Peavey Classic 30 for mid-gain open chord playing?

21Fretter · 2012-07-10T21:56:45+00:00

My current setup is a Ibanez RGA32-MOL and Hiwatt G100R. Not a fan of either unfortunately and I have been looking towards a new amp. My focus has changed a...

Peavey Classic 30 for mid-gain open chord playing?

21Fretter

Funnily enough, a Valveking has also popped up onto the radar selling at R3500 (neg.). My only worry though is that I have heard the stock VK speakers really aren't great, very muddy, and you do have to get a few mods in there to get it to its full potential; a speaker change (setting you back R1200 - R1500 I believe), dummy jack mod, possibly tube changes. It is also 50 watts which might be a bit overkill.

@Vella: I will more than likely move back to passives for my next guitar. I do have a RG7321 (passives) which I have played through my Hiwatt which I find is straight away more pleasing to my ears than the actives on my RGA (very brittle and sterile as some might say to my ears).

Clearly not a fan of my gear, I need a clean start ?

AlanRatcliffe

The Classic 30 is a great blues/rock amp. It's actually got quite a range of tones, leaning in a Fendery direction with a touch of Marshall crunchy edge and Vox chime, but with something all of its own. Speaker could be better, but the stock is adequate. Slap in a Celestion Gold for more chimey chords a la Vox or a V30 to make it lean a bit more to rock territory.

Some of the first black tolex models had issues with heat, others with connectors working loose, but not all. Plus Peavey have always had a problem with reverb transducers shaking loose (easily sorted). If you can find a tweed of any vintage they are mostly very reliable. The design does burn up valves faster than many other designs, but not excessively so and not as much as a Vox AC.

AlanRatcliffe

BTW - the clean channel doesn't have much clean headroom if you use 'buckers.

Manfred-Klose

I use the Peavey delta blues (classic 30 with a 15'' speaker)

i can do pretty much anything with this amp, but it took me a few years to realise that this is all i needed.
i dont use any pedals, i play like blues rock to abit more heavier chunky music.
play with my homemade telecaster and my versatile sanox for humbucker sound, it performs abit better with humbuckers with a tele you get that 90's grunge single sound.
i dont use the clean channel at all, just control on guitar volume knob and playing dynamics

i control mostly with my guitars volume knob.
my Pre is set to about 4(varies in a live situation sometimes even go up to 7) and post to about 5, which is kind ofthe sweet spot in my amp.

i think this amp will suit the bands that you named.
but it being a valve amp, what you put it is what you get out, so if ever the amp sounds kak, first check out the guitar and then your playing technique, for a long time i thought my amp didn't sound good until i found out i played it wrong.

Reinhard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: BTW - the clean channel doesn't have much clean headroom if you use 'buckers.

Alan I actually found the opposite. There was no way i could turn it up high enough on the clean channel (with buckers) to get it to break up without killing myself and those around me.

AlanRatcliffe

Reinhard wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: BTW - the clean channel doesn't have much clean headroom if you use 'buckers.
Alan I actually found the opposite. There was no way i could turn it up high enough on the clean channel (with buckers) to get it to break up without killing myself and those around me.

OK, my one humbucker guitar at the time I had a C30 on hand (one of the earliest) was fairly hot (Air Zone), so that will factor in. However, I'm also talking sparkly cleans - I found it always had a touch of hair on it. My AC15 Hand Wired was the same...

Cannon

I found the heat issue a bit too much for me on mine.
It got hard at times to touch the control panel & the writing seemed to be starting to burn off.
I remember Graeme shaking his head every time a classic came in for repairs.
The rattle issue.....!!! Dang!!!
Otherwise a awesome looking amp! I'd get one again just for the look!
8)

VellaJ

epictring wrote: The Classic and Valveking are two totally different amps designed for different applications.

The Classic is more of a blues amp but can handle rock to higher gain fairly well with pedals but the Valveking handles metal and high gain setups better.

I stand corrected ?

21Fretter wrote: Funnily enough, a Valveking has also popped up onto the radar selling at R3500 (neg.). My only worry though is that I have heard the stock VK speakers really aren't great, very muddy, and you do have to get a few mods in there to get it to its full potential; a speaker change (setting you back R1200 - R1500 I believe), dummy jack mod, possibly tube changes. It is also 50 watts which might be a bit overkill.

What they say about the speakers is semi-true; I have a feeling it has something to do with the amp as well. However, it also has a "Bright" switch, which I leave on permanently, and have never had any problems. And yes, 50W is big, if I play on volume 3 with my RGA I nigh on drown out the drummer, but I do get good overdriven tones at the lower volumes as well.

Look, R3,5k for a VK112 is good, if it's in good nick. If you have any questions about it, PM me ?

21Fretter

And we have another contender entering the ring, Vox AC30, +-R5000?

In my mind that are all around the same price as I don't think I would leave the VK stock.

shadow1

GREAT AMP!

I have a Marshall JVM410 and still find myself plugging into my c30.

I was in search of a small combo and adamant I would buy a Fender amp (play a strat) yet walked out the shop with a c30. I found its drive channel a lot more useable compared to a Fenders.

Retail back then was about R13k.

I have found that this amp takes pedals really well! in case you go that route.

21Fretter

Ah, okay C30 = AC30. I see Alan already mentioned it in passing.

I am currently leaning towards to AC30 at the moment on paper with the Peavey Classic having the possible heating issues and VK more than likely needing to be modified a bit but obviously all can change once I actually play them.

guidothepimmp

Fretter.

You mentioned this in a previous post, imho the pups in the rg32 are 3/4 of the problem..
Those actives are all output and little else.. I remember them being very harsh through every amp I tried. Thing is, my guess is whether you play that guit stock through the hiwatt, through a peavey or through a mesa 5:50, it is still going to be pretty harsh sounding..

If you have idnetified going passive already, why not do that first.. Much cheaper and might actually solve your problem??

Cos I'm pretty certain you could get the peavey and be bitterly disappointed.. Why do I say that? Valve amps are super unforgiving.. They are not instant great tone on tap.. And with rubbish pups, you could well just end up amplifying the harshness..

My 2c.. Good luck

21Fretter

No worries, appreciate any input. A bit of a catch 22; need a good guitar to make use of a good amp but you can't really test if an amp is good unless you have a good guitar ? Are any of the sales I mentioned specifically good deals? I do understand that I won't get the full benefit of these amps until guitar with solid PU's but if they are good deals, doesn't hurt to know you are sorted in that department and can then start looking for a guitar.

They do have Hiwatt G100R's at Marshall Music, maybe I should spend a good weekend and simply test some higher end guitar on the amp and see what comes out.

I do have my RG7321 which I could use to test the amps, the PU's are a bit muddy stock but not harsh or brittle like the actives.

BluJu

IMO the valveking does not stack up near to the AC30 or the classic 30.

On gumtree (CT) there is currently a classic 30 going for R4500 and a fender hotrod for 5k.

In terms of clean sound the hotrod blows the classic 30 away but i'm not sure how the classic 30 or ac30 takes pedals.