The Peavey 5150 (OG) Model Thread

deadpool_25 said:
That invective. I remember back in the day a guy was going on and on about that thing on SSO. He was an early adopter and was really fucking annoying.
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Suspicious I See You GIF by Pudgy Penguins
 
I keep comparing my 6505+SuhrRL to the Fractal model and whatever error there is it's within a small tone stack tweak or some potentiometer tolerance, the saturation and gain character sounds the same to my ear so I have no complaints with this model.
 
MirrorProfiles said:
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
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Exactly the same experience, 100%, and I’ve been saying this for quite a while after comparing the model with my 1992 Block Letter. There’s no way to get that low-end extension and punch that the real amp has, and the same goes for the upper mids, the model sounds more smoothed out, so to speak. With the bass set to 6 on the real amp, I always have to set it to 8.5–9 on the model, and it’s still not even close. (same with the resonance/depth).

According to the wiki, the reference amp has a bias mod, which I’ve always hated on this amp. Setting the grid bias much lower is the first thing I do on the model, but the problems are still the same.
 
eloygperez said:
Exactly the same experience, 100%, and I’ve been saying this for quite a while after comparing the model with my 1992 Block Letter. There’s no way to get that low-end extension and punch that the real amp has, and the same goes for the upper mids, the model sounds more smoothed out, so to speak. With the bass set to 6 on the real amp, I always have to set it to 8.5–9 on the model, and it’s still not even close. (same with the resonance/depth).

According to the wiki, the reference amp has a bias mod, which I’ve always hated on this amp. Setting the grid bias much lower is the first thing I do on the model, but the problems are still the same.
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I love Fractal gear in general, but, yeah, I always find it to have a smoothed over tone and feel that you can't dial out. That is great if you are a lead player, but causes issues if you want aggressive chunky metal rhythm tones.

I am finding capture devices, like ToneX and NAM, seem to get these tones much better.
 
Shask said:
love Fractal gear in general, but, yeah, I always find it to have a smoothed over tone and feel that you can't dial out. That is great if you are a lead player, but causes issues if you want aggressive chunky metal rhythm tones.
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I wouldn’t say that it is a “Fractal” problem like that. There are plenty of models that do the upper-mids attack think quite nicely. But some models like the HBE, 5150, etc. which should (based on what older versions of them in the FAS-verse or other modellers or emulations or captures or recordings sound like) have that attack don’t seem to. I’ve never had trouble getting that chunky rhythm tone out of, say, a Mark model, or any of the JCM 800 derivatives. Some of the FAS original models also do the job very well.
 
saarangnarayan said:
I wouldn’t say that it is a “Fractal” problem like that. There are plenty of models that do the upper-mids attack think quite nicely. But some models like the HBE, 5150, etc. which should (based on what older versions of them in the FAS-verse or other modellers or emulations or captures or recordings sound like) have that attack don’t seem to. I’ve never had trouble getting that chunky rhythm tone out of, say, a Mark model, or any of the JCM 800 derivatives. Some of the FAS original models also do the job very wsoon?
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I don't think it is only Fractal. I notice the same thing with many traditional modeling devices like Fractal, Line 6, and Amplitube. They have this smoothed over feel and tone that you cant really dial out. I just find captures to do this better.

Speaking of Mesa Marks, even those real amps have the same problem. A Mark IV for example always has a smoothness you can't remove. It won't get aggressive like a 5150.
 
All… I’m ashamed to say that I had never given the PV505 model a try in my QC until today… Holy fuck have I missed out!!! Yes I am dumb.

:banana :rofl :headbang:rawk


Then I went searching and discovered the “Father and Son” preset that someone mentioned in 5150 related thread in the Amps & Cabs section… Another mind blower! 🤯

I must say I thought I liked the Nolly Rythm amp (his modded 5150) but compared to say the SLO model I found it a bit too compressed. So I’m finding I actually prefer the OG PV505 model. A bit less compressed than the Nolly. Go figure!

IMG_9073.jpeg
 
Shask said:
I love Fractal gear in general, but, yeah, I always find it to have a smoothed over tone and feel that you can't dial out. That is great if you are a lead player, but causes issues if you want aggressive chunky metal rhythm tones.

I am finding capture devices, like ToneX and NAM, seem to get these tones much better.
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Oh man thanks for putting it in such a good way. I love Fractal and have used them for years, and will continue to, but they have this sort of constant firmness in the midrange thing going on, which like you said makes them great for lead, but I can NEVER get my favorite amps (BL 5150 and 5153) to work "correctly" for big chunky rhythms without just making all post-EQ into a smiley scoop. I wonder if it's something that's just really emphasized in certain high gain amps, like @saarangnarayan alluded to.

@MirrorProfiles This is such a cool series though, what I really noticed was how impactful the cab section of the respective modelers/plugins are. Quite a few of them sound completely different when using their own cabs, often far worse, but when you isolate the amps into the same IR program, you get some pleasantly different results. The more I listen, the more I wonder how much of my criticisms of various modelers and plugins lie within the cabinet sections as opposed to the amps. But man, the chonky chonk of the real 5150 just can't be perfectly replicated, you hear the real thing and just go "oh yeah, that's it". Chonky sexy beast.
 
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RiffDuck said:
Oh man thanks for putting it in such a good way. I love Fractal and have used them for years, and will continue to, but they have this sort of constant firmness in the midrange thing going on, which like you said makes them great for lead, but I can NEVER get my favorite amps (BL 5150 and 5153) to work "correctly" for big chunky rhythms without just making all post-EQ into a smiley scoop. I wonder if it's something that's just really emphasized in certain high gain amps, like @saarangnarayan alluded to.
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Yeah, I always say they have a squishy pick attack, like there is always a compressor on that you cant turn off smoothing everything together slightly, just enough it doesn't punch in an immediate way.

I also agree about the mids having a stiffness. I have always had to scoop out around 500hz on all the Fractals I have had back to the first Standard,
 
Home and listening on the nice setup. So cool you took the time to do all of this, Ed! Killer.
:beer
MirrorProfiles said:
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.
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Only got to the Fractal and it sounded similar, but also hollowed out. Like the marrow of the
bone had been sucked out of it. It's kind of neat to hear this comparison, because I love the
5150OG in real life, but never use it in the Fractal, in spite of trying to, and wanting to.

The Helix surprised me a bit. Good showing.

No experience with any of the other platforms.

Fun stuff. :beer



Edi: See you unwittingly got us Fractalites an updated model. Again. :banana Gonna get my Mom to make
some homemade cookies and I'll send them to you. White Chocolate/Macadamia Nut.... or just straight
Chocolate Chip. :unsure:
 
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I'm in this club. Bought mine new in 1993 for $675. Somehow still have the receipt.

Have been mostly playing the green channel boosted for the last year or so, EQ in the loop. Before that, always red, and I had no idea what I was missing. I think I ignored the crunch function because it wasn't foot switchable.

5150.JPG
 
I just compared the 5150 sig to the PV505 model on the QCM running through the 5150’s power amp and my cab (custom oversized 2x12 by BFG Cabs). I setup the amp in my normal way and dialed the model in to sound as close as possible.

The settings ended up much different on the model but it sounds identical as far as I can tell.

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deadpool_25 said:
I just compared the 5150 sig to the PV505 model on the QCM running through the 5150’s power amp and my cab (custom oversized 2x12 by BFG Cabs). I setup the amp in my normal way and dialed the model in to sound as close as possible.

The settings ended up much different on the model but it sounds identical as far as I can tell.

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View attachment 59369
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Does it matter the QC model is a 6505?
 
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The QC 5150/6505 absolutely slaps.

slap GIF


The only difference is you don’t crank the presence.
 
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