What is the BEST sounding Peavey guitar amp ever made??? IYO

[tedmich]

Hartley PV was the first to use CNC machining for guitars/basses I believe. I very much like the sound of the old EL84 Bravo (1991 Guitar Amp of the Year at NaMM!) and also my Ultra+ which I have modded a bit to give ridiculos gain at bedroom volumes. I really want a XXX but may instead be getting a 6505+ head this week. Peavey amps have always defined value; the best performance for the price, and they invented the modern metal guitar tone. The only "improvement" would be to steal their designs and make them for 1/10th the price in China...like Buggera

[Chuck H]

I fully agree that Peavey is one of the best (if not THE best) value going for amps that are reliable with well considered voicing and features. Not sure about them inventing the modern metal tone. IIRC a lot of people consider the 5150 a Soldano rip off. But before that they did have an all tube line of amps that featured an "ultra gain" channel. I had a Rockmaster preamp and it had more raw, metal type gain than any other product on the market at that time.

[tedmich]

While the circuit for the 5150 (and the Mesa Dual Rect) are direct copies of the SLO, they do manage to sound very different...And while the SLO may be used in more concerts and recordings the 5150 brought its over the top gain to the unwashed (and poorer) masses. But before the SLO, peavey was going all transtube and "ten channel midi" in the amp department, with the Butcher and early Triumphs being their (much less successful) attempts at high gain. It is a bit funny PV is suing Behringer now on "stealing stuff they stole" but most of Soldano's anger is toward Mesa who sells to the same demographic as he ($$!) He didn't care about PVs market until he decided to go "Jet City"

[soundguruman]

While the circuit for the 5150 (and the Mesa Dual Rect) are direct copies of the SLO, they do manage to sound very different...And while the SLO may be used in more concerts and recordings the 5150 brought its over the top gain to the unwashed (and poorer) masses. But before the SLO, peavey was going all transtube and "ten channel midi" in the amp department, with the Butcher and early Triumphs being their (much less successful) attempts at high gain. It is a bit funny PV is suing Behringer now on "stealing stuff they stole" but most of Soldano's anger is toward Mesa who sells to the same demographic as he ($$!) He didn't care about PVs market until he decided to go "Jet City"

I really don't see anything that Behringer has sold that is an original design.
Although, they continue to claim that their designs are "proprietary."

I see, IMHO, Behringer as a copy of Mackie or Peavey...
and really not much else.
some interesting notes I found on Wiki...

In February 2006, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Behringer $1M, issuing a Notice of Apparent Liability against Behringer, claiming that 50 of the company's products had not been tested for conducted and radiated emissions limits as required by US law, and noting that Behringer continued to sell the products for a year after being notified.

The Mackie suit detailed an instance, in which Behringer was sued by Aphex Systems for copying the Aural Exciter Type F—in that case Aphex Systems won 690,000 Deutsche Mark. The Mackie suit also mentioned similar cases filed by BBE, dbx and Drawmer.

In 2005, Roland Corporation sued to enforce Roland's trade dress, trademark, and other intellectual property rights with regard to Behringer's recently released guitar pedals. The two companies came to a confidential settlement in 2006 after Behringer changed their designs

In 2009 Peavey Electronics Corp. filed two lawsuits against various companies under Behringer/Music Group umbrella for patent infringement, federal and common law trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition.

So, I am wondering where the "proprietary" design starts(?)

[Chuck H]

But before the SLO, peavey was going all transtube and "ten channel midi" in the amp department, with the Butcher and early Triumphs being their (much less successful) attempts at high gain.

Ha ha! I had a Triumph PAG-60 with the Ultra Gain channel!!! Great sounding amp, until you had to play a gig!?! With the mids up it would get blatty and with them down it was too scooped to cut. Bottom line, it wasn't even loud enough for a small bar gig. I did some recording with it though and when I listen to those old tracks they still impress! I moved in a different direction tonally after that or I might have searched for the PAG-120!!! Why not? I may do that eventually anyway. Probably cheap on that big auction site whenever they come up.

[choker]

I have a group of amps that includes several Fenders, a couple of Vox, some Ampeg and a Marshall stack (all from the '50s and '60s). Also residing within this modest family is a Peavey Delta Blues 15 (~10 years old). As I understand it, the Delta Blues circuit is nearly identical to the Classic 30.

After doing some minor modifications --mostly replacing a few of their miniscule caps with better quality ones plus re-tuning the eq slightly and making the drive channel a little more useful-- I think the amp sounds quite respectable. Even amongst this group of stellar performers. And it still has its original issue 15" speaker.

Without having played very many Peavey amps, I am not qualified to rate it as "best". I can say it sounds very good.

I certainly would not describe the amp as "built like a tank" though. But that is my feeling about most --if not all-- printed circuit board amps that I have worked inside.

[Enzo]

The Delta Blues and Classic 30 are exactly the same circuit with the lone exception of a little two transistor trem circuit added to the DB.

[telecastoff]

Personally, I feel the Peavey Classic 50 212 (older style) is the best of the Peavey line, with the Renown 400 following a very close second place. I grew up on Fenders back in the 60's and played nothing but those until recent years.I've been gigging for 50+ years now and these two Peaveys do the job for me.

[Jazz P Bass]

I love my Stereo Chorus 400.

[Rhodesplyr]

I restored a 1970s Peavey Musician 400 solid-state head for a customer a couple of years ago. I wasn't expecting much, but, when I was done, I was surprised at how many musically-useful tones you could get out of it. All the effects worked well, and it was solidly built.

[Chuck H]

Back in HS my whole band used Peavey gear!!! Bass player had a TKO 115, I played a Bandit 65, the PA was a PA 400 (borrowed from the bass players dad) and the keyboardist used a TNT!!! Man we sounded awful. Not because of the gear though

[potatofarmer]

It seems the old Earth Sound Research amps have been picking up some fans lately, which is odd. Take the reliability out of a Peavey and you get...?

I have a Peavey Classic Chorus 212 from the early 90s. Best I can tell it was their attempt at a JC120 clone. I don't like how the normal channel is voiced (something like a Vox stack, IIRC) and the distortion channel is completely unusable. The chorus sounds good, but you can't shut it off without the footswitch. They used a separate 75W power amp for each speaker and to shut off the chorus they just disabled one of the power amps. So that's an odd approach. Both power amps have their own inserts though, which is something I've been meaning to take advantage of someday. I certainly wouldn't nominate it for "best" anything, but it's loud, cheap, and reliable. Stock Scorpions are alright. I think Scorpions and Black Widows are better than people give them credit for. Far from my favorites, but still respectable guitar speakers.

[Enzo]

It seems the old Earth Sound Research amps have been picking up some fans lately, which is odd. Take the reliability out of a Peavey and you get...?

Enough left over to buy a couple of mics and mic stands. Hey, when you are a kid...

There were separate power amps per speaker, but they didn't just shut one off, what they did was send the dry signal to both amps - mono. When the chorus was engaged, the dry signal continued to one amp, and the wet signal went to the other. Q6 and Q10 do that. SO In chorus mode, you actually have two different signals in the two speakers, instead of a chorused-effect mono signal from both.

[Mick Bailey]

Best sounding Peavey ever?

I bet Jeff Beck playing through a Backstage 110 sounds better than anyone who would knock Peavey - whatever gear they had. It isn't only the badge makes an amp sound good........

Neal Schon didn't sound too bad, neither did Lynrd Skynrd with their Peaveys. The Mace can sound pretty good -
I have one in right now.

[Mark Hammer]

**deleted** (can't believe I said the same stuff twice!)