Peavey Backstage 30

For those reading here to find out about the poor bass response- read further. It's not enough to say: "well duh, this is a practice amp, you get what you pay for. If you want a 4x12... well, go get a 4x12. etc etc."

I'm not an electronics guy, but I feel the tone stack is lame. There are plenty of small SS combos that can deliver warm tones at lower volumes.

I got this amp for $35 on craigslist on a whim, and am not unhappy however. It's true what people say, the bass response is awful and it is NOT the speakers fault.

I immediately plugged the Backstage 30 into a boutique baltic birch closed-back cab with a Weber Californian speaker in it used for D* style amps, bypassing the internal speaker. Tone was improved, but still only usable at extremes on the tone/EQ knobs. It still can be shrill when using the Middle or High knobs on anything past 1.

Now I did the opposite, and connected the Backstage 30's speaker to a low watt tube amp (fender champ clone), still inside the Peavey combo box. So I was using an external tube head with the backstage as a speaker cab. The speaker isn't to die for or anything, but it is just fine for this application. This review now took over an hour to write, because for this part of the experiment, I noodled with warm jazz tones to swampy blues tones and couldn't put the axe down. Though it's a particle board box, and non-US made speaker... it does not sound bad at all!

Back to the native amp. Whether using the stock speaker, or an ext. cabinet the best way to get a tone similar (though smaller) to an old Peavey Deuce, is like this- on the 3 band EQ: Start with Low=10, Middle=0, High=0. This is a woofy jazz type tone. Use your neck pickup (I used double humbuckers on an old Hamer Special).

Turn the highs to about "1" where you just start to hear the treble kick in and stop. It might even be less than 1 on the knob. Now play your bridge pickup. You should have an acceptable tone to work with. Try putting the tone back to zero and do the same with the middle control around 1. You may like that too. I find with both on, the tone is too cheap and shrill.

WARNING: Playing the stock amp with a conventional approach, i.e. starting with controls at noon, could be hazardous to your love of music.

If I was an electronics guy, I'd work on modifying the tone stack to some classic design with usable range. I will even look to see if there are such mods and trying it myself as an intro to amp mods, since I will have to replace a few pots anyway. Or maybe if the components are decent, perhaps a tube conversion. Hmmmmmm...

Poor EQ even considering it's a student amp.

The usual scratchy pots, otherwise fine, they had to use lower parts you rarely hear a Deuce or Mace cut out at various places over knob travel.

I'm sure Peavey is just fine.

I know my numbers don't add up- these are a good deal if you get them practically for free :) If buying on craigslist, try it out and keep ragging how shrill it sounds and you need to replace X Y and Z and get the amp for $25. I'm not complaining, I took a slight risk, and am willing to putz around with this one until I find a pacer.

I bought this amp new in 1984 (too lazy to go look at the date on the back) and paid $139 for it. (I was 14 and it was a lot of money for me then, so I remember it!)

As a practice amp, it served its' purpose. It certainly played a lot of high school drunken parties.

I don't use this amp anymore, replaced it with a small Marshall.

Pretty basic features. A couple of "Pull" knobs that supposedly were for "thick" and one for "bright". Not very useful, as they both sounded like crap, but to a kid, they were neat to play with.

The speaker always did, and still does sound horrendous. I gave it to my son to learn to play guitar with. It has plenty of power, and since he only wants distortion and couldn't care less how it sounds (let's be honest now), it suits him just fine. If loud = good, then this one's a winner. Unfortunately, Loud does NOT = good.

Distortion is quite brutal, especially at loud volumes.

I would equate the sound quality of this amp to a fat man on a toilet after a binge at the local Taco Bell.
Everyone's going to know he was there.

Built like a tank. I love the effect you get when you're drunk (or somebody's drunk), and falls into it, which causes the mechanical reverb springs to *CRASH* into action. Very Page-like rumbling effect.

I have bent pots, someone urinated on it somewhere down the line, the front has peppermint schnapps on it from 1988 to this day, I stole the input jack nuts to repair a peddle, and the thing STILL works.

It has been kicked, knocked over (which wasn't easy to do), raped of parts, and still it will not die. It is kind of like the undead.

Never needed support. The thing will not die.

Well, seeing as this was my first amp ever, I guess that means I've been playing for 25 years or so.

The sound of the speaker is so bad that it gives me erectile dysfunction if I turn it on.

That being said, It still works. I have fond memories of using it, but just because of the stories it brings to mind, not necessarily because it was ever a "Quality" amp.

Again, I would equate the sound quality of this amp to a fat man on a toilet after a binge at the local Taco Bell.

I believe this amp was manufactured in the late 70s. Three tone controls and a gain knob don't take you extremely far, but you can tweak this little baby and get that perfect sound.

This amp can handle a variety of playing styles. I play everything from lite blues to hard rock & hair metal with this amp; it delivers. The clean tones stay clean even if you crank it up, regaurdless of the settings. The classic crunch distortion is great; however, I only use it on about 4 since I channel other distortion through it.

Can't explain the reliability in words!

Never had problems, hence part of the 10 in the previous catagory.

Gtreat little amp to play good hard rock. Loud enough to play out, quiet enough to play in. If stolen or lost, I WOULD find another one.

This Backstage 30 appears to have been manufactured in 1975..

This is an 18Watts RMS Peavey 'Backstage 30' amp with 10" speaker.
The Backstage has two inputs, wired in parallel (one channel)

This is the 2nd Backstage 30 I've owned. The first one I bought brand new in Phoenix in 1979 for $79.00. I used that amp until 2003 when the power supply died. I gave the amp to a used equipment store. They had it repaired and sold it to another local guy.

This amp is quite loud for only being 18watts. Yet being so basic, begs to be used in conjunction with an effects pedal becuz it does not even have a reverb, and only a mild 'crunch' "Master Gain" control.

Sometimes 'less is more'..which describes this amp well. 3-band equalization, a gain and a 'master gain'. The pwr switch is a toggle on the back.

It is rather difficult to overdrive the preamp. It is a solid state amp and sounds like it. But for something this small and light it has some decent RMS output. With a pedal, it's just plain LOUD.

Straight up: this is a practice amp. Treat it as such to keep things in proper perspective and to avoid disappointment.

The power supply and speaker were both 'Made in Mexico' The speaker I threw away the night I bought it and replaced it one much beefier. The power supply looks aged as do some of the caps. But what can ya say about a 31 year-old amp? It is loud, it works, and I've made it look brand-new again with lots of sweat equity, paint and 'Armour-All'.

I like Peavey's website. They have filled one order for me. I also like the way you can ask questions on that site or just browse thru the 'FAQ' portion and learn lots of useful things.

The Customer Service/Sales people are great on the phone.

The warranty on this particular amp expired decades ago.

I've been playing since age 14 in the early 70's. I currently own 7 Peavey amps. A Fender Strat, Les Paul and two bass guitars, two Boss GT-3 effects pedals.

I like buying Peaveys from eBay. I took a train up to Hollywood in Oct '06 and picked up a Peavey 'Bandit 75' from a seller there.

Would I replace the 'Backstage 30' if stolen? No.. it was just a good eBay price the other day so I bought it, but will donate it to my church right away.

The build date is: Aug. 8, 1979. Versatile? Well if you know how to tweak it it's fine. I play blues and old classic rock. It does the job well. One channel, a pre and post gain, three EQ's and a pre-amp out jack. A very direct and hardy push-pull output tranny set up that is the best set up with a tranny amp. 18 watts and a 10" speaker with a high and low gain inputs to suit single coil and stronger output from humbuckers. This amp is used in my studio and with a reverb pedel and an overdrive to bump it up it is wonderful. I give it a 10 because I simply don't like amps tha have 65 knobs, 20 jacks, 27 EQ's....well you get the picture. A solid, easy to use practice amp that is ideal for home and maybe a small gig if needed.

I play your basic Strat and Less Pauls along with a couple guitars that I have built. I build, design, and repair guitars and amps. All of my axes sound fine through this amp. It fits my mix of blues, classic rock, and fusion style to a tee. The sounds you can get are more suited for clean to mild overdrive. Now it is strong in the midrange. Sometimes too strong, but the EQ's "blend", in that if you turn up the bass it will increase and effect the mid. The same with the mid bumping up the treble. They interact. Something that Peavey designed in this and many other amps. A nice touch. Don't expect it to sound like a 4 X 12" with tons of low end. It's a practice amp for God's sake, not a stack! The distortion is not it's best selling point. However, it does well with most if you keep the master volume below 5 or 6 and use the pregain to get your mild distortion and use the EQ's right. It is not your amp if you want to play death metal or whatever. Th 10" speaker does limit it's bottom end for sound. I added an external speaker jack to it and run it through a 12" and 15" 90 watt cab I built and it will nock down the walls in my studio. The 15" in there adds tons of bass responce and this amp pushes it and the 12" well.

I got this amp from a man at a garage sale a year ago. It had sat under a tarp in his garage for over 15 years. The capacitors were dried up (they usually only last about ten years under normal use) and the speaker was dry and the voice coil was gone. The amp was spotless other than that. I replaced all the caps ($3) and the speaker ($25) and this amp was as good as new. The design of the pre-amp and the power-amp are as simple as they get. So solid and strong that if this amp had not sat in a garage for a decade and a half, I most likely would not have had to work on it at all! The cab is 3/4" thick and covered with 33 ounce Tolex. I think it could take a direct hit from an anti-tank round and still play. In short, a solid and relaible amp. If I were still gigging I'd take it with me just for fun, and having the pre-amp out there I know that I could run it through the board and continue with the gig if my main amp had failed.

Peavey is a wonderful company and have a great customer support unit. With this amp being 26 years old I had no documentation on it. I e-mailed them and recieved a copy of the schematic, PC layout, and everything I needed to service this amp for life. The young lady that assisted me was very friendly and really knew her amps! Try this with a British amp! They don't speak our language do they? HA!

Been playing over 40 years and use guitars of my own making along with a couple of basic strats and Pauls. My amps are narrowed down to a couple that I've built and this Peavey Backstage 30. This is a splendid amp for practice, recording, and just having fun. It is light, easy to use (few knobs remember?), and as solid as a rock! Pun intended...But yes, I enjoy the amp and use it daily. I have sold the Vox, Marshall, and Fender that I had sitting around. Don't need 'em anymore and I like this little Peavey. I like to keep it simple. This one is just that. What if it were stolen? I'd hunt the S.O.B. down, tie him to a Variac, and make my own electric chair! Regular or Extra Crispy? I'm that attached to it! I would like to have had a reverb in there, but I can always build one and put it in huh? With an external speaker jack that I put in, this amp is is just about perfect for what I want. If you find one out there and it's under $80 buy it!Thanks Peavey!

Super basic.

This is a practice amp! I love how people are giving it such a hard time. Some guy said it sounds like an ice cream truck. It's a cheap amp dude! This is not a Bad Cat or a Diezel. You put this in your room and practice with it or you LEARN to play guitar on it. If you are gigging with this amp then you are most likely 14 years old playing at friend's parties, which is cool! Keep doing it! However, you are not going to get some great awe-inspiring tone from this. Your friends don't care, they are just at the party to have a good time. Now, if you are playing clubs regularly then I would definately upgrade. No you don't have to go buy a Dual Rec (which suck anyway) or a 5150. Save some money, get a good, inexpensive tube amp. Peavey makes some good ones like the Classic 30 and Classic 50. They are great. Anyway, this amp sounds fine for what it is...a practice amp.

I bought this amp in like 1990 or something like that. It is built like a tank.

I have been playing for about 20 years and I have played a lot of amps. This is a perfect beginners amp and it's a great little practice amp. Ifit were stolen I wouldn't hunt down a new one, I would just buy another cheap amp.

The PV Bs 30 is as basic as it gets. But for a practice amp its perfect. To me its alot like my JC 120. it does clean very very well but overdriving it seems to not be an option. which is fine for me as i have a cheap little Digitech RP-100 which makes it sound like just about anything i want. and ya dont have to be miles from anyone to do it

everything i have plugged into this thing clean has sounded good. beautiful clean mid to hi..if ya wanna go ker=chunk this thing will resist. everything else good tone and alot a volume for 15 watts

well all i can say about this Amp reliuabilty wise is must be bullit proof. i found this thing in a pile of junk on my street. Obviouly someone didnt knwo what it was. i recued it from a trip to the dump thinking maybe i could make it work. took it inside plug it in and was blow away that it was 100% ok... tone knows were a bit noisy but were cleaned easly. for being 20 somthing this thing plays and sounds brand new

must be very lonely at the backstage 30 customer service desk at PV

What can i say. it was a gift from the sky. probabaly the best practice amp ive ever had and the fact that i found it makes it even better. trust me this thing will be in my family for a long long time

Good 'ol PV from the County/Blues rock era of the '70s Newer model with the plastic knobs..pretty basic but does what it does well. @18watts with 1X10 eminece style speaker..the 30 is like what it draws from the wall or something?? 2 inputs (try 'em) Vol/drive 3 Band eq with VERY active mids (you can't scoop'em out for thrash so don't even try)A golden oldy.

Pretty clean, even when gain is maxed..crank the mids and it gets funky..use this for lots of "classic" things, great for that sorta clean '80s sound with the boosted mids..you don't want this amp for metal! Takes Gibsons,and Fenders equaly well..I like P-90s in to the low input for blues..I have recently added a DOD "Mystic Blues" to my rig, as well as a Chorus//takes those pedals well..and now sound more alive, the MB is a nice add on to older SS amps.

Old as the hills..built like a tank..works well for small gigs,hums a bit now that it's older.

PV has a great web site and helpful phone staff..having the manuals on line is great. Older stuff can be repaired, if you can find some one who won't charge ya more than it's worth just to have a look.

New from a shop I worked in many moons ago..first good amp..just keeps on chuggin. New small amps have more bells and whistles, but lack the build quality. This was intended to be a small pro amp going up aganst Fender Princetons and the like..pretty good for the day, and a real $$ baragan. Probaly a bit dated for mast folks, but like a old pick up truck or fine woman you learn how to get along after a few years.

This Backstage was manufactored in 1978-79, I purchased it in July 1979 in a small Phoenix music store brand new on my way to my new duty station in Coronado, Ca. It is basically a practice amp due to the very limited EQ capacity and ampilification power. But by gosh, it also makes a nice little step stool, seat or end table, and yes I've used it for all those things at time or another. This model is solid-state with 4 transistors on the main board. Two inputs with a "gain" and a "master" volume are all you get besides "low", "middle" and "high". After about 18 years, I replaced the original 10" speaker with a new Celestian.

The main tone range you get from this indestructable little amp are mids and highs with very little bass at all. I rarely push the "master" up past '2' as I run a BOSS GT3 effects processor thru it which increases the gain dramatically. Besides, after '5' there is no noticable increase in "usable" volume as it just turns to thick mud. The amp is pretty quiet, and hisses only slightly, but you can't ever make it sound like a valve (tube) amp! I play either a Strat or an old Les Paul thru it.

Reliability? Gosh..I wish that most PEOPLE were HALF as reliable as this old Peavey Backstage is! It really is like a cockroach, in that you really can not kill it. I've had it COMPLETELY disassembled twice already, the 2nd time I repainted the inside and the grillcloth to all flat black. The tolex is very clean and shines now too.

Never needed it. I work on it myself.

I also have another Peavey: it is a "Microbass" 20watt. That amp is just TERRIBLE sounding with electric guitars but so sweet with an acoustic or a keyboard. I also replaced the original speaker in that one with an OEM 250watt subwoofer I found in a local electronics store. That made a very notiable increase in output power on the "microbass".

All it has is low,mid,,high, and 2 gain knobs. Not many choices at all.

I am using a Squier Affinity and practically all I play is grindcore. At loud noises, it can't handle my distortion and starts to just run together. When the sound is halfway up, it is great.

I dropped this in the middle of a busy street REALLY hard and it has gone through MANY 1 mile walks bumping along. IT IS A TANK!

Never had to deal with them

Good for practicing by yourself, not good for practice. But I WOULD crank it up for a gig if I had to.

Ive still got my backstage 30, I'll keep it for a backup/spare. It servred me well for about 18 years, and I bought it used, VERY GOOD basic amp, I just moved up to a Renown 400 210 watt, Still a Peavey, and Im real happy with it, THANKS PEAVEY!!!!

Many diff Guits, all sounded good for a practice amp

Like I said, 18 years and it was used

Im up to a 210 watt Peavey now, and I hope its as good as my Backstage 30, :)

Bought in 1978 for $about $65.
Two inputs, main and second with reduced gain.
This is a very basic, simple amp with pre-gain and master gain, plus treble, mid and Low. Has pre-amp output (1 volt). 15 watts rms. one 10" speaker. Has almost no built in features - but this is a truly a practice amp. Would like to see a headphone jack. The features are limited but not bare bones- suitable for what it is.

Very clean.
This thing gets pretty loud and then distortion kicks in - but you really need pedals or effects to get anything but basic clean. Sound is full range and not bad, for clean.

No problems. Original owner for over 23 years.

not needed.

Perfectly good, solid practice amp.
Will crank for a small gig if needed.

I bought this amp together with a crappy Epiphone Les Paul knockoff back in the early '80s. It was second hand at that time. I have no idea the actual year of manufacture. It's a basic amp but modern enough to have pre and post volume controls so you can get your range of clean to full-out distortion sounds at low levels. It gets pretty darn loud if you want it too, though. It's not ideal for playing in band context. It's for practicing "backstage".... and hence the name. I use it at home for practicing and I take it out with me to teach lessons or just jam with one other person. It's pretty handy that way. It's light, portable, functional and built like a tank. Yes, it's solid state. I won't win any awards with it for tone, but that's not the function it serves.

Again, a wide range of functional sounds are available for informal events such as personal practice time or lessons etc. I use a Godin LGX-SA. It's a versatile guitar which bridges the gap between the Les Paul and Strat sound so I get the best of both worlds. My music styles are classic rock, blues, jazz and country. I don't feel the Backstage amp limits me in any way in this regard. It's just a practice amp anyway. I have other equipment to use for "real" situations.

This amp is probably 20 years old. I think it meets criteria for reliability. Now my little kids play with it (two boys aged 4 and 1.5 years). They can be brutal with stuff but the amp is like a roach - you just can't kill it. It's never needed servicing.

Can't comment here.

A good, reliable, functional amp. Suitable for a wide range of music styles. Not designed for regular gigging. It's a practice amp.

not much in this just 2 gains and a high, mid,and a low

way to clean for me.NO distortion at all.lots of extra noice.it does crank high in volume

not reliable at all.it sat in my friends garage with 2 other amps and this one did not make it for more than 3 days

n/a

work for a while but is dead now:(.got it free so not bad deal i juess.

This is a sad but true update to my last rating of the amplifier.
Here sre the features:
1.)Preamp out (I hot wired it so I could run a cabnet and the speaker)
2.)Pre gain (Now part of my harmony Frankenstrat)
3.)Low (Now part of my DuPont carpeted Rage/Backstage frankenstien amp
4.)Mid (Also on the frankenstien amp)
5.)high (Frankenstien amplifier)
6.)Post (Now a free loose spare pot)

the more I think about it, the more I think this amplifier sounds like an Ice cream truck speaker.

Actually, it has been fixed once, and I am not going to fix it again, no way in hell I am going to pay $40+ to get this little piece of shit fixed. It just stopped working a week ago and I am still fucking pissed off about it seriously. I spent $70.00 fucking dollars on this used piece of dogshit and I am tired of fixing it and working on it to keep it running for all eternity. And the worst thing about it is that it breaks in a transistor every time, not the fuse, not a switch, not a pot, a fucking transistor. And theres seventy of em to to make this simple piece of junk work. The last time I had it fixed, they replaced all of the transistors, a few resistors, cleaned the pots, and Peavey was such a waiter as to make it take almost a year for this amp to be fixed, I got out of school again before I got it back. The problem with the time was that the local store was fixing it and Peavey had to go look hard in an old warehouse for the parts to fix this lousy amplifier.

Theyre so fucking slow, but they get the job doen at least.

I am through with Peavey, I will put up with them no longer. I am going to buy a Mesa Boogie next. Epiphones Korean amps are better than Peavey, I have had the same Epiphone SC28 for 4 years now and It has been dropped, hit, kicked, rained on for 30 minutes, and had beer spilled on it and all I have broken are the plastic corner protectors. But yet I leave this backstage 30 plugged in to an outlet unattended for 5 seconds and it is dead. This is a testament to what makes a crappy practice amp, no features, no reliability, and most of all, no pain tolerance.

Pretty Basic, Pre Gain, low, mid,high, Post gain setup. Good for the technically challenged. Did I mention this was one of the first ones made in the late 70's with the aluminum knobs with black inserts.

Read my rig under the DOD super american metal pedal and you'll see what I use. This amp is good enough for playing around school, i used it in the Jazz Ensamble this past year and the only shortcoming I had was volume (Dang sticky Volume Pot). Otherwise this amp can crank the shit out of anything. Even with the pre gain at 10 and the post at 0 you can hear your guitar. it's a little too midrangey for metal but i fixed that with my distortion pedal. This amp gets some good tones and suonds more like an old radio with a light overdrive than an amp.

The onlything that can kill this amp is a thunderstorm. It was in the shop for half a year just because a thunderstorm blew it up and the shop could not find parts for it easily.

This is a great amp if you don't like 300 knobs, 40 buttons, 2 million jacks, and don;t need distortion thats even as light as the Beach Boys distortion levels.

A friend gave me this amp several years ago after his roommate moved out and left it in a closet. That was about 15 years ago and I've had it ever since. It's got two gains and Low/Mid/High EQ settings. Also two phone jacks and a power switch in the back. No reverb or EFX loops -- very basic.

The distortion is, to my ears, awful, but some might like. Very transistor sounding. The clean is very clean, this is what I used it for (before I retired it to the closet), playing acoustic through with a Zoom 505 EFX pedal. It will get loud as hell. Seriously, you *can* damage your hearing with this thing. Definitly loud enough to play with a drummer.

The gain knowb on mine has started to get a bit scratchy. Also, not the amps fault, but I need to replace the 8" speaker, I punched a hole in it stuffing a guitar cable in the open back one night. Funny, the 1/4" hole in the speaker didn't seem to affect the sound that much (at low volumes that it, crank it up and it sounds like a Neil Young record now :)

Don't know and don't care

It's okay considering I got it free. If it disappeared one day, I probably wouldn't notice though. Nice to have it around though in case friends drop by and I need an extra practice amp...

My amp serves it's purpuse but not the way I want it to. It has a nice, clean tone and if I knew this before I probably wouldn't have got it. It has a 3 band equalizer(spelling ???) low, med & high knobs. It has one gain/distortion knob and one master gain knob.

I got an Ibanez with two humbuckers, and it sounds really rough and sharp on my friends amp but an this amp only clean sound really good. The gain/dist. knob is really weak, maybe it's broken. If you put it on 10 it sounds like it's on 4.5.

Despite the lack of wanted sound this amp can take a good bruising. It's very dependable. Asides from the (gain???) I have no problems with it

Not bad for a beginner it has a little of everything but if you want distortion go back to the music shop and return it