6505MH review and complains!!!

This forum is for talking about all kinds of Peavey guitar amplifiers.
pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:05 pm

Hello Guys! My name is Pedro and I'm from Portugal.
I'm new to Peavey, but not new to tube amps.

This summer I acquired a 6505MH. Before I start my mini review, let me say this: I'm PISSED with Peavey! This amps says in the front panel "All tube guitar amplifier" but the thing is, this amp uses OP AMPS and TRANSISTORS in the signal flow, and it afects the overall tone!

One of the main reasons why I bought this amp, was to be able to crank it! Lets be honest, you can crank it up, but doesn't sound good. And the explanation is simple, instead of a 12ax7 Phase Inverter, there's a a NPN transistor! Some of you might not know, but getting distortion in the phase inverter is a great part of what we call "power amp tube distortion" !!!

some good and bad considerations about the amp (kind of a topic review):

- the clean channel sounds great when distorted. In clean or crunch mode, with an overdrive pedal you can get a killer distortion ( better sounding than the lead channel, at least for me).
- the clean tones are far from beeing good... I barely can get a clean sound with my guitar, because the input stars to clip very early. The bright switch is good for the crunch mode, but doesn't give that sparkling clean that you can get on other amps.
- the drive channel is very tight, which is a good thing! You can get some extra bottom end when you reach 6 on the drive knob.
- the EQ section is nice to play with. I like to cut treble and bring the presence up a bit. It makes it sound more natural, and closer to my Orange OR50!
- the attenuator can be usefull, when playing at bedroom levels, but it filters the sound too much. I have too compensate it with more presence...
- Cranking up the amp is useless! I didn't expected it to be very useful in the drive channel, but I was hopping to get some sweet "power amp distortion" with the clean/crunch channel! As I said before, there's no tube on the Phase Inverter, so there's no sweet power amp distortion! Even worst, You can feel the amp beefing up when you crank the volume, but doesn't sound nothing like a tube saturation! It reminds me my Marshall 9004 solidstate preamp overloading the output...not a good thing!
- the reverb is sweet... it sounds like a mix of delay, reverb and chorus! I dont use it too much, but sounds nice!
- the overall tone seems to be lacking something! it's a bit cold and sometimes harsh. But feels very good to play with. The distortion is very focused and it's very easy to achive a good sound.
- USB an XLR direct out: tried it once. Doesn't sound nothing like a miked cab! I get better results using the preamp out and then a miked cabinet impulse plugin!


Conclusion, would I buy it again? No, I would buy a 60w 6505+ combo and convert it into a head!
My advive is, get the real one.
The attenuators that come on this kind of amps are kind of useless. they are simple hi wattage resistors and you can make one for 5 dollars! (made one myself 10 years ago, still using it...)
I'm using the P6505MH mainly as a distortion preamp! It sounds better when I feed it into the Orange OTR120 effects loop...

cheers

jdgebha
Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:49 am

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by jdgebha » Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:05 am

Im sorry but what did you expect from a micro head? Go play a 1watt jvm and tell how thats sounds cranked. They are not meant for anything but bedroom volumes. Sorry your disappointed but get a combo or a head if you want a 6505 that means business.

vforever
Member
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:37 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by vforever » Sat Sep 19, 2015 2:42 pm

Interesting. Has anyone spotted a schematic for one of these?

ScottMarlowe
Member
Posts: 1475
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:23 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by ScottMarlowe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 3:23 pm

I was just thinking the same thing re: a schemtic. I'm willing to bet the transistor is part of the TSI system or something. However if the choice engineering-wise was to either lost a 12AX7 gain stage by making one a PI, or to use all 6 12AX7 gain stages (2 each) and use a transistor PI I can go with that. PIs that aren't going into distortion are handled fine by a tube or a transistor with no real difference in sound.

But anyway, power tube distotion doesn't come from having a tube PI, it comes from pushing the power tubes into distortion. There is such a thing as PI distortion, which is a large part of why a Marshall Plexi sounds like it does. I have no idea if a 6505 uses PI distortion or not to get its sound. I'm guessing not.

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:36 pm

jdgebha wrote:Im sorry but what did you expect from a micro head? Go play a 1watt jvm and tell how thats sounds cranked. They are not meant for anything but bedroom volumes. Sorry your disappointed but get a combo or a head if you want a 6505 that means business.
I have a Marshall class 5, that I use with a similar attenuator and sounds fantastic when crancked!!!


By the way, I HAVE THE SCHEMATICS of the 6505MH, thats why I got so perplexed!!!

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:39 pm

ScottMarlowe wrote: There is such a thing as PI distortion, which is a large part of why a Marshall Plexi sounds like it does. ...
You are very wrong! A big percentage of the the plexi sound comes from the PI distortion! If you ever had the oportunity to crank a post PI Master Volume head (like a Matchless, Orange or a modded Marshall) you would know! El 34 distortion is minimal and affects mostly the top end os the spectrum!

ScottMarlowe
Member
Posts: 1475
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:23 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by ScottMarlowe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:02 pm

pgmlml wrote:
ScottMarlowe wrote: There is such a thing as PI distortion, which is a large part of why a Marshall Plexi sounds like it does. ...
You are very wrong! A big percentage of the the plexi sound comes from the PI distortion! If you ever had the oportunity to crank a post PI Master Volume head (like a Matchless, Orange or a modded Marshall) you would know! El 34 distortion is minimal and affects mostly the top end os the spectrum!
That's what I said... Read it again.

vforever
Member
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:37 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by vforever » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:46 pm

This thread took a turn for the weird. The Marshall C5 is a Class A design like The Defender. Its output section shares very little in common with a Plexi. If a MC5 sounds like a Plexi then I guess a 6505MH can sound like a 6505+ as well.

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:01 pm

who said the class 5 sounded like a plexi? I just said i like it cranked! It wasn't me to brought the word "plexi " into this thread! ;)

I like this little amp! i'm just complaining because it could be better :D!
Last edited by pgmlml on Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ScottMarlowe
Member
Posts: 1475
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:23 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by ScottMarlowe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:03 pm

vforever wrote:The Marshall C5 is a Class A design like The Defender.
No! You're Wrong! The Marshal C5 is a Class A design like the Defender! :D (/sarcasm)

And yeah, it did take a turn for the weird. I happen to think the 6505 MH sounds pretty good. But I don't expect full 100W 6505 tones out of it either. Honestly I'd probably get the VK MH if I wanted usable cleans, or the Class MH. But for now my twin C50s will just ahve to do.

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:07 pm

I got this amp for metal tones! But the clean channel sounds good, so a little bit of "power amp distortion" would make it perfect!

Come on, how many tube amps have you ever saw with a Transistor Phase Inverter?!

ScottMarlowe
Member
Posts: 1475
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:23 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by ScottMarlowe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:12 pm

pgmlml wrote:I got this amp for metal tones! But the clean channel sounds good, so a little bit of "power amp distortion" would make it perfect!

Come on, how many tube amps have you ever saw with a Transistor Phase Inverter?!
I will believe it has a solid state PI when I see a schematic that shows it does. Have you asked Peavey CS for a schematic?

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:21 pm

I've asked Peavey for it. They were kind and send it to me. I don't want to turn it public, since I dont have that right. But here is a crop of the power amp section! (if you need the schematic I can send it to you by email, it's a 10 page pfd with parts list included)

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4384/166SQI.png

ScottMarlowe
Member
Posts: 1475
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:23 am
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by ScottMarlowe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:33 pm

Fascinating! Well, like I said, I don't know if the 6505 design relies on PI distortion. But it does seem odd to use a solid state PI in a tube amp.

OTOH, I judge these things with my ears. I like the Classic minis sound quite a bit, and the VK mini seems OK to me, but I'm not a metal / high gain guy, so the 6505 is not something I've spent a ton of time researching and listening to. It'd be interesting to take an OScope to the insides of a cranked 100W 6505 head and see where the distortion is occurring.

pgmlml
New Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: 6505MH review and complains!!!

Post by pgmlml » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:45 pm

With tons of preamp distortion, like the 6505 has, power amp distortion is not welcome! I remember reading an interview with Colin Richardson, saying that we doesn't crank this amps when recording!

PS: use the OScope on a Marshall instead! There are several threads on Vintageamps.com and some articles around the Net, that will confirm what I've said about PI distortion!

Post Reply