Peavey 5150/6065/5150II/6065+/6534+

[Dmoney]

The "warming up" thing is a myth that comes from cathode ray technology. It's worse to leave your amp in standby for long periods of time. Of course, this all depends on what your standby switch is actually doing in the circuit when you switch it.

I thought it might be the standby. I think when I had a 6505 I did the same thing when I got it.

[Dave Sloven]

I'm happy to report that the 6534+ has a very usable clean channel with a crunch switch.  With crunch selected you can produce some great rock tones along the lines of AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, etc.  The lead channel is quite similar to the 6505+ lead channel, with perhaps a slightly warmer tone.

I made the right choice for me out of the Peavey amps!!  :guitar4:

[ericsabbath]

glad to hear
never had a chance to find one of those el34 versions here in brazil
I used to be a huge peavey fan and had a rockmaster preamp for years

I was gonna suggest you the new mike fortin designed randall amps
I had the factory fortin modded old rd50h model with el34's
it was one of the best high gain amps I ever played and it used to cost under US$500 new (the new 45w model is $599)

[Dave Sloven]

Wow that's cheap!

[ericsabbath]

Wow that's cheap!

yes they are
and they're offering more features and build quality than jet city
that was a huge step up from all the unreliable and horrible sounding cr@p randall was putting out in the last decade
I was really impressed with everything about the amp
I hope they offer some british voiced model by next year

[Roobubba]

I use  a 5150-II with the 5150 slant cab, but I replaced the sheffield speakers with 2x EVM Black Label and 2x Celestion G12K100 in an X pattern. The stock speakers are really, very very good, but the (ahem quite expensive) option I ended up with gives me amp an absolutely massive sound. The G12K is a stonking speaker for the price, I cannot recommend it highly enough. :)

Roo

[Dave Sloven]

I've been picking up a few pedals to use with this amp & cab

So far I have the following:

TC Electronics Polytune (this is just a tuner)
ISP Decimator II G-String (noise gate, can route it both before and after the pre-amp)

I'm thinking that besides these two all I really need at the moment is an overdrive that will boost and shape the signal a bit.  Although the amp has a lot of gain already a lot of people have said that these amps sound tighter with a screamer of some kind between the guitar and amp.

At the moment I am contemplating the following Maxon models: OD-9 & OD-808

From what I've seen online the OD-9 might be better for controlling the bottom end but it also has a mid-range 'hump'.  The OD-808 seems to be 'smoother', with a bit more bottom. Given that I've got heaps of bottom end already and quite high output pickups in my guitars (A-bomb bridge in an SG, A-pig in a down-tuned Explorer) I'm thinking a little constraint on the bass might not be a bad thing.

If anyone with more experience than me in this department (which wouldn't be hard) can give me their 2c on OD-9 vs OD-808 that would be great.

From what I hear they are quite similar, so this doesn't seem like an issue that could really hurt the sound too much either way, but they aren't cheap pedals so I'd like to buy once rather than twice.  My basic attitude has been to buy decent gear once rather than buy stuff that I am half happy with and change later. 

[dvorak]

I can really recommend the OD9.

I and a friend did some serious testing this weekend with my old Dual rectifier and a bunch of OD pedals in my studio.

We tried the 808, OD9, a spark booster and a Koko Boost. Comparing the two maxons, the OD9 is a little brighter and more aggressive sounding. It cuts through better and gives the upper mid range sounds that cuts through. The 808 came pretty close to the OD9 however when we increased the tone knob to 3 o clock. But even then the OD9 was at 12 oclock. We both preferred the OD9, the 808 is a little smoother.

The TC Spark booster is also a great option, it sounds a little fuller than the Tubescreamers, and is more versatile with both humbuckers and single coils and different amps.

It's not better or worse than the tubescreamers, just a different flavour.

The Koko Boost is in a league of it's own, especially for leads. It really makes all amps sing.

I'll see if I can post the audio files later.

[Dave Sloven]

Thanks!

You have reinforced my thinking that the OD-9 is the way to go.  I think one reason why the OD-808 has been more popular is that it is cheaper most of the time.  Here though the shops have them at the same price as each other, so cost is not so much of a factor in choosing between them.

By the way, I was surprised when I saw the Decimator II G-String pedal for the first time.  I'd seen photos on ebay but it looked different, probably because it was reflecting its environment.  This pedal looks like a chrome bumper!

I also got my A-pig calibrated set in the mail today.  Not sure if I'll find the chance to install them before I leave for Sydney on Saturday.

[dvorak]

Going to Sydney in the winter? ;)

Joke aside, I would love to go there!

Good luck with your choices though. All I can say is that you will not be displeased with either one.

My OD9 is actually the Pro plus with the mid boost switch. Makes it a little more mean when it comes to leads with it engaged. It's like a normal OD9 with the switch on normal, all the testing we did was with the switch on normal.

[Dave Sloven]

Weather in Sydney is probably better than here in Adelaide at the moment, as we are further south!  I go to Sydney once or twice a year, as my sister lives there and I go there for conferences, gigs, etc.

Cheers for the info on the pedals.  I will probably just get an OD-9 ... not sure I want to pay the extra for the Pro - the stuff in the photo cost me nearly $700 already!

[dvorak]

Weather in Sydney is probably better than here in Adelaide at the moment, as we are further south!  I go to Sydney once or twice a year, as my sister lives there and I go there for conferences, gigs, etc.

Cheers for the info on the pedals.  I will probably just get an OD-9 ... not sure I want to pay the extra for the Pro - the stuff in the photo cost me nearly $700 already!

Ahhh, I didn't understand you are Australian. :)

I lived on the Gold Coast for six month, loved it. I really miss Australia sometimes, you are living in paradise in many ways.

Good luck with the search for the OD!

[JDC]

If you're looking at tubescreamers I'd suggest looking at the maxon OD-820, pro tone dead horse deluxe edition is rather tempting as well

[Dave Sloven]

With more testing of the amp and some other testing of various outlets on my house I am pretty sure that the problem is a ground fault in the mains of the house itself.  By cranking my old practice up high I found that the same basic noise was present in it as well, and I carried it around the house and plugged it into every outlet, including the outside outlets.  I think it must be a ground fault near the electricity meter somewhere as it affects everything.

The good news is that it seems that the amp is fine.  I think I am hearing more noises in it because playing it in a house I cannot crank it up to even jam room volumes, and haven't had it up past 2, and I don't even know if I've had it quite that high until tonight.  Tonight I went to a friend's band practice session, and he A/B'ed my 6534+ against his old 5150 II, through his old 5150 cabinet (both ten years old or more). We set the EQs on exactly the same settings.  We did not try out all the channels because I forgot to take my footswitch and his is very temperamental and wouldn't work with my amp (his has been repaired several times).  Anyway his settings are very scooped - low and high dimed and mid on 1 - with the gain, presence, and resonance cranked on the lead channel.  The other guitarist played through his Krankenstein head and Krank Rev 1 cabinet.  Anyway this is what we observed:

The 6534+ has a much more defined mid-range than the 5150 II, even with the huge mid scoop.  It also has a lot more cut than the 5150 II vis-a-vis the Krank set-up in a band context and the high end was clearer.  This might be due to the newness of my amp relative to his, but he has recently serviced the tubes in his amp so that might not be such a factor.

We didn't use any pedals - not even my ISP Decimator - and it all sounded fine in a band context.

Anyway I am pleased that the amp is sounding good when cranked up to louder volumes.  I really think that the issue is that it has been stuck on the lower volumes up until now.  I have a jam session with friends on Friday this week but I'm playing with someone with a 20W Laney Lionheart and it is in a house with minimal soundproofing so I won't be able to go past 2 on the post gain but it should still sound better than what I have been getting so far at home.

I also learned that the Peavey 5150/6065 cabinet sounds good with the 6534+ - I can definitely recommend it for death metal and thrash stuff. I left my Orange PPC412 at home, as I will this Friday (then I will have to borrow my friend's 4x10 bass cab - that should be interesting!).  It is less middy and directional than the PPC412.  Depending on your application I think it can be a very good cab.

Also I let my friend play through my Explorer for a few songs after tuning it to D standard (the tuning for his band).  He was very impressed with the Warpigs and plans to buy some BKPs for a new project.  It did indeed sound massive through his amp.  He didn't try playing my guitar through my amp.

[Dave Sloven]

These videos might be of interest.  Peavey 6534+ with a Strat, a different context from the usual.

Test Peavey 6534 plus clean

Test Peavey 6534 plus Crunch

Test Peavey 6534 plus Heavy Gain

I think you can get those cleans out of the amp if you have lower output pickups.  My Warpig pickups tend to overdrive the clean channel.  The Cold Sweat neck gets nice cleans, the A-bomb a little less clean sounding.  On the other hand his settings on the lead channel or perhaps his guitar and playing style mean that he doesn't get enough gain for the metal stuff he tries at the end.  I think there are some videos earlier in this thread that show it playing heavier stuff with more gain.