6534+ vs 6505+

[braintheory]

I know this has been asked on other forums before, but I thought I'd ask about here since I trust you guys more. Which one do you guys prefer and why? Which one is tighter? Which one is more liquidy sounding for leads? Which one growls more? What's the difference with the 6534 other than EL34 tubes, less noise, and improved channel 1 (I don't care about that)? Can the 6505+ be modded to run EL34's instead?

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

I honestly don't know if there's another difference other than the tubes.
Ive played both and love both of them equally. I lean more to el34's
though, but only for preference. Both amps are killer and the 6534 is still on my want list.

I'd say the 6505 growls.more to my ears, and tighter, although the 34 is tight too.

 

[JerryP]

EL34's get more saturated and compressed, dirtier tube. They can get muddy. The 6L6 is a cleaner tube making it tighter and clearer. The 6505+ can be converted to EL34's.
Jerry

 

[sg guy]

-most of the high gain PEAVEY'S have a tube selector switch in the back-(EL34/6L6)-but there both biased ice cold, the PEAVEY tech on there forum told me to put the selector switch in the EL34 position when running 6L6's, that gets ya pretty close, best thing to do is a bias mode..

 

[braintheory]

EL34's get more saturated and compressed, dirtier tube. They can get muddy. The 6L6 is a cleaner tube making it tighter and clearer. The 6505+ can be converted to EL34's.
Jerry

Cool thanks. I may prefer the 6505+ then since I wouldn't want it be anymore compressed or saturated than it already is. Do you know if there's any other differences going on in it besides just the powertubes for the 6534 vs 6505?

 

[HilltopExplosion]

-most of the high gain PEAVEY'S have a tube selector switch in the back-(EL34/6L6)-but there both biased ice cold, the PEAVEY tech on there forum told me to put the selector switch in the EL34 position when running 6L6's, that gets ya pretty close, best thing to do is a bias mode..

Not on my 6505+, You have to change a few things to go from 6l6 to el34.

 

[maggotspawn]

Love my 6505+, but the bias mod was needed. Factory it could only be biased to 22ma. Swapped out one resistor and was able to bias it hotter.

 

[the4thlast1]

Love my 6505+, but the bias mod was needed. Factory it could only be biased to 22ma. Swapped out one resistor and was able to bias it hotter.

Mine sounds great around 22ma, might start to get mushy when you go higher .. Depends on the tubes I guess......
Also wanted to say I have both of these amps. I like the 6534+ with KT77s , something about EL34s I dont love in it, the mids get a litttle too fat and angry for me depending. with that being said these two amps sound very similar as you would expect. Both are great. 6505+ if I had to pick one now but I gotta say I havent tried the 6534+ live yet .

 

[braintheory]

Love my 6505+, but the bias mod was needed. Factory it could only be biased to 22ma. Swapped out one resistor and was able to bias it hotter.

Mine sounds great around 22ma, might start to get mushy when you go higher .. Depends on the tubes I guess......
Also wanted to say I have both of these amps. I like the 6534+ with KT77s , something about EL34s I dont love in it, the mids get a litttle too fat and angry for me depending. with that being said these two amps sound very similar as you would expect. Both are great. 6505+ if I had to pick one now but I gotta say I havent tried the 6534+ live yet .

Which one would you say is tighter? And which is more fluid for leads and good for single note riffs?

 

[JerryP]

EL34's get more saturated and compressed, dirtier tube. They can get muddy. The 6L6 is a cleaner tube making it tighter and clearer. The 6505+ can be converted to EL34's.
Jerry

Cool thanks. I may prefer the 6505+ then since I wouldn't want it be anymore compressed or saturated than it already is. Do you know if there's any other differences going on in it besides just the powertubes for the 6534 vs 6505?

Identical other than the power tubes, screen grid resistors, bias circuit, and one resistor on the rhythm channel clean setting.
Jerry

 

[johnpace2]

I've never owned 6505+, but I have the 6534+ and love it. I prefer it over my regular 5150 if that helps, but they are both great. It's hard to go wrong...

 

[the4thlast1]

Also a 6505+ could be had for a little less.....Could probably snag one around $500 where the 6534+ seems to be $600 and over most of the time.

 

[braintheory]

EL34's get more saturated and compressed, dirtier tube. They can get muddy. The 6L6 is a cleaner tube making it tighter and clearer. The 6505+ can be converted to EL34's.
Jerry

Cool thanks. I may prefer the 6505+ then since I wouldn't want it be anymore compressed or saturated than it already is. Do you know if there's any other differences going on in it besides just the powertubes for the 6534 vs 6505?

Identical other than the power tubes, screen grid resistors, bias circuit, and one resistor on the rhythm channel clean setting.
Jerry

How do those differences in screen grid resistors and bias circuit affect the sound compared to the 6505?