Peavey 6505 Head

Musically I'm into everything but I usually play Metal to Jazz on this head. As far as its features, its got 2 channels(Rhythm, Lead) with the Pre Gain controls used as the gain and the Post controls used as the volumes for each channel.

120 watts (rms) into 16, 8, or 4 ohms (switchable)
Five 12AX7 preamp tubes and four 6L6GC power amp tubes
High and low gain inputs
2-channel preamp switchable on front panel or remote footswitch
Rhythm channel: pre-/post-gain, bright and crunch switches
Lead channel: pre-/post-gain
Channels share 3-band EQ
Presence and resonance controls
Switchable post-EQ effects loop
Preamp output
Footswitch included

This head is used for practice and band situations and has plenty of power and the only complaint I have with it is the sharing of the EQ for both channels. Although the settings I have for both channels isn't bad it would just be nice to have another set of EQ's for my clean sounds.

This amp can do light crunch sounds to PLENTY of gain saturated sounds and if you experiment with the Rhythm gain(I use this channel for clean sounds) you can get a nice clean sound out of it. I have my Rhythm gain set on 3 or 4 and it doesn't break up much at high volumes. So if you want some more break up just turn up the gain a bit. The Lead gain is great. Its one of those controls that is usefull all around...When I play heavy stuff I have the gain at 4 or 5 and thats plenty for me. You guys setting this thing at 10 must have a horrible sound. I don't think anyone should even need to go past 7 or 8, thats when the mud could come into play. If you want an amp with an incredible amount of crunch and gain this is for you. The amp bites so its not so useful for really scooped overdrive but I never liked that type of distortion anyways. Most the time I play through a Gibson Les Paul Studio with the stock custom shop pickups and I love the sound. I also play my Dean Hardtail with EMG 81 and 85's through it. Obviously if you stand next to the amp its gonna hiss but as long as you don't have the gain at 10(which you should never need) its not to much noise. Plugging strait into the amp with no effects when I first got it there wasn't alot of noise at all but my live set up I have 4 effects and my Digitech DigiDelay gives the amp all the noise.

It seems built really good but I have a head cases on its way right now regardless of how its built because I don't want to take any precautions with the tubes getting broke or cracked. Since its a tube amp I gig with Randall solid state for backup but so far it has never messed up on me.

Never really delt with the company.

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now and I would certainly buy another head if it were stolen or lost. My buddy has a Marshall DSL50 which I like but I still like my Peavey. I chose this amp because they go cheap on Ebay and I wanted a tube head.

Pretty straight forward, inputs, preamp output, effects loop and EQ/volume/gain knobs, channel switches, a 'bright' and a 'crunch' switch for the rhythm channel. A reverb would have been nice, but probably not its style.

unbeleivable to me, everything is so crisp and clear yet powerfull. Its not syrupy at all, it's like it's throwing precision sound at me, no mud, nothing bad to speak of except you cant get a thick, fuzzy dark sound from it unless you color the tone with effects, the tone of this amp is very bright and snappy.

I've heard stories after stories about how this amp has handled the road and have met numerous people in the touring scene that swear by it, so it must be very reliable, I wont know for sure for about another 2-3 years, but i'm sure it deserves a ten - all that praise cant be for nothing.

Like the reliability rating, I've heard - but not experienced - that their customer service is incredible, someone I used to know called them to drop the wattage on his 5150 to 60 and they sat and walked him through it step by step - for a product well past its warranty + a service they don't even officialy offer. They have a great reputation, even though having never dealt with them, my mind is at ease if anything were to happen.

For just about anything metal or rock (especially metalcore, IMO), this amp is the best in a category all its own. Some argue that the krank revolution is beating it out, and surely theres a decent number of prestige and boutique amps that can nail it on afew categories but for $1,200 or so I don't think you can do any better and it's not at all a compromise. It is a bonafide professionals amp, the 5150 is a legend , don't forget that this is the same amp, but a different name and slightly different design (all tiny things, all of it "where" they printed "what" , like the logo.)

Style: Classic Hard Rock/Metal, Doom metal, heavy stoner rock

If you are reading this, I'm sure you are familiar with the features. 2 channels with shared EQ (not a problem for me)

Only thing I would add is reverb, but a pedal in the loop works just fine.

Use with a Gibson Explorer with medium output passives (Rio Grande BBQ/Texas. Digitech Bad Monkey slamming the front (set up as a clean boost) and an MXR 10-band EQ in the loop for extra shaping. I also use the Normal Gain input for more clarity.

I want to start off by listing the amps I've owned in the last 4 years:

Engl - Powerball, Fireball, Screamer, Thunder
Splawn Pro Mod
Marshall TSL and DSL (modded)
Mesa Boogie Single Recto and Road King
Peavey XXX

The 6505 absolutely sits on all of them. I never gave the 5150/6505 a chance because they just seemed to popular/generic to me. Boy, have I been missing out. It is the kind of dark and sinister gain that I have been looking for. I hear the 6505+ is much brighter and is lacking a little gain. The 6505 seems to be a little harder to record than the Engl amps, but sounds better in the room IMO. People say it is buzzy and sounds like crap at low volumes. Wrong again, I put a 5751 tube in the V1 pre-amp slot and most of the buzz disappeared. I'm sure the bias mod will make it even clearer and I plan on doing that down the road. But it roars at low volumes just as it is. And it just gets better as you turn it up. The clean could be better, but I don't play clean so it doesn't matter. Rhythm with gain around 4-6 (crunch engaged)gives me all the classic rock/early metal tones I need. And Lead with gain at 5 is brutal as hell and lets out some awesome harmonics/squeals. I wish I would have discovered the amp earlier.

The amp is pretty noisy at high gain settings, but nothing a good noise gate like an ISP Decimator can't fix.

If you like mid-scooped metal, this is probably not the amp for you. I turned the mids to "0" for kicks and it still sounded pretty "middy". The mids are raw and abrasive as hell without the EQ in the loop. I use the MXR to smooth them out a little bit.

IMO, it is important to use the lower gain input. It makes the amps EQ a little bit LESS responsive, but makes the tone much thicker and darker (which I like). I also think the amp gets along very well with Celestion GT-75's since they do not add any extra coloration to your mids.

Brand new and no problems yet !

If it were lost or stolen, I would QUICKLY find another one. I have been playing since 1985 and I think my days of tone searching are over.

120 Watt ALL TUBE (5 12AX7's, 4 6L6's).
LOUD LOUD LOUD!
2 Channels, with a bright and Crunch switch on the Rhythm Channel (Clean).
Comes with Footswitch for channel and effects loop.

This amp has enough power for ANYONE.

This amp was made for ROCK AND METAL.

I use dual Humbucker guitars equipt with EMG 81's, and EMG 707's on my Seven String.

This is the first time EVER that I have played an amp plugging straight in with NO EFFECTS! That's right, you don't need an overdrive/distortion/fuzz box in front of your amp to get the same pick attack/sustain. This amp takes care of that. Marshalls sound good, but they don't have HALF the dynamics of this head!

I play Progressive Metal (Dream Theater, Children of Bodom, etc.) and this amp is PERFECT. I plug straight in, and I have a Boss DD-3 Delay, MXR Phase 90 in the effects loop.

For Metal, you couldn't ask for anything more than this amp, Honestly.

A lot of Hardcore and Metal bands that tour accross the county and World use Peavey, so if it can handle constant touring at LOUD volumes, I'm sure it can handle your 2-3 times a week practice and occassional gig...

It's heavy, but built like a tank.

I haven't dealt with Peavey, but I have heard from others that they answer e-mails promptly, and are friendly over the phone.

I've been playing guitar for more than 5 years. I have owned 4 different Marshall Heads, went through Numerous Rack set-ups, I have tried Mesa Boogie Rectifiers, Road Kings, Soldano heads, and when I finally bought this amp, I decided that I will NEVER need anything else EVER again. This amp soudns soo good, you have to ehar it to believe it.

I love complicated rack set-ups (Just look at John Petrucci's rig!), BUT I have always loved the simplicity of a guitar plugged into an amp. Ever other amp I have ever owned, I have needed and overdrive pedal, or EQ, or a BBE Sonic Maximizer to tweak it to sound the way I liked, and EVEN THEN, I wasn't totally satisfied with the sound.

This is the first time EVER that I have LOVED my amp sound, and it's just the amp ALONE. EDDIE VAN HALEN Sure knows how to design an amp (For those of you who don't know, this amp is the current version of the 5150 II Head which he designed, but since he is no longer with Peavey, they released this head in 2005 to mark their 40 year anniversary, 6505= 1965-2005).


If you are still unsure about this amp, do yourself a favor and find your nearest Peavey dealer and go try it out. REMEMBER: Tube amps have to be played at a decent volume to get their true tone. This amp is VERY LOUD, but I think that playing this amp on 1 or 2 will give you a general idea of what it will sound like. I can play this thing on 1, and it sounds killer!

If it were stolen, I hunt down the person who took it, and make him buy me another, then beat the crap out of him (I know Judo), and then take back my original head so I could have 2!

So if my review still hasn't convinced you, just go try one out!

Check out my music at www.myspace.com/paulgabriel

New recordings are coming soon with the 6505 head!

-2006
-versatlie to a degree- great for rock hard metal and the like - not great for blues clean
-2 channels not as nice features wise here as the 6505 plus- but do you really want to -play anything clean through this piece?
-i wish it had a control knob for the effects loop
-more than enough power
- all depends on three things the pickups the cab the speakers.

sounds awesome with humbuckers--my fender noiseless sounds good too believe it or not-i have a tele with S.D. hotrail in the bridge position, sounds perfect
i was looking for the mesa sound but this is not it-- very good for hard rock
no pops or buzz
clean is cool with a pedal in the effects loop but you got to hit two switches quick which is beat
it is the stuff for the price
everyone rags on the cheep foot switch- its not like the sixties anymore deal with the plastic

reliable-- stock tubes are good-would love to change the tubes to experiment but rebiasing it sounds a pain

quick response-- i emailed them about the extra power tube-- i wanted to know if the 6505 plus had the same amount of gain as the non plus--the guy at peavey said the extra tube is for the clean only . dont know why all the guitar sites say the 6505 plusw has more gain- it just aint so--\\\

great amp for the money --would buy again!!

wish it sounded like a mesa-hhha--i got that sound in my head-i have a jcm 900 but the peavey and marshall is not what i'm looking for.---the rectifer is next!!

I play in Hardcore Punk Metal band, and this amp is exactly what i was looking for... Brutal... omg the first time i turned this up in practice I blew everyone away. In pracice i have it on about 3.5 and up to 5 at a gig, there's really know need to turn it up more. So there's more than enough power.

The sound is Brutal. I used to use a Marshall before i found this amp, and it cuts through the mix much better.

I use the high gain input
pre amp gain 10
Low 6
Mid 5
High 8
Res 5
Pres 8
and i never need to turn the post amp gain up more than 4.

It can be noisy but this can be easily solved using a Boss NS-2. i run my guitar through the ns-2, in the fx loop. It cuts out all the hiss and feedback, even when i turn it all the way up.

No problems so far

Ordered the amp through my local shop, off Peavey. It was gonna take 6 weeks to deliver, after 6 weeks nothing came. So we gave them a ring and they had forgot to place my order :o

but they then promised to send one out straight away.
It turned up the 2 days later.
very cool.
:)

I've only been playing guitar for 2 years, and i use a Washburn and I playing in a hardcore metal band.Tthere's no doubt in my mind that I'd buy this amp again for this music.

You can't really test it in the shops, as the amp really needs to be turned up high.

But if you want lots of distortion and a brutal sound.

Get this!

this is a 2005 amp, the new release of the 5150.
For me it is versatile enough to play the distorion is awesome, very chunky yet very crisp. Its really good for metal as you would know. It has two channels lead and rythm lead is made for distorion and the rythm is made for clean and/or cruch. theres also a "bright" button for more high frequency response which is really good. Overall for the clean i give it a 7 on 10 because it doesnt stay nice and clean at higher volumes it starts to crunch but then again who buys this amp for the clean. I wish this amp had a really good reverb and a better clean it would make it perfect. This amp goes at 120wats TUBE so that will give u about 210 on transistor scale for the volume. My favorite features on the amp though are the presense and renosance controls they really bring out such an awesome tone.

Im using a b.c.rich virgin NJ series speedloader with emgzw pickups, also a b.c.rich platinum warlock with stock pickups. The amp performs really well with these guitars and I love the attack on it. Im running this amp through an orange 412 and 212 and it sounds phenominal!

this amp seems very reliable and built like a tank!

never needed yet but its peavey so most likely good

Ive been playing for about 3 and a half years now. I own 2 marshall mg100rcd amp heads and an mg412. If it were lost or stolen Id be pissed but I would buy another. I love the distorion once again but i cant say much aboutthe clean. This amp is awesome!