# Essential pedals to use with 6505+



## PunkBillCarson (Dec 29, 2015)

Hey guys, so I figured I'd ask what some good pedals are to use with this amp. Now I already have an OD, Reverb, and chorus. I've heard that the MXR 10 Band EQ's help take out the harshness of the amp. Which noise gate would be best that wouldn't suck out too much of my tone?


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## jc986 (Dec 29, 2015)

ISP Decimator is what I use with all of my amps and it's great. I just run it in front of the amp and it does everything I need. I played around with an MXR 10-band in the loop but ultimately I preferred the tone without it. It does allow you a lot of flexibility in sculpting your sound though.


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Dec 29, 2015)

I'd definitely add a Decimator  best noise suppression pedal around IMO

I'd also consider a delay pedal to pair with the reverb you already have. I have a TC Electronic Hall of Fame and it's plenty flexible and sounds great.

EDIT: the reason I bring up my HoF is because I feel like the TC Flashback would be equally versatile and high quality


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## PunkBillCarson (Dec 29, 2015)

Bump. More suggestions would be most welcome.


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## eviltoaster (Dec 29, 2015)

Besides the noisegate: if you want to shape the sound towards tightness a tubescreamer, if you want to make the clean-channel nicer a delay with slight modulation and reverb.


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## FILTHnFEAR (Dec 29, 2015)

Never played through a 6505+, but I'm guessing like most hi-gain heads, the benefit of an ISP Decimator can't be overstated.

As well as an eq and an od/ts of some type.

Delay/reverb/chorus for cleans.


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## PFlynn (Dec 29, 2015)

I run an Ice Box and Dan-echo through the loop on mine. I mainly use them when on the rhythm channel for cleans. I have an NS-2 and TS9 but haven't quite found the time or current need to use them yet, but probably will down the line. 

You may want to look into a compressor, but if you get a tube screamer, you may not need one. I personally like them for slow clean parts.


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## Bearitone (Dec 30, 2015)

IMHO, must-haves for a 6505 are a noise gate and OD out front, and an EQ in the loop.

The EQ in the loop is the biggest, absolute must-have to me. Truly a game changer.


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## warlock7strEMG (Dec 30, 2015)

I never truly understood people trying to remove the "harshness" from the 6505/6505+ tone. If you are referring to the fizziness that they have on the top then that can be tamed by rolling back the presence and/or treble. Finding a balance between the two has always worked best for me, more of one and less of the other. A darker and more muscular sounding set of preamp and power amp tubes helps as well. Such as JJ tubes. 

But with these amps I think a lot of people miss the point that the "harsh" sound that they can have is part of the magic with them as well. Whether you are referring to the fizzy top end or the "honk" in the mids, both of those things attribute to how mean and cutting they sounds in a band situation. To sum it up all I'm saying is that in my opinion you don't need to put too much emphasis on trying to tame or get rid of the honk or fizz. They can be made to work in your favor. The honk gives you cutting power and the fizz can be made to give you insane pick attack. 

Now that I have gotten way off topic(my apologies haha), I find the best OD pedal for these amps(and in general) to be the Maxon OD9. Though I am super curious about the OD808x as well!! The 808 is awesome but cuts too much low end in my opinion. Which is why I like the OD9. But the 808x is supposed to be better about that. 

I have never found a better noise reduction pedal than the ISP Decimator. Not saying that there are not better ones out there, but if there are I don't know about them so I cannot say for sure. One of the guys I used to play in a band with use the 6505+ with the decimator in front of it and his tone was dead silent and feedback free when he wasn't playing and it did not affect his guitar tone at all.


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## dollyboy (Dec 30, 2015)

IMO you should run a BBE sonic Maximizer thru the effects loop, if you own a mesa 4x12 Rectifier you'll get an extra of punch and headroom.

Fully recomended with this amp, but you should not abuse of this effect, or you'll get a muddy amp.

Cheers


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## KailM (Dec 30, 2015)

warlock7strEMG said:


> I never truly understood people trying to remove the "harshness" from the 6505/6505+ tone. If you are referring to the fizziness that they have on the top then that can be tamed by rolling back the presence and/or treble. Finding a balance between the two has always worked best for me, more of one and less of the other. A darker and more muscular sounding set of preamp and power amp tubes helps as well. Such as JJ tubes.
> 
> But with these amps I think a lot of people miss the point that the "harsh" sound that they can have is part of the magic with them as well. Whether you are referring to the fizzy top end or the "honk" in the mids, both of those things attribute to how mean and cutting they sounds in a band situation. To sum it up all I'm saying is that in my opinion you don't need to put too much emphasis on trying to tame or get rid of the honk or fizz. They can be made to work in your favor. The honk gives you cutting power and the fizz can be made to give you insane pick attack.
> 
> Now that I have gotten way off topic(my apologies haha), I find the best OD pedal for these amps(and in general) to be the Maxon OD9. Though I am super curious about the OD808x as well!! The 808 is awesome but cuts too much low end in my opinion. Which is why I like the OD9. But the 808x is supposed to be better about thatl.



I agree in part, but with a cut to the highest highs (such as the 16kHz slider on an MXR 10-band), you're only removing frequencies that aren't really beneficial in a mix (fizz). The amp will still cut like a mother------- if you leave the upper mids and treble intact. The presence and treble knobs don't really approach those "fizz" frequencies, IMO.

As for the "honk" frequency range (around 500Hz is where that lies), that's a matter of taste. You can't really dial that out with the amp's tone controls without burying the mids -- which has another set of problems.

I view the use of an EQ with the 6505 family of amps as a tool for expanding their capabilities rather than "taming" anything. In my case, I'm not a fan of the modern metalcore tone, but my MXR has helped me to get a very aggressive, thick, and pummeling tone for the death and black metal tones I need.

Also, just for something different, I recommend that TS try some alternative OD pedals. I owned a TS-9 for a long time, but once I bought my MXR Custom Modified Badass OD, I never used the tubescreamer again. The asymmetrical clipping and bass control of the MXR sounds more "grindy" and aggressive -- further helping me to personalize my tone.


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## PunkBillCarson (Dec 30, 2015)

I have the TS-9 and have wanted to try other OD's. I may give that one a shot. Tax time is looking really good this year, so I have some room for experimentation.


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## petersenb9 (Dec 31, 2015)

Maxon OD808


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## jpcalloway (Dec 31, 2015)

Believe it or not, the best pedal I've used with a 6505+ (to my taste) was the boss sd-1. It's super cheap, too. I tried the TS9, deadhorse, maxon od-808, and Fulltone OCD before it. The other pedals sound GREAT on a mini-rectifier that I used to own, as well as a VHT Pitbull 50 CL. But the sd-1 just meshed with the Peavey a lot better. Hope this helps.


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## mr coffee (Dec 31, 2015)

I use a dbx 166XL for gating and subtle compression, ch.1 in front of the amp and ch.2 in the loop, sidechained to ch.1. Just about everything else in my rig I could do without in a pinch.

-m


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## Unleash The Fury (Dec 31, 2015)

just bought a boss delay DD3 in front of my 6505+ and it sounds beautiful on the clean channel. I recommend it


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## USMarine75 (Dec 31, 2015)

mr coffee said:


> I use a dbx 166XL for gating and subtle compression



^ Especially at lower volumes this works awesome! 

As others have mentioned... ISP Decimator G, EQ (e.g. MXR 10, fish, etc), and a nice OD/boost (Maxon/Ibanez TS808 and clones, Xotic, etc). Unless you're a tone whore, you really don't have to spend too much on the boost. I have a $40 modded TS7 that slays just as much as my $$$ custom pedals.

I've had quite a few Peavey amps and I have a sweet modded FJAMODs one right now. Here is what I've learned over the years:

IMO retube the amp... if you can afford it I recommend JJ 6L6GC for power tubes and JJ or EH ECC-83S gold (12AX7) preamp tubes. This is the most "metal" combination, but they also usually have little in the way of fizz or microphonics. Some tube tricks, since this design gets all its distortion and tone from the preamp section slamming the power tube section:

These amps are very responsive from 0-7 pre gain, but then 7-10 (dimed) is usually unusable. If you put a 12AT7 in the V4 PI spot (closest to the power tubes), then it brings down the overall gain being passed to the power tubes by 60%, making the distortion more usable all the way to 10. I find that 5-6 gives me a super detailed distortion good for detuned guitars with no low end flub, and I can dial all the way to 9 and crush like normal with my 6 or standard tuned 7.

A 12AT7 in the V2 spot will make the cleans less dirty (EVH/brown sounding) and more "clean".

Go cheap with the V3 spot, since it's the FX loop and doesn't really matter as much (as long as it isnt a junk tube).

Don't pay for matching tubes IMO... just a scam to make more money at the point of sale.

good resource plus tube prices:
Peavey 5150-II - Metal Package

The right cab matters. This amp kills with most speakers... but the paper cone Sheffields in the matching Peavey cab really suck. Certain midrangey speakers will definitely bring out the harshness of this amp, but I find drier sounding speakers like Celestion G12k100 pair better. 

Anywho, just some thoughts...


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## PunkBillCarson (Dec 31, 2015)

Was actually thinking of getting a custom Avatar 2x12 and putting a Swamp Thang with a Governor. I've heard this did well for KailM and wanted to try it myself.


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## broj15 (Dec 31, 2015)

I used to swear by my MXR 10 Band EQ, however after using mine with the boss GE-7 in the loop I must say I prefer it. The GE-7 has more control over the mid range, which, for me at least, is essential to getting a good tone out of the amp, where as some of the frequencies on the MXR 10 band (32hz, 64, 8khz, and 10khz iirc) don't really effect the sound a noticeable amount and are just wasted space imo. 
Other than that a good OD is really all I need to get good heavy tones. I'm currently using an OCD with an 18v adapter (which is a huge improvement) but I'm tempted to try the Airis savage drive.


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## xero7 (Dec 31, 2015)

I've owned many a 5150 6505 and always ended up with a chain like this. Guitar- ISP decimater- maxon 808- boss ns-2 to amp. Nothing in the loop.tried the mxr and bbe never liked them in there. To me they made the amp sound more like solid state or hybrid amp.


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## FILTHnFEAR (Dec 31, 2015)

broj15 said:


> I used to swear by my MXR 10 Band EQ, however after using mine with the boss GE-7 in the loop I must say I prefer it. The GE-7 has more control over the mid range, which, for me at least, is essential to getting a good tone out of the amp, where as some of the frequencies on the MXR 10 band (32hz, 64, 8khz, and 10khz iirc) don't really effect the sound a noticeable amount and are just wasted space imo.



Yup, I like the MXR but much prefer the Ge-7 with my H&K and JSX for the same reasons.


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## USMarine75 (Dec 31, 2015)

Curious to see what settings you guys have of the Boss EQ for comparison if anyone wants to post a pic of the settings?


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## Obstsalat (Jan 1, 2016)

Tubescreamer (OD808) + Noisegate (ISP Decimator) for the gain channel

Reverb (Boss RV-6) + Delay (TC Flashback) + Compressor for the clean channel


When you get a compressor, you don't want to cheap out on that. Because a lot of compressors suck the highs out. I think the pedal should not color the sound, it is only supposed to squash it. 

So go wih the wampler or keely compressor

yeah that would be my pedalboard with a 6505


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## broj15 (Jan 2, 2016)

USMarine75 said:


> Curious to see what settings you guys have of the Boss EQ for comparison if anyone wants to post a pic of the settings?



I'll hopefully make it to our practice space some time this weekend and snap some pics. IIRC I've just got 200, 400, 800 boosted a few dbs and 1.6khz boosted slightly higher for that really scratchy metallic attack. Keep in mind I'm running mine stereo with my Hot Rod Deville on clean so My settings might be a bit weird.


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## broj15 (Jan 6, 2016)

USMarine75 said:


> Curious to see what settings you guys have of the Boss EQ for comparison if anyone wants to post a pic of the settings?



as promised







apologies for the sh_i_t quality. Couldn't get my camera to focus and I was in idgaf mode that night. Hope this helps though.


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## robski92 (Jan 6, 2016)

In front of my amp I have an Earthquaker Devices Dunes OD and a Noise gate. In the loop of my amp I have an MXR 10-Band EQ just to kind of shape the sound a little more and get rid of any fizz there might be!


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## Leuchty (Jan 6, 2016)

Tuner. 

guaranteed to make you sound better.


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