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

[Dmoney]

I'm pretty sure the outputs on all the 6505/5150 etc heads are parallel mono outputs.

I would imagine that cab (430A) is 16ohm mono or two 8ohm stereo pairs. If you used both outputs on a 5150 into a single cab with stereo inputs, you wouldn't be running in stereo.

[Dave Sloven]

I'm pretty sure the outputs on all the 6505/5150 etc heads are parallel mono outputs.

I would imagine that cab (430A) is 16ohm mono or two 8ohm stereo pairs. If you used both outputs on a 5150 into a single cab with stereo inputs, you wouldn't be running in stereo.

Cheers.  I think what I was wondering was if put through in stereo the amp would operate like two 60W heads and cabs running through the one pre-amp, and thus have more chance of being able to be cranked louder, although this Peavey series does sound surprisingly good at lower volumes.

Peavey have been really bad at promoting their recent stuff, including the 6534+.  There aren't many reviews of it online or videos of it, and I only just found out that the 430 cabinet is the 'matched' cab for this particular head, rather than the 6505 cab.  My local Peavey dealer has one of these in stock, but he has on his site that the 6505 is matched for the '6505 series' (including the 6534+) and the 430A as matched with the Peavey Butcher head.  The speakers in that cabinet are Stephens Tru-Sonic 30s, which sound to me like a slightly mellower and less middy V30.

Here's a review of the 6534+ & 430A by Guitar World, including a video.

http://www.guitarworld.com/peavey-6534-head-and-430-4x12-cab

To me the cab sounds pretty good with this head.  The power handling on it though is half that of the ENGL, which is rated at 240W mono and 120W stereo.  I'm not sure if the higher rating is a good thing.  Peavey also tend to rate their stuff lower than it is. Maybe ENGL err the other way?  Also someone is advertising a used Orange V30 412 with the black tolex, but it seems to have a very high number of views and might go for as high as $950 + $100 freight

EDIT: My local dealer just offered the 430A to me new for $1000 flat. Best deal I've seen on this anywhere.  I might just go down there tomorrow and pick it up.  At least I know that it's matched to the amp, and it has that V30 sound that goes well with the 6534+ like rather than the bassy sound of the Sheffield 6505 cab.  It also has a five year warranty.

[Dmoney]

I'm pretty sure the outputs on all the 6505/5150 etc heads are parallel mono outputs.

I would imagine that cab (430A) is 16ohm mono or two 8ohm stereo pairs. If you used both outputs on a 5150 into a single cab with stereo inputs, you wouldn't be running in stereo.

Cheers.  I think what I was wondering was if put through in stereo the amp would operate like two 60W heads and cabs running through the one pre-amp, and thus have more chance of being able to be cranked louder, although this Peavey series does sound surprisingly good at lower volumes.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but neither the 6505 or 6534 will never run in stereo, and they won't run in 60watts unless you get a half power switch added to the amp (or they have one already) or you do the old 'pull out two power valves' trick. You need a stereo power amp which none of those amps have, or two complete amps to run in stereo. Using the 'stereo' inputs on the cab and two leads to the head, is exactly the same as using one lead to the head and the cab set to mono.

[Dave Sloven]

Cheers.  Yeah I was confused.  I'm not exactly knowledgeable regarding anything to do with amps beyond turning the knobs on the front.

One thing I am worried about: is a 120W cab adequate for a 120W head?  The 430A Peavey, which Peavey recommends for the 3020 and 6534+ 120W amps as well as the 100W Butcher, is 120W (16 ohms).

[Dmoney]

See, that is weird. I don't understand it. A valve head is capable of more than its rated clean power once the power amp starts to clip. 120watt cab does seem low. I'm not sure about the butcher but into 16ohms, 8ohms or 4ohms, the 6505 etc heads will always be 120watt. It might be like you say, that those speakers are underrated in terms of power handling. Peavey might put 30watts on them so people think they are like a greenback or something. But yeah, it seems odd to me that they recommend a 120watt cab for a 120watt head. I've never blown a 4x12, but I've only ever really used Vintage 30's or G12T-75's until recently, and they both handle more power.

Maybe someone here has some experience with old Greenback loaded 4x12's and 100watt marshall heads?

[Dave Sloven]

I thought it strange too.  Also a Celestion V30, as opposed to these 'Tru Sonic V30s', is rated at 60-70W, not 30W. It might be possible that they went for a V30 type voicing in a greenback power-rated speaker, but having the cab rated at 120W and then making it THE cabinet for a 120W tube head does seem very odd.

Here's the specs on the 3120:

 Four EL34s and four 12AX7s
- Power amp switchable to use EL34s or 6L6GCs (ships with EL34s)
- 120 watts into 16, 8, or 4 ohms (switchable)

Here's the specs on the 6134+ (for which they apparently - although this is nowhere confirmed except on Guitar World to my knowledge, but supposedly that's what they were told by Peavey):

- Six 12AX7 preamp tubes and four EL34 power amp tubes
- 120 watts RMS into 16, 8 or 4 ohms

By all accounts the output of the EL34 equipped 6134+ is comparable to the 6L6 equipped 6505+, which is notoriously loud.

Here are the specs of the 430A & 430B cabinets:

- Four 12" Stephens™ Tru-Sonic 30 watt speakers
- 16 ohms
- Stereo or Mono operation
- 120 Watts power handling (2 x 60W in stereo mode)

It is listed as the speaker box for the 3120 series and the Butcher series (4xEL34 100W power section & 5x12AX7 preamp tubes).  Apparently it was developed for the Butcher but they seem to be recommending it for all of their 'British' (i.e., EL34 equipped) amps.

I'm tempted to go for a 240W V30 non-Peavey cab with V30s such as an Engl Pro, Krank, Orange, or Marshall 1960AV if I can find one under $1000 (second-hand cabs here are a little scarce with new prices depressed, people seem to be holding on to them until prices rise again).

[Dave Sloven]

Amp arrived today.

Unlike the USA version the Australian version seems to have a separate power cord:

[Dave Sloven]

On the basis of advice here and elsewhere I'm going to get one of the Orange PPC412 cabs as it seems like the best all round cab for these amps, despite the lack of wheels.

I'll update this post with a photo of my rig once it's all set up.

[Dmoney]

Good choice. That's gonna be a cool rig and the cab will hold value better than the peavey or engl. It'll have enough power to handling to deal with the amp too.

I hate how Peavey don't put IEC's on all there mains inputs. The UK version of the amp is just a euro version with a fixed lead, that has an adapter screwed over the 2 pin euro plug to make it 3pin and fused. It's massive and really annoying to store. Much better to fit an IEC like that.

[Dave Sloven]

Cheers.

Well I have it all plugged in, but no sounds out of it yet.  Have the impedance set at 16 ohms to match the cabinet.  It's not clear from either the amplifier or the cabinet which of the two jacks on the back of each it is supposed to go into, but I have plugged both into the left jack looking at the units from the back.  I've started it up and let it warm up and then plugged the guitar in and turned the volume on post up to 1 but no noises at all besides the sound of the tubes warming up.  Any ideas????  This is the first tube amp and the first amp and cabinet I've had but I'm sure there's something that the manufacturers are assuming I already know as there are no instructions on the cabinet and very little except marking the outputs as speaker jacks in the manual.

Anyway it looks nice!

[Dmoney]

The two speaker outputs on the back of the head are wiring together internally. It shouldn't have a difference which one you plug into there. You do need to match the head to impedance of the cab, and you always need to have the head plugged into a load (a cab or some kind of load box) if you want to turn it on.

On the back of the cab, I imagine one jack is an input and the other is a link to daisychain cabs together. I dunno which is which but google suggests the left is the input, but I think they'll be wired together internally too.

You need some pre gain and post gain to get sound. It might be that you have to get over '1' and then the amp will suddenly spring into life. Other than that I'd check you have the standby switch in the working (amp on) position and you guitar turned up and directly into the amp. Doesn't sound like you've done anything wrong though. Also check what channel you are on and what dials you're turning. All basic stuff but I know I miss things like that easily.

[Dave Sloven]

Cheers.  I think it was that I didn't have the green standby light on!  Looking at videos on the web that is on when playing (see below).  For some reason I thought that was to be on when not playing (i.e., in standby).  I'll give it a go when everyone is out of bed!  :D

Peavey 6534+ video review demo Guitarist Magazine HD

[witeter]

Enjoy! remember to always leave a 30s-1min (minimum) time frame between turning it on and pressing the stanby switch to on

[Kiichi]

Enjoy! remember to always leave a 30s-1min (minimum) time frame between turning it on and pressing the stanby switch to on

Some people even say that is helps prolong the life of speakers when you after turning the amp on wait a min to have the speaker coils warm up on the noise as well before you hit them with high volume powerchords. Dunno if this really holds any truth and there probably will be a discussion about that now in this thread.
What I am pretty sure of is that even if that is true it should not really matter when playing at bedroom levels. For gig levels this might be a different story though. DUnno.

[Dave Sloven]

It was just that I didn't have the standby switch on.  I let it warm up for a couple of minutes before turning that on and playing a bit.  It's loud, that's for sure!!