Peavey Studio Pro love?

[wildschwein]

I had the Red and the Silver stripe Transtube Studio Pros. Very good amps for the money. The silver stripe had a better overdrive channel and the red stripe had better cleans and reverb. I used both of them for a while in dual mono and made a special footswitch to change channels on both of them at once. I messed around with speaker upgrades and in the end I preferred the stock Blue Marvel.

 

[LGOberean]

I don't own a Studio Pro right now.

Last year I mentioned that I gave my SP 110 teal stripe to my son, and earlier this year I sold my SP 112 TT silver stripe model. I definitely liked it, but it just didn't get any playing time. I'd choose my Bandits over it every time. And I was never blown away by the drive channel. So it wasn't being used, and I needed the room in my man cave. Sold it for $100.

If I ever get another, I think I'll look for that 110 teal stripe first.

 

[willhowl]

Studio Pro 40

Hey, y'all....I'm a Former SP40 owner....Silver panel, "tall' cab. Eminence (I think) 12" with a big honkin' square magnet on it. Reverb no worky on mine, never could get it going......

I liked it, but never could quite get a killer tone out....those tone controls on these are kinda non-standard in their workings.....Peavey owners manual had a section on how they interacted,I never followed the directions....ooops!

I really liked the cab construction....SOLID!....and the way the speaker was angled back a bit, firing upwards more when amp sat flat on the floor.

Very practical amp...light, and quite loud-capable.....+++ on using as a clean amp with effects from boxes........lotsa connection options, too.....I'll have another, thank you!......willhowl

 

[StormJH1]

Just joined the club today! Actually this came about kind of suddenly. For years, I'd had a secret admiration of cheap Peavey solid states, specifically the TransTube stuff. I've lauded the Peavey Bandit as the protypical "affordable pedal platform" for hobbyists, despite never owning one. The Bandit seemed just a little too large and loud for my home jamming needs.

But I still lusted after a "swiss army knife" combo amp that could handle most or all of the following items:

• 12" Speaker (all my other amps are 8" or 10")
• Lots of clean headroom to serve as a solid state pedal platform
• An effects loop with Power Amp input to use with Tech21/Joyo Sound preamp pedals (none of my other amps have a loop!) or effects processors
• Line out for direct recording (optional)

Finding this combination of features in a cheap amp is actually harder than you'd think - many lower end 10" and 12" combos lack the FX loop. So I stumbled upon a Studio Pro 40 at GC for $79 is pretty good condition, and it immediately looked like a winner.

I'll stop by later with more in depth thoughts, but it looks like a really solid amp. As noted above, the Peavey solid states are capable of a nice, flat clean tone that works well for a variety of musical styles. I'm not under any delusion that the stock speaker is great, but replacing it with anything better will probably cost close to what I paid for the amp, and it should meet my needs of projecting a bassier tone at basement levels.

The preamp of the Studio Pro actually isn't bad, though it is a bit of a maze to dial in. The amp dirties up quickly relative to the settings on the Pre and Saturation knobs, but that is not to say that it lacks clean headroom - I think it has plenty with the right settings. The push/pull switch for "thick" seems to be a mid-range boost.

I actually don't even hate the reverb. It's a spring tank, and it gets a little weird if you turn it up, but it sounded perfectly good to me on moderate levels. I would have to use a reverb pedal with the Tech21 stuff into the loop, anyway, since the reverb gets bypassed that way.

I kind of have an admiration for these 80's era solid states that actually weren't all that bad, and still work nearly as good as the day they were made (the Marshall Lead 12 is another hidden gem, for very different reasons).

 

[robt57]

but refuse to let the PV go anywhere.

3 years since I made that post. Still have the SP, has the Princeton 65 Speaker in it. Sounds good enough to leave it alone and certainly keep it. I moved my Classic-50 212 the other day to do something. It has an AlnicoBlue/G12H30 pair. I was quickly reminded how it weighs about double what the SP-65 weighs. It does sound better for leads/solos etc.

 

[StormJH1]

Got two pretty decent playing sessions in with the Studio Pro 40. Mine is definitely the early 80's version with the square magnet, Saturation circuit, and reverb tank. Mine seems to be in pretty darn good working order for its age - only some minor scratchiness in the pots, not even enough to worry over.

I'm definitely printing up that manual and checking the suggestions for tone control settings. I noticed that when I either used a Wampler Black '65 as a tone shaper or plugged a Tech21 pedal into the power amp input, the amp had a much fuller bassier sound than I seemed to be getting with the preamp controls. Almost sounded more like a 10" than a 12" amp, but this suggests to me that the tones are in there, and just needs some tweaking. Sounds like some people use a EQ pedal in the FX loop, also, which is a great way to boost certain frequencies without altering tone/gain structure.

So far so good. Had a little bit of buyer's remorse when I struggled initially with the tone controls, but this morning I was pleasantly surprised how much better some of my gain pedals sound with this solid state amp versus my Vox AC10C1. The clean tone itself isn't anything special compared to a tube amp, but if it allows me to plug in and use all these amp-in-a-box pedals more effectively, it has value just for that.

I'm looking suspiciously at that speaker - is it really an Eminence? Not hearing anything "wrong" with it, but wondering if a upgrade to an affordable WGS or modern Eminence (Swamp Thing?) might go a long way. Will probably try it "as is" for awhile, though.

 

[robt57]

I'm looking suspiciously at that speaker - is it really an Eminence?

Read the numbers off the speaker and lookup or ask one of use who made it. My money is on CTS if a square magnet. And decades later it may well not be the original either.

I got a early 60s 12" CTS Square Mag out of a 'Conn Organ Donor' that sounds great. Not high power though. Also got a 15" Cleveland Alnico and a 1962 Jensen C8R.. and a few miles of nice cloth wire. Should last me 30 years of guitar wiring jobs.

 

[GuitarJonz]

Yeah, it thought those square magnet stock speakers in the SP were CTS, and not too shabby speakers.

 

[StormJH1]

Read the numbers off the speaker and lookup or ask one of use who made it. My money is on CTS if a square magnet. And decades later it may well not be the original either.

I got a early 60s 12" CTS Square Mag out of a 'Conn Organ Donor' that sounds great. Not high power though. Also got a 15" Cleveland Alnico and a 1962 Jensen C8R.. and a few miles of nice cloth wire. Should last me 30 years of guitar wiring jobs.

Yeah, it thought those square magnet stock speakers in the SP were CTS, and not too shabby speakers.

Thanks for the replies. Despite it being 30+ year sold and aesthetically unattractive (the speaker back, I mean), I really have no actual reason to fault the speaker yet. I was looking at the instruction manual this morning, and while they emphasize not pushing the low frequencies too hard, their "Jazz" setting has the Bass setting at 8!

I'm starting think that older solid state amps were meant to be played at more extreme control settings than the more modern era (mostly garbage) solid states of the 90's and 2000's. For example, I have a 1999 Vox Pathfinder 15...great solid state practice amp...but there are certain things you just don't do with those controls. I rarely have the volume over "5" and any extreme bass setting would push that 8" speaker quickly over its limit. By contrast my (1982) Marshall Lead 12 ONLY starts to work if you crank the bass almost to "10" and roll off the treble quite a bit. It's only 12 watts of solid state power into a 10" Celestion so, as with the Studio Pro 40, the speaker doesn't really struggle to handle what the preamp throws at it.

On the SP40, I noticed is that the manual recommends mids cut down to about a 2 or 3 for any clean settings. This could partially explain the lack of low end with the settings around "5". I'm accustomed to Fender-style amps where maybe I scoop the mids out to "4" but not much below that, so I'll have to try it lower on this amp. Peaveys are known for having a flatter overall EQ setting (which is part of the reason they are pedal-friendly), but this amp really has a pretty wide sweep of mid- and high-frequencies.

Think I'll keep the speaker for awhile and see what I can do with these control settings. As I said before, this thing has WAY more power than I could possibly need for a relatively compact 12" amp, and it hasn't struggled with any of the bassier pedals I've thrown at it.

 

[robt57]

The Conn CTS I have has quite a good Bass response. I have no idea how much power it would take to fry it between the age and unknown spec etc.

 

[GuitarJonz]

The last SP40 I had, I sold on CL, at full price of $69.00 to a local guy who loves them as mod platforms. He's done a bunch, converting to PR style tube amps, he says the chassis and cab alone are worth it, for his purposes.

 

[StormJH1]

The last SP40 I had, I sold on CL, at full price of $69.00 to a local guy who loves them as mod platforms. He's done a bunch, converting to PR style tube amps, he says the chassis and cab alone are worth it, for his purposes.

Yeah, I'm not really into the whole "anti-globalization" thing - I have plenty of equipment made in the Far East at affordable costs, and it's a great benefit to budget players. But there is a kernel of truth to the whole "they don't make them like they used to" thing. My 1982 Marshall Lead 12 and early-80's Peavey SP40, for being considered the "practice amps" of their day, are made in the U.S. and U.K., respectively, and have solid wood cab and overall great construction. Really helps with the sound quality and preventing rattling when you turn it up.

The Saturation circuit on this thing fascinates me. Solid state combo amps were doing THIS in the early 80's? So how did we end all the garbage Marshall MG and Line6 stuff flooding Guitar Center by the time I started playing guitar? Not to mention my Crate GX10...yuck.

 

[ce24]

I LOVE.... Both the clean channel and the crunch channel. When set up right they are killer! My MIA red stripe is fantastic in stereo with my 5e3....glorious!

 

[robt57]

Put an exceptional speaker in it, then really see how well its response can be.

Not to mention some phase diddle with a sonic stomp in the efx loop.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I bought a Studio Pro 50 a couple months ago, in near-mint condition. I only play clean, so it's exactly what I was looking for. However, I did feel a speaker change could/might improve the overall characteristics of the amp, so I changed out the original Eminence over to an Eminence C-Rex. All I can say is WOW! The C-Rex really opened this amp up. This amp is a subtle little beast, that I won't be shy about gigging with when things get back to near-normal again. The amp is definitely a keeper.

 

[LGOberean]

Congrats. I've never had the opportunity to play through an SP 50. As I've said before in this thread, I've owned two Studio Pros: a teal stripe 110 and a silver stripe 112. Of the two, I like the 110 better. Your 50 is a 35 year old amp, and my impression is the original speaker in those wasn't an Eminence. The Peavey Envoys, Studio Pros and Bandits (the various models in the series that I've owned) were always loud amps with a beefy, full-bodied clean tone, definitely giggable.

 

[Telecastoff1]

Congrats. I've never had the opportunity to play through an SP 50. As I've said before in this thread, I've owned two Studio Pros: a teal stripe 110 and a silver stripe 112. Of the two, I like the 110 better. Your 50 is a 35 year old amp, and my impression is the original speaker in those wasn't an Eminence. The Peavey Envoys, Studio Pros and Bandits (the various models in the series that I've owned) were always loud amps with a beefy, full-bodied clean tone, definitely giggable.

The stock speaker in this SP50 was definitely an Emminence, according to the numbers stamped on the magnet. This was not the old square-magnet CTS the old SP40 amps had. I had one of those several years back as well.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I just bought another SP50 today from the original owner. It was very dirty, but in totally stock condition. I disassembled it, cleaned pots, jacks, connections and the cab inside and out. I did pull the stock speaker and installed an older Celestion G12H80 that I had been saving for another project. This amp is such a sweet sounding, powerful little lightweight beast. I wouldn't be afraid to gig with this amp just about anywhere. And all for $75.

 

[BB]

I just bought another SP50 today from the original owner. It was very dirty, but in totally stock condition. I disassembled it, cleaned pots, jacks, connections and the cab inside and out. I did pull the stock speaker and installed an older Celestion G12H80 that I had been saving for another project. This amp is such a sweet sounding, powerful little lightweight beast. I wouldn't be afraid to gig with this amp just about anywhere. And all for $75.

Since this is (as the cool kids say) a zombie thread, you would be better served with a new post in the amp sections.

However, a few adult beverages have me feeling a bit loquacious and nostalgic. As one who has owned more than a few different variations of Studio Pro's, Bandit's, Special, Artist's, Classic 50, Classic 30, etc, I can (and will!) sing their attributes.

To find amps of this caliber, (for clean tones, a pedal platform, run a a pre-amp straight in or through the effects/or pre amp in) for $150.00 (or under. in my area) is simpley amazing.

I lost my cork sniffer attitude (and I was the worst!) to Peavey gear many years ago when I came upon an 80's Artist model ...which was a 112 Combo with a Black Widow speaker,120 Watts of power via 4 6L6 tubes and a solid state pre-amp section.

I gigged with that sucker for 5-6 years. One night in a local road house famous for it's poor wiring, I was on stage wailing away on Robert Cray' version of Phone Booth....suddenly, the amp started spurting out a very heavy, very fuzzy tone....quite inspiring for 6-7 seconds before it started spewing smoke and quit completely right in the middle of the song.

I was fortunate (this prompted me to always have a back up amp solution) that the band before us still had their gear there and their lovely guitar player allowed me the use of mint, original 64 Super Reverb.

Seriously, I had trouble dialing it in. Our stage volume was pretty loud and I was used to the incredible clean headroom out of the Peavey. Digging in to the Super caused it t overdrive and compress.

While I dig the tube sag/mean/clean/scream articulation from playing dynamics and use of the guitars volume/tone controls, I must admit I LOVE huge, fat, clean headroom...and using a few select low gainer's (along with my trusty volume pedal and a delay) to enhance the tones. Whew!

 

[Telecastoff1]

So sorry about the zombie thread...I just have a weakness for "truth", no matter how old it is. I too, own many Peavey amps as well as others. This ain't my first rodeo...been gigging since 1963.