Barn find Peavey Encore 65 tube amp ....

[Donnie55]

We used to call those , The Mississippi Marshall.. lol..

​

 

[TheZ]

I love older Peavey stuff. I've had a Classic VT 2x12 (2-6L6) and a Classic Chorus 130 (JC-120-type) and both were just great sounding clean amps. They were huge and weighed a ton which is a big reason I don't have them anymore, but they sure were built tough. Here's a picture of the old Classic VT (and no, I didn't store it next to that heater ):

 

[JustABluesGuy]

We used to call those , The Mississippi Marshall.. lol..

​

I still do!

 

[Michael A.]

I have a Bandit with the Scorpion 12. The cone was loose from the basket. This thread may help you revive your old speaker.

How do I edge glue a loose speaker cone?

I bought a cheap Peavey Bandit 65 from 1983. The 12" Scorpion sounded terrible and after more complete checking, I determined the cone is no longer glued fully to the inside diameter of the aluminum basket. Any suggestions as to how to safely and permanently reattach the cone? In specific...

www.tdpri.com

 

[Maguchi]

Well I use "barn find" in the broad sense of the term, as I bought it off a kid on fb for $100, but it literally looked like it had been stored in a barn. You know, rust/corrosion on most metal, leaves in cab, spider webs and random animal signs throughout.

The deal was a little sketch and I took a gamble and bought it without testing thoroughly. He did send a real short video, but literally was only showing the reverb worked.

Get it home, and it "kinda" works, powers up, all the pots scratchy af , and cut in/out intermittently. Volume just isnt where it should be either, ide say maybe 15% of what it should be.
So I'm kinda bummed at this point, but it's on me for not a more thorough check before purchase (yeah I know, ALWAYS test first).

Took everything apart, clean board, pots, switches, tube sockets.... everything. Tubes "look" good, but have no real way to check them.

Scrubbed the tolex with Simple Green and washed off decades of grit, grime, and general filth. I wish I had taken more before pics. After drying, sprayed with a good dose of Armour All.

Took the flaking black paint off the handle caps and chassis strips. Polish the corner pieces and the previous mentioned metal parts. Lots of old pitting but came out ok I think.

Did a good cleaning and touch up of inside of the cab, man the reverb bag was downright filthy.
Any how to cut to it, after re assembling it was much better but speaker (original Scorpion) was fluttering on the base strings. Ugh.

Only 12" speaker I had on hand was an 8ohm Blue Marvel, the amp is 4 ohm. So installed it just to test..... EXCELLENT, full volume, no fluttering, clean pots etc.

So I ordered a proper speaker, WGS ET 65. It arrived a day later , so I'm excited to install and let this amp rip !!! Get it put in as soon as I got home, plug in... . Nothing. Huge let down. Bummed. Try the Blue Marvel, that worked literally the night before..... nothing.

So I'm bummed a day or 2. Call an actual local amp tech, make appointment etc. I'm really down at this point.....

Then I notice something this morning when I was pulling the Blue Marvel back out... one of the TUBES ISN'T SEATED.
So I push it into the socket, put the WGS in, cross my fingers..... and YES!!!! POWER!!!!

Felt a bit moronic for not checking the simple stuff sooner.

Anyway, this amp sounds great. Very quiet when idle, wich is a huge issue in this old house.
These are absolute sleeper amps, and by far the best Peavey I've owned out of a dozen or so.

Thanks for letting me vent. That was the short version.

A few before/after pics.

View attachment 1086661 View attachment 1086662 View attachment 1086663 View attachment 1086664 View attachment 1086665 View attachment 1086666 View attachment 1086668 View attachment 1086669

Awesome find. Looks in great shape for an older amp after you cleaned it up. And now it works great too. Congrats, enjoy it.

 

[knopflerfan]

Well I use "barn find" in the broad sense of the term, as I bought it off a kid on fb for $100, but it literally looked like it had been stored in a barn. You know, rust/corrosion on most metal, leaves in cab, spider webs and random animal signs throughout.

The deal was a little sketch and I took a gamble and bought it without testing thoroughly. He did send a real short video, but literally was only showing the reverb worked.

Get it home, and it "kinda" works, powers up, all the pots scratchy af , and cut in/out intermittently. Volume just isnt where it should be either, ide say maybe 15% of what it should be.
So I'm kinda bummed at this point, but it's on me for not a more thorough check before purchase (yeah I know, ALWAYS test first).

Took everything apart, clean board, pots, switches, tube sockets.... everything. Tubes "look" good, but have no real way to check them.

Scrubbed the tolex with Simple Green and washed off decades of grit, grime, and general filth. I wish I had taken more before pics. After drying, sprayed with a good dose of Armour All.

Took the flaking black paint off the handle caps and chassis strips. Polish the corner pieces and the previous mentioned metal parts. Lots of old pitting but came out ok I think.

Did a good cleaning and touch up of inside of the cab, man the reverb bag was downright filthy.
Any how to cut to it, after re assembling it was much better but speaker (original Scorpion) was fluttering on the base strings. Ugh.

Only 12" speaker I had on hand was an 8ohm Blue Marvel, the amp is 4 ohm. So installed it just to test..... EXCELLENT, full volume, no fluttering, clean pots etc.

So I ordered a proper speaker, WGS ET 65. It arrived a day later , so I'm excited to install and let this amp rip !!! Get it put in as soon as I got home, plug in... . Nothing. Huge let down. Bummed. Try the Blue Marvel, that worked literally the night before..... nothing.

So I'm bummed a day or 2. Call an actual local amp tech, make appointment etc. I'm really down at this point.....

Then I notice something this morning when I was pulling the Blue Marvel back out... one of the TUBES ISN'T SEATED.
So I push it into the socket, put the WGS in, cross my fingers..... and YES!!!! POWER!!!!

Felt a bit moronic for not checking the simple stuff sooner.

Anyway, this amp sounds great. Very quiet when idle, wich is a huge issue in this old house.
These are absolute sleeper amps, and by far the best Peavey I've owned out of a dozen or so.

Thanks for letting me vent. That was the short version.

A few before/after pics.

View attachment 1086661 View attachment 1086662 View attachment 1086663 View attachment 1086664 View attachment 1086665 View attachment 1086666 View attachment 1086668 View attachment 1086669

That Peavey looks a lot better after your cleaning. Nice!

 

[W.L.Weller]

ABS Cap Knob - Knurled Shaft (15mm OD)

Same day shipping and awesome prices for guitar pedal parts! A family owned business with AMAZING customer service.

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Rubber Knob - Knurled Shaft - "The Shemp" (16mm OD)

A soft touch rubber knob for players who want greater control over their sound. Choose from 5 indicator colors.

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Not a perfect match, shape and color-wise, but in the ballpark. And more comfortable than turning bare pot shafts.

 

[Mowgli]

A lot of those 80s Peavey amps were - and still are - very underrated, IMO. Congrats.

<> This one sounds great, too!

FWIW, I have that same WGS speaker in one of my Music Man RD-50s and it sounds GREAT... but be careful; if you play a lot of overdriven/distorted music fairly loudly you run the risk of exceeding 65 watts RMS and harming your speaker.

A decent rule of thumb is to take the max. wattage output of the amp and multiply it by 1.5 to determine the minimum value for the power speaker rating.

I don't ever plan on "opening up" that RD-50 beyond 5 with either clean or distorted tones (between 2 and 3 is usually loud enough for my uses). Regardless, I am still taking a risk (a small one) with this speaker in this 50 watt amp. Just thought I'd pass that along; I don't know your playing - volume preferences!

Congrats again - nice find.

 

[RMLamey]

A lot of those 80s Peavey amps were - and still are - very underrated, IMO. Congrats.

<> This one sounds great, too!

FWIW, I have that same WGS speaker in one of my Music Man RD-50s and it sounds GREAT... but be careful; if you play a lot of overdriven/distorted music fairly loudly you run the risk of exceeding 65 watts RMS and harming your speaker.

A decent rule of thumb is to take the max. wattage output of the amp and multiply it by 1.5 to determine the minimum value for the power speaker rating.

I don't ever plan on "opening up" that RD-50 beyond 5 with either clean or distorted tones (between 2 and 3 is usually loud enough for my uses). Regardless, I am still taking a risk (a small one) with this speaker in this 50 watt amp. Just thought I'd pass that along; I don't know your playing - volume preferences!

Congrats again - nice find.

Yep in hindsight I should have ordered the 90, but for whatever reason got tunnel vision on the 65.

 

[Mowgli]

Yep in hindsight I should have ordered the 90, but for whatever reason got tunnel vision on the 65.

It’s a great speaker!

 

[Alex_C]

HN(old?)AD! I used to turn my nose up at Peavey's, but as I've aged the realization that ears can't see a brand taught me the error of my ways. Peavey made some great amps, yours included. Enjoy.

 

[jwp333]

I purchased mine new back in the early 80's. I still have it, just don't use it as much as a practice amp. But I played my last gig with it. I wouldn't give up on the Scorpion speaker, I like the edge they give to it. A little more grind to it than the Mesa Celestion and Weber California that I've had in it at times. And this amp shines with the "edge of grind" sound.