# 6505+ pod bypass for clean tone / opinion on cabs please!



## halsinden (Jul 29, 2008)

awight chaps,

im considering a pretty good offer on some peavey amplification, and certainly after the sound i got at the recent dam gig i was really impressed with the 5150, so im looking at the 6505+.

obviously the lack of clean tone is whats causing me some troubles lately as its an integral part of the sound im writing for (as is the balls-to-the-wall metal tone), but ive heard on here about using a pod to bypass to a separate clean sound entirely. whilst this sounds like a feasible idea, has anyone on here had practical experience in doing this, live?

also, peavey cabs. in particular the ones now out for the 6505. any good?

H


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## Drew (Jul 29, 2008)

FWIW, tjhe 6505+ is the 5150II, whereas the 6505 is the 5150. I have no idea how much of a difference it makes, but I understand the 6506+ has an added gain stage...?


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## halsinden (Jul 29, 2008)

Drew said:


> FWIW, tjhe 6505+ is the 5150II, whereas the 6505 is the 5150. I have no idea how much of a difference it makes, but I understand the 6506+ has an added gain stage...?



yeah, that's what i'd heard, but then most have confirmed that the clean sound available just really isn't that good.

H


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## 7 Dying Trees (Jul 29, 2008)

you would wanto split the signals to choose between pre and the pod. So you'd need to get a device that will choose one signal path (the pod) or another (the 5150/6505 or 5150 II/6505+) and then switch between the two afterwards and go into the power amp. A looper in effect.

If you're looking for an amp with good cleans and good distortion, then the 6505+ or totherwise may not suit your needs unfortunately. If you want a simple live rig that is.

In any case, if you really wanted to do it, you could try the following (which may or may not work):
Put the 5150 pre in the pod FX loop, and switch that in and out depending on aptch, and if switched in, disable the amp modelling. 

Another option would be to run the POD straight to PA for cleans, and have an A/B switch where your guitar signal either goes into the pod or the peavey. A bit of extra setup, but i believe that's how John (Fell Silent) runs his rig.

Cab wise, a v30 loaded cab (straight, not angled), no question, 5150+mesa v30 cab is a classic combination, and i know the 5150 i had sounded huge through the orange cabs, so v30's = like.


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## 7 Dying Trees (Jul 29, 2008)

With regard to the peavey cabs, no idea, never tried them.


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## halsinden (Jul 29, 2008)

7 Dying Trees said:


> you would wanto split the signals to choose between pre and the pod. So you'd need to get a device that will choose one signal path (the pod) or another (the 5150/6505 or 5150 II/6505+) and then switch between the two afterwards and go into the power amp. A looper in effect.
> 
> If you're looking for an amp with good cleans and good distortion, then the 6505+ or totherwise may not suit your needs unfortunately. If you want a simple live rig that is.
> 
> ...



ok, i get some of that. but then just to complicate - what about if i wanted to use the pod for effects with the 6505's distorted tone also?

H


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## 7 Dying Trees (Jul 29, 2008)

halsinden said:


> ok, i get some of that. but then just to complicate - what about if i wanted to use the pod for effects with the 6505's distorted tone also?
> 
> H


To be honest, I'd say you're better off getting a seperate FX processor... One problem with the 5150 is that the channel volume is the FX send, so how hard it hits the FX processor is all dependant on how loud it is, which is an issue for noise gates as they kind of expect the same threshold all the time (ie volume).

What you are referring to will only work if the FX loop of the pod plays nicely with the 5150, and if the FX loop is situated post modelling, pre effects. 

You wire it up:

guitar->podxt(pro)->fxout(pod)->amp in->amp FX send->pod(fx return)->pod out->amp FX return

The 5150 FX loop would need to be permanently on also, and any cabinet emulation possibly disabled.

So it is doable, and you could then use the pod as an overall voume attenuator (ie, master volume on the pod controls overall volume) and then control it via MIDI, with when you want just cleans, turn the pod fx loop off (if possible) on that patch, and if you want the 5150 distortion, then bypass any modelling (ie, NO modelling whatsoever, otherwise it will probably end up sounding pretty turd)

however, no guarantees, it's be a suck and see.

At the same time, having an EQ and FX processor with the 5150 could well mean you can shape up the clean on it to make it sound cool with some luch light reverb and re-eqing.


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## M3RC1L3SS (Jul 29, 2008)

Yeah dude, I just bought a 6505+ probably four months ago, and I was in SamAsh trying out some cabinets... and the cab that was supposed to go with the 6505 sounded like pure shit compared to a crappy Marshall cabinet I got. The marshall I ended up getting has celestion extended bass speakers in it, and it sounds badass. Just can't wait until I can save up for a caparison and some Vintage 30's


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## halsinden (Jul 29, 2008)

M3RC1L3SS said:


> Yeah dude, I just bought a 6505+ probably four months ago, and I was in SamAsh trying out some cabinets... and the cab that was supposed to go with the 6505 sounded like pure shit compared to a crappy Marshall cabinet I got. The marshall I ended up getting has celestion extended bass speakers in it, and it sounds badass. Just can't wait until I can save up for a caparison and some Vintage 30's



interesting. but how have you found the 6505 in general?

what about if vintage 30s went in the peavey cab?

H



7 Dying Trees said:


> To be honest, I'd say you're better off getting a seperate FX processor... One problem with the 5150 is that the channel volume is the FX send, so how hard it hits the FX processor is all dependant on how loud it is, which is an issue for noise gates as they kind of expect the same threshold all the time (ie volume).
> 
> What you are referring to will only work if the FX loop of the pod plays nicely with the 5150, and if the FX loop is situated post modelling, pre effects.
> 
> ...



the EQ i can easily find. given that the 6505+ has more options, i wonder if it's possible to create a decent enough clean sound to be able use the pod for effects ontop of the distorted tone?

it's that i don't fancy having to buy yet another unit (which i'd imagine would have be a g major or similar) when i have a perfectly good one in the pod.

H


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## M3RC1L3SS (Jul 29, 2008)

Dude, I fucking love my 6505+. It's perfect for what I play... which is melodic death metal. The cleans on it aren't that great... but they work for me, because I don't use it too much. And, it's loud as fuck. 

Adding V30's to your cab will give you a Killswitch Engage/In Flames-like tone. Honestly though, I wouldn't even bother with that Peavey cabinet. What I would've done if I had the extra $400 was buy a Marshall 1960AV... it costs around the same as the Peavey 6505+ cab, but sounds a hell of a lot better. Just take that into consideration.


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## Brewtal_Damage (Jul 29, 2008)

I got the 6505+, also I got a guitar with 89/81tw (B & N), in split mode the 81 sounds great for cleans, u should try it


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## M3RC1L3SS (Jul 29, 2008)

Yeah, i'd like to get an EMG that I can split... that'd make the cleans better... but still, with the badass amount of gain I get on the head, I am perfectly fine with the cleans as they are.


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## halsinden (Jul 30, 2008)

M3RC1L3SS said:


> Dude, I fucking love my 6505+. It's perfect for what I play... which is melodic death metal. The cleans on it aren't that great... but they work for me, because I don't use it too much. And, it's loud as fuck.
> 
> Adding V30's to your cab will give you a Killswitch Engage/In Flames-like tone. Honestly though, I wouldn't even bother with that Peavey cabinet. What I would've done if I had the extra $400 was buy a Marshall 1960AV... it costs around the same as the Peavey 6505+ cab, but sounds a hell of a lot better. Just take that into consideration.



problem is, if i go with the 6505+, i'm kind of duty-bound to go with the cab, too.

how tricky would it be to replace with V30s?

H


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## Josh Lawson (Jul 30, 2008)

halsinden said:


> problem is, if i go with the 6505+, i'm kind of duty-bound to go with the cab, too.
> 
> how tricky would it be to replace with V30s?
> 
> H


Replacing speakers is easy. While you're in there, throw away the 24 gauge wiring and replace it with 16 or 14 gauge, that is a little more difficult. The efficiency improvement is amazing, and the tone is greatly improved. I did this to a 5150 cab and an older PV cab for the minimal cost of $15 plus about an hour of work.....wow totally worth it. If this alone doesn't do it for you, I'd look into Warehouse Guitar Speakers | Product Detail
Good luck!!


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## halsinden (Jul 30, 2008)

Josh Lawson said:


> Replacing speakers is easy. While you're in there, throw away the 24 gauge wiring and replace it with 16 or 14 gauge, that is a little more difficult. The efficiency improvement is amazing, and the tone is greatly improved. I did this to a 5150 cab and an older PV cab for the minimal cost of $15 plus about an hour of work.....wow totally worth it. If this alone doesn't do it for you, I'd look into Warehouse Guitar Speakers | Product Detail
> Good luck!!



ok, cool.

and what are the thoughts towards black widow speakers?

H


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## s_the_fallen (Jul 30, 2008)

I use a Marshall 1960 cab with my 6505+. But after having the 6505+ for over a year now, I'm ready for a change. Looking at Marshall heads now.


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## John_Strychnine (Aug 3, 2008)

I don't use an a/b switch to switch to my pod to pa, im lucky enough to have an amp mute feature and pre output on my engl (bypasses all amp stuff)

However, acle uses a soundsculpture ABCadabra. which u can switch between 2 signals and have them both at the same time using midi. 

We use to run pods through our heads at one point, and tbh it sucks.


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## TomAwesome (Aug 3, 2008)

The two ways I could see using a POD for a clean tone would probably be...

1) Put the 5150 preamp in the POD's effects loop

2) Get a switching mechanism with two loops, one for the 5150 pre and another one for the POD. That way you can take the 5150 pre out of the chain for cleans but still use the POD for effects with the pre.

If you do get the 6505+, though, the clean channel is supposed to be greatly improved over the 5150/6505. I've heard one or two live, and while it's nothing spectacular, the clean channel is pretty usable if you don't need anything too special. It's probably worth trying just using the POD in the loop for effects.


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## Axel (Aug 5, 2008)

I have an old 5150 and I use a rocktron patchmate to switch to my rocktron voodoovalve for cleans. It sounds a lot better than the 5150 of course. There is one problem however. I tend to get better gain sounds when I run the presence and resonance pretty high. Unfortunately this also affects the voodoovalve since its part of the power stage.

But in your case since you're looking at the 6505+ and it has 2 different presence and resonance controls for each channel, what you could do is set your gain channel to your liking, and then have the other channel with lower pres and res settings. Then wire it up so that when you switch to your pod or other pre for cleans, it also switches channel so you can take advantage of the lower pres and res settings.

I've been running this setup for a while and only just recently started running into problems. It appears that it may have to do with some bad inputs on the voodoovalve tho. I hear crackling and noises when I adjust the pre and send etc on the voodoovalve.

For now I'm just running straight into the 5150. 

It's a tricky situation and there doesn't seem to be any simple solution. If only Peavey would make an amp with a 5150 channel and a GOOD usable clean channel, all our problems would be solved!


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## InTheRavensName (Aug 5, 2008)

The 5150/XT Pro setup works well for In Flames


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## halsinden (Aug 5, 2008)

Axel said:


> I have an old 5150 and I use a rocktron patchmate to switch to my rocktron voodoovalve for cleans. It sounds a lot better than the 5150 of course. There is one problem however. I tend to get better gain sounds when I run the presence and resonance pretty high. Unfortunately this also affects the voodoovalve since its part of the power stage.
> 
> But in your case since you're looking at the 6505+ and it has 2 different presence and resonance controls for each channel, what you could do is set your gain channel to your liking, and then have the other channel with lower pres and res settings. Then wire it up so that when you switch to your pod or other pre for cleans, it also switches channel so you can take advantage of the lower pres and res settings.
> 
> ...



ok, yeah, that's sounding pretty hopeful. this does still present the issue (i suppose) of using effects on the high gain channel. hmm. 

H



InTheRavensName said:


> The 5150/XT Pro setup works well for In Flames



err, really? know any more about that at all?

H


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## metalfiend666 (Aug 5, 2008)

If you want the 5150/6505 sound and a clean channel, surely the easiest way to do it is the 4 cable method using a Boss GT6, GT8 or GT10?

The idea is the GT series have a loop for you to insert the preamp of your choice, and you select the loop as the "model" in the chain. So, you have a totally modelled clean channel, but the distorted tones of your amp. The wiring would be:

Guitar -> GT input
GT FX Send -> Amp input
Amp FX Send -> GT FX Return
GT Output -> Amp FX Return

The beauty of this is you get your "channels" and fx switched easily by one unit on the floor, there's no messing around with loopers or signal splitters, and you don't have to buy a seperate power amp. I came extremely close to doing it myself before I got the killer deal on my Recto.


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## DevinShidaker (Aug 5, 2008)

I don't know about using a pod for cleans, but as for the cab question, I use marshall 1960 cabs with my 6505+. I also have an 80's randall with Jaquar speakers that sounds mighty fierce, and two 5150 cabs...but the 5150 cabs seem to fail miserably with my head. I keep my pregain around 5, no higher than six, and I get massive feedback with both cabs if I turn my post up past 2. it's ridiculous.


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## Axel (Aug 6, 2008)

halsinden said:


> ok, yeah, that's sounding pretty hopeful. this does still present the issue (i suppose) of using effects on the high gain channel. hmm.
> 
> H
> 
> ...



Yea I use the intellifex for when I want effects on the peavey. 

And yea that other guy is correct, In Flames use the XT pro for cleans. You can clearly see it in their live videos.


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## TomAwesome (Aug 6, 2008)

I think Machine Head has a similar 5150/POD setup as well.


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