Peavey 6505 Plus Head

2 channels 6 preamp tubes, 4 power tubes.
I think the amp is very versatile. Tweak the gain, Res, Pres, and mids to get differnt tones.

Footswitch is cool. Effects loop. I use the amp at home through a VHT fatbottom 2x12.

Sounds Great! I am using Ibanez Prestige customs with Dimarzio Air Nortons and Steve's Specials. Suits my style very well....I like a Savatage type tone and this suits my style a bit more than the regular 5150, which is darker and sounds awesome for death metal. The big factor in sound is the speakers/cab. Many overlook this, but it is huge!!

so far so good

I had a 5150 for about 3 years and decided to get it modded from voodoo amps. Had that for about 2 years. Just wasn't happy with it. Sold that amp and bought the new 6505+ and it has been awesome! I have been playing for 18 years and I have been diggin peavey cuz the bang to buck ratio. I could pop out big money for Splawn, Engl, Framus, but why? I don't play out much and I am more than happy with my tone. Make sure whenever you get a new amp to try it on different cabs. Speakers make a big difference! For what I spent, it can't be beat!

The rythym channel seems like a total waste, exspecialy considering it has a whole power tube dedicated too it, one that on the 6505 (non plus) was on the lead channel, so basicaly they sacrificed some gain to add the rythym channel, and its decent, but most everything i've read here on it already is pretty accurate. I get alot of great metal sounds out of it and I don't use a pedal, my fav setting atm is pre-8, low-7, mid-1, high-2, resonance-7, presence-10 and it basicaly has a warm but not at all muddy distortion sound, if i turn the post past 3, i drown the other guitarist out, he plays on a crate bvh120. I get cleaner (distortion) chuck schuldiner sounds, I get sharper killswitch engage sounds, I get good ted nugent rock sounds, and they all sound GREAT!

I just got this amp today. Perfect timeing actually because we had rehearsal today. Anyway, I am amazed at this amp. Saturday I went and tested it out and was sucked in from the start. I love everything about it. For me personally, this amp is a very versatile amp. I am currently involved with alot of different projects, and it is going to be a very wonderful asset to me. I know everything is reletive, but I am very happy to own this amp. It is a two channel amp; rythmn and lead, with a crunch on the clean channel. There is an effects loop, that I am currently not using. I will be using this amp for live and studio applications. I am just amazed at this product.

Tone, almost too personal to even give an opinion, so I will speak only from my perception. I have been playing guitar for fifteen years now, and only in the last five years have I learned about the wonderful world of tubes. Unbelievable huh! I honestly don't know how that happened, but I am in love with the electric guitar. When I got my first real tube amp, it was like stepping into another world. Thus my tone search began. All I can say, with complete humility, is this is the tone I was looking for. I am a music lover, and so I play alot of different styles; Blues, rock, jam band, country, and anything else I can feel. I play through a G&L Legacy with twinblades, my effects include a MXR Dyna comp, Boss DD-6 Digital Delay, Electro Harmonix Small Clone, and a Crybaby. For me, this a perfect amp. I personally love the clean channel and the lead channel. I am just impressed with the amp all around.

Looks very dependable

Overall, I love this amp. All I can say is, go to a local dealer, and see if this amp is for you.

This is a Peavey 6505+ made in 2005. I bought this amp off of Music123.com in B quality ( used ). Funny thing about it, someone must have returned it with mesa 6L6 power tubes. So keep in mind, this review is on a killer amp, made even better by tubes from Mesa. This has all the features anyone needs. Clean,Crunch and Lead. The previous review is dead on about the clean channel not being loud enough because you have to turn the gain down to get a decent clean, then when you switch on the crunch, its super loud cause you have the pre on 7. But who buys this amp for the crunch, the lead is sick and all I use. This amp turned on 2 1/2 is loud enough for practices and gigs. This amp gets an 8 only because I wish the clean was more smooth and buttery

My set-up is this: Esp Eclipse EC-1000 into the 6505+ with a Kerry king Eq in the effects loop through a crate 4x12 loaded with vintage 30's. Anyone not familiar with the kerry king EQ, should def. try it out. An Eq in general whether its before or after the amp is an awesome and useful tool. My band plays As I lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Thrice type style of music. Without the Eq the amp is brutal on its on, the eq just soups up the gain and depending on where the sliders are you can adjust the bottom, midrange and high frequencies. These 5150's/6505's amps have been known to be very noisy due to the high gain, but Mine is not that noisey, the only thing noisy are my emg pickups ( hence the noise gate thats on my x-mas list ) Now onto the clean, for some reason my clean is very bright and glassy, Im guessing that is the mesa tubes working its mojo? I wish it was a litte warmer like a marshall. Im still trying to master my eq amp settings and eq pedal, I know nothing about settings. I know I love the scooped mids sound, but in a two guitar band, you might as well just stop playing. Boosting the mids seem to work on being heard, but its not balls to the wall. I have only played a couple handful of amps in my day from marshalls avt's, jcm 800, crate blue voodoo, peavey triple xxx, peavey supreme, this one has the best distorion for the money. I would give it a 10, but I know there are better amps out there, maybe with equal distortion but better clean or vice versa.

I have played about 10 shows and put about 200 hours at practice on it, so far it hasnt failed me. I dont have a back up, Im always nervous every show, cause I bought it used and I dont have a case for it, and how sensitive tube amps are. But this thing is a beast, so Im sure it will last me awhile. But invest in a road case!

Well this isnt a plug whatsoever, but I buy most of my gear from music123.com except my guitars. and they have a killer return policy, so I dont need peavey customer support. For any musician looking for great deals on used stuff I would check out thier outlet section.

I have been playing for 10 years and I have owned a few peavey heads and a crate blue voodoo, so far this head takes them all. If this head were stolen I would def. get another one. If you play metal, hardcore, or any other harder type rock, this head is for you. Save your money and buy a decent cabinet with celestions. The new crate voodoo cabinet was the best cabinet for the money, heavey as hell though. Same speakers as the ones in the mesa oversized cabs.
www.faceforwardrock.com

05' Peavey 6506+, 120 watts all tube. Some sort of effects loop which i dont really use. Two channel amp, lead and a clean channel. The clean channel has a crunch boost which is footswitchable. Each channel has independent resonance and prescence controls, this really lets you dial in fell as to whether the amp has a "saggy" tone or a "tight" tone in a way that you cant do with an eq. Really cool.

What i would like to see is the clean channel improved by making it more clean and fuller sounding. Id also like to see the crunch channel moved over to the lead channel so you can get a good solid clean tone and a heavier crunch. Im playing more metal and hardcore these days, as well as some good ol' rock.

Im using an Ibanez RGT-42 and have used a Gibson V in the past. Both guitars sounded really good on this amp. The lead channel tends to be my main channel since i use a lot of distortion. This channel sounds very heavy and tight, great for metal rythym and of course lead. The crunch channel is awesome for harder rock tones ala Rush, Dio, Black Sabbath. It can do lighter tones as well and has a real good Marshall-y sag to it.
The clean channel is utter shit though. No soul in the clean channel, really anemic an tinny sounding. The really horrible thing is since the clean channel and the crunch channel are on the same channel you cant dial in a good crunch distortion and have the clean be clean. The clean it ends up being dirty if the preamp is past 3.

Ive had it for 2 or 3 months, so far so good.

Never dealt with em'.

Ive been playing guitar and bass for 15 or so years. The band im in now is in the vein of Lamb of God, Slayer, Mastodon, KSE, Children of Bodom ect. Really heavy stuff that doesnt require a clean channel. This amp shines for this style. But its very limited in my opinion and the day this band ends ill probably ebay this thing and get a more versatile amp.

All in all its a good amp, but very one dimensional.

this was a 2005 peavey 6505+. notice I say "was" i got the amp 3 days ago and I plugged it in and got it all set up to my likings and I thought that the disortion channel sounded pretty freakin good. the clean/rhythm channel is kinda odd though. but ill get into that more in the sound section. it is not a very versitile amp when I compare it to my TSL 100 but there is sufficiant sound/tone adjustment on it. I use it for live gigs with my band and we play melodic metal/hardcore/screamo.

I use a USA Jackson soloist SL2H-mah with seymour duncan JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. well... to get back to what i was saying befor....i have had the amp for three days and the power amp section of the distortion channel is dead. it worked for 2 days and then nothing. the clean still worked though (oh boy). they are gonna send me another one. the clean channel is VERY clean (too clean)when low gain is applied but there is almost no head room. then there is a crunch button on the clean/rhythm channel and it boosts the gain a bit but it doesnt make for a very graceful change from clean to crunch because the crunch boost is too loud and the clean is too soft so when the clean is loud enough to match the lead channel and you wanna go from clean to a crunch into full chaos(the lead channel) the crunch ends up being so loud that its louder than the lead channel. which is really really loud. so my solution is...I will use two cabs and two heads. The 6505+ with a 1960 lead cab and a TSL 100 head with a 1960 cab. the TSL's clean and crunch channel is far superior to the peavey but the distotion (lead) channel on the 6505 is more of my taste because the peavey 6505+ has more of refined and less grainy gain. so I will switch between the clean and crunch on the marshall TSL and the lead channel on the 6505+. SO essentually the peavey is like a $974.00 distortion pedal.

The power Amp section on the lead channel DIED 3 days after having it.
they are sending me a new one so we will see.

never talked to em.

well in its current condition I probably wouldnt care too much if it broken (more) or stolen or something. but if it actually worked ....yes I would buy it again.

It has what is needed, and a little extra on the side. It has the usual Low, Mid and High EQ's, pre and post gain (actually, only pre is gain while post is volume control) and resonance and presence controls, which are extended controls for further scuplting your lows and highs. All of these are available for both the rhythm and the lead channel.

It also has a "bright" switch which will output more treble and it also has a "crunch" switch which will add a tad more gain... Both features are only available in the rhythm channel.

It comes with a 3-buttoned footswitch, which allows you to control channel selection, to add crunch on the rhythm channel and an effects switch which will switch on your effects loop.

As I said, it has more or less exactly what it needs, with a extra toppings.

I play my amp through an ESP M-II with Seymour Duncan JB/59 pickups, which is connected to a Boss TU-2 tuner, a Boss GE-7 that goes through a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor, and then straight onward to the input jack on the 6505+. The head is connected to a Hughes & Kettner Vortex 4x12 cabinet. I acquired it very recently, so the amp is straight outta the box with no "improvements" whatsoever.

The sounds? It does what it was designed for with excellence: Pure and utter annihilation!!! It has more gain than Cain and it has more bottom end than Amsterdams Red Light District. The word brutal gets thrown around a lot, but this time it's justified. This head is capable of outputting sounds that are more brutal than any other amp that I have ever heard. If you know your shit, you know that the only reason to purchase a Peavey 6505+ is for the lead channel. You can sculpt your tone to range from more or less any genre within the heavy metal branch of music, from mild gain to earthshaking and bonecrushing gain with a HUGE bottom end, which is exactly what I need for the style I play (metalcore). And with the Boss GE-7 hooked up to your signal line, you there's even more room for toying around.

The rhythm channel on the other hand, could use some improvement. The clean sounds aren't the best in the world (but not the worst either), and the "crunch" button adds very little gain which kinda forfeits the idea of the crunch feature.

But as I implied earlier, you're not buying this amps for it cleans but for its gain.

I haven't had it long enough to really comment on this, but as I understand it, Peavey builds reliable equipment.

I sent them an e-mail regarding the powersupply of the amp some weeks ago, and they have never responded...

This amp is without a doubt, the best bang for the buck for all you metal/hardcore musicians out there. If you need great cleans, look somewhere else, but if you want to be in Gain City, this is without contest THE amp for you. So far, I like... No wait, I LOVE everything about this amp.

I have played for 7 years, and of all the myriads of Marshalls, Mesas, Hughes & Kettners and "what's their name?" that I've tried, this amp straight out beats them all for my needs, which is gain, gain and more gain!

The bottom line is, if you play in a band that plays heavy metal, whether that be hardcore, punk, grind, metalcore, power-metal, black-metal, death-metal, melodic-metal, whatever, save yourself some time and go check out this amp immediately... I am 99% certain of that you won't be let down!

Yeah, i'd like to say to Colin to leave your dirty diaper at the door when real guitar players smoke your pussy-ass. I guarantee you wouldn't tell KErry King or Zakk Wylde that they are pussy and pathetic for using EMGs and drop tunings. Plus, i know you suck at guitar because you have more effects pedals than all other guitar players in tha world combined.

Anyway, on to the 6505+ or in my case, 5150 II. I bought one from the last batch of 5150II to leave the Peavey factory in late 2004, and man, was i lucky on that day. It is the most killer amp on the planet. No reverb, but if you need reverb, get a pedal for it.

2 Gibson Les Paul customs, one is a Black Beauty and the other is a Zakk Wylde original bullseye, both have EMGs(Colin, read this please.) and i own a Peavey EVH Wolfgang with a quilted maple top with the factory pickups, which are fuckin the best sounding PASSIVE pickup i've heard, but can't compare to the low noise-high output sound of the EMG81/85 combo. I had 5 pedals, a Dunlop Wylde Overdrive, Hendrix Wah and Rotovibe running in to the amp and a Boss Chorus Ensemble and Digital Delay through effects loops. Yep, no noise gate. I have 2 4x12 Peavey cabs(not 5150, straight and top) and this amp has more than enough power to crank out some of the greatest tones you will ever heard.
For the most part, i play metal in tha vain of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Shadows Fall, Black Label Society and Killswitch Engage. So, for most of my metal, i like to use the Rhythm Channel, with the pre-gain set at 10 and the Wylde Overdrive for a lil' more crunch and sustain. If i need it clean, i will usually just hit the footswitch and cut off the crunch and go to the clean. My chorus is usually always on when i'm using the Rhythm mode, so my effects loop is on, which means my clean channel has that awesome late-80s early-90s ballad tone, which is what i love. Now, if i'm playin shit like Killswitch, Pantera, Shadows Fall, and my own brand of metal which is a bastard child of Van Halen and Fozzy, i use the lead channel with the Wylde Overdrive with the FX loop off. I keep the Lead pre-gain around 3 or 4, and the Wylde Overdrive smooths out the gain and pinch harmonics fuckin fly from the speaker cabs.

On both post gains, i've never had a need to go above 5 when in a rehearsal situation and never above 3 in a live situation.

If there is a better amp, i'm sure as hell i wouldn't be able to get it for the $900 i paid for my baby. Shit, i'd laugh, die, be shocked, etc. if you could find one for $2900.

Hell yeah, i'd gig with out a back up, i've been a dedicated Peavey user ever since i started playin guitar 8 years ago, and i could have bought any amp and will stand by Peavey til tha day i die. Hell, if tha best in most genres(EVH, Gary Rossington of Skynyrd uses the Peavey Mace amps and new XXX amps, Satch with the JSX) use Peavey products, need i say more.

And if some one ever fucked it up or stole, i'd kill them, their family, pets, children, etc. go out and by a new one.

No, really, i'd just be really upset and know that i can go out and get the same great tone for less than a $1000.

I just tried out this amp in a local music store this weekend. The amp has killer tones and a variety of them. The features are somewhat limited by intent of design. I decided I have enough amps and this one although truly awesome, wouldn't add anything really to my collection. I'm a reverb kind of player. I like it and that's why there are so many different amps and FX out there. The single BEST AMP ON THE PLANET IS THE ONE YOU LIKE THE BEST.

The sounds were killer. There were a variety of sounds and we were allowed only a ten minute try out. That sucked. I got away with a 1/2 hour. The amp wasn't real noisy for being such a high gain amp. There was some noise, but hey, I've got a Bad Cat that is Class A and noisy at times. I tried four guitars through it: A LPC; Strat SSS; Strat HSS; and a Strat with EMGs HSS. Yes Colin, I've been playing for 35 years and have played in places you probably could not even approach. My triute band was #1 nation wide! I do think "The Dude at" was a little rough on you though. I don't find it necessary to get all emotional and curse someone because thier tastes are different from mine. I also don't think you've got the right to blast someone either. If you don't like a product, don't buy it and don't use it; perhaps don't even listen to the musicians who use them.

If this amp is like any other Peavey tube amp I've ever owned, it will be an unstoppable tank.

I've dealt with Peavey for 30 years now. Mr. Peavey himself has written me two emails and contacted me once on the phone. Peavey sets the stanard for customer service by which all others should be judged in my opinion.

If this amp had reverb, I'd probably find some way to add it to my collection. My retirement account is suffering, but I've got a storage space full of gear. It is truly an amazing amp with "ALMOST" uncontrollable gain. It sounds awesome for what is is intended to be.

First off I would like to say that Colin, the guy who wrote the review below, likes to rub against little boys on the bus. For some reason he felt the need to bash anyone who uses EMG pickups. Since I use EMG's exclusively, I just want Colin to know that when he is done blowing his boyfriend, he ought to go down to the local corner store and buy himself a clue. Your tone is the result of a number of factors: strings, pickups, the wood the guitar is made of, the amp you are plugged into, the type of tubes in the amp, the cabinet you are playing through, the type of speakers in the cabinet, etc. If he doesn't care for the way EMG's react with the rest of his signal chain, that's his business, but there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. To bash EMG's and anyone who uses them is just a glaring example of how truly stupid Colin is. Hey Colin, please refrain from posting further reviews until your balls drop!

You can check the Peavey homepage for the vital specs, but it's got two channels, Rhythm and Lead. You will notice that I did not use the words Clean and Lead, because the Rhythm channel was not meant to be a clean channel. You can roll back the volume knob on your guitar to help improve matters if you are after a clean sound, but that really isn't what this amp was made for. If you are expecting a Fender Twin Reverb clean out it, you are what is known as a complete fucking idiot.

This amp is the 5150 with a different name. Internally they are the same amp. I own a 5150, but am writing this review here because obviously it applies to the 6505 as well.

Jackson Rhoads guitars with EMG's (81,60). One guitar is in standard tuning, one with all strings detuned a half step, and the third with all strings detuned a whole step. I use a Marshall JCM900 1960B cab and I play real metal (Old metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Exodus, etc), not the pathetic excuse for music that passes as heavy these days (Limp Bisquick, Lincoln Log Park, Kornhole).

I mentioned above that it has no clean channel, just Rhythm and Lead. If you are really hell bent on getting a decent clean sound out of it, I recommend swapping out the third Pre-amp tube from a 12AX7 to a 5751, which has about a third as much gain as a 12AX7. It reduces the gain enough to get a usable clean sound, and also tames the lead channel a little bit, which some people like since a common complaint is that there is too much gain on the lead channel.

On the subject of pre-amp tubes, I recommend Electro Harmonix 12AX7's as they provide the warmest tone and best harmonic content of any 12AX7 that I have tried, and I have tried all of them short of some NOS tubes that I couldn't get my hands on. A lot of people rave about the JJ 12AX7's, so I tried them, but I found that they had almost no harmonic content and the tone suffered compared to the EH tubes. Everything is personal preference, but I found that the JJ's were dull and lifeless compared to the EH. (NOTE: These were not relabeled Sovteks, they were true Electro Harmonix tubes. The first batch of EH 12AX7's that came over to the states were just relabeled Sovteks, but the EH's that came after are completely different tubes than any of the Sovtek 12AX7's, and Sovtek makes a bunch of different 12AX7's. EH tubes are made by Sovtek, in the same factory as the Sovtek tubes, but they are not identical. The design of the tubes is different from any of 12AX7's that Sovtek makes, and the quality controls are better than the Sovtek tubes) The first three pre-amp tubes are for the gain stages, the fourth is for the effects loop, and the fifth is the phase inverter for the power amp. So, swapping out any of the first three tubes for something else will affect your tone and the amount of gain the pre-amp produces.

When it comes to power tubes, I settled on Svetlana's after extensive testing with just about every kind of 6L6 that I could get my hands on. Again, other people rave about the JJ's, but I didn't care for them at all. They sounded thin and had a spike in the upper mids that gave the amp a horrible honk. Sovtek and Chinese 6L6's were slightly better, but the Svetlana's won hands down for my taste.

The amp has two inputs, Normal and High. I use the Normal input because the distortion is too fizzy plugged into the high gain input. Obviously with lower output pickups you might want to use the High gain input, but I found that with a high output humbucker plugged into the Normal input, there is still a ton of gain, but with a lot less fizz so you retain better note definition. A high output humbucker plugged into the high gain input will result in a VERY distorted sound, so if that's what you are after, go right ahead.

The Rhythm channel with the crunch button engaged (gain boost) has more gain than the lead channel of most other "high gain" amps that I have played. The Lead channel has more gain than anything I have ever owned or plugged into and that includes the famous black face rectifiers from the early 90's (I had a Dual from the second batch of recto's that Mesa ever made). Tonally the Rhythm channel has more bass than the Lead channel, and the bass is also a little tighter on the Rhythm channel. The Rhythm channel is voiced like a lot like a JCM800, but with way bass and way more gain than any Marshall ever produced. The Lead channel has been compared to the Soldano SLO, and while I can't speak to that comparison personally, I will say that a LOT of expensive high gain tube amps have found their way into my possession since I got my 5150 (

Absolutely Bullet Proof.

I have never had to deal with them personally, but their homepage has all of their manual and a nice forum for people with amp related questions.

By itself, it's a very nice amp. Throw a BBE sonic maximizer in the loop and you will be in high gain heaven. I also use a Hush Super C, but that's only because I A/B to another amp for clean sounds and need the 5150 (6505) to be completely quiet when it's not in use. You could get a better amp, but it'll probably cost three times as much. Don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations of tubes as the amp is very responsive to the differences from tube to tube. In some amps the tone doesn't really change much even if you swap in different tubes, but the 5150 (6505)will cover a lot of ground sonically if you are patient enough to do a little experimenting.