Matthew Kiichi Heafy | 5150 vs 6505 vs 5150 II vs 6534+ | Which one is the best? 

Tracking 6505 - 2:24 5150 - 3:23 5150 ii - 4:17 6534+ - 5:18 Playback 6505 - 6:27 5150 - 6:47 5150 ii - 7:17 6534+ - 7:48 6534+ - 13:17 5150 - 15:17 6505 - 22:32

When you look back at your ex girlfriends and begin to notice a pattern

I got the USA built 6505+ and it's my favorite metal amp ever. The tone never gets old.

Love how you do a comparison between the amps, they all have great mighty Heafy tone! It is really nice seeing you rock the MXR EQ. Great stuff! Keep on rocking and Thank You for showing this.

Love the shootout!!! Thanks, Matt! I've always wondered what all of these sounded like side by side! My first amp was a Peavey Rage and after 19 years I still have it! Love the Peavey sound + quality :)

I was more of a prog/death metal kid so was never really into Trivium but I've always respected the hell out of them for their playing, personalities and what they did for guitar playing. People forget but Trivium were one of the bands that made guitar solos cool again, they instantly raised the baseline of what was required to be a competent metal guitarist in the 2000's

Love it, dude! I'm the guy on Reverb you bought the 5150 block logo from. Sounds incredible 👍👍

What a good video matt! I was always curious to see the differences between these amps

Enjoy this shootout _ i feel like the difference is so minimal that you could just post eq to get what u want:

Plot twist, every tone was generated by a single Boss Metalzone 😂 (kidding.. but it would’ve been hilarious). P.S. 5150 sounded great 👍

Great job Matt ! I have the 5150 EVH signature model,right after the block letter..same amp,different brand factory power tubes.. I like all the Peavey amps,so really for me all of them ! I had to subscribe..

I was never a trivium fan but I like your attention to detail and your passion.

Kick ass comparison. I've got a 6505+ head that I bought back in 2012. Love it. Has more mids than a 5150/6505 which helps in a mix/jam session. Electronics theory time... The control pots on these amps have a tolerance of up to 20%. The value is measured in resistance (ohms). To make the numbers easy, lets use the Low pot. It has a value of 1 million ohms (1 Mega Ohm). The 20% tolerance could be more, or less than the indicated value on the control pot. So one amp could have a pot that is actually 1.2M ohms and another could have a value of 0.8M ohms. This way you can actually get a 40% sway in tone for the low end if both amps are maxed out at 10 on the low control. The low pot is also a log taper pot, not linear. So the math involved to get the exact same value on the two amps based on where they are pointed would be a nightmare. Hence why the EQs can be dialed in differently to get the amps sounding similar. This is also only taking the one low control into consideration. There is a lot more at play than just that. It also sort of explains why the TC pedals all sound quite a bit different. Electronics tolerances ;) I'll say it before anyone else does... NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!!!!

Hey Matt!! Just got my 5150 II head today and I love it so much. Personally think the earlier made heads have the punchiest rhythm tone with that dark layer with insane low end and chunkiness perfect metal amp imo, keep up the amazing work with what you do for the metal community. Been a long time fan of trivium for many years, hopefully one day you can return to nz for a show it'd be sick. Keep yourself and your family safe man

Always loved the tones on Ascendancy!

They actually all sounded great haha. If I had to choose, I would either go with the 5150 or 5150 ii.

5150 has the best clarity to my ear. My daughter was so excited to see you guys here in Idaho. Next summer she won’t be able to see the show. She is really bummed out. Now I’ve got to get my wife into the show.

The '05 has a smoothness about it that i always found pleasing.

I'm probably in the minority that liked the 6534+ seemed the brightest of the bunch.

I love the 6505. I have one at our studio plus I have a 6505 profiled with a Fortin 33 in my Kemper. Sounds fantastic.

I liked the original 5150 block letter the best. Has a crisp bite.

I've played through the 5150 for the last 6 plus years..but, man that 6505 has me thinking I'd like to hear some more of it's possibilites.

Peavy amps such as these are so perfect for metal!

You really can’t go wrong with any of them. Just such a classic crunchy sound. The 6534+ really surprised me and sounded significantly better than I thought it would, not that I thought it’d sound bad but given the amps it was going up against I didn’t think it had a chance. I’d have to put the OG 5150 on top though. You just can’t go wrong with it. I’d be curious to hear a 5150 III thrown into the mix as well!

Man, you really are a cool fucking dude, glad you actually seem to love what you do. Thanks for the content!

One amp I would really like compared is the invective since it’s based on the 6505 but with a few tweaks and an actual clean channel plus a large feature set for a lot of more modern usages.

You and those friggen triplets. Playing trivium songs turned my forearms to boulders and ground my teeth down to nubs in my early twenties.

They are all very similar and very cool! Tonewise i think id go with the 6505. Cheers from Portugal 🍺🤘

I really like the tone of the 5150II it just had that excellent crunch to it

I really appreciate the effort you went into making this vid! I was super excited when it popped up in my search. I have a question though. These heads are high quality tube amps, and you are testing the sound/tone difference between them. The gain and saturation of these amps, mostly, come from the preamps. But you have put them all behind a TCE preamp.

Really enjoyed the 6534,had a nice crunch in the midrange.Classic 5150 sounded great as always...just needs a ts9 tube screamer on it to tighten it up and be ready to go!!!Thanks Matt👍🤘

Had my 5150EVH since late 92? Still my main amp. Been on 100’s of tours, 1000’s of shows. Still going strong strong. Only tubes and 1 rebias done. The only other amp that comes close is my engl powerball ll. 5150 is just a legendary amp

I played out of a 5150 combo for about 15 years. That high gain is easy to hear. With the right setup you can get a meatier tone out of it. The 5150 II had a clearer clean channel. The 6000 series I've not played but if my ears are still good I hear more mid range already. Only 5 minutes into the video though so I will keep watching.

Honestly these all sound so similar that once you put them in a full band mix it wouldn’t even matter. The most different is definitely the 6534 but that’s to be expected since it has a different set of tubes.

Love my 6505+ !!! I've had it since 2005..

Always loved the original 5150s. I had 2 of them. Didn’t like my 5150ii now I use the 6l6 50 watt which I love and have the 50 watt el34 which the red channel reminds me of the original 5150

wow they all sound great!

The 6505 is toight! Did that one.

What the dead men say is such an awesome album! Streamed it since the release and just recently bought it digitally! Also bought a 5150 once a saw yours , I started to miss the old one I had and went and bought one =) Is there any chance to get a hold of the Impulse Responses for the guitars from What the Dead Men Say? Thanks for the awesome videos!

great shootout Matt!

that 6534+ is a dirty beast lol. that i cant beileve how punchy and tight sounding it is. but agree i love the 5150 i hook up a eq and overdrive and it gives a tight thrashy sound

I miss my 6505+, but I'm still happy with my Boogie Mk IV

6505 sounds best to me. It has a bit less compression and feels more open. The lack of bass wld not be a problem in a mix.

You could use the 34+ on one side and the 5150 on the other and get a nice stereo spread

My 5150 has been with me since September 93 manufactured in June 93. I am the original owner. It will stay with me. It was $450. The salesman asked me why I wanted to buy that junk. 😉

Wish I still had my early 90’s sig 5150. Used it for a few years and then went to a Pitbull UL. Got it for $450. Even until recently, I thought about getting another for fun, even though were 6-800. Thanks to Covid that’s long gone…lol

great video, quick question? Do you prefer the Peavey's to the EVH's?

Thank you so much Matthew! Great video, great comparison… Just one thing to keep in mind, Preamp Tubes have a big big massive part of an amplifier’s tone, for instance, if you had some good old (late 80s, early 90s) Chinese Beijing 12AX7’s in one amp and JJ’s in another, You’re going to hear a huge difference in gain, tightness, clarity etc. etc.

U can't go wrong with any of these...They all smoke it...Some of the top amps ever made...The resonance knob is Genius...

You are dialling the perfect tone .

the 5150 sounds a bit fuzzy and the 6505II sounds a bit squeaky in the mid , but you are great and I love to see you through the years with this passion for metal and cool guitars as well

The 65's sounded the best to me...but that's probably because that was the sound I got used to hearing when I started playing in bands... everybody in my local area was using 6505s...and I fell in love with early 2000's metalcore, killswitch, Unearth, AILD, etc... Trivium, of course

Matt, would you give the Mooer preamps a try ? the 005 & 015 specifically... if you A/B them and test with your boost, it would be a great video for your fans to recreate an affordable version of your sound

I like the little bit more compression that the 34 had.

Your palm muting on the 5150 ll and the 6534 on the deceived riffs sound like Mario going down a pipe 😂😂😂 go listen to that sound..... lol you won’t be able to unhear it.

I own a 6534+ bought it for 900 bucks. I put a boss sd1 in front for a clean boost with either another overdrive or my airis savage boost v2 and a bbe sonic stone maximizer and boss ns2. The tone is super tight and chunky. The midrange is crazy when boosted. I favor that head over my peavey 3120 and that amp is killer too

6505 sounded best to me. The 5150s are tighter but the my list would be 05 50 50ii 34+

5150 seemed like it had the most mid range which I liked. Less compressed sounding.

The 6505 is my personal fave, the most consistently tight of the other amps.

Original 5150 for me, follow closely by the 6505

The low end of the 5150 II is much better then I like the 6505, 5150, then 5534+ sound a little sterile to me. Then again I owned a 5150 II so maybe my ear is more trained to that and that is why I like the way it sounds better. Thanks for this test!!

Hi Matt - what was your chain - mic and preamp ? Sounds so good ! Thanks

Hey matt, have you ever messed with the peavey invective? If so what do you think of it compared to the 6505

I don't know what he's using to record them with (Mic's software etc) but they all sound like they're a transistor radio. And it's NOT the amp's fault. It's the recording set up.

Those difference can also be attributed to different brands of tubes, unless they all have same tubes and brand new tubes. Except for 6534, which has EL34 instead of 6L6.

5150 all the way BABYYYYY! YEEEEEAAAAAH-AH

You need an ampete switcher for this kind of comparison.

My favorite has always been the crunch channel on these amps... just my preference, but the midrange is much better IMO

I liked the 6524+ the best personally. But it was also the loudest, which makes me wonder if volume is the perceived as better tone. In the end they are all very similar.

Monster right hand Matt!👏👏

That song will always remind me of ben affleck getting mowed down in smoking aces.

Dude! I’ve been looking to buy that exact epiphone all snowed out and I just can not find it. I love everything about that thing. I just want it in a 7 string…

I got out of Marshalls after I got a couple of Mesa MKiii's . I have never heard one next to a 5150 type amp. You can load them with similar tubes. I bet they would be close?

Did your block letter in this video have its original Sylvania/Peavey output tubes? Apparently those are the secret sauce you guys prefer for the block letter tone.

What settings did you use on the amps, Mr. Heafy? And what settings did you put on the MXR EQ? Sounds pretty tight... Greetings from Mexico!

Thoughts on TC Electronic Booster/Line Driver vs the Integrated Pre?

Dude you use peavey i think im in love lol

The 5150 and 6505 were my favorite 2 tonally. The 5150 felt like it was hitting harder and with a fuller tone than the 6505. The 5150 II was too warm to me. And the 34+ sounded thin. I would love to see you compare the 5150 to a revv generator 120. That's my favorite metal amp right now.

Let’s get the peavey xxx!!! Ember to inferno, roadrunner United, ascendancy TONES

You are somewhat correct my man. The 5150 is king but the Soldano SLO is co-king

Wicked right hand, dude

I didn’t really like any of them lol but if I had to choose def the first one (6505)

I think the low end on the block letter is unbeatable

I love the 6534 tone its just so tasty

7:40 when you're Mario and you go down that pipe over there

Forgot about the comparison lol am really enjoying my Favorite album riffs here

Oh Magherd, he's gonna recherd! :D

Digging the 5150II and the 6534+ the most. I think though the 5150II has a little more bottom.

God damn, can we be bros? I live in Orlando, hey neighbor. Dont need to bring the block letter but I'll bring the Invective and the 6505+ . I knew you used these on ascendancy.

The pre amps in these amps are gritty. I should know as I own a 5150 and eneded up using another small preamp and feeding that and pedals into the return signal directly to hack the amp using only the poweramp section. Doing this I get great distortion tones and super clean tones by simply disabling my distortion I need to play clean.

I own and love a 6505+, but that 6534+ sounded pretty gosh dern good.

Fuck I love Peavey! Fav guitar amps for nearly 20 years. \m/

Just scored a 5150 signature for 500$ like new.

Not trying to down these amps but man oh man your riffing sounded like geese honking. I was laughing picturing a goose singing trivium songs.

Bring out the Triple XXX!

I have my 6505+ plus from 2010/US made. Its so loud and beefy. You cant beat the tone. The clean channel is another story. With some pedals tho the clean can be viable.

This would've been a lot easier for you if you had an ABY into two Radial Headbone VT's... you'd only have needed to swap the speaker cable after the first pair. EDIT: Better yet Ampete switcher

1st 6506 2nd 5150 3rd 6534 plus last 5150ll. Thought the 6505 was by far a cut above. But that is from listening through my Marshall headphones. Might think differently if I were to hear it live, but listening to it recorded count for a lot.

6505 or 6534+ are best to me. A little bit duller sounding in comparison but they don't have that horrible scratchy tonality when doing the gallops on the second riff.

I've had this battle in the studio lol