Talk to me about Fender amps

[71Smallbox]

I'm kind of intrigued by a Peavey Classic. I've got this idea in my head that Peaveys are naff amps that people just settle for when they can't afford anything better, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

The Classic 30 head looks like it could suit my needs pretty well. Also intrigued by the Classic 50 410 (because I a fool and I do not care about my back). But honestly it doesn't seem like they're any cheaper second hand than a similarly specced Fender. Can someone explain to me why I should/would/could go for a Peavey over a Fender?

Also I just this very moment realised that the Blues Deville and the Hot Rod Deville are two different amps. And the blues one is apparently much nicer. Anyone care to tell me I'm mistaken?

Deville 4x10: 50 lbs (22.7 kg)

This is just a hair heavier than my bandmate's Bassbreaker 18/30 (22.68kg, apparently), which isn't too bad to lift at all.

The only differences between the Blues Deville and the Hot Rod Deville is the additional "more gain" selection on the dirty channel(which obviously nobody should use as they sound shit) and cosmetics(tolex, grill cloth). They both have PCB mounted input jacks which leads to reliability issues.

[Josh]

if a tube powered fender was around the same price as any peavey I'm going fender 100% of the time, no question. don't care how good it sounds, which is snobby as fuck but you like what you like.

actually fuck, it just eluded me that there's a frank/dweezil Zappa peavey and those MASSIVE peavey bass amps. so unless it's them gotta be fender.

[Josh]

like damn these are cool.



the wiggy apparently had issues but looks super cool.
those big bois can usually be found cheap on craigslist for cheap and they're loud enough to fuck your walls up.

[Freddy V-C]

The only differences between the Blues Deville and the Hot Rod Deville is the additional "more gain" selection on the dirty channel(which obviously nobody should use as they sound shit) and cosmetics(tolex, grill cloth). They both have PCB mounted input jacks which leads to reliability issues.

Yeah I figured it might just be a difference in gain. I don't use amp gain because I have self-respect, so I guess it doesn't make a difference either way. I had read in a couple of places that the Blues Deville was just "nicer" than the Hot Rod Deville, but they didn't go into any more detail than that, so I suspect they literally were just talking about the gain.

if a tube powered fender was around the same price as any peavey I'm going fender 100% of the time, no question. don't care how good it sounds, which is snobby as fuck but you like what you like.

Yeah, judging by listings on Reverb it seems like the Deville 410 and the Peavey Classic 50 410 both go for £400-700 depending on location/condition. With that in mind, I can't think why I'd go for the Peavey over the Fender.

I did just stumble upon the Peavey Classic 30 head, which would actually suit my needs pretty well and doesn't seem to have a Fender equivalent. But it looks like they don't often come up second hand, and they've been discontinued and replaced by a 20 watt version. I'm not convinced that 20 watts would be loud enough for me (I used to gig with an Orange Tiny Terror circa 2010 - 2013 and I had to push it pretty hard), plus they're pushing £500 new, at which point I might as well just spend an extra £50 on a Fender Bassbreaker 45 head.

[NickD]

Yeah I figured it might just be a difference in gain. I don't use amp gain because I have self-respect.

Haha.

Totally the opposite of me, I only use amp gain. I buy nice pedals, never use them, then sell them again.

[71Smallbox]

Yeah I figured it might just be a difference in gain. I don't use amp gain because I have self-respect.

Haha.

Totally the opposite of me, I only use amp gain. I buy nice pedals, never use them, then sell them again.

Amp gain usage for me is dependent upon the respective amplifier. A JCM800 or any old Marshall sound top notch, but its tube gain, not some shitty silicon diode clipping gain circuit.

[Freddy V-C]

I've had amps with nice onboard distortion, but I've only ever really used it in the studio, never for live stuff. At gigs I'm pretty much always switching between clean and distorted, and I find using a footswitch pretty clunky compared with just having a distortion pedal on my board. It shouldn't be a big deal, but that one extra cable really stresses me out and makes everything seem so much more cumbersome.

[NickD]

My amp is an 18 watt Marshall, my clean tone is turning down the volume on the guitar. I couldn't do a completely clean tone at gig volumes to be fair, there is always some kind of tube compression at the very least.

[ekwatts]

I'm kind of intrigued by a Peavey Classic. I've got this idea in my head that Peaveys are naff amps that people just settle for when they can't afford anything better, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

The Classic 30 head looks like it could suit my needs pretty well. Also intrigued by the Classic 50 410 (because I a fool and I do not care about my back). But honestly it doesn't seem like they're any cheaper second hand than a similarly specced Fender. Can someone explain to me why I should/would/could go for a Peavey over a Fender?

The Fender is a copy of the Peavey.

Insofar as the Peavey Classic range came out over a decade prior to the Fender Hot Rods and Devilles, while obviously inspired by Fender amps of yesteryear, yeah.

The Classic 30 became such a... well, a classic because it sounded great regardless of what you threw at it. While the shared EQ is a ballache, both channels sound good. The Hot Rods lacked in that area (apparently) until a few upgrades over a decade ago, , although, again, this isn't really an issue for you. As it is now, I wouldn't say there's a vast difference between them, other than that Classics seem to go for hilariously cheaper prices secondhand. Which isn't a minor thing.

Both are reliable (as far as valve amps can be reliable), sound great. But the Peavey is cheaper. And the older ones look like Fender amps anyway.

So while some snobs might be all "OOH I SAY YOUNG SIR *SNIFFS OWN FART* I CAN'T SEE WHY YOU WOULD BUY THE PEAVEY OVER THE FENDER GUFFAW CHORTLE TEE HEE", if you're in the market for the exact kind of territory that both the Hot Rods and Classics cover, I can't see why any chump would end up paying higher second hand fees for a Fender badge when the corresponding Peavey badge is as good* for less money.

One thing to point out, too, if you're coming at this from a S/H perspective, is that both amp ranges have been around for so long that you might find a good many that have had speaker upgrades. One thing I will say is that the Peavey Blue Marvel stock speaker isn't shit, but it's not unusual to find them kitted out with a Celestion. Additionally, PROBABLY ISN'T MEANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY Hot Rods have a tendency to fall into the hands of clueless gear-shy fey indie band types who only bought it because of the Fender name and their mum and dad were paying anyway and I have it on good authority that you are far more at risk of contracting "Mumford and Sonsitis" from a Fender Hot Rod than from a Classic.

[ekwatts]

Also, I've rarely played a gig where I felt I needed more than my Classic 30. It's a fucking loud amp.

I've never gigged my 1x12 50 watt Ampeg but I remember thinking "PHEW all that extra power eh" at the time because I was conditioned by my days spent in da hood with my Classic 30. Obviously, it's subjective, I never toured with Albini, so you're a better judge of what you need/want than I'll ever be. But I still feel like those 4x10 50 watters are fucking ludicrous.

Like... if you wanna replace the speakers... you gotta buy four. Fuck that.

[Freddy V-C]

All good points! In general it seems like those Peaveys are cheaper than their Fender counterparts, for sure. But for whatever reason the Classic 50 410 and the Deville 410 are pretty much even.

That said, I have actually just spotted a Classic 50 410 for just under £450 with free delivery. All the Devilles I've seen have been collection only and ~4 hours drive away, so this is a strong contender for sure. Does the Peavey Classic series have the same reliability issue with the PCB mounted input jack?

I've also got a couple of those Musicman 65 heads on my radar. I've read that the versions with 'Sixty Five' in script text are fully valve, and the other ones are later versions with a transistor preamp. Anyone able to confirm/deny? I can't seem to corroborate it.

My volume needs are probably quite daft, to be honest. I mentioned earlier in the thread that in Beige Palace I'm fighting a crazy loud drummer and a synth through two bass cabs, and if we start doing Thank again then I'll be up against an even louder drummer, five bass cabs and a Bassbreaker 30 combo.

[Doog]

Yep, always go after surplus headroom rather than not enough, especially if you're after sparkly cleans.

Obvo there's stuff you can do with more efficient speakers and powertube choices (I did this on my Marshall head for more clean headroom) but why fanny about after the fact.

You can always counteract a superclean amp in the same way (hotter bias, less efficient powertubes) if you one day need some CRUNCH N SAG

[George]

Wow, I'm surprised the Deville 410s are so light. They seem like a pretty good bet for what you're after at the price.

The Classic 510 is quite a bit heavier and approaching a Twin in weight.

[George]

Does the Peavey Classic series have the same reliability issue with the PCB mounted input jack?

Google image search says yes (tdpri URLs won't let me embed properly), but I don't think it's actually much of an issue. HRDXs are the most used guitar amp on earth and used by countless venues and by countless professional touring bands worldwide. If it was that bad they wouldn't be used. I would google threads about that being a specific issue before being turned off.

And more or less everything will be PCB mounted at the price range you're looking at.

[Nick]

Does the Peavey Classic series have the same reliability issue with the PCB mounted input jack?

Google image search says yes (tdpri URLs won't let me embed properly), but I don't think it's actually much of an issue. HRDXs are the most used guitar amp on earth and used by countless venues and by countless professional touring bands worldwide. If it was that bad they wouldn't be used. I would google threads about that being a specific issue before being turned off.

And more or less everything will be PCB mounted at the price range you're looking at.

Mounted input jacks are not that hard to replace. I’ve replaced the jack on a Fender Champion 30 myself and my soldering skills are still somewhat amateur.

I have had a Tech 21 Trademark 10 crack the circuit board where the input Jack was mounted, which is a much worse issue that probably doesn’t affect most amps.

[ekwatts]

And more or less everything will be PCB mounted at the price range you're looking at.

Yep. And it is an issue but one that is fixable. I knew two other guitarists with Classic 30s before I bought mine and they probs paid out a few hundred each in servicings/repairs for amps that they'd owned since the early/mid 90s, and while I lost track over the last decade, I do know that one of them sold their perfectly fine Classic 30 to another friend, so that's an amp that, to my knowledge, has been gigged on and off for the better part of 25 years.

I don't know if this is true of larger Classics and the Hot Rods but the Classic 30 PCB is basically folded over on itself inside the enclosure. Which is kind of funny to see when you first pull it out because it looks like it was just haphazardly stuffed in there. I mean, it really looks as if they snapped the board over their knee and then just jammed it in and screwed everything into place. I'm not experienced enough with the guts of amps to know if that's a normal thing or not, but the internals of my Ampeg and Orange Tiny Terror combo are infinitely neater. But they're easily serviceable and I'd be surprised if any amp tech you presented it to hadn't already dealt with a few beforehand.

And while I find it funny for the corners that were cut on the Classic series to be so blatant once you open them up, Peavey were trying to provide great sounding valve amps to working guitarists at a time when many other manufacturers were doing their best to avoid having to do the same. And I salute them for it.

[71Smallbox]

And more or less everything will be PCB mounted at the price range you're looking at.

Yep. And it is an issue but one that is fixable. I knew two other guitarists with Classic 30s before I bought mine and they probs paid out a few hundred each in servicings/repairs for amps that they'd owned since the early/mid 90s, and while I lost track over the last decade, I do know that one of them sold their perfectly fine Classic 30 to another friend, so that's an amp that, to my knowledge, has been gigged on and off for the better part of 25 years.

I don't know if this is true of larger Classics and the Hot Rods but the Classic 30 PCB is basically folded over on itself inside the enclosure. Which is kind of funny to see when you first pull it out because it looks like it was just haphazardly stuffed in there. I mean, it really looks as if they snapped the board over their knee and then just jammed it in and screwed everything into place. I'm not experienced enough with the guts of amps to know if that's a normal thing or not, but the internals of my Ampeg and Orange Tiny Terror combo are infinitely neater. But they're easily serviceable and I'd be surprised if any amp tech you presented it to hadn't already dealt with a few beforehand.

And while I find it funny for the corners that were cut on the Classic series to be so blatant once you open them up, Peavey were trying to provide great sounding valve amps to working guitarists at a time when many other manufacturers were doing their best to avoid having to do the same. And I salute them for it.

If you go for the fender HRD or BD or Peavey Classic, just do what others do and wrap the cord around the handle once before you plug into the input. That makes it secure even if your singer/bassist or any other person on stage trips or steps on your cord.

[BearBoy]

Stop dicking about and get a Super Six Reverb:

[youtube][/youtube]

[Doog]

fucking amazing

[Freddy V-C]

Honestly thought it was someone cosplaying as me from the thumbnail.