# 6505/5150 green channel discovery



## bluffalo (Oct 3, 2014)

So...... we all know the peavey 6505 is a pretty damn good at mostly doing one thing, being great for heavier styles of music.

People read and know that the cleans aren't spectacular, but, does anyone else use the green channel with the crunch switch for their distorted rhythm tones?

I find it's just plain better than the red channel. Unless my amp is broken somehow haha.

Did everyone just skip over the green thinking it was only for subpar cleans and go straight to the red?

Of course, being that i'm already on the green means I can't use a footswitch to change tones, but I just switch the pickup selector to middle and bridge on a HSH guitar and pick a bit lighter for my clean-ish sound.


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## Winspear (Oct 3, 2014)

Most people do, I think! It's certainly a lot better. The nice thing about the 6505+ I had was that the footswitch had a crunch button too


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## wat (Oct 3, 2014)

bluffalo said:


> does anyone else use the green channel with the crunch switch for their distorted rhythm tones?



That's *THE* 5150 sound. Pretty much what everyone does.


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## TeeWX (Oct 3, 2014)

I don't find the green and red channels to be all that different once you dial each of them in. I just use the red channel so that I have something for cleans, even if they are a bit dirty.


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## karjim (Oct 3, 2014)

In Flames Machine Head Chimaira = Green + TS


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## Bloody_Inferno (Oct 3, 2014)

wat said:


> That's *THE* 5150 sound. Pretty much what everyone does.



 That's where all the magic "chunk" comes from. 



This is a recording I did with my old band. It's the Green channel of a 5150 with a stock TS all knobs set to 12:00. I thank Matt Hyde for showing us that nice formula.


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## Vigaren (Oct 5, 2014)

I'm pretty sure that I saw a video a while back with Phil Demmel from Machine head where he said he uses the Lead channel for the rhythm tones! Maybe he was just fracking around


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## myampslouder (Oct 5, 2014)

When I had my 5150 I hardly ever used the red channel. The green channel is just so much fatter and has dat chunk.


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Oct 5, 2014)

I have to agree. I had trouble for years getting a good recorded tone on the red channel even though it sounded good live. Started monkeying with the green channel and holy shit it was night and day difference. It has a lovely tone when dialed in right and its even better when you boost it. It just has a nice throaty pissed off tone about it.


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Oct 5, 2014)

Anybody care to share what settings you're using for this magical "Green Channel Chunk"? Because I cannot for the life of me get the green channel to sound anything other than flubby and overly midsy. Maybe because I'm using a 6505+ combo, but still, I can get the red channel to sound Gnarly as hell


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## GizmoGardens (Oct 6, 2014)

Zeno said:


> Anybody care to share what settings you're using for this magical "Green Channel Chunk"? Because I cannot for the life of me get the green channel to sound anything other than flubby and overly midsy. Maybe because I'm using a 6505+ combo, but still, I can get the red channel to sound Gnarly as hell



I tried this on my 6505+ combo and I was able to tune it in pretty quickly. Right now I'm running my guitar into my Suhr KokoBoost (settings: mid-boost mode, boost turned up to about 1-2 o'clock) straight into the 6505. On the head I've got lows around 2-3/10 (I have a G-Flex cab so you probably won't have to cut so much), mids and highs around 6/10, res/pres all the way down. With the crunch mode engaged and the pre gain around 5-6/10, I've got plenty of gain on tap and I thought it sounded great. Much less nasal than the red channel.


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## bluffalo (Oct 7, 2014)

my main sound is

basswood ibanez with a tone zone HB and a blue velvet middle single
->
high gain input on 6505 non-plus
->
green channel, crunch on, bright on

pre gain around 3.5 on the dial (not 3 oclock)

bass 2.5
mid 10
treb 5.5
res and pres 7

-> orange ppc412

for "cleans" i use pickup position 4 middle and bridge and play gently

no pedals or anything.


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## Chrisjd (Oct 7, 2014)

karjim said:


> In Flames Machine Head Chimaira = Green + TS



Rob and Matt from chimaira used the red channel unboosted.


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## Lokasenna (Oct 7, 2014)

I've always found the red channel to just sound better for leads than rhythms. It seems smoother, more compressed, whereas the green channel gives you that "chunk" with tight gallops.


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Oct 7, 2014)

I also like the green channel with the crunch/bright on for hardcore/pop punk sort of sounds. 

I've been waiting on a 5150 combo to pop up for a good deal locally to use at band practices and to compliment my 5153 for recordings, so my only real experience with messing with a 5150 in-depth was when my old band's other guitarist left his block letter head at my house for a few days


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## ridner (Oct 8, 2014)

been leaning on the Crunch channel of my Bugera 6262 w/ the Bright switch engaged a lot lately - sounds badass with an OD in front of it!


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## WarMachine (Oct 8, 2014)

ridner said:


> been leaning on the Crunch channel of my Bugera 6262 w/ the Bright switch engaged a lot lately - sounds badass with an OD in front of it!


Definitely is nice huh? Another cool thing i found out like that (and with the 5150) is that it cleans up awesome when you roll the guitar volume. You turn your 2 channel gain monster into a single channel master volume gain monster


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## 7 Dying Trees (Oct 8, 2014)

Crunch channel + ts808 is absolutely crushing for rhythm tone, way better than the red channel which is too compressed. The crunch channel is just absolutely vicious, one of my favorite, if not favorite, rhythm sound!


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## 7 Dying Trees (Oct 8, 2014)

Settings: tube screamer, level 10, dist 0, tone halfway.

Amp: gain 7-9 depending on taste, crunch switch on

EQ: start at 6/6/6 fot trble/mid bass and adjust slightly.


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## ridner (Oct 8, 2014)

until recently, I was Lead channel all the way - really falling in love w/ the Crunch. kind of wish I had done this sooner!


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## TheWinterSnow (Oct 8, 2014)

Can't stand the Green channel for anything metal. What you call "chunk" just sounds like loose mud butt to me. I do like the green channel for leads, helps smooth out the high end.

EMG 81 -> OD -> Red Channel for rhythms for me all day everyday, I like the sound of the amp ripping your face off with sand paper. And in drop B I don't need any additional help in the "chunk" department.

Just my .02


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## Necky379 (Oct 8, 2014)

Green channel all the way. I also use a GE-7 EQ in the loop, give that a try if you're having a hard time finding the tone you want.


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## MASS DEFECT (Oct 8, 2014)

Green channel + OD + MXR 6 band in the loop= BEAST


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## Humbuck (Oct 9, 2014)

Love me some green channel!


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## 7 Dying Trees (Oct 9, 2014)

Oh, and bias mod is a must.


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## Vigaren (Oct 9, 2014)

7 Dying Trees said:


> Oh, and bias mod is a must.



I recently got an 5150 II that is unmoded. What sort of mods can you do with it? I'm new to tube amps


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## TheWinterSnow (Oct 19, 2014)

Vigaren said:


> I recently got an 5150 II that is unmoded. What sort of mods can you do with it? I'm new to tube amps



The only real mod you want to do is replace the bias resistor so you have more bias range in the amp. Even when the amp is biased as hot as it can be in stock settings it is still pretty cold.


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## DigiV (Oct 20, 2014)

on the 6505+ i liked the green tone with a tube screamer out front better actually.


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## Sepultorture (Oct 21, 2014)

Vigaren said:


> I recently got an 5150 II that is unmoded. What sort of mods can you do with it? I'm new to tube amps



Bias mod, as has been mentioned

you could also have the "Original 5150" mod, which is a mod that converts the lead channel back to the original 5150 specs

Another more simple mod is the KT88/6L6 mod, which is to replace the outer two power tubes with KT88's while keeping with the usual 6L6's in the middle two positions

experiment with preamp tubes also makes for a change, not drastic as hell but there's def a tonal change

one, combo of, or do it all, up to you which on of those you'd like to do to your amp


as for me, i've not really recorded with a 5150/6505 yet, so i've no preference in that department. but as far as jamming/practicing/live, i'm a red channel guy all the way.

RGD2127FX (with SD Full Shred bridge PU) -> Green Rhino -> ISP Decimator 2 (not G) -> 6505 on top of a Mesa Traditional cab with stock V30's

also my buddy Geoff has a 6505 with the KT88/6L6 mod with JJ preamp tubes, no other mods to the amp, and it runs perfectly safe and sound ....ing crushingly brutal as ....


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## NinjaRaf (Oct 21, 2014)

On my 5150 212 combo, I used the crunch mode on the rhythm channel as my main rhythm tone, but its different from the head versions...It acts sort of as a built in TS type boost, but is optimized for the amp, so you dont lose all your low end. I use the lead channel for cleans...gain all the way down, guitar volume down, for live, then I just plug into the low gain input for recording.


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## 7 Dying Trees (Oct 27, 2014)

TheWinterSnow said:


> The only real mod you want to do is replace the bias resistor so you have more bias range in the amp. Even when the amp is biased as hot as it can be in stock settings it is still pretty cold.


This. On the 6505+ / 5150 II it's not a hard mod to do, I'm thinking of doing it to the 6505+ I have at home at the moment before I sell it..

THe bias on the 6505/6505+ is too cold, gives too much fizz in the amp from crossover distortion in the power amp. Bias mod them, and they become brutal as ....!


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## DigiV (Oct 27, 2014)

Sepultorture said:


> you could also have the "Original 5150" mod, which is a mod that converts the lead channel back to the original 5150 specs



How expensive is that mod usually?


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