5150 combo owners...need help

[brentrocks]

I have a question for all you 5150 combo owners out there....

I just bought one, but i don't have it yet....i was looking at the manual at peavey .com.

on the back of the amp there is a effects return jack and a effect send jack. which one would you plugg your pedals into?? or if you like had an effects rack?

or do they have to be hooked up in a contious loop? (into the return jack, to pedal, into the send jack) i have never owned a higher end amp like this before...so i'm a little lost.

thanks for the help!

 

[Colin]

I have a question for all you 5150 combo owners out there....

I just bought one, but i don't have it yet....i was looking at the manual at peavey .com.

on the back of the amp there is a effects return jack and a effect send jack. which one would you plugg your pedals into?? or if you like had an effects rack?

or do they have to be hooked up in a contious loop? (into the return jack, to pedal, into the send jack) i have never owned a higher end amp like this before...so i'm a little lost.

thanks for the help!

I had one (kind of miss it) the clean channel is much better than the 5150. I believe the 5150 II has the updated clean channel plus extra eq. The send and return is for the fx loop. Very heavy amp and needs to be played very loud. But if you want to reduce the wattage of the 5150 combo. Unplug the speaker and plug it into the extension cabinet jack. This will cut the the wattage in half as the extension cabinet output only runs at 30 watts. Hope this helps.

Colin.

 

[acosmicfriend]

^^^i don;t think that's exactly what he was asking, but maybe I'M the one misunderstanding...

anyway,

The effects 'send' and 'return' are both needed for the effects loop. the 'send' takes the signal from the preamp and 'sends' it to your effects for processing. once your effects are done, they send the signal back to the 'return' to the poweramp. So basically the cable structure would look like this (---> = cable)

guitar--->input on 5150(to effects send)--->effects--->effects return(to poweramp and then to speakers)

also, by 'effects' i mean anything from pedals to rack equipment.

now you may not want ALL of your effects in the effects loop (namely OD pedals, but, hey, you;ve got a 5150, whaddya need them for?). Anyway, i hope that helps you out, and if i was just staing the obvious, i apologize.

 

[brentrocks]

yeah, i see what you are saying....i was just wondering more than anything.

i may want to get a delay or a chorus pedal down the road (who knows), but i could just run those through the input, i think.

all the bells and whistles....i'm not used to such a nice amp. i cant wait to get it and try it out!!

it has been really cold here, and it being shipped UPS...i should probably let the amp get to room temp before i fire it up??? tube amps are probably touchy that way?? i don't want blow anything

 

[bluebullet]

i read that tip about plugging in to the extension cab to lower the wattage on another forum and it was later found out that this will blow up your amp but dont just take my word for it search the peavey forum or email peavey and ask them. as to your original question the effect send goes to the input of the pedal and the return hooks up to the output of the pedal . delays and modulation effects do sound better in the loop. distortion and filter effects sound better going through the front input. hope this helps and congrats on the new 5150.

 

[slukather]

I have a question for all you 5150 combo owners out there....

I just bought one, but i don't have it yet....i was looking at the manual at peavey .com.

on the back of the amp there is a effects return jack and a effect send jack. which one would you plugg your pedals into?? or if you like had an effects rack?

or do they have to be hooked up in a contious loop? (into the return jack, to pedal, into the send jack) i have never owned a higher end amp like this before...so i'm a little lost.

thanks for the help!

One thing you might want to look at doing to your 5150, is put jj's in the pre amp, it'll sound much better.

Scott.

 

[SteveB]

Brent,

I would let *ANYTHING* that runs on electricity get up to room temp before plugging it in and turning it on. Coming in from winter cold, there is always a chance that condensation could form somewhere inside and short something out.

Now admittedly, the chance of that happening is probably miniscule, but it is greater than 0%, so why take the chance, right?

 

[pack-rat]

Brent,

I would let *ANYTHING* that runs on electricity get up to room temp before plugging it in and turning it on. Coming in from winter cold, there is always a chance that condensation could form somewhere inside and short something out.

Now admittedly, the chance of that happening is probably miniscule, but it is greater than 0%, so why take the chance, right?

Yup.

 

[brentrocks]

One thing you might want to look at doing to your 5150, is put jj's in the pre amp, it'll sound much better.

Scott.

that is all greek to me!!! i have never owned a tube amp before. is it as easy as plugging in a light bulb?

 

[brentrocks]

Brent,

I would let *ANYTHING* that runs on electricity get up to room temp before plugging it in and turning it on. Coming in from winter cold, there is always a chance that condensation could form somewhere inside and short something out.

Now admittedly, the chance of that happening is probably miniscule, but it is greater than 0%, so why take the chance, right?

GOOD POINT!!!

thanks!!!

 

[slukather]

that is all greek to me!!! i have never owned a tube amp before. is it as easy as plugging in a light bulb?

Yeah pretty much, you just have to take them out carefully, the socket is very sensitive, and can get damaged easly. I'm not sure where they are in the combo, l have a 5150ii head, the manual will tell ya. But if you are happy with the sound you get out of it now, wait until it need's a tube change.

But congrates on a good buy.

Scott.

 

[wired]

FYI,

Great purchase. I own two 5150 heads & a combo ... you won't find a better high-gain amp for the $$.

Anyway, an earlier post mentioned using JJ tubes in the preamp. I would suggest either JJ's or Electro-Harmonix in the preamp & SED tubes in the power amp. You will notice a huge difference from the stock tubes Peavey uses (either Chinese or Sovtek) which can sound harsh. The amp sounds much fuller & smoother with good tubes, and you'll get less high-end shrieking feedback.

There's my 2 cents. Enjoy your amp!!

 

[brentrocks]

FYI,

Great purchase. I own two 5150 heads & a combo ... you won't find a better high-gain amp for the $$.

Anyway, an earlier post mentioned using JJ tubes in the preamp. I would suggest either JJ's or Electro-Harmonix in the preamp & SED tubes in the power amp. You will notice a huge difference from the stock tubes Peavey uses (either Chinese or Sovtek) which can sound harsh. The amp sounds much fuller & smoother with good tubes, and you'll get less high-end shrieking feedback.

There's my 2 cents. Enjoy your amp!!

when i get this amp home (hopefully tues or weds) i may call on some of you to coach me through identifing the different tube sections and kinds of tubes. I downloaded a manual and does not seem to be helpfull at all!! they must want you to take it to your peavey dealer to have the tubes changed!

how many tubes total does this amp have? also, what can i expect to pay for tubes in this amp?

 

[blackspy]

5150 Combo owners...need help

There are 5 12AX7 tubes in the pre-amp, and two 6L6's in the power amp section. The pre-amp tubes are laid out as follows.

(From right to left, from the back of the amp of course)

1. Input Gain/2nd Gain Stage shared by Rhythm & Lead channels.
2. Shared by the Rhythm & Lead channels.
3. Additional Gain, mostly for the Lead channel.
4. For the FX LOOP, but also adds slight amount of Gain when turned on.
5. Phase Splitter.

Changing tubes is easy, just five or six screws and you're in. If your combo is anything like mine, you'll want to change the tubes that are stock from the factory. Mine are horrible harsh, brittle sounding things. I ordered a 5150 Combo retube kit from Eurotubes.com, $69.50. I haven't received it yet, but I've heard nothing but good about them.

One thing to note as well, this amp seems to really need to be tweaked settings wise, to get it just right. But once you dial in a nice tone ... you're in high gain amp heaven.


Good luck.

 

[Raz]

One thing I want to mention is, when using the effects loop, experiment where to put different effects. Don't just put something in the loop, or in the input path, try out different combos till you're satisfied...meh that's all folks...

 

[brentrocks]

cool!!! when i get it, i'll open up the back and see what's there and let you know.

if one tube goes bad, will the amp still operate??? or is it kinda like a complete circut, if one goes, the whole thing shuts down?

 

[blackspy]

I would think if a tube in the power section went for sure the amp wouldn't work, blow the fuse maybe. Preamp tubes seem to start acting strangely before they actually die, so you'd likely notice before it totally blew. I'm not all that up on tube amplifiers, so I couldn't say for sure. I will say this though, the 5150 combo is anything but a fragile amp. It's built like a tank, and weighs about as much.

 

[slukather]

cool!!! when i get it, i'll open up the back and see what's there and let you know.

if one tube goes bad, will the amp still operate??? or is it kinda like a complete circut, if one goes, the whole thing shuts down?

If a pre amp tube blows, you'll probably realize it, cause 1 channel will stop working, effects loops etc, cause there is 1 tube for your lead channel, 1 for the effects loop etc etc, l think there was 5 pre amp tubes all up in the 5150 combo. If a power tube blows you'll might notice your sound change, but l'm not too sure, l've never run an amp on just 1 tube, cause it's not recommended, well if the power amp tubes start glowing blue, they need to be replaced.

Scott.