In the '70s, Peavey's fledgling popularity with country musicians and jazz, pop and rock musicians was popular with country musicians for its clean, crisp sound and durable quality, but at this time Peavey's influence was still limited to the United States. It wasn't until the mid-'90s that Peavey and metal superstar Eddie Van Halen launched their signature 5150 Series amps, which made the Mississippi loudspeaker manufacturer a globally respected brand for fans and musicians alike.
The 5150 series was groundbreaking at the time because it was equipped with five pre-amp tubes and four post-amp tubes for the first time, with a dual-channel design with 120W of power and 5 levels of amplification gain. The sheer amount of distortion makes the electric guitar a veritable "roaring beast", giving a lot of room for metal and hard rock musicians to play. When Van Halen and Peavey ceased working together, Peavey renamed the 5150 Series to the 6505 Series at its 40th anniversary to commemorate the company's history from 1965 to 2005. After the 5150 speaker went out of print, the 6505 became one of the most widely circulated and highest-powered metal speakers on the market.
Since the launch of the original model in 2005, the 6505 series has undergone several updates and is available in a wide range of models to suit all needs and budgets. The 2014 update to the 6505 Plus retains all of the original version's valve configurations, but adds independent EQ and resonance adjustments, presence effects adjustments, and a new pre-amp output for dual channels, giving players more room to adjust their tone. In addition, Peavey also launched a 120W amp 6534, which has a less grainy tone than the classic 6505, and the noise problem has also been improved, and the sound texture is looser, which is not suitable for musicians who are looking for extremely tight tones.
The price of the 6505Plus amp head is 7700 yuan, plus the price of the original Peavey cabinet is about 10,000 yuan, which is a very affordable price for a 120W metal speaker. For musicians who don't have the need for large-scale performances, you can consider the relatively small power of 6505MH. Although this 20W all-tube box is inferior to its big brother 6505 in terms of the number of tubes, their distortion generation structure is the same. In terms of functions, it basically has common interface types, pedal switching and Fx Loop, etc., among which the most distinctive MSDI function, as well as equipped with USB interface, so that the price of 4000 yuan 6505MH can fully adapt to the recording needs at home or studio.
In addition to the classic 6505 series, Peavey has entered the 21st century with two new product lines, the digital circuit line Vypyr and the modern metal valve series Invective. Vypyr is Peavey's first step into digital analogue speakers, and the models currently on sale are available in 20W/40W/100W, all with power adjustment function. The best feature of the Vypyr Series is that it has dozens of built-in tones and presets, all of which can be intuitively adjusted via PC software. In addition, the series can simulate the sound of instruments such as electric bass, acoustic guitar, electronic violin, and 7-string guitar. For musicians who like to create sound effects and have a certain recording need, Vypyr, which costs less than 3,000 yuan, is a good choice.
As for the Invective (120W version), which costs up to 14,000 yuan, it is positioned as the successor to the 6505, and it can also be seen in the configuration and features that Peavey has high hopes for it. However, many veteran musicians think that its performance in high-gain mode lacks the flavor of the 6505 series, and instead has a gratifying performance under Clean Tone. For the electric guitar amp industry, which has a slower product iteration speed, this new model launched in 2018 still needs more time to be tested by the market and users, and it is not recommended to buy it at such a high price at present.
