@@tylerw9984 Its odd how we all hear things different. Obtain very different sounds from the same gear. Finding what works is an on going journey. Its great when you find those items, no matter what the make that work well for you!
@@marccarter1350 It's true, I changed dozens of guitars and amps and unfortunately or luckily I always have the same tone ... I sold my AC30 which sounded great because I had problems with space in my car, I took the Classic 30 and I discovered that's really a great amp, especially considering the price and the weight, it doesn't have the AC30 clean but it's still nice and has an amazing chrunch
Hi.....today we are going to test some amps that you probably sold/traded because "they sounded bad" and force you to deal with the fact that it was probably the player and not amp. Next week we will run a Vox Amplug into a Fisher Price telephone and still sound better than you do half the time. Let's go!
I have this amp and every time I played it I never really liked how it sounded then I recorded the amp and wow night and day for some odd reason this amp sounds very harsh but in a recording it sounds like grease lighting
dinosaurs doing the robot Tube amps in general record better than they sound in person. Some seem to have almost a different personality live vs recorded. Solid state amps never surprise me on the playback. At least that’s just my (virtually worthless) personal experience.
I had one of these when I was a teenager. Was my first ever tube amp. I had this and a Gibson Explorer. I used to crank it whenever my parents left the house. It was absolutely glorious. I miss those days.
I think your greatest strength, and something that many of us don't do, is that you seem to think of the amp as your instrument, opposed to the guitar, or like many players- the fretboard. You listen while you play, and shape the sounds coming out of the amp. Great job man!
the best thing he has going here is the fact that he aint scared to turn it up to volume.....if I had to play a tube amp at bedroom volume I would probably quit playing guitar after 20 years of playing.....seriously....its that big of a difference....I keep volume on the classic 30 between 2-2:30 roll off for clean and wide open with the boost for classic rock....forget the dirt channel
The peavey classic 30 was the first tube amp I ever owned. Great amp. Very cheap on the used market and made in the USA. Mine is an early 90s with vintage 30 in it. I still have it! :)
Great to hear the Classic 30 getting some love! We grew up thinking turning it to 3 was playing loud, only realizing later the great sounds are found when really cranked (6 or higher). A portable amp that can not only sound great, but takes pedals like no other!
I agree that the Peavey Classic 30 is one of the finest tube amps out there for the price that you pay for it. I've used one at gigs before borrowed from a friend and that thing just really sang with enough gain to do some phenomenal hard rock tones and a with beautiful silky clean tones that were equally sweet sounding. The Classic 30 is the amp I think of when I want to show someone what a good all-around tube amp sounds like. It's not just the sound, but also the feel of the amp as you play it which is very dynamic. When an amp feels like a living breathing thing that responds to the touch of your fingers on your guitar, that's when you know that you have a great amp on your hands. This amp is definitely high up on my list of amps that I want to own in the near future. As always you do a fantastic job Johan of demonstrating the capabilities of this amp showing off many of it's wonderful tones.
Hi there Johan,I’ve had this amp for a while now,after watching your review and reading the comments I discovered your recommended settings.Wow I would never of thought to set it up that way,but it sounds amazing,I’m now in love with my amp,will never sell it.Many,many thanks,you are a true tonemaster.
This brings back memories. I had a Classic 30 as my main amp for over a decade before I moved to Dr Z. I still have the matching 1x12 extension cab that is my main practice cab. A speaker upgrade really helps them. Mine was terrible until I got an EVM for it!
I went kind of forgetting about my PV Classic 30 for a time, and when I got round to playing it again, I was stoked by the character and the toneage it's got. Its EL84s / American-voiced stock speaker layout yields a vibe which is something like, Vox AC30 meets Fender Deluxe Reverb. The quality of the sound is in the league of any Fender, Vox, even touching on Marshally sorts of vibeage. It eats dirt pedals like it owns them. If this were my only amp, I would be just fine. Peavey Classic 30s are criminally underrated. If it were possible to travel to 1964 to London and Liverpool and give these out to members of that scene, I think this amp, with its best of Brit and best of USA simultaneously happening vibe, would have taken off in a phenomenal way and would have become many guitarists' primary amp.
Nice demo👍 I have the Delta Blues, which is just a 15" speaker + tremolo variant of the same amp. It's a great amp. If played right. Johan does this well. The thing about the Peavey is, everyone always qualifies their praise with the "at that price" thing. Well, "at that price " means you get an amp that heats up a lot, making cooling times before moving crucial; a bent circuit board construction joined by brittle wiring leads that don't like jarring and which amp techs turn pale at; tubes that (depending on the production Year of the amp) are directly fixed to the circuit board and prone to tube rattle, especially in a small combo close to the speaker; a reverb that is well-known for faults especially hum feedback. And yet, it also has earned a reputation for great tones, reliability, durability. So, made a bit shitty, but delivers when operating. A bit like most vintage designed amps, really. Just think about the wiring inside a classic Supro, or the tube fail rate on an AC30. It's pretty much in the way you look after the thing. It's also in the way you play the guitar. Complaints about "ice-picky" and "muddy" tones also crop up. Look at how Johan moves his picking hand up and down the neck to change the tone he is getting at any setting of the amp. I can tell his touch is hugely dynamic as well. Players who do this have learned to play with unforgiving amplification. The kind where it amplifies whatever you do with your fingers and positioning. It's hilarious that so many players are jumping on the band wagon of single channel, non master volume amps, but seem surprised when the simple amplification involved actually amplifies the signals you play into it. So, there are some valuable lessons to be learnt from playing through and managing amps with these limitations and faults. If you go very high spec components and hand wired, better construction, etc. you will eliminate some of the mechanical maintenance issues. In fact, that's the only reason you should spend more money on an amp. Everything else is branding or Kool Aid. But handling amplification to get these kinds of tones comes through the dynamics and experience of using your hands. Now, you can choose that route (mandatory for all guitarists of the 50s,60s, and 70s), or you can go down the rabbit hole of tone modification through signal effects/control where you limit the tones available and become Fred Astaire with the pedals. So, yes, this can be a cool sounding amp. "At the price" of playing responsively with your hands. So, kudos to you Mr Segeborn.
fossilmatic I think you're perfectly right here. I had one of the older, more "classic" looking models some time ago and quite liked it initially but eventually the cons you listed got the better of me and I finally sold it in favour of a Fender, which got me the the more "sparkly" shimmer that I missed with the Classic 30 (even after having the Blue Marvel speaker replaced by a nice Jensen). The tube rattle was also a nuisance I found hard to ignore even after installing that anti-rattling device especially offered for this amp on ebay (though it actually WAS better then). Nevertheless I think that for players playing the right kind of music this amp might still be something to take into account. Provided you can live with the "at the price" restrictions mentioned - and they really DO apply...
My 90’s Classic and delta blues 2/10 have no issues and are played every day or so. I run a fan behind all tube/valve amps. The delta blues was a road dog I got from a friend. It was his main gigging amp for 10 years. Seems the older versions might have been more reliable?
I have a Delta Blues and would not trade for it. I used to have a Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 that I played for years and while I liked it I could never get as good a tones out of it as I can with the Delta Blues plus I love the way the 15 inch speaker sounds.
my uncle was using a peavey classic for a Decade when he was on the radio and in the house band at the slippery noodle the largest blues bar in the midwest worked for him and hes super talented
My first guitar hero was Dave Hlubek of Molly Hatchet, who recently passed away. I had the privilege of meeting him in Knoxville back around 1980 or 81. They always had stacks of Peavey equipment. It made for a really cool looking stage. Black amps with the silver stripes and Peavey signs . . . and everything draped in black. I'm thinking they used Peavey Mace amps back in the early eighties. I've owned a few, and they were great amps at a great price. If I had one today, it would be a Classic 30 like yours. But, to me, Peavey has a distinctive southern rock sound that I can't quite put my finger on. It may just be in my head after seeing the logo. Great amp.
The Classic 30 is a great amp! With an upgraded speaker it becomes a monster! I'm really glad I finally got one. It is really light and portable for a 30 watter which makes it a great grab and go amp. No pedals necessary and plenty of power. I use it as a backup for my Bluesbreaker or let my friends play through it when they come over to jam.
My Dad had one these years ago until it was stolen from his van after a gig I understand now why he was so gutted even tho he got a "Better" replacement amp. Great sounding amp, nice crunch. Great demo as usual.
I had the Peavey Delta Blues 30 watt cab with a 15 inch speaker. It was heavy to carry but glorious. The tube vibrato and spring reverb, both with adjustable dwell and volume made that amp a standout. I may get another. It was loud and had more controls than any amp I ever had.
I had a chance to purchase the 210 for around $599 or so, around 3 years back. It was a demo model in Tweed. I did not play through it much or loud and I was unaware of the 210's reputation so I passed. I think you can get new 210 Peavey Classics for $699 even today. I thought that it did not have the Tube Tremolo and that was the actual reason why I passed on it.
the peavey Delta Blues has a 15 in it...its the same amp just uses a 15" spkr but they had some problems with them in the circuitry..with feedback I think it was the reverb when turned up halfway it would oscillate but not all of them did it..www.bing.com/videos/search?q=peavey+blues&view=detail&mid=B560388702A7F43A2679B560388702A7F43A2679&FORM=VIRE
I have one of the earlier ones (and 2 Classic 20s, which I used for a super-portable stereo rig/mic'd X)). Have used it for practice, gigs, etc for 20-odd years ... it's still rocking strong!! :D
I had this amp for les than a year. Got rid of it because it was too loud. But it is the best clean sounding amp i heard. Very close to fender for half the price
Great little amp. I love it for the “just grab it and go jam” factor. Covers a lot of ground and with the Vintage 30 it cuts through a band mix. Some folks like the Classic Lead 80 or the G12K100. I’d love to try those too.
I'm so glad you made this video. Hopefully it makes selling my C30 a little easier. I can see how they'd work really well for some people, but between the tube rattle and the untameable presence peak when cranked, it's not an amp that will work for everyone.
i have the peavey classic 50 / 2 12 combo. if you plug it into a 4 12 it sounds really really fat, that had that side effect on me that i learned that it makes a ver big difference if you play on the combo or plugged the combo into a 4 12 or 2 12. i did got mine on a budget, very happy with it. thank you for that demo, johan ! i like the title .
Magnus Hardt johan is the God of control...I mean I'd be a drooling idiot sitting in a corner looking like Howard Hughes wearing Kleenex boxes for shoes because I wouldn't know which amp and guitar combination to try first. By my calculations so far with all the gear I've seen there are over 10trillion combinations. Knowing which ones to pick and what to do with them truly is control ... all hail Johan !!
Nice!! This has always been a favorite of mine- it just sounds GOOD, no matter what you plug into it. Love the bluesy crunch and classic rock tones it delivers. Best of all- they're priced reasonably! You should try the Delta Blues- same amp, but with tremolo, and either 2x10 or 1x15" speakers. All of them are worth buying. Great tones and playing as always, cheers!
Great little amp. It was my first tube amp I got in the early to mid '90s. I upgraded the speaker to a greenback which made a huge difference. I thought the blue marvel was a little ice picky. Still have the amp but mostly play through my JVM 410h now. Nice vid.
Johans secret is out of the bag, Ever wonder where all these great riffs come from? Take a look at whats on the chair.A bottle of green radio active fluid.Only thing left is to get him to tell us where he gets his strontium 90 from...
I put a Boss SD-1 in front with light gain and on the amp put the mids on 0 and even out the Bass/treble and it is a Thrash beast! Love amps that can do that!
Johan- good video. My friends and I use several amps regularly and Classic 30 is one. We use additional 15 extension cab containing jensen Mod 15-120 speaker at 16 ohm. This speaker is within 1 dB of the internal speaker and together they give big sound when you turn clean channel volume up. Cheers!
I used a deluxe reverb in the 70's and 80's. With just very small bit of help i got all the tones i needed. a lot of ZZ topp, molly Hatchet, ACDC, Billy Idol. etc. you don;t need a Marshall or an EVH. I'm thinking of buying a new amp and what drew me to this video is i am thinking about this very amplifier
Great review. I have a Crate VC3012 (another great USA made but inexpensive tube amp) I believe it was used by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. I bought mine (a 1990s model) for $160 used. I wonder how it would compare to this Peavy.
Such a great playing! Is the classic 30 the same to the delta blues that you demo in another video?? (apart from the speaker and the tremolo). Do you know if the circuit is identical? I find that my delta blues lacks saturation in the crunch channel compared to the classic 30. Is delta blues supposed to be lower gain on the crunch channel or is there something wrong with my amp? Thanks!
At 4:22 David has slayed Goliath. That’s the clean channel cranked people. These amps are out of this world good. I’ve got a minty Classic 30 in my sights at a pawn shop tomorrow. Hmmmm. 😉
He actually said in a comment below that he using the crunch channel, believe it or not. With pre gain on about 5, post gain on 10, treble 5, bass 3, and mids 10.
I would love to see the Peavey Windsor (Its a JCM 800 clone on a budget) compared to Marshall JCM 800 2203/2204 (since peavey is also single channel). Nice content as always.
I owned a hot rodded JCM 900 MkII with a JCM 900 1960A and 1960B Full stack and a Peavey Windsor. I played them both through the same Full Stack. Hands down, unequivocally I prefered the Marshall JCM 900 MkII. It was louder, had more gain and a lot more sustain. Unfortunately I do not remember the differences in other musical aspects life how the Low's, Mid's and High's compared. I mostly compared them at full volume. I had purchased the Windsor as a back up from Guitar Center for $450/$499 I forget which. I played the Marshall Rig in the basement and it shook the foundations of the home. I did test the Windsor in the basement on top of the Marshall Full Stack of JCM 900 1960A and 1960B speaker cabs. I played the Windsor mostly in my living room with a Marshall MG412 and a Fender 412 both were 8 ohm cabs. I would play and look out my window. It was loud but the controls were not as effective/responsive as the Marshalls. It was not a bad head by any means, but in my opinion it did not have the "Oomph" of the Marshall Head, nor did it shiver and quiver and give me the feeling of standing on a beach in Hawaii during a hurricane and looking over my shoulder fearing for that 35 ft. high wave wall of sound that I was hearing from the Marshall. The Windsor had a 3 ft. high wall of sound above the rig which never had me looking over my shoulder fearing I actually was standing on a beach in Hawaii during a hurricane and certainly I never heard/feared a Tidal Wave wall of sound at all. It just was not there. -Peter Remember my Marshall JCM 900 MkII had been hot rodded, that may account a large part of the perception of raw power that only my Marshall had.
Hear how Johan rides the sustain/mild distortion? Well the Marshall JCM 900 MkII could do that over 60 seconds and was louder and more musical. In fact I rode the sustain and distortion almost all the time back then. That's why I liked my Marshall. I am a violin player and using the bow I can do long sustain and the Marshall got me there even better because loud volume and distortion kicked in. Palm muting, hammer-ons, note slides, chord slides and the Stratocaster vibrato dive bombs had me sounding like Jimi Hendrix. No other amp got me to Jimi. I'm still searching for that sound.
Lucas Marques agreed....the Windsor is great for the $$...got one off eBay for $200. Everything an 800 does, it does, but not as well....less tight in the bottom, less complex percussive harmonics...just...less. But if it was my first amp as kid I would have been thrilled. However.... its a great and cheap modding platform for those learning how to mod amps. The Windsor is also the most finicky amp i ever had for biasing...it has to be dead-on or it sounds awful and almost broken.
The Windsor isn't a JCM 800 clone. There are some similarities in certain parts, but it's in no way a clone. The V1 section is pretty much the High Gain input of a JCM. But the V2 section is completely different. It looks like Peavey was going for an amp that would have higher gain at lower volume so you don't have to crank it to get "the sound". The Peavey Butcher though....
Awesome demo thanks! After going back and forth with fender amps bassbreakers blues jrs blues srs etc. for the money and sounds this is it ! a little loud for home but gigging well I don't even play im a beginner so its my choice, have you thought about marketing those shorts ? The Segebottoms ! oh yeah "Stay fresh stay cool and drive the women crazy, Segebottom shorts !"
This is my first guitar amp still use it from time to time. Hey johan how do you think this one compares to the creamback one you played awhile back? Thanks for the vids man you rock!
You turn the master volume all the way up correct? I can't believe you got the blue marvel speaker to sound that good. I have an older one )without the hump in the middle on the front) and it has an eminence speaker that I feel sounds better than the blue marvel. You could obviously plug into a potted plant and make it sound good. Makes me feel so good to own this thing. Thank you Johan.
The Classic 30 is for sure one of the best sounding combos ever created…it has a great clean tone and superb chrunch channel.
Great Demo!
I really am having to disagree with you as a Vox AC15HW1X owner!
@@marccarter1350 Good for you, we are in democracy...
@@marccarter1350 It's funny, I sold my AC30 HW a couple of weeks ago
@@tylerw9984 Its odd how we all hear things different. Obtain very different sounds from the same gear. Finding what works is an on going journey. Its great when you find those items, no matter what the make that work well for you!
@@marccarter1350 It's true, I changed dozens of guitars and amps and unfortunately or luckily I always have the same tone ... I sold my AC30 which sounded great because I had problems with space in my car, I took the Classic 30 and I discovered that's really a great amp, especially considering the price and the weight, it doesn't have the AC30 clean but it's still nice and has an amazing chrunch
Hi.....today we are going to test some amps that you probably sold/traded because "they sounded bad" and force you to deal with the fact that it was probably the player and not amp. Next week we will run a Vox Amplug into a Fisher Price telephone and still sound better than you do half the time. Let's go!
+NYC LP Player hahaha! You're too kind my friend :-)
NYC LP Player nailed it. Good comment and so TRUE
ROFL I like this.
I have this amp and every time I played it I never really liked how it sounded then I recorded the amp and wow night and day for some odd reason this amp sounds very harsh but in a recording it sounds like grease lighting
dinosaurs doing the robot
Tube amps in general record better than they sound in person. Some seem to have almost a different personality live vs recorded. Solid state amps never surprise me on the playback. At least that’s just my (virtually worthless) personal experience.
I had one of these when I was a teenager. Was my first ever tube amp. I had this and a Gibson Explorer. I used to crank it whenever my parents left the house. It was absolutely glorious. I miss those days.
Most underrated amps out there.. Perfect for country and classic rock.. You can even play hard rock, jazz and blues on em.
I think your greatest strength, and something that many of us don't do, is that you seem to think of the amp as your instrument, opposed to the guitar, or like many players- the fretboard. You listen while you play, and shape the sounds coming out of the amp. Great job man!
+skotrock Thanks, that's how I see it too. I'm playing the sound rather than the riff. Cheers Johan
skotrock Yeah, it's the whole "loop" of player/guitar/fx/amp that is the actual instrument.
the best thing he has going here is the fact that he aint scared to turn it up to volume.....if I had to play a tube amp at bedroom volume I would probably quit playing guitar after 20 years of playing.....seriously....its that big of a difference....I keep volume on the classic 30 between 2-2:30 roll off for clean and wide open with the boost for classic rock....forget the dirt channel
The peavey classic 30 was the first tube amp I ever owned. Great amp. Very cheap on the used market and made in the USA. Mine is an early 90s with vintage 30 in it. I still have it! :)
Great to hear the Classic 30 getting some love! We grew up thinking turning it to 3 was playing loud, only realizing later the great sounds are found when really cranked (6 or higher). A portable amp that can not only sound great, but takes pedals like no other!
I'm pretty sure when you start your car it sounds like a Marshall Super Lead with a pre-rola four Celestions cabinet
Hot damn! That’s one of the greatest sounding amps of all time. James Brown really knocked it out of the park when he designed the Classic 30.
Papas got a brand new bag.
I feel good
You must have a Plexi circuit in your fingers indeed! You make almost everything sounds like one! Great tones!
+Lucas Carvalho Thanks my friend :-)
It's true...Johan has been blessed with "Plexi-Paws" !!
+Bo Lerkins hahaha ;-)
His car sounds like a plexi I bet!!
Ahahahahhaah
I agree that the Peavey Classic 30 is one of the finest tube amps out there for the price that you pay for it. I've used one at gigs before borrowed from a friend and that thing just really sang with enough gain to do some phenomenal hard rock tones and a with beautiful silky clean tones that were equally sweet sounding. The Classic 30 is the amp I think of when I want to show someone what a good all-around tube amp sounds like. It's not just the sound, but also the feel of the amp as you play it which is very dynamic. When an amp feels like a living breathing thing that responds to the touch of your fingers on your guitar, that's when you know that you have a great amp on your hands. This amp is definitely high up on my list of amps that I want to own in the near future. As always you do a fantastic job Johan of demonstrating the capabilities of this amp showing off many of it's wonderful tones.
+wigon Thanks man!
Johan, you have tone for day in your fingers, and your timing is always impeccable. Nice showcase of this amp.
Having a Gibson with nice humbuckers really makes a big difference!! You really got that amp to sing!!
This thing is honestly like a bassman/tweed deluxe on a budget. Amazing sounds!
Own one of these and absolutely love it! Thanks for showcasing it on the channel and giving it some love :)
+Curtis Holm Thanks man! :-)
the tone in this video with this amp is honestly one of my alltime fav's of yours definitely an under-appreciated amp
+Evan Tisby Thanks Evan, great to hear it!
It's amazing to see such a small combo amp next to those towering Marshall stacks and heads, but with a tone just as great as them.
+givemeacent Yeah it actually holds up pretty well!
Hi there Johan,I’ve had this amp for a while now,after watching your review and reading the comments I discovered your recommended settings.Wow I would never of thought to set it up that way,but it sounds amazing,I’m now in love with my amp,will never sell it.Many,many thanks,you are a true tonemaster.
I love my Classic 30. It's such an underrated amp.
This brings back memories. I had a Classic 30 as my main amp for over a decade before I moved to Dr Z. I still have the matching 1x12 extension cab that is my main practice cab.
A speaker upgrade really helps them. Mine was terrible until I got an EVM for it!
I went kind of forgetting about my PV Classic 30 for a time, and when I got round to playing it again, I was stoked by the character and the toneage it's got. Its EL84s / American-voiced stock speaker layout yields a vibe which is something like, Vox AC30 meets Fender Deluxe Reverb. The quality of the sound is in the league of any Fender, Vox, even touching on Marshally sorts of vibeage. It eats dirt pedals like it owns them. If this were my only amp, I would be just fine. Peavey Classic 30s are criminally underrated. If it were possible to travel to 1964 to London and Liverpool and give these out to members of that scene, I think this amp, with its best of Brit and best of USA simultaneously happening vibe, would have taken off in a phenomenal way and would have become many guitarists' primary amp.
Thanks Johan. I'd never heard of this gem before today. I can't believe how great it sounds.
+Bolton Michael Thanks man!
I had a Classic 50 head for years, the US made version. It was just perfect. I had to sell it when I moved, but wow, was that a great amp.
I can't believe how awesome you made that amp sound!
Thanks, great to hear that!
Nice demo👍 I have the Delta Blues, which is just a 15" speaker + tremolo variant of the same amp. It's a great amp. If played right. Johan does this well. The thing about the Peavey is, everyone always qualifies their praise with the "at that price" thing. Well, "at that price " means you get an amp that heats up a lot, making cooling times before moving crucial; a bent circuit board construction joined by brittle wiring leads that don't like jarring and which amp techs turn pale at; tubes that (depending on the production Year of the amp) are directly fixed to the circuit board and prone to tube rattle, especially in a small combo close to the speaker; a reverb that is well-known for faults especially hum feedback. And yet, it also has earned a reputation for great tones, reliability, durability. So, made a bit shitty, but delivers when operating. A bit like most vintage designed amps, really. Just think about the wiring inside a classic Supro, or the tube fail rate on an AC30. It's pretty much in the way you look after the thing. It's also in the way you play the guitar. Complaints about "ice-picky" and "muddy" tones also crop up. Look at how Johan moves his picking hand up and down the neck to change the tone he is getting at any setting of the amp. I can tell his touch is hugely dynamic as well. Players who do this have learned to play with unforgiving amplification. The kind where it amplifies whatever you do with your fingers and positioning. It's hilarious that so many players are jumping on the band wagon of single channel, non master volume amps, but seem surprised when the simple amplification involved actually amplifies the signals you play into it. So, there are some valuable lessons to be learnt from playing through and managing amps with these limitations and faults. If you go very high spec components and hand wired, better construction, etc. you will eliminate some of the mechanical maintenance issues. In fact, that's the only reason you should spend more money on an amp. Everything else is branding or Kool Aid. But handling amplification to get these kinds of tones comes through the dynamics and experience of using your hands. Now, you can choose that route (mandatory for all guitarists of the 50s,60s, and 70s), or you can go down the rabbit hole of tone modification through signal effects/control where you limit the tones available and become Fred Astaire with the pedals. So, yes, this can be a cool sounding amp. "At the price" of playing responsively with your hands. So, kudos to you Mr Segeborn.
fossilmatic I think you're perfectly right here. I had one of the older, more "classic" looking models some time ago and quite liked it initially but eventually the cons you listed got the better of me and I finally sold it in favour of a Fender, which got me the the more "sparkly" shimmer that I missed with the Classic 30 (even after having the Blue Marvel speaker replaced by a nice Jensen). The tube rattle was also a nuisance I found hard to ignore even after installing that anti-rattling device especially offered for this amp on ebay (though it actually WAS better then). Nevertheless I think that for players playing the right kind of music this amp might still be something to take into account. Provided you can live with the "at the price" restrictions mentioned - and they really DO apply...
+fossilmatic Thanks! That's very kind of you. And I agree, any amp that isn't unforgiving will not reproduce what's actually played. Cheers Johan
Just run a little 9 volt battery fan in the back of the amp and it will never over heat
My 90’s Classic and delta blues 2/10 have no issues and are played every day or so. I run a fan behind all tube/valve amps. The delta blues was a road dog I got from a friend. It was his main gigging amp for 10 years. Seems the older versions might have been more reliable?
I have a Delta Blues and would not trade for it. I used to have a Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 that I played for years and while I liked it I could never get as good a tones out of it as I can with the Delta Blues plus I love the way the 15 inch speaker sounds.
my uncle was using a peavey classic for a Decade when he was on the radio and in the house band at the slippery noodle the largest blues bar in the midwest worked for him and hes super talented
My first guitar hero was Dave Hlubek of Molly Hatchet, who recently passed away. I had the privilege of meeting him in Knoxville back around 1980 or 81. They always had stacks of Peavey equipment. It made for a really cool looking stage. Black amps with the silver stripes and Peavey signs . . . and everything draped in black. I'm thinking they used Peavey Mace amps back in the early eighties. I've owned a few, and they were great amps at a great price. If I had one today, it would be a Classic 30 like yours. But, to me, Peavey has a distinctive southern rock sound that I can't quite put my finger on. It may just be in my head after seeing the logo. Great amp.
absolutely superb tone, friend ! i've been wanting this amp for some time now!
+Darrien Day Thanks my friend!
The Classic 30 is a great amp! With an upgraded speaker it becomes a monster! I'm really glad I finally got one. It is really light and portable for a 30 watter which makes it a great grab and go amp. No pedals necessary and plenty of power. I use it as a backup for my Bluesbreaker or let my friends play through it when they come over to jam.
+Shawn Glass Yeah, both this one and the Bandit are great tools for muscicians!
My Dad had one these years ago until it was stolen from his van after a gig I understand now why he was so gutted even tho he got a "Better" replacement amp. Great sounding amp, nice crunch. Great demo as usual.
+Jason Stapley Thanks man!
Recently had one of these with a 1x15 cab. Loved it. Wished it was mine!
I have that exact set-up! ... X)
I had the Peavey Delta Blues 30 watt cab with a 15 inch speaker. It was heavy to carry but glorious. The tube vibrato and spring reverb, both with adjustable dwell and volume made that amp a standout. I may get another. It was loud and had more controls than any amp I ever had.
PeterDad60 the 210 model was ALSO quite spectacular...the black ones.
I had a chance to purchase the 210 for around $599 or so, around 3 years back. It was a demo model in Tweed. I did not play through it much or loud and I was unaware of the 210's reputation so I passed. I think you can get new 210 Peavey Classics for $699 even today. I thought that it did not have the Tube Tremolo and that was the actual reason why I passed on it.
the peavey Delta Blues has a 15 in it...its the same amp just uses a 15" spkr but they had some problems with them in the circuitry..with feedback I think it was the reverb when turned up halfway it would oscillate but not all of them did it..www.bing.com/videos/search?q=peavey+blues&view=detail&mid=B560388702A7F43A2679B560388702A7F43A2679&FORM=VIRE
I have one of the earlier ones (and 2 Classic 20s, which I used for a super-portable stereo rig/mic'd X)). Have used it for practice, gigs, etc for 20-odd years ... it's still rocking strong!! :D
+Kieren Moore Cheers Kieren!
I had this amp for les than a year. Got rid of it because it was too loud. But it is the best clean sounding amp i heard. Very close to fender for half the price
Great little amp. I love it for the “just grab it and go jam” factor. Covers a lot of ground and with the Vintage 30 it cuts through a band mix. Some folks like the Classic Lead 80 or the G12K100. I’d love to try those too.
I'm so glad you made this video. Hopefully it makes selling my C30 a little easier.
I can see how they'd work really well for some people, but between the tube rattle and the untameable presence peak when cranked, it's not an amp that will work for everyone.
+Che Guitarra Thanks ;-)
Many folks play the guitar, but seldom are guitar players ........... and that's why we appreciate Johan 🙏
Beautiful sounding amp! These were EXCELLENT for the money. Very playable usable tone for live playing.
Thanks, yeah I really like it too!
i have the peavey classic 50 / 2 12 combo. if you plug it into a 4 12 it sounds really really fat, that had that side effect on me that i learned that it makes a ver big difference if you play on the combo or plugged the combo into a 4 12 or 2 12. i did got mine on a budget, very happy with it.
thank you for that demo, johan ! i like the title .
+Michael Bettini Thanks man!
I'm starting to think that Johan has a feedback controlling superpower ;)
+Magnus Hardt hahahahaha! I wish ;-)
Magnus Hardt johan is the God of control...I mean I'd be a drooling idiot sitting in a corner looking like Howard Hughes wearing Kleenex boxes for shoes because I wouldn't know which amp and guitar combination to try first. By my calculations so far with all the gear I've seen there are over 10trillion combinations. Knowing which ones to pick and what to do with them truly is control ... all hail Johan !!
Sam Fosdick True
Johan is the Rock n Roll Viking!!!
Nice!! This has always been a favorite of mine- it just sounds GOOD, no matter what you plug into it. Love the bluesy crunch and classic rock tones it delivers. Best of all- they're priced reasonably! You should try the Delta Blues- same amp, but with tremolo, and either 2x10 or 1x15" speakers. All of them are worth buying. Great tones and playing as always, cheers!
+pyroman6000 Thanks, I'll take a look at the 1x15 and 2x10 as well! Cheers!
Suits that SG really nicely.
+Lars Thomsen Thanks Lars
Had one of these... used it for years... good amp :)
Sounds great. They sound even better with a Creamback speaker swapped in!
+andrewt248 Thanks, we demoed one that had a creamback in this clip
th-cam.com/video/AM3jiMx5U2A/w-d-xo.html
Great little amp. It was my first tube amp I got in the early to mid '90s. I upgraded the speaker to a greenback which made a huge difference. I thought the blue marvel was a little ice picky. Still have the amp but mostly play through my JVM 410h now. Nice vid.
+Edward MacNish Thanks Edward!
This is a seriously cool sounding amp man!! I have a friend who use to play one of these at church all the time :)
I had one of these for years... KILLER amp man...
+Chrismayo1981 Cheers Chris
That's a good sounding combo amp at a fair price. Nice crunch
Peavey fans know what the cream of the crop is, and this classic 30 is one of those.
Awesome video! I have a classic 30 at home. Never lets me down!
Johans secret is out of the bag, Ever wonder where all these great riffs come from? Take a look at whats on the chair.A bottle of green radio active fluid.Only thing left is to get him to tell us where he gets his strontium 90 from...
+cast390 hahaha! Damn, I should have been more careful ;-)
Refering to overdrives it has to be liquid Germanium.
Johan rocks. Dude you get to play the sweetest amps
I got one of these for free a while back and played it out for a while, they are good amps no doubt. Just fix the tube rattle and you are good to go
Nice tones and playing, as usual! Just got a late 90's 50W 410 version of these 2 weeks ago. So fun!
+Mike Perez Thanks Mike!
I put a Boss SD-1 in front with light gain and on the amp put the mids on 0 and even out the Bass/treble and it is a Thrash beast! Love amps that can do that!
Johan- good video. My friends and I use several amps regularly and Classic 30 is one. We use additional 15 extension cab containing jensen Mod 15-120 speaker at 16 ohm. This speaker is within 1 dB of the internal speaker and together they give big sound when you turn clean channel volume up. Cheers!
+Jack Craven Cool combination! Cheers!
Freaking awesome video!!!! I loved my delta blues 115 but had to sell it after my back surgery. This as with all your other demos are great!!!!
+george macris Thanks George, hope your back is better. Cheers Johan
Nice demo. Nice playing. Nice tones.
Great demo, Johan! Loved the feedback you got with that sg.
+Westley Antee Thanks! :-)
I have the 50 watt 4x10" with an Orange 2x12. Love it
Appreciate to know what setting you used? Channel etc. Sounds fantastic. Also Johan did you use any pedals?
Great demo, you had some nice sounds
I think the classic series may be peaveys best. I honestly can't believe how good my mh is and it's easy to dial in.
I used a deluxe reverb in the 70's and 80's. With just very small bit of help i got all the tones i needed. a lot of ZZ topp, molly Hatchet, ACDC, Billy Idol. etc. you don;t need a Marshall or an EVH. I'm thinking of buying a new amp and what drew me to this video is i am thinking about this very amplifier
Sounds really good! I had the classic 50... and traded it years ago for the real deal Bassman
+Astropearl Thanks! :-)
Fantastic. How good do you think the classic 50 is compared to the real thing?
The Classic 50 isnt supposed to sound like a Bassman though.
This sounds fooking great!! very nice gear and player!!
Killer amp ! Great playing !
What a satisfying tone
great video... somehow you are able to squeeze the best tones out of everything you play.
+Wendell Laffin Thanks Wendell!
Great review. I have a Crate VC3012 (another great USA made but inexpensive tube amp) I believe it was used by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
I bought mine (a 1990s model) for $160 used.
I wonder how it would compare to this Peavy.
+Allampedupscxd Thanks, I'm gonna see if we can do the Crate here as well
_You are right. 🎶 This amp does sound amazing!_
Love my Classic 50 4x10 and and my Delta Blues. Need to round it out with a Classic head.
+reno145 Cheers!
Such a great playing! Is the classic 30 the same to the delta blues that you demo in another video?? (apart from the speaker and the tremolo). Do you know if the circuit is identical? I find that my delta blues lacks saturation in the crunch channel compared to the classic 30. Is delta blues supposed to be lower gain on the crunch channel or is there something wrong with my amp? Thanks!
Bonjour Johan ! Hey my good man 😎 sometimes I watch your videos instead of tv , great job on the reviews
I have a peavey classic 20 and it still rocks. It is made in USA and I bought it in 1995 for usd 160 dollars
Best Amp ever Made together with the Peavey Delta Blues!🌈💪
Swear by my classic 30,used to gig with it every night, until covid 19 came around.
Johan I love how you just Schenker up the midrange and crank it to the max. Sounds so killer.
Yeah midrange is essential to guitar sound
Great video as always Johan.
Thanks man!
Hi, today im going to checkout playing through a 1960s car stereo. (sounds amazing)
+Lee Kempson hahaha, It probably would
I can't believe that you achieved so RICH sound from that amp!!!
Could you share with us settings for first sound?
Cheers
+Maciej Forreiter Thanks! I had max post volume, about 5 on preamp volume, max mid, bass=3 and treble about 5, no boost. Cheers
Big thanks! Gonna try that at home! :D
Your neighbors must love you
Do you think this amp need speaker change?
Every guitar player should have a C30 as a backup or as a great grab and go gig amp. I've owned 4 of them and always keep one around.
cool, was it loud enough to sound good over drummer and bass player ?
David Faure Is the bandit really that good? I can get a Bandit for $280AU or the UK made C30 for $500-600 (negotiable, as new, stock speakers in both)
@@andresjacome296 my band mate has one...we are in a punk band with a wild drummer...👍
At 4:22 David has slayed Goliath. That’s the clean channel cranked people. These amps are out of this world good. I’ve got a minty Classic 30 in my sights at a pawn shop tomorrow. Hmmmm. 😉
He actually said in a comment below that he using the crunch channel, believe it or not. With pre gain on about 5, post gain on 10, treble 5, bass 3, and mids 10.
Sounds great! I'd be interested to hear your take on the Delta Blues, with the 15 inch speaker. It's a personal fave of mine.
+Luke Hannington That's a really great amp too. I hope to demo it here soon.
+Luke Hannington Thanks, glad you like it! :-)
I would love to see the Peavey Windsor (Its a JCM 800 clone on a budget) compared to Marshall JCM 800 2203/2204 (since peavey is also single channel).
Nice content as always.
+Lucas Marques Thanks Lucas, I'll keep that in mind. Cheers Johan
I owned a hot rodded JCM 900 MkII with a JCM 900 1960A and 1960B Full stack and a Peavey Windsor. I played them both through the same Full Stack. Hands down, unequivocally I prefered the Marshall JCM 900 MkII. It was louder, had more gain and a lot more sustain. Unfortunately I do not remember the differences in other musical aspects life how the Low's, Mid's and High's compared. I mostly compared them at full volume.
I had purchased the Windsor as a back up from Guitar Center for $450/$499 I forget which.
I played the Marshall Rig in the basement and it shook the foundations of the home. I did test the Windsor in the basement on top of the Marshall Full Stack of JCM 900 1960A and 1960B speaker cabs. I played the Windsor mostly in my living room with a Marshall MG412 and a Fender 412 both were 8 ohm cabs. I would play and look out my window. It was loud but the controls were not as effective/responsive as the Marshalls. It was not a bad head by any means, but in my opinion it did not have the "Oomph" of the Marshall Head, nor did it shiver and quiver and give me the feeling of standing on a beach in Hawaii during a hurricane and looking over my shoulder fearing for that 35 ft. high wave wall of sound that I was hearing from the Marshall. The Windsor had a 3 ft. high wall of sound above the rig which never had me looking over my shoulder fearing I actually was standing on a beach in Hawaii during a hurricane and certainly I never heard/feared a Tidal Wave wall of sound at all. It just was not there.
-Peter
Remember my Marshall JCM 900 MkII had been hot rodded, that may account a large part of the perception of raw power that only my Marshall had.
Hear how Johan rides the sustain/mild distortion? Well the Marshall JCM 900 MkII could do that over 60 seconds and was louder and more musical. In fact I rode the sustain and distortion almost all the time back then. That's why I liked my Marshall. I am a violin player and using the bow I can do long sustain and the Marshall got me there even better because loud volume and distortion kicked in. Palm muting, hammer-ons, note slides, chord slides and the Stratocaster vibrato dive bombs had me sounding like Jimi Hendrix. No other amp got me to Jimi. I'm still searching for that sound.
Lucas Marques agreed....the Windsor is great for the $$...got one off eBay for $200. Everything an 800 does, it does, but not as well....less tight in the bottom, less complex percussive harmonics...just...less. But if it was my first amp as kid I would have been thrilled. However.... its a great and cheap modding platform for those learning how to mod amps. The Windsor is also the most finicky amp i ever had for biasing...it has to be dead-on or it sounds awful and almost broken.
The Windsor isn't a JCM 800 clone. There are some similarities in certain parts, but it's in no way a clone. The V1 section is pretty much the High Gain input of a JCM. But the V2 section is completely different. It looks like Peavey was going for an amp that would have higher gain at lower volume so you don't have to crank it to get "the sound". The Peavey Butcher though....
Sounds great. Can you publish your amp settings?
+Jon R Thanks Jon, I had bass 3, treble 5, mid 10, post 10, pre 5, no boost. Crunch channel. Cheers Johan
Great video! In one of the videos you did the PV had a creamback speaker. Do you think that made much of a difference?
Sounds great. I'm thinking of picking up this head version with cab for $500 USD....seems like a no brainer! Great videos, keep it up Johan.
I have owned 3 Peavey tweeds. Awesome.
Would love it if you could show us the tone settings you used. Excellent tones.
Thanks, I’m afraid I don’t remember if I didn’t put it in the video description. I do remember that it sounded great on most settings though. Cheers
That’s a sweet amp! Kills with a strat too
Awesome demo thanks! After going back and forth with fender amps bassbreakers blues jrs blues srs etc. for the money and sounds this is it ! a little loud for home but gigging well I don't even play im a beginner so its my choice, have you thought about marketing those shorts ? The Segebottoms ! oh yeah "Stay fresh stay cool and drive the women crazy, Segebottom shorts !"
Well hell yeah! Great demo!
This is my first guitar amp still use it from time to time. Hey johan how do you think this one compares to the creamback one you played awhile back? Thanks for the vids man you rock!
+The Pedalphiles Thanks, I actually preferred this Blue Marvel Speaker to the Creamback.
best sound samples on YT !
You turn the master volume all the way up correct? I can't believe you got the blue marvel speaker to sound that good. I have an older one )without the hump in the middle on the front) and it has an eminence speaker that I feel sounds better than the blue marvel. You could obviously plug into a potted plant and make it sound good. Makes me feel so good to own this thing. Thank you Johan.
+Billy Ards Thanks man, yeah the post volume was cranked.
Great little amp
Sounds great. How did you set the amp up?
Love to see you demoing these affordable combos, but would like to know how they sound through a good 4x12 as well. Keep it up Johan!
+gingataff Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Cheers Johan