Author Topic: Peavey 5150-II incl. Peavey 5150 4x12 cab - Setup Advice... (Read 10439 times)

Roobubba · « **Reply #15 on:** August 18, 2007, 11:06:01 PM »

No, I mean the actual tubes - I can see them at the back of the amp. There's not much light coming from them, just a faint purple glow - from three but not from the forth. Anyway, I switched them round and gave them a clean while I was at it, see if that helps for tomorrow's practice. Man I need cash! :)

Roo

the_bleeding · « **Reply #16 on:** August 19, 2007, 12:20:27 AM »

5150's DO NOT HAVE BACKLIGHTS

the blue glow you see is the tubes functioning. If they arent glowing faintly blue, theres a problem. Might haeve to take it into a tech.

maverickf1jockey · « **Reply #17 on:** August 19, 2007, 09:37:45 AM »

I never came across a blue valve before :? .
usually they glow faintly orange...

Roobubba · « **Reply #18 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:28:48 AM »

I might see if I can take a picture of it later. I swapped over the power tubes, and the same pattern was there - so it's not actually the one tube which doesn't glow purple, it's the tube position. Might need to play them for a while, get the hot and see if it's still there. There's the orange glow - as soon as you turn the power on, they start warming. Then, when you switch from standby mode to "on", and signal passes through (playing or not playing), three of them have a faint purple glow.

Would amp techs be listed under "repairs" in Yellow Pages? The amp sounds fine, apart from the usual amounts of noise, but that's a separate issue!!
Of course, if biasing is something I can do myself...

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #19 on:** August 20, 2007, 03:42:34 PM »

The purple glow is perfectly normal, some valves have it more than others - I don't see it much in EL34s, but it's very common with 6L6s.

Read this for further clarification... http://members.aol.com/larrysb/blue_glow.html

:twisted:

the_bleeding · « **Reply #20 on:** August 20, 2007, 04:20:00 PM »

Quote from: HEAVIER THAN HELL

The purple glow is perfectly normal, some valves have it more than others - I don't see it much in EL34s, but it's very common with 6L6s.

Read this for further clarification... http://members.aol.com/larrysb/blue_glow.html

:twisted:

good site, i'm guna fire my marshall up and take a picture of it for you guys. It only glows blue when power is on and standby is off (sound can come through). Power turns on the heaters, standby allows current flow for sound, which in turn gets electrons bouncing around in the tube, which gives you the sexy blue glow. :D

Roobubba · « **Reply #21 on:** August 25, 2007, 11:03:55 PM »

OK all,

had a bit of time with the amp. Still want to get some new tubes, but I've had a play around swapping the order of them to see if there's any difference.

This amp just doesn't seem to be very high gain. I got a lot more gain from my Randall RG200G3 combo, which I only got rid of because of the reliability issues.

As far as I can tell, the gain channel should be called a feedback channel.

What tips to people have for a) stopping completely uncontrollable feedback (other than ProRackG - I'll be getting one after pay day) and simultaneously b) getting a good gain sound?

I don't want crunch, I want full on metal!!!

Seems to me that tube amps simply weren't designed for heavy sounds...

So far I've been using the distortion sounds on my Zoom g2.1u effects unit in front of the amp and putting everything through the clean channel. This is stopping feedback (ie not the feedback... sorry gain channel), and giving me a decent level of distortion. It's not ideal, though - I'd rather have what I paid for - a high gain amp...

I should say that at extremely low volume (ie post down to completely minimum), the sound from turning the pre-amp up to about 7+ is really nice, decent level of gain and of course no feedback at that volume. When the post is turned up, the level of gain just seems - weak... Surely the power amp should just essentially turn up the volume (up until it's near breaking up) of the pre-amp gain sound? I don't understand why at any reasonable volume, the gain is much less than at 0 volume on the post.

If anyone can shed light, or provide ideas for how to resolve this, I'd be most grateful.

I should point out that I will - in the next few weeks, as and when I can afford it - get a whole set of new tubes (hell, I'll need them some time) and an ISP decimator ProRackG. But I'm guessing that noise suprssion isn't going to resolve the gain issue. Do people use overdrive pedals in front of their peavey 5150-IIs? Sounds to me like it just needs a whole lot more gain, and a whole lot less feedback!

Roo

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #22 on:** August 25, 2007, 11:10:06 PM »

You're kidding right?

Not enough gain on a 5150?

There must be something wrong with your amp.

Woogie · « **Reply #23 on:** August 25, 2007, 11:26:22 PM »

Isn't the 5150 the gainiest stock amp ever??

Orkestra · « **Reply #24 on:** August 26, 2007, 11:06:36 AM »

yeah... it's 'normally' ridiculous.

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #25 on:** August 26, 2007, 11:38:48 AM »

Mine doesn't feedback badly at all and has more gain than you could ever need.

There must be something wrong with the preamp valves in your amp (or something up with the amp itself) if you're having problems getting enough gain.

* What about the cables you're using?
* Pickups?
* How close do you stand to your amp?

:twisted:

Roobubba · « **Reply #26 on:** August 26, 2007, 05:27:43 PM »

I'm using shielded Planet Waves cables (have tried with other cables too, makes no difference), miracle man pickups in a Ibanez RG470F guitar, and I can stand up to 20 feet away (with the one 20' cable I have) and still get lots of feedback at high post volumes. There seems to be no attentuation of feedback with distance up to 20' (furthest I could try in the practice room!). It's not constant - but it happens after every note is stopped, and sometimes I have to turn down the volume knob on the guitar to get it to stop altogether, otherwise it carries on, even with the strings damped. Makes for impossible playing when you play a lot of stopped-note fast riffs - at least at volumes required for band practices.

Cheers,

Roo

maverickf1jockey · « **Reply #27 on:** August 26, 2007, 05:51:18 PM »

Are your pickups potted?
That seems to be microphony.

the_bleeding · « **Reply #28 on:** August 30, 2007, 05:32:30 PM »

have you taken it into a tech yet? if and when you do, ask him to check if the feedback loop has been cut. (i'm not even sure that 5150's ahve feedback loops, but its worth a try)

Another good thing to do is fire up your amp and grab a pencil. Tap each preamp tube very lightly with the eraser of it. if it makes a sound, the tube needs replacing.