peavey question...

[jeffinwv]

i am looking at a peavey festival series road master amp and speaker with 4 12's.

it has 4 6550 tubes in back.

in very good condition...

has anyone ever played through one of these?

i think its more a bass amp.

what does it sounb like to you?

whats its value?

[petemoore]

i am looking at a peavey festival series road master amp and speaker with 4 12's.

it has 4 6550 tubes in back.
This is big tube amp. I call it 'monster'.

in very good condition... Tubes and all ? How old are the caps..

has anyone ever played through one of these?
Yes, ruthless thing on a guitar, my experience found it too large not to be 'cumbersome'.

i think its more a bass amp.
Yupp, should be able to handle most bass situations happily, strongly.

what does it sounb like to you?
A great big amp which...sounds really big but...tonally...well I never really worked with it that much, we got the initial resounding impression it's a big bull elephant, built like brick I shi'dn talk like that.
Unless huge amounts of watts are needed and you think trying this amp'll do it for ya, I'd try something smaller scale and which might be a better bet tone-wise...speakers/tubes/trannys/etc. every bit can make a difference, hard for me to say if it's the right deal for you to persue.
whats its value?

[Paleo Pete]

Did you notice what the wattage is? I'm thinking this might be the 160 watt monster I almost bought a couple of years ago, but it was just a head. I haven't played that amp but I have two Peavey tube amps, both solid state preamp into tube power amp and I like them really well. The MX is the clean half of my stage rig now, it was the main amp till I got a Super Reverb to put beside it for raunch n roll. I can't offer any definite advice on this particular amp, but both of my Peaveys have been great, I've heard a bunch of other Peavey tube amps onstage and never met a musician who didn't like his (or hers).

If that head is 120-160 watts, it would be good to have for large halls and outdoor gigs, I wouldn't mind having a 160 watter for outdoor gigs, that's why I almost grabbed the one I passed up, couldn't really afford it though. But any time I look at amps, I always definitely take a close look at Peavey, I've played a dozen or more, both tube and solid state, owned 5 or 6, they're built like tanks and hold up to heavy road use, and every Peavey tube amp I've played except one sounded great, that one just didn't get enough bass for me but still sounded good. Through a 4x12 cab that Festival you looked at should get a good sound, I'd play it and see how it sounds then decide. If it has a 4x12 cab, it's a guitar amp, Peavey always used 15" speakers in bass cabs until very recently when Hartke made smaller speakers popular again, other than a few really old bass rigs that used 6x10 cabs and such.

That one may be more amp than you need, but it's probably a good one. The main reason I started to get one is I wanted a good, really clean amp, 160 watts would leave me tons of headroom and a good clean sound. And I want it as clean as possible. I already don't crank the MX up much, it's 130 watts compared to a 45 watt Super Reverb and I just need the volume level to match the Super and stay clean, I just can't remember if it was the Festival series that I looked at...I know it was a tube amp, that's all I look at these days, and it was 160 watts, which is why I was interested. Loads of power for clean headroom and/or outdoor gigs. I don't even consider distortion channels, I use a stompbox for that, never use the distortion channel I have now...

If I were you I'd take a closer look, play it and see what it sounds like. One thing is for sure though, if you crank it much at all with four 6550's, your neighbors won't like you too much...I think that would be around 100-130 watts, though I'm not as familiar with 6550 tubes as 6L6's, four of those is definitely 100 watts or so, mine is 130. Be aware though, it will be really loud if you crank it up...I can't crank my 130 watter past about half volume or so for most loud bands... and at 7 it will play clean leads on top of a cranked 100 watt Marshall, I've done that several times.

I'd say take a closer look and listen to it..

[jeffinwv]

this amp is blowing fuses. i used those 6550 for something else. if anyone wants it ill sell it for $25 plus shipping.

paypal accepted.

its the big moster with the 6550x4

[Paleo Pete]

What model is it? With speakers or without? Shipping from what state? If I can scrape up a few bucks I might be real tempted, if nothing else it might be an interesting project...I've never seen a Peavey with 6550 tubes, I'm wondering if someone might have done some uninformed tinkering and swapped 6L6's thinking 6550's would make it sound better or get more power...and blowing fuses sounds about right if the 6550's weren't biased right, or a cap is going bad, loose ground...shipping would probably eat my lunch, it might be worth your while to find out what tubes it really uses, fix what's blowing fuses and resell it. If it were sitting here in my living room that's what I would do. Or use it if it sounds good...

[jeffinwv]

i dont think anyone has swapped tubes. it didnt,...i got this head from a church. its a peavey festival series roadmaster. 2 channel. the price is for the head only. no tubes or speakers.

it would be shipped from west virginia.

i can get an exact number off it today. its down at a garage we play music in. or i can link to a pic.

but i would think $25 would ship it.

[struggler]

hey there if you still have the head i would be interested in finding out more about it. thanks.