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What are the best amps Peavey ever made?

bongomania

bongomania

Commercial User
Oct 17, 2005
35,688
3,917
PDX, OR
www.ovnilab.com
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owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
#1
You know how it is here, most of the time Peavey gets ignored on TB, but when they are brought up plenty of people say "hey, Peavey gear is built like a tank and sounds great!" Plus as was just mentioned moments ago in another thread, they are one of the more made-in-America brands on the market, which is a quality some US consumers would value.

So which are the Peaveys to look for? I'm not asking about specific applications or budgets, new or used; just which amps from Peavey have stood the test of time, or sound killer, or offer a lot of bang per buck, or have especially rugged or well-designed features, or in any other way rock the house better than average?
 
#3
i've got a peavey max preamp that is the money...i've got it paired up with a peavy power amp, as well...it's an 8.5C...i've got both in a 4 space rack and it weighs a ton, but it sounds great...the old t.b. raxx ( i think it's called? billy gould used one back in the day)) is a great preamp, and the alpha sounds great, too...the max, raxx and alpha are all preamps, but they sound great...
 
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#6
bongomania said:
You know how it is here, most of the time Peavey gets ignored on TB, but when they are brought up plenty of people say "hey, Peavey gear is built like a tank and sounds great!" Plus as was just mentioned moments ago in another thread, they are one of the more made-in-America brands on the market, which is a quality some US consumers would value.

So which are the Peaveys to look for? I'm not asking about specific applications or budgets, new or used; just which amps from Peavey have stood the test of time, or sound killer, or offer a lot of bang per buck, or have especially rugged or well-designed features, or in any other way rock the house better than average?
Click to expand...


I haven't played much that did anything for me over the last 10 years or so (well, maybe ever:D) HOWEVER, there's some HUGE all tube amp... the 400 or something. It's not my thing, but my gosh is it a growly, loud, grindy, massive sounding beast. Very impressive!
 
#11
Bang for the buck? Well-designed features?

BAM 210 no doubt.

Aside from the great sounds the amp can make, the WYSIWYG interface is one the best things ever. (I'm glad to see Peavey hasn't abandoned it and that it will be seen in the new VYPYR guitar amps. Perhaps we will see it again in bass gear soon?)
 
#15
I Currently have a Peavey Classic 400(all tube head ) and TX 810 Cab both in tweed. They sound great. And I have owned a TVX 412,TVX 410 And FireBass 700II head that I ran as a rig for a couple of years and they were Very good sounding too if you did not get carried away with the EQ. That was a very heavy rig the 412 weighed 135 and the 410 was 97 nad a 70 pound head. But the sound was worth it. The classic 400 is 97 pounds and the 810 is 165.
 
#18
I'm not very familiar with all of their products. I own a Peavey T-Max (2 channel, tube/SS pre 350/500 watts @ 4/2 ohms). When I bought the head, my budget was <$600 and I considered all the major players in that range new and used. I'm not saying there aren't better heads out there in this price range, but I stopped shopping after I played it. I paid $200 bucks.


Mike
 
#19
I still have my very first amp I bought in '87, and it's a Peavey Basic 50..It has survived a fire and 2 floods..In fact the insurance company even wrote it off after the fire (in '90)and I got myself a TNT 150 with the insurance money..BUT, after I cleaned all the soot off of it and had it cleaned inside by a tech friend of mine and replaced the power cord, we noticed it still worked perfect..And still does!

Does it sound great? No..Is it built like a tank?..You betcha!
 
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