Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

[SMark]

I had this 2x12 Peavey Mace VT Series combo sort of dropped on me, and I know nothing about it. What are the good points and bad points about it? I was told it was from the late '70s, but this one almost looks newer than that. Is there a way to put a date on this amp? It seems to work and sound just fine. The effects are actually kind of cool. Someone here must have owned one of these back in the day...

Thanx.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

They suck. They are very poorly and cheaply designed circuitboard amps that aren't worth the time or effort to fix. They sound like ass, and thats cause they are . This will trigger the host of assclowns claiming vehemently that I am wrong and yadda yadda. ..wahtever, the amp is a cheap POS , so it will attract cheap skates with no money, or wihtout any tone discretion to its defense, but it is pretty much garbage, throw it away.

 

[saladin]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

They suck. They are very poorly and cheaply designed circuitboard amps that aren't worth the time or effort to fix. They sound like ass, and thats cause they are . This will trigger the host of assclowns claiming vehemently that I am wrong and yadda yadda. ..wahtever, the amp is a cheap POS , so it will attract cheap skates with no money, or wihtout any tone discretion to its defense, but it is pretty much garbage, throw it away.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

If that's the first-generation Mace with the black tolex and the built-in effects, I remember those as being mega-loud.

Police summons loud.

Neighbors pounding on your door loud.

Your drummer looking at you funny loud.

Is this your amp?

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

I couldn't disagree more with Maniac.

Hartley started building these amps for the Southern Rock bands of the era like Skynerd, who were experiencing failures of their Fender, Marshall and Ampeg amps. Above all else, Peavey wanted his amps to be reliable, and they were. The Mace was a behemoth with a 6x6L6 power section based on Fender's designs. The amps are deliberately frequency-limited...you'll notice less bottom and a curtailing of the high end compared to a typical Fender amp of the period. As a result, they can be very punchy through the midrange. Probably not the choice for scooped metal tones.

Though most players today prefer lower-wattage amps, if you want a clean amp with lots of dynamics and headroom, the Mace could serve as an excellent platform for the player who uses pedals for his distortion tones.

There are several amps from this period of Peavey amps that can provide good clean tones for the player on a budget, even though their distortion tones may be sub-par compared to modern stomp boxes.

You can always contact Peavey for information on dating your amp, and tech support should you need it.

Crank that amp up and enjoy it.

Bill

 

[SMark]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

Yes, that looks just like it. 6 total 6L6 power tubes and very loud.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

That's the Skynerd amp(s)...

After Skynerd started using them almost every Southern Rock band around started using them too...think 38 Special, Molly Hatchet, etc

PV amps of that time period are sort of known for 2 things...they are all loud as all get out and they seem to be pretty much bullet proof!

 

[SMark]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

Okay, thanx! Nice to know that there actually is a bit of history behind this amp. I'll see if I can dial-in some of those old Southern Rock tones. This amp is quite heavy and it would almost seem as if the two stock Eminence alnico speakers that are in this thing wouldn't exactly be up to the task of supporting all the potential volume this amp can generate...

 

[Spudman]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

This is the "real" Mace (mine). These are amazing and the ones the bands went towards in the 70s. The VT series sounds different and is quite loud, as is mine. I toured with both and they sound a bit different from each other. Both good, but my preference is for the original version with the silver knobs and no on board effects. That's why I kept my head.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

I couldn't disagree more with Maniac.

Just keep that in your back pocket. You'll need it again. Maybe even tonight.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

This is the "real" Mace (mine). These are amazing and the ones the bands went towards in the 70s. The VT series sounds different and is quite loud, as is mine. I toured with both and they sound a bit different from each other. Both good, but my preference is for the original version with the silver knobs and no on board effects. That's why I kept my head.

pEAVY mACE ...aMAZING? We are on a completely different page. those things are so sterile sounding.Plus , as far as BoogieBill goes, they are all at the end of their life expectancy, meaning they need a recap. Take a look at those circuitboards, with circuitboard mounted jacks. Yeah, have fun working wiht those...terrible layout, and cheap circuitboard design. yeah, they stood the test of time..why not?
Not to mention I had one of those once, and forget about Southern Rock,( Molly Hatchet, Skynyrd, Blackfoot ) thats 100% marshall JCM800..those Mace things things are sterile Hybrid solid State preamp Amps, and I can assure you 100% that the famous Skynyrd
tone was ALL Marshall.
Are they worth 200 bucks? no, not unless you arte a tech, and a damn good one.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

and forget about Southern Rock,( Molly Hatchet, Skynyrd, Blackfoot ) thats 100% marshall JCM800..those Mace things things are sterile Hybrid solid State preamp Amps, and I can assure you 100% that the famous Skynyrd
tone was ALL Marshall.

err...no. They recorded with marshalls and gigged with Peaveys because the were more easy to maintain and Peavey gave em a backline.

I'd say buy that sumB, dude. If you have the room to play it.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

err...no. They recorded with marshalls and gigged with Peaveys because the were more easy to maintain and Peavey gave em a backline.

I'd say buy that sumB, dude. If you have the room to play it.

Since one of my best friends in Wayne Perkins was a session guitarist at Muscle Shoals Sound and did quite a few guitar tracks for many of those Southern Rock bands. I can easily find out from Wayne what they really used in the studio. PS Jo Jo Billingsly (later White and now sadly gone) was also a close friend. I do know for a fact that almost all of the Southern Rock bands back in the 1970's toured with Maces and ran them on stage every night.

I bought a Mace new in I guess it would have been 75. Tone is GREAT on the clean side they have a unique mid tone when crunched they take pedals well + are bulletproof reliable. Down side is they are HEAVY and need to run LOUD to sound like they should!!!

 

[dano8180]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

I own the Mace's little brother; the Deuce. The key to these amps sounding good is that the master volume HAS to be over 4. They are rather bass and low mid heavy so drop the bass down around 2 and treble around 4. After that, insert ear plugs cuz that sucker is LOUD.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

I've had a couple chances to buy one of these old machines and I balk every time because of the minimum volumes these needed.

This is before venue sound systems, and Southern rock was HUUUUUUUUGE when these were being built and playing massive arenas. It makes sense that they'd be wanting to push 6x power tubes. You'd think one of the musician's guts would fall out or something, right?

I remember hearing stories of Grand Funk Railroad's techs having to pull molten hot power tubes BETWEEN SONGS because they guitarist purposefully had his power section biased all screwy for the tone. That's pretty rock and roll right there.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

Jesus Jer, shut the **** up. I'll never let go of my Butcher.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

The Mace VT combo shared things in common with the Ampeg VT-22 (the combo version of the V-4). The Ampeg had four 7027A's in the power section. 100W/8Ω, switchable from 16/8/4.

The Ampeg was also a loud, heavy beast.

Jerry, you hate the Mace. We get it. If SMark (the OP) is GASing for a Mace head, nobody here's gonna be able to talk him out of it.

The only thing I'd caution him about is to do the same common-sense things anyone should do for a tube amp:
Get a trustworthy repair guy to check the specs, and look over the circuit components and boards for any bad stuff.

As for Peavey amps blowing up...

I gigged with a Peavey PA mixer amp, owned by the club, that started smoking while in the midst of a gig.

We yanked the plugs, ended the set, and aired the place out.

Buster, the guitarist (old-school blues guy), ran home to get his own personal head: a first-gen 4-channel mono Peavey black panel head.

Plugged in the mics, plugged in the speakers, turned on the switches -- game on. Finished the show.

The club took their Peavey head to the local music shop, where they originally purchased it.
The diagnosis: That amp sat in the same spot, day after day, gig after gig, for about a decade,
and had so much dust on the inside that some of it arc'ed across the grommets connecting the power transformer to the PCB.
Thorough bench-testing revealed no damage to any of the circuits or components. No repair necessary.

My experience has been positive on many occasions; YMMV.
Let a tech get a look and make sure it won't blow up, then rock out with a body part out.

 

[SMark]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

I know with other loud amps it is sometimes possible to pull power tube pairs to reduce the wattage. The only catch is that the impedance changes, so some sort of adjustment at the speakers is required. Any thoughts about doing this sort of thing with the Mace?

This amp really doesn't sound bad at all. And the fact that it seems to have been made to be bullet-proof is a big +1.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

Mace = So freaking loud!

 

[Ramo1958]

Re: Tell me about this old Peavey MACE VT Series Amp...

Great Demo on the Skynyrd Sound Explained. I own 1 Mace and 2 VT Series ones. You need to know how to dial them Beast in.
I play in a Southern Rock Tribute Band up here in Washington State. 3,000 miles away from Florida. Them fellows putting them amps
down are clueless. I also heard Gary Rossington say them Peaveys where way more dependable than a Marshalls. Long Live Them Bands Lynyrd Skynyrd,Molly Hatchet,Outlaws and 38 Special. The Talent today ain't Much. ( Laughs )