Peavey 6505 or 6505 plus?Or something else?

[MesaENGR412]

Hey guys! The other guitarist in my band is looking at getting a Peavey to compliment my Mesa and the other lead singer/guitarist's Krank. I was wondering what the difference is between the sound of the the two 6505's.He's leaning between those and a Triple XXX i believe. I'd love for him to get a Stilleto :!: , haha, but i don't think he can swing that one.Anyways, I know the plus model has an extra preamp tube, but how much does it effect the sound of the amp, and is it worth the extra money for it (my bud's on sort of a tight budget, money saved is money earned if ya know what i mean):?: Also, If you know of any other amps that would be good, but not give the same exact sound as my Mesa(and in the same price range as the Peavey), that would be great as well. Thanks ahead of time, all info is appreciated!

-AJH

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

The plus is definitely not worth it. Either for for a 6505, or a used 5150! The XXX might be a good idea, but he'll need a good noise supressor with it too.

 

[dylan7620]

id reccomend the 5150.... you'll save $300-$400 or maybe more. my buddy just scored a 5150 head and cab for $600. same exact setup as the 6505 but with out paying the hefty "new" price. i think the heads alone are like 900 arent they? i'd just spend the extra money on some good tubes and getting it re-biased.. then the thing will scream. :wink:

 

[Brewski]

There's always an F-50 or F-30 if you'd like him to be playing through a Mesa. It all depends on what sound you guys want and especially what sounds good to the guy putting out the cash.

 

[kylek]

definantly 5150, or a Crate blue voodoo, those amps actually sound pretty decent for the price tag

 

[ChrisRocksUSA]

don't get the crate, crate amps are horrible

peavey amps are good, but noisey.

 

[Flavell777]

I owned both a 5150 and a 5150 mkII before the Road King, so here's my 2 cents. I found the lead channel on the 5150 a little warmer and a little thicker than the mkII model, howver i prefered the 5150 mkII's seperate EQ on the rythmn channel so traded up to the mkII. Both cleans aren't brilliant but no where near as bad as some people make out. I re-tubed with svetlana 6l6GC's as well as a full set of Electro Harmonix 12AX7 and it sounded much better. I play alot of heavy stuff so placed a quadraverb in the loop with just the EQ on and it sounded 10 times heavier which for me was a good thing. For the money they sound good and are ideal for heavy/metal stuff, not the best for bluesy stuff or cleans.

 

[riddick]

The 5150 is a great amp, l used to have one, but l got the dual rectifier, the 5150 is a much better amp IMHO.

If you use 6l6's in your amp, maybe he could get an amp with el34's, this is normally a good thing to do to get a different sound, so your sounds aren't so similar.

I hope l helped anyway,

Riddick.

 

[MesaENGR412]

Thanks guys, i appreciate all your views and comments. I'll run these ideas by him and see what he thinks.

-AJH

 

[TheRazMeister]

Sorry dude.....that's not a true statement anymore...The V series tube amps rock! 8)

don't get the crate, crate amps are horrible

peavey amps are good, but noisey.

 

[tele_jas]

I had a 5150 and didn't like it..... sold it, got a Boogie.... then about 3 weeks ago I had GAS for a 5150 again, so one and remembered why I didn't like it 2 years ago. It's great for about one or two styles of music, Rock & hard rock/Metal, ok so that's really 3 styles. I needed an amp with a decent clean channel and I was never happy with the 5150's clean channel.

I'd try to talk him in to getting the XXX or JSX, both have better cleans and are much more versitile.

That's just my $.02 worth :wink:

 

[TheRazMeister]

Heard one of the SamAsh guys demo-ing a JSX head and was very impressed. Much livelier and flexible than other Peaveys. To my ears the JSX was a step up from the XXX but then again, Satch is one of my favorite players so I might be a little prejudiced...although I DON'T like his JS Ibanez guitars very much. 8)

I had a 5150 and didn't like it..... sold it, got a Boogie.... then about 3 weeks ago I had GAS for a 5150 again, so one and remembered why I didn't like it 2 years ago. It's great for about one or two styles of music, Rock & hard rock/Metal, ok so that's really 3 styles. I needed an amp with a decent clean channel and I was never happy with the 5150's clean channel.

I'd try to talk him in to getting the XXX or JSX, both have better cleans and are much more versitile.

That's just my $.02 worth :wink:

 

[tele_jas]

Heard one of the SamAsh guys demo-ing a JSX head and was very impressed. Much livelier and flexible than other Peaveys. To my ears the JSX was a step up from the XXX but then again, Satch is one of my favorite players so I might be a little prejudiced...although I DON'T like his JS Ibanez guitars very much. 8)

From what I understand, the JSX is the product of Satch working with Peavey and taking the XXX and doing the following:
1) Making channel 2 on the XXX the ultra on the JSX
2) taking the crunch from the Classic 50 and putting it in channel 2 of the JSX
3) EQing the clean channel to be warmer and smoother than the XXX.
4) Added a Noise gate to the JSX
5) Added a presence control to the JSX

I liked my XXX much better than the 5150's I had, I had EL34's in mine and I wish I would have tried 6L6's in it. If I were in a thrash metal band or a hard core metal band, I'd go with the 5150 in a heart beat, but not if I was needing versitility.

 

[dylan7620]

you know i used to rip on 5150 cleans for soooo long. all the ones i tried had terrible cleans (my peavey rage 158 was better) but with the latest head my buddy got i was able to find a more the just usable clean with the EQ set for searing distortion. i was able to get some very nice bluesy grit to.

they're biased so cold from the factory for that "brown sound" so you just gotta counteract it with pick attack and you have a ton of dynamic control. (of course there's always variables even if its the same model of amp but...) its not nearly as big/wideo/open sounding as my nomads cleans but come on... i choose mesa for a reason. :lol:

 

[TheRazMeister]

That makes sense...the cleans did seem much more usable on the JSX and the variety of tones made it seem like a possible gigging solution for me at the time. If they had a combo available last year, I probably would've bought the JSX or at least considered it. I tried the 5150 a while back and thought it was subpar. The DSL50 (and 4x12 bottom) sitting next to it was head and shoulders better.

From what I understand, the JSX is the product of Satch working with Peavey and taking the XXX and doing the following:
1) Making channel 2 on the XXX the ultra on the JSX
2) taking the crunch from the Classic 50 and putting it in channel 2 of the JSX
3) EQing the clean channel to be warmer and smoother than the XXX.
4) Added a Noise gate to the JSX
5) Added a presence control to the JSX

I liked my XXX much better than the 5150's I had, I had EL34's in mine and I wish I would have tried 6L6's in it. If I were in a thrash metal band or a hard core metal band, I'd go with the 5150 in a heart beat, but not if I was needing versitility.