NAD and let's talk tubes

[eyeball987]

Nice score! The 6505+ was my favorite flavor out of all of the variants. Keep in mind that I have not spent any time with the 5153 100W models yet.

[greatmutah]

I guess if you're not really a 5150 player, maybe never cared about the 5150/6505 rename. But yeah, they're the same, so same schematic.

Not sure if the Sovtek 6l6s are just relabeled. I'm sure that's a possibility.

I agree about tube rolling in 5150s. I never really noticed a TON of difference...pretty subtle differences overall. Plus, these amps can easily get harsh, so makes sense to use JJs for that reason, too.

Yeah I still want to try some of the Sovteks you mentioned in there. I know effect would be subtle but I just want to see how it would compare vs the JJs

[ninjaraf]

I was mostly referring to preamp tubes on the subtleness. Power tubes, I don't really notice a sound change, but I for sure notice the Sovteks are more punchy in the low end, which we all know I like lol.

I know some people will disagree on the preamp tube rolling. I typically can't tell much difference, though.

[Mike Oxhuge]

Definitely Sovtek 6L6wxt+. The tube for any of the 5150 series.

[greatmutah]

When I had the 50 watt 5153, despite not caring for the amp as much overall, I did try a duet of those tubes in it. I have an older duet of Mesa STR 430s - relabeled 6L6WXT+ tubes - that I popped in and biased up and they were an improvement in that amp. So I imagine they’d have a similar effect in the Peavey. I just don’t have a quad on hand to try right now.

[Guitarbilly]

I think I have a quad of Sovteks here. I'll give them a try.

[ninjaraf]

They're the most noticeable tube change I've ever done. Unfortunately, I sold my previous 100S with some Sovteks and some TADs that were super low noise. Forgot to swap them out when I sold it, so that dude got some good tubes with it. But my current 100S still has the stock tubes lol. I have some Sovteks, but never bothered changing them, and probably won't until it's time.

If you like the Peaveys, the 50 watt 6l6 is not the right amp to try, IMO. I felt the same way. I didn't like that amp nearly as much as my 5152. The 50S was what changed my mind on the EVH heads, then the 100S is simply an absolutely MASSIVE step up from the 50. Now, though, I find the regular 50 6l6 to be closest in tone to the 100 watts. It's weird. Not having a Peavey for about 3-4 years, now, has certainly changed my perspective on the EVH heads. And actually, that's not ENTIRELY true. I still have a 6505+ 112 that I converted to a head, but it really just sits there lol.

I have considered getting another 5152/6505+ to compare to my EVH heads...and probably will eventually when I find the right one and have money at the same time. But no rush haha.

Anyway...yeah...Sovteks, JJs, call it a day. These amps don't need the same consideration as a Marshall or a Mesa. Workhorses for a reason.

[Spaced Out Ace]

So a few weeks ago I took some pedals to Atomic Music. They offered me around $285 for them.

I saw a PRS MT15 and asked them if they would trade it for the pedals and they did.

Really cool amp, I really liked it. BUT!!! Last weekend I saw on my local CL an ad for a Peavey 6505+ for sale or trade. The guy was saying he wanted to downsize. So I offered it the MT15 and he accepted it!!

So long story short, I got a 6505+ for $285 worth of pedals!!! I'll post a picture late but we all know what it looks like.


Anyway, it's not all great because when I took the amp to practice it was clear that the tubes were shot. The amp sounded a lot quieter than a regular 6505+ and lacked punch and balls.

So I returned it today and it sounds good now. The punch is back, volume is normal etc

But I am looking for some tube recommendations for this amp. For the power amp, I'm using JJs and I think they sound good.

For the preamp, Ifound a tube layout online but it doesn't say what each tube does:





So what does each tube do and what are some good tubes for each position. Right now I have JJs across the board except for a EHX in V1.

Lol, because of course you did. You could end up trading a pencil for a damn DSL100 (eventually).

[Spaced Out Ace]

Anyway, it's not all great because when I took the amp to practice it was clear that the tubes were shot. The amp sounded a lot quieter than a regular 6505+ and lacked punch and balls.

So I returned it today and it sounds good now. The punch is back, volume is normal etc

But I am looking for some tube recommendations for this amp. For the power amp, I'm using JJs and I think they sound good.

For the preamp, Ifound a tube layout online but it doesn't say what each tube does:





So what does each tube do and what are some good tubes for each position. Right now I have JJs across the board except for a EHX in V1.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but commenting to see if I am correct or not. V1 (either half or both) is universal and is used by both channels. V6 is the PI. V3 and V4 is used by the rhythm channel when Crunch is engaged. The rest is used by the Lead channel to turn local birds in your area into a mass of broken feathers and the death of all dreams.

Edit: Damn, looks like V4 might be the PI and V6 might be for the crunch option.

Maybe I'll just message James Brown on TGP and ask.

[Spaced Out Ace]

I won't share the entire message, but here it is:

V6(clean/crunch), V1(Input), V2(Ch2), V5(Ch2), V3(FX), V4(Phase inverter).