Looking for good advice: Most common problems with 5150 amps?

[Kromann]

Hello fellow forum members - it's been a long time since I started a thread - mostly been reading all the good stuff you guys come up with - but here goes:
I've finally decided to jump on the 5150 band wagon after many years with marshall gear so tonight I'm going to have look at an old Peavey 5150 212 combo (60w) and buy it if its in ok condition.

Since I have no first hand experience with 5150 amps I'm looking for good advice as to what I should look out for, any common problems with these amp, anything in particular i should check (other than just playing some riffs and hear if it sounds good - even though my sloppy playing will probably limit the sound severely...).

I can se on a picture sent to me from the seller that the sign on the back of the combo says "serial# 11743352" and also it says "MFG LOC-03" and after that "00328112/ACD02".

Seller has bought it used and has no idea when it is from or when/if the tubes have been replaced.

The price is less than half of what a new Peavey 6505 top costs here in Denmark.

I'm looking for all good advice on what I should be looking out for - any caveats, common problems, things you'd check if you were to buy it?

(I figured this post should be in the Equipment section - hope I was right)

Hope you can help me - any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[Torniojaws]

Well, the biggest problem with the combo is that the speakers suck You'll have to buy a new, separate cab for it

 

[plague_rider]

Pretty sure someone here modded one of the combos in a seperate head...??

do this and buy a decent cab...??

 

[Sidious]

Hehe, i've been looking at that exact 5150 for some time now on dba.dk. But don't worry i bought another amp, so i won't snatch it right under your nose.

Only "problem" i see, is that they need to be turned up fairly loud to sound really good. So if you try it out with too little volume you might be disappointed. And on another note, i would also consider chopping it into a seperate head/cab solution.

 

[Kromann]

Thx guys - yeah I dunno where I can find someone who can mod a 5150 in Denmark but I'll try to find a place if necessary (or send it to FJA mods...) . I've got some extra 4x12 cabs but was actually thinking about selling those and just use the combo speakers (I heard some pretty killer tones from that combo - anyone remember Disconnekt (forum user here) - he had insane tones from that combo - replaced the stock speakers with V30s - I'm also gonna replace the speakers. But if that fails - seperate cab, noted!

Anyone able to tell from the serial no when the combo was made? I've searched the net all over, no help there - and nothing on Peaveys website either. Thx for the replies so far guys.

 

[MetalJonesy]

i occasionally get intermittant hum/noise, which involves me fixing it by thumping it hard, think its a bit of a dodgy connection (this is my 3rd new 6505) had to take 2 back and get this one fixed, all under warrenty though. Pretty surprised considering how much they cost, you'd expect a bit more reliability.

Apart from the occasional hum (which is alot quieter than im making out) its been ok since then!

 

[Wolfeman]

I bought a 2x12 combo a few weeks back and love it. Yeah I modded it a bit, but it still sounded ok regardless. I will tell you you HAVE to get the bias mod done. It was night and day after that.

 

[guitarguru777]

Just keep in mind that the combo has more in common with the 5150II then the 5150 tone wise. Its a bit more fizzy in the top and the lows are a bit much on it so you will have to dial them back.

Also as far as the speaker, get a set of V30s for it! The Peavey speakers blow dog sack!

 

[kaomao]

the most common problem with 5150 that everyone seems to forget is that the head version, due to some fucked up caps (or whatever they're called), will leave you with no volume making you believe the powertubes are fucked up while they're not.
This happens randomly, and to let it get away, you gotta plug the channel remote control in and magically the volume will be back again.
Not all people have this issue, but quite a lot do have this problem, me included.

 

[Kromann]

Thanks for the good advice, much appreciated! Still haven't found a place in Denmark that mods 5150s. Damn. Sure there are some - I'll just have to keep looking. Anyone got a clue when the combo was made with the serial no. mentioned in the first post?

 

[guitarguru777]

From WikiPedia:

Serial numbers

* Serial numbers correlate to shipping dates of US models only. 1978 to 1995. Imports designated by EX, EXP, or BXP are not serialized by year. For more recent US serial numbers, please contact Peavey Customer Service.

* 8Mxxxxxx ............................................1978
* 0000xxxx t/m 0030xxxx ........................1978
* 0031xxxx t/m 0047xxxx ........................1979
* 0048xxxx t/m 0065xxxx ........................1980
* 0066xxxx t/m 0099xxxx ........................1981
* 0100xxxx t/m 0129xxxx ........................1982
* 0130xxxx t/m 0169xxxx ........................1983
* 0170xxxx t/m 0199xxxx ........................1984
* 0200xxxx t/m 0239xxxx ........................1985
* 0240xxxx t/m 0259xxxx ........................1986
* 0260xxxx t/m 0339xxxx ........................1987
* 0340xxxx t/m 0359xxxx ........................1988
* 0360xxxx t/m 0419xxxx ........................1989
* 0420xxxx t/m 0439xxxx ........................1990
* 0440xxxx t/m 0519xxxx ........................1991
* 0520xxxx t/m 0599xxxx ........................1992
* 0600xxxx t/m 0639xxxx ........................1993
* 0640xxxx t/m 0769xxxx ........................1994
* 0770xxxx >>.........................................1995


So according to that I would say post 1995 for sure

 

[TravisW]

Dirty or old effects return jack causing volume problems. That's the only real 5150 problem I've ever had other than tubes wearing out.

 

[Kromann]

From WikiPedia:

Serial numbers

* Serial numbers correlate to shipping dates of US models only. 1978 to 1995. Imports designated by EX, EXP, or BXP are not serialized by year. For more recent US serial numbers, please contact Peavey Customer Service.

* 8Mxxxxxx ............................................1978
* 0000xxxx t/m 0030xxxx ........................1978
* 0031xxxx t/m 0047xxxx ........................1979
* 0048xxxx t/m 0065xxxx ........................1980
* 0066xxxx t/m 0099xxxx ........................1981
* 0100xxxx t/m 0129xxxx ........................1982
* 0130xxxx t/m 0169xxxx ........................1983
* 0170xxxx t/m 0199xxxx ........................1984
* 0200xxxx t/m 0239xxxx ........................1985
* 0240xxxx t/m 0259xxxx ........................1986
* 0260xxxx t/m 0339xxxx ........................1987
* 0340xxxx t/m 0359xxxx ........................1988
* 0360xxxx t/m 0419xxxx ........................1989
* 0420xxxx t/m 0439xxxx ........................1990
* 0440xxxx t/m 0519xxxx ........................1991
* 0520xxxx t/m 0599xxxx ........................1992
* 0600xxxx t/m 0639xxxx ........................1993
* 0640xxxx t/m 0769xxxx ........................1994
* 0770xxxx >>.........................................1995


So according to that I would say post 1995 for sure

Sweeeet! Just what I was looking for (searched Wiki too - don't know why I didn't find that info...).

Thx everybody - I'm rushing off to try the amp out this very minute. Hopefully in some hours I'll be the lucky owner of this beast.

Thanks again!

 

[chrisjmp]

the most common problem with 5150 that everyone seems to forget is that the head version, due to some fucked up caps (or whatever they're called), will leave you with no volume making you believe the powertubes are fucked up while they're not.
This happens randomly, and to let it get away, you gotta plug the channel remote control in and magically the volume will be back again.
Not all people have this issue, but quite a lot do have this problem, me included.

I've had this problem a couple times with my 6505, I thought maybe it was my footswitch taking a crap on me, cause the only thing that seemed to fix it was to switch channels back and forth a bunch. Actually maybe it was something different, it was more a loss of gain then a big volume drop

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Dirty or old effects return jack causing volume problems. That's the only real 5150 problem I've ever had other than tubes wearing out.

^yup

 

[kaomao]

no it's not dirty jacks on the effects loop, is something related to caps really, because I cleaned the shit out of my 5150 (I sprayed a bottle on the entire board lol) and it never fixed that.
The only thing was to plug the remote controller and switching back and forth as chrisjmp said. and yes it feels like you'd set the gaint to 1

 

[TravisW]

no it's not dirty jacks on the effects loop, is something related to caps really, because I cleaned the shit out of my 5150 (I sprayed a bottle on the entire board lol) and it never fixed that.
The only thing was to plug the remote controller and switching back and forth as chrisjmp said. and yes it feels like you'd set the gaint to 1

Probably two similar but unrelated issues. I replaced the the crusty jack completely and that fixed it.

 

[Sidious]

Sweeeet! Just what I was looking for (searched Wiki too - don't know why I didn't find that info...).

Thx everybody - I'm rushing off to try the amp out this very minute. Hopefully in some hours I'll be the lucky owner of this beast.

Thanks again!

So... did you get it?

 

[Copper_head]

Gigged, traveled on weekends with one for 12 years.
Eats preamp tubes.
I would have to rotate two fresh ones in V1 & V2 every other month and push them down the line.
Sponsored, amp was sent to Peavey, regularly serviced etc., had two of them.
Told Peavey about the tube thing but they were OK with it.
Generally they are tanks and will take a lot of abuse.
Difficult to work on though because of the "box" layout of the boards.
Twice on the road I had to replace the input jack, just wore out. Not fun doing this backstage between sound check and showtime.
Noisy, best bet is to click to the rhythm channel between songs.
IMO best tubes were Sovtek 5881 power, Ruby pre.

 

[Kromann]

So... did you get it?

Yes sireee! It's a monster... weighs well over 40 kilos, I'd rather move my marshall stack around than this beast because at least the stack can be moved in three parts - this can't. Whooa it one heavy bugger. Biult like a tank. Sounds like a dream. Can't wait to hear how it fits in a mix.

I'll look into the V30 replacement and mods later. Right now this is as good as it gets.

Thx for all the good advice fellas!