First up? My Peavey Classic 30 combo. Back when I was a junior in High School, and I had just bought a Gibson Les Paul, I knew that my Fender Frontman 25R just wasn't going to cut it any more. I didn't exactly know much about tube amps, but I knew I had to have one. Why? Well, that's what the pros use. Plus, they have that "warm" tone that solid-states just can't reproduce. Yeah, yeah. I knew all the lingo, but I didn't know squat about tone.
Fast-forward a few years. I'm now a sophomore in college, and I'm still lugging the Classic 30 around. When I first got the amp, I didn't completely love it. I liked that it was loud, but I wasn't getting the tone I wanted out of it. I wasn't sure if the guitar or amp was to blame, but I felt like my tone was muddy. It didn't sound the way guitars sound on CDs! I'm still learning a lot about tone, but after some experimentation, I've grown to appreciate the Classic a lot more.
What changed my mind? Buying another amp. When I came to college, I figured I needed a new amp, because everyone knows a 30-watt tube amp is just too big for a dorm room. So, I went out to the local music store and bought a Vox AC4TV stack. 4 watts, switchable to 1 or 1/4 watts. I also bought a Mexican Humbucker-only Strat, with just a volume knob, as I didn't want to leave the Les Paul in my dorm. I fell in love with the tone instantly! Why? The single tone knob on the amp, combined with just a volume knob on the guitar taught me a lot about tone. When I was rocking out with my high school alternative-ish band, I normally just turned all of my guitar's knobs all the way up. I cranked the treble on my amp to cut through the mix. Never mind the piercing highs. Once I had something more to work with, things changed a bit.
I love the Vox amp, and will review it in a later post, but it doesn't have a lot of headroom. You can't get much volume without natural tube distortion (what do you expect from 4 watts?). The great thing about my Peavey is that I can put it on stage, turn the volume about a 1/4 of the way up, and get some nice, natural tube distortion on the clean channel. It's plently loud, and it can sound pretty beastly with some distortion pedals in front of it. It's also got a distortion channel, effects loops, spring reverb, 3 separate tone controls, a footswitch jack, and a boost switch. If you want to send the signal to an external speaker cabinet, you can do that, too.
My only gripes with the amp are:
1. It's weight. This thing is a bear to lug around. But, it's a 30 watt all-tube amp, so there aren't a lot of remedies to this problem.
2. Tube Rattle. I suspect this is a problem with most combo amps, but the Classic 30 is a prime offender. When I rock out in my bedroom, low notes have a tendency to really shake the tubes. On stage, no one will ever notice, but for solo jamming, it's just plain annoying. There are a few solutions to this problem, such as this nifty contraption, but I haven't explored any means of subduing the rattle.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend the Classic 30 to the gigging guitarist who wants all-tube goodness without shelling out over $1000. The Classic is a crazy value for the price, and it should keep you rocking for years to come.
If you're interested, you can find the Classic 30, along with a number of other professional-grade tube amps, at Musician's Friend.
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