NAD: Peavey VB-3

[spankdaplank]

After reading in the "Hot Deals" forum about GC's big used gear sale, I found this among the 30,000 or so items for sale: a mint Peavey VB-3 for $899 plus shipping and tax.

I chose the VB-3 because its of the relatively light weight all tube design and the fact that it can run on 100v to 220v.

I have never heard or tried a VB-3 so I took a chance on this. The amp is in basically unused condition with the foot switch, manual and warranty card.

Here are some of my first impressions and opinions about this amp: I really like the way it looks, I think it looks better in person than its ad copy, especially with the back light dimmed a bit. I have already had the tube access plate off for a look at the guts. I must say this amp is built very solidly. A lot of thought went into the internal layout with easy access to all the tubes. The tubes are well secured and shielded. The chassis is super solid and well designed to save weight and still be strong.

I am playing it through a Mesa Walkabout 15 and an Acme B2.

The sound: It's always hard to describe tone in words and this amp makes it harder due to the somewhat unusual controls and their huge interaction with each other. Also I've only played through this amp a few of hours, so my opinions may change the longer I own it. The tone controls are passive cut only, so flat is with the controls set at max. The natural tone of this amp is large, even extra large, but not huge. This is not a reference to volume alone as it gets bloody loud. It doesn't have a tone signature like an SVT or a Dual Showman for instance. That being said the interaction between the tone controls and the resonance and presence controls takes me into some unfamiliar ground, but I think it has a lot of potential.
Overall I like this amp a lot. It sounds great, it's lightweight and it will work wherever I go voltage wise.
Some other likes and dislikes:
Dislikes -the fan is LOUD and it is mounted in the top of the amp case which makes it even louder for someone standing in front, PLUS if you spill a drink (I know you've never done that ) it's going right down the fan hole onto the power tubes.
There seems to be some distortion artifact that appears on the attack of the note when I really dig in fingerstyle. I tried swapping the first two preamp 12ax7 JJ's with a couple of Tungsol's I had on hand this seemed to help a lot and generally sweetened the tone.

Likes: I'm not a fan of EL34 power tubes for bass so I am happy that it is a simple operation to substitute 6L6's. On that subject, if anyone has a solid suggestion for what brand of 6L6 to use let me know.

The big surprise was the overdrive channel. From past experience I hate overdrive channels on bass amps. Usually they sound buzzy, fizzy and generally kill the bass tone. Not with this one though. It is musical and full of stank and mojo. The resonance and presence controls interact hugely with the overdrive control in a good way. I am in the middle of exploring these features as I speak.

Please take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Even though this amp is kind of stupid expensive new, at the price I payed this might be the buy of the year.

[jasonbraatz]

Holy crap, at 899 I'd say it was the buy of the year.

[christw]

Nice!!!! I can't keep away from the tube amps myself so I don't blame you at all.

[Achtane]

Excellent score. I got a VB-2 for a good price and love it, though the VB-3 is supposedly a bit different sounding.

[hdracer]

Nice score!! I got a VB-2 from them for $499 shipped

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by spankdaplank

Even though this amp is kind of stupid expensive new, at the price I payed this might be the buy of the year.

You make me sick. You took my DEAL!!!!!

; }


New, they are in no way expensive for 300 tube watts. And they got a lot of stuff I think makes them a great buy compared to other amps in the same watts class. Like 37 pounds? EQ and channel switching? Etc.

As far as the EQ thing, the graphic is definitely NOT cut-only.

Enjoy your new toy. $%#^&!*!

[spankdaplank]

My mistake , I meant to say the rotary tone stack is cut only. On the subject of the graphic eq it seems that the freq bands overlap more than I'm accustomed to or I could be just imagining it.
To greenboy I apologize for making you ill. It almost didn't happen as I have no business dropping $1K at this exact moment in my life.

[Sartori]

Damn, great deal.

Post sound clips?

[KramerBassFan]

How many EL34's does that bad boy take again?

[spankdaplank]

8 X EL34.
I am looking forward to trying 6L6's as soon as I can get some advice on the best brand for bass. All the info and reviews on 6L6's that I could find was guitar oriented. Things like distortion chaacteristics, midrange etc.

[spankdaplank]

Oh yeah, swapping for 6L6 is a snap. The bias control and test points for your meter are right there in the power tube area along with a toggle switch labeled EL34/6L6. Must be a range switch for the bias voltage?

[gregbackstrom]

Originally Posted by spankdaplank

After reading in the "Hot Deals" forum about GC's big used gear sale, I found this among the 30,000 or so items for sale: a mint Peavey VB-3 for $899 plus shipping and tax.

I chose the VB-3 because its of the relatively light weight all tube design and the fact that it can run on 100v to 220v.

I have never heard or tried a VB-3 so I took a chance on this. The amp is in basically unused condition with the foot switch, manual and warranty card.

Here are some of my first impressions and opinions about this amp: I really like the way it looks, I think it looks better in person than its ad copy, especially with the back light dimmed a bit. I have already had the tube access plate off for a look at the guts. I must say this amp is built very solidly. A lot of thought went into the internal layout with easy access to all the tubes. The tubes are well secured and shielded. The chassis is super solid and well designed to save weight and still be strong.

I am playing it through a Mesa Walkabout 15 and an Acme B2.

The sound: It's always hard to describe tone in words and this amp makes it harder due to the somewhat unusual controls and their huge interaction with each other. Also I've only played through this amp a few of hours, so my opinions may change the longer I own it. The tone controls are passive cut only, so flat is with the controls set at max. The natural tone of this amp is large, even extra large, but not huge. This is not a reference to volume alone as it gets bloody loud. It doesn't have a tone signature like an SVT or a Dual Showman for instance. That being said the interaction between the tone controls and the resonance and presence controls takes me into some unfamiliar ground, but I think it has a lot of potential.
Overall I like this amp a lot. It sounds great, it's lightweight and it will work wherever I go voltage wise.
Some other likes and dislikes:
Dislikes -the fan is LOUD and it is mounted in the top of the amp case which makes it even louder for someone standing in front, PLUS if you spill a drink (I know you've never done that ) it's going right down the fan hole onto the power tubes.
There seems to be some distortion artifact that appears on the attack of the note when I really dig in fingerstyle. I tried swapping the first two preamp 12ax7 JJ's with a couple of Tungsol's I had on hand this seemed to help a lot and generally sweetened the tone.

Likes: I'm not a fan of EL34 power tubes for bass so I am happy that it is a simple operation to substitute 6L6's. On that subject, if anyone has a solid suggestion for what brand of 6L6 to use let me know.

The big surprise was the overdrive channel. From past experience I hate overdrive channels on bass amps. Usually they sound buzzy, fizzy and generally kill the bass tone. Not with this one though. It is musical and full of stank and mojo. The resonance and presence controls interact hugely with the overdrive control in a good way. I am in the middle of exploring these features as I speak.

Please take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Even though this amp is kind of stupid expensive new, at the price I payed this might be the buy of the year.

That's a great price for a VB-3! I paid significantly more for mine -- but that was almost a year ago! Great amp!!

Regarding 6L6 power tubes, I seem to recall that you will lose a few watts by moving to these. That's probably not a factor, given that you prefer the sound of these tubes. Having played both, I really like the added punch of the EL-34's.

For a MUCH bigger tone modification, though, I highly recommend that you change speaker cabinets. IMO and lots of IME, you're losing a lot of punch and definition by using those particular cabinets with that head. Getting something with a stronger midrange voice will really bring that head (and your bass) to life! (Lots of choices, but the Bergantino AE series would serve you well!)

Have fun!
Greg

[spankdaplank]

I always hesitate to comment on tone because it seems impossible to accurately quantify in words, plus the fact my tastes are definitely not mainstream.
Actually, I'm very happy with the VB-3 combined with the Mesa Walkabout. But you are correct about using it with the Acme. I have not been satisfied with that combination. (Sounds great with the Carvin BX500 though.)
I didn't say it earlier but I got this amp to replace a homebuilt 4 X 6550 amp (Kevin O'Connor design that's a topic for a whole other thread) that was paired with the Mesa. I wanted an all tube amp that could work on world voltage and was lightweight. I am definitely happy with the sound of this amp and the tonal possibilities available, the more I am playing it. The 6L6's will reduce the power output to about 240 watts according to the manual but that's not an issue for me. I'm hoping the 6L6's will sweeten up the tone without loosing too much punch.
One thing I didn't mention in my original post was the low cut switch. That thing concerned me as I have seen mfrs. add that feature because the amp design didn't give enough headroom or the output transformer wasn't big enough. On the VB-3 there is low freq. headroom for days. I will say the output transformer is somewhat smaller than I was expecting to see. This low cut just doesn't just cut below 100hz, it sounds to my ears that its slope takes it somewhat into the 250hz area which really guts the tone for me. My estimates are very subjective, but it would seem the only use of this switch would be as an effect.

[spankdaplank]

I just installed an octet of TAD (Tube Amp Doctor) 6L6GC's in the Peavey. My first impression is very positive. The tone is super sweet, the funny distortion artifact on the attack is gone, and the entire amp seems to have a different (in a good way) personality. There is a little bit less power, but I don't think it's a problem for my application. I'll have to play this set up for a while and I'll give a more detailed review. I'd like to thank bobbybld for advising me on the bias setting. Guy's like him really make TB great.

[greenboy]

Come back to taunt, did'je? Rub it in, 'ere ye go, here's some salt ta throws in ther wound too...

[weekend warrior]

By the way.Always find a different spot (other than your amp) to put your drink.You'll thank me for this advice one day....

[spankdaplank]

Yeah, not only does the drink go into the amp, but the fan acts like a lawn sprinkler and ice shaver to make sure all the powertubes get soaked.
By the way, I found out tat there is actually two fans (72mm size) in this amp. There is also a fan cooling the SMPS chassis which is a separate shielded enclosure. I stopped the top fan briefly to see how much difference in noise level it would be. It was not significant enough to make me want to try and find a quieter fan. The fan noise is definitely not a deal breaker.
Greenboy, I feel your pain, I missed a bass deal last week that would have saved me $1k over a purchase I had just made, so hopefully it will be your turn next for a "buy of the day".
I might mention that before I move (retire) out of the country this spring, I will be selling a 40 year collection of gear cheaply.
So stay tuned.
Or watch for me on the next installment of the "Hoarders" TV show.

[Rezdog]

Greetings from the North,

$899.00..... I've been shaking my head since the day this thread began. I will stay tuned and thanks for the updates. Subscribed.

Rezdog

[KramerBassFan]

8x EL34?

What is this, some old brit amp?

[Calaverasgrande]

I have to wonder if 6550 would work in that badboy. I've prefferred the sound of those over 6L6 for a while.