Peavey Blazer 158

This amp is a basic solid state practice combo amp. It's average so I'll give it a seven.

The distortion is actually alright on this thing, just don't turn the treble above 5 on the amp. If you do it kinda craps out these real nasal sounds. It also depends on what type of guitar your using. for a while I was using a strat with it, it was alright, but not like running a strat through a nicer amp like a Jtm or Matchless. It's more of a metal type tone. When I had my Ibanez Destoryer[the old one] it sounded pretty good. Kind of a low end growl. but the thin cabinet really makes the speaker suck. Personally I don't like peavey speakers, they sound like garbage, this one was no different. It put to much Highs in the signal. In my experience the sound was about average for a practice amp

I actually gigged with this amp once. It performed as well as it could. I never had an electronics problem with my amp, but I have done service on the older Peavey blazers.

never needed it.

Decent practice amp, but I traded it in with my destroyer for My line 6 Flextone III obviously that amp is superior. but for what it is this amp isn't bad. I much prefer my Vox pathfinder to this though.

input, cd, lead (pre, post) 3 band eq, reverb knobs. play mainly blues and guitar based insturmental. is a transtube solidstate amp. use it for home useage. doesnt do the job very well

using a mex-strat. doesnt do the job with bluse becuase the overdrive and distortion is terribe. the only good feature on here that is even OK is the reverb. the rest sux. if you are a high gain junky dont even look at this amp. speaker cant handle very high volumes, starts to crack and pop. clean is decent. distortion/overdive sux. you can get nice sustain if you turn the reverb up, its about the only nice sound you can get out of it. but i still dont recomend it. it cant make many sounds that actually sound natural. you will most likely have to run a few pedals or even a multi effects processor through it to get a little more variety but it wont be straight through.

very relible for home use, has never done any giging. the speaker has a very loud noticable pop when you turn it off. input gets kinda loose after a while, but its is easy to screw in. no tubes, no fuss

N/A never needed to call them, ask for anything

it is a nice beginers amp, but after maybe 5-6 months you will start to hate it because of lack of sounds you can get out of it, the distortion/overdrive arnt that great. clean is decent. for a begineers amp it is ok but if you know exactly what you are looking for then shop and try a few more amps out and buy 1 that you can have forever

I have to sound off on this. Especially based on the reviews I see below.

It's a 15 watt practice amp with an 8" speaker. Anyone who looks at this as anything else is kidding themselves. I bought this for my nephew who is learning to play. The only other feature it could use is an effects loop but even that is getting carried away.

First off, look at the amp. Do you see gigs? Do you see stadium tours? Do you even see garage jams with a full band? I don't. I see a practice amp that's capable of getting a reasonably wide range of decent practice tones. From clean to gritty to a nice overdrive this amp has it.

This one is a 2001 model which is one of the new generation transtubes. I don't know if that makes a difference or not but I mention it anyway.

In the store I compared it to similar sized practice amps like Fender, Crate & Marshall but the Blazer was head and shoulders above them all: More depth. More low end. Better overdrive with less buzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Just so you don't think I'm completely nuts, no, it didn't have any real low end thump. The maxed out volume would not be enough to do anything but practice or record but the speaker wasn't farting out either. Perhaps you could gig with it if you mic'd it but I wouldn't really plan on that unless you had to. If you've gigged successfully with it then I tip my hat. It just lacks too much (like foot switchable channels, effects loop, sufficient power and speaker size) to be a good gigging amp. But I dare say that I think the fundamental tone is there. Even if it is in a little bitty form.

I can't say. I played it for a couple of days before I gave it to my nephew. Generally speaking PV makes very durable products.

Peavey has an excellent web site with very attentive moderators. They answer questions quickly most of the time and I was able to download a manual for this amp.

I'll say it again... it's a 15 watt practice amp with an 8" speaker. I'm not sure what else you could want from this package besides what it provides. I'm not rating it a 10 because it sounds awesome next to a 5150, Bassman, Twin or Mesa. I'm rating it for the little practice amp that it is.

I got my first practice amp in 1974. It was a Fender Bronco with 6 tube watts and one channel. It was shallow sounding and the speaker farted horribly at full volume. I just sold it two years ago so I'm haven't forgotten what it sounded like. I wish I'd had this Blazer instead of that Bronco when I was a kid. I would have had many more satisfying tones at my disposal.

For a tiny practice amp it's a great little stick of dynamite. Accept it for what it is and I doubt you'll be too disappointed.

features are already listed by the fools before me.

This little amp was made in 1996, the "old" version of the transtubes, but not the really bad old versions that came before this. Bottom line 96' is the best year for these things. I've played a modern version of the rage (non-verbing cousin to the blazer) made around 2001, completely different amplifier. Total ass-tastic sound compared to my own.

The Blazer has enough power for practice, and gigging (I've had some sorry ass gigs, the trick was getting the drummer to play quietly. I said "Dammit jack there's 30 goddamn people here, you don't have to pound it out!" so the amp up halfways on its drive channel can play for tiny crowds......unless they were all screaming at once for some reason. Anywho, yeah the thing meets my needs volume wise.

For my musical taste, Alt-blues based grunge rock, the blazer managed not to chop up my playing to much, I mean the notes still came out of the carboard sound daiphram thing.....the trick is to have good intonation I can stress this enough.

I did like the play along jack.....when I play with my favorite cd it's like I'm really there in the studio playing with lisa lo...err Van halen...yes, tough hetrosexual van halen. And the headphone jack is good cause you can rock out without waking anybody

It is a solid-state device but peavey uses it's PATENTED TRANSTUBE technology invented by insane chinese robots.

I'm using a MIM stratocaster with the rig/Epi SG......works well with both brands of inferior third world magnetic devices.

You have your basic drive and clean channles. The clean is quite nice for SS.....very clear, and it sort of breaks up like a tube amp when the volume is all the way up, but you really have to push it. The lead avenue is alright. Nice punchy distortion, good for whatever, but it still sounds a bit like ass......meh good enough for things

Don't plan on it sounding good cranked, it doesn't do "loud" well, especially with reverb......the tank has a habit of clanking around

The insides are top notch...good quality components, great layout and design. The input jack breaks on all of the rages and blazers, nothing 1/2hrs worth of soldering can fix. The box is very heavey..looks solid, I have yet to set it on fire and drag it behined a pickup truck, but it looks solid.

I would gig without a backup, I can't see a very tiny SS device blowing up on me

I bought the amp used, so no warranty....I'm sure peavey loves all its customers even if they are taking sloppy seconds

It's the best 15watt 1X8 SS combo I've come across

Got this amp september 2002. originally this amp was quite impressive. Its features are reasonable given the price. Never understood the difference is sound between vintage and modern. Reverb is ok. I hate the switch to go between clean and Overdrive. No foot switch. Fairly standard amp for the price range. Nothing special.

I play rock music generally... ranging from hard rock to very soft indie sounds. Led Zepplin to the datsuns. REM to Smashing Pumpkins(the best band ever). Its versatile enough. just lacks the depth and quality of sound.to make it special.

I play a Gibson Les paul studio. Got it second hand. original studio pick ups. WHen I first got the amp it was very good. Over drive was very good... now after less than a year is has a buzz when I turbn it on. I will be taking it back to see if I can get this fixxed under the guarentee. overdrive has really dies recently. Clean is nothing special although when on a mellow tone on trhe guitar with reverb it sounds great! I think my clean channel has also lost alot of its power to how I remember it. It used to be good-- better than my mates marshall amps in the same price range. but its not a durible one.

Its just a practice amp. But its let me down in its poor state after just a year. I take good care of it... not so much now that its broken though

never dealt with them as yet. I am taking it back to the place I got it from soon to see what they can do... I reccomend "Coda music" for cheap prices but they aren't the most effeicient shop... certainly cheap guitar prices.

I have been playing guitar for two years now... electric for just one year. I still much prefer the good old western acoustic guitar. I am saving currently for a fender deluxe 90 DSL. Not a peavey or marshall. If this was stolen... I wouldn't buy peavey again. Very poor durability. Hate the humming overdrive. I wouldn't reccomend it if you're after a lasting practice amp.

Enought power to fill your bedroom. Nothing else. Headphone jack (mine does a weird buzz. my drummer likes it "sample it!"). Clean channel and "tube" channel. This one is a bad joke. Reverb. To explore. Perfect first amp.

Kind of poor. I use it to explore a new dimension of noise and "errors". I use it exclusively for noise. My main amp is a fender pro jr. I use it for clean sounds. I play in a slowcore experimental minimalist noise band. If I want to bring weird noises to the world I use this little bastard. The shit can be useful too. When my guitar is feedbacking I move it and it produces some beautiful "klankkkkkkkkkks!!!!" and "brrommmmmmmkkkkkkkks!!!!"

It seems kind of fragile. I abuse it very much. One day it will die and anyone in the band will cry.

never deal with peavey

I've been playing for 15 years. I must admit this amp is totally crap but just fits in the kind of music I'm interested in. If it were stolen probably i'll never get the same sounds from another peavey blaze. The abuse has customized the particular sound of the amp. There is a wery particular relationship between the amp and me. I hate it as a musician but I love it as a romantic experimentalist. In normal conditions I play mostly blues and folk tune in the style of nick drake with many diferent tunnings. In the future when the amp die, I dont know what will I do. Probably go to another flea market to find more noise units.

sorry for my english. :-)

I purchased this amp in the year 1996. This is a 15 watt amplifier, with an 8" speaker. 3 tone controls (High, Mid and Bass), Seperate volume for clean channel, Pre and Post distortion controls, Reverb, Headphone jack, CD/Tape input. The overdrive channel features Peavy's "Transtube" technology which is more of a marketing ploy. The cabinet is open in the back.

I'm using this amp with a Squire strat w/ a seymore duncan bridge pickup or a Art & Luthiere acoustic/electric. The midrange and treble is very clear and bright, but the bass is another story. The tone of low E and A strings severely lacks depth and sounds very unnatural. It can sound loud, but not very complete. The reverb works pretty well, if the amp didn't have it, it would be a very sad amp indeed. Overdrive is one-dimensional. An A power chord may sound a bit gutsy, but play a D power chord and it sounds quite nasal. No amount of tweaking the pickups, volume and tone controls will fix this. If you like heavy distortion, forget about this amp completely.

The CD/Tape input lacks a volume control. The audio performance from it is mediocre, I really don't see it as very useful.

The cabinet of the amp is very tough. I'm sure it will survive rough treatment. The input jack is another story. It tends to get loose and becomes intermittent even with little use.

Never had to deal with Peavy.

If you want to use this amp when first learning how to pluck out a few chords and don't want to make a high dollar investment this amp may be adequate. Once you learn the basics dump this amp immediately and get something better. A cheap amp like this robs you of the joy of playing the guitar since you can't even hear your own music to it's fullest!

I got this december of 2001, not sure what year but it was new at the time. I play mainly alternative rock and general rock and it sounds fine for that when used below 7 on volume. There's a lead and clean channel, with eq for each. Its also got a modern/vintage voicing switch, which is handy to subtley alter your sound. Reverb is also cool. Its got a headphone jack, but no effects loop. I use this amp mainly for playing in my room, but thats all the wattage is powerful enough for. I use it at band practices but its just not powerful enough. I have to use it at about 9 just to be heard beside my other guitarist. Im hopefully gonna be getting at least a 60 watt soon, enough for band practices and gigs.

I am using an Ibanez GRX20 (cheap) with a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, and a Boss CE-5 chorus. Its good for practice, and it can be noisy, although that could be my pedals, or the guitar. The lead channel when used with lots of gain is really noisy and lots of feedback. This is one of the reasons i got a pedal. However i did like some of the dist sounds i could get out of the amp alone. The clean channel does distort occasionally at volumes above about 8, and sometimes sound even cuts out completely.

This aint powerful enough to gig with, and even if it was i wouldnt, as it occasioanlly cuts out when used at high volumes for a while. However its great for practice, when used below 7.

never dealt with company, but i think the warranty was for a year. i might take it in and just get it checked for the cutting out problem.

I have been playing for a year now and this was my first amp. I will soon hopefully be upgrading to a more powerful amp which can be used in my band. My setup is Ibanez GRX20 > Boss CE-5 > Boss DS-1 > Peavey Blazer 158. If it were stolen or lost, id just not worry about it and get my new amp sooner. I like the eq on both channels, and i like some of the distortion sounds i can get out of it. if it had more power and didnt cut out, it would be great. overall a great practice amp.

15watt (1x8") transtube amp. 2 Channel switch> Clean/Overdrive.
All standard knobs> PRE/POST - LOW/MID/HIGH.
Features Reverb which is pretty good for a 15watt amp.
CD/TAPE input. Which you can also plug a 2nd guitar or bass amp into but you only get clean sound through it. You could also plug in a mic. Also has headphone input for practicing in silence. Nice little amp for practicing with at home, it can be pretty loud for its class.

I play heavy rock and the like. And for its size its pretty sweet. On my epiphone les paul the clean tone is very sweet, nice open feel to it when you use the reverb. The tone of the clean sound also sparkles. It has some end of sustain too when you use all that reverb. In distortion mode this amp can achieve a nice sound. Upping the pre and keeping the post down it has a nice little crunch, and with reverb on full it gives that echo of sustained crunch. But it doesnt pack a huge whollap, I find it plays well on both overdrive extremes be it that high gain crunch or the low end sounds. But it doesnt have that perfect 'in the middle' that you slightly start to hear if you down the reverb.

The Clean tone starts to shake when you put it past 7, but on 7 it transcened's that nice echo of power you want in a clean tone. It's pretty nifty for its size. If Peavey put a 10" in this It would be one amazing little amp. Also in distorion mode the buzz and feedback is insane if you have high gain, not nice at all, But not that you hear it when your playing =p Another factor is when I use a wah in distorion, it seriously sucks. Gets very overprocessed and if you turn down the gain it has no crunch. But It's expected with a little amp like this.

I bought it new about 5+ years ago, never had it serviced. Only have it for home use but its been kicked and so on, hehe. And it seems to be handling that very well.

Never had any problems with it, So I've never seeked support.

This is my first ever amp, But I've played on many others. Im soon to upgrade but this little baby has been very helpful. I still love the clean tone of it. This is a perfect beginners amp!. Overall its very nice for home use and practice. I wouldnt use it for gigs, It could probably get over drums but not cleanly and it doesnt have that crunch so its a start amp, a stepping platform to move up from. If it was stolen back when I first got it, I would look for the same kinda amp but maybe more watts. Still it does well for a 15watt amp. I wish it had a 10" speaker also the 2nd input (CD/TAPE) Should click to distortion also, that would make it an awesome package.

Just wanted to share a mod I made to my amp. I got this amp 2-3 yrs ago from my wife, Christmas present. It immediately impressed me with the tones and volume I could get, especially with pedals throught the clean channel. The only issue I had was the original speaker started to bottom out and sound muddy at volume of 8-10. Let's face it. Nothing sounds better than an abused little amp. I found a webpage (Vintagespeaker.com) which carries Jensen guitar speakers. I ordered the 8" and plugged it in. What an incredible difference. This amp absolutely screams for mercy now. Ths sound is fuller, louder, and crystal clear. Actually had to back off on the treble setting quite a bit. I use this amp for practice at home, with the band, and on stage. Stick a mic in front of it and wail! Anyway, it became obvious where Peavey saves on materials cost. Otherwise, this amp smokes!