Peavy 5150 II question

[Rockstar216]

Is their anyway to get the clean and crunch rhythm channel to have the same volume or am I going to have to just use the rhythm channel as clean and the Lead channel as the main dirt channel and use a boost pedal for solos? I realize this amp has no global master vol and it's a real PITA because for what I'm doing I need a clean channel, not a roll back of the dirt vol type clean either. I know that this amp was made with a specific task in mind but I need both a decent clean and hard hitting distortion.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Peavy 5150 II question

EQ/flat boost in the loop for solos/leads to make it into a quasi 3 channel amp, no other way to do it unfortunately.
Dial back the mids to 0 on the green channel for your cleans, gets rid of some of the 'sterile' character and sounds a bit nicer that way. Throw a delay pedal in the loop too, and you'll have decent (if not quite gorgeous, lush Fender chimey) cleans

 

[Adieu]

Re: Peavy 5150 II question

Crunch and clean are locked together, yeah, although the clean is really a bit of an afterthought.

Not only is there no global master, there is no CHANNEL MASTER either.... The "post gain", which so many ppl mistake for a volume ctrl at low volumes, is a GAIN STAGE. Specifically, pregain is 12ax7 "modern" fizz and sizzle type gain, while postgain is vintagey 6l6 gain (tubey sparkle shine and sag). It's by blending the two that 5150-family amps get a variety of sounds, though yes, you would use more of the side which gives you the tone type you look for, and use the less desired gain stage more for overall output level control.

THAT is why all the noobs get all surprised when guys get blues and oldskool rock tones to shine from a 5150. But then again, same noobs are the guys that cant for the life of em understand how the heck Ed got any of his sounds out of what they think is a modern gain beast onetrick pony.

Me, I've even used mine (6262, same difference) as a sweeeet BASS AMP. Play around with em knobs, theres a lotta secret goodness hidden there. And don't be afraid to damn near max out post gain with a minimal pre gain and/or dimmed eq on the crunch channel for clean volume, and run a high post gain with low pregain on the lead channel to emulate crunch channel tones.