MODIFIED 6505+

5150 / 5150II / 6505+ MODIFICATIONS

•POWER CABLE
replaced with an IEC connector and detachable cable. No more awkward chord wrapping and mangling the back grill.

•TUBES
used (but tested good) 6L6 and 12AX7 tubes included but KT77 can now be easily added with only a quick rebias.

•BIAS TEST POINTS REWIRED TO WORK “CORRECTLY”
Allows for more tube options biased CORRECTLY. The original design only tests the grid voltage, not the current of the tubes. They now function like “standard” bias test points

•”MOLEX” RIBBON CABLES
Will no longer catch fire due to too much current from the “heaters” because they are hard wired with 18AWG solid core wire for the heater connections.

•PREAMP REBIAS / GAIN
Changed the values of resistors and bypass caps throughout both preamps to reflect my personal taste and vastly expand the range of available tones

•BLOCKING CAPS
replaced the boxy and fizzy sounding IC caps with orange drop and Mallory (huge tone improvement!!)

•CLEAN CHANNEL
Much needed improvements to the clean and crunch channels to take pedals better and generally improve performance and tone.

•CRUNCH CHANNEL
Is now the thick and dirty doomy section. Takes pedals amazingly well but gets doom tones even without them.

•BRIGHT CAPS CUT
Bright caps are the bane of my existence. They absolutely neuter all low end the more the pre is turned down and make fuzzes useless.

•BRIGHT SWITCH IMPROVEMENTS
Removed a bunch of unnecessary circuitry that also has nothing to do with the bright caps and made the amp sound terrible with fuzz pedals

•TONE STACK
frequency and responsiveness improved for tones from thick and doomy to tight and brutal death metal.

•PRESENCE FREQUENCY
Changed so the presence now offers the smooth high mid of a super lead instead of the “ice picks” associated with these amps.

•PRESENCE POT REVERSED (INTENTIONALLY)
(It gets brighter as it is turned DOWN)
because the pot is a 10K “audio taper”
With this circuit, 99% of the sweep is useless and the last 1% is just stabby ice picks so now the taper is the correct “reverse audio taper” (and you get use to it being “backwards” quickly)

•RESONANCE FREQUENCY
Shifted lower for better power tube bass response.
(this is like a bass knob for the power tubes! It overdrives the low end in the power section so you can have the bass where it needs to be, the power section!!)

•NEGATIVE FEEDBACK INCREASED
for more responsiveness, more tightness AND more bass (why wouldn’t you want ALL those things??)

•3H 250ma HEYBOER CHOKE ADDED
(for better “recoil” in the power section response as well as better ripple rejection)

The 5150 / 5150-II / 6505 are all very good amps. They are the industry standard of metal, punk and heavy rock for a reason. My criticisms are not at all intended to talk trash on these classic amps.

That being said:
There’s so much potential for the good to become truly exceptional and some of us musicians feel there’s room for improvement in the tone and some of the functionality.

Sturdy American made build quality is there but they require a lot of labor and a fairly deep understanding of the circuit to take it all the way.

Higher quality parts, especially “audio caps” (these are not the caps referred to when “recapping” an amp, but rather the caps the actual guitar signal is processed through.) make a MASSIVE difference.

Many musicians have said they don’t like the clean channel or the “icy / fizziness” so understanding and correcting the things causing those problems is crucial to me.

The mods themselves, while time consuming, are entirely worth it as is the cost of me performing them.

THIS IS A PREORDER:
Please allow approx 3 months for the queue

-BROOKS BLACKHAWK