My name is Michael Hurcomb and I'm a guitar teacher/tech who resides in Ontario, Canada. I also serve the marketing/promotions manager for the music store I work at, and I'm a freelance writer. With the Wolfgang report I hope to translate the appreciation that I have for Van Halen's music as well as providing an informative database about Edward's gear.

With production underway on the new Van Halen album, let's take a look at a new product that's going to amplify Edward's genius into the next millenium.

The 5150 II is one of the most eagerly anticipated amps this year. During the 3 tour, Edward was using three to four 5150 amps in his arsenal. A keen eye would have noticed more chicken head knobs on the front of the amps, and a keen ear would have noticed that the clean tone on "A Year to the Day" couldn't be from a 5150. In fact, Edward was roadtesting the new 5150 II head.

Don't expect the same amp with a few tweaks. The 5150 II has been re-voiced to create more tones that Edward couldn't coax out of the 5150. With high gain "over the top" distortion, classic crunch and smooth warm clean tones Edward and the techs at Peavey have created a new benchmark for all-tube amplifiers. Although the 5150 and 5150 II heads look basically the same, some major changes have been made inside. The addition of a 6th preamp tube to the newly designed clean/crunch preamp channel provides clean tones that were previously unobtainable in the first 5150 amps.

A lot of time was spent tweaking the amp so that each channel balances well with the next one. Another revision is a 3-button footswitch that allows you to switch the crunch on the rhythm channel. The 5150 head and combo had 2-button footswitches that allowed you to switch the f/x loop and the lead/rhythm channel. The crunch was only switchable from the front of the amp. The new metal footswitch also features a longer detachable cable. The power amp section remains the same with 4 6L6 tubes. To hear and see what this amp can do, click on this link for some video from NAMM '99 (National Association of Music Merchants). Click here to see Edward Demonstrating the NEW Peavey 5150 II. You'll see that the 5150 II packs a ton of high gain punch and amazing tones.

One of the best new features on the 5150 II head is the separation of the lead and rhythm channels. Now you'll be able to set a separate e.q, resonance, presence and pre and post gain settings for each channel. This accounts for the addition of five chicken heads knobs on the face of the 5150 II (Bass, Middle, Treble, Resonance and Presence). On the 1st generation of 5150 amps, both the rhythm and lead channels shared the same settings, except for the pre and post gain knobs. Now you can have a sharp sounding lead with a lot of low end on the rhythm or vice versa. This separate voicing feature will create a very flexible and versatile amp that will appeal to a wide range of guitar players.

The best way to amplify this new head is still through a 5150 straight or slant cabinet. The Sheffield 1200 Series loudspeakers are designed to Edward's exacting specifications and the rugged construction is built to last the hardships of gigging and touring. The 11-ply birch plywood construction was selected for both its durability and its sonic capabilities.

I'm sure that many guitarists have wondered why Edward felt the need to modify the 5150. Edward summed it up best in Volume 15, Issue 1 of the "Peavey Monitor" magazine. "You had your Marshalls, you had your Hi-Watts, you had your Vox amps, whatever was out there, but no amp does what a 5150 does. It does things that a Marshall doesn't, and then again a Marshall does things that this amp won't do. But I set out to make something that did what a Marshall didn't do and we accomplished that. That's why I'd like to get working on the dash-two version of the 5150, so I can get what a Marshall gets, too."

Peavey will start shipping the 5150 II by October for $1199 U.S. Visit your local Peavey dealer to try one out for yourself. You won't be disappointed. Take it from James Brown of Peavey who said, "I think we ended up with an amp that does a great job of crossing over from the modern/modified/high gain type of amp to the vintage/traditional/lower gain type amps. It's basically two amps in one box."

On October 1st, you'll be able to read the second part of this report, which will focus on the behind the scenes work that went into designing this new amp. If you'd like to comment on this column or if you have any topic suggestions or gear questions, please contact me at mikeh@van-halen.com. Thanks to the great people at Peavey - especially James Brown, Jim DeCola and Chris Clary and Van Halen's management for their wisdom and assistance with this column.

Thanks,

Michael