Peavey VYPYR 75 just arrived -- first impressions

[TheEsupremacy]

Something tells me it's the same speaker with a bit of re-labeling and a slight design change to help with the marketing.

 

 

I think so too. Although I am intrigued as to why mine "looks" different and has the VYPYR bat looking thingy logo on it.

[bhsbhswarp]

awesome pic's of the amp there.i see there is lotsa room for what ever speaker you care to use

[bhsbhswarp]

i'll def be changing the speaker out.i'm sure i'll blow that mf.

[TheEsupremacy]

i'll def be changing the speaker out.i'm sure i'll blow that mf.

 

 

Let us know what you replace it with please.

[Agreed]

Something tells me it's the same speaker with a bit of re-labeling and a slight design change to help with the marketing.

But that's the beauty of it. Whether it's using different speakers or whether they're both using a Blue Marvel, the point is substantiated that you can expect good results from swapping speakers. The Blue Marvel is in no way a "modeler" speaker, doesn't even try to be, it's just a sorta crummy guitar speaker that will inevitably sound worse than its replacement. And if one's using a Blue Marvel and the other is actually using a different speaker, then it still sounds good either way and you should be able to expect good results from swapping speakers.

[bhsbhswarp]

Let us know what you replace it with please.

 

 

for sure:thu:

[Deuterium]

I'd give the stock Blue Marvel speaker a chance, before you go ripping it out and replacing it with something else. I'm tellin' you people, this amp is tight. Peavey definitely is going to have a major hit on their hands with the Vypyr series. The engineers who came up with the TransTube technology are friggin' geniuses. I used to own a Tech 21 Trademark 60...and this Vypyr 75 runs rings around the Tech 21 in terms of the fidelity and dynamics of sounding and reacting like an all tube amp.

[Deuterium]

I have played my new Vypyr 75 enough to pick a few favorites. The only amp model that Peavey seriously could have left off (or substituted with something different) is the Krankenstein. Also, the XXX is a bit redundant, given you have both the 6505 and the JSX. My top five favorites, currently, are the Diezel Hebert, the 6505, the Bad Cat, the "Brit" (AC 30 Brian May) and a tie between the Plexi and the Fender Deluxe.

For the stompboxes, the Tube Screamer and XR Wild (MXR Distortion) models are KILLER ! I also love the Phaser and BC Chorus.

I have to give Peavey a lot of props for the excellent Delay and Reverb effects. While they can't really be tweaked, the core sound of these digital fx are right on the money. The reverb is nice and lush. It even sounds good when the reverb level is relatively high. Usually, too much reverb causes your tone to get lost...but somehow the Vypyr's reverb perfectly complements the amp tones, even at high settings. The delay fx likewise is limited to just tempo, feedback and level, but sounds very analog and organic.

I really am having fun with this amp, and it's the best $ 299 I have spent on a piece of gear, probably ever. It is just perfect for the use I intended, which is to have a versatile, plug & play bedroom/practice amp.

[Samnite]

Yeah, I have to agree. I have been twiddling and twisting knobs all damn night long, and this little amp just keeps getting more and more fun. And most telling to me is that I haven't once stopped and thought "Wow, that sounds really digital."

[Dewysoss]

{censored}. Can somebody PLEASE buy something of mine so I can go buy one? Seriously, I don't even need it, but I {censored}ing want it.

[SJP0tato]

Do you guys notice a background "hum" or noise for the first 20-30 seconds of operation on your 75w? I thought I had it too near some power cables, but moving it didn't make the hum go away. Then I thought it was because I was sitting too close to it (sitting right infront to play with the different modes), but nothing I did affected it, until it just stopped after about 30 seconds and didn't come back turning off & on until I'd let it sit for 20 mins (maybe it cooled down), then it did the same.

Dunno why a non-tube would have a "warmup" time like that, curious if others have a similar experience.

[Samnite]

No, but i do think that this amp has some sort of crude noise gate. I do hear the occasional hiss artifact every once in a while, but it's gone pretty quickly.

 

I've already determined that I love the Plexi + X Boost cleanish tones. You can actually hear it just beginning to break up in there. Sounds remarkably tube-like.

 

And the more I play with it, the cooler I think the Diezel Herbert model is. Man, it just screams.

[Deuterium]

Do you guys notice a background "hum" or noise for the first 20-30 seconds of operation on your 75w? I thought I had it too near some power cables, but moving it didn't make the hum go away. Then I thought it was because I was sitting too close to it (sitting right infront to play with the different modes), but nothing I did affected it, until it just stopped after about 30 seconds and didn't come back turning off & on until I'd let it sit for 20 mins (maybe it cooled down), then it did the same. Dunno why a non-tube would have a "warmup" time like that, curious if others have a similar experience.

 

 

No hum or noise, here. I actually am impressed with whatever noise reduction Peavey is using in the Vypyr...because some of the high gain amp models have insane amounts of gain. Yet, despite the extreme gain, the amp is very, very quiet, IMHO.

[LBOIV001]

DEUTERIUM:

I just bought the 100w El Diablo head and I am currently running through a Randall 4x12 for the sake of gigging convenience...I have an Avatar cab with hellatones, bot no casters or case, so it stays at the house. I already have the cleans dialed in but I am struggling with the "violin" sustain, even at the 50W setting. Do you have or could you direct me to some settings that my get me in the ballpark on this? I play a swamp ash Laguna with custom SC alnicos and a bridge coil tap. I have a THD Hotplate but do not want to apply it yet until I get in the general area of the tones you described. The user manual suggested settings are OK, but I need more sustain. I'm considering a grunge or tubescreamer for solo boost.

BTW....I run a Carl Martin Quattro through the global effects loop....fantastic ALL ANALOG muli-effects pedal. Check it out if you can.

Thanks in advance.

[LBOIV001]

DEUTERIUM:

I just bought the 100w El Diablo head and I am currently running through a Randall 4x12 for the sake of gigging convenience...I have an Avatar cab with hellatones, bot no casters or case, so it stays at the house. I already have the cleans dialed in but I am struggling with the "violin" sustain, even at the 50W setting. Do you have or could you direct me to some settings that my get me in the ballpark on this? I play a swamp ash Laguna with custom SC alnicos and a bridge coil tap. I have a THD Hotplate but do not want to apply it yet until I get in the general area of the tones you described. The user manual suggested settings are OK, but I need more sustain. I'm considering a grunge or tubescreamer for solo boost.

BTW....I run a Carl Martin Quattro through the global effects loop....fantastic ALL ANALOG muli-effects pedal. Check it out if you can.

Thanks in advance.

[LBOIV001]

DEUTERIUM:

I just bought the 100w El Diablo head and I am currently running through a Randall 4x12 for the sake of gigging convenience...I have an Avatar cab with hellatones, bot no casters or case, so it stays at the house. I already have the cleans dialed in but I am struggling with the "violin" sustain, even at the 50W setting. Do you have or could you direct me to some settings that my get me in the ballpark on this? I play a swamp ash Laguna with custom SC alnicos and a bridge coil tap. I have a THD Hotplate but do not want to apply it yet until I get in the general area of the tones you described. The user manual suggested settings are OK, but I need more sustain. I'm considering a grunge or tubescreamer for solo boost.

BTW....I run a Carl Martin Quattro through the global effects loop....fantastic ALL ANALOG muli-effects pedal. Check it out if you can.

Thanks in advance.

[Deuterium]

 

DEUTERIUM: I just bought the 100w El Diablo head and I am currently running through a Randall 4x12 for the sake of gigging convenience...I have an Avatar cab with hellatones, bot no casters or case, so it stays at the house. I already have the cleans dialed in but I am struggling with the "violin" sustain, even at the 50W setting. Do you have or could you direct me to some settings that my get me in the ballpark on this? I play a swamp ash Laguna with custom SC alnicos and a bridge coil tap. I have a THD Hotplate but do not want to apply it yet until I get in the general area of the tones you described. The user manual suggested settings are OK, but I need more sustain. I'm considering a grunge or tubescreamer for solo boost. BTW....I run a Carl Martin Quattro through the global effects loop....fantastic ALL ANALOG muli-effects pedal. Check it out if you can. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Put a good Compressor stompbox first, followed by a good OverDrive pedal. I use an AnalogMan CompROSSor and have a bunch of great stompbox OD/distortion pedals. If you are on a budget, I'd recommend a DigiTech Bad Monkey, which is a great, all-around OD pedal. And just so you know, I sold my El Diablo almost a year ago. My main rig now consists of a Marshall Vintage Modern 2466 head and matching cab. I also really like the Peavey ValveKing 100 head, as well as my original Vox Valvetronix AD120VTH "Blue" head (awesome amp).

 

There are a lot of great tones you can get out of the El Diablo...just don't be afraid to experiment with some good stompboxes. What I have found, is that no matter how much built-in gain a tube amp has, I always prefer setting it for a light crunch tone, and boosting the hell out of the front-end with my stompboxes. That is the secret to obtaining the smooth, violin-like tone and sustain from a good tube amp. Currently, I use an AnalogMan modded DOD 308 pedal (with 741 "mojo mod" and true bypass) or an MI Audio Crunch Box. This is directly after the AnalogMan CompROSSor. I also use a BOSS NS-2, and put the dirt pedals in the NS-2's loop, which works great.

 

Well, we kind of got of topic, here. But I hope this will give you some ideas to use and try with your El Diablo amp.

[OverDriven]

Sounds cool. I do want to add something that I noticed though...there is absolutely no way the modeling is done "in the analog realm" if they are using a SHARC processor. Obviously any processor is digital...there's no way around it. I suspect that calling it "analog" is some marketing BS. That is, unless the SHARC is only used for effects, but I really doubt they would put a SHARC in there only for effects.

[Agreed]

Transtube is their analog modeling technology, and is quite advanced. If Behringer can make an analog modeling amp, why do you think Peavey can't make a really nice one? And further, for a company that uses SHARCs for just effects, check out Damage Control's Timeline and Glass Nexus pedals. SHARC is just a DSP. If you want digital effects, you gotta have a DSP. Marshall's MG___DFX amps have a DSP chip in them too, it's probably something from Motorola or another more generic DSP company but it's a DSP chip all the same. Every single digital effects pedal uses a DSP chip of some kind, sometimes more.

 

SHARC is a particularly nice one that is well engineered for the sort of advanced audio applications that musicians can put to use, and they're easy to program for in abstract languages, so it's no surprise that the company is using them for effects. And remember, there are plenty of SHARC chips, too, ranging from low clock speed/low power draw budget chips to high speed, dual-core monsters with plenty of onboard cache like the TigerSHARC used in the AxeFX unit.

[HKSblade1]

Salesmen at Sweetwater said the PV rep described it like this:
With the TT analog input and gain mixed, summed with the modeling, distortion of models can be lessened to reduce digital clipping. Or something like that.

[Samnite]

And further, for a company that uses SHARCs for just effects, check out Damage Control's Timeline and Glass Nexus pedals.

Damage Control is a Peavey company, isn't it? Like Trace Elliot.

[Agreed]

Damage Control was a Peavey acquisition, like Alien Connections (revalver). I seem to remember Trace Elliot being started by Peavey, but I could be wrong.

 

Damage Control's expertise in SHARC programming likely comes from the former Line6'ers who form the bulk of the DSP staff. Though one shouldn't think that they have only digital stuff from that - they have digital and analog products; the Solid Metal, Liquid Blues, Demonizer, and Womanizer are totally analog. The Timeline and Glass Nexus are digital with analog tube circuitry to add warmth and sparkle to the sound.

[d0se]

Peavey distributes Trace but it`s owned by Gibson

[Agreed]

Owned by Gibson after a buyout - didn't Peavey start it in the first place?

[d0se]

Some company from the U.K started it