6505 vs. 6505+
- Thread starter blackcom
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::XeS::
Member
Hey Kazrog, have you replaced stock pre and power tubes with JJ/Teslas or only the powers?Which JJ models have you used?
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
I don't think the 6505+ is thinner than the 6505 at all...I've owned both. I think it's more of the fact that the amp has more high mids, which may make the tone seem thinner as you don't hear as much low mid growl. I do like low mids, though, so I push them and tame the high mids with an EQ in the loop of my 6505+. I think the 2 amps are really similar, so to me it comes down to which one has what the player wants (i.e. 2 seperate EQ's, simpler layout, etc.). I had a 6505 and dug it, but I played a 6505+ on a whim and just dug the tone more...It had all the crunch and tone of the 6505 (aside from the small differences discussed above), but it sounded tighter and more focused and I can get killer tone with it at low volumes, something I couldn't do with the 6505...Don't know why. With my 6505, it took a couple rehearsal to really dig the tone. With my 6505+, it was instantaneous.
I've seen Matt Devries live setup when he was using 5150II's exclusively and he had the mids really scooped...But with V30's in his cabs and the higher mid punch of the 5150II, it still sounded great.
I'll see if I can find the pic of his settings...
Old thread...
I tried both 6505 and 6505+ today at the store but I didn't push them hard and I didn't A/B that much.
I started with the 6505+, sounded cool, then I tried the 6505 and it sounded muddy and dull.
Then I realized there was two input on that amp and that I was plugged in the high gain input, so I tried the normal input and the sound got way better.
Now, I wish I would've had more time to try them both more and compare them more but because of the first "high gain input" disappointment I felt like the 6505+ had more pick attack, clearer notes.
I like an amp that makes you hear every nuance of a rythm chord progression, I play more punk than metal.
What do you think?
I tried both 6505 and 6505+ today at the store but I didn't push them hard and I didn't A/B that much.
I started with the 6505+, sounded cool, then I tried the 6505 and it sounded muddy and dull.
Then I realized there was two input on that amp and that I was plugged in the high gain input, so I tried the normal input and the sound got way better.
Now, I wish I would've had more time to try them both more and compare them more but because of the first "high gain input" disappointment I felt like the 6505+ had more pick attack, clearer notes.
I like an amp that makes you hear every nuance of a rythm chord progression, I play more punk than metal.
What do you think?
Yeah, but there's more to it than that, many feel the gain on the 5150II/6505+ is less raw sounding, but I've never played one so I can't comment. For punk though, I know I'd want a Marshall!
lolzgreg
Cereal Shipping Sneapster
The 5150II can be converted to 5150I preamp specs easily, there are 13 small components that must be changed to do this.
Yeah I'm looking at those too.
Either a vintage modern, a jcm800 or a moded plexi, something like that.
The band Strung Out use a 5150 and it sounds freaking heavy, not good for blink 182 kindda stuff though.
im almost certain that blink 182 used a triple recto, im loving the vintage-orange channel on my mesa dual recto for some old style midcrunch tones.
Yeah he uses a mesa and a marshall blended together.
I've got a tremoverb but it's not my cup of tea, I'm looking for something else.
slayercannibalsuffohead
Get a dog up ya!
Don't know if this will help, but I jumped up and did a comparison on my 5150 mk1 and my 6505+.
Used identical settings, both amps have identical Ruby 6l6s, and both have identical preamp tubes, being identical JJs and Electro Harmonix. They were set up like this .............
5150mk1 preamp tubes from left to right as you look at them
jj, eh, eh, jj, jj.
6505+ preamp tubes from left to right as you look at them, (remembering that the 6505+ has 1 more preamp tube than the 5150mk1).
jj, eh, eh, jj, jj, jj.
So mostly identical in every way, including the settings. (maxon 808 was used also).
Were they identical sounding? Well........ No. Not exactly. To me the tone is so close, hell, may even be identical, but the thickness was different. The + didn't have the gain output of the 5150, it was as if you could use the 5150 for dual tracking and as though the + was better suited for quadtracking. But overall apart from the amount of gain, I noticed fuck all difference.
I am happy to jam with the 5150 (loud levels), with the gain on 3, where I like to have the + at around 6 on the gain. As for being more mid voiced than the 5150, I couldn't here that. Now my XXX on the other hand ...........................
Used identical settings, both amps have identical Ruby 6l6s, and both have identical preamp tubes, being identical JJs and Electro Harmonix. They were set up like this .............
5150mk1 preamp tubes from left to right as you look at them
jj, eh, eh, jj, jj.
6505+ preamp tubes from left to right as you look at them, (remembering that the 6505+ has 1 more preamp tube than the 5150mk1).
jj, eh, eh, jj, jj, jj.
So mostly identical in every way, including the settings. (maxon 808 was used also).
Were they identical sounding? Well........ No. Not exactly. To me the tone is so close, hell, may even be identical, but the thickness was different. The + didn't have the gain output of the 5150, it was as if you could use the 5150 for dual tracking and as though the + was better suited for quadtracking. But overall apart from the amount of gain, I noticed fuck all difference.
I am happy to jam with the 5150 (loud levels), with the gain on 3, where I like to have the + at around 6 on the gain. As for being more mid voiced than the 5150, I couldn't here that. Now my XXX on the other hand ...........................
Scar_Symmetry
Per Nilsson Worshipper
- May 24, 2007
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GarethSE
New Metal Member
- Jul 5, 2008
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5150 mkI = 6505
5150 mkII = 6505+
mkII is proven to sound different. brighter, thinner, a fair bit tighter actually, but the huge low mids of the mkI arent there
ask jerry from FJA mods, he's seen the guts of 5150s enough to know the exact differences
5150 mkII = 6505+
mkII is proven to sound different. brighter, thinner, a fair bit tighter actually, but the huge low mids of the mkI arent there
ask jerry from FJA mods, he's seen the guts of 5150s enough to know the exact differences
drew_drummer
Dancefap
Thin is certainly not how I'd describe the 6505+ that I tried a while back. Loads of people on here told me the cleans sucked too, and they were fucking wrong man. The 6505+ really impressed me. Cleans were very nice, much better than anything you'd get from a Marshall; fuller sounding.. like the difference between a crack addicts lips and a hot Thai girls lips. Mebbe.
Rex Rocker
Call me Hugo!
I don't think neither the 6505+ (5150II) nor the 6505 (5150) have a dedicated clean channel... They have a rythm channel which can get kinda clean. The + (or II) just have an independent EQ for each channel.
drew_drummer
Dancefap
Yeah. The 6505 was good, but I couldn't get a decent clean sound whilst also having a decent lead sound; because of the shared EQ. The 6505+ was much better, because I could have the gain for the rhythm at a low level, but the volume for that channel really high, and then have my distorted sound on the lead channel.
I still think the Laney VH100R totally pwnz everything else that I've tried, ie, Mesa Recto's, Marshall DSL and JCM900.
I still think the Laney VH100R totally pwnz everything else that I've tried, ie, Mesa Recto's, Marshall DSL and JCM900.
paladin shredder
Member
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Traditionally I've always prefered the 5150/6505 over the + model. Lately, I don't know. It seems that the + may be a better amp for recording purposes as you can actually take out a satisfactory amount of mids. The original 6505 takes so much post processing because no matter what you do, it will be muddy. It has a sweet, sweet, saturated compressed sound, but the 6505+ sounds more refined, sterile, modern to me. They both have their place, and in a perfect world (one where the 6505 came with on board GEQ) I would likely still take a 6505.
