Ep. 17 - James Brown of Amptweaker, Peavey Van Halen 5150, Satriani JSX, Synyster Gates

Click here to purchase from Sweetwater and help our channel
imp.i114863.ne...
Above is an affiliate link. If you click on it and make a purchase, we receive a small commission with no added cost to you. Thank you!
Tonight we are joined by James Brown of Amptweaker. James has worked with some of the top guitarists in the world on amps such as Edward Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Adrian Vandenberg, Synyster Gates and he worked at Peavey and Kustom Amps

[@AmptweakerFX]

I did have one funny story I forgot to mention....I used to do the Peavey Seminars every month when the dealers would come down to the factory and we'd teach them about gear and stuff. Well coincident with one of them we had Eddie coming in to do some tweaking on guitars and amps, and I was next to the auditorium setting up for that tweak session...of course I was playing EVH licks getting ready, and didn't realize a seminar was going on next door. I heard that one guy in the audience said 'hah, who does that guy think he is, Eddie Van Halen'. About an hour later Eddie comes walking into the seminar room to say hi, and everybody turned and looked at the guy like 'dude, you just said that stuff about EDDIE VAN HALEN'! I told that story at every seminar afterwards! James B

[@Steve_Kracus]

lol that's great!

[@plexidust5101]

I have to Thank You for such a fantastic interview. You truly have had a remarkable impact in the music world and me too. Now I understand how extensive it is. I also learned about your current company and I can't wait to try out some new gear! Cheers and THANK YOU!!!

[@joehervey84]

Id love to see what you think about the Peavey vypyr series. The 1st Gen is what I own. The little 15 watt amp. It has a few of the amps you worked on. Jsx an the newer 6505(5150). Thanks

[@volodyanikolaev]

I'm just curious, what was the street price for 5150 in 1992/93

[@MrUltraworld]

@@volodyanikolaev I think I paid $700 for the head, it's a real low serial #. I'll never sell it.

[@trapperjohn8481]

Sitting here on s Sunday night in February 2024 watching this one again. Let's party.

[@billmonach6409]

I worked at the EVH Wolfgang plant in the late 90s as final assembly, paint, buffing and pickup assembly manager in the late 90s and had an opportunity to meet James and a few of the R&D guys over lunch one day. Very cool, very humble, very highly revered guy.

[@CentaurusRelax314]

"This beer is defective." That's GOLD.

[@fiendskull9]

Legitmately the coolest guitar discussion channel on KZbin. You bring in legend after legend, and set up a comfortable environment that opens up insanely deep discussion.

[@shanemorris702]

The important thing is they don't cut off the guest. They let him talk. I don't know how many interviews i've seen ruined because the host keeps interrupting!

[@tone-talk]

Thanks! Proper interviewing!

[@jpcody123]

Wow, I just now got the chance to watch this one and it's absolutely stellar. I've been playing James Brown's Peavey amps all my life (VTM, 5150, JSX, Classic series) and this was a real treat to get to hear him tell the stories behind some of these amps. Great work guys, and thanks James for all of the great products through the years!

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks for your compliments!

[@JBAubry]

Awesome interview! I could hear James talk for hours. Bonus at 1:45:09 EVH's settings

[@MrGTO-ze7vb]

James Brown.. I built a tube amp for $299.00 made in the USA..!!! LOL We give him LOTS of Credit..!!

[@jargero8203]

Assembled* in the USA... 😅

[@JoaoMarcelo_1]

This gentleman is a legend and a very nice guy!

[@R2R3Lockingnut]

This was awesome. Great show and episode. The stories and history this man has are fabulous. EVH gearheads are grinning from ear to ear right now. Thank you.

[@bukcot]

Can't wait to hear Mike Soldano on this channel!

[@sn95_mustang_garage]

A lot of this detailed amp chat is way over my head but I’m so fascinated by it. As a noob guitar player the history of tone especially Eddy’s sound is so interesting. Another banger of a show, cool guy.

[@johnmeeks9308]

Classic is the best i love them CLEAN !!!!!

[@larslevinberget9558]

I love them both ways :)

[@espectradiego5]

Best one, James is THE amp man!

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks!

[@OrangeJackson]

This really was a great show.

[@shanemichaelneal648]

What an absolute gift James is...smart, humble and hilarious

[@michaelmaier7262]

In Feb 2000, a friend of mine told John Petrucci he wanted a noise gate to stop notes from ringing out. Petrucci told him: "Just learn to play".

[@committments]

Mark and dave you need to bring james back again this was one of the best episodes!!!!

[@nuclearpurification7260]

All hail James Brown , a true genius!

[@ampman50]

What nice guy James is..

[@therugburnz]

In amps like the 5150 with all those gain stages I see why tweaking each stage to satisfy an artist that won't even use a click switch and say he likes b better than a is frustrating at best, impossible when way worse. I think it is cool that Eddie's first suggestions was to start with an actual PV product, the VTM according to this interview. It had many switches that were common things to try as mods. He wants to start with the one with the most options then remove them. Well not remove but have it set to one setting that EVH wants all the time. BTW if you want to mess with a PV to learn about mods like trying different cathode bypass caps the Windsor is pretty good. Many mods I did on mine didn't even involve taking the circuit board out. Many mods for beginners are solderless involving cutting the leads on certain capacitors. Add an iron and a lead snip combined with a switch to uncut it and I have a Bass Amplifier ala Black Sabbath but not near as loud. The no switch version involved cutting a lead or two and wire wrapping a jumper to the left behind leads. Four dabs of solder once it sounded correct for both bass and guitar and I just made my gig pack contain less gear.

[@mikes51501]

James is such a nice guy, met him and his wife at NAMM. Thx for all the tone my man!!

[@AmptweakerFX]

YW :)

[@vromanempire2145]

I had a VTM 60 back in 90 and ran a Yamaha Spx,90 in the effect loop with some gain!!! Man that was a great amp!!! A friend of mine had the butcher and I loved the sound of that too!!!

[@OTTOAUDIO]

I laughed out loud for about 3 min straight uncontrollably when James was going through Eddies settings and got to master volume & said “too loud for Any human” 😆😆😆

[@yqbzrxs]

I just found this my chance. Google searching differences of the models of peavey 5150s. This was excellent!!!!

[@Scratch_Monsters_Golf]

If you just met him on the street, you’d never know ol’ James was a damn fine electrical engineer?!?! Makes him even cooler in my book 🤘🏼

[@leemdunn]

James is just a cool and genuine guy. Love the show! Thanks again Marc and Dave!

[@GPaulTheThrashKing]

Honestly, the combo is by far the best version in terms of sound. IMHO Best amp I’ve ever played and I got mine for 400 bucks.

[@JohnFast-on6ey]

I paid 500 for my pv 5150 combo that looks like it’s been through a war but it sounds better than any amp I’ve played through better than all the other 5150s

[@peterschaefer1665]

Thanks for another great show guys! James you ARE the coolest! Cheers!

[@parachuteman4]

James. You designed a classic. The 6505 plus is the best amp I HAVE Ever owned.

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks!

[@auntjenifer7774]

@@AmptweakerFX I love love love my Peavey Bravo ! That Bravo eats Friedman runt in versatility and sheer gain tightness it freaking awesome !

[@bls8959]

Thank Mike soldano

[@kellypeterson2625]

@@bls8959 I would love to have a Soldano!

[@robinmiller7958]

One of your best shows, love hearing from these cats who have such rich histories and this guy was so personable you just have to like him. James, you are a treasure!

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks Robin!

[@LeonTodd]

Fantastic episode. Very cool insight into the workings behind the scenes of some of the most important modern guitar amps.

[@TMoody]

Sooooo that's where the name "Brown Sound" comes from, great interview!

[@tone-talk]

T Moody nice!!

[@6nosis]

Wow that’s 🤯

[@TheDans7300]

Thank you for that Classic 30 and that whole Classic series. One of my all-time favorites ❤️

[@kingpriapatius5832]

Just bought a 6505. This guy is a TRUE LEGEND

[@doc_matter]

This guy's so nice and seems so witty!

[@jrblanston]

Way back when I worked at a music shop, we the employees always had our favorite "misfits". Great gear that was ignored by most because they didn't know the brand or it didn't look cool etc. Anyways... big standout misfits were Peavey's Vht and the Kustom Koupe amps. I loved hearing that they came from the same mind. I clearly enjoy his work! Great show. This was my first episode

[@Qban220]

I love the 5150 tone, the only thing I dislike about it is that every guitar sounds the same on lead/crunch channel. Great interview, hell of a history. Thanks.

[@jfo3000]

James, you're the best! I love your stories, experience and intelligence. Plus your accent and speach cadence remind me of my dad (passed on) and his brother, both born in Alabama, and both lived all over the south, the north, the entire world, and still retained that southern charm.

[@AmptweakerFX]

Thanks man!

[@chadallan7193]

Definitely one of the best episodes so far , james is awesome.....👍🏼🇺🇸

[@AmptweakerFX]

Thanks....it was fun to reminisce about all that!

[@bksweet6331]

You have NO IDEA what a joy you bring to ALL of your viewers!!!! . . . . Thanks you for sharing your experiences and wisdom 🎁 🎁

[@tone-talk]

You are so welcome

[@smartrn1]

So much respect for this Man. A true legend. What a tremendous interview. God bless JB.

[@MrGTO-ze7vb]

This is a fantastic interview..!! I met Hartley Peavey, in Florida and he has told me so many of these stories about working with EVH. There was a lot of issues with Eddie and how he wanted things to be built and of course the sound quality.. RIP EVH,,!! The EVH disconnection from Peavey happened when Eddie showed up at the NAMM show drunk and couldn't play crap and acted very poorly in the Peavey Booth..

[@Dutchy5150]

Another awesome show guys. How cool is James Brown? I hope you have him on again someday. Well done.

[@AmptweakerFX]

Thanks!

[@pacifica529]

@@AmptweakerFX I yyyyy65ewttrtrrrtwttttttttutttrt utter try treererwr to r your youy you 4uuuy it t it t it eu me to 6yw76

[@fasteddievh2072]

Omg! You out did yourself Marc. This show was amazing! Thanks for asking my question about Ed’s exact amp settings. I really appreciate it. You have THE best show on YT!!!

[@tone-talk]

Thanks so much Fast EddieVH! You are awesome to say that. Happy New Year.

[@neile5150]

I missed the amp settings! When was that?

[@auntjenifer7774]

Cool guitars fast Eddie ! What were Eddie's settings !?

[@fasteddievh2072]

@@auntjenifer7774 1:40:20 mark

[@fasteddievh2072]

On the lead channel: 6.5 Pre-gain 6.0 BASS 2.0 MID 5.0 HIGH 5.1 MASTER 4.0 RESONANCE 6 or 7 PRESENCE

[@bruceanderson8720]

Lots of good stories and info! Thanks Mark, Dave and James

[@RichardFriendartist]

fascinating talk...will be listening to this again for sure. thank you!

[@freeman1810]

This man is a national treasure.

[@robertbeasley5595]

To cool... two of the best James and Dave!!!!

[@shredward666]

Amazing and informative interview with a true American hero! I'm about to crack open a Michelob Ultra and crank up my 5150! Thanks to Marc and David for making this happen.

[@jelmeromero]

Awesome interview!!! Great inside info and great to put a face to the name. The 5150 amp is not only iconic but legendary as well. Thanks for all your hard work James!

[@jimgillis8522]

Love the classic series

[@tomulator]

Super show! A lot of amp knowledge being shared...loved it!

[@KE8UYV]

Rewatching this episode for at least the third time, but it may be more like the fifth. Love any stories about Saint Edward! I was thinking it may be cool one day to take all the tone talk discussions about Eddie, and put them in one video. I think there's be a LOT of us who would love that.

[@mygabrielle7477]

The amptweaker tight fuzz is my favorite fuzz face type pedal I’ve ever owned or played. It may be a little tame for some fuzz guys. It can get hairy but it’s not over the top like some. But it’s super quiet and so easy to control. It has a much larger sweep when cleaning up with the volume knob compared to many vintage type germanium fuzzes. On a lot of germanium fuzzes it’s over the top fuzz with your volume knob on 10 and super clean when you just go to 8. On the tight fuzz it’s a much more gradual sweep which makes it so much easier to control. And it sounds amazing

[@michelbrault1690]

Great interview with james Brown my favorite amp Peavey classic 20 Thanks

[@waitingforanalibi3069]

Killer episode. James was awesome.

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks!

[@bsmetal]

@@AmptweakerFX praise James!

[@Esquire-ul9xs]

Awesome... my favourite show on KZbin!

[@ragnarmar123]

Great show as always, there is so much I learn from watching these shows

[@calansvc]

I bought one of James' Tightrock pedals a few years ago, and we sent a bunch of emails back and forth about modifying it over a couple of weeks. Extremely helpful and cool dude to chat with. This is the first time I've seen him "in person". Seems like an all-around great guy and someone that would be cool to hang out with, drink a beer, and talk geek stuff.

[@johnsimms3957]

Please have James on again.

[@a.l.4162]

James is the man with the master plan! Great job preserving history to all involved

[@bukcot]

Alexander Howard Dumble as a guest would also be nice. It would do wonders for your channel. ;-)

[@jimbroiles6905]

Great to hear these stories James.

[@jayy7207]

Another awesome episode guys! Thank you so much!

[@Rods442]

I'm a Peavey freak, and James has enlightened many of the secrets I've been curious about. Great info. Awesome show, thanks, TT

[@LikeigiveAFaboutU]

I'm trying to find some info on the peavey classic 50 watt combo with the reverb and tremelo in it. Someone said they talked about it at some point in this video.

[@ZblockWoW]

Hell yeah! USM alumni! 🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@Kasper911band]

Love this guy! And he has a cool name James Brown you are the man!

[@morbidsanders4269]

I wish peavey would bring back the xxx and move production back to the usa

[@auntjenifer7774]

@Fryx Ur What the hell are you talking about ? Slave labor is what we ALL are, unless you know of a way to get back our sovereignty from the government !?!?!

[@timh4369]

Just picked up a mint 2 12 triple x combo for next to nothing the amp sounds great and is very under rated but I’m enjoying the heck out of it It’s a little heavy but what the hell lol

[@steveoparnica4776]

The 3120 is the same amp as the xxx

[@larslevinberget9558]

@@steveoparnica4776 Isn't it EL34 in it? My rhythm guitars on a whole album was re-amped through a 3120 :)

[@Robstafarian]

God damn, this was a treat. Had I watched live, it would have been one hell of a Christmas present.

[@AndreiGrozea]

What a cool guy

[@THUNDERWORX]

I used to have a 5150 combo, and it was just too loud and too heavy. Other than that, it was a great amp. One of my first amps was a Bandit with the Scorpion speaker. That was about 1980, and what a great little solid state amp. If I bought a Peavey today it would probably be a Classic thirty. Great interview!!!

[@Dennis-wi6nn]

Thank you for posting this.

[@mfowler8808]

Very good tone talk guys, thanks.

[@willchug]

It’s great that they now know the at the same time of the change from block letter to signature the tolerance in the “outsourced”output transformer drifted or was changed.

[@riffsnreviews]

I've watched this tone talk about 4 times now lol I have way too much time on my hands apparently

[@Jupiter2ignite]

Same 😂. I love my ultra plus. I'm always looking for more info about them because there's a little. Now that they're getting noticed maybe we'll end up hearing more about it? A guy can dream!

[@jamesmiller9823]

Great video , these guys have so much knowledge between them

[@justinespinosa7878]

Every show y'all have is cool! So much freaking knowledge poured out...

[@ShaunaMarieSings]

Another top-notch show...great guest!!! 💗💗💗

[@OrangeJackson]

Great informative show. Really enjoyed it.

[@passionplayer7]

I love this show guys!!! Anything I can do to keep it going, let me know, fantastic, every episode! 🤘🏻

[@MrAletube]

great guy,very practical thinking,i have to check out those pedals.

[@AmptweakerFX]

thanks!

[@ontherocks1026]

The content on this channel is GOLD !! This episode was awesome 👍🏼

[@tone-talk]

Much appreciated!

[@carlton5046]

wow..great job Marc...more knowledge in this interview then all combined !..we need a Friedman & Brown collaboration !!!..Dave give him a call !

[@adamr8878]

What a great guy ! Very funny and down to earth.. Fantastic episode.

[@KenTeel]

Peavey Pacer. Great little humble amp. I've used it for country, jazz, and rock. All NPN except for one FET and one PNP. 45 watts of good sound. In a regular size club, I figured that if a band was going to get louder that what I could put out with my 45 Watt Peavey, I wasn't get into any volume contests with other band members. When Peavey says 45 watts, though, they mean it. That is a loud little amp. Its interesting about Van Halen wanting those of us in the hoi polloi class to be able to afford his signature amps. Other celebrity endorsed products automatically get a higher price tag, commonly. Look at the Slash Epiphone Les Paul. With his signature on it, I thiink that they raise the price. Look at, reportedly, Les Paul wanted his guitar to be gold because it looked expensive. Ed, appears to have been a man of the people. You gotta love that. Heartley always had the idea of affordability, too. These two guys had the average musician in mind, and that's pretty cool. PS: The last time that I used a tube amp was 50 years ago. Solid state has been great, for this whole time. I've got enough stuff to think about when doing gigs. Worrying about tubes is that last thing that I want to do.

[@19581998]

What a great guy! Very entertaining

[@bryanlettow4389]

He's made some fantastic sounding amps

[@pauldeatherage6112]

Cant beleive how james and dave can remember so much technical stuff

[@kingfisher7960]

Dont you see the Captain America Sheild? Whats wrong with you?

[@kyletims9572]

This guy is the real deal !

[@somebrains5431]

Right there, when he describes the tone change after running out of sylvania tubes is where he got my attention. Modeling has been on my mind. Just to have snapshots in time of what you think sounds good in that moment.

[@kingpriapatius5832]

Recently bought a 6505. Massive tone.

[@scottreynolds5455]

Wow! 4 years ago. Great show.

[@t-boog2173]

Everyone who's ever worked on or inspected Ed's Marshall says the same thing... It's a STOCK Marshall with the exception of some replaced parts(like P.T. Tubes, etc.) due to wear & tear. Even Ed says the Jose stories were just to help give Jose some business. Btw, the "Top Jimi Brown Sound" profiles(video here on KZbin) were all done with a stock Marshall and a Variac(to lower the voltage). Those profiles sound so dead on Van Halen, it's freakin spooky!

[@richarddakin8096]

Vtm 60 with a Vandenburg 4X12 was my first tube amp, put it up against my friends.50 caliber back in 86, .... it wasn’t a boogie but it did sound pretty damn good. 🤘

[@Dr.Jekyll]

Just for the record, Kiss has had two fairwell tours. The first was a fairwell to the reunion of the original members. The second is going on right now, The End If the Road Tour. They have never said any other tour was a fairwell tour.

[@fixedgear37]

meh

[@tassobear]

no less.a killer video.So much great history and info for guitar nerd like me

[@Harbaksh1234]

Brilliant! Great guy :-)

[@raytorvalds3699]

Happy belated birthday, Dave !

[@steelstringsinger5818]

Nice to see the sub-numbers increasing! Great show!!

[@timec818]

Thanks for the cool show 👍