Peavey classic 30 clean tone help.

[mattjdriscoll]

Greetings,
I just registered on these forums and I was hoping I could get some help with my peavey classic 30 amp tone. My peavey classic 30 amp is an older used model and I have owned it for about 2 years now. It had no issues at first but about a year into playing it the transformer died and the tubes needed to be replaced as well. It was quickly fixed and had been running great up until recently when I installed a new weber blue dog ceramic 50w speaker. The amp has plenty of volume and I really enjoy bite it now has but I feel like the amp now sounds a little to gritty and dirty when on the "clean" channel. It seems like the speaker is much more responsive to how hard I play but seems to overdrive almost too quickly. When set on dirty, the amp has a bit of squealing on mid-high volumes. Is it possible that I need new tubes already? Have I not given the speaker enough time to break in yet? The amp currently has peavey 12ax7 tubes and electro harmonix el84s. The amp is great sounding but when I turn up and dig in a bit it sounds rather flat and fuzzy. Any input on this would be GREATLY appreciated. I cannot afford another amp hospital bill. Thank you for your time.

[Sock Puppet]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

The amp has plenty of volume

You might think this a really daft question but you haven't put a 4 ohm speaker in there have you?

[mattjdriscoll]

I was sure to check that the ohms on the speaker were 16. I am curious however if I hooked the speaker wire to the wrong "tabs" or "ears" on the speaker. There are 4 of them which I understand is normal but is it okay for the wire to be plugged into both top "tabs". i also did notice one of the tabs is painted red. Should the speaker be plugged into here? I am fairly naive to this kind of stuff but I'm trying to learn. My thinking is that it is most likely a tube problem though. thanks in advance.

[Enzo]

Speaker is fine.

About the four tabs, I think if you look close you will see the left tab and right tab are actually dual tabs, with a tab sticking out two directions from each one. SInce it is the same little piece of metal, it matters not it you use the side or top ones, or one of each. They are made that way merely for the convenience of those wiring them up.

I find that on the clean channel when I turn up over about 4 or 5, a bit of rattiness starts to add in. That is the phase inverter clipping. I find a lower gain tube in V3 seems to give a little more headroom. Try a 5751 or even a 12AT7. V3 is the small tube closest to the four power tubes.

[mattjdriscoll]

What tubes would you suggest for an optimum balance of headroom and heavy distortion. I also understand that the classic 30 is not a "true" two channel amp. I was thinking about getting a complete retube kit form Eurotubes but if anyone has any better suggestions let me know before I order. I would really like to understand tubes and how they affect sound better. Can I mix different tubes - including old and new - in the first 3 (V1-V3) slots without causing any damage to my amp? I'm good at finding a nice tone on my amp but my knowledge of tubes is limited and it doesn't give me much to work with.

[Chuck H]

It is possible that your "squealing" at higher gain settings is a microphonic preamp tube. Get the amp squealing and if you can grab a preamp tube (probably with a cloth of some sort due to heat) and stop the noise then replace that preamp tube with a known non microphonic tube. They can be purchaced pre tested (for an up charge of course).

Chuck

[tubeswell]

What Chuck said. With howling/squealing as the amp gets louder - one of the first things to suspect is a microphonic pre-amp tube. Another way to tell if its a microphonic pre-amp tube (besides holding each one with a dry towel) is swapping the tubes out. The C30 'dirty' channel is controlled by V2 (which is the 12AX7 in between the other two 12AX7s) - so replace that with another 12AX7. You can also take it out and flick it with your fingernail whilst holding it up to your ear - a microphonic tube will tend to jangle like a jingle bell, whereas a 'good' tube will just make a nice solid little 'dink' sound.