What is the Peavey (amp) sound? How would you describe it?

[SylvesterFrost]

Late to the party, but my 2 cents - Peavey does not have its own sound.
Peavey made copies/variations of different already existing and popular amps, hence the "mississippi marshall" and "mississippi tweed" tags.
The closest you get to Peavey sound is 5150/6505 that exploded in popularity because of EVH.
That too is based on Soldano.

But in my opinion that is not a bad thing. It is just a reliable brand that can pretty much deliver any sound that you are looking for if you choose the right model.
I still love my Bandit 112. They have huge following and a big thread also here in the forums (albeit not as big as Pathfinder 15 )

 

[11 Gauge]

The closest you get to Peavey sound is 5150/6505 that exploded in popularity because of EVH.
That too is based on Soldano.

Maybe the red channel of the 5150 has elements of Soldano, but not so much the green and blue channels. Well, at least by the time Fender took ownership, that's how the schematics read to me.

I think the current blue and green channels are pretty much their own thing - certainly not totally unique, but I don't really see them in any other multichannel amps.

I'll go one step farther and just repeat what I've heard quite a few 5150 users say, that the blue channel especially is much improved in many ways that no Marshall can touch. That's probably because it borrows so little from any Marshall.

 

[PI Mullard]

You know the age old question: -"Where's the neutral setting"? The answer is there can never be a neutral setting. Maybe the amp designer did have some neutral setting in mind (like all controls on 12 o'clock or something) or maybe he didn't, but that goes out the window the moment the individual player, you, do your thing.

Is there a common Peavey sound? I don't know, but I can tell you what the Classic 50 is like:

The Lead channel is mid focused and fat like a Fender Tweed on steroids.

Normal channel got Bass like a Bassman on steroids, Treble like a Marshall on steroids, and it's Mid scooped like a Fender blackface on steroids. The Middle control is biased towards higher mids and adds more brightness than warmth. The Presence knob is a lethal weapon. It's a cutting sonnamabitch.

This amp got more of everything, so if you like a clean, polite sound; back off all tone controls as a starting point and go from there. From this point of view it differs from my other amps, American as well as British.

 

[CoolBlueGlow]

The Peavey Sound is a fistfight in the parking lot, but no sirens wailing in the background, because nobody cares. The fight is not loud...it is mean and lowdown. Real fightin' but only with fists, this time...
But no one knows why they are fightin', and no one seems to much care. As the two stagger to an anti-climactic collapse from exhaustion, most folks have already drifted away. They are heading back into the bar, 'cause the skeeters is eatin them alive out here in the parkin lot. The two men who were fightin' sit down on the curb, cursing and grumbling back into friendship as one offers the other a huff of gasoline from a JIF peanut butter jar, because they are both too broke to buy any more alcohol.

Meanwhile, drifting out of the open door one hears an an obnoxious woman is shouting at a bar-maid "Ah OR-durd a DOUBLE mar-ge-ree-tuh, are yew DEEF?" As you enter this establishment, a wall of nicotene assaults every pore of your being. It is everywhere - a yellow miasma that turned those clean white Peavey microphones to a sort of urine yellow, one bad night at a time. You quickly order a scotch to start the numbing...but the bartender looks at you blankly and finally says "ah...yew mean...like a whusky, rite?"

In the background a tired Seaburg, complete with burned out lights and sun faded graphics croaks out a warbly 1980's Alabama hit single, oblivious to the fact that it has a big scratch in the vinyl that keeps the song eternally stuck on the intro of the song. No matter, the band is playing over top of this, also oblivious to the fact that the Alabama song is in F and they are playing He Stopped Loving Her Today in G. The band itself sounds terrible, tuning is nil, dynamics are LOUD and LOUD, and they are lost inside the arrangement, as in really lost. They can't find the one in the measure or the head of the chart.

Of course you know what kind of amps and PA system they have, before you even have to look.

That's the Peavey Sound.

 

[GuitarsBuicks]

You know the age old question: -"Where's the neutral setting"? The answer is there can never be a neutral setting. Maybe the amp designer did have some neutral setting in mind (like all controls on 12 o'clock or something) or maybe he didn't, but that goes out the window the moment the individual player, you, do your thing.

Is there a common Peavey sound? I don't know, but I can tell you what the Classic 50 is like:

The Lead channel is mid focused and fat like a Fender Tweed on steroids.

Normal channel got Bass like a Bassman on steroids, Treble like a Marshall on steroids, and it's Mid scooped like a Fender blackface on steroids. The Middle control is biased towards higher mids and adds more brightness than warmth. The Presence knob is a lethal weapon. It's a cutting sonnamabitch.

This amp got more of everything, so if you like a clean, polite sound; back off all tone controls as a starting point and go from there. From this point of view it differs from my other amps, American as well as British.

I’d love to find one or two of the old American built Peavey Classic amps a Classic 30 and a Classic 50 410 would be perfect. I’ve got a killer 75-watt 12in speaker just waiting for the right 1x12 30-watt tube amp to come around. Right now it’s in a box in my living room just waiting.

 

[AndrewG]

Learning about Peavey's amp-emulating pedals has me thinking about the "Peavey sound". When I think of amp-simulating pedals, there are the tweed sounds, the Marshall sounds, the Dumble sounds, etc. But how would you describe a "Peavey sound" (if you have experience with Peavey amps)?

I gigged a teal-stripe Bandit 112 for years and have switched to a Bandit 65 in the last 2-3 years. I've liked both but I can't say I've ever sat down to characterize their sounds in words. I've found tones I like with them and have rolled with them. I suppose they can get a little gritty, maybe chunky and even a little fuzzy at times? My Bandits haven't quite had the sparkle of my PRRI (nor did I expect them to) and they have more mids but they still have a nice chime to them. The Bandit 65 sounds warmer to my ears. A friend heard one of my YouTube videos where I was plugged into the Bandit and he thought I had bought a Vox amp without telling him.

I'm sure I'm also opening myself up to some negative comments about Peavey amps too...

You won't get any negatives about Peavey from me! I've gigged both their SS and valve amps for years, and I think they're great. Such a pity that Peavey appear to be on their last legs as a business. My first was a 65 back in the '80s, then I had a 25W valve Bravo, Backstage Plus, more Bandits, Classic 50 2x12, Envoy 110, and I once finished a show with a borrowed little Rage 258 when a Marshall DSL15 crapped out on me, mid gig. That little Rage really surprised me, and was loud enough to be heard over a fairly noisy drummer.
The Peavey sound? There are many...