Metal Guitar Amp Debate

[RockGuitarX]

I just bought a Peavey 6505 off of Musician's Friend and it's coming in tomorrow! (I sold my JSX for this thing ) I can't wait to hear this thing but I am still in a debate though... I have 45 days to return it for a full refund so I'm still questioning whether the Peavey will be good enough for my taste. (I hear a bias mod is a huge plus) I'm still looking into a Mesa Dual Rectifier or Krank Revolution... Well any bad ass metal amp in the $1,500 range. Any thoughts or comments? Thanks

 

[006]

You won't be disappointed...

~006

 

[cobrahead1030]

you have to try it first hand and see what you think...the 5150/6505 has become an industry standard for a good reason, yet it always amazes me to see guys who love that type of tone end up hating that amp in particular

in that price range there's a lot of great amps to be had tho...the engl fireball, engl blackmore, mesa mark IV, splawn competition, and new splawn supercomp are a few that i'd love to own

personally i've got a vht deliverance 60 which i replaced my old 5150 with and couldn't be happier...i loved the 5150 tho, was just read for something else

 

[Metaltastic]

I seriously have a boner for the philosophy of Splawn, I just haven't had the pleasure of hearing 'em much, though what I have heard is exemplary - too pricey for me at this point though, every amp company needs to start making low-wattage tube amps in the $600 range!

 

[RockGuitarX]

I wish I could find a Mark IV that wasn't beat to hell! lol I'm the only one who beats the shit out of my equipment I've been playing on Peavey's the past 4-5 years... XXL, XXX, JSX and now the 6505. If this doesn't cut it for me, I'll have to part my ways with Peavey. Anyways, I'll let yall know how it goes today.

 

[cobrahead1030]

what didn't you like about your previous peaveys? i've always thought the XXL was damn good sounding for a cheap solid state head, and i'm a fan of the jsx also...i definitely prefer it over the ultra + and xxx amps it's based on

i will say that the ultra series, rockmaster, jsx, and xxx are all quite similar sounding tho and the xxl was meant to be a solid state version of that same design...so if that's your main experience with peavey you've (theoretically) been playing 3 versions of the same thing

 

[RockGuitarX]

what didn't you like about your previous peaveys? i've always thought the XXL was damn good sounding for a cheap solid state head, and i'm a fan of the jsx also...i definitely prefer it over the ultra + and xxx amps it's based on

i will say that the ultra series, rockmaster, jsx, and xxx are all quite similar sounding tho and the xxl was meant to be a solid state version of that same design...so if that's your main experience with peavey you've (theoretically) been playing 3 versions of the same thing

LMAO I hope that's not the case! That's a lot of money for 3 versions of the same thing... although you're probably right

Well my XXL was actually really nice sounding but after a month of owning it, something went wrong (I have no idea!) and it went extremely noisy. No noise suppressor/gate would cover this up! It was like white noise/dryer alarm all the time even if nothing was plugged into the amp. So I sold it to get something "better" and with tubes. The XXX was a pretty damn brutal head, I liked it a little more than the JSX personally. After owning that for about a year and wanting something different (Sound and Appearance wise - I hate the way the XXX looks LOL) I turned to the JSX. I thought this head would blow away my XXX but it wasn't much of a change IMO. This was an OK head. It was like the XXX with a more improved crunch and clean channel which I'm not very big on, so needless to say the Ultra channel let me down. It just didn't have a lot of balls and aggressiveness my XXX had. So now, I'm gonna try out the last Peavey head I'll probably ever buy! I've heard some good things about this head (6505) and I hope it lives up to its name. If not well I better act quick to make the 45 day return

 

[cobrahead1030]

yeah the XXX and JSX circuits are so similar that the jsx is almost like a modded xxx, and the XXL was basically designed to be a solid state version of the XXX when it came out...side by side you can hear the similarities, but they certainly don't sound the same; the XXL would be a nice choice for a cheap back up head if you play out a lot

the 6505 is gonna give you a very different flavor than you're used to tho, so maybe it will be what you're after...i can't believe how expensive they've gotten tho, years ago you could score the 5150 for $799 new! but yeah, this will mean you've pretty much owned the best amps peavey has to offer (well, i've not tried the brahma) so if it's no dice this time you'll pretty much have to look elsewhere

 

[Metaltastic]

Eh, gotta beg to differ with you there Mike - after owning a JSX for almost 1.5 years and listening to many, many clips of it on here, I can definitely say that I prefer the XXX recorded (nwright just posted an amazing clip in this thread that dominates ANYTHING I've heard the JSX do) - the JSX just sounds processed, metallic, and anemic to my ears. 6505 is a totally different (and better) beast IMO!

 

[Fragle]

".the 5150/6505 has become an industry standard for a good reason, yet it always amazes me to see guys who love that type of tone end up hating that amp in particular"

simple answer. operator error.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hahaha, yup

 

[16S]

I hope your 6505 works coz mine has been a piece of shit. My Peavey dealer just told me they have some quality issues with that amp at the moment. I am still waiting for a replacement! Fuckers!

 

[Gaspard]

An amp is only what you make of it. You can have a mesa triple rec, but most people wont know how to set it and mic it to get a good tone out of it.

 

[RockGuitarX]

I hope your 6505 works coz mine has been a piece of shit. My Peavey dealer just told me they have some quality issues with that amp at the moment. I am still waiting for a replacement! Fuckers!

What quality issues did you have with your 6505? ....You've made me pretty nervous

 

[RockGuitarX]

the 6505 is gonna give you a very different flavor than you're used to tho, so maybe it will be what you're after...i can't believe how expensive they've gotten tho, years ago you could score the 5150 for $799 new! but yeah, this will mean you've pretty much owned the best amps peavey has to offer (well, i've not tried the brahma) so if it's no dice this time you'll pretty much have to look elsewhere

Well said

 

[cobrahead1030]

i've played the jsx and xxx quite a bit, and for me the jsx is the winner there hands down...obviously i don't own either of them tho, not because they're bad amps, but because they just don't interest me that much

some people just don't like the 5150 plain and simple, and one thing i've learned is that you can never put too much stock into clips and opinions from other people...an amp is only as good as it sounds when you're plugged into it; you can chalk it up to bad tubes, wrong cabinet/speakers, wrong guitar/pickups, operator error, etc...but if an amp doesn't sound good in your possession then it's not the right one for you, no matter how many people think it sounds great

for the longest time i wanted to try a vht cl100, i heard a lot of great clips of it, talked to a lot of guys who'd owned some of the same amps i did, by all means i should have loved it; when i finally got to play one it really didn't do much for me...then on a whim i bought a vht deliverance not expecting it to be what i really wanted, but just curious, and i got it for a good enough price that i easily could have re-sold it for profit; and almost a year later i'm still shocked at how much i love the amp

i wouldn't get too nervous about problems with the 6505 tho, i suppose it's possible they've got a few out there with bugs now, but overall those things are tanks...you would not believe the hell my first 5150 went thru (i was the 3rd owner, and knew the previous two) and the guy who bought it from me almost 4 years ago still loves it

 

[Metaltastic]

See, I've owned a 5150 as well, and even though it was just a combo with stock Sheffield speakers, I got better tones out of that thing then I ever could with my JSX when mic'ing it multiple times through 3 different cabs. Would changing tubes have helped? Maybe, but not enough, an amp is an amp regardless of the bulbs one throws in it. So away it went!

 

[cobrahead1030]

there's a reason i owned two 5150's, and will probably buy another one day when i live somewhere that i can actually put it to use...the 5150 is a great amp without a doubt

i've never tried recording with a jsx tho, only played thru them...i've not heard many good clips of that amp, but i'd still probably buy one for the right price

 

[RockGuitarX]

Well it came in this evening and I opened this bitch up and loved it! It's a big step up from the XXL, XXX and JSX that I've previously owned. As cobrahead1030 mentioned earlier it's voiced very differently but damn it's fuckin brutal as hell. I barely have to turn this thing up and it shook my fuckin walls! At first I was a little worried about the sound I was getting... it was so different from my previous peaveys but damn its a big sound.

I DO HAVE TO BITCH ABOUT SOMETHING The Peavey Logo in the center of the amp as well as the black board behind is covered in like a blackish brown gunk or glue type of shit and there's a few minor scratches on the eq board. I'm very tempted to exchange it... Maybe I'm just picky but for spending a $1000.00 brand new on this head, I would've never expected something that stupid to be the only flaw. It's slightly bothersome. lol To exchange or not to exchange?

 

[Metaltastic]

Totally exchange, that's inexcusable - or actually, I say return for a refund, cuz we're talking THE most popular modern metal amp, with (overall) a fantastic rep. for reliability and low resale value because of the sheer quantity of them out there; why on Earth would you buy new!?!