Maven Peal Instruments RG88 Head

This RG88 was made in 2005. Its the most amazing two channel amp I've even had, and I've gone through most of 'em. Clean channel to die for and a high gain channel for all the crunch you'll ever need. NO pedal required here! Wattage dial goes from one to 88 watts, and I can use any power tube I'd like, even EL84s (with yellowjackets). I don't know why everybody doesn't have this amp. IT IS THE GRAIL.

Like the maker, Dave Z, I play mine with a ES335 and I love it for everything from VanHalen to Neil Young to Angus Young, it even does the Squashing Pumpkins. I'm still finding new tones after six months and will be exploring with different tubes and Sag settings for a long time to come.

Built like a tank, definitely dependable. No backup needed here.

Dave is great. Even though he's a really busy guy, when he's talking to you he doesn't seem busy. It took a day or two for him to return my initial call, but once I became a customer, he returned my calls almost immediately. He has really educated me a lot about amps and guitars.

Why don't all guitar players have an RG88? You're fooling with the wrong equipment if you aren't.

What more can you want?

Two channels with full gain and EQ controls per channel. Channel two is a high gain channel with a master volume. Each channel has it's own Maven Peal Sag control to set how much power supply sag is in use. At 0, the atrack is very sharp and responsive. As it is raised, the attack rolls off somewhat like on a loud Fender. The amp has two pairs of power tubes, Each channel can use one or both of the pairs. Tubes can easily be changed and biased using the Biasmart adjustment for each tube. With this adjustment, more expensive matched pairs are not necessary. All you need is an inexpensive meter and a screwdriver.

Probably the main feature is the wattage control. You can run the wattage all the way down for about 1 watt, full up for about 88 watts or anywhere between. The sound quality remains the same whether you are playing at low eattage or high.

There are switched to boost the preamp and to boost the power amp. An included footswitch allows you control of the preamp boost and switching vetween channels.

As powerful or as quiet as you want. Use any tube combinations you can think up. Two channels with full control over both. Dead quiet. Responsive email and support from the Dave Zimmerman, the designer of the amp at Maven Peal. I have the RG88 amp head that I'm using with a single 12" Celestion Vintage 30 cabinet.

Dave's new RG88 sounds great, but better still, it's fun to play with. Over 35 years or so, I've drifted more towards smaller shows and playing at home with recordings or from books. At some point, even my Fender Deluxe got to be a little too loud, so I started playing mostly with a Digitech 2112 through a mixer/PA. All great sounds, but it makes you miss a regular tube amp. I don't care much for modeling technology. I go more for the touch, responsiveness and subtlety you can get with tubes. I found the Maven Peal site and the RG88 description sounded perfect. New tubes to experiment with, simple bias adjustment, low power or high power.

I got my RG88 with a pair of JJ EL34's and JJ 6V6's, and it had 4 Tung-Sol 12AX7 preamp tubes. Be prepared to spend some time with it. There are so many possible variations with the gain levels, EQ and Dave's Sag control, boosted preamp, amp boost, etc. that it takes a while to see how it all reacts. I had never used Tung-Sol preamp tubes, so I tried changing the tubes to some Jan Philips, Electro-Harmonix and Chinese 12AX7's. All drastically changed the character of the amp and added that much more to experiment with.

Next I started on the power tubes. I tried changing the EL34's to some SED's, then Mullards. I tried a few sets of 6L6's. All sound great, but again with their own character. For the moment, I'm liking the Mullard EL34's, JJ 6V6's with the Tung-Sol 12AX7's.

I never really tried tube biasing, but I got an inexpensive digital meter from Amazon, followed Dave's setting suggestions per tube type and found that it makes quite a bit of difference, as well as allowing you to use non-matched tube pairs. Set them a little light and things clean up and get punchier. Set them to max and you get a really smooth breakup as you bring up the gain. Great fun to play with without having to worrying about electrocution.

The Sag control is subtle, but a nice effect to play with. Down low, the attack of your guitars is very sharp. Most noticeable to me in the lower strings in overdriven sounds. As you bring the sag control up, it started to sound more like other amps I've played with. Not as sharp, but more authentic if you're going for a certain amp sound.

I have a few really nice guitars and all respond differently through the RG88. I've tried a Strat with Kinman pickups, a Gretsch with TV Jones pickups, Gibson with P90's, a standard Tele, and a Carvin AE185 - humbuckers with coil splitting and a piezo bridge pickup. All are very responsive and touch sensitive. Even the acoustic type sounds with my Carvin sound great. Main thing is that they are all very useable and different which I had somewhat lost with the 2112 setup.

Best of all is the level control. It truly does what Dave describes. You can set up a sound, then bring the wattage control down as far as you'd like. On channel two, there is also a Master Volume, so you can go even lower than the minimum wattage. Bottom line is you can get down to very comfortable living room volume with a fully cranked Marshall type of sound, super clean punchy Fender sound, or you can bring up the wattage to a performance level. It does that chimey clean sound even better than my Fender (probably the sag and chime controls). I miss the reverb, but that's what pedals and effects are for.

No problems so far. The case is rock solid. All switches and knobs are high quality and mounted where they are not likely to be knocked about. Teh preamp tubes are all shielded. Tube access is easy and tubes mount solidly with spring clips.

Even in delivery of the amp, Maven Peal has been exceptional. The amp was shipped in a well made and well packed wooden shipping crate. Maven Peal then arrangs for a UPS pickup of the crate after ensuring that you are satisfied with everything about the amp. All I had to do was put the screws back in and leave it outside for pickup.
I'm confident that if any problems develop, they will be handle quickly and efficiently.

As should be obvious, Dave at Maven Peal pays a great deal of attention to the quality of the amps he produces and is easily contacted by phone or email. He's been very willing to discuss the amp and how I can make best use of it, suggesting good tube suggestions and listening to my feedback on the amp.

Been playing for over 35 years. Mostly classic rock, rockabilly and blues. I've managed to accumulate a nice range of guitars, amps and effects.

The RG88 is a hand made amp not much more expensive than a standard Marshall, but with so many more ways to tweak it to exactly what you want, that there is no real comparison to other amps I've tried.

All in all, for me the RG88 is the perfect amp. Small enough to carry around. Quiet or loud enough for anything I'll be doing. No need for any kind of noise reduction. Footswitch to play with at shows. All the sounds available from whatever tubes you can afford, and however much imagination you have in using them.