peavey 6505+112

[adamj]

i currnetly have a shoddy laney 120w amp (solid state) with matching 4x12 - its the head and amp version of the old hardcore max (?) combo amps they used to do, with awesome cool tribal designs in the corners.....

anyway time for an upgrade in quality and downgrade in power. Its just too loud and im looking for something i can really drive with an awesome tone.

the peavey is looking appealing - valve combo with a lower power output,and a well respected overdrive channel. I will be using a seperate OD for lead sections (boosting the amp OD), but i was thinking a great OD sound as a base would work well. My current laney OD is pants.

you may know i am in a pub rock band. think floyd, killers, oasis, hendrix, the who. This amp seems to be a) right cost range, b) well respected.

thoughts?

[Crunch]

The 6505(+) is a rather niche amp for Mesa-metal. You would certainly never need an OD pedal, with it.

From what you've listed, you may be looking for something more British.
How much power do you require? I would think 30-40W would get the job done, yes?
I would look towards Orange's Dual Terror and TH30 combos.
I can't recommend Blackstar, as I've not heard one in a proper environment, but they've had good and iffy reviews. The price and wattage seem right, though.

[Madsakre]

Its a huge beast. it weights around 30 kilograms(60 lb)

for the tones you're after, try looking at a orange DUAL terror.
tweak one for lead and one for gritty clean. Works wonders dude

[Dmoney]

the 6505plus112 is a 60watt 1x12 combo. weighs 27kg, but then a 6505+ head with a 1x12 would probably weight a bit more! you can always try a neodymium speaker to decrease weight.

60watts however is hardly going to sound less loud than 120watts. 12watts would be half as loud.
It has way more gain than you'd need to play stuff by the band you listed. I've never used a 6505+ but I used to like the low gain input on the 6505 even for heavy stuff. enough gain, but with less of the hiss.

the orange might be a better bet. im not really a huge fan of the TH30, but I think its EL34 based so you wont be relying on power stage break up as much as with the tiny terror. not sure about the Dark Terror. I think you could get away with less wattage anyway. that should also decrease weight with the transformer not needing to be so big. I have a 30watt head that is really light.

[Crunch]

the orange might be a better bet. im not really a huge fan of the TH30, but I think its EL34 based so you wont be relying on power stage break up as much as with the tiny terror. not sure about the Dark Terror. I think you could get away with less wattage anyway. that should also decrease weight with the transformer not needing to be so big. I have a 30watt head that is really light.

Both the Terrors and TH30 use EL84's. I suggested the TH30 as it has a dedicated clean channel that sounds almost Fendery (which, I figured he would like for some Floyd). The crunchy channel has a LOT of gain, but can still be controlled with a simple roll-off of the guitar's volume pot.
The Dual Terror and TH30 are switchable from 30/15/7 watts, which lets you tune to just the right power-stage break-up (perfect for Who and Hendrix). The Dark Terror is just a 15W "Fat Channel, only" Dual Terror.

[Dmoney]

you're right.
I always get the TH30 confused with something. It must be the Rocker 50 im thinking of. I use one in a practice room from time to time and I hate it. I always think its a TH30 but I remember it has 2xEL34. though im not judging the whole orange product line on that one amp, I have to say i dislike the Orange 'hi gain' tone on all the Orange amps ive played.

[Telerocker]

you're right.
I always get the TH30 confused with something. It must be the Rocker 50 im thinking of. I use one in a practice room from time to time and I hate it. I always think its a TH30 but I remember it has 2xEL34. though im not judging the whole orange product line on that one amp, I have to say i dislike the Orange 'hi gain' tone on all the Orange amps ive played.

Everything is a matter of taste, style and guitar used. I play one of first Orange Rockerverb 50 heads/2 x12 cab for years and I can't part from this amp. Sounds alway stellar, no matter what locations (indoor/outdoor - I gig every weekend). Nevertheless I think the Rockerverb sounds better with tele/strats then with mahagony setneck guitars. Love those creamy, but punchy 6V6-tones. Not a real metalamp (more heavy rock/thick mids), but you can get close. I tested the TH30 in a shop and it's a great amp for the money. Only missed reverb on the clean channel, which is surprisingly good. Drivechannel has a lot of gain on tap and a lot of convincing tones.

[Crunch]

you're right.
I always get the TH30 confused with something. It must be the Rocker 50 im thinking of. I use one in a practice room from time to time and I hate it. I always think its a TH30 but I remember it has 2xEL34. though im not judging the whole orange product line on that one amp, I have to say i dislike the Orange 'hi gain' tone on all the Orange amps ive played.

I never really crank the gain on my Dual Terror. It's not been above 2 o'clock since I gave it its first test run. I'm more into fuzz tones, anyway. Things just get too brittle when the gain is uncorked- though, it doesn't feel empty when things are rolled back.
The full-tilt power stage is where the tone is, for me.

[Roobubba]

For what it's worth, a 60W valve amp is going to sound CONSIDERABLY louder than a 120W Solid state amp. I ran a 200W Randall solid state for a while. Switching to the 120W 5150-II (=6505+) head gave me a simply astonishing amount more power on tap, at least to the ear.

If you're looking for less power, look towards the 20W end of things if it's all valve!

Roo

[gwEm]

alot of players wanting extreme high gain tones use the 6505/5150 (as has been noted already)

why not take a look at that jet city 20w amp people have been raving about lately on here? i'd be having a look at one anyway.

[adamj]

id never thought of an Orange amp, but a quick look and iv found the 15W Dark Terror really appealing to me. With my cab:

Laney LX120
http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/profile_mojo_data/3/5/5/0/355006/pics/_c38708_image_0.JPG

Would there be any compatability issues? im rubbish wth Ohms, resistance etc. just watching this video and volume seems to be no problem at all. I was looking for a combo amp ideally but this may just tick the right boxes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA_rV0fKtrM&feature=related

[Crunch]

id never thought of an Orange amp, but a quick look and iv found the 15W Dark Terror really appealing to me. With my cab:

Laney LX120
http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/profile_mojo_data/3/5/5/0/355006/pics/_c38708_image_0.JPG

Would there be any compatability issues? im rubbish wth Ohms, resistance etc. just watching this video and volume seems to be no problem at all. I was looking for a combo amp ideally but this may just tick the right boxes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA_rV0fKtrM&feature=related

Your Laney should have its impedance written on the back (it would be right, if you hadn't switched the speakers). You could take the back panel off and look at the speakers and figure out the impedance, otherwise.

The Dark Terror is a cheaper (hardware), half-powered, single channel version of the TH30, which is not much more expensive- which comes as a 1x12" combo. Food for thought.

Kudos on the decent demo.

[Telerocker]

alot of players wanting extreme high gain tones use the 6505/5150 (as has been noted already)

why not take a look at that jet city 20w amp people have been raving about lately on here? i'd be having a look at one anyway.

If you want a singlechannelamp, the Jet City is certainly worth a look.

[Madsakre]

i would go for the th30 or a rocker 30. Depending on taste. They cost around the same

[dave_mc]

thomann sells the traynor ycv50b for around the £400 mark, depending on the exchange rate and when it's in stock. Having tried the 40 (which seems to be pretty similar apart from a worse speaker and 6L6es instead of EL34s), I think it'd probably do what you want better than the 6505+ (which is basically a br00tz amp- I play much heavier stuff than the bands you listed, and if it were my only amp I'd be concerned that the 6505 would be too heavy for my music!). It's made in canada too (instead of china for the 6505+ 112) and has a better stock speaker (v30).

Only downside is apparently it's a pain to change valves on, you have to remove the whole chassis or something like that (which is also dangerous if you don't know what you're doing).

But aside from that, it's a killer deal. When they had distribution here in the UK they were almost twice as much.