peavey classics

timmysoft

how unreliable are the classics? Are some revisions better than others?

Go!

MattBanshee

I have a Classic 30 Head, which sound-wise is spot on for what I need, but the design is poor because it is just a combo shell in a cut-down head format. As a result it gets very, very hot (in the combo, the open back allows airflow. The head doesn't have this), so within a period of 5ish years of quite heavy use, it needed a replacement transformer due to the thermal fuse going (this part was about 70 quid and a local amp repair guy fitted it for 30, so not catastrophic). The other huuuuuge flaw in the C30 is the plastic power toggle mounted to the metal chassis above the valves, which cracked due to constant heating/cooling. The same amp guy replaced this for me for next to nothing. It also needed a replacement power valve at one point, but this isn't particularly unusual for a heavily gigged valve amp.

Teetonetal

Isn't the Classic 50 supposed to be the reliable / well built one.
Really like the sound of the classics

jpfamps

Classic 50 is better built, and I think sounds better.

Classic 30's are a pain to work on, ie even a trivial repair can be expensive.

https://jpfamps.com/peavey-classic-30-repair/

I would want a good reason for buying a Peavey Claasic over a used Fender Blues / HRD.

Titch

I had a Classic 50 for three years and gigged it regularly without any issues at all.

  

jpfamps

MattBanshee said:

I have a Classic 30 Head, which sound-wise is spot on for what I need, but the design is poor because it is just a combo shell in a cut-down head format. As a result it gets very, very hot (in the combo, the open back allows airflow. The head doesn't have this), so within a period of 5ish years of quite heavy use, it needed a replacement transformer due to the thermal fuse going (this part was about 70 quid and a local amp repair guy fitted it for 30, so not catastrophic). The other huuuuuge flaw in the C30 is the plastic power toggle mounted to the metal chassis above the valves, which cracked due to constant heating/cooling. The same amp guy replaced this for me for next to nothing. It also needed a replacement power valve at one point, but this isn't particularly unusual for a heavily gigged valve amp.

I've replaced plenty of power transformers in Peavey Classic 30s.

Transformers are mature technology, and should never fail under normal use, so this is a significant fault with this amp in my opinion.

Titch

Having said i had a Classic 50 with no issues I did have a Peavey Duel (again a 2x12 combo) at the same time but was no where near as reliable as the Classic 50.

Creed_Clicks

There was an old classic 20 combo knocking around for a while. Looked like a Pro Junior. I missed out on one going for buttons like the fool I am. I'm not gone on the new classic 20 with all the bells and whistles.

poopot

Had a classic 50 (2x12 square front) for years... racked up 100’s of gigs and 100’s of 6hour long rehearsals... not one problem (apart from the weight)... my lad had it now and uses it pretty much 24/7!

great amps for cheap money!

jdgm

I loved my Classic 50, a 4 x 10 - had it in the 80s. It had a phaser and a 3 or 4-button footswitch with a din-like plug into the amp. Not as much top as a Fender which was why I eventually traded it. I've often thought about getting another! I also had a Peavey Deuce 2 x 12 for awhile, same sort of thing but more powerful; it wasn't as good IMO and kept going wrong.

leerocker

Classic 50s are great , i have the head version , pair it wth some celestion v types and its an awesome amp, Great all rounder that can go from jazz blues rockabiilly to hard rock no problem, i ended up preferring it over my friedman for my covers band

MatthewShreddery

I had a classic 30 for a couple years with no trouble. Handled everything I chucked at it ,was loud.
Only trouble was a bit of valve rattle, but at gig levels it didn't matter 

leerocker

 johan get some great tones out of one!

crunchman

I had a Classic 30 for a while.  Thankfully nothing major went wrong with it while I had it, but it chewed up valves very quickly.  The phase inverter valve only used to last a few months.  I opened it up to take a few measurements of voltages etc. to see if anything was amiss and saw that abomination of a circuit board.  At that point I decided to sell it.

I later had a Hot Rod Deluxe.  It's a lot better built, and with a decent speaker (Weber 12F150 in my case) it sounded better as well.  Long term it's cheaper to run that the C30 as well.  Ignoring the phase inverter valve, which may have been a fault on my amp, the 6L6 power valves in the HRD last a lot longer than the EL84s in the C30.  The set that had been in there when I sold mine had probably been in there for 5 years.  I was replacing the EL84s in the Peavey every year.  The Peavey also requires 4 power valves not 2, which doesn't help.  2 6L6s every 5 years or so is a lot cheaper than 4 EL84s every year.  If the C30 goes wrong, the repair bill will be bigger as well because of the awful design.

57Deluxe

for a long time I hankered after a Delta Blues 1x15

...and the Jack Daniels classic always looked cool to me...

https://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/JD-30T-Jack-Daniels-Guitar-Amp/481430000000000-00-500x500.jpg

ICBM

57Deluxe said:

for a long time I hankered after a Delta Blues 1x15

...and the Jack Daniels classic always looked cool to me...

Didn't they do one of those with an oak cabinet? It seems a bit pointless otherwise...

Still built like a piece of crap inside, anyway. The C30 is - or was* - my least favourite Peavey, and I am actually a fan of the brand in general.

(*Now overtaken by the new-model Valve King.)

Haych

My first valve amp was a C30 and I was quite chuffed with it.  Nice clean channel but I found the dirty channel lacked any kind of presence unless it was loud.

It also had crappy output valve placement - I snapped two of the EL84s and bent the pins on the other two taking a bag out the boot of the car - the bag caught on the tips of the valves and there was lots of broken glass everywhere.

I sold it and bought a Boogie MKIV.

A couple of years ago I had the hankering for a C50 so bought one cheap off eBay.  Again the clean channel was really nice but the dirty channel was very harsh and raspy in my opinion.  I did a few mods - changed some caps and the slope resistor and added a mid shift switch and it totally transformed the amp into what it should have been.

In fact I might buy another one day and repeat the exercise