowledge in this interview then all combined !..we need a Friedman & Brown collaboration !!!..Dave give him a call !

Another top-notch show...great guest!!! 💗💗💗

So much respect for this Man. A true legend. What a tremendous interview. God bless JB.

Peavey Pacer. Great little humble amp. I've used it for country, jazz, and rock. All NPN except for one FET and one PNP. 45 watts of good sound. In a regular size club, I figured that if a band was going to get louder that what I could put out with my 45 Watt Peavey, I wasn't get into any volume contests with other band members. When Peavey says 45 watts, though, they mean it. That is a loud little amp. Its interesting about Van Halen wanting those of us in the hoi polloi class to be able to afford his signature amps. Other celebrity endorsed products automatically get a higher price tag, commonly. Look at the Slash Epiphone Les Paul. With his signature on it, I thiink that they raise the price. Look at, reportedly, Les Paul wanted his guitar to be gold because it looked expensive. Ed, appears to have been a man of the people. You gotta love that. Heartley always had the idea of affordability, too. These two guys had the average musician in mind, and that's pretty cool. PS: The last time that I used a tube amp was 50 years ago. Solid state has been great, for this whole time. I've got enough stuff to think about when doing gigs. Worrying about tubes is that last thing that I want to do.

Awesome interview!!! Great inside info and great to put a face to the name. The 5150 amp is not only iconic but legendary as well. Thanks for all your hard work James!

Still heartbreaking that we lost Ed. I don’t think any other death has affected me more.

I like the ones with a bunch of knobs for variations of "not good" sound! LMAO Classic!

Hell yeah! USM alumni! 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Just for the record, Kiss has had two fairwell tours. The first was a fairwell to the reunion of the original members. The second is going on right now, The End If the Road Tour. They have never said any other tour was a fairwell tour.

I love this show guys!!! Anything I can do to keep it going, let me know, fantastic, every episode! 🤘🏻

Rewatching this episode for at least the third time, but it may be more like the fifth. Love any stories about Saint Edward! I was thinking it may be cool one day to take all the tone talk discussions about Eddie, and put them in one video. I think there's be a LOT of us who would love that.

Leo Fender utilized the same philosophy when he designed his amps and Guitars

Lots of good stories and info! Thanks Mark, Dave and James