2018 Peavey 6505

Overview

This amp has become almost required in anyone’s tone journey or studio stable, and for good reason. It was designed back in 1992, based on the Soldano SLO circuit, for Edward Van Halen (then titled the “5150” head). That later evolved into the 5150 II (or modern 6505+) which is a similar amp, but with one extra preamp tube and a reworked clean/crunch channel, with its own separate EQ.

This original model has two channels, but they both share an EQ section, which can be very limiting. The Rhythm channel is fairly clean to start but can get a bit gritty, and also has a Crunch and Bright switches for additional tonal options. The Crunch mode can get quite saturated as well, but that prevents you from being able to use any clean tone without tweaking the amp itself - there’s no clean>crunch>lead switching on this amp without mods.

The lead channel is one of the most popularly used channels, used on a plethora of songs and recordings. It can get tight and saturated, with a really fantastic high gain sound with very smooth mids, even when the mids are turned up. It also does very well boosted, by rolling the gain down and putting a tubescreamer in front, it can do very tight metal chugging rhythms with ease.

There’s not much else to say about this amp, it’s one that you just need to hear (most likely you’ve already heard it many times on various records anyway). It’s simple and many times gets treated like a single channel amp - the lead channel is absolutely one of the most formative in the amp market and it’s hard to believe that this type of high gain tone existed in 1992 and is still used in such similar ways even now.

All 5150’s and early 6505’s were made in the USA. The 5150 name was dropped in 2004. Sometime around 2015, 6505 series heads transitioned to Chinese manufacture. The 6505+ 112 amps and 6505MH mini heads have always been made in China. In 2022, Peavey released a 6505 “1992 Original” which is still the same circuit with some minor cosmetic changes, and a move to the same transformers used on the Invective model heads (likely a cost savings/parts binning measure).