History of the 5150: The History of Eddie Van Halen's Iconic Amp 

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 RU-vid 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.

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.

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 🔥🔥🤘🤘

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!

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

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

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.

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

Excellent video, thanks for posting, much appreciated bro : )

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

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.

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.

Good work Lucas. Appreciate you sharing this.

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

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

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

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

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.

Good job on the history lesson Lucas! That was fascinating!

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

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

Great video, really dig it! good job thank you.

This is great information!! Thanks so much Lucas!!

That was really interesting. Thanks for putting all that together.

Very interesting and well researched!

Great job of putting it all together

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.

great info dude. maybe a couple dates off but other than that...good run down on the timeline. Good job!

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.

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.

Awesome vid!

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

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

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).

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.

Really informative vid! Thanks a lot! :)

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Great video man - regards from a UK subscriber!

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"

Thanks for your efforts, appreciate it.

Great video! Thank you for this information

Awesome video very informative. I'm wanting on the new 5150 IIII.V 45 watt Head and Combo amps!!

Great info! Thanks bro!

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.

Good video, and Thanks for the history of the 5150. I was confused for the longest time as to who was doing what between the different companies. Glen Drover

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

That was great. Thanks dude.

Well done. Thanks for the info.

Good stuff. Thanks for the research

Dude thanks for all the work! I have a 5150 signature head, well stack i should say, glad to know it is a sought after one, but chuck norris couldn’t pry it from my hands. Lol

Great rundown!

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

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

Awesome video pal, incredibly interesting!!!

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

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

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

Very informative, great work

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

excellent information in this video, thank you

Thorough, great video!!!

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!

This was excellent, thank you

Great video man

Hey Lucas I really enjoyed the video. I was wondering what year my 5150 head was with eds signature on it.seems to be around 93. Thanks buddy.

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.

I really enjoyed this video, I was definitely looking for a history video of this amp. But may I suggest to to a second video that goes a completely different approach? I’d be really interested in the amps history in terms of which bands and artists have popularized it and made it such a staple in metal production.

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.

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

Nicely done Lucas

Awesome info !

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.

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

Good job dude!

Very, very informative video!

Excellent Info...thanks !

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

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

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.

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

Thumbs up for the research and putting together this video! I also love how open you are to getting new information. I’m sure you’ll make a follow up video one day with all the updated data. Constructive criticism: be mindful of your speed and diction. You have a tendency to speak fast and to keep your mouth relatively closed which makes for a muffled sound probably difficult to follow fully by a lot of people. And secondly, (and I am guilty of this one too), watch out for words that you repeat too much (like “actually”). Well done regardless and thank you for making this video!

Good work!

Nicely done

Awesome 👍👍 😁 way to go very well done brother........

Forgot the 6505 Piranha...but other than that, u nailed it! Thanx for putting this together!