How to make your Line 6 Spider Valve sing like a Peavey 5150
The Tone King | Jul 09, 2010 | Comments 40
6L6 Based Line 6 Spider Valve meets the 6L6 Based Peavey 5150
Boys & Girls – As we all know – the Peavey 5150 is a work-horse of an amp that has made it’s way from stages to records and was used by some of the biggest bands from Van Halen to those who rock out at your local club scene. As we also know – Line 6 has been leading modeling from the very beginning, and has taken it to the top, with a full bore 6L6 power section to serve up it’s tones, just like that of the 5150.
So, what interests The Tone King? TTK wants to know if the Line 6 Spider Valve HD100 can serve up and dish out the tones of the legacy 5150. In the video below, which is a TheToneKing.com exclusive, I put both amps into the steel cage to see if the 6L6 tube based Line 6 Spider Valve mkII HD100 can pick up where the sought after Peavey 5150 left off (as the 5150 is long discontinued). I sure think so … but after watching this video … let me know what YOU think!
Enjoy the video & as always … ROCK ON!
Click Play to Start Video
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This is perfect that people can get the personal loans and it opens up new possibilities.
Awesome! Very close. In a live situation, thats all that matters. Its the bedroom noodlers that complain. Next, dial in a tone similar to the ENGL Powerball, please?? Im getting ready to trade off my Powerball for the HD100 MKII. The Powerball is absolutely awesome, but the Line6 has the flexibility and effects I really need for shows.
Sounds close but to be honest sounds fake, IE too digital. I took my amp to a friend of mine who modded the amp. He kept the blue channels as digital but all the orange channels are pure tone, analog, true tube tone. and with that i can get my amp to sound just like a 5150 Mk II or a Mesa Boogie Mk IV. But the blue settings…. they just sound to fake on my amp when you compare the digital channels to analog.
5150 poor clean channel = poor biasing! Ultra cold self bias circuit to 20mA!!! 5150 should be biased to around 38mA!
I used a 1991 Peavey 5150 from 1995-2008 as my main amp.
Always loved the dirty sound but the clean tone just never did it for me, they did improve the clean tone on the combos later on.
I use a PODX3 for recording demos at home and it gets some pretty good sounds.
Had a block letter 5150.Sold it.It did what it did and did it well but there was an aspect in it’s tone that became annoying to me and the lack of a proper clean channel didn’t help.The HD100 MKII is it’s the way and the good reviews far outweigh the bad. TTK…keep doing what you do man.It’s good to see a regular guy that’s not pretending to be Ingve reviewing so much different gear.Thanks for doing you.
There is a big difference between the 5150 and the 5150II. If you don’t believe me, listen to a Van Halen 3 bootleg. He toured with the 5150II amp, and his tone sounds like garbage. As for the 6505, it’s better than the 5150II, but doesn’t touch the original IMO.
The trick to matching any amp when using the Line 6 Spider Valve, either of them, is getting the presence right. And I know that everyone knows it depends on what cabinet you’re playing through, but knowing how to use the presence knob makes all the difference in how thin or thick everything sounds.
the 5150 is NOT “long discontinued”. The Peavey 6505 and 6505+ is the exact same amp as the 5150 and 5150 II. Peavey renamed these amps when their relationship with EVH ended in 2005. They used the model name 6505 to commemorate 40 years in business (’65-’05).
I tried this tone setting on my Spider Valve MKI combo, and it sounds really, really good. Great job nailing the sound!
The tone stacks are different but you got them very very close with only subtle differences in the bass and mids…
The Peavey has some Lower Mids and Bass that the Line6 doesn’t quite do. But, the Line6 heads are very versatile and almost any tone is achievable. That’s what makes them such a great value. It’s essentially all of the amps you’d ever want in ONE HEAD.
Good job, man.
You gave a great tutorial on the science of using a modeling amp to mimic a trademark tone.
Much better than using the factory pre-sets…
hi ttk hi guys….
how do you get this nice sound of your spider valve. look at the amp master knob is about 2 (1 to 10) how do you get that warm tube sound at that volume??? do you use something to warm up the tubes at that volume??? need help cause i play only in my bedroom so i have to play at low volume….
so i suck at life and am still on dialup, is there anyway someone can hook me up with the setting for the spider valve?
I think he got DAMN DAMN DAMN close!!!!!
I just tried the settings on my L6 SV 212 MkII and it sounds awesome.
Just like on the Live Panama in Japan 1989.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMwc2UieIq8
I think I don’t have to have a real 5150.
It would be a pleasure…but not necessary.
“Normal” people/audience don’t hear the difference anyway!!!
So why spend thounsands of bucks for a huge equipment!
I am glad with my SV, a few pedal-boards and an Axis.
Good job TTK
my bogner uberschall amp owns a 5150!!!!!!! But I still own a 5150!
I went to my local Guitar Center with a friend, dialed in the settings from this video (I wrote them down), and tried it for myself. While it sounded just as ballsy when someone else played it, it felt thin and buzzy and I played it…and that’s something the Tone King doesn’t discuss…feeling. While some might argue that you can’t describe feeling accurately (as it’s subjective), I’ll argue that you CAN accurately describe how it feels when comparing it to something else. Otherwise, The Tone King does an awesome job with everything else. Keep up the good work.
Geez, the line 6 costs more than the 5150. Pipe down.
Wow, just wow at the comment below mine. TTK takes time out of day to produce amplifier comparisons and losers come to his official website to insult him for his work?
My guess is this “Yay” character contributes nothing positive to the guitar world. Probably only flames other peoples’ hard work for trying to help those who actually give something back to the guitar community.
Yah is scared to post his ultimate-guitar.com alias because he probably gets made fun of over there for being a clueless idiot with no talents. Lets see your videos “Yay”.
@Infmda488
5150′s cost like $500 used, even less, so what the hell is the point of buying the Line 6?
Though to all of you Line 6 haters, screw you. The Spiders suck, but clearly none of you have tried a Flextone/Vetta/HD147.
And for the record, TTK, you suck. Your video’s are terrible. You don’t even review, you just state facts that we can just read up ourselves.
You play the same annoying lick, you do not know how to play or mic up a guitar amp even though you have decent enough gear, and please learn how to dial in an amp.
And for the record, you are the most hated guitar player/Youtuber right now on a lot of popular guitar sites such as ultimate-guitar.com due to the above reasons.
for me,the line 6 sounded a bit better after some tweaks!
the 5150 was fat, the line6 is thin crap.
Very close, I bet if played with a whole band you couldn’t hear the difference. I’m pretty tired of people complaining about line6, I’m sorry if you hear with you eyes. There are plenty of musicians that play line 6 gear and people glorify their tone until they find out they use line 6. Grow up people; if you can spend thousands of $$$ just to sound slightly better than good for you. Don’t act so elite when other people cannot, both those amps sound great.
I paid $400 for my Spider Valve (the original not the MkII) and with these settings it sounds very close. For everyone who wants to hate on TTK and Line 6, go ahead and spend $1000′s on gear to get a 5150, for the average guy who just enjoys playing guitar, it is amazing!!!
Thanks TTK!!!!!
Good job — very close. I’m suspicious that the Insane Blue setting is based on the 5150/5150 II series of amps to begin with.
Love those California high-gain amps and their progeny.
How about a blindtest? :s Easy to say the 5150 sounds fuller when you know which one it is
http://www.melodiefabriek.nl/1460/geweldig-kijkvoer-audio-myths-workshop/ That is worth watching IF you want to challenge your mind a little. It’s like when people say that gibson guitars are better than [insert other brand here]. They play on that myth so that you will buy the stupidly expensive signature models just because [insert your idol here] is playing it. There is no magic! American fingers are no better than asian!
That said .. or should i say ranted.. Good jobb Mr Toneking! Glad you put it up on this website only as i would have missed it otherwise
5150 sounds way better and fuller for me, as always Line6 very disappointing.
Of course the 5150 for that particular sound is king. Its the flexibility of being able to dial in different settings that makes the Spider a great alternative for cover bands who need a few different things on a saturday night.
line 6 is crap i think the tone king could sell all of his gear and just get by with an axe fx ultra!…i know shocking rite.
Did you try activating the HD’s built in gain boost to give it more saturation? It sounds a little dull…
My ear isn’t very well tuned, but I think you have made them sound very close. But I would be more inclined to go with the 5150, and I’m a big fan of the Line 6 gear.
My brother just got a Line 6 Spider IV, it would be awesome if you could do a video on that, how to get a good Death Metal Sound out of it. I’ve been looking around for some settings, but haven’t found anything I’m really happy with yet. But I’ll keep playing around with it.
\m/ \m/ (TTK)
thats good that the line 6 can get pretty damn close to the original tone, makes it worth the money, but I’m thinking its only for like this model, i dont think the spiders or anything could get this
Nice try, 5150 sounds fuller
Excellent effort in trying to make them the same…and they are close, but the 5150 sounds better. It sounds tighter and more focused where the Line 6 sounds too fat. Also, isn’t that line six around a grand? You can get a used 5150 for less than that on ebay and you can get a 6505 head new i think for around 1200.
Great effort regardless. Thanks for the great vids.
David : I’ll bet your Randall RH300 gets closer to the 5150 than the L6 can ?! What do you think ? Worth a try ?
Give it a try ttk !
The 5150 wins, IMO. Something about the Line6 sounded… not right.
Brian, the 6505 is the 5150, the reason they changed the name is due to Eddi Van Halen leaving Peavey. You’ll notice that there is now an “EVH 5150″ which is what Eddie Van Halen is using now. When he stopped endorsing Peavey I guess he still had the copyright on the name, hence why Peavey had to re-name it. Also, the 6505+ is the same as the 5150II.
I hope that cleared somethings up for you Brian.
Anyways, I think that the real 5150 still sounds “Smoother” to me. The Spider Valve is A LOT closer to it than a normal Spider, but true tube amps have the edge still for me.
Keep rocking TTK!
TK…….. Close, but no cigar, to my ears. 5150 was a lot warmer sounding with those nice smooth mids. L6 & Digitech too, always sound FAKE to me. Too processed.
Nothing but tubes for me—I’m old school.
I’ll bet your Randall RH300 gets closer to the 5150 than the L6 can ?! What do you think ? Worth a try ?
Great vid, very interesting & informative.
Thanks & Rock On !!
Sorry mate….but you did NOT switch off the effects!
You have the “AutoFX” still activated.
Which means…. as soon as you change the AMP-Setting The Effects change to what Line6 has set them to (in order to sound good)
Go the the main settings and you can disable the Auto-FX Option.
Nevertheless good work.
Really close!!!!!
Could you upload that tone?!
Regards
wow you got it pretty close man
I hear from a few guys that the 6505 series is just a re-launch of the 5150 series amps. The 6505+ is the 5150II with an extra preamp tube, and the 6505 is the 5150, exactly the same specs as the amp Eddie VH designed. Tone King, do you have any thoughts on this? I’ve heard 5150′s and 6505′s but haven’t had a 5150 and a 6505 in the same room to compare their sounds. All I know is neither of them have a decent clean channel. Maybe if you have a 6505 in the tone lounge, you could do a comparison vid with the 5150 to give us all a clear understanding of this? Great vid! Love the Spider Valve! Truly versatile amp!
try setting like this on the 5150.
gain 7
low 8
mid 6,5
high 7
presence 8.5
resonance 9
way better sound, though i got these settings from a block-letter, idk what the difference will be