SavageRiffer
Banned
New member
I bought a 6505 mini a few days ago. If you haven't played one yet, then do yourself a favor. Of course, playing it in the store got me interested in buying one, but when I got it home and plugged it into my own cab, holy hell! This is an impressive amp. What a great sound. It doesn't sound like a mini. USUALLY, EL84s don't do it for me, but the 6505 somehow puts it all together the right way.
I've owned a few minis, including the Mini Rect and Mark V 25. I couldn't even really gel with the Mini Rect because I've owned a 50w & 100w rectifier before and it just made me want one of those. The Mark V25 didn't 'feel' like it had enough distortion even though it had plenty. The 6505m is extraordinary when you consider that I walked out with one in the factory box for $450.
The clean channel is absolutely fantastic. It may be the second greatest surprise this amp offers to most people checking it out for the first time. It has a surprising amount of headroom, and it goes into breakup. It's pretty versatile. I can't say that what sounds good for a metal tone translates to a good clean tone. That may be one of the only limitations of this amp, but then again, I've only had it for a few days.
Oh my God man does this thing get brutal! The EQ is extremely sensitive to even slight adjustments. This is no toy. I mean, this thing is on the level of real good professional gear in my opinion. I don't have any need for the power scaling because I've kept it on full power since I got it and never once felt the need for a power reduction. I could see it benefiting the clean channel, but I don't care to get into that right now.
It has been great with a variety of speakers. I've tried the emulated XLR output and it's kind of dark and muffled, but then again, I suck at recording and I'm sure it's something I didn't dial in. However, even though I suck at recording, it was pretty easy to get a good metal sound mic'ed.
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister is another great little amp, but it won't give up the brootz like the 6505m. Same retail price. It is equally good, but kind of more rock and blues. The 6505m is able to do pretty good blues and cleans despite it's brutal nature, but like I said before, I haven't been able to find a good balance between the two channels for that kind of thing. You kind of have to dial it in for one genre. If you want to do metal, it will easily give up metal distortion and metal cleans. If you want EVH, it will give that up easily likewise, but you can't really switch between Metallica and Radar Love.
It can actually do some very nice clean tones, and the clean channel has a real nice feel too. It also comes with a digital studio reverb which is actually quite good. I've had it sitting next to my Diezel Paul which also has a digital reverb and I must say that the 6505m is quite impressive. I must say though that I haven't touched the bright switch, so that may be the key to the balance between clean and distortion. This amp leaves much to be explored.
I know there are many great mini heads out there these days, but this one hits home with me. Also, I'm tired of trying to get rock amps to do metal. I think I'm going to rethink my amp situation and buy amps made for metal. Check out this video, particularly the riffing at the beginning of the video. It's jaw-dropping what the 6505m can do. The next couple of videos are pretty good too I think.
I've owned a few minis, including the Mini Rect and Mark V 25. I couldn't even really gel with the Mini Rect because I've owned a 50w & 100w rectifier before and it just made me want one of those. The Mark V25 didn't 'feel' like it had enough distortion even though it had plenty. The 6505m is extraordinary when you consider that I walked out with one in the factory box for $450.
The clean channel is absolutely fantastic. It may be the second greatest surprise this amp offers to most people checking it out for the first time. It has a surprising amount of headroom, and it goes into breakup. It's pretty versatile. I can't say that what sounds good for a metal tone translates to a good clean tone. That may be one of the only limitations of this amp, but then again, I've only had it for a few days.
Oh my God man does this thing get brutal! The EQ is extremely sensitive to even slight adjustments. This is no toy. I mean, this thing is on the level of real good professional gear in my opinion. I don't have any need for the power scaling because I've kept it on full power since I got it and never once felt the need for a power reduction. I could see it benefiting the clean channel, but I don't care to get into that right now.
It has been great with a variety of speakers. I've tried the emulated XLR output and it's kind of dark and muffled, but then again, I suck at recording and I'm sure it's something I didn't dial in. However, even though I suck at recording, it was pretty easy to get a good metal sound mic'ed.
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister is another great little amp, but it won't give up the brootz like the 6505m. Same retail price. It is equally good, but kind of more rock and blues. The 6505m is able to do pretty good blues and cleans despite it's brutal nature, but like I said before, I haven't been able to find a good balance between the two channels for that kind of thing. You kind of have to dial it in for one genre. If you want to do metal, it will easily give up metal distortion and metal cleans. If you want EVH, it will give that up easily likewise, but you can't really switch between Metallica and Radar Love.
It can actually do some very nice clean tones, and the clean channel has a real nice feel too. It also comes with a digital studio reverb which is actually quite good. I've had it sitting next to my Diezel Paul which also has a digital reverb and I must say that the 6505m is quite impressive. I must say though that I haven't touched the bright switch, so that may be the key to the balance between clean and distortion. This amp leaves much to be explored.
I know there are many great mini heads out there these days, but this one hits home with me. Also, I'm tired of trying to get rock amps to do metal. I think I'm going to rethink my amp situation and buy amps made for metal. Check out this video, particularly the riffing at the beginning of the video. It's jaw-dropping what the 6505m can do. The next couple of videos are pretty good too I think.
