PRS DGT-15 vs Peavey Classic 20 MH Guitar Mini Amp Head

Butch Snyder

Butch Snyder

ObsoleteChickenPickingologist
I have a Hot Rod Deluxe IV as my main gigging amp. I practice with it as well. I also have a couple of Line 6 Flextone III combos. Great amps once you "learn" them. I'm in the market for another. At first I was thinking Fender ’68 Custom Princeton Reverb. I then started looking at others. The two I really like are the PRS DGT-15 and the Peavey Classic 20 MH Guitar Mini Amp Head. I had a Peavey Classic 50 212 combo several years back. It was a great amp; very comparable to my HRD.

Anyone have experience with the PRS or Peavey that I'm thinking about?​
 
I have the Peavey Classic 20H it is the amp I use the most. It is in the office right next to me. I love the line out it is plugged into my DAW at all times. It has more than enough gain for a metalhead like me. Reverb is cool as is the foot switching. I have mine going through a Celestion G15V-100 in a closed cab. Lots of headroom and beautiful cleans. It sounds massive. If something happened to my Peavey I would not hesitate to replace it with the identical model.
 
I played through Securb's Peavey head a while back and I really liked it too. Great crisp crunchy tones. I would love to have one. The only "negative" that I've heard about them was from an amp guy who says they're difficult to work on without damaging them because of the way the PCBs are put together.
 
I will say for the user-serviceable aspect, tubes are easy to change and there is a dial to bias the amp with a light on the front to tell you it is set correctly.
 
maintenance, yes. service, no. takes way longer to get the thing apart inorder to find the problem, than it does to fix it
 
First off, I'm a HUGE fan of PRS Amps. Own a first gen Archon head and also a Custom 50 head now. Also owned an MT 15 for a while. The tones and build quality in particular of the US built amps is world-class. Both my number one and number 2 amps are PRS now. Have played the DGT 30 and really like that amp but have not seen or heard a 15 yet. From my real world experience with these amps, I highly recommend them. Doug Sewell is one of my all-time favorite amp designers. I have also owned and used, live, a number of Peavey Amps. However, here we are talking 2 completely different class of Amps.
My question here is what are you looking for in tone?
If you are looking for a killer small tube amp that is similar to what you have on your list, I will throw another amp in this mix,
The Mezabarbara Z18.and the first time I ever saw and played one, it floored me. Simply the best sounding small grab and go combo I have ever heard. When I found one in the used section at my local Guitar Center, I made them an offer on the spot that was a couple under what they were offering it for, that was rejected. Still regret not buying that amp on the spot!
 
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ehdwuld said:
But isn't that the way everything is?
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Some amps are laid out in a way that makes them easier to take apart and service. The amp tech I went to showed me a Peavey head with two PCBs mounted perpendicular to one another, connected by some fragile wires, and said that made it really difficult for him to take it in and out of the case without damaging it. That would mean more time and money for any given repair. I really like most Peavey tube heads, but it's something to consider.
 
The Peavey's price point is way better than the PRS. If the Peavey stuff was made the way it was in the 80s, with everything made in Meridian, MS, it would hold more weight with me. I have had many Peaveys during the 80s and they were all rock solid. Nowadays, it's kind of a crap shoot. I'm leaning toward the PRS for not only tone but build quality too. It's quite a bit more $$$ though. Honestly, I have a few amps ranging from 40 watts to 75 and 150 watts. For most gigs I play, 15 watts would be plenty. My amps always get miced anyway.
 
Butch Snyder said:
The Peavey's price point is way better than the PRS. If the Peavey stuff was made the way it was in the 80s, with everything made in Meridian, MS, it would hold more weight with me. I have had many Peaveys during the 80s and they were all rock solid. Nowadays, it's kind of a crap shoot. I'm leaning toward the PRS for not only tone but build quality too. It's quite a bit more $$$ though. Honestly, I have a few amps ranging from 40 watts to 75 and 150 watts. For most gigs I play, 15 watts would be plenty. My amps always get miced anyway.
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Down here
75 % of the local bands had Peavey PAs

Most of the Bass rigs were Peavey

There were al lot of Fender
Some Marshall
One Carvin
And the rest Peavey guitar amps

And yeah solid
 
I know Peavey came out with their reissue amps and pedals this year, but they went from literally being on every stage to almost nothing the past 10 years. What happened?
 
Seashore said:
Some amps are laid out in a way that makes them easier to take apart and service. The amp tech I went to showed me a Peavey head with two PCBs mounted perpendicular to one another, connected by some fragile wires, and said that made it really difficult for him to take it in and out of the case without damaging it. That would mean more time and money for any given repair. I really like most Peavey tube heads, but it's something to consider.
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Yes, it absolutely is. This is what my PRS Custom 50 looks like on the inside, and it's a whole other world from most amps. Keep in mind that this is one of the flagship US built amps, but even the imports like my MT 15 are very well laid out inside.
 

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Mincer said:
I know Peavey came out with their reissue amps and pedals this year, but they went from literally being on every stage to almost nothing the past 10 years. What happened?
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the 5150 was a game changer. hartley is in his mid 80s and was the heart of that company for like 50 years, im sure his fading has an effect
 
jeremy said:
the 5150 was a game changer. hartley is in his mid 80s and was the heart of that company for like 50 years, im sure his fading has an effect
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No doubt, but I am sure he hasn't been in the day-to-day for quite some time. Maybe family in-fighting.
 
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Mincer said:
Oh wow, that is pretty sad. I guess the family sort of imploded.
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Have no clue what happened, but it is a shame. Some of the high-end USA guitars back in the late 90 and early 2000s were very fine instruments and the VH stuff was killer. It looked for a while as if they were about to take a big leap forward, then suddenly crashed.
 
It could very well be that the people who stood to inherit pieces of the company were fighting over it.
 
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