New Peavy Penta Amp!

Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

I'm pretty impressed with the PEavey amps. I'd certainly like to own either a XXX or 5150/6505. They both sound nice.

But I have to agree that great amp or not, the pricing is gonna run many people off unless this thing sound infriggincredible. Why not buy a Marshall RI (Overpriced too IMO), or a MESA, or a Soldano, VHT, H&K or other amp in that price range?

And the wattage..ehh.. IMO there are not enough high quality 20-30 watt tube combos on the market. I wonder if manufacturers realize that the vast majority of players don't need more than 50 watts?
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

Rid said:
No need for more than 50watts??
There are some of us who prefers clean tube sound with lots of headroom and clarity, nothing but a 100 watter or more will provide that.
Click to expand...

Yes you are def right there Rid..I didn't consider that, sorry :(

I just meant that for the majority of amp purchasers (who play for fun, goof around at home, jam w/ friends, etc) more than 50 watts is usually overkill, and there's a shortage of good lower wattage tube amps that aren't fender blues junior type things.
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

I think when it comes to head type amps, not combos, that most people feel like less is less and more is more. People question $700 for a 50 watt head and $800 for a 100 head. They think they're getting ripped off on the lower watt purchase. 'Well, for a $100 more, I can get 50 more watts.'
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

Owning a XXX at 120 watts I wouldn't think 140 is going to be a big difference in overall volume, more likely headroom. I am very interested in checking this amp out, I really like Peavey. THe thing that will make or break this amp IMO is it's clean sounds. If they are top notch then this amp will go if not it'll be an also ran. That is the only thing holdng them back right now. They have the gain, the crunch, distortion etc togther quite well but I always feel their cleans are just missing a bit, though the Delta Blues 15" has some nice cleans until you really open it up.
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

Wattage said:
Owning a XXX at 120 watts I wouldn't think 140 is going to be a big difference in overall volume, more likely headroom. I am very interested in checking this amp out, I really like Peavey. THe thing that will make or break this amp IMO is it's clean sounds. If they are top notch then this amp will go if not it'll be an also ran. That is the only thing holdng them back right now. They have the gain, the crunch, distortion etc togther quite well but I always feel their cleans are just missing a bit, though the Delta Blues 15" has some nice cleans until you really open it up.
Click to expand...


I agree 100%...in general PV clean tones are a bit lacking.
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

The clean tones on the Classic 50 are the best I've heard from a non-Fender amp. The cleans get even better after a few simple mods. I think Peavey should dump the XXL, which is their solid state version of the XXX. In my opinion, they have too many high gain amps in their lineup at the moment, and the XXL just doesn't stack up with the rest. I'm still interested in trying a JSX, I never got around to playing one of those.

Ryan
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

Finally came across the JSX the other day, didn't get to plug inthough. The shop it is at is run by a total ass and I wasn't in the mood for dealing with him that day. I guess I'll wait until the Penta ships and then I'll a/b the 2.
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

Rid said:
No need for more than 50watts??
There are some of us who prefers clean tube sound with lots of headroom and clarity, nothing but a 100 watter or more will provide that.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely true. I don't know why this misconception goes around all the time. There are, believe it or not, amps that are low wattage that do have headroom. My amp, even in 15w mode, gets cleans that don't really break up until about 3 o'clock, and by then, it's louder than my favorite settings on the distortion side of the amp. I'm sure my amp isn't the only one.
 
Re: New Peavy Penta Amp!

The reason it is loud is because it does break up!
We have a "spoutiqe rougetiqe" amp we are making that is about 50watts, it sounds almost as loud as the 200+ watts Hiwatt, but that is because it clips alot compared to the Hiwatt that stays clean almost all the way up, it is a common mistunderstanding that loud is clean.
The only reason why it sounds clean is because it clips in a pleasent way, but small amps really do not have much headroom, really clean amps don't sound insanely loud at first, plus the control speakers in a way no 50 watter ever would do, it is the clipping that is loud, the only reason it seems clean is because it is nice even harmonics that are pleasent.
I borrowed an original Fane equipped 4x12 cab for the Hiwatt....that was clean and extremely defined, nothing sounds like that, no other amp has that clearness or headroom.
It is even more evident when you use dirtpedals on them, on the smaller amp you turn down the gain, and it feedbacks way faster and creates harmonies at less gain settings...why??
Because they clip!
The Hiwatt does that in an other way, the bottom is firm, the midrange is pronunced, the highs are clear, the whole spectre is there, the smaller amps tends to be more middy..clipping!
The Hiwatt is unforgiving, if you screw up...well you will hear it, on smaller amps the extra clipping will help you like a hot pickup, compress and smoothen out the signal.
Which can be nice for some stuff, but if you want the real clearness, nothing under 100 watt will give you that big clear sound.
And the Hiwatt does not even need to play loud to sound good, same deal with a good plexi.
It is just clean, I have used big heads with old 20 watts greenback for small gigs, never had any issues with volume, never had issues with bad sound either.
Loud is not the same as clean.
 
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