Amps and Moddage

[steve cyr]

I bought a Peavey Classic 30 amp about 3 years ago, and while it was a darn good amp for the money, the speaker just didn't quite make it. It was a "Blue Marvel" which (I'm guessing) means a bottom-of-the line speaker made by Eminence. I don't have any other way to describe the sound but to say it sounded like cardboard.

Well, Carvin was selling off some Celestion G12P-80 speakers for $29.99 about 2 years ago, so I bought one, and installed it in my Classic 30. Now that amp sounds like it's supposed to sound. The improvement was even more than I expected. I sold the Blue Marvel speaker on Ebay for almost as much as the Celestion cost me.

The only other mod I did was to install one of those gadgets to keep the power tubes (four x EL84) non-microphonic - it consists of a piece of 1/2" thin-wall conduit with one small hole with a high-temp grommet for the tip of each tube. The tubing is held in place by springs at each end. Bought this gadget on Ebay for $20. It eliminated the microphonic problem instantly.

I have two other amps:

1) A Marshall VS65R, which is a hybrid since it has one 12AX7A tube in the preamp section. Very nice amp, but it has developed a noise problem lately - tendency to make snap crackle pop noises, usually during the Pastor's sermon, of course. So it went home, and the Classic 30 took up residence at the church.

2) A Crate 15-watt XT15R that I bought when the new Guitar Center opened a couple of years ago. All solid state, of course, but an impressive little beast for the $50 I paid for it. It has some digital effects built in, and the reverb ain't bad at all.

[Eben]

I love Peaveys, especially their bass amps.

Yeah, you never can tell what a diff things will make until you do it, and it's fun to boot!

A couple of the things about this Palomino that really impressed me were the detachable power supply, (much less shock danger), and the power tubes have such a device as you're describing already - Very smart little touches that we wouldn't even see if we weren't screwing around under the hood! They don't make this V18's any more, and you can find them for a really good price here and there - If you do, grab it, you'll love it!

E

[steve cyr]

I love Peaveys, especially their bass amps.

For several years my bass rig was a Peavey 1820 cabinet (1 x 18" black widow + 2 x 10" Scorpions) driven by a Peavey bass preamp and a Peavey 8.5C power amp in biamp mode. Sounded great, and handled loads of power, but too *(^$%#$ heavy for mere mortals. Now I'm using a Carvin 1 x 15" cabinet driven by a small Behringer mixer and a QSC RMX850 power amp in bridged mode. Definitely easier to move around if needed, but it has taken up permanent residence at the church anyhoo.

Yeah, you never can tell what a diff things will make until you do it, and it's fun to boot!

This is so, but I was pretty sure it was gonna improve things. That Blue Marvel was pretty bad - muddy and cardboardy, like I said.

A couple of the things about this Palomino that really impressed me were the detachable power supply, (much less shock danger), and the power tubes have such a device as you're describing already - Very smart little touches that we wouldn't even see if we weren't screwing around under the hood! They don't make this V18's any more, and you can find them for a really good price here and there - If you do, grab it, you'll love it!

The Peavey is now really excellent - small enough to be reasonably portable, with a very good reverb, great sound, and I'm very happy with it. Can't see a need for more than three guitar amps, anyway. Unless a Twin Reverb happens to come along when I can afford it!

[Down and Outman]

I wish I still had my old bass amp. My fave was a Sunn Collesium 880 head with 2-15" JBL K-145's and an 18" JBL K-151. Played a Rickenbacker bass thru it. Like a fool I sold it all as my family life was taking it's toll on being able to play. Gee I think of all the guitars and basses I have had and what they are worth now. Never sell your stuff. I also had a Marshall 100 watt lead head at one time, for bass of course. I now have a Yamaha 100 watt bass head with parametric equalizers in it and 2-12" Peavey Black Widows in a homemade cab for bass at church. My guitar amp is a Fender HotRod Deluxe, an older one made in USA. Tubes rule for guitar. My acoustic sounds great thru it as well.

[Eben]

Now see how cool this is?

THIS is what threads are supposed to do!

A new guy or gal comes along, pokes around, finds something that sparks their fancy, and a pretty cool thread is reborn! I LOVE this place!

E

[steve cyr]

Hmmm - Thread Hijack Number 2:

I have a Marshall VS65R (12AX7A preamp, everything else SS, with a 12" Marshall Gold-back speaker, spring reverb). It's a great little amp, but in the last year it has developed an occasional rather loud snap-crackle-pop that makes it no longer very useful. When it's not making its obnoxious F*rting noises it sounds as good as it always did. Any ideas what might be causing it? I have a theory that the 12AX7A needs to be replaced. Does that sound reasonable enough to try?

--Steve

[steve cyr]

Never sell your stuff.

I hear that! Two items I wish I could get back:

1) The Fender Bassman 100 head I let go for $100 about 20 years ago

2) The '69 Fender Twin Reverb I sold to my brother-in-law about 10 years ago.

--Steve