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Peavey amp guys lend me your knowledge...Classic Series


colejustesen

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So I went and played a Classic 30 yesterday and totally forgot how awesome that amp is (Sorry Guitarbilly for doubting your input in an earlier thread). I can't honestly say that I have ever played the Classic 50 so I was hoping you guys could give me some info on these two. If you can give some pros and cons of each one that would be great. These amps can be had at a very good price on the used market, so I am looking into one of these.

 

I was wanting a low watt head (which I know they use to make the C30 in a head format) but I would be content with either the 1x12 C30 or the 2x12 C50 if the pros of one outweighs the other. If I could snag a C30 head, that would be great for me, as I prefer to use a closed back cab instead of an open back combo.

 

Also, any modifications, tube suggestions and speaker suggestions would be cool to hear about. Thanks!

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I really dig my Classic 50 2x12 combo. I have JJ's in the power section. Tungsol in V1, GT in V2, and Sovtek LPS in V3. I've also replaced the crap speakers that come with it. I've tried WGS Green Berets, Veteran 30s, and Eminence Legends. Still deciding which speakers I like best.

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Sounds cool...are there any differences between the 50 and the 30 other than wattage? I love the sound of the 30 watter, but I would really like to get a head instead of a combo so I can use a closed back cab. It just seems that there are more 50 watt heads than there are 30 watters on the used market.

I am wanting a lower watt amp, would you recommend getting the C50 over the C30? If so, why?

Cole

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I'm not exactly sure if the 30 is a 2 channel or not. I think it's a single channel with boost. Correct me if I'm wrong. I've never really ran a 30 through the paces, but my 50 has been, and it has been really good. I've played several gigs with it. You could always pull 2 tubes out of the 50 to run it at half wattage.

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I am not sure if it is a true two channel amp either... I know it has the boost function, and its own preamp gain for the lead channel. After looking at the manual it makes me think that it has two channels for sure.

Does the 50 watter have a boost button? When I was playing with the C30 at the store the salesman had the boost button in and it sounded pretty good that way. Makes me wonder what a better speaker or using a closed back cab would sound like with this amp....

By the way, how do you think the WGS Reaper HP would sound with the C30/C50 amps?

Cole

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It doesn't have a boost button. I use a Bad Monkey to boost the front end, when I need it. I also use an EQ in the loop for a volume/mid boost for solos.


I've never heard the Reapers, so I couldn't tell you.

 

 

The Reaper is a knock off G12H30 speaker...the HP version is a warmer sounding version of it. It seems to have a thick bass, pretty hot mids (not high mids like the V30) and a sparkley top end.

 

Is your combo pretty punchy sounding? I don't want to have a thin sounding amp, and from my experience (which is little) with EL84s they can tend to be thinner sounding and noticeably brighter than say an EL34 or 6L6 tube.

 

I play all sorts of music, but mostly hard rock...I am wanting something that can do things from Stone Temple Pilots to Stonesour (in exception to their real hard songs), but can also clean up. Would you say that the C50 can achieve this?

 

Cole

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The Reaper is a knock off G12H30 speaker...the HP version is a warmer sounding version of it. It seems to have a thick bass, pretty hot mids (not high mids like the V30) and a sparkley top end.


Is your combo pretty punchy sounding? I don't want to have a thin sounding amp, and from my experience (which is little) with EL84s they can tend to be thinner sounding and noticeably brighter than say an EL34 or 6L6 tube.


I play all sorts of music, but mostly hard rock...I am wanting something that can do things from Stone Temple Pilots to Stonesour (in exception to their real hard songs), but can also clean up. Would you say that the C50 can achieve this?


Cole

 

 

Absolutely. My band does everything from The Doors to VH to early Tool (Sober) and my 50 can handle it all.

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That is cool! Have you had any problems with it? I was reading through the harmony central reviews to get a general idea of these amps, and there were a couple of responses of having problems with their amps.

I don't want to have an amp that is constantly breaking down on me...

Cole

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It doesn't have a boost button
. I use a Bad Monkey to boost the front end, when I need it. I also use an EQ in the loop for a volume/mid boost for solos.


I've never heard the Reapers, so I couldn't tell you.

 

 

it doesnt have a boost button.

 

peavey classic 30/50's are single channel amps. when you click on the lead toggle switch, it adds preamp gain. along with the master volume, you can get great distortion/lead tones at lower volumes and way better at higher volumes, but the classic series are NOT two channel amps.

 

1st mod-tubes

2nd mod-speakers

3rd mod-overdrive mod described on the "blueguitar website" (other mods are ther but not as important as the OD mod)

4th mod-have caps and other replaceable stuff upgraded

 

 

they are great amps-regardless of price. that is a fact.

I like mine, and have hung onto it for the past 18 years or so with no reliability problems. Frankly, it only gets better over time each time i "mod" it.................................

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These amps have been workhorses for a long time. I don't think that there are any reliability problems. I had a 50 2X12 for a while and really liked it. The main reason that I went with the 50 were the external cabinet options. From what I can remember, the 30 combo only gave the option to disconnect the internal speaker and then run a 16ohm cab. The 50 had external jacks and just more easily accessable options for running cabs. I liked to use my 4X12 so it won out.

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.I am wanting something that can do things from Stone Temple Pilots to Stonesour (in exception to their real hard songs), but can also clean up. Would you say that the C50 can achieve this?


Cole

 

 

Definitely, I play killswitch engage, lamb of god, slipknot and even decapitated with ease in the band im in atm. I boost with a bad monkey and use a 1960a cab, and the clean channel is fan{censored}ingtastic!

 

I dont give a {censored} if you guys are sick of seeing these vids, lol.

 

[YOUTUBE]t6dSEjdYrAc[/YOUTUBE]

 

just me and my classic with the drummer.

 

[YOUTUBE]q7i9i4GwsQE[/YOUTUBE]

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it doesnt have a boost button.


peavey classic 30/50's are single channel amps. when you click on the lead toggle switch, it adds preamp gain. along with the master volume, you can get great distortion/lead tones at lower volumes and way better at higher volumes, but the classic series are NOT two channel amps.


1st mod-tubes

2nd mod-speakers

3rd mod-overdrive mod described on the "blueguitar website" (other mods are ther but not as important as the OD mod)

4th mod-have caps and other replaceable stuff upgraded



they are great amps-regardless of price. that is a fact.

I like mine, and have hung onto it for the past 18 years or so with no reliability problems. Frankly, it only gets better over time each time i "mod" it.................................

 

 

What the {censored} is this guy talking about with Peavey Classic not being two channel amps? The C30 has two channels, period. One being clean and one being dirt. I have no idea what the {censored} people are saying about it not being 2 channels. I gigged with a C30 for a while. You can toggle the channel, along with reverb, with a footswitch. Here's the deal. You're gonna get great clean and mild rock tones. Not a pristine fender clean sound, and not a thick juicy Metallica dirty tone, but good enough. Trust me, if you're looking for a gigging amp on a budget, you're gonna love a Peavey Classic. I just don't know what the {censored} people are saying about it not having 2 channels. It clearly has a clean and a dirt channel.

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So I went and played a Classic 30 yesterday and totally forgot how awesome that amp is (Sorry Guitarbilly for doubting your input in an earlier thread). I can't honestly say that I have ever played the Classic 50 so I was hoping you guys could give me some info on these two. If you can give some pros and cons of each one that would be great. These amps can be had at a very good price on the used market, so I am looking into one of these.


I was wanting a low watt head (which I know they use to make the C30 in a head format) but I would be content with either the 1x12 C30 or the 2x12 C50 if the pros of one outweighs the other. If I could snag a C30 head, that would be great for me, as I prefer to use a closed back cab instead of an open back combo.


Also, any modifications, tube suggestions and speaker suggestions would be cool to hear about. Thanks!

 

 

They sound pretty similar but the 50 obviously sounds bigger and tighter due to the increased wattage. It's a phenomenal amp, if you are happy with the 30, the 50 does pretty much everything the 30 does, only better.

 

I've never liked or used the boost button on the 30 so the fact the 50 doesn't have one doesn't bother me. It's best to boost it with a TS9-style pedal on either amp anyway.

 

Mods? I would just add a pair of greenbacks to it. The c50 sounds near perfect with GBs.

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peavey classic 30/50's are single channel amps. when you click on the lead toggle switch, it adds preamp gain. along with the master volume, you can get great distortion/lead tones at lower volumes and way better at higher volumes, but the classic series are NOT two channel amps.



Curious about this as well.

:confused:

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What the {censored} is this guy talking about with Peavey Classic not being two channel amps? The C30 has two channels, period. One being clean and one being dirt. I have no idea what the {censored} people are saying about it not being 2 channels. I gigged with a C30 for a while. You can toggle the channel, along with reverb, with a footswitch. Here's the deal. You're gonna get great clean and mild rock tones. Not a pristine fender clean sound, and not a thick juicy Metallica dirty tone, but good enough. Trust me, if you're looking for a gigging amp on a budget, you're gonna love a Peavey Classic. I just don't know what the {censored} people are saying about it not having 2 channels. It clearly has a clean and a dirt channel.

 

 

This, I don't know what that guy was talking about. It is DEFINITELY a two channel amp. Maybe he's confused because the two channels have a shared EQ??

 

Also, echo what Billy said, the 50 is a bigger, fatter sounding 30. I've owned both and have had great experiences with V30's/Veteran 30.

 

Here's a vid of my 50 with Vintage 30's. I used to boost it with a Bad Monkey, but I don't remember if I used it for this vid or not.

 

[YOUTUBE]u_bhnqNYR8c[/YOUTUBE]

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I tried Greenbacks in my C50 back when I first got it. Well, they were actually WGS Green Berets. I felt that they lost something in the bass frequencies. The softer, spongier bass that you get with Greenbacks somehow didn't work well with the 2x12 open back. That's just my opinion.

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Number of channels is a pretty murky area.

 

I mean, a Mark III technically has 3 channels (by way of adding gain stages), but effectively it only has 1.5. Mesa calls is a "single-channel, 3-mode" amplifier.

The Classic 50 is similar - it has 2 channels, but only one tone stack. That makes it a little hard to really get the clean and OD tones dialed in perfectly.

 

But if you say that sharing gain stages means that it's only a 1-channel amp, then you're making a pretty bold statement. Damn near every single modern high gainer out there shares some (really most) of its preamp between channels, even if there are separate tone knobs.

 

A Diezel VH4 has 4 channels, but it shares the first two gain stages between all 3 channels. The only difference between channels 3 and 4 is adding a gain stage to the circuit. A Dual Rec is the same way, only (I believe) Channels 2 and 3 share ALL of their gain stages.

 

In fact, I'd venture to say that there isn't a single high-gain amp out there that doesn't share at least ONE gain stage between all of the channels.

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Number of channels is a pretty murky area.


I mean, a Mark III
technically
has 3 channels (by way of adding gain stages), but effectively it only has 1.5. Mesa calls is a "single-channel, 3-mode" amplifier.

The Classic 50 is similar - it has 2 channels, but only one tone stack. That makes it a little hard to really get the clean and OD tones dialed in perfectly.


But if you say that sharing gain stages means that it's only a 1-channel amp, then you're making a pretty bold statement. Damn near every single modern high gainer out there shares some (really most) of its preamp between channels, even if there are separate tone knobs.


A Diezel VH4 has 4 channels, but it shares the first two gain stages between all 3 channels. The only difference between channels 3 and 4 is adding a gain stage to the circuit. A Dual Rec is the same way, only (I believe) Channels 2 and 3 share ALL of their gain stages.


In fact, I'd venture to say that there isn't a single high-gain amp out there that doesn't share at least ONE gain stage between all of the channels.

 

 

Thanks for clarifying that. I'm pretty good with electronics, but far from a technical expert.

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I can get that from my C50 without a boost. I really only use the bad monkey as a clean boost (level maxed, gain at zero).



Me too, i never use the boosts gain, it is always set to zero. bad monkey is probably the best bang for buck pedal out there. I also have a slightly scooped MXR EQ in the loop for rhythm and turn it off for leads. And i leave the BM on for the clean stuff, the classic is dynamic enough to not breakup too much.:)

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