Just bought a Peavey 5150 Combo

[vroom]

...on eBay. Can't wait for it to arrive. ;D

Anyway, I'm considering doing the following mod to make it easier to transport, and for use with different cabs.

www.anibalnet.nl/5150.html

Any thoughts? I haven't seen anyone else mention this mod anywhere. Looks to be quite handy.

My first thought: What wood type would one use to cover the top of the speaker cab? I would assume that using something of lesser quality than the other walls could change the sound.

[Ripper]

Hey Vroom...I tried out a 5150 a few years back. Great amp! I was using a Jackson RRpro with emg's 81/85 and on the high gain setting it just purred! Not too muddy and that "brown" sound that Eddie talks about was very apparent. It was tempting to get one but I had four amps in my music room and well....you know. I know youll be happy with your choice. Your neighbours will luv ya too!

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

vroom said:

My first thought: What wood type would one use to cover the top of the speaker cab? I would assume that using something of lesser quality than the other walls could change the sound.

I ran across one source that said Peavey uses Baltic birch, which is supposed to be "the best" for cabinets.

That should be a very useful mod. That thing is huge. I'm glad I decided to stick with the Fender Musicmaster that I recently won.

"You Might Be Too Old To Rock And Roll If...
You go shopping for an amp and the number 1 priority is that it’s not heavy enough to throw your back out!"

[vroom]

Thanks for the wood comment.

Yeah, everyone complains about this combo's weight, yet no one else even thought of splitting it apart. I just hope it won't lose resale value afterward. I'll be sure to get familiar with/judge the amp before doing something like this.

Unlike some combos I've seen, this amp looks like the head and cab are nicely contained and should be easy to cut apart. What the heck am I going to use to cut it with, though?

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

vroom said:

Yeah, everyone complains about this combo's weight, yet no one else even thought of splitting it apart.

I s'pose it really has to be that big in order to get the sound that's associated with one of those. "Go big or stay home," right?

I just hope it won't lose resale value afterward.

I think that would only happen if somebody insisted on one in "original" condition. A well-done mod like that could potentially make it more attractive to a future buyer.

What the heck am I going to use to cut it with, though?

Is it covered with Tolex or whatever at the place where you want to make the cut? You might want to draw your lines on the cloth first, then slit it with a razor knife. If it's not glued down (or maybe even if it is), you may want to peel the cloth back from where you're going to cut the wood. That should avoid getting any threads wound up in the saw.
From there, I'd go with a hand-held circular saw with a plywood (fine-toothed) blade. You might be able to rent one of those, if you don't have one in your workshop.

DISCLAIMER: Somebody else's idea may be way better than mine. Among the things nobody would ever mistake me for would be a carpenter or cabinetmaker.

[vroom]

Hahahaha!!! ;D

Boy did I pick one heck of a "first" amp! This thing is nuts! Because it's biased warmer than the heads, I have no problem with the clean channel. Sounds just right to me.

This particular amp has its fair share of ripped Tolex and scratches, but what bugs me is a 6" split in the wood down the front left. I'm in communication with the seller to find out if it was like this or if it was UPS's doing. If the latter, what can be done? I'm sure it had shipping insurance. Is damage something that has to be noticed immediately upon delivery? The box it arrived in was pretty beat up and had a couple holes in it. It was shipped to my mom's house, though, and I wasn't there to get it. At the very least, I'm happy that everything seems to be just fine electronically.

Unfortunately, my Peavey Raptor doesn't sound very good through it. Or maybe it's just my playing. I think this amp would be better suited with humbuckers and a thicker tone. The Raptor is just too harsh.

And I don't think my "Silent the beast" helped much. When in 1,3, or 5 on the lead channel, I get that extra hum. Perhaps my 6' cable doesn't get me far enough away from the amp.

Can't wait to play around with it some more tomorrow. I found a tip on the Peavey site for the 5150/6505 combos: if you plug the speakers into the extension jack, it only runs at 30W. Should make for some fun experimenting.

P.S. This thing is a monster! I think it's going to eat me when I'm not looking.

[vroom]

UPDATE: ;D

WOW!!! I finally had the house to myself. I let the amp warm up for a while as I ushered everyone out the door.

Cranked it up, played the intro to "Master of Puppets," and started laughing hysterically. This thing kills! What I said before about my strat copy sounding bad through it... forget I even mentioned it. I now know what everyone means when they say "Tube amps must be cranked to sound great."

Don't get me wrong; it still sounds good at quiet levels. Surprisingly good. But you don't truly know the power in your fingertips until the walls start shaking, the feedback rings out, and the cotton balls go in the ears. ;D

The heck with how it looks-- don't judge an amp by its Tolex.




I'll be downstairs slaying some demons if anyone needs me.

[vroom]

Well, I did it. I separated the head from the cab. All it took was a handsaw, because I cut where there was mostly glue holding it together.

I did it slightly differently than the guy on the above linked website. He cut it in a way that required a new top for the cab and a new bottom for the head. I decided to cut it so that the cab's top was still attached. This way I won't have to worry about matching up a new piece of baltic birch. I'm heading to get a thinner piece of plywood to make a new bottom for the head tomorrow.

I love the looks I get when I have all the parts of an expensive piece of electronics spread across my floor, only days after receiving it. ;D

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

vroom said:

I love the looks I get when I have all the parts of an expensive piece of electronics spread across my floor, only days after receiving it. ;D

The room isn't full of smoke, right? And they know where you are and what you're doing. There won't be any "idle hands, idle mind, devil's playground, yada yada" as long as you're busy with amp surgery.

[UnklMickey]

vroom said:

...I did it slightly differently than the guy on the above linked website. He cut it in a way that required a new top for the cab and a new bottom for the head. I decided to cut it so that the cab's top was still attached. ...

your's was DEFINITELY the smartest way to approach it!


you will probably want to address that 6" split in the wood you mentioned earlier. things like that can lead to ugly vibrations at high volumes, that make it sound like your speakers trashed. sometimes they'll be OK for months, only to separate enough to sound bad at the most inopportune time.


unk

[vroom]

What would be the best way to deal with the split in the cab? I'm painting some of the wood black today, and decided to put some gorilla glue inside the split. Should I be using filler instead?

To make this thing look good, I'd have to re-tolex it anyway. So whatever I do now is most likely temporary.

[UnklMickey]

probably your best chance of saving that panel is to get the thinnest, strongest glue you can find. years ago we used "fish glue" for laminating wood. very thin and runny. very strong. it was available at marine repair shops. brush-on stuff in a can.

if the split goes all the way through to the inside, tape the outside of the panel to keep the excess from oozing out and making a mess. position the panel so the taped side is down. if you can put some force on the panel to open the split, that will help you to flow the glue into the split. then allow the split to relax more closed and wipe off the excess. let it sit for 24hrs. then remove the tape from the outside.

if you're lucky this will be strong enough to remain stable under high volume use. if not you'll need to replace the panel, or "sister" another panel on the inside.

[Runewalker]

Unk's suggestion of opening up the split (in the wood) to get a more thorough distribution of glue is good. The step further is to clamp the split Without the split being compressed you will not really have a solid mend, more of a split filled with glue filler. There will be some adhesion, that is also subject to re-spliting.

You probably dont have access to clamps and I am can't quite visualize the split, but it would be prefered to squeeze the parts together under pressure so that the glue expresses out, and you have a tight, clean bond --- especially in the speaker cabinet.

Sometimes you can obtain clamping strenght with heavy weights or a bunch of heavy duty rubber bands.

A well clamped wood joint can be stronger than the wood itself. As for glue, while not as dramatic a name as Gorrilla Glue I have always had good results in this type of situation with Weldwood and even the old standard Elmers Wood glue. But both really require compression to do their job.

If you can't clamp it you may have better results with epoxy, as it is a resin that will also act as a hard filler. you probably want a thin enough type that will hopefully soak as deep as possible into the inner crevices of the split.

Does the split extend to the corner joint? or is it in the middle of the side? If to the corner then there may be some structural integrity issues.

Good luck. This extends into an entirely different arena than luthiership.

[vroom]

I'm way ahead of you. Well, not really... but I'm with you.

The split is on a corner and spans almost the entire height of the frame, but it is merely a crack after the first 6" or so. I added a bunch of Gorilla Glue and used two C-clamps to compress the split (the glue oozed out at different stages as it was hardening).

It will have the clamps on it until I can get back home, hopefully next weekend. I had to head back to my college dorm and say goodbye to the 5150 for now.

The good news is that the new board is glued and screwed to the head, and all that remains is putting casters and a handle on the cab, and moving the cab's feet to the head so it will clear the handle when stacked on top. Oh yeah, I also plan to add some sort of quick release to the back of the cab so it can be converted from closed to open back in seconds.

Here are a few pics of the split before mending:

[UnklMickey]

YIKES! that is one wicked hurt they put on that thing. where i live, people used to call U.P.S. "ups" (like the opposite of downs). after numerous parcels received broken, i pronounce it "oops".

when you first described it, i imagined a tight crack in the grain of the panel. it's much worse than i thought. looks like short of major re-construction you're on the right track. if it doesn't hold together, you might be better off starting from scratch.

[Ripper]

It must sound like crap!...theres no speaker in it!...Im sorry, I had far too much cough syrup tonight.

[vroom]

The surgery is complete.

Forgive the crappy pics; it was low light and I don't like using a flash.


You can see the casters, feet on the head, and extra handle on the cab.

The split had Gorilla Glue and c-clamps on it for a week, so let's hope it's fixed.
I painted any spots black and stuck the tolex down with Super 77.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Korg DT-10 tuner, iSP Decimator (life saver on the lead channel), footswitch

And my POS Peavey Raptor below
v v v v v


This mod was DEFINITELY worthwhile. I can actually move the thing, roll it around, and transport it in my car. And all it cost me was $10 for the casters and $6 for the new board for the head. I used the handle from my dead Peavey Rage 158 and am thinking about using some of the corners from it as well. The feet were simply moved from the cab to the head.

Still brainstorming for a quick-release back to the cab.