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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Joe-ever played a Peavey Classic 30?
Hi Joe,
I've been loving and loathing this amp since I got it about 6 months ago...Just wondering if you've ever played one, and if you had any recommendations for swapping the stock Blue Marvel speaker or JJ power, Sovtek pre tubes...I'd love to have a little more clarity and punch for blues/blues rock/hard rock... Thanks!
SF
What I would suggest is you separate the 'love' & 'hate'.
What do you love about it, and what do you hate. Maybe then we could offer suggestions.
Peavey classic 30's use EL84's, Joe's amps are EL34 or 6L6, they sound different. Speaker choice will open you up to a whole lot of suggestions, especially as Joe uses EV12's.
Just sit and play, then take note of your opinions and then let us know. We are here to help.
Jon
I have an 80s classic 50. Same sort of impression. The cleans are pretty sweet, but it sounded like a squirrel caught in a wood chipper in gain modes. I swapped the preamp tubes and it made a huge difference. Still has the original 80s power tubes. I took it out of it's cabinet and mounted it upside down in an old laney AOR 2x12 cabinet i have and that also helped. It had one 15inch speaker that barked like a dog. The AOR cab has a pair of mesa/celestions from an old cabinet I had. Very nice sounding amp now. I need to get it mounted in something a little more...form fitting.
I had the Peavey Classic 100 tweed head.
It had 3 preamp 12ax7a tubes (chinese)
and 8 (yes eight!) EL-84 Sovtek tubes.
I tried putting Groove tubes in there, and they cracked around the pins 3 consecutive sets! I went back to Sovteks and never looked back. Groove preamp tubes worked fine though.
My EQ was the V configuration and got some good meat out of it. Even hard rock or metal could be possible. I also like how they GO UP TO 12!
What I would suggest is you separate the 'love' & 'hate'.
What do you love about it, and what do you hate. Maybe then we could offer suggestions.
Peavey classic 30's use EL84's, Joe's amps are EL34 or 6L6, they sound different. Speaker choice will open you up to a whole lot of suggestions, especially as Joe uses EV12's.Just sit and play, then take note of your opinions and then let us know. We are here to help.
Jon
I've had lots of playing time with it to form opinions, so here they are:
The love:
The clean channel is very Fender-esque, but has it's own character, and doesn't break up easily
The FX loop works great for delays, chorus, and other effects
The loudness! This thing can really cut through the mix when playing with a band...sounds great at higher volumes when the tubes are cookin
The hate:
Sounds a wee bit "dark", as if there is a blanket over the speaker...I've heard a speaker change is a good way to rectify this, and adding an extension cab reportedly opens up the sound quite a bit
The Boost feature sucks and has a very honky, annoying tone
The pre-amp distortion could have a fuller tone with more bite, so I usually have a Boss SD-1 engaged to kick it up a notch
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Instead of spending hundreds to modify this thing, maybe I should just save up for a new amp...Any suggestions if I chose this route? Some that come to mind are the Cornford Roadhouse 30 or Hellcat, Budda Superdrive 45, Suhr Badger or Custom Audio Amplifiers....I have zero knowledge of Marshalls, although I used to own a combo years ago (no tubes in it).
Here's an idea that works GREAT with just about any modern tube amp.
Try swapping V1 (the first PreAmp Tube) from a 12AX7 to a lower gain tube. Any of these will work: 12AY7, 12AT7, 12AU7. I think there are a couple more variations, too.
These all have less gain than a 12AX7. And the lower gain will help to "Clear Up" the Overdrive and Distortion of the amp. You can swap the PreAmp Tubes, without any kind of Re-Biasing, etc. It's a quick. inexpensive, very useful technique.
Changing the PreAmp Tube will also affect the "Feel" and Response of the amp. It may take a little while to get used to the changes. You'll probably have to try different EQ settings, etc.
Another thing: There is a LOT of Tonal variation in how you set the Amp's Volume and it's Master Volume. So, if you typically run the Preamp Higher, and the Volume lower, try the opposite technique. Try to get more of the Power Tubes' Tone. Less of the Preamp's Tone. This is the "Real Deal". Power Tubes ARE what Tube Amps are all about. If the actual Volume isn't at Noon or higher, you're not really playing the Amp. You're playing a glorified Pedal. Give it a try.
And yeah, that Boost button is pretty nasty!
Another thing: Maybe you'd really dig an Eminence Texas Heat for a new Speaker.
If it sounds dark you might have 75W or 100w speakers. If you went down to a celestion vintage 30 greenback, it'd change the tone dramatically...
Here's an idea that works GREAT with just about any modern tube amp.
Try swapping V1 (the first PreAmp Tube) from a 12AX7 to a lower gain tube. Any of these will work: 12AY7, 12AT7, 12AU7. I think there are a couple more variations, too.
These all have less gain than a 12AX7. And the lower gain will help to "Clear Up" the Overdrive and Distortion of the amp. You can swap the PreAmp Tubes, without any kind of Re-Biasing, etc. It's a quick. inexpensive, very useful technique.
Changing the PreAmp Tube will also affect the "Feel" and Response of the amp. It may take a little while to get used to the changes. You'll probably have to try different EQ settings, etc.
Another thing: There is a LOT of Tonal variation in how you set the Amp's Volume and it's Master Volume. So, if you typically run the Preamp Higher, and the Volume lower, try the opposite technique. Try to get more of the Power Tubes' Tone. Less of the Preamp's Tone. This is the "Real Deal". Power Tubes ARE what Tube Amps are all about. If the actual Volume isn't at Noon or higher, you're not really playing the Amp. You're playing a glorified Pedal. Give it a try.
And yeah, that Boost button is pretty nasty!
Another thing: Maybe you'd really dig an Eminence Texas Heat for a new Speaker.
Yeah, I've heard the Celestion G12H30 is a good speaker swap for the C30 as well...Thing with is I can't turn the volume up too high in here as I live in a condominium complex.. Ah well, when I move into a house in the next year or two, we are going to build a soundproof music room so I can crank it up as loud as I want....Using the power tube tone, I would imagine you wouldn't get the same saturated distortion...I could be wrong though.
If it sounds dark you might have 75W or 100w speakers. If you went down to a celestion vintage 30 greenback, it'd change the tone dramatically...
No no. It's one speaker that's 30 watts, hence the name Peavey Classic 30. I haven't heard a lot of good things about Celestion Vintage 30's swapped into PV C30's.
Maybe you would like an Attenuator. These will let you crank your amp up, while keeping the volume down.
Some to look at:
THD Hotplate
Weber MASS
Weber MiniMASS
Ultimate
DR. Z Airbrake
There are more, I can't think of right now.
Very useful, for live use also.
And yeah, you can get it pretty saturated with power tube distortion. But, for "over the top" stuff, that's when your pedals will help. You won't believe how much better the pedals sound, also. But, it's all about the power tubes, Baby! LOL Just a whole other world.
Marshall powerbrakes too.
No no. It's one speaker that's 30 watts, hence the name Peavey Classic 30.
30 watts is the output of the amp, not the wattage of the speaker.
For example a Marshall 4x12 1960 cab has 75W celestions in it, but it's made for 50W and 100W Marshall heads. You can swap those 75W speakers out for the 30W greenbacks and, like I said, change the tone. Behringer 4x12 cabinets have 100W jensen speakers in them.
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