How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

[wasteofo2]

A local shop has a used Peavey Classic 50 410, pretty good condition visually (haven't played it yet) for $500. Of course I'll play it before I make any decisions, but assuming that the tubes don't have that much wear on them, everything's in working order etc., how much would you expect to pay for one? Musiciansfriend has these amps new for $730, so that seems like a pretty good deal assuming everything's working alright, but have you guys found better deals out there? Should I expect to be able to haggle that much off of it, depending on the age of the tubes?

 

[sweet_lou]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

I had a classic 50 212 In mint conditon I sold it for 400.00
this past April, at the time they were selling regularly for 350.-450.00. on Ebay

 

[rspst14]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

I paid $400 shipped for mine, a 1993 model in excellent condition. I've seen them go as low as $325 shipped, but $400 is about average...or at least it was when I bought mine a year and a half ago. I haven't looked at Classic 50 prices lately. $500 isn't bad, but if you don't mind going the Ebay route, you should definitely be able to pick one up at least $100 cheaper.

Ryan

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

$350-$450 from a private party. I was just on recycler.com, a local LA site, and saw several, even a head/cab version. Those amps are the best bargain IMO. The clean channel is amazing and the OD channels sound surprisingly better than most Fenders.
If only they used real tweed, not that fake plastic tweed. That's my only complaint.

 

[rspst14]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

$350-$450 from a private party. I was just on recycler.com, a local LA site, and saw several, even a head/cab version. Those amps are the best bargain IMO. The clean channel is amazing and the OD channels sound surprisingly better than most Fenders.
If only they used real tweed, not that fake plastic tweed. That's my only complaint.

They sound even better when modded according to the specs at www.blueguitar.org. It took me about four hours and $25 worth of parts to mod mine. The clean is more like a vintage Bassman, and the overdrive is smoother and less harsh. Even in their stock form, I agree that they are some of the best amps around. They can cover just about anything, maybe with the exception of the heaviest of metal. Rock, punk, blues, jazz, country, pop, classic metal...it can do all that.

Ryan

 

[wasteofo2]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

They sound even better when modded according to the specs at www.blueguitar.org. It took me about four hours and $25 worth of parts to mod mine. The clean is more like a vintage Bassman, and the overdrive is smoother and less harsh. Even in their stock form, I agree that they are some of the best amps around. They can cover just about anything, maybe with the exception of the heaviest of metal. Rock, punk, blues, jazz, country, pop, classic metal...it can do all that.

Ryan

Is this the diagram you were talking about? http://www.blueguitar.org/new/schem/peavey/modnotes/c50twdbm_sch.pdf
Man, how on earth do you read that thing?

 

[rspst14]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

Man, how on earth do you read that thing?

Five years of engineering school. :22:

http://www.blueguitar.org/new/articles/blue_gtr/amps/peavey/c50_origmod.pdf

That's the mod I did. They have a couple on that site for the Classic 50, but I stuck with the basic mods. The tweed Bassman mods looked interesting, but if I had wanted a Bassman, I would've bought one. I liked the Classic 50 in its stock form, but I couldn't resist trying some of these upgrades. You don't even need to bother with the schematics, all the parts are shown in a drawing in the original mods PDF. If you know how to solder and how to properly discharge the filter capacitors before working on the amp, it's a weekend project. It actually took me longer to take apart the amp than it did to do the mods. If you're interested, I have a list of exactly what I did to mine.

Ryan

 

[wasteofo2]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

I am interested actually, and interested in learning all the saftery precautions I'd need to know to not hurt myself or ruin the amp.

 

[bvc310]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

I picked up my classic 50 212 for $350 + tax at my local shop. Best purchase ive made in a while. I loved it in its stock form and as Ryan said, with the blueguitar mods, it is a beast. Cleans are great, as is the overdrive. As per saftey, Ryan posted something a while ago that I though was great and saved.

It reads:

First of all, I would be less concerned about your amp and more concerned with electrocuting yourself silly if you open it up and start poking around inside. The filter capacitors hold large charges for long periods of time, and if you're not careful, you could end up discharging them through your body. There are several ways of discharging the capacitors. I usually do all of them just to make sure everything's safe. Here's how I do it:

1. Let the amp warm up in standby for a few minutes, then turn it on and start playing. As you're playing, unplug the amp from the wall, and keep strumming as the sound fades out. This will drop the voltages below a lethal level.

2. Next, construct a probe with an alligator clip on one end and a multimeter probe on the other. Cut the cable in half, and solder in a 150 ohm 10 watt resistor. Clip the alligator clip to either the chasis or the central ground point, and touch both sides of all the filter capacitors using the probe end.

3. Once you're sure you've got all the filter caps, touch all the tube pin sockets on one preamp tube and one power tube. I recommend touching all the pin sockets, because I can't remember which one is the correct one to touch, and it varies depending on the type of tube.

After all this, you can safely open up the amp.

Ryan

 

[rspst14]

Re: How much would you expect to pay/did you pay for a used Peavey Classic 50?

Wow, I'm glad you saved that, I thought I was going to have to type that whole thing over again. Here's the list of mods I did on my Classic 50. If you read through the instructions on the Blueguitar site, you'll see that some of the mods have recommended values, while others are up to you. It really depends on whether you want the amp to sound brighter, darker, or the same. I modded mine to make it slightly warmer. Overall though, I kept most of the values fairly similar to what they were stock.

C17 - replace .022 uF bass cap with .033 uF Orange Drop cap
C19 - replace .022 uF midrange cap with .022 uF Orange Drop cap
C14 - replace 270 pF ceramic treble cap with 270 pF silver mica cap
R23 - replace 68k slope resistor with 56k resistor
C18 - replace 470 pF cap with 820 pF silver mica cap
C24 - replace 470 pF cap with 500 pF silver mica
C4 - replace 470 pF cap with 500 pF silver mica cap
R5 - replace 150k resistor with 125k half watt resistor
C1 - replace .001 uF cap with .01 uF Orange Drop polypropylene cap
C2 - replace with .022 uF Orange Drop polypropylene cap

I posted a complete review and explanations of all those steps on the Peavey amp forum. You might want to try searching for a post titled "review of classic 50 mods."

One thing that I might go back and change is the slope resistor. Typical values range from 47k to 100k. A lower value shifts the EQ section more towards the lower frequencies, a higher value shifts it more towards the higher frequencies. I want to try installing a 100k linear pot, which would let me adjust the slope resistor value. That might be something to look into, if you want to have control over one more aspect of the EQ.

As far as the parts go, you can purchase everything from Mouser. I believe it was $25 shipped for all the parts. I recommend Sprague Orange Drop 500 volt capacitors for the larger values, silver mica caps for the smaller values, and Xicon 1/2 watt, 1% tolerance resistors.

Ryan