i cant believe some of the crock in this topic
properly biasing an amplifier or replacing a resistor with an inductor is nothing more than proper circuit changes for its intended purpose of existance. an inductor will serve the purpose of preventing surge currents just as much as an X value resistor in it, if not more. alot of the things peavey did had more to do with production price than overall tone.
a properly biased amplifier brings the speakers out of crossover phase distortion, something ALL push pull amplifiers, not just the 5150, can have a problem with if the bias is too cold. you never hear anyone else bitching that a properly biased amplifier is a negative thing? or that a SLO sounds better biased cold? then dont say the 5150 does.
the cocked wah thing deals with 1 resistor, and its in my mod list of things i change. it also deals with cheap production on peavey's side. its why you dont hear it in the SLO, or the 5150 III.
the 5150 is an underrated amplifier. you have to know what tone you are looking for in order to coax it out of such an amplifier. if you are looking for straight plug and play tone, then stick to your diezels and bogners. blues is easily the best tone i can get out of mine, and i bought my block letter from a country bar being used as their house amplifier in nashville, TN.
keep the arguments going over tone all you like. but fact is fact. 5150 = WYSIWYG. those who can make it work have the best tones out there, those that have no clue with what they are dealing with will dog it more than anything else.