Getting a Windsor!

phil_104

Cheesesteakologist
Hey everyone,

After carefull consideration of all of your suggestions, I have decided to go for the windsor, wich I will pick up tomorow. It retails for about 1150 with the cab here in Canada, but there is a sale going on and I could score it for 775. I think its a good price, so I'm totally going for it.

Just thought I would let all of you know since you helped me a lot with your suggestions.

Thanks again,

Phil
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

I've seen a couple of these around, but never actually tried one. Let us know what she sounds like . . .

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Re: Getting a Windsor!

If you do a 100-page preamp tube shootout report so help me....


ah just kiddin'.....should be a fun one to CRANK
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

Right on it is a great amp, I love mine.

It is a total Rock N Roll machine.
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

Alright, I got my windsor!

Although I am tempted to scream out that this amp rocks ( wich it does! ), I will try to keep this as descriptive and objective as possible.

First of all, I must say that the price is fantastic. The reason, IMO, for the low price is that peavey is trying to get a step up on marshall's lower end heads. This amp sounds quite late 60's - early 70's marshall-esque. If you get this amp, make sure this is what you want : it is very good at it, but I find it is not all that versitile imo. It is really designed to be a vintage rock amp.

The distortion on it is great if you are into that early the Who and early zeppelin kind of vibe. Metal heads, sail clear of this one. After talking to my dad who had tube heads in the 70s, he tells me it is interesting to see that tone once again.

Cleaning up is relatively easy. Just lower the pre-amp gain and use the master volume to crank. The highs sing, and the lows are relatively tight. The texture nob is also usefull. I hear a lot of people bashing on the A class setting, but I found it interesting in the sense that if you experiment with it, you can get some cool tones out of it. That's the thing with this amp : don't expect to get all your tone pre-set like in a line 6. You are going to have to work for your tones, learn to know your gear, and who knows, maybe even get your own sound instead of trying to mimic a marshall thru a digital pre-set. Call my old-school-hearted, but that sound epic to me.

I plugged 2 of my godins in it, one with a pearly gates in the neck and a custom custom in the bridge. The other had godin stocks, wich will be changed to emg singles soon. I will tell you, I love my tone! I would recomend this amp to anyone who digs old school rock and blues.

Value : 10 ( paid 795 canadian )
Durability : 8 ( good build, good handles, well ventilated, but nothing speacial)
Tone : 10 ( in my case, since this is exactly what I was looking for. If I was in any other style, this amp would get a 2 in this category)
Overall : 9 ( very nice amp, good sound, awsome price)

Hope this helps, if anybody has specific questions, let me know.

And btw, check out my site, I have a pic of the amp with my quilt top dogin sdxt ( its a discontinued model of the sd with 2 humbs).

The site might crash if 2 many people go, caus its geocities, but its free, so I cant complain.

www.geocities.com/rocklandwarhammerclub/amp

Phil
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

Until you get 4-5 hours of solid playing on that thing it is incredibly tight, too much so. As that cab breaks in it opens up really nicely, good luck with it.

Defintely a Rock to Hard Blues amp but it gets some great sounds.
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

I totally agree : some great sounds surely do come out of that thing. It's insane how good it sounds playing all along the watchtower thru that thing.

As for the break in, I got it yesterday at noon and played it for 7 hours strait.:laughing: . There is a huge difference after 6 hours or so! Now if you would excuse me, I have an amp to break in even more!:smokin:

Phil
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

^ Sounds like you got your self a winner there! Congrats, with all the good reviews I might have to take a look-see!. Great review by the way! :bigok:
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

Check em out sooner than later tho. The guy at my shop is usually pretty good with this kind of stuff, and he thinks the windsor is peavey's answer to the lower priced marshall amps ( like that 100W ss mini cab, that doesnt come close to the windsor). Word around the campfire is that its priced super low to get them out there, so people dont only think marshall, and when people start hearing it and wanting it, the price might hike up. Just what i heard...

Oh, and i found out why the windsor is so damn cheap compared to other peavey tube models, like the penta, wich is 100W tube also. The smalest factor is that it is a single channel. The big reason is that most peavey heads are made in the usa, while the windsor is made in a peavey plant in china. Still, it sounds pretty damn good to me, and if you fill the form, you get a 5 year waranty on defects. Just thought i would let you know
 
Re: Getting a Windsor!

I got it yesterday at noon and played it for 7 hours strait.

ahh to be young again. I don't mean to speak for other 30-somethings here, but it's seldom I'm able to play for a nice chunk of time like that anymore! enjoy it!
 
Windsor Review!

Windsor Review!

Alright,

Now I have a few more things to add to this post regarding the amp itself.

I have now used the effects loop with my boss me-50 guitar board. I am playing it through my godin lg with a pg in the neck and a custom-custom in the bridge. I also used the t-bridge for this review.

Alright, first off, I went for the clean sound. I lowered the preamp, and shot up the master volume. The amp cleans up decently. How ever, do not expect to play as loudly as you would when on lead. I also recommend using the low imput for it. Now, it responds to effects very well when it is on a clean setting, and any good effect will shoot the sound level right back up. When clean, to compare the sound to the most similar thing i can get, check out the guitar sound on " shine on you crazy diamond" by pink floyd. That is the warm and smooth sound I was getting when splitting my coils. The effects are all coming in very nicely with the clean setting. Very happy about that.


I tried effects with the high output, and it works fabulously for reverbs, echoes, and overdrives. This amp does not handle metal distortion well at all. Lead distortions and overdrives are awsome tho. My wah sang like it had never sang before. My flanger flanged ever so gracefully and my reverb reverberated gloriously.

Now i will review the amp distortion. To this natural overdrive i have to say : where have you been all this time? Because this amp is powerfull, it gets dirty real easy, very much like this girl in my history class. All jokes aside, the amp distortion is very rich, none of that scratchiness, and very very smooth, specially when you get those pre-amp tubes nice and toasty.

This brings up the following statement : this guitar is designed for one thing and one thing only : old school vintage rock. With that being said, it is totally a lead guitarist's amp. It is a beautifull amp when playing clean and getting classy thru those mellow floyd tunes, but it really shines when getting a little dirty and loud.

The only neggative thing is that you will need another amp if you ever plan on playing any metal. Like my brother said, it sounds like a shreaky demon is trying to escape the cab, and he has a kazoo stuck in his throat.

This doesnt mean that it cant do hard rock tho. Playing G&R and AcDc sounds great on that thing. Alot better than I had expected. So trust me, it can handle more gain and bite than early rock. Just not metal. Ever. Please.

One thing you should also know is that since this was designed to replicate a vintage amp, you do get some speaker break up at a certain level, wich is awsome for me, caus thats my sound, but might not be for everyone. Just thought I would let you know.

I'm gonna keep playing it, and if other things come up, I will keep you posted.

Phil
 
Re: Windsor Review!

Re: Windsor Review!

The only neggative thing is that you will need another amp if you ever plan on playing any metal. Like my brother said, it sounds like a shreaky demon is trying to escape the cab, and he has a kazoo stuck in his throat.

Phil

Perhaps it's what I like to call Tube Screamer Time. A little juice to spruce.
 
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