Peavey Classic 30
- Thread starter Kam
- Start date
Jolly_Rancher
New member
Re: Peavey Classic 30
Terrible design, worse construction, but somehow sounds OK.
Terrible design, worse construction, but somehow sounds OK.
Edgecrusher
Well-known member
Re: Peavey Classic 30
When i first started playing classic rock I used one cause the venues we played were pretty small. ♠ After about 9 months of constant weekend gigs and practice 3 nights a week it started giving up the ghost. Basically the constant heat had destroyed the pcb inside and caused it to warp and do all sorts of weird oscillations and squeals. Tried to have it fixed a couple times with no luck. Eventually the tech told me he would have to gut it and it rebuild it was cheaper to just buy another one which i did.
The 2nd one lasted about 3 months then had a failure inside not sure which caused what but either had a cap fail or something either way a bunch of stuff got burned off the board and the output tranny failed. At this point I was done with it. It wasnt my favorite tone anyways it was just a cheap tube amp that I didnt mind leaving in a practice space of dubious security.
I know of a couple other guys that had similar results like mine. Maybe we just got a bad batch but from what ive seen they are great at bedroom volume but months of competing unmiked against drums seem to cause failure in them.
When i first started playing classic rock I used one cause the venues we played were pretty small. ♠ After about 9 months of constant weekend gigs and practice 3 nights a week it started giving up the ghost. Basically the constant heat had destroyed the pcb inside and caused it to warp and do all sorts of weird oscillations and squeals. Tried to have it fixed a couple times with no luck. Eventually the tech told me he would have to gut it and it rebuild it was cheaper to just buy another one which i did.
The 2nd one lasted about 3 months then had a failure inside not sure which caused what but either had a cap fail or something either way a bunch of stuff got burned off the board and the output tranny failed. At this point I was done with it. It wasnt my favorite tone anyways it was just a cheap tube amp that I didnt mind leaving in a practice space of dubious security.
I know of a couple other guys that had similar results like mine. Maybe we just got a bad batch but from what ive seen they are great at bedroom volume but months of competing unmiked against drums seem to cause failure in them.
Re: Peavey Classic 30
I repaired one for a friend. He's had it for 17 years I think. A few solders were broken off on the 3-parts - u-shaped board that's hard as heck to work on. That the only thing that ever went bad on it and it's been gigged and abused to heck.
For such a cheap amp, it sounds amazing IMHO. The cleans are great, the overdrive is surprisingly very good. Takes pedals amazingly (even his beloved metal zone sounds acceptable through it and god knows I hate that pedal) well.
Definitely try one or even buy one if you find one cheap.
I repaired one for a friend. He's had it for 17 years I think. A few solders were broken off on the 3-parts - u-shaped board that's hard as heck to work on. That the only thing that ever went bad on it and it's been gigged and abused to heck.
For such a cheap amp, it sounds amazing IMHO. The cleans are great, the overdrive is surprisingly very good. Takes pedals amazingly (even his beloved metal zone sounds acceptable through it and god knows I hate that pedal) well.
Definitely try one or even buy one if you find one cheap.
Kam
Shaftologist
Re: Peavey Classic 30
Yeah, there's one going locally for an outstanding price. Apparently it's MIA; I don't know if they're still currently made there or whether it's an old one or whatever. They go for £539 here, brand new. The dude's asking for £250. There's a bit of interest from other guys, but I could probably get it for £220-230. I don't have the money immediately to hand, but I was already working on getting it together because there's another dude selling a Blackstar HT-5 plus extension cab for £200 (another unbelievably good deal) that I was planning on trying to pick up.
I'm still tempted by the Blackstar, to be honest. I really liked the one I played a while ago and, since my chances of starting the band I was planning just shrank again, the five watts probably suits my inabilty to play above regular conversation level a lot more.
But I've been planning for well over a year now to just get an amp with a sweet clean channel and use it to run pedals into. The Peavey classics were always on my list of considerations because I keep hearing that they have killer cleans, but they rarely pop up on the used market.
Decisions, decisions... :banghead:
Yeah, there's one going locally for an outstanding price. Apparently it's MIA; I don't know if they're still currently made there or whether it's an old one or whatever. They go for £539 here, brand new. The dude's asking for £250. There's a bit of interest from other guys, but I could probably get it for £220-230. I don't have the money immediately to hand, but I was already working on getting it together because there's another dude selling a Blackstar HT-5 plus extension cab for £200 (another unbelievably good deal) that I was planning on trying to pick up.
I'm still tempted by the Blackstar, to be honest. I really liked the one I played a while ago and, since my chances of starting the band I was planning just shrank again, the five watts probably suits my inabilty to play above regular conversation level a lot more.
But I've been planning for well over a year now to just get an amp with a sweet clean channel and use it to run pedals into. The Peavey classics were always on my list of considerations because I keep hearing that they have killer cleans, but they rarely pop up on the used market.
Decisions, decisions... :banghead:
Last edited:
Re: Peavey Classic 30
I had one for a while that I traded away for a Traynor YCV-40...which I like a lot better. The Peavey had more gain available on the dirt channel and the cleans were nice (not as good as the Traynor, in my opinion). With a simple OD pedal, I had lots of different overdrive/distortion tones.
The "problem" I had with mine was tube rattle. Now I don't know if it was something with the amp design, or just bad tubes, but it drove me nuts. Shortly after I started hearing this rattle in one of the EL84s, I bought a new quad of JJs from that site that specializes in these tubes. I even called the guy and spoke with him about the rattle. So, new tubes in...fine...for a while. Then one of 'em starts to rattle again.
I never gigged or rehearsed with this amp...it just sat in my music room in my climate controlled basement. This experience has turned me off of EL84 combo amps, but I guess it is possible that it something with the design layout of the amp. There are sure a hell of a lot happy Classic 30 owners out there, and there are a lot of EL84 powered amps being built too, so maybe my experience was simply a fluke.
I'm sure this was no help at all, but there it is...good luck!
Brian
I had one for a while that I traded away for a Traynor YCV-40...which I like a lot better. The Peavey had more gain available on the dirt channel and the cleans were nice (not as good as the Traynor, in my opinion). With a simple OD pedal, I had lots of different overdrive/distortion tones.
The "problem" I had with mine was tube rattle. Now I don't know if it was something with the amp design, or just bad tubes, but it drove me nuts. Shortly after I started hearing this rattle in one of the EL84s, I bought a new quad of JJs from that site that specializes in these tubes. I even called the guy and spoke with him about the rattle. So, new tubes in...fine...for a while. Then one of 'em starts to rattle again.
I never gigged or rehearsed with this amp...it just sat in my music room in my climate controlled basement. This experience has turned me off of EL84 combo amps, but I guess it is possible that it something with the design layout of the amp. There are sure a hell of a lot happy Classic 30 owners out there, and there are a lot of EL84 powered amps being built too, so maybe my experience was simply a fluke.
I'm sure this was no help at all, but there it is...good luck!
Brian
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
Re: Peavey Classic 30
I can't comment as to their durability. I have came close to buying one a bunch of times. Just a great sounding amp all around. Not a metal screamer, for sure. But a fantastic 30w tube amp for the price. Not uber booteek class, but the price / performance is amazing IMO, and I think it sounds flat out good.
I can't comment as to their durability. I have came close to buying one a bunch of times. Just a great sounding amp all around. Not a metal screamer, for sure. But a fantastic 30w tube amp for the price. Not uber booteek class, but the price / performance is amazing IMO, and I think it sounds flat out good.
Re: Peavey Classic 30
Hard choice indeed Kam. The ht-5 may be more versatile (but I don't have experience with them, however, 90% of folks on the web do apparently) but that peavey is really cool.
I remember new tubes fixing the rattle in my friend's classic. It never returned even a year of regular playing later... just my 0.02$.
I don't think there's a bad decision here. Just the fact that you'll get more versatility with one or way more headroom with the other...
have fun!
Hard choice indeed Kam. The ht-5 may be more versatile (but I don't have experience with them, however, 90% of folks on the web do apparently) but that peavey is really cool.
I remember new tubes fixing the rattle in my friend's classic. It never returned even a year of regular playing later... just my 0.02$.
I don't think there's a bad decision here. Just the fact that you'll get more versatility with one or way more headroom with the other...
have fun!
Kam
Shaftologist
Re: Peavey Classic 30
Yeah, I've read reviews mentioning tube rattle in these, as well as a bunch of other combos. If I decided it was a keeper, I'd put serious thought into building a headshell for it and running it with a seperate cab, though. Getting it out of the same box as the speaker would probably cut down on interfering vibrations. As I mentioned, I won't be running it that loud most of the time, anyway.
I think you nailed it there. I'm not that worried about versatility, really. I have five dirt pedals that I really like and a couple more on my list of stuff that I won't be able to resist trying out before long. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to get dirty tones I like from it. The head room would be nice. Buying a new amp means that I'll almost certainly have to sell my current one. So if by some miracle I do get a band together, I'm going to need to have/get something loud enough to deal with that. I just don't want to get the Peavey and find out that I have to get it up really loud before it starts to sound at all decent, ya know?
Thanks everyone for their contributions, so far. :beerchug:
Yeah, I've read reviews mentioning tube rattle in these, as well as a bunch of other combos. If I decided it was a keeper, I'd put serious thought into building a headshell for it and running it with a seperate cab, though. Getting it out of the same box as the speaker would probably cut down on interfering vibrations. As I mentioned, I won't be running it that loud most of the time, anyway.
I think you nailed it there. I'm not that worried about versatility, really. I have five dirt pedals that I really like and a couple more on my list of stuff that I won't be able to resist trying out before long. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to get dirty tones I like from it. The head room would be nice. Buying a new amp means that I'll almost certainly have to sell my current one. So if by some miracle I do get a band together, I'm going to need to have/get something loud enough to deal with that. I just don't want to get the Peavey and find out that I have to get it up really loud before it starts to sound at all decent, ya know?
Thanks everyone for their contributions, so far. :beerchug:
marcello252
Well-known member
Re: Peavey Classic 30
I have one, it's my main amp at home and weeken gigging, I bought it years ago but....
I didn't like it standard, a good all around amp but nothing more, it was harsh with distortion, earpiercing with clean, no body.
I think I made every possible mod to it but the biggest ones are:
- changed the speaker (it has a Jensen C12 now)
- modified the tone control (from Marshall like to Fender like)
- raised the plate voltage (more headroom)
- modified the input stage (fender spec)
- modified the pre lowering the gain
- modified the bias to cathode bias
- changed the caps in the signal path
The worst thing about this amp however is... this is the more complicated amp to open when you want to mod it, a real nightmare!
Somewhere in the net there are still my mods somewhere around, I have to find it.
I have one, it's my main amp at home and weeken gigging, I bought it years ago but....
I didn't like it standard, a good all around amp but nothing more, it was harsh with distortion, earpiercing with clean, no body.
I think I made every possible mod to it but the biggest ones are:
- changed the speaker (it has a Jensen C12 now)
- modified the tone control (from Marshall like to Fender like)
- raised the plate voltage (more headroom)
- modified the input stage (fender spec)
- modified the pre lowering the gain
- modified the bias to cathode bias
- changed the caps in the signal path
The worst thing about this amp however is... this is the more complicated amp to open when you want to mod it, a real nightmare!
Somewhere in the net there are still my mods somewhere around, I have to find it.
glassman
Electron Herder
Re: Peavey Classic 30
These are really great little amps. They are tough to work on but luckily that doesn't happen too often. The ones I get in generally only require a good cleaning...failures are rare.
A 12AT7 in V1 can give it a little more modern voice if it's too "classic" for your tastes.
These are really great little amps. They are tough to work on but luckily that doesn't happen too often. The ones I get in generally only require a good cleaning...failures are rare.
A 12AT7 in V1 can give it a little more modern voice if it's too "classic" for your tastes.
MojoMonster
Active member
marcello252
Well-known member
Laughing Kookaburra
Active member
Re: Peavey Classic 30
I like the C30, great classic rock and blues amp for a great price. In the year I had my C30, I had no problems, and I played it often. I have more experience with the C50, no problems with that one either.
I do think that they make some shortcuts to save money, for instance, the tranny seems to be minimal. However, FWIW the lead player in Off Broadway has used a C50 for live shows for some years with no issues outside of normal tube maintenance. I don't know if there are significant structural differences between the 30 and the 50 in terms of the build quality.
One thing that bugged me a bit is that some of the C30 have the tubes unprotected in the back. The C50's tubes are very well protected.
Overall, a good amp for the price. They are all MIA.
I like the C30, great classic rock and blues amp for a great price. In the year I had my C30, I had no problems, and I played it often. I have more experience with the C50, no problems with that one either.
I do think that they make some shortcuts to save money, for instance, the tranny seems to be minimal. However, FWIW the lead player in Off Broadway has used a C50 for live shows for some years with no issues outside of normal tube maintenance. I don't know if there are significant structural differences between the 30 and the 50 in terms of the build quality.
One thing that bugged me a bit is that some of the C30 have the tubes unprotected in the back. The C50's tubes are very well protected.
Overall, a good amp for the price. They are all MIA.
Powdered Toast Man
New member
Re: Peavey Classic 30
The Peavey Classic 30 is superior in construction and design to the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I know a guy locally who's gigged with a Classic 30 for years without problem.
Now, I will second (or third) the posters here who have encouraged you to take a good look at the Traynor YCV40. They are Canadian made and are WELL MADE. Traynors are highly durable and sound great. The YCV40's can be found on the used market for CHEAP too. I see them going up around here for $300-$400 used all the time. They're the best kept secret in the mid level amp market.
Ever wonder how they make modern amps?
The Peavey Classic 30 is superior in construction and design to the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I know a guy locally who's gigged with a Classic 30 for years without problem.
Now, I will second (or third) the posters here who have encouraged you to take a good look at the Traynor YCV40. They are Canadian made and are WELL MADE. Traynors are highly durable and sound great. The YCV40's can be found on the used market for CHEAP too. I see them going up around here for $300-$400 used all the time. They're the best kept secret in the mid level amp market.
Ever wonder how they make modern amps?
Last edited:
TheLivingDead
Dawn Of The Shred
Re: Peavey Classic 30
Big +1 on the YCV40. Buddy of mine picked one up about 6 months ago and it kicks major ass. Takes pedals well too.
Big +1 on the YCV40. Buddy of mine picked one up about 6 months ago and it kicks major ass. Takes pedals well too.
