Peavey Transformer 112

This amp was made in the early 2000's. It is a solid state amp, but can produce amazing tube sounds. This amp really has too many features to list. The greatest features are the 16 amp models (even though they may not all sound exact), the cabinet simulation (select from 16 cabinet types), and the PC editor. Between the amp models and cabinet types, up to 256 different sounds can be achieved. Added with pre and post gain controls and dual EQs, it can easily help you find the tone you've been looking for.

Like I previously said, this amp has too many features to list. If you do not have patience and are not willing to take your time dialing in a sound, then this amp is not for you. There is a Transformer site on Yahoo Groups which has a bunch of presets to use with the PC Editor software. This is a great starting point as many of the presets are usable and require minimal tweaking.

I've been using a stock Ibanez RG570 for the past 10 years now. I'm still in the process of playing around with the knobs and storing presets, but it sounds great so far. I'm just waiting for a moment where I can be in my house alone so I can really crank this thing. I've been playing this strictly in my bedroom and the T-dynamics actually works really well when playing at low volumes.

I play a lot of hard rock and metal which this amp seems to be great for so far. With the gain setting at 7-9, this can produce some heavy sounds using any of the hi gain, american modern, or peavey ultra amp settings. The cabinet modeling feature is truly where this amp shines.

I'm not a huge fan of effects, but I have grown to like the built in delay, chorus, flanger, and rotary speaker effects. I like the fact that I don't have to have extra effects pedals or processors. I currently have a Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal and a Guyatone MR-2 reverb pedal. I haven't found the need to use either of these once since buying this amp! I also like the adjustable noise gate (it can even be disabled). You won't find this feature on any of the Line 6 amps or Peavey Vypyrs.

Lastly, changing out the stock speaker and installing a beam blocker are two options I am considering. Why? I simply want to experiment and hear the results.

For now, I've just been using the amp for practice. Once I find and store all of the sounds I'm looking for and feel more comfortable with the footswitch, it'll be a great amp for gigging.

If you can get customer service on the phone, they are awesome. I had to order a treble knob, a midi cable, and the new EPROM.

I've been in touch with John Fera, one of the designers, and even though this is a discontinued product, he still stands behind it 100% and offers great advice and support. Support like this is really tough to find.

Last year, I decided to downsize my rig. I had a Marshall JCM 800 halfstack which was collecting dust. I was too big to set up in my house so I decided trade it in for a Line 6 Spider Jam. This amp was cool for about a week, but then I truly began to despise everything about it. I've spent the past year looking for a replacement to the Line 6. I almost went with the new Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 until I discovered the Transformer. I bought the Transformer 112 last month, performed the EPROM upgrade and I simply love it! I'm still in the experimentation mode, but I've already discovered many usable tones. I'm still looking into a potential speaker replacement, but for the $150 price tag, it was the best buy I've made in a long time.

Bought for 100 USD. Good condition. Came with new eprom installed. Too many features to go in to it. There are a lot of features i don't use because I found my sound and my operating method. Yes there are more features than anyone could ever use at once.

Takes a while to get it right. Pretty deep stuff but fiddling will produce the results you want. I love the sound I get. I get lots of compliments on my "solid state" tone. Resist the temptation to overdo it. Tiny adjustments make a lot of difference. Take your time. It's worth it. Plenty loud enough.

It's probably 9-10 years old. Looks good.

This is a very versatile amp with good features and the Peavey Transtube sound. Highly recommended.

Okay All this advice is for you if you get the new I.C. chip eprom version 2.0 Guess what? If you have a transformer but you dont have the new chip then you are missing about 80% of what this amp can do. You might as well just sell it.

Okay James Blake and roy Beck, these 2 guys did righteous reviews with good suggestions. Use the cab sim like they said to start off with and follow there advice.

Since the Peavy Transformer has so much to mess with for making different sounds I give it a 10.

Just read the next couple of reviews to get the best advice on using this amp the RIGHT way. Blake and Beck got it right. Heres some more advice from me. 1. the louder you run it the more harsh it sounds so make your patches at higher levels and adjust the highs, presence and brightness at the higher volume so it wont sound harsh. 2. copy the patches to another bank and turn the volume down. Set the highs, presence and brightness for the bedroom practice level to match the original high volume patches. Now you can have your tone at high and low volume. 3. Keep the t dynamics knob at 3 o'clock or less to prevent harsh distortion. Same for the master volume. 4. Keep your normal post volume levels around 5 and your "boosted" post volumes higher. Use the Master volume to get higher volume instead of the patch volume. Gives more headroom and less harsh and muddy. 5. For bedroom levels use the bass boost in the preamp for more bottom. For high volume bass boost use the resonance and dial back the preamp bass boost. gives a tighter sound to the low end at high volume. using the preamp low boost at high volume is best at 11 o'clock because it IS sensitive and it can get overdone real easy, ya know?

okay I use a les paul with this amp and a wah wah. I owned it for about 6 years. the new chip was put in three years ago. Been using it for a Friday night bar and grill gig every week since about 2005 and for practice. its very good for what i do.

Never had a single problem since 2003.

this came with a 5 year warranty. I never needed it to use it. I put in the new chip on my own. It was a little bit a pain in the *** but i just bent the ic legs to make it fit in the socket then it was fine.
i paid 25 for the chip and i got it in 2 days. good service.

Its a good amp for what it does and it comes with a midi controller. would i buy it again? probly not because i would try something else besides a modler amp. But for the way I use this I will keep it until it gives up the ghost lol. It sounds good for my use, it isnt heavy to lug around and its easy to use plus it has everything you could want for making patches that you will use. I have no regrets from buying this.

Hi again. I submitted a review in 2007 for this amp. I've been using it in small to medium venues since putting the new IC (eprom) in it along with a new speaker. I mention both of these things in my previous review.
As far as the features go, there are really too many to list them all. The big difference between the Transformer and other "modeler" amps is that Peavey gives you the tools to do your own thing-but not too many tools that wind up frustrating you. Having said that, it's easy to run the controls right past the sound you are looking for. I think that all modelers are prone to this fault so my advice is to turn those knobs very slowly! LOL!

I use Les Paul guitars. For my current live music projects I only have two basic patches that I use. One is a gritty, slightly overdriven "clean" sound and the other is a crunch sound. I'm playing rhythm mostly but I also do some bluesy soloing on a few of our tunes. The two patches I use cover everything we do. I have effects too, but they are all either off or at very low levels until I go into the effects mode. Then they are available like a row of pedals. Soloing is done with the boost feature.
Here's the reason behind this review. I hope it helps others who pick up a Transformer on the cheap-they sell for under 200 bucks on ebay these days.
Here's the deal: Number one--> Get the 25 dollar eprom update. The difference is significant. I would not own one of these amps without this chip upgrade. Number two--> take your time setting up this amp. For example: remember that the little red LEDs are 4 stage indicators, so turning the dials just a little bit results in dramatic changes in EQ. It's so easy to go right past a good, desirable sound. Take your time and go slow exploring this thing.
Number three--> Explore all the possibilities, but use only a select few that compliment YOUR sound. It's way too easy to over engineer your patches. Do a lot of experimenting to determine which features you want to include in your patches.
My patches-all two of them-are very simple. At the same time I'm using gain adjustment, preamp bass enhancement, mid frequency adjustment, presence, brightness and resonance adjustments and T-Dynamics in them. Simple sound-complex sound sculpting.

Yes...it's a bit noisy at high gain and high volume settings. The noise reduction helps.

So far so good.

Nobody does customer service better than Peavey. Nobody.

Won't waste your time here. These are nice "all in one" amps with a load of features including a nice midi controller to run it all. With a new chip, a new speaker and some learning curve time anyone can ge some sweet, low cost tones from this model. Well worth the 200 bucks you pay nowadays on ebay.

Don't know when it was made. Lots of features and easy to learn/operate. Comes with a midi pedal. I bought and installed the new eprom myself. That's about it. The other posts dig deeper on the features so read on if you want to learn more. There's too much available in the features suite to cover it all. Let's just say Peavey made this for EVERYBODY'S style.

This is the important part. I read all the reviews for this category. I agree with most of what has been said. My personal opinion at this point is that it can cover a lot of ground AND it can be set up to do so many different things. It does not deliver the true tube tone that everyone seems to want nowadays. That doesn't mean it doesnt sound GOOD. In a band situation it will do just fine if you give it a chance. You CAN get this amp to sound very good. Here is what I have found to be useful for me, using Les Paul and Stratocaster guitars:

1. Cabinet choices-just find the one you want to use that sounds best with your guitar. Make it permanent for your patches. It really helps to do the EQ if you have a single favorite cabinet type. Saves time.
2. EQ-You can choose the active or passive type, depending on the model of amp that you choose. Active gives you boost AND cut. Passive is the normal. A little gain goes far.
3. Forget the names of the amp types. Find what YOU like and use it. Use the tweaks to set presence and resonance BEFORE setting up your EQ. That is a big help. Don't take EQ too far or you will go right past your sound. Really there is just too much to tweak so KEEP IT SIMPLE.
4. Keep the patches simple with gain and EQ and maybe a little reverb. Add all the effects and boost from the EFX mode and call them up as needed. The main thing to remember is that your basic patch should be simple and clear sounding. Use the midi pedal like you would use a row of stompboxes-AS NEEDED.
5. Get the new eprom from peavey. It doubles the abilities of the amp and gives you more cabs and amps and tweaking tools plus it gives you a boost function that is a SINGLE STOMP function. It is worth more than the 30 bucks you spend to buy it.

So that's it. My advice is to remember that just because this amp allows for a trillion zillion options that doesn't mean you have to use them all. If you keep it simple you'll do a lot better than trying to tweak up the nirvana patch every time. This is a versatile amp for getting lots of different sounds but you're better off just sticking with a couple and working on them instead of trying to make up patches for every possible guitar sound. It will drive you nuts.

Think of this amp as a box of tools. Use what you need for the job you're doing and leave the other tools in the drawer.

Overall this is a good sounding amp for just about any style. Bear in mind that it has one speaker so the cabinet sims like full stack or 4 by 12 are not going to sound like what they are trying to emulate. Forget the names of the cabinets and just use your ears to find YOUR sound (cabinet) with your guitar.

I use this as my main practice amp at home. I can get the sounds i want at lower volumes and it's ready to go every time. Yes, I HAVE used it on a few jobs with no complaints. But I also own some very nice tube amps that I use for gigging and they DO sound better at high volumes with a few high end stomp boxes. As a practice amp the Peavey covers my needs the moment I flip the switch to on. Saves a lot of time and setup hassles.

Peavey stuff is tough. I have only had it since September of 2008 so I'll say no opinion for now. So far so good.

Really great. They treated me with friendlyness and shipped my eprom to me in a few days.

I've been playing for 40 years. I DO own some nice top end gear in pedals, guitars and amps. I have two other solid state amps right now. I'm way over being a gear snob. I use what works. Who cares what the nameplate says? I use the Transformer as a tool for practice and smaller gigs where I don't need a lot of volume or the floor space is limited. Believe it or not, it has gotten some compliments from other players who talk to me at jobs. That tells me there is something good about this amp. They sell cheap on eBay. Definitely get the new eprom for this amp if you buy one. I'd buy it again. It's a useful tool that i use almost every day.

I did a review last May for this amp after I bought the new chip from Peavey. Now I've discovered a feature that I want to share with other Transformer users-provided you have the new chip upgrade. Here it is: By pressing STORE for one second and moving the Amp Model selector knob to your favorite sounding model, you can program the Transformer to use your favorite cabinet sound with ALL of your programmed presets. This is very cool because it gives you the opportunity to select a model that sounds best with your choice of guitar. No matter which amp model you select for your programmed presets, the tone curve for your favorite cabinet will always be the starting point for eq-ing the preset. I use the "American Clean + American Modern " cabinet, which is an open backed 1 X 12 cabinet voiced for a Boogie Mark IV combo amp. It kills for clean, slighly overdriven, heavy crunch and high gain presets, no matter which amp model is chosen. In other words, I choose the amp model and that amp model assumes the raw tone curve of the Mark IV Boogie cab. You might like other cab tone curves...there's a total of 16 to choose from...so have at it! Discovering this feature has enabled me to move my sound to the next level. Band members all agree that my presets sound really good with the Boogie cab. Here's the unofficial Transformer website that John Fera maintains for users:

http://tform.home.comcast.net/~tform/index.html.

Check our all the cool stuff on that site. It's all good stuff and John uses a Transformer in his band, so you know he believes in it besides being one of the designers.

I use mostly Les Pauls but I use Single coil guitars too. Everything just sounds better to my ears running through the Boogie cab tone curve. It's extremely well balanced at all volume levels. My high gain preset absolutely KILLS with enough bottom end to rattle the doorframes. The other three "most used" presets mentioned above all sound great because they all sound like they are emanating from the same source-the Boogie Mark IV 1 X 12 cab. Duh...THEY ARE! Like a lot of guys who play this amp, I never cease to be amazed at the depth and flexibility of features / sounds that this little known, under appreciated, under rated amp has to offer. It can mimic just about any amp out there. The effects are good too-not super high quality but plenty sufficient for live performance playing.

Seven years without a single failure. The rubber around the midi connectors split but i fixed it. Other than that she's been a real trooper.

I've talked to John Fera, one of the designers. He's a guitar player and a very smart engineer who has answered every question I had...plus he's recommended hardware upgrades, too. What a nice guy!
Everyone I've ever talked with at Peavey has been super kind. Never had a question unanswered. I rate PEAVEY service at 100. There is everybody else...then there is Peavey. Simply the best by any measure.

I've gone through a lot of changes with respect to appreciating this amp. I used it for a bedroom amp for a long time and wrestled through all the features to eke out a decent set of bedroom presets. When I got the new version 2.0 chip I actually started using it to play live. Now the amp has evolved further as I've discovered yet another feature. I highly recommend this amp to anyone who wants to try a modeler but wants to retain an all analog (transtube) signal path with dynamics and "real" amp tone. You see them on eBay for 200-300 bucks, used. For that price plus 25 bucks for the new chip you can have a keeper.
Would I buy it again? No need to buy it again because I intend to keep this one safe and sound.

WOW. Where do I start? Transformers have 50 watts of power, sisxteen amp models with individual equalization, a bass boost, a treble boost, adjustable midpoint for middle frequencies, presence and resonance settings, a master volume and a T dynamics knob that cuts overall power from 100% down to 10% and anywhere in between. There is a MIDI controller for channels and banks and effects on-off. Effects are reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, leslie and octaver. You can cut the power to 50% and keep the basic tone for quiet jamming.
I got mine with a blown speaker so I put a Swamp Thing in it. It's not heavy. It's easy to use and get good sounds but you have to spend a little time to learn all of its features. The hardware revision and software is the latest upgrade that Peavey sells. Solid state Transtube pre amp and Transtube power amp. Comes with MIDI pedal and 25 foot MIDI cable. It's pretty cheaply made with plastic pots and poor quality MIDI cable. Footswitch is solid but the amp controls are flimsy. Made in the USA.

I have three Fender tube amps that I play through for gigs. I prefer tube tone and so you wonder why I bought this? Well first of all it was only 25 bucks "as is" with a blown speaker. It also had a broken volume control knob (fixed it) and the MIDI cable worked but the metal connectors were stripped (fixed it.)
The main reason this amp never took off is the eq section in my opinion. Theres way to much eq to mess with and its easy to treat the eq like any other amp, which will frustrate you. I only use three amp models for everything I do because I worked with all the models and found the ones that work for me. Then I spent a long time eqing those models until I got what I was looking for. It took over three months to get down to that and I would walk away from this amp frustrated most of the time. I will say this much about the amp: if you spend the time to search for a good sound there are enough tone features to get you there. The problem is learning to use them properly with all the different models. Every model is different and eqing is different for every model. Find a few models you like and work with them. Forget the names of the models, which some don't even come close and just work with the way it sounds.
Heres another problem with this amp: the power amp doesn't pump out the same frequencies at bedroom level as it does at stage volume. I know that most amps do that but this one does it to the extreme. Whatever you set in the bedroom is only good at that volume. You have to change things a lot for stage volumes to get the same sound. Its annoying. My solution was to use bank "A" for bedroom practicing and write the same patches to bank "B" for editing to use at stage levels.
I play classic rock with a 4 piece band. We do a big mix of stuff but nothing really heavy. I use the Transformer for practicing mainly. Its loud enough for practice and soft enough for the bedroom. Its light enough to carry between home and our practice space. So its just another tool that takes the place of my tube amps. I used this for a gig when i first got it and was pissed because I couldn't get it to sound good at stage volumes. I cured that but never played a gig with it again.
I have a couple of Epiphones a Les Paul and a SG. They sound good with this. I like this amp because it fits my needs and I finally got it figured out to make it sound good. I have no problem with it now, but it was a royal P.I.T.A. to get it sorted out.
oh yea...the effects are all okay but nothing special. reverb is good for digital, so is the tremolo. others are average. octaver sucks.

Fragile, actually.

Great practice amp. lots of potential. something here for everyone. downside is all the tweaking it takes to get it right. once you get the hang of it you can easily make some good presets to work with. i would buy this again "as is" for 25-75 bucks.

OK first of all take this with a grane of salt cuz I got this for free from our drumers dad. So it costs me nada. I play a Kramer bareta in a metal band and my rig is a old stile Peavy 5150 half stack. Thats were im coming from. So for nothing I get this. So I took it. Theres a website for this amp were you can download and find out about it. So I go there and theres a link to the new computer chip from peavy. So i call Peavy and order it. Noww I have a practise amp thats pretty good for a solid state amp. Im not kidding you. I would play a show with this amp. The fetures are too many to list.

Kramer with SD invader pup. I playd it before and it wasnt nothing speshil. After I put in the new computer chip it was 10 times better. So its pretty easy to put in too. Now I have a good practise amp for 30 bucks. Metal toe is possable. Even the presets for te new computer chip is good. Better then most. Pretty loud. The half stack kills it but I stil like it for practise and jams. Sometimes you dont want to carry a amp and bottem up stares for a jam. This is litewaite and you dont need no petals with it. Quiet.

for 30 who cares.

been plying since 2000. my half stack kicks serius ***. This one does to but its solis state so what do you expeck? I like it a lot but I like my 5150 better. For 30 I woud buy iy again. LOL its not bad for a solid state.

Dude! get the new chip and rock away with your Transformer! It gives you new models that combine existing models with active EQ. One problem with the old chip amps is no sustain on the clean models. With the new active models you can sweep the mids and do boost and cuts for low mid and highs. Plus you can do all sorts of other tone and gain tweaks. GET THE NEW CHIP. IT TOTALLY TRANSFORMS THE TRANSFORMER TO A NEW LEVEL. Its a 10 with the new chip.

I had this amp for 6 yearsin my bedroom. I used it as a practice amp then I got the new chip for 25 bucks and put it in. Now I use this amp to gig because it finally does everything I wished it would do before the new chip. With the original chip it was so so. With the new chip its SWEET! Big difference in the sound. Much better. I even think its louder now too but maybe its just me. Anyways I use it for playing out and I love it.

They still support it and the new chip is still available for 25 bucks.

I play rock and blues which I have played for 30 years. I have some nice amps that I picked up along the way but this amp just sat in the bedroom till I put in the new chip. Now I use the new active amp combinations to get really good tone from this thing. I'm telling you: GET THE NEW CHIP. You wont regret it. Best 25 I ever spent on my sound. Now I use this amp for every show. For big shows I mike it thru the PA and it sounds great.

This is a Peavey Transtube amp with improved 4560 opamps in the re-designed preamp section. Gone is the persistent hiss associated with the old 4558 op amps-which have hissed like snakes since they were created decades ago. Good riddance!
The transtube preamp is incredibly versatile and varied. There are at least 16 different ANALOG TONE signal paths in the preamp. When you switch the amp model with the rotary selector, you GET that amp's EQ, gain and timbre. It doesn't matter to me whether the "model" is accurate to the amp because it's about the ability to coax good tone that matters. In this respect the Transformer is excellent. The effects are mediocre when compared to the modern processors available these days. Once again..I couldn't care less, as I prefer just a pinch of effects for my styles. By the way there are so many hidden features on this amp that tweaking the effects properly requires reading the manual. This goes double if you buy the upgrade chip. I bought it and I upgraded memory too. These changes pretty much make the amp at least twice as good and improve the range of good tones immensely. The third section is the Transtube power amp. Except for the venerable ROLAND Tube Logic circuit used on their Blues Cube series, the Peavey Transtube Power Amp is the best. It has a power attenuator built in, plus a cabinet resonance and presence control. The Peavey Engineering team of Fera, Brown and Chappell left nothing to chance. Their designs and executions of those designs are nothing short of amazing. There is nothing else out there that compares in terms of the marriage of mechanical, digital and analog workmanship. If you can't squeeze a useable, sweet mojo from one of these..it's YOU that needs tweaking...not the amp.
The footswitch that comes with the amp is superb. Like having a row of individual pedals, plus boost. Also switches banks and has a tap tempo. With the new eProm it even doubles as another tweak device. Amazing!

Over the years I've added speakers, swapped speakers, swapped opamps, swapped eProms, swapped memory...you name it. Now I'm back with the stock speaker, stock 4560 opamps, the newest eProm I.C. and upgraded memory. Over the years I created hundreds of patches and tweaked endlessly.
Now I have two basic sounds...slight overdrive/clean and heavy overdrive. They are dynamic and possess about 90% of the characteristics of a decent Tube amp with pedals. I'll say it again...if you can't coax righteous tone from this amp...it's YOU, man! This amp does shimmery clean to heavy, heavy rock / metal.

No problems in 5 years but the rotary knobs are fragile. Be careful!

5 year warranty.

Great amp.