Thoughts on the Peavey 6505

[abe]

I notice a lot of people have had these amps. I see some people complaining about them being buzzy sounding, which I didn't hear even at low volume. When I was looking for my last amp I played one and loved it, but it was too extreme and I ended up with the Stiletto, which I still have after 6 years and love.

Today I played a 60 watt 6505 combo and it was the same thing - Just a great sounding and feeling amp. I don't think I would want one for my only amp (I would choose the Stiletto) but I am thinking about one for a second amp.

I know what I like, but I am curious as to other people's experience with these. Is it one of those "guilty pleasure" amps that people don't like to admit that they like?

 

[TimeSignature]

6505's are awesome metal amps. Period. Cleans leave something to be desired but for all out distortion and considering the price, they are great!!!!

Less fuzzy than a Rectifier!

 

[ned]

No difference between a 6505 and a 5150 from Peavy other than the badge. Great amps.

 

[Jackie]

Cleans leave something to be desired

I think cleans leave a LOT to be desired but it's not really what you buy it for anyway. :lol:

These amps rock, apart from being an amazing metal and hi-gain amp, they really throw out a nice solid rock tone. Pleasant surprise! I listened to an opening act for a Joe Satriani gig (can't remember the name of the band), and the guy had a really massive, fat rock tone.

 

[abe]

Does anyone know if the Stiletto footswitch would work on the 6505combo? I have one coming on Tuesday and held off on the switch in hopes it might work. They are both 1/4''' 2 button switches, but I don't know if there is something special about either. I suppose I can wait to find out but who the hell likes waiting

 

[Big_Al]

Does anyone know if the Stiletto footswitch would work on the 6505combo? I have one coming on Tuesday and held off on the switch in hopes it might work. They are both 1/4''' 2 button switches, but I don't know if there is something special about either. I suppose I can wait to find out but who the hell likes waiting

Should work.

 

[abe]

It works! Channel is on the right and crunch is on the left

 

[Jackie]

Any stereo 2 button footswitch would work - TRS footswitches don't discriminate

 

[abe]

I've had the amp a few days now and will try it at my next show. One thing about the Rhythm channel - It doesn't really claim to be a clean channel, but I was able to get a nice clean out of it.. It seems to have everything to do with the treble response of the guitar going in. My Wolfgang, which has no tone control, sounds like *** clean on that amp. Rolling back the volume doesn't do enough. My Les Paul on the other hand gets a great clean tone if I use just the neck pickup and roll off the volume and tone a bit. The channel pre needs to be on 1 and the bass run pretty high. The problem with this is while you get clean, the crunch button becomes kind of useless. It creates a large volume jump and not a great tone at those settings. I am going to mess with it more after tomorrow nights show

The build quality of this combo doesn't even touch my Stiletto combo, but I only paid $475 NEW for this at Guitar Center! There was a bit of bargaining involved because they sent me a broken used one, but it worked out for the best

 

[skydizzle]

I use my Roadster and my 6505 for my lead tones. Together they sound huge! I personally like the 6505 more than the 6505+.

 

[Badbrad666]

I have a block letter 5150 and let me add that it's an amazing amp. Brutal crushing high gain monstrosity!

 

[abe]

I took the Sheffield speaker out and replaced it with a WGS Veteran 30. What a difference. I was close to returning the amp because the lower mids sounded so congested. Not any more

 

[davolk]

I had a 5150 head and I loved it. I sold it because it was just more than I needed. I have heard the 6505 is comparable so you can't go wrong. Take a look at the Hughes and Kettner stuff too. I have a Switchblade 100 combo and it has better tone from clean to crazy than anything I've played through. You'll pay more, but not much on the used market. I also have a Mesa Nomad that I just bought used that I like, but I'm still experimenting with tubes. I play a Wolfgang, which of course sounded great through the 5150.

 

[Jackie]

I have heard the 6505 is comparable.

They are literally the same amp. The 5150II is also the same as the 6505+. They just changed the name because EVH named his new signature head EVH5150III so Peavey couldn't use 5150 in its models any more. 6505 was chosen to commemorate Peavey's 40 year anniversary, from 1965 to 2005.

 

[davolk]

I knew they were close to the same, but it makes sense that Peavey wouldn't change such a great amp as the 5150. I didn't know the origin of the name 6505 so thanks for that tidbit. The market went up for a while after EVH left Peavey. I bought my 5150 head used for 400 and sold it a few years later for close to 900. I'm not sure what they sell for now.