Peavey Classic 30

[Gary in Boston]

Hey all,

Tonight at a local shop they had the new and improved Peavey Classic 30 amps out to try.

I never thought too much aout these amps but I gotta tell you this amp sounded really, really good. I was using a squire CV tele through it and it was a warm full sounding amp, quite with good clean tones and some great whomp as well.

Who'd a thunk it?

Gary

[dalandan]

amen. best amp below US$600. IMHO.

[ASC67]

What is new and improved about them ?

[Budda]

The 30 and the 50 are great! The Classic 50 has been used in a LOT of the Nashville Studios, on a huge amount of hits. Truly a "Classic". I particularly like the Classic 50/410 Combo. Sweet Amp!

Also, there's the Delta Blues. I think it's similar to the 50, but with a single 15" Speaker.

[Chris S.]

Originally Posted by Budda

Also, there's the Delta Blues. I think it's similar to the 50, but with a single 15" Speaker.

The DB is the same basic circuit as the Classic 30, with vibrato added. They come in either a 1x15 or a 2x10 configuration.

The C30 is a road-worthy and great sounding amp. And I agree on the bang-for-the-buck value, just unbeatable.

[52Tele_lover]

Have any of you heard of te brand langcaster? they do a pretty good copy of the classic 30, i got one(im a teenager on a rather small budget) the only problem is a couple of dry solder patchs(or thats what ive been told by pro's) but i cant complain for half the price of the new one its great. just wondering if anyones heard of them?

[xStonr]

Originally Posted by ASC67

What is new and improved about them ?

My thoughts exactly.

[Grandma's Tele]

Originally Posted by ASC67

What is new and improved about them ?

I'm also very curious, what's new????

[T Prior]

Originally Posted by Gary in Boston

I never thought too much about these amps but I gotta tell you this amp sounded really, really good.

Who'd a thunk it?

Gary

Well, considering that these amps have been one of the most popular 30 watt, 4 EL84 / 12 inch speaker amps for easily half a decade now I think we can safely say " It has been thunk" .

Great amps, my 2004 C30 has become my go to amp for probably two years now, the HR Deville is parked.

On the used market these are , in my mind, the best value out there in the $300 to $350 range, bar none...

Go get one, or two

[Telenator]

Funny, I heard the older ones were actually better. LOL!

[Joey]

I tried a new Classic 30 in GC and was not impressed with the tone. It also seemed a bit boxy to me. Sounded similar to my BJ before the Billm mods.

[chucksmi]

Wow, an amp that's been great for so long,and now they want to improve it? Sort of has the "New Coke" vibe. Even Scotty Moore used a C30, and Nile Rodgers still has SRV's two C30's in his studio and uses them.

[Donnie55]

This is from Peavey :The Classic® 30/112 has been redesigned with an all-new chassis design, but still features the distinctive sound and circuitry of the renowned Classic® Series amps. New chassis design , doesnt really sound like a tone changer.

[Properpat86]

I just wanted to add that I love all of the amps in the classic series, though I'm partial to my DB. Wonderfully simple and useful/toneful amps.

[Tele-phone man]

Originally Posted by Donnie55

This is from Peavey :The Classic® 30/112 has been redesigned with an all-new chassis design, but still features the distinctive sound and circuitry of the renowned Classic® Series amps. New chassis design , doesnt really sound like a tone changer.

I don't know what's in the redesign, but hopefully they improved the component accessibility and the ribbon cable issues, as well as providing some protection for the tubes, as well as some decent retainers to suppress the output tube rattle. Tom' tube tamer and a tube guard are the best things you can do for an older model.

[ProToneThinline]

I went amp shopping a couple of months ago. I wanted a club-friendly amp to replace my DRRI. I went in to buy an Egnater Rebel combo. I came home with the Classic 30 and extra money in my pocket.

Since then I've gigged the amp quite a few times. It is reliable, sounds good, and more importantly, sounds good with just about any guitar I plug into it. Even though both channels share the same tone stack, I had no problem dialing in good sounds on both channels.

[ce24]

They take pedals real well also. I use my ME-50 in front of mine and it has great tone.

Cheers
ce24

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Originally Posted by Tele-phone man

I don't know what's in the redesign, but hopefully they improved the component accessibility and the ribbon cable issues, as well as providing some protection for the tubes, as well as some decent retainers to suppress the output tube rattle. Tom' tube tamer and a tube guard are the best things you can do for an older model.

Yeah, techs don't much care for workin on C30s. But they don't much care for tweaking Crates, Blues Jrs or a lot of PCB amps.

I had two C30s over the years, one very good, one so-so. If I had $250-300 lying around someday I'd probably spring for another one to back up my Fender stuff.

[voodootwanger]

I own both the Classic 30 112 and the Classic 50 212. I have had both for years, and have both been trouble free. I would never sell either of them. They have amazing cleans and both accept pedals VERY well. The only heartburn I had was with the 30 and the touchy volume controls. I solved this by building a volume box and running it in the fx loop....problem solved and very very little change in tone/feel.

[777Brad]

I've been considering one of these. Can they do a nice overdriven sound at bedroom levels.........even LOUD bedroom levels?

[Stylemaster]

I can't tell you how good my Baja and partocaster sound through my 2004 C30. Enough to make me want to sell my boutique amp. It was my first "new" amp (I bought it used on eBay for $330) since I got my original '65 Tremolux 40 years ago. It was the first step in what has become 3 years of unmitigated GAS for all gear but it started with this little baby. Extremely versatile, best bang for the buck in a small package. It kept consistently winning shoot-outs at GC with comparable Fender and Crate models. And I agree with a previous post - that this amp sounds good with any guitar. As I said my Teles explode out of this thing (in a good way), percussive, biting super touch sensitive, full tonal spectrum - and - my Les Paul sounds better out of this amp than any other I have, both in clean, jazzy volume and tone (with that beautiful LP bark) and fantastic on the distortion channel for full-on Marshall crunch.

The most important thing is to find the right speaker replacement and I went through several until I got a Hellatone 30 (Celestion G12H30 70th Anniversary, broken in and relabeled by Avatar Speaker Cabs for less money then a virginal C12H30). Also retube it. Eurotube JJs should do it, esp. for the EL84s. Doug's Tubes recommended a Chinese Shuang 12AX7 in V2 and a Sovtek 12AX7-LPS in V3. With the right tone tweaks you can get an amazing array of different amp-style sounds out of both channels, from Fender cleans (with nice thicker mids) to thick, almost-tweed-like bluesy overdrive on the clean channel - to Marshall crunch on the distortion channel. As said before, this amp also takes pedals extremely well, especially with the G12H30.

Made in USA with good components (i.e. metal jacks that last instead of those horrible plastic jacks that break on Fender Hot Rod series amps) and totally usable volume and tone controls. You can actually play very quietly or increase the volume gradually instead of the zero-to-max volume jump between 1 and 2 on the volume knob you get on a HRDX or a Blues Deluxe RI. Note of caution: the Hellatone 30 or Celestion G12H30 needs a fair amount of break-in time just like any speaker but once you get there it delivers in spades. My favorite speaker. Many boutique builders use these stock (like Fargen & Bogner). This speaker has the most beautiful, full cleans and handles tube saturation overdrive and pedal distortion like none other I've tried. It also has a luscious low end which helps mitigate the small cab's boxiness.

Also the new C30s have no discernible "improvements" that I can see besides a tube cage and perhaps better tubes. If you have an older one you must get Tom's tube tamer and the the tube guard and then you're set. If I had to give away all my amps save one, the C30 would be the one I'd keep.

[Donnie55]

Originally Posted by Tele-phone man

I don't know what's in the redesign, but hopefully they improved the component accessibility and the ribbon cable issues, as well as providing some protection for the tubes, as well as some decent retainers to suppress the output tube rattle. Tom' tube tamer and a tube guard are the best things you can do for an older model.

+1 I totally agree.......i hope thats what they have done.