Peavey amps?

[HeWhoIs]

I spent a little over an hour sitting in front of the peavey display at my local GC this Saturday. I had the JSX, 6505+(5150 II), XXX, and Valve King half stacks all powered up and kept switching back and forth. At band levels I liked the 6505+ the best with the XXX a close second. For bedroom levels it was the exact opposite. The XXX has a good crunch to it at lower volumes. Of course all of this testing was kind of pointless because they were all hooked up to the right cabs and I'll be using a Marshall 1960 V30 cab.

Anyway my question is this: if the normal 6505 is lower wattage, will it retain more of the crunch at lower volumes than the 6505+?

[dinky kustom]

what do you mean by lower wattage? there both 120 watt heads.the 6505 combo is 60 watts??

[HeWhoIs]

I was wrong. The 6505+ has an extra preamp tube. How does that change the tone?

[kmanick]

the 6505+ has a different sounding gain than the original 5150's .
I run my 5150 combo thru a hotplate into a Marshall 1960Ax(greenbacks) top, these amps come alive at post gain 4+
but that is really freaking loud.
-8db's on the hotplate and I can get that great sound at a much more reasonable volume.

what did you think of the JSX?

[charvelguy]

That is one thing I really like about my XXX, at lower volumes on the crunch channel it still sounds good, and I get really nice harmonic feedback out of it w/o having to dail alot of gain in. I never really thought a 120w amp would deliver as well as this does at lower volumes but it does.
At 5 tho.. its kickin...still sounds good and I run it through various flavor of celestions. I really dig the active EQ as it easily can allow me to compensate for different cabs or guitars.

[HeWhoIs]

Kmanick - I liked the JSX and if I had only played it, I'm sure I would have loved it. With all the rave reviews it gets around here I will deffinately check it out again before I make a decision.

[slash-ed]

Any reviews on the XXL?

[Burn]

Any reviews on the XXL?

Try the search, it's in here somewhere....

[emperor_black]

I was wrong. The 6505+ has an extra preamp tube. How does that change the tone?

Its supposed to give better cleans. but still users say that the clean is not as good as even a Marshall's. Many feel that the 6505+/5150II dont quite have the low end of the 6505/5150. The gain is reduced too. here is a difference in what the tubes actually do from the fja mods website.





so if you see, only 2 1/2 preamp tubes are being used for the lead channel on the 5150II/6505+. yes, they are both 120 watts.

the only advantage to the 6505+ is that its got a seperate eq section for the lead and rhythm.

Any reviews on the XXL?

I think the XXL, XXX, are all based on the Peavey Ultra series. They are distinctively bright sounding amps and not very well suited for modern metal sounds. They are good for 80's metal and such. Whereas the 6505/5150 are considered dark sounding amps. I owned a XXX combo and could not stand it. It was so bright and thin sounding. I was playing a ibanez (basswood body) with dimarzio pups and I needed a od pedal with the tone on it rolled off to tame the brightness. Still it was very bright. My 5150 sounds so dark and deep with just the right sizzle. Love it!

Kmanick - I liked the JSX and if I had only played it, I'm sure I would have loved it. With all the rave reviews it gets around here I will deffinately check it out again before I make a decision.

The JSX is supposed to be the "best of both worlds". It can be as bright as the XXX or as dark as the 6505. but when I played thru it, it was mostly very bright. But it wins in the looks department. Also, the head is supposed to be better than the combo. In what respect, I forget. but if you are getting the JSX, get the head.

[Cybersavior]

Peavey=playskool. (don't flame, I say this all the time and everyone is expecting and ignoring it).

[madryan]

I've been shopping for an amp and I love the JSX... I bought a Mesa tho...