Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

[STLMTLHD79]

I have been on sort of a GAS lately including this amp. I used to play one of these at a local guitar store in the mid 90s before my guitar lesson in my teen years. I always thought they were great.

I picked a half stack for dirt cheap. Still has the original tubes so i am expecting to have to replace them. I took it to my local Luther/tech for a once-over.

has anybody upgraded/hot rodded these before? any tube recommendations? I bought a pair of JJ 6L6 tubes from a fellow SD forum member just recently and want to maybe get 2 other different 6L6 tubes.

are there any common issues with these heads other than the logo lights burning out?

Pleas

 

[devastone]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Just start with new tubes, if it needs them. If it has just sat for a long time, might not even need those. Not sure what kind of hot rodding you want to do, these amps have plenty of gain and, from what I remember, sounded good out of the box.

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Yes, I’ve worked on and modded plenty of the ultra series. I used to own one of the older ugly ones that looked like an airport tram, and weighed a ton. I currently own a xxx that’s part of that ultra family. They are good amps for the money. It really depends on what you are looking for out of it. My favorite thing to do to them is get rid of the slight cocked wah frequency they have, and up the preamp supply voltage.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Yes, I’ve worked on and modded plenty of the ultra series. I used to own one of the older ugly ones that looked like an airport tram, and weighed a ton. I currently own a xxx that’s part of that ultra family. They are good amps for the money. It really depends on what you are looking for out of it. My favorite thing to do to them is get rid of the slight cocked wah frequency they have, and up the preamp supply voltage.

If i may ask, how do you go about doing that? what do you use for power tubes for a good heavy power/thrash tone? Thats what i am aiming for. The cocked wah maybe a problem-how do you up the preamp supply voltage?

I just want a versatile amp with good cleans, enough gain on tap for the power/thrash tone and maybe roll it back a bit on the crunch channel for a good hard rock tone/AOR sort of vibe.

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

It depends on which model you have. Do you have an ultra plus, or one of the old ones that looks like an airport tram? For thrash I would use the jb 6l6 if you wanted to stay with 6l6’s. I personally like EL34’s/KT77’s in those amps.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

It depends on which model you have. Do you have an ultra plus, or one of the old ones that looks like an airport tram? For thrash I would use the jb 6l6 if you wanted to stay with 6l6’s. I personally like EL34’s/KT77’s in those amps.

Jb? Do you mean JJ tubes? I have the Ultra Plus with the light up logo from the mid 90s. I would love to convert it to EL34's. I love high gain EL34 amps like the EVH 5150 III EL34 version. I think that sounds great for power/thrash metal to be honest. Has a tad warmer tone but still enough heaviness and cut as well.

So to do an EL34 conversion, i take it you have to change out the transformer/power source so the tubes would run at the right temperature?

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Jb? Do you mean JJ tubes? I have the Ultra Plus with the light up logo from the mid 90s. I would love to convert it to EL34's. I love high gain EL34 amps like the EVH 5150 III EL34 version. I think that sounds great for power/thrash metal to be honest. Has a tad warmer tone but still enough heaviness and cut as well.

So to do an EL34 conversion, i take it you have to change out the transformer/power source so the tubes would run at the right temperature?

Yes jj, my phone likes to auto correct to things I’ve used before, it’s really annoying, I spend half the time correcting what I write as I do writing it.

No, you only have to slightly modify the bias supply, mostly R99 (you want to be a little careful here, it’s not a typical bias supply, the cap and r99 set the bias voltage) and it’s advised that you increase the screen resistors to 1k each (R201, R202, R204, R205) and that should be good for el34’s.

Reduce R90, and R91 to up the pre voltage. Try 6.8k instead of the stock 22k for those.

Leave everything else as it and see if that’s enough for you. The supply voltage change alone should give you a punchier sound. Also play with the eq in that so, that’s where they shine, and don’t set it like a normal Marshall. It’s an active eq, so Don’t be afraid to dip the mids, or any frequency.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

@ Joey Voltage-thanks for the advice. I will see what my tech says and go from there but i will relay these suggestions his way.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Good amps but i had issues with these amps cutting through a full band mix. Had an Ultra Plus and a Boogie .50 cal + at the same time. The 50 watt Boogie stomped a mudhole in the 120 watt Peavey on stage in the full mix. With half the wattage the Boogie would make the Peavey disappear at about 5 with the Peavey dimed. Just never found a solution so sold the Ultra Plus.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

A 50 watter drowning out a 120 watter by a large margin? Same cabinets? No screwed up or missing tubes in the 120?

 

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

A 50 watter drowning out a 120 watter by a large margin? Same cabinets? No screwed up or missing tubes in the 120?

Same cab fresh tubes both rigs and it was very dramatic on the difference in how they sat in the mix. I was playing in a Black Pentecostal Church at the time with absolute brutal stage levels and the Peavey just would not cut through the mix of a C3 Leslie loud drummer and the bass no matter what I tried. The little 50 watt .50 cal + Boogie on the other hand killed it with headroom to spare so---.
Clip with the boogie and I ran unmiced here. Stage levels ware around 120 DB and I plugged had a lot more in the Boogie but where i was standing would loose the rest of the band if I turned up any more ( which was tough as 90% of the time i had to follow where they were going just by ear!!). Run towards the end here at a couple of players show up and it REALLY gets cranking then!!

 

[Adieu]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Same cab fresh tubes both rigs and it was very dramatic on the difference in how they sat in the mix. I was playing in a Black Pentecostal Church at the time with absolute brutal stage levels and the Peavey just would not cut through the mix of a C3 Leslie loud drummer and the bass no matter what I tried. The little 50 watt .50 cal + Boogie on the other hand killed it with headroom to spare so---.
Clip with the boogie and I ran unmiced here. Stage levels ware around 120 DB and I plugged had a lot more in the Boogie but where i was standing would loose the rest of the band if I turned up any more ( which was tough as 90% of the time i had to follow where they were going just by ear!!). Run towards the end here at a couple of players show up and it REALLY gets cranking then!!

Wait, are you talking about CLEAN volume only??

Sorry, not that into church music to watch 28 minutes to find out

 

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Wait, are you talking about CLEAN volume only??

Sorry, not that into church music to watch 28 minutes to find out

NO I run very high gain tube amps pretty dirty on strange with few effects and the Peavey flat would not cut through a mix in those settings like many other amps I have had.
As far as thinking i run clean and play wimpy stuff in Church I spent a little over 5 years running a 100 watt half stack carnked on stage as my personal monitor playing in fromt of 3000 + every Sunday at the least.
Couple of live clips from my old mini Disc recording rig set at the board in the 10,000 seat hall we were in. We rock HARD in Church!!!
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=4939016
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=4862091

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

A 50 watter drowning out a 120 watter by a large margin? Same cabinets? No screwed up or missing tubes in the 120?

Ever played a 50 cal? 50 Mesa Watts is going to be LOUD. 120 vs 50, even from the same manufacturer and series, isn’t going to be a huge volume difference anyway. Speaker efficiency (and quantity) and a bunch of other factors will make a big difference.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Watts dont scale linear

Also I scrolled through the clip, it's not like you're thrashing out with everything set to 11 (or if you ARE trying to, there's something seriously wrong with your rig)

 

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Ended up having to do a full re-tube power and pre on this with JJ tubes. I will be picking it up this thursday and let you guys know how i feel about it.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

anxious to see how you like it! I have an Ultra plus too that Im not playing much right now, but I like it too much to sell it. Im watching this thread for Ideas!!

 

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Ever played a 50 cal? 50 Mesa Watts is going to be LOUD. 120 vs 50, even from the same manufacturer and series, isn’t going to be a huge volume difference anyway. Speaker efficiency (and quantity) and a bunch of other factors will make a big difference.

Yep it's more the way an amp is voiced that lets it cut through a mix than the power many times. The Peavey just did not cut through a full band mix well it turned to mush in the mix. That's why many times an amp that sounds great when you play it by itself just doesn't work well in a live full band setting. My little 25 watt Zinky combo is a good example little sucker just KILLS even on an outdoor unmiced gig with only a pair of EL84's!!
This is outdoors with the little Zinky unmiced running nothing but the little combo on a 1/12 cab no effects and I'm only running about 6 on the master!! In this kind of setting it flat stomped a mudhole in the 120 watt Peavey!!

PS want a 50 watt Velvet or Zinky Mofo head badly but just haven't found one at a price I could live with when I had the $$ on hand!!

 

[RadioOctave]

Re: Peavey Ultra 120-thoughts? recommendations for upgrades?

Reduce R90, and R91 to up the pre voltage. Try 6.8k instead of the stock 22k for those.

Leave everything else as it and see if that’s enough for you. The supply voltage change alone should give you a punchier sound. Also play with the eq in that so, that’s where they shine, and don’t set it like a normal Marshall. It’s an active eq, so Don’t be afraid to dip the mids, or any frequency.

I am looking to do some work to my old ultra 60 (teal stripe). I assume that is the "airport tram?"

Does the above change address the wah vibe you were describing?

I have also read about people doing this mod for some more low end.

"C14 / .0010uF feeding the third tube stage (V2a). It has a frequecy rolloff of 340hz, which means it notches out everything below 340hz. Try a .0022uF in its place, this should give you a rolloff of about 154hz letting more low mid bass through. Also look at the bypass cap on V2a (C17/.47uF on RM). It creates a pass frequecy of 450hz. Everything below 450hz is cut. Try using a 1.0uF which will give you around 205hz. "

Thank you for your help!

jason