FS: Peavey Windsor 120 Watt Tube Amp Bass Conversion

[spankdaplank]

I've seen more than a few threads about trying to find a medium power all tube bass amp.

This is a Peavey Windsor 100% tube amp. Peavey rates it at 100 watts - 4XEL34 power tubes. It is in basically unused condition.

I picked this up on a whim a couple of years ago. Yes, it is (was) a guitar amp. But I researched online and there are some great mods that can be done fairly easily to make this a really cool bass amp. Also it is built to the usual Peavey "tank" specs with plenty of room inside for modifications.

The end result is an awesome tube bass amp with a wide spectrum of useable tones from clean (think Fender Dual Showman) gradually to sweet tube overdrive to out and out nastiness. There is also a control Peavey calls "texture" which unbalances the phase splitter for some really nice harmonics.

The mods I did were; increase the size of the coupling capacitors; changed the tone stack from Marshall to Fender configuration; re-voiced the tone stack for bass guitar freqs; reduced the stupid (even for guitar) amount of gain in the four gain stages for clean gain; changed the phase splitter to long tailed pair; subbed EL34BHT for the EL34SRT power tubes.

It all worked better than I anticipated. Despite it sounding like slash and burn job inside this amp, it was basically changing out resistors and capacitors and adding one or two jumpers, so you would have to look closely to see the actual changes.

I will try to get some pictures up later today including "gut" shots

I will include a schematic with all documentation of the mods.

I am a retired electronic tech so please know that the work was done properly.

I definitely would keep this amp except that I am moving to a country where the voltage is 220v and the cost of a conversion xformer from Peavey is too much and I don't want to lug around an external converter.

This amp will not disappoint.

I'm asking $275 shipped CONUS. Paypal only please.

[chubrocker]

PM sent

[chriscalas]

Is this still for sale? and what cabs can it push?

[spankdaplank]

It is switchable for 4, 8, and 16 ohms.
At 100 watts a higher sensitivity cab would be the best choice. There are several threads about this topic and specific cabs.
I have used it with my Mesa Scout 15 and my BFM DR250 and Tuba24 stack with good results. Personally I think one fifteen or 2x10 would be great choices. I used to have a Mesa Diesel 15 that would be the perfect mate for my taste. YMMV.

[sleeping buddha]

pm'd

[spankdaplank]

Here are some pics:

[spankdaplank]

More :

[spankdaplank]

The neat thing about this amp is that the amount of harmonic content, overdrive and grunge is very tweaklable from Fender-like sweetness to full overdrive.
The controls are: low and hi gain inputs; preamp gain; bass, middle, treble; boost switch; master volume; texture; presence and resonance.
These controls are very interactive so it takes a few minutes of experimenting to hear the way you want to go and then dial it in:

[spankdaplank]

You're gonna love it bump.

[richst]

I used to use Dual Showmans and Musicman HD130's for bass. I loved the HD 130's with the SS front end. Dual Showman was also great but they have gotten expensive lately. Does this sound creamy like the fender or more edgy like the MM? Fender had 6L6's and the MM had EL34's.

[spankdaplank]

Yeah, I had a Dual Showman for my small gig setup back in the day and I've also briefly owned the MM HD130. This amp can do clean and you can get a fairly "Fenderish" tone from it. It is definitely not as edgy as the MM though.

I tried 6L6's in it but didn't care for the results, probablybecause of not being able to bias the 6L6's correctly without further modifications.
The EL34BHT power tubes I put in really surprised me though; as they added some girth and depth to the tone.

[spankdaplank]

Easter Bunny Bump

[spankdaplank]

Amp is sold. Thanks for your interest.
Stay tuned for a couple of outrageous amplifier items.