Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

[Looselectron]

Hi! I wanted to know if anyone has experienced a problem with a Peavey Rage (or its sister the reverb-equipped Blazer) clipping nastily on the clean channel? I have isolated the problem to the preamp. I am guessing its one of the many transistors in there because it sounds like a starved fuzz even on the clean channel.

Usually when someone asks for advice on how to repair a Blazer (Rage), the reply is something like save up and buy another one or a "real amp." Well, I took that advice. I already had a real amp but it's unusable at home. I can find Blazers for $50 or less, so I have THREE (one red-stripe and two silver) and an early Rage 108 I picked up for parts.

Two of the Blazers (Red and Silver) have this nasty clipping problem, so I'm also guessing others may have suffered this issue. Anyone else?

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

I have quite a few Peavey amplifiers, but no Rage or Blazer. I have not experienced the issue you describe with any of my Transtube/SS Peavey's, so I have no quick suggestion on known issues with those symptoms.

I will agree it is only cost effective to repair one of these smaller Peavey amps if you are repairing it yourself. Regarding that, you can call Peavey Customer Service at 877-732-8391 and request the schematic for the amp. Peavey typically emails it to you same day, if not while you are on the phone with them. Also, thetubestore maintains some Peavey schematics on their website https://www.thetubestore.com/peavey-schematics .

An additional suggestion would be to register on the Peavey Forum http://forums.peavey.com/ and post the same question in the Guitar Amplifiers forum.

One ask from me if you do sort out what the issue was. Please come back and post your findings and if applicable, what the fix was.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

I applaud your effort to repair it. I’m a fan or practice amps, and would also be very interested to hear how you get it going.

 

[Looselectron]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

Will do!

 

[Looselectron]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

Found this!

https://peavey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4555&p=34977&hilit=Blazer+transistor#p34977

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

Found this!

https://peavey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4555&p=34977&hilit=Blazer+transistor#p34977

Well I will just say The Mighty Enzo has forgotten more about amplifier repair than most of us will ever know. :notworthy

If Enzo has some input, you are in the best possible care.

 

[Looselectron]

Re: Peavy Blazer (Rage) 158 Repair

Retightening the power amp's ground to the heat sink seemed to mitigate the background fuzz garbling.

At the same I realized by testing it with a guitar that has hotter pickups, I realized that clean headroom is inherently limited in these amps. Also the more reverb I added, the nastier the clipping.

This is not a criticism as much as a reminder not to expect miracles from them. I am VERY impressed with how good these amps sound from front to back, but it is what it is.