Recommended mods for Peavey VTM

[Rockman]

I picked up a Peavey VTM 120 awhile back and think it is really a great amp. First real tube amp, though.

I'm really happy with it but just wondered if there were some common mods worth doing or if basically everything is already taken care of by the dip switches in the front.

Should I mod it or leave it stock ?

Anyone thinking about picking up one of these I'd say go for it. They are about as cheap as you can get for a tube amp and sound remarkable well. I like mostly 80's metal and it seems to match up with most everything on my cd's, makes learning by ear easier when the distortion and tones all match up.

Hooked on tubes now.

As Always,

thanks for the help.

[Guitarist]

From what I've heard over the years they are killer amps. Peavey's Marshall, perhaps better in some ways. Maybe rework it's look with some Marshall grillcloth or a finished wood panel AND a Marshall logo, sshhh.

Looks to me like you've got the amp section of your professionalism covered. Perhaps look at getting some great speakers, Eminence Greenback clones, some quality reverb/delay (Lexicon mx200, or TC Elec) OR if you can afford it a Digitech 1101. OK, add some stylin' threads too . Let er rip.

[slacker190]

I put a 2nd channel on my vtm120 for cleans. I just duplicated the pre and post gain knobs, added two dpst relays to switch out the incoming/outgoing from each set of pots. Left ground as common. Added a 4.7k resistor from the incoming of the clean channel pre-gain pot to ground.

The amp sounds great by itself, but i just wanted a clean channel.

[Enzo]

Have you explored the little row of switches on the front panel. They are behind the little metal plate.

[Paleo Pete]

Enzo is right, that little batch of switches covers most things you might want to modify. I played through a VTM 60 a friend owned a few years ago, about the only thing I could think of it might need would be a second channel for cleans, as mentioned above. He also had a silverface Bassman (50 watter) and I never did manage to talk him into selling me either of them...I barely managed to stop short of begging for the Bassman Also tried a couple of VTM's at music stores and pawn shops. Great amp, very versatile and with the flip of a few switches it will do just about anything you need an amp to do without getting "under the hood". The 60 would be my choice, I very rarely play anywhere I need more power, and already have a 30/130 watt Peavey MX for that anyway. It's also my "clean channel" and a teriffic amp...but I am thinking about poking around to see if I can find the bass cap and change it to get a bit better bass response...

[Enzo]

ANd as regards the clean channel thing, are you aware that the two input jacks are not both going to the same place? This is not the active/passive thing like most Fenders. The high gain jack goes through an aditional gain stage, Plexi style, and then passes the low gain jack on its way. The low gain jack plugs in AFTER the first gain stage. Try plugging into the lower gain jack for cleans and see if it helps.

This is a very versatile amp.

[Paleo Pete]

True again, I forgot about that. My MX is set up the same way, but even in the "high gain" jack it's still clean as it gets. At least the clean channel is...

[slacker190]

With the clean channel, you can use either input jack. Just duplicate the pre/post gain controls and switch via relays, but the clean pre gain has a 4.7k resistor to ground. Its essential a single channel amp with a switchable pre and post gain controls, but one of the pre-gain controls has a resistor on it.

No need to use the low gain jack for cleans in my case. With the gain 1 DIP switch activated, SD-1 on, plugged into high gain input jack, the cleans sound very good. Just use the pre-gain on the secondary channel as a input adjust to set the amount of gain on the clean channel. In my case with all of the above(high gain input, sd-1, gain DIP 1) it goes from fendery clean to a slight moderate breakup on the cleans.