The Peavey 5150 (OG) Model Thread

[Elf]

I'll give more thoughts in due course

This is great!!! Thanks for adding the settings!

 

[Orvillain]

And I freely admit I’m making an allowance for 6505 because the QC has it but honestly it should be a 5150. They’re not that fucking hard to come by and modeling a 6505, same or not, feels like cutting corners.

That's actually mental.

 

[Orvillain]

Everyone be aware, there is an 8th clip in the playlist that does not show visually. It is the GENOME one, and it sounds markedly different to all of the others.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

To me, Neural DSP Nolly sounded probably the most similar to the real amp. In second place, I would put Fractal, although I can tell that it has that typical low mid overemphasis. I thought Helix was okay, but I always feel that their Invective is the better 5150 model.

@MirrorProfiles Which one do you like best?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

My thoughts:

Fractal was actually kind of disappointing to me. Had to go way more extreme with settings and even then I couldn’t really get the low end as hefty/lively, nor the aggressive upper mids quite the same. It’s close enough but the areas where it was falling short are the specific things I’m looking for in a decent 5150

Helix. Was quite amusing - I’d saved my own default settings so loading the amp up was already 85% of the way there. I dialled the mids a bit higher than normal so matching that closed the gap a lot. It still sort of sounds like Helix but I think it’s a solid model and I’m actually surprised it gets a bad reputation (got a feeling it’s almost entirely down to its stock settings). Settings on this were closest to my real amp FWIW.

Nolly. Pretty solid, couldn’t quite nail every aspect, somewhat like the Fractal model (albeit with less extreme settings required). It has aspects I like more than Helix in the gain character/fizzy stuff. Low end is a little flat. I tend to use it over Helix because of the GUI and gain character.

Amplitube 5. It’s overlooked and better than people realise, but again, dreadful default settings. I prefer all others besides Genome to this one. If you already have it, it’s worth a go though.

STL Amphub. Feels quite nice to play. Had to exaggerate settings a lot to get close. It’s fine but I overlook it for the most part.

STL Middleton. I prefer this one to amphub but they’re 95% the same. Just like dialling it in more I guess. Still had to exaggerate things, still couldn’t really get the low end heft and dynamics feeling as good.

Genome. Didn’t like this one. It sounded and felt weird and it’s why I dived into this comparison again. Couldn’t really dial it in any closer, it’s kind of stuffy and stiff and bloated. It’s the only one I wouldn’t feel comfortable using for achieving a 5150 sound.

Real amp took literally 3 seconds to dial in. All the magic stuff is just inherently there. I know the tactile aspect and familiarity is a factor but you don’t have to do anything weird to achieve the goods. All of the emulations require some amount of work to approximate the good stuff and none really achieved it. They’re impressive and close, and yet also there’s a noticeable gap both in tone and the overall experience in getting there.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Damn, after listening to the sound samples, I actually feel that desire for a real amp again. As if I hadn't tried that a million times before and ended up going back to modelling every single time... But a Peavey Invective (basically a 6505+ with integrated Tube Screamer and noise gate) would be bloody awesome. With a chorus in the loop (the amp has two 9V outlets on the back, so I wouldn't even need a power supply) it would already cover 99% of my needs.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Really? I thought it was closer than Genome.

Didn’t catch the Genome clip. Tied for last with Amplitube IMO. Very wooly and undefined. Amplitube just sounded like a modeler from a long time ago to me.

 

[contrario]

Helix. Was quite amusing - I’d saved my own default settings so loading the amp up was already 85% of the way there. I dialled the mids a bit higher than normal so matching that closed the gap a lot. It still sort of sounds like Helix but I think it’s a solid model and I’m actually surprised it gets a bad reputation (got a feeling it’s almost entirely down to its stock settings). Settings on this were closest to my real amp FWIW.

I think Helix already sounds very close to the amp. The only thing I noticed is that it lacks a little bit low end. Increasing the bass/resonance parameter a touch can make it indistinguishable from the real amp. Great work by the way Ed. Thanks!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Increasing the bass/resonance parameter a touch can make it indistinguishable from the real amp

Helix fared well IMO. I tried increasing bass and resonance but it doesn't really add on in a dynamic way, it just kind of hums over the notes a bit so there's a trade off to make.

Just doing a few more lesser talked about emulations of 5150's because why the hell not?

 

[[Nathan]]

The real amp just seems to have this ferocious edge to it, only a small % but it makes a difference.
Middleton and Nolly came out great here.

I love all things 5150 but I genuinely think my desert island amp is a 50w 5150iii ivory. Amps come and go, and when I plug back into that one it’s as glorious as the day I got it 5 years ago or so.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Added Softube Blaze and Nembrini 8180.

Softube Blaze sounds quite good but there are few things that don't add up to me.

- its marketed as a 50W amp. Is this based on the (60W) combo? and it says MK II so maybe its a 5150 II?
- the master volume is just a clean level. It's a fixed master volume. This is a massive drawback. Sounds quite cool otherwise, but hard to make it exact. Lack of modelling the master volume behaviour is a disappointment.

Nembrini:

- weirdest default settings. At first I thought it was broken/totally wrong and then realised it has some weird filter settings switched on. Removing these helped a bit
- Still doesn't sound great to me. It has that woofy constant droney low end rather than punchy dynamics. Pretty flat sounding. Not terrible but not good either.

Kuassa VVV

- didnt even include it here because its so bad it would be pointless. Waste of time (maxed things out and tried all sorts and just doesn't sound close or even good.

Guitar Rig 7 Van 51

- Not as bad as Kuassa but I still had to set lots of controls to 10 for something that still feels weaker/smaller. Guessing there's some less than ideal poweramp/impedance modelling, coupled with some funky input gain stuff (had to crank the input levels). Almost included it but left it out for the same reasons as above. Nothing to really gain by bending something so far for it to sound different still.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

@MirrorProfiles Could you do me a favor and also include the Helix PV Vitriol (Peavey Invective) model? I mean, it's technically not an OG 5150 model, but with the Post Gain set to 10, it should almost be identical. I much prefer that model over the PV Panama, and would be really interested to hear how it compares to your amp.

kinda GASing for an Invective right now... :-O

 

[MirrorProfiles]

@MirrorProfiles Could you do me a favor and also include the Helix PV Vitriol (Peavey Invective) model? I mean, it's technically not an OG 5150 model, but with the Post Gain set to 10, it should almost be identical. I much prefer that model over the PV Panama, and would be really interested to hear how it compares to your amp.

kinda GASing for an Invective right now... :-O

I’ve tested it before (and I like it), happy to include it. I’ve never really considered it better or worse than the old model (aside from modelling all channels which is a big win). The extra channel volume makes it a bit more finicky to dial in and while it’s cool to have extra tones available I’d just prefer it to sound like a 5150.

My friend owned a real one for a bit and we compared it to my 6505 and 5150 block letter. Very easy to match them sonically once you deal with all the extra volumes in the circuit. Sounded every bit as good, if you wanted it to. If you want to take advantage of the extra gain staging, it veers off a bit but still sounds cool.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

[...] The extra channel volume makes it a bit more finicky to dial in and while it’s cool to have extra tones available I’d just prefer it to sound like a 5150. [...]

If I understood this correctly, the Master Volume of the Invective should behave exactly the same as the Post Gain control of the OG 5150s, when you set the channel volume to 10, which pretty much takes it out of the circuit.

From what I've read, lowering the channel volume and compensating with the Master volume should make the amp sound slightly darker. Helix Native apparently emulates this correctly - here is a comparison Post Gain 10 / Master 2.9 vs. Post Gain 8 / Master 6:

 

[MirrorProfiles]

If understood this correctly, the Master Volume of the Invective should behave exactly the same as the Post Gain controls of the OG 5150s, when you set the channel volume to 10, which pretty much takes it out of the circuit.

Yep, and I think there’s some stuff on the back too (a solo boost or something).