fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

[chcjunior]

I'm looking for a small practice amp that I possibly might mic at gigs. Anyone have experience with either of these amps? I'm guessing the Fender can't project over drums and bass?

Basically just looking for any other input on these amps that I can't garner from the specs. It'll ultimately come down to what my ears like, but I'm guessing tubes and possibly speaker(s) might be need to be replaced?

 

[RiffRaff]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I prefer the peavey, it will do everything the fender will, with a tighter bottom end and more headroom, upgrade the speaker to a G12H30 or something of your liking at the amp is a little tone monster.

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

Can't comment on the Peavy, as It's been awhile since I've playe thru one. The Blues Jr. I own. I bought a blonde Blues a few years back, and decided with the recommendation of Curly & a few other forum members at the time, to try a speaker and a tube swap. I was very happy with what I settled on, a Celestion V30 & JJ tubes. The stock Jr. sounds very good IMO, but the addition of a throatier speaker and better tubes make this little jewel come alive. A loud 15 watts, I might add. A great all around little tuber. Jazz, Rock, Country, Blues, it does it all. Good luck.

Peace,

Darrin

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I like them both, but to my ears, there's some magic going on with that new tweed Blues Jr.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I currently own both. The Blues Jr. was pretty good but with some mods done by me that Billm on the Fender Discussion Board put out there it really came to life. It went from a decent little tube amp to a smaller version of a Blackface Fender amp.

The Peavey Classic 30 is a decent amp as well. At bedroom levels it actually is quite nice. The "Boost" is mostly bunk though to my ears. The Clean channel cranked sounds amazing. The Dirty channel is decent but when you crank it up mine seems to lose alot of the tone for the sake of volume.

To my ears both are very different amps and I like them for very different reasons.

Play them both...see which one suits you.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I have the Classic 30. JJ EL 84's power tubes, still experimenting with pre amp tubes. Eminence Cannibus Rex housed in a seperate cabinet as the main. Put the OD channels post gain on about 8 and the pre at about 5 and look out!! Just got a Weber Mini Mass 50 to use with the OD channel and it worked great at delivering the tone at a lesser volume. To get a bit more sparkle from the clean channel when using humbuckers I use an Aphex Punch Factory compressor. Works great.

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I think the classic 30 would be a more versatile amp. My buddy has a Blues Jr and it doesn't touch the gain or saturation of the Peavey, BUT, the peavey does as good cleans as the fender IMO, so I'd go with the peavey for versatility.

 

[JeffB]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

Played my first Blues Jr. yesterday.

Sad to say I was totally unimpressed..other than the reverb sounded really cool. The Vox Valvetronix' models do Fender better, IMO.

The Peavey sounds just as good clean, and has much better gain sounds/voicing.

 

[drp555]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I like my Blues Jr, but I hated the way it sounded stock. They are cheap though. I found mine used and shipped for under $250. The first thing I did was put in a set of JJ tubes. That made a good difference. And the stock speaker sucks. I put in a Jensen C12N and it is a different beast now. Before the Jensen came , I used to play it through my Mesa cab loaded with vintage 30s, which I thought sounded really good. But if you want to get a ton of gain the BJ is not going to give you anything more than a slight crunch at best. Sure you can hit the fat switch and crank the gain, but it won't sound that good IMO. Much better for clean/slighty dirty/greasy sounds. It suits my purposes for it, as a practice amp and an amp for small gigs/rooms.

edit: another thing, the BJ takes pedals well, so if you wanted to get more out it you could use a good od or distortion pedal. I've been meaning to try this for a while but I haven't got around to it yet...

 

[NT02]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I currently own the Peavey C30. I've played my Les Paul Classic through it the most. The Peavey has a great clean channel that's purdy at bedroom levels, screams when cranked. The overdrive channel does anything from blues to 80s metal, depending on tubes and pickups, acceling at crunchy rock tones like AC/DC. This channel sounds great at bedroom levels, but gets kinda trebly with volume. So, for micing in a live situation, you might find that you'll knock the treble down and crank the mids, again depending on tubes and guitar/pickups. This amp's OD channel is so much better than the Fender Hot Rod DeVille that I had, and it handles pedals much better, too. This thing loves pedals. When I bought the PV used for $300, it had Groove Tubes. I've since upgraded all tubes to JJs from Eurotubes. The tone became more musical and less gainy. I've read that a speaker change works wonders in this amp, as well, but the stock speaker doesn't seem too bad to me.

I'll happily trade my PV for your Soldano. I was looking at the Atomics when I started reading about the PV, because I tried out a Soldano HR 50+ and was totally blown away. I got rid of a Zinky MOFO cause I'm only bedroom jamming and recording. The Atomic appealed to me greatly, but was a little pricey. The PV was much cheaper and more versatile. Plus, I like to tinker with things and there is this great article at blue guitar that gives plenty of options for customizing the PV's circuit to taste.

I think that you'll find this amp the better value for your needs when compared the the Blues Jr.

 

[jmcorey]

Re: fender blues jr vs. peavey classic 30

I think the classic 30 would be a more versatile amp. My buddy has a Blues Jr and it doesn't touch the gain or saturation of the Peavey, BUT, the peavey does as good cleans as the fender IMO, so I'd go with the peavey for versatility.

Especially with OD pedals. The Classic 30 or 50 with a tubescreamer in front of it is really nice.