My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

[75lespaul]

I think I may see where a lot of the hate lies with this amplifier. I've seen it described as a "Marshall clone" or a "JCM 800 or Hot Rodded JCM 800" clone. My opinion is that it is far from this, and when people buy this amp expecting that, they get what they didn't want, so of course...it sucks! Because if that is what you're expecting, it is gonna suck. That is what I was expecting, but here's what I got instead.

What this amp does is a very good imitation of an early Marshall cranked maybe halfway to three quarters, not the later distortion monsters. Anyone familiar with an un-modded mid sixties Marshall will know this sound. As far as what recorded music I can relate it to, through my Greenback loaded 4X12, Les Paul with Super Distortion and Jazz neck, it nails AC/DC's Let There Be Rock album tone. Problem Child especially. Maybe Tom Petty's Runnin' Down a Dream type of overdriven, but not distorted sound. Also reminds me a lot of Alex Lifeson's sound on Rush's Signals album. The amp is VERY responsive to picking and soft/hard playing. It cleans up nicely with the volume turned down and if you like that Song Remains The Same album type of tone, this is a great amp for these types of tones. You're NOT going to get Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, unless it's early, early Priest from this amp. Maybe some Free, lol. It does have a lot of treble, but that can be dialed out with the excessive amount of knobs, and a Boss GE-7 really turned it into a different amp, but I'm talking about stock, no effects or gizmos. It sounds like it will take to a tube screamer or fuzz really nicely. I can't wait to bias it hotter and see what happens. Also, I leave the boost off for the most part. Don't like the tone that much with it on.

So the bottom line is that if you like to play some overdriven, but not distorted rhythms and tasty pure tube and wood tone solos, this amp just may be for you. In the end, if I tried to get what I was expecting out of this amp, I would think it sucks. But I found that it is a fun amplifier when I jam on they type of music it was made to play. Hendrix, Bon Scott era AC/DC, mid to later era Led Zeppelin and early, early Rush sounded really good through this amp. Green Manalishi, pretty good. Mob Rules....nope. War Pigs...nope. Murders in the...oh, you get it, lol.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Nice review.

It looks like you are not much of a pedal guy and you stated how the amp cleans up. But how does it respond when slammed with a boost, overdrive, etc?

 

[75lespaul]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Nice review.

It looks like you are not much of a pedal guy and you stated how the amp cleans up. But how does it respond when slammed with a boost, overdrive, etc?

That is what I want to see. I actually love pedals, but had to sell nearly everything when I lost my business. Basically only had a Vox Tonelab LE for effects into a Univox head until I bought these two amps. Miss my original 67 or 68 Marshall Supa Fuzz the most. I wanna pick up a tube screamer type of device or maybe a fuzz to see how it takes it. Also want to get my Tonelab back from rehearsal and use that in the loop to slam it with a fuzz or screamer. That will be tomorrow. If it reacts the way I expect it to, it should sound really good. Of course, that's total speculation on my part.

 

[Muffleberry]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I had a lot of fun on one of those with an O.C.D. out front.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Isn't the tone you are describing jcm800 tone? The 2203/2204 model JCM800s were basically the same as the 70s versions of these amps.

I had a early 80s 2204 on my bench several months ago and that thing was LOUD and pretty darn clean until you cranked it up. Once cranked, you'd get those classic guitar tones you mention.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I would actually prefer the older, '70s Priest tone to the '80s stuff, where some of it just sounded outright harsh with brash distortion. Like the sound of running a guitar through a distortion pedal straight into the board. Not all of it, but I hear it on some leads.

 

[Diego]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

It sounds like something you'd want for Ritchie Blackmore's early live tones, like Made in Japan.
Nice.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

It's an amp that sold new for $300 in some instances, so I'm always annoyed when I see people ***** about them. Bang for the buck is pretty high with them, I've heard them sound really good. Dependabliltiy, yeh, can't vouch for that. You should try a Rat with it though, awesome sounds.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I was thinking about a Rat. I used to own one of the original Rat pedals and I loved the thing. Yeah, I owned a first year JCM 800 and this sounds nothing like that, and definitely not hot rodded. Made it Japan....you know, it does sound pretty close to that, but not quite as good. Still, for two bills, it is a nice purchase for something to play around with.

 

[Artie]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

It's an amp that sold new for $300 in some instances . . .

I think I paid $260 for mine. Brand new, off the showroom floor, from a friends music store. It was his last one. I took it home, plugged her in, and cranked her up. It took, maybe, 5 seconds to realize that a 100W high-gain tube amp is probably not going to work as a "bedroom" amp. It's been turned on for maybe 20 minutes in the several years that I've owned her.

Having said that, 75lespaul may have revitalized my interest in making her sing.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I think I paid $260 for mine. Brand new, off the showroom floor, from a friends music store. It was his last one. I took it home, plugged her in, and cranked her up. It took, maybe, 5 seconds to realize that a 100W high-gain tube amp is probably not going to work as a "bedroom" amp. It's been turned on for maybe 20 minutes in the several years that I've owned her.

Having said that, 75lespaul may have revitalized my interest in making her sing.

I'll tell you Artie, it is all about the tone you want to get if you are going stock. For a certain type of sound, I love this amp through the greenback cab. Even at lower volumes, it sounds satisfying. With the eq in the effects loop, I really dialed in a really fun, rockin' sound to jam to. I'm working on trying to sell a few speakers I don't use anymore to get some kind of dirt box, and I'm sure I'm going to love it. Between this and the Valveking, they each do what the other can't, so I consider them both great purchases. Hopefully, I'll get to try some of these mods on it, but if I like the way a dirt box sounds with it, I may just leave it alone.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Well, next Sunday I'm selling a quad of G12H80s (the remaining traces of my Vetta) for $130 and a TS9. Can't wait to hear how the screamer boosts the Windsor. Artie, keep your eyes peeled for an update, haha.

 

[Wattage]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Still running stocks tubes and bias? Just curious

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I have one and I like it, but I just don't need the volume I get from it now. It's not like I have a garage that I can go to jam in when I want. But it was a great intro level tube amp for guys like me who dreamed of that half stack.

 

[guitar74]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

If it behaves like the OLD Butcher head did, then I would go with a screamer in front of it for dist. I have played through the Windsor and find it to be a nice sounding amp through a good cab, if like you said you don't expect it to be something that it isn't. That was kind of misleading about the old Butcher. At first I was dissapointed, then put a screamer in front of it, and used a twin for cleans, and had the best of both worlds, withthe exception of my lower back pains after a year of gigging with a two amp rig.

 

[vivanchenko]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Resurrecting the old thread I must say that I totally disagree with the OP. I don't see any hate for the Windsor to begin with. If anything, people might be mislead by the low price tag, a couple poor reviews and/or some snobism. If you like classic Marshall tones the Windsor is for you! It is more "Marshally" than many Marshalls. I played it side by side with the JCM2000 DSL 100 and a couple of JCM800 heads and I must say that I didn't like any of them any better than the Windsor. The DSL openly sucked (I know it's an entire different amp, but anyway, I can't get anything as pleasing from it as what I am getting from the Windsor). The JCM800 sounded very similar the Windsor and I think that this is exactly why many people say that it's a JCM 800 clone though it isn't because it has a slightly different preamp design (more like hot rodded JCM800) and a different PI design. And one can get this four EL34 amp for $200? This is unbelievable! My advise to anyone is grab it as soon as you see it is up for sale anywhere because it is every bit as good as the JCM800. And this is for anyone who is in doubt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aW_22MsTmY and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQVqTRqTvsg

The key to this amp is keep preamp volume as low as possible (2 or 3) and the master volume as high as possible (at least at 6 or 7 ). A tube screamer or attenuator will help if one needs to play it at the bedroom volumes (i am using a TS808 and love it). The same thing is true for the JCM800. The JCM800 and the Windsor sound their best when power amp is cranked to achieve power amp distortion.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Why are you bumping this? Do you just search for windsor threads and bump them? You have the same MO on Marshallforum.

The last time you opened this can of worms it ended in an infraction for you. Why start it again? You opinion on the windsor is well established. Or is this just flame bait? A little reverse trolling to see if you can get people to bite?

The OP of this thread has just as valid of an opinion as you do.

But whats funnier is that iam also positive you didnt read his post. If you did you would see that you 2 dont really disagree that much.

 

[Securb]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I played it side by side with the JCM2000 DSL 100 and a couple of JCM800 heads and I must say that I didn't like any of them any better than the Windsor. The DSL openly sucked (I know it's an entire different amp, but anyway, I can't get anything as pleasing from it as what I am getting from the Windsor).

 

[vivanchenko]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

I stumbled across this thread accidentally and, in my opinion, it leaves a wrong impression about this amp. It can be misleading for people (especially beginners) thinking about buying it. So I thought I should express my opinion, partly because I am passionate about it. Don't see what's the problem about this. Exchanging opinions is what forums are for. If people want to discuss this or any other amp from sunrise till sundown why not to just let them do so? Is disagreeing with anyone's opinion a bad thing?

The OP is saying this: "I think I may see where a lot of the hate lies with this amplifier. I've seen it described as a "Marshall clone" or a "JCM 800 or Hot Rodded JCM 800" clone." I haven't seen a lot of hate for it. On the contrary, most of the experienced guitar players that I have seen liked it. That's subjective though and depends on the set of people one is exposed to. I personally don't see "a lot of hate for it" others very well might do.

With regard to this amp's tone I say that if one is looking for Hot Rodded JCM 800 type of tone this is the right amp for this because it has the same preamp and tone stack design and the same EL34 power tubes and the same core sound. Different PI doesn't affect the Windsor's tone in a bad way because its design avoids typical for cathodyne PIs mistakes. If designed correctly, cathodyne PI will have the same pleasing distortion characteristics only it will start to brake up earlier than Marshall's LTP PI which, I think, had been done by Peavey intentionally. It's Peavey's take on the Hot Rodded JCM 800 and a good one too. One can view it as a modded JCM 800.

The biggest real source of frustration with this amp is when people expect any considerable clean headroom. Just like the JCM 800 it wasn't designed for sparkling cleans and if cleans is what one wants it is better to avoid either amp.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: My take on the Peavey Windsor head...

Old thread I know.....The windsor is a great budget tube amp, period. Peavey is usually pretty rock solid when it comes to ruggedness as well. I used to plug into one alot when I worked at the store (that and the valveking). Surprisingly good at low volumes too considering...

But as an owner of 2 JCM800's...don't kid yourself.