Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

[Gardener]

Hey there,..

I'm just curious how many of you have/like/us/dislike/hate/abhor or are indifferent to Peavy Amps, especially older models.

A guitarist in a band I play with uses a Peavey Bandit as his main amp.

Whereas myself, I use a Peavey 4x10 Classic for home play and recording.

I liked the Peavey 4x10 Classic so much that when I saw the 2x12 version on Craigslist I jumped at the chance. The spring reverb and the tubes ah~ Sounds quite nice plugged in.The 4x10 is straight tubes I believe, where the 2x12 is a solid state tube hybrid.

Any of you fans of Peavey amps? I've heard that some people think the tone is crap, but man these are solidly built amps.

What say you?

The amp with the King badge is the Peavey 2x12 (Changed the faceplate, I personally think it looks completely badass. The 4x10 is in the picture with my LP Jr knock off.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

Growing up in The South, Peavey was more prevalent than Fender and Marshall in local stores and garage bands. If you got an amp as a kid, it was a Bandit or Rage. Everyone had an old Peavey amp in their closet, even the dads whom you never suspected of playing.

And you could always tell when a bar/club/outdoor venue was using Peavey p.a. gear - the high-mid nasally pierce was unmistakable :lol:

I did have a TransTube 1x12 combo a few years back, but it took a dirt nap at a gig and was replaced by a Fender RocPro1000 head and Carvin 2x12 cab.


And then of course you're going to hear from the 5150 crowd.

 

[CountFeedback]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

had Peavey amps(Bandit,Backstage+) when I was playing in bands in high school.
There are worse amps out their, but I don't really have any nostalgia for Peavey as I was so happy to move to Silverface Fenders, Marshall 800s, & JC120s.

 

[Securb]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I have an old Peavey PA100 that I use for my guitar synth setup I also use it for a jamming gigging amp once in a while. It sounds great with the right stompbox, nice cleans and plenty of bass.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I'm a big fan of them, as I am of other companies with legit competition for the 800lb gorillas in the music industry. I'd like to get a hold of a decent smattering of various Peaveys from their history, including old black-tolex 70s mutts, a Classic, a Penta, a 5150, a Windsor Studio, and a couple Delta Blues machines, both a 2x10 and a 1x15. I'd also like a Bass and guitar from them. Preferably the T-??? series stuff. This said, they're a distant second to Carvin in the U.S.A mid-level music stuff across the board IMO.

 

[Gardener]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I'm a big fan of them, as I am of other companies with legit competition for the 800lb gorillas in the music industry. I'd like to get a hold of a decent smattering of various Peaveys from their history, including old black-tolex 70s mutts, a Classic, a Penta, a 5150, a Windsor Studio, and a couple Delta Blues machines, both a 2x10 and a 1x15. I'd also like a Bass and guitar from them. Preferably the T-??? series stuff. This said, they're a distant second to Carvin in the U.S.A mid-level music stuff across the board IMO.

I know what you mean there,.. definitely not super special, but I must say,.. these two Classic amps blow some of this new stuff out of the water. I paid $150 for the 4x10 and $200 for the 2x12. You can't really get a legit tube amp for that price new these days and trying to get a Fender tube amp would cost you 5x more.

With the little faceplate change no one will ever know. :naughty:

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I like the Bandit 65 I recently picked up for a mere $79. Solid, old-school, reliable power. With today's stompboxes, plenty of great tones to be had.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I love the cleans on the tweed Peavey Classic 50 2x12. I wouldn't mind getting one and upgrading the reverb tank and circuit for a little better verb, but that amp probably had the best cleans of any sub $1K amp I have ever heard. I also love the old school Butcher. That is one seriously cool amp if you mod the unholy heck out of it. Makes a better Marshall than most Marshall's that I have heard. I'm on the prowl for another one if anyone has one for sale at a good price. I don't care about cosmetics etc as I'm gonna slice and dice the heck out of the amp anyway.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

That pic was my very first big boy amp!!!!

I WISH I had it today. I sold it, saw it in a Pawn shop years latr, and didn't get it....regrets.

Do you have the footswitch for it?

And nothing but love for the Bandit, whatever the vintage.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

My first amp was a VTM 120, and I still have it.

Problem is, it needs a new bridging rectifier. The el-cheapo one that Peavey put in it fried and in turn fried one of the wires coming off of the main board. But it's an easy fix, whenever I finally get around to it.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

Hey there,..

I'm just curious how many of you have/like/us/dislike/hate/abhor or are indifferent to Peavy Amps, especially older models.

How old is "older"?
A high school friend back in the late 70's had a Peavey Classic like the one in your pic. Great amp for a high school kid. Way better than the little solid state practice amps most kids start on these days.

I got a Peavey Musician Mk3 back in 1979. That one I wasn't so happy with.

Even the 90's are already 20 years past. So the 5150 is an older Peavey already. And that's a great amp.
And all the USA tube models that followed - the XXX, the JSX, the Penta, the 3120 - I think they're all great amps.
I heard a local guitarist playing through a Windsor head and cab. What a great, chunky sounding stage amp!

I have a 6505+ head, XXX cab, XXX combo, Penta head and cab, and Wiggy head and cab. All are fine amps with very unique and cool tones.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

Let's don't get crazy either....Peavey made some real crap.

They won big with a few early designs, and in Country for example (The Renown, for example, and bass TNT), mostly early on. But The Bandit was just an awesome working man's amp.

The Transtube's were an evolution in solid state (and I still surf for a Studio Pro that hamster deserted...).

But the mid 90's is where they stepped up:

Classic 20/30, Delta Blues, 5150, then the XXX, etc...

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

KB300 keyboard amp. Could take a Marshall 100w head through the front easily.

As for their older T-model guitars and basses, the T-60 is a diamond in the rough for sure. The 6-12 Hydra doubleneck was also a heluva lot easier to play than the double SG from Gibbo. Better upper fret access as well.

Didn't Peavey also have the Session amp? Or was that a Fender? Back in the mid-late 80s, my one Uncle who played pedal steel was always on about wanting to find a Session. 400? 500? One or the other.

And yeah, 1994 was already 20 years ago. It's kinda scary to think about :lol:

 

[Diego]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I once gigged with a rented Peavey Renown 400.

That thing had some odd controls I remember.
However it was as loud as a mother****er and sounded GREAT with some very average stompboxes.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

Last year, I fixed up a first year Peavey amp for a friend. It was basically a Tweed Twin called the Peavey Vintage. It was big, loud, and I think it had reverb too. It was definitely the coolest Peavey amp I've ever messed with from a mojo standpoint. I also thought the Classic 50 410 was a great 90's amp.

 

[Securb]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I have much love for the MX when it came out but never pulled the trigger.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I wanna know where everyone finds dead amps. I want someone to sell me a dead Peavey to fix up.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

Ye ol Mississippi Marshall, I have a couple early Standards and a VTM 60, love em!!

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

The 2x12 Classics have been all tube for some years now. Early 90s, at least, although I'll be happy to stand corrected on that.

Going back to the 70s and 80s, I didn't care much for the guitar amps, but I dug the bass amps and the PA gear. Eventually I became aware of the Butcher, and after that the all tube Classic series, and I really dug those.

I've owned a mid 90s Classic 50 2x12 and a Classic 30, both great amps. I currently own a new Classic 30. Also owned a Reactor (Tele clone), and in the past had some PV PA gear...CS 800s, PA speaker cabs, a bass amp of which the model name now escapes me. Their T-40 bass was quite decent also.

Yes, I'm a fan!

 

[Diego]

Re: Any love for older Peavey Amps out there?

I've always been impressed by how ugly these old Peaveys were.
Zero visual appeal. That VTX MX head is just hideous; not juding it's tone credential (never tried one) but sure it's fugly...