Voodoo Amps 6505+

Two Channels, with seperate EQ's for each channel, as well as seperate resonance and presence controls. Crunch and Bright switches for the Rhythym/Clean channel. The channels and crunch mode are footswitchable and work well. One of the reasons I bought this amp over the 6505/5150 or 5150 combo was b/c of the flexibility provided by the seperate EQ's. One of the problems I encountered with my 6505 combo was that when I switched between channels, I had to stop playing, walk over to the amp and do a bit of tweaking to get it to sound right. For instance, the crunch channel, while having less gain, seemed more bass heavy and quite a bit punchier, so I always had to boost the treble and cut the bass. However, I don't have that problem as much with this amp due to the different preamp design for the Rhythym channel; anyways, it's still nice to have.

I'm currenetly using a L.P. Custom with a MotorCity Pups Blissbucker...9K A4, a Warmoth Mahogany Strat with a 13k A8 humbucker and a pre-serial# Ibanez Destroyer with potted Super70 pups. My cabinet is a Mesa 4x12 Recto cab loaded with early 80's G12-65s, and my effects are generally run from a lineout of an Ultimate Attenuator to a seperate power amp and cabinet. I've previously owned a Voodoo modded 6505 Combo, and I sold it to purchase a botique Plexi Clone, that I've been noodling around with and hot-rodding for the last 2 yrs. I missed the Vodoo modded 6505 Combo about as soon as i sold it. The 5150 II/6505+'s preamp layout for the rhythym/crunch channel was Peavey's response to 5150 users who wanted a more usable clean channel, and the cleans are noticably better, but at a cost...the crunch channel doesn't have the same level of gain, nor the punch of the original 5150. The Voodoo mods do an excellent job of giving the cleans a bit more fulness and body. In stock form, the cleans were thin and anemic sounding, with a very flat "cardboard like" midrange. They are greatly improved, but I wouldn't describe them as great. The crunch channel is improved as well; it has better clarity, definition, with more of that characteristic "Marshallesque" crunch and perhaps a little more gain. However, I found it a bit lacking, as it didn't have the same level of gain or punch that my previous Voodoo modded Peavey had. I don't consider the addition of a better clean channel to be worth loss of a great crunch channel; the cleans are better, but the tradeoff isn't worth it IMHO. I wanted the flexibility of the seperate EQs to be able to usefully toggle b/w the 2 channels, but that isn't as big of a concern now, b/c I don't have like this rhythym channel as much as the 5150/6505 and find that much of a need to use it, so I usually just leave it on the lead channel now and just roll the volume back on my guitar when I need to clean up my sound. The rhthym channel of my Voodoo modded 6505 combo just stomped...this one is ok, but not great. The lead channel is exactly what I remembered it to be; gobs of useable gain on tap. When you turn the gain up, there is that characteristic chansaw grind with enough clarity to make the notes stand out even under heavy distortion. There is less gain post mods; however, wheras before much of the gain was unusable, now the amps is much tighter and the gain structure and note definition are much more well defined. You can dime the preamp gain on the lead channel and have a heavily saturated sound with enough clarity to keep your sound from turning to mush. The lead channel is brutal as hell...kudos to Trace, Mike and the gang for that one; job well done!

So far so good.

Answered all my questions, and are always cool to talk to.

My problems with this amp are due to the design itself. I think Voodoo has done a really good job with modding the existing designs of this amp. Anything beyond what they've done...yes, I took a look...would require a significant re-working of the preamp to achieve what what I would prefer out of this amp...i.e. rewiring the rhythym channel to the original 5150 specs for a better crunch channel. The lead channel just smokes; it really is that good, and the rhthym channel is vastly improved as is the clean channel.