To Sell Or Not? Peavey 6505+ Head

[Charvel1975]

Hello everyone :?: So my main live amp has been my EVH 5150 III 50 Watt 6L6 head v2 with the Marshall 1960 cab and simple pedalboard, still have my Mesa Tremoverb head, Marshall Artist 3203 head and matching 4x10 cab, Marshall Code 50 1x12 modeling amp and the Peavey 6505+ head and the Peavey I was using at rehearsals with my other guitarist's Bugera closed back 2x12 cab with Celestion G12K100 and Vintage 30 speakers to his Behringer powered pedalboard with Behringer delay pedal, tc electronic corona chorus, modtone clean boost pedal, behringer tube screamer and my Line 6 relay g30 wireless.

We play classic rock/hard rock/hair metal up through some 90's/early 2000's covers and for some reason I'm just not gelling with the Peavey 6505+, I originally used it some years ago for the modern drop B metal band I was in and figured I'd give it a chance with the stuff I'm playing now in a 2 guitar covers band. I haven't played on my Mesa Tremoverb in a long while and am kinda jonesing to get to playing it again

 

[glpg80]

I keep mine around even though my 74 Marshall, laney, and metroplex get most of my play time. If I want high gain I go for my Bogner 101B since it’s more Marshall inspired. Before all of these amplifiers I played the 5150 II exclusively in cover bands and was more of an EVH fan than I am now.

But once and a while I do fire it up and turn it up a bit - it does sound great with Greenbacks.

My suggestion is to get a preamp tube diagram and swap tubes in it first - they’re picky with placement. Second make sure you don’t just have worn power tubes which cause top end clarity to degrade, something the 5150 II series really needs. If you haven’t done the bias mod, you should.

The last reason I keep mine around is that it makes a great backup amp should I need it and I can’t sell it for what I bought it for new back in 2004. It’s fun to play but does it’s own thing, but what it does, it does well. If yours is USA made, hang onto it, because they’re coming back into demand now.

 

[Charvel1975]

I keep mine around even though my 74 Marshall, laney, and metroplex get most of my play time. If I want high gain I go for my Bogner 101B since it’s more Marshall inspired. Before all of these amplifiers I played the 5150 II exclusively in cover bands and was more of an EVH fan than I am now.

But once and a while I do fire it up and turn it up a bit - it does sound great with Greenbacks.

My suggestion is to get a preamp tube diagram and swap tubes in it first - they’re picky with placement. Second make sure you don’t just have worn power tubes which cause top end clarity to degrade, something the 5150 II series really needs. If you haven’t done the bias mod, you should.

The last reason I keep mine around is that it makes a great backup amp should I need it and I can’t sell it for what I bought it for new back in 2004. It’s fun to play but does it’s own thing, but what it does, it does well. If yours is USA made, hang onto it, because they’re coming back into demand now.

Yea mine's a USA made one, lately it has sounded like the top end clarity has degraded, what's all involved in the bias mod? I am no guitar or amp tech by any means

 

[TheToneDig]

Peavey 6505+ work well with EQs to help make them more versatile or else they can be a bit of a one-trick poney but they are great for that Peavey thrash tone and also should do well with all sorts of down tuning. If the EQ pedal doesn't work it out for you then you could try a complete tube set replacement to see if it does anything. If you haven't already. I would try to keep it but also the market right now is selling higher than usual.

 

[glpg80]

Yea mine's a USA made one, lately it has sounded like the top end clarity has degraded, what's all involved in the bias mod? I am no guitar or amp tech by any means

You change a resistor to allow the bias pot to actually bias the power tubes out of crossover distortion, which Eddie wanted as a part of his sound.

The plug ins in the back are for raw bias voltage, not bias current, so you’ll need socket adapters to bias the amp correctly out of standby.