Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Ended up having to do a full re-tube power and pre on this with JJ tubes. I will be picking it up this thursday and let you guys know how i feel about it.

[BloodRose]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

anxious to see how you like it! I have an Ultra plus too that Im not playing much right now, but I like it too much to sell it. Im watching this thread for Ideas!!

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Ever played a 50 cal? 50 Mesa Watts is going to be LOUD. 120 vs 50, even from the same manufacturer and series, isn’t going to be a huge volume difference anyway. Speaker efficiency (and quantity) and a bunch of other factors will make a big difference.

Yep it's more the way an amp is voiced that lets it cut through a mix than the power many times. The Peavey just did not cut through a full band mix well it turned to mush in the mix. That's why many times an amp that sounds great when you play it by itself just doesn't work well in a live full band setting. My little 25 watt Zinky combo is a good example little sucker just KILLS even on an outdoor unmiced gig with only a pair of EL84's!!
This is outdoors with the little Zinky unmiced running nothing but the little combo on a 1/12 cab no effects and I'm only running about 6 on the master!! In this kind of setting it flat stomped a mudhole in the 120 watt Peavey!!

PS want a 50 watt Velvet or Zinky Mofo head badly but just haven't found one at a price I could live with when I had the $$ on hand!!

[RadioOctave]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Reduce R90, and R91 to up the pre voltage. Try 6.8k instead of the stock 22k for those.

Leave everything else as it and see if that’s enough for you. The supply voltage change alone should give you a punchier sound. Also play with the eq in that so, that’s where they shine, and don’t set it like a normal Marshall. It’s an active eq, so Don’t be afraid to dip the mids, or any frequency.

I am looking to do some work to my old ultra 60 (teal stripe). I assume that is the "airport tram?"

Does the above change address the wah vibe you were describing?

I have also read about people doing this mod for some more low end.

"C14 / .0010uF feeding the third tube stage (V2a). It has a frequecy rolloff of 340hz, which means it notches out everything below 340hz. Try a .0022uF in its place, this should give you a rolloff of about 154hz letting more low mid bass through. Also look at the bypass cap on V2a (C17/.47uF on RM). It creates a pass frequecy of 450hz. Everything below 450hz is cut. Try using a 1.0uF which will give you around 205hz. "

Thank you for your help!

jason