Argument/Poll: Classic 30 lead channel :-O

No Sir

 

The lead channel has always frustrated me. But to be fair, I have not tried different tubes or a speaker swap. One thing I keep neglecting to do is disconnect the blue marvel and just use the vintage 30 in my newish orange 1x12, to see if its more to my liking. In fact I think I'll try that tonight. Curious to see if it gives me a bit more clean headroom, too.

 

I had great results with the lead channel on the classic 30 I had. Of course, I used mine for a light bit of grit overdrive and a few choice pedals for my main drive tones. Too bad there is an argument about this. To each his/her own. What works for me may not work for you.

 

Mine had upgraded tubes and speaker when I got it, so never tried one stock form.

 

Totally agree -- clean channel is fine, but to my old ears the drive channel with any meaningful amount of gain just sounds like the thing is broken. However, there are plenty of other amps out there with similar issues -- my Fender Blues Deluxe for a start. I keep the drive channel gain knob as low as possible and turn up the volume, turning the channel into (more or less) a cleanish boost. For a proper drive tone I use a pedal.

 

It's quite a job because of the 'folded' circuit board, but changing all the caps for Orange Drops makes a big difference.

 

For me the lead channel just goes full tilt too quick. If it’s set up with louder post gain than pre it can sound pretty good.

That channel can become a squishy distortion mess if you go too far. Which is nice if you want no dynamics at all, I guess.

Of course slightly gritty isn’t everyone’s lead tone. But for different colors of sparkle and grit it’s pretty good.

 

For what it's worth, there's a direct speaker swap comparison by some guy on YouTube

 

^This.

 

Depends what you are trying to make it do. Its not a high gain / hard rock amp.

When I had mine, I liked the lead channel with the gain set below 12 oclock. Usually more like 9-10, which was more like a fat "clean'ish" tone.

 

Delta Blues 210 owner chiming in...

If I could leave the clean channel on 6, believe me I would. But I can only realistically turn up to 4 at home, and at that level the things I love about that channel, namely the punch, sparkle, and headroom, play hell with my drive pedals. The lead channel, with the post gain dimed (or rather dozened) and the pre set to match the clean channel, tightens things up just the right amount for my drive pedals. The flub and grainyness present on the clean side is gone.

If you have the facilities, it sounds great without pedals too, with the pre and post at 6 and 12, respectively. Too loud for home though. And turning down the post gain just makes things thin, fizzy, and brittle. Which I imagine is where it gets its reputation.

 

Here is a secret..... the Classic 30 and all of the BluesHot Rod Fenders are single channel amps with added gain stages for the drive mode. The Delta Blues is of the same vein. You can change V1 in these amps to a lower gin tube and improve everything about the amps, ime.

 

Both channels sound good, to me.

 

Back when I had one, I changed the tubes to the Peavey forums preferred set(see if I remember right):
-JJ EL84s x4
-Tung Sol ri 12AX7 in V1
-JJ ECC803S in V2
-Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V3

And I put in an Eminence Texas Heat and Tom's Tube Tamer. I went from NEVER using the dirt channel to actually going out and buying a footswitch so I COULD use it. Give the speaker 20 loud hours break in and these mods make a noticeable positive difference.

 

I have the classic 30 head and 212 cab with vintage 30s and on the lead channel that combo is the best rock tone I've ever had from just a straight up amp overdrive. I don't even need a boost pedal. However I'll admit it has some help with an eq pedal.

I too exclusively played the clean channel when I was using the amp with Texas Heat speakers but once I switched to Vintage 30s I exclusively play the lead channel, from edge of breakup to heavier overdriven tones.

People have forgotten or weren't around but myself having owned Peavey amps since 1987 I followed their products pretty religiously. When the classic 50 line was first introduced they were primarily heralded for their lead channel and I think the amp was built around the lead channel primarily. The tweed was maybe misleading because the lead channel rivaled marshalls at the time but if they put that amp in the same black tolex, front panel box like the bandit I would guess the classics wouldn't have lasted more than 5 years in production in that package.

Joe Satriani used one on the Extremist album of the day, Dan Huff recorded a lot of Nashville hits with on, Brent Mason had one for several years as well. Clint Black, whose tone I always liked better than Hayden Nicholas , used one for years live and in the studio and just about every country live performance had a classic 50 somewhere on stage back in the 90s. Great tones in those amps, some find it dated while some don't think it's vintage enough but for just an all around good solid sound at gigs its tough to beat.