•Retube with new KT77 power tubes.
(This gives the amp the perfect tight lows, mid boost and smooth highs to transform the amp completely in my opinion)
•LOKI type preamp and power amp mods to the cap/resistor values and gain staging.
(While not exactly a LOKI, everything I’ve learned about gain staging for brutal tone which is both thick and tight as well as taking pedals like a dream will be applied to the context of the 5150 circuitry)
•Upgrade capacitors with orange drop and Mallory blocking caps and Sprague and MOD bypass caps.
(Blocking caps have a huge impact on the tone. I prefer the crisp, clear sound of Orange drop in the preamp and warm, full tone of Mallory for the power section)
•Choke added to power section
(this improves power amp response and gives a more organic feel than the stiffness of a stock resistor, ESPECIALLY when palm muting)
•Bias pot and test points added for PROPER changing of power tubes and the ability to use 6L6, 5881 or even KT77 power tubes.
(Peavey and Mesa created this whole marketing scheme that competed with one another so that “you can just drop in a new set of power tubes yourself as long as it’s THEIR brand of power tubes”. This created so many problems for decades to come of people thinking they can just slap tubes in an amp because it’s “self biasing” ITS NOT. DO NOT DO THIS …sorry for the rant 🤣)
•”Molex” Ribbon cables / connectors replaced with hard-wired connections of the proper gauge.
This mod makes the amp road and battle ready for decades to come
(The ribbon cables on amps from this era were dangerously undersized for the high current heater connections running through them, leading to melt downs and a lot of these old Peavey amps getting scrapped back in the day)
•Recap with high quality F&T / JJ / Nichicon / Sprague capacitors.
(Caps are rated by the number of hours they will last. Quality, 10,000 hour caps can be good for 10-15 years of touring and regular use.
The “I.C.” Illinois Capacitors brand used in Peavey amps aren’t the worst but I don’t use them in my builds.
Because Electrolytic capacitors also have a shelf life and leak / degrade with age, they certainly aren’t good for 30 years even if the amp was in storage for most of that time.)
•Replace the hard wired power chord with modern standard “computer cable” IEC jack and cable.
(So you can unplug and wrap it up instead of awkwardly wrapping it around the weird plastic posts that pull on and bend the grill)
•Cleaning / maintenance of pots / jacks.
•HAND CARVED BLACKHAWK LOGO BADGE
(ONLY available on the BLACKHAWK modded version)
•Molex ribbon cables / connectors replaced with hard-wired connections of the proper gauge.
• Recap with high quality F&T / JJ / Nichicon / Sprague capacitors.
•Cleaning / maintenance of pots / jacks
•Hand made BLACKHAWK foot switch and TRS cable.
•retube with near new testing 5881 power tubes or vintage sylvania 6L6GC tubes
(The sylvania power tubes in older peaveys ARE the difference between a block letter and script.
Seriously, the block and signature are the EXACT same amp. The only difference was the block letter came with sylvania power tubes which sounded WAY better than the Ruby branded Chinese tubes in the script logo ones. Hartley just ran out right around the time electro-voice sent a cease and desist about the EVH logo. I can send you a link if you wanna learn more about it)
This will result in a 5150 that is stock tone but will last another 30 years or more.
