Peavey Royal 8 valves and mods

[jimi_t]

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm so new to playing that there isn't much music I can play... it's mostly noise. I still can't decide if I should get this amp or save my $'s for a old Champ I played recently. I really liked its sound.

[CSPRINGER]

Specs on the amps

JIMI JAMES,
Although you did not directly ask...you sound on the fence....what are the model / specs of the champ?

I demo'd the fen-derr Champ XD at the store planning to like it after all the reviews, and was I disappointed ? Yes. Perhaps these modelling amps just sound harsh, I wonder if we are better off with a nice amp to start, and pedal of our choice vesus integration into the amp.

[olddawg]

It always amazes me when people want "clean" out of one of these little 5 watt, open ended, EL84 amps. There's virtually no overhead so not much clean. They can however be made to scream. The best thing I did to my VJ head was use a NOS RCA 12AX7. That's generally good advice for any tube amp. You want a great tube in V1. It also sounds much better through my 4x10 cab than a dinky single speaker no matter the price.

[jimi_t]

I'm definitely on the fence. I'm thinking of an old silverface Champ. I think I could get the one I was playing for $300. After adding in the cost of replacing the tubes ($25) and speaker ($50) in the Peavey, I'm wondering if I should save up and get the Champ, which I liked the sound of as is.

[CSPRINGER]

My two cents

Well,
Sounds pretty clean to me but I may not know what clean is, not sterile but more clean than I need., and unfortunaty as much as I do love Jazz I cant play any. So I always use my OD.

Jimi,
No NEED to replace the tubes and/or speaker in the Royal - the stock tubes and speaker are perfectly fine especially if you are just learning how to finger the fretboard. If I was on a strick budget, I would get the amp, and find the right PEDAL. period....

A silver face champ for $300? If thats in good shape that might be a deal. Send me pics, maybe I'll have a go at it? Your best bet is to go to a store that has the PEAVY and have some one who plays well, and your kinda music, play through it whilst YOU tweak the settings and see if You like how it sounds.

Just my two cents....

[jimi_t]

Well, I ended up picking up the Champ... Once I started noodling around on it, I couldn't pass it up. It is clean though not 100% original.

Thanks for all the feedback and info on the Royal. I'm going to keep an eye out for one to hear how to sounds 'cause you never know...

[Knasher]

Hello, I bought a Royal 8 fairly recently. I had a Celestion speaker knocking about so put it in without ever listening to the original speaker. The valves were both JJ Teslas, so i swopped the 12ax7 for a TungSol and the EL84 for a Mullard. Its now much punchier with a strong bass as the teslas were very neutral. I now love it.

[Korovjov]

Hello Mark!

I'm very happy that i find a schematic of the Valveking Royal 8.
I decided to build a tube amp, and chose this amp, but i dont know how to start with it.
Could you help me in finding usable board layout of that amp, so that i could see how it looks like?
Othervise i can only buy the parts but cant start with the project.
Kind Regards!

Kr.

[mark h]

I've attached a schematic to this post. Let me know if you can view it ok

[mark h]

This may not seem the most obvious way to go about things but I found it helpful. I've attached a schematic for the epiphone valve junior and a pdf that originally was intended to go with a mod kit. It tells you the function of various components in the circuit. You can compare them with the Royal8 schematic and make similar changes to that amp too

[Knasher]

If your going to build one I would suggest you get 'alnicomagnet's modding CD of Ebay as it contains loads of pics and some very worth while mods that you could incorporate as you go. I think they cost about £10 or £12. (Mark H it also includes some voicing mods).

[Korovjov]

This may not seem the most obvious way to go about things but I found it helpful. I've attached a schematic for the epiphone valve junior and a pdf that originally was intended to go with a mod kit. It tells you the function of various components in the circuit. You can compare them with the Royal8 schematic and make similar changes to that amp too

Hello Mark!

Thank you for the peavey Royal 8 schematic, and the other schematics as well. I have seved it to my computer.
I went trough many of the components of the royal 8 amp schematic, and there are some components i cant find the values

My main problem is the VR3, ( basicly all the VRSs have 1 MEG and 15A ) The VR3 is 1 MEG, and i cant see any other parameters, but a letter B or maybe it is a number 8?,... I dont know what is that parameter would be.
Could you help me in that question, what VR3 Ampers are?

Well i did a list of the Resistors and Capacitors.
As i did the list, I noticed that the simply R3 doesn't exist, or they forget to use this Resistor number on the diagram.
What do you think about that?

And one other thing that i think is important.
On the left bottom corner of the schematis, there are some hints they say:

- All trough hole Resistors are 1/4 watt unless othervise indicated

- All SMT 1206 Resistors are 1/4 watt

- All SMT 0805 Resistors are 1/10 watt

I supposewith that hint i should have figured out what the Resistors Wattage are, but i couldn't.
What I have resistors wattage only those that were indicated on the schematic, and the left are missing.
Could you help me in finding the remained resistor Wattage parameters:
Here i give you a list of these Resisitors includes the missing parameters.



R1…….100 kΏ…..

R2…….220 kΏ… ..1w

R3………….?.........this is what whole R indication is missing on the layout?

R4……..47 kΏ……1w

R5………1 kΏ…….

R6……..100 Ώ…….

R7……..100 Ώ….…1w

R8……..150 Ώ……..5w

R9……..1 k Ώ…......1w

R10…….1,5 kΏ

R11…….4,7 Ώ

R12…….22 kΏ…….1w

R13…….47 kΏ

R14…….100 kΏ…….1w

R15……..1 MΏ

R16……..22 kΏ

R17…….1 MΏ

R18……..47kΏ

R19……..? I think this Resisitor indication is also missing on the layout

R20…….330Ώ

And The VR3 1 Meg without Amper parameter

I'm sorry if i have so many questons, but a have no expreience in amp buliding yet. I'm sure many of my questions are pretty obvious for many of you.

Kind Regards

Kr.