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jkessel « Modern metal dream amp!! »
Published on 04/30/12 at 15:41120 watt 2 channel all tube head. 4x 6L6 power tubes, 6x 12ax7 preamp tubes. Designed by Peavey in the late 80s early 90s, Peavey went to Eddie Van Halen to have him endorse the amp. EVH had it named the 5150 and a new amp was born. 15-ish year later Eddie splits and takes the name 5150 with him. The design, still owned by Peavey, becomes the new 6505 with the name standing for 40 years (1965-2005) of Peavey Electronics. The 6505+ is the renamed 5150III, which was a modified 5150 by giving it a tighter, slightly lower gain lead channel as well as a cleaner rhythm channel (still not quite clean). Also gave the amp individual EQ for each channel and a MIDI controlled footswitch compared to the 1/4" used on the 5150/6505.
UTILIZATION
This amp is very easy to setup, which is part of the reason for it's success. It has a pretty decent sound at any setting, but just gets better with tweaking. Compared to some amps that sound like garbage until you find the sweet spots. The manual while very informative and helpful really isn't needed. This amp is very straightforward and simple to use.
SOUNDS
Widely known as the standard for modern metal tone, being used by bands ranging from Alice In Chains and Van Halen all the way to Killswitch Engage and Machine Head. The Rhythm channel with the crunch off has a passable clean tone, it breaks up pretty quickly and doesn't have much headroom but most people using this amp aren't using for the cleans so it doesn't matter to most. With the crunch on it's darker and much more gain. It's smoother and less gain than the lead channel but still easily pulls off metal tones with a boost. Machine Head has been known to use the rhythm channel of a 5150 (little more gain in the 5150/6505 compared to the II/+) with a Maxon OD808 for their heavy tone. The lead channel has more gain than I'd ever know what to do with. It's much heavier, aggressive, and brighter than the rhythm channel. It's super tight and used by almost every modern metal band of the past 10 years, and for good reason.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall this is an amazing metal amp, a metal heads dream. Put a boost in front of it to tighten the low end slightly and this thing becomes a weapon. From Van Halen all the way to Machine Head, this thing is a beast. And for $1100 new I can't think of any other high end metal amp that can touch it's sound OR it's price.
UTILIZATION
This amp is very easy to setup, which is part of the reason for it's success. It has a pretty decent sound at any setting, but just gets better with tweaking. Compared to some amps that sound like garbage until you find the sweet spots. The manual while very informative and helpful really isn't needed. This amp is very straightforward and simple to use.
SOUNDS
Widely known as the standard for modern metal tone, being used by bands ranging from Alice In Chains and Van Halen all the way to Killswitch Engage and Machine Head. The Rhythm channel with the crunch off has a passable clean tone, it breaks up pretty quickly and doesn't have much headroom but most people using this amp aren't using for the cleans so it doesn't matter to most. With the crunch on it's darker and much more gain. It's smoother and less gain than the lead channel but still easily pulls off metal tones with a boost. Machine Head has been known to use the rhythm channel of a 5150 (little more gain in the 5150/6505 compared to the II/+) with a Maxon OD808 for their heavy tone. The lead channel has more gain than I'd ever know what to do with. It's much heavier, aggressive, and brighter than the rhythm channel. It's super tight and used by almost every modern metal band of the past 10 years, and for good reason.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall this is an amazing metal amp, a metal heads dream. Put a boost in front of it to tighten the low end slightly and this thing becomes a weapon. From Van Halen all the way to Machine Head, this thing is a beast. And for $1100 new I can't think of any other high end metal amp that can touch it's sound OR it's price.