Peavey Heritage VTX

My model was made in 1984. The styles of music I play are country, blues, jazz, rock, and metal. It can't do metal, but it can do everything else perfectly. 2 channels, lead and rhythm. Both channels are blended, but are footswitchable on and off. Be warned, it isn't distortion and clean. It's exactly as it's labeled. Both channels can be played clean. For clean chords and picking I like the rhythm channel, but for jazz I like the lead clean. Both channels can get pretty dirty, but sound best with the bright switch pulled. It comes with a built in phaser, I really like this feature because you can pull out the knob and have it 'parked', similar to the effect of having a wah on but not adjusting it. It really thickens up your tone. It has plenty of power for whatever you want to do. Last jam session, my drummer was blown backwards with the volume at 3, I turned it up to 4 just for fun and for my own safety will never bring it up past that!

The guitar I'm using is an Epiphone Dot, with dual humbuckers. I mentioned my music styles above, and it suites everything but metal. When I strike out a full size D5 (x0023x) with the volume cranked it's a beautiful sound. It's true colors truely are shown with the volume up.

It's an '80s Peavey MIA amp. These things mean one word: indestructible. You might have heard people saying that their amps are so tough that they could drop them from their roofs and they would still work fine. You can say that not only would this Peavey still function, it would leave a crater. Yes, it is very heavy. But totally worth it.

I won't rate this category because I haven't had to deal with Peavey at all, but I know that they are legendary for their customer support and they still have diagrams and manuals available.

I've been playing for about a year and a half. This amp was an upgrade from a 30 watt Line 6. I can't find any fault in this amp, it's great. I would definitely try and replace it if it were lost or stolen. If there's anything else I could add to it, it would be a heavier distortion capability, but it's so versatile already, I can't ask for too much more.

The peavey Heritage VTX series has is 2x12" and has two channels, Clean/Distortion, Reverb, a built in Phaser that provides a cool rotary sound and a PARAMID shift Equalizer that lets you get sounds like a Bassman Amp when set to 150 to 200 or a Marshall head when set to 1.5k. They work great as long as the pots are all clean and you keep some new Ruby tubes in it.

Its a pretty clean sounding amp with lots of volume and headroom. Great Reverb, The Distortion takes some work to get a smooth sound but add a tubescreamer and wah then hang on! I use it for clean Country Leads, Jazz and Blues.

Built like a tank in the U.S.A. Not a crappy China made amp.

Peavey has great website , was still able to get a free schematic and manual from their website.

Only thing I miss is effects loop, other then that its a pretty kool amp. If some stole it, would try to find another.

Made in the mid 1980's. Very versatile amp,6L6GC Tube power section and SS Pre amp (which I don't bother with) I can get anything from country twang natively, to headcrushing Metal with a good stompbox. I only use the clean channel cos I have enough stompboxes to cover the gamut of everything other than clean. For that I leave it up to this sweet sounding amp by itself. I use this amp in my band and it is loud enough for even the biggest gigs at 130 Watts! We do Rock and Metal covers from the 60's to current stuff.

Like I said before I can coax anything out of this amp and I would take it over a Marshall or Mesa hands down! Yeah that's what I said, and I paid about 1/8th of what I'd pay for a Marshall and 1/10th of what I'd pay for a Mesa. This thing is not noisy at all unless I totally crank it but that's to be expected with any older TUBE Amp.

Well it still has the original tubes in it and it's a Peavey! Nuff said there. Peaveys (especially older ones) are indestructible. I can depend on this amp no matter what.

Well if you have ever dealt with Peavey then you know they are second to none in support.

I've been playing for 20 years or so and I own quite a bit of gear and guitars and this baby is my sweetheart.

Two channel hybrid amp, with phase and reverb. As with the old Fenders, has extension speaker jack, and male phono plug to use the Scorpion speakers seperately if desired.
This amp truely has enough power for indoor or outdoor gigs. I run it through two Marshall 4 12's and it cooks (without the Scorpions running).
Sounds good enough that I use it rather than my repaired Marshall head.

the amp has a good sound. The clean channel has a nice full bottom end, and sparkling highs. By dialing in the phase knob at different intervals, many different sounds can be achieved.
I use Fender Stratocasters and a Les Paul Classic. My Clapton Strat
with active pickups and a mid boost really sounds good through this amp. Overdriving this amp produces a decent distortion, much better than the old solid state Peavey Musicians and such, but a high quality distortion pedal through the clean channel better suits my tastes.

I bought this amp for $200.00 bucks from my bass player, about 2 years ago, when my Marshall head died. He had purchased it used about ten years before to use on the couch with his Fender Mustang.
He nor I have had any problems with it.
I did however remove the tubes and clean them with glass cleaner
and improved the sound.

No experience with manufacturer.

I have been playing since I was eight (42 years). I would definitely buy another one, in fact am casually looking for one as a backup.
I prefer my Line 6 Spider 212 for recording, because the Peavey is a little more noisy, and of course does not have a direct out, but it is a fine amplifier. Weighs 90lbs though. When I get around to it, I'm going to remove the Scorpions because I don't use them anyway, and it should be easier to carry!!!

I believe mine was made in 1984. I use the "clean' side only and love it. For indoor and outdoor gigs it is just fine. I am not an effects man and use very few. What effects I use are via a basic Korg processor which has worked fine for years. If anything it almost has too many features!!

I use a Tele playing country, 50's & 60's. The processor handles any needed distortion. I get what I want.

I have owned this since 1992 and have been a regular weekend warrier since 1988. It finally failed me in December 2006. Tech man checked it out and changed the tubes and it is now fine. Considering the years of hard service it has rendered me for $350 used purchase price Peavey made an excellent product. It's the best musical accessory investment this old warrier has made.

It is nice to know that if these babies need service,they can get it.
I've never had to contact Peavey.

I've been playing since 1967. I would by a simpler, lighter unit if I had to replace mine.

Great features Phase and Reverb are great. original foot switch works great.

The Distortion kinda sucks but i use my boss metal zone. the speakers are origional scorpion 12'' and dont sound too good with the bass turned up. Very muddy. the clean is great. i use the bright pull switch on the pre alot. Its ear piercing, i dont turn it up past 4. im too scared!

Extremely reliable, i only had a problem with the foot switch input. one of the prongs bent but a pair of plyers fixed that.

Havent needed any

Great powerful amp!

I bought this amp in 1987 and have used it for some studio work and live work with country bands. It has a two channel with the ability to switch between or play both at once. The parametric EQ is great and helps to tune your sound to a particular room. The spring reverb is more than acceptable and the phase shifting is fairly high quality.

For a straight - clean sound, I could find nothing at the time that could beat it. I played a Strat through it going into a Boss rack setup that included Compression, Distortion, Chorus, and Reverb. It has tremendous presence at all volume levels and it does go LOUD. I have no doubt that hooked to a Marshall stack, that this thing could perform in almost any venue. My understanding that Neal Schon of Journey used one for awhile.

After hundreds of gigs, I never had a single problem.

I don't know, I never required any support.

I played a 1961 Fender Bassman for several years prior to buying the Heritage. The Bassman had a great sound, turn it to 10 and you were there, but it was one dimensional - you could never alter the sound - or fit the sound to different rooms. It did not have enough power for larger rooms or outdoor events. The Peavey Heritage was versatile and powerful. A great amp if you can find a used one in good shape.

This amplifier is really cool. Tube power stage, Solid state preamp. mine still has the original, american peavey tubes in great condition.
it is not a modelling amp, and in my opinion the best effects come from pedals anyway, but it has a cool phaser on it.
Like most peaveys in my opinion, the distortion is really bad. But the clean channel is AWSOME and i play through pedals anyway. I play mostly classic rock and it is great.
The reverb is insane. it is a spring reverb, and it is so powerful it is not even funny. It does not sound chunky and un-natural like a lot of verb units. it's pretty smooth up until about 7 (at which point it the reverb is so loud it sounds like it's being played a million miles away) and after that it gets a little wierd. but again, you would have no reason on earth to use more reverb than that unless you were just curious. The loud reverb goes great with the phaser too. PLENTY OF POWER. it is loud already, but you could easily use it to power a larger cabinet if you wanted to and get it even louder for some gigs.
the mid-range adjustment is a little wierd though, so i will give this a 7.

This amp weighs about 1,000,000 LBS though.

I play with a Schecter C1+ as my primary, and for distortion i use a Tone Bone Hot British pedal. As stated above, i mainly play classic rock, and this amp is great for it IF YOU USE PEDALS. The on-board distortion on this amp sounds dull, muddy, cheap and tiny, as is classic of peavey amplifiers. If you play dirty and dont use distortion pedals, THIS IS NOT THE AMP FOR YOU. However, this amp works VERY well with pedals. It sounds HUGE. Between the dark, meaty, grumbly tone of this amp and the hot british pedal, it sounds like it came straight out of deep purple's live albums. The one problem with the sound of this amp is that it is tough to find that magic spot, between the pedal's eq and the amps eq. It takes a little playing around. (it's a very narrow audible notch) but once you find it, it hits you hard.
So if you dont use pedals for distortion, i can not give this amp anything more than a >>>5<<< (a 10 for the clean channel and a 0 for the distortion) but since i do, i have to give it a >>>9.5<<< (10 for the clean and 9 when dirty)

cant really say. I've never had anything go wrong with it, but i've only had it for several months. however, everything on this amp is original, and it's at least 20 years old so it cant be too bad...
I would play a gig with this amp without a backup though, because (A) i cant afford a backup, (B) i dont have one, and (C) i dont want to lug all that stuff around

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for about 5 years. While i do not currently own any other ELECTRIC guitars i have been playing electric for about 3 years. The only other amp i currently own is a Fender Champion 110 (the loudest 25 watts you will ever hear in your life) Although i have experiance with many different amplifiers from huge marshalls, to vintage fenders, to the cheapest amps money can buy.

i would definatly buy another one of these (if i could find one.. they are not easy) if it were lost or stolen.

i LOVE the tone of this amp. loads of power, deep punchy sound and you can run it's two channels together at the same time from the same input jack. however, it has 3 major problems. it weighs a million pounds, does NOT have castors (i will install some) and it is REALLY UGLY.
overall, i would have to give this amp a solid 9 FOR MY PURPOSES. If you dont use pedals and you want to play dirty, i would rate this a 5 at best. I am very pleased with it and would reccomend it to anyone who asks. If it looked better and weighed less i might give it a 10.

I have a Peavey Heritage VTX amp and it's up for sale providing I can get the dosh I want for it.
I don't know when it was made but it was given to me in pieces about six years ago. Last year 2005 I sent it to a valve amp techie who fixed it for me at the cost of a capacitor, new valve bases, valves and a brand new reverb unit as the old one was missing, plus collection and delivery. He said that the the original owner of the amp had somehow cooked it (idiot). I am not a gigging guitarist but a home player so have never really wound it up to full volume, I can tell you that it will make your ears ring way before it gets to full volume. I can also tell you it will play very clean and loud or very dirty and loud, it will also do both quietly if required. It will sustain forever and the different sounds you can get from it are pretty much limitless if you are prepared to play around and spend some time with the controls. The unit is quite tidy for it's age and there are some things that require sorting out to turn it into original spec so here you go: There is no footswitch for it and you cant get one from Peavey, they told me you can purchase one of there new footswitches and have the wiring modified to make it work properly with this amp, I do have the wiring diagram for it in my possession. When it was given to me there was a wooden panel missing from the back of the speaker cab, it was the panel that protected the valves so I have moved the lower panel up to replace it so the valves are protected, there is no panel at the bottom of the cab. The amp section is held in with roofing bolts as Peavey sent me the wrong bolts and I couldn't be bothered to send them back. When using the amp at highish volume levels (as high as you can get at home that is) I think I could hear one of the speakers rattling but not 100% sure so might need a replacement or recone. The speakers are Scorpion. I fitted the reverb unit myself as it came as a separate unit from the techie that did the repair job. I fitted the reverb in the bottom of the cab as far away from the speakers as possible, there were no visible signs as to where the old one was fitted, but when the reverb is set to very high volume, more than necessary that is, the amp starts to scream a bit. I have since been informed that the reverb unit should have a leather cover over it which helps to suppress feedback if you can believe that. Anyway I need quite a bit of dosh to upgrade my PA system cause that's what I do for all types of bands in my area. I am looking for #800.00 cause I know you just cant get hold of these amps anymore and I don't really want to part with it anyway but I will for #800.00 so if you want it e-mail me at graham@advance.demon.co.uk or 07748132911 UK. BE WARNED, do not waste my time, if you want it then it's #800.00 I will not let it go for any less than that. If you require any further information regarding the amp then please do get in touch with me.

I have two guitars one being an original hand made Shergold Meteor and a Jap Srat copy both of which sound great through this amp with certain pickup settings, on other amps sounded pretty dull most of the time. Also have a Warwick Thunder 1 bass guitar which when used with the swept phase locked on certain tones sounded awsome to say the least.

Since being repaired, I have not had any problems with it but to be honest I dont play much these days.

Have not had any problems contacting Peavey for help and information and they even supplied me a footswitch wiring diagram free of charge.
I scored 8 because they sent me the wrong chassis bolts (tossers).

I have a feeling that for the rest of my life I will regret selling this amp but hey, needs must and my PA is earning me more dosh than the Peavey amp at this time. I have scored it low as I'm asking a $%^& load of dosh for it!!!

Indistruttibile amplificatore della mata degli anni ottanta! 2 canali (pulito/distorto), eq. separate per ogni canale, riverbero e phaser.
E' un insolito ampli ibrido che ha il pre a transistor e il finale valvolare (4x6L6GC).

Le chitarre che uso sono tipo stato. Il suono che cerco una distorsione
crunch anni 60/70. L'amplificatore si presenta con un suono veramente versatile anche se non raggiunge ma distorsioni "metallare".
Sono molto soddisfatto del suono di questo ampli! Se proprio bisogna trovargli un difetto dico che e decisamente troppo potente per poter essere suonato in casa (e a volte anche in sala prove... L'amplificatore genera infatti una potenza di ben 130w!!! E' decisamente un animale da palco!!!

L'architettura dell'ampli e decisamente indistruttibile! Inoltre pesa veramnte tanto! Comunque ha ormai piu di 25 anni ed e ancora in ottime condizioni!

Ormai lo suono da diversi anni e mi sono sempre trovato bene!