Peavey Classic 30

30 watt 1x12 el84 combo amp. specs. can be looked up at peavey.com i'm giving this a 6 for features and quality of them.

eric clapton noiseless vintage strat. keeley ts9, univibe. boss gt-8 for delays and other modulation effects. i generally run this amp simple. i use the clean channel and mid-boost on clapton strat for bluesy stuff or throw in ts9 on any given day. the amp needed an extension cab to have the clean headroom i needed. i wound up buying a bassman and a/bing the amps because the tone of this amp was not that great for clean. i finally wound up using the amp as a distortion amp. it does singing allman brothers, santana, led zep. type lead tone very well on channel 2. i kind of think of this amp as a small marshall knock off. that is a compliment. i did replace the speaker with a tone tubby ceramic. smoothed the tone out very nicely. i put the stock speaker in a 1x12 cab and it keeps up with the bassman since i am pushing it into distortion.

smoked a power tube or two before i got the extension cab. this amp is not super loud compared to past amps. twin, super reverb, etc. 30 watts will do you if you know how to use it. had this amp 8 years and have used on and off. not the most solid amp, but has been reliable.

n/a never dealt with them.

i have been playing for 19 years, owned a ton of gear, (i have a problem). i would not buy this amp again, then again...i bought this in college the first year or two it was made. held on to it, i recently dug it out of the closet when i sold my twin, now lets be real, that is a loud amp. after some tweeking and new speaker i have found this amp to be a real bang for the buck. it covers those lead sounds very well for the dollar and i will probably use this amp in a 2 amp set up for some time. it does have that marshall flavor and i do enjoy getting tube distortion over pedals sometimes. (different day different flavor). i feel that for jamming and local clubs this is a very practical amp for my style. the bassman handles the fat fender clean/bluesy tone and this is the marshall tone. 30 watts and 2x12 speakers gives it plenty of thump to keep up with the band and i can draw feed back out of it with control, very nice. the overall rating comes down to what works for you as an individual. this amp works very well for me (a tone freak willing to compromise) and not spend a truck load of cash on a boutique amp that i may not like anyway.

I had this amp years ago.
Then I thought I had to have a 4x10" Laney-Box.It was great.Just not with the Classic 30.
I always loved the clean sound, which made even LP sound clean.The Drive wasn't my
tone back then.Well, unfortunately I gave it away for a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL.Plenty of
dialing knobs, MIDI, Footswitchable Channels and FX-Loops... you name it.
After all, that wasn't my sound.Stupid as I was, I didn't return to the classic 30 but
bought an Ashdown Peacemaker 40, which I still own but which is absolutely not my
type.Remember, the only flaw the Classic 30 had, was that it didn't go too well with
the Laney-box- Which I sold shortly after the Marshall...

Well, lot of struggle soundwise with the Ashdown...

And finally, I came to senses. And got one used.Yeah, pretty used.Not in every aspect
technically ok.But the Clean sound still is in there.I stuffed it with JJs in both Pre and
Poweramp.The thing about this amp is that it lets you feel the tunes you play.I'm a
very percussive kind of player.With the classic 30 back, I finally start playing melodies.
You have a very direct feedback of what you're doing with your guitar.You can give
the tone the body you want- it's in your fingertips!

To all those speaker-replacers: you don't know what you're doing! Seriously!
The Blue marvel is great.You just have to play it long enough to get rid of the hard
character.And then add an external Speaker.I made a box with the Eminence guitar
legend which is said to sound like the Green Back.After all, all you're complaining
about is that the Marvel lacks Bottom and nice Highs to complement its Mid-range.
And the Eminence does just that.I constructed a transmission-line type
of box to greatly improve Bass response and deepness.And if I want, I can get a 4x12"-
like Clean sound with the Combo, while preserving the openness of the open cabinet.
You won't achieve anything like it by just screewing in another speaker into the amp.
My external box was a total of 100 Euro (110 Dollars) and well worth the money, still
a lot less to carry around than a 4x12" and so much more of what the amp likes.

With it, the tone keeps the direct and intensive character, but gains a lot in sheer power
and body.

The one i owned years ago, never let me down.Was like my Peavey T-60 guitar, which
never cut a single string during live performance.No matter what you plugged in or
how hot that baby became (oretty hot), it never blew a single fuse.It doesn't have a
standby-switch and didn't do anything bad when switched off and mack again, which
seems to push other amps to their limits.

The one I bought used, has a defective Reverb and the drive channel's Post Gain doesn't
respond at all. So I'll have to have it checked, but I think that it was rather abused than
treated well.And it doesn't necessarily have to be a design problem.

The first classic 30 even jumped off the Box it stood on once and just kept on playing.
So I'd say in most situations, it IS reliable

1x12 Eminence Blue Marvel 144. The amp came with four Sovtek EL84's, one Sovtek 12ax7LPS in the phase inverter, V3, and two Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's in V1 and V2. Single channel w/extra pre-amp gain stages in Drive mode.ALL TUBE AMP.

Having owned a Fender solid state amp and the Vox AD50VT which had a tube in pre amp only, this is the first ALL TUBE amp I have owned. I have to tell you it blows away any solid state amp including the Vox. I now understand what people mean when they describe the fat warm all tube sound. This 30 watt amp is ear hurting loud! I could not believe the power this amp could deliver. There are 2 channels one clean and one distorted and both channels are amazing. I play at level 2 volume wise which is fairly loud, but can crank it to 12 which is max volume and actually kill my ears but remainig clean.

Looks rock solid and I do not anticipate any trouble at all.

N/A

I have been playing guitar now for over 20 years, I own an Anniversary American Strat with HSS and a limited Edition Gibson SG Special. Both guitars sound unbelievable thru this amp. I was looking at the Marshall stacks at 100 watts and this sounded not only louder but cleaner and more true. I am totally satisfied and somewhat schocked at the power and sound of the Peavey Classic 30. This is worth every penny of 500 dollars and then some. They are a little hard to get because of their legendary reputation and it is well deserved. If this were lost or stolen I would run not walk to the music store to replace it with the exact same amp.

1x12 Eminence Blue Marvel 144. The amp came with four Sovtek EL84's, one Sovtek 12ax7LPS in the phase inverter, V3, and two Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's in V1 and V2. Single channel w/extra pre-amp gain stages in Drive mode.

Replaced the speaker with a 50 watt Eminence Private Jack, G12M Greenback clone.

The Eminence Blue Marvel is good for some clean Fendery things and modern high gain tones; that said, it's hard to get a loud and tight tone from the Drive channel without pushing the EL84's into overdrive.

..SO the best tones out of this amp come from the Normal (clean) channel w/EL84's cookin'. If you know how to handle the Bass knob, you can get a very tight sounding EL84 overdrive. Adding more Bass at high volumes pushes the speaker into a nice low-end break-up. Some people call it "mud", but that's vintage speaker tone... only an AlNiCo magnet speaker will do a better job of it.

It's a great amp on it's own, but many more tones can be obtained by changing the speaker. Some complain about the amp lacking in bass and low-mids, or not having enough top-end sparkle and sell it before giving it a chance; it's only the speaker's voicing.

I installed the Eminence Private Jack, and it completely changed the character of the amp. Now the Classic 30 acts like an old non-master volume Marshall.

With the Normal channel, Volume 12, Bass 0, Mid 10, Treble 4, Boost out, you get a rich EL84 crunch with long sustain. Ease up on the pick attack, and the notes clean up nice; same thing when backing off on the guitar volume.

Volume 12, Bass 0, Mid 0, Treble 0-4, Boost off with the Private Jack, yields a thicker Greenback tone.

I notice more upper-mid & treble detail as I push the EL84's into overdrive; using a bright pre-amp tube in V1 will give me a brilliant, glassy tone. Using a dark V1 balances the high-volume clarity of the power section. EL84's get bloated in the bass when cranked, so you don't have to add any Bass EQ at those volumes, unless you want the speaker to break-up.

I find that the Sovtek LPS in V1 gives the amp a subtle high-end chime, great low-end, w/flat upper-mids that are slightly crisp. Using a JJ Electronic ECC83S in the V3 phase inverter slot will smooth over the EL84's overdrive crunch.

As for the choice of power tubes, standard Sovtek EL84's have a nice mid range honk, a crispy upper-mid clarity/bite, and a great high-end crunch that doesn't sting like the JJ EL84's. The JJ's are good when using speakers with smoother highs. They have a warmer low-end and a clear upper-mid with strong highs.

After playing for a couple hours at high volumes, the amp & speaker settles in, and the EL84's really "come alive"; they warm up, tighten up & the crunch smoothes over a little. A more touch-sensitive/dynamic tone with great single-note clarity.

At lower volumes (4-6), with the EL84's on the edge of overdrive and the Bass knob (5-7), you can get very warm, FAT vintage tones. Great for jazz & blues.

The Boost switch works off the Treble knob. With Treble at 0, the Boost fattens up the low-mids a bit. Dailing in more Treble w/Boost increases bass with an emphasis on the upper-mid range; also depends on your choice of EL84's.

Still no problems, and it's been over a year. All the tubes are still working, and pumping out great tone.

N/A

Amazing tone, amazing value, neat fit & finish. Swapping speakers is kind of a chore, having to rip out the chassis & reverb unit, but after a few times it comes natural.

Noak Westerberg was right about the capability of the Drive channel; it's very versatile.

With the right pre-amp/power tubes, guitars, pickups & wiring and SPEAKERS, you shouldn't have any problem finding great vintage tones on the Normal channel.

This one is made in 2004 I think. It's got basic features: One clean channel and one extra 12AX7EH tube for the distorted sound (which is NOT a seperate channel). Serial FX-loop. It's got only one shared EQ-section, but that's OK with me since I think both cleans and leads sound great at the same setting. The reverb in this unit sucks IMO, I never use it. It's got a boost switch on the amp, witch I think sound great for solos. Too bad, it's not footswitchable, instead of the crap reverb... I play everything from jazz and blues to hardrock and this thing covers it all. I use this for practising, rehearsing and gigs, and I never felt that it needs more power, it's always loud enough for me. I give it an 8 because of the lousy reverb and the unfootswitchable boost function. I wpuld also like a standby switch...

I use an Epiphone les paul custom with Gibson pickups and an Ibanez 320FM with dimarzio pickups. The clean sound is sweet. Not as bright as a fender, but not muddy either. It's somewhere in between. I use this for blues and jazz and clean rythm sounds in any category, it works great. This channel is easy to distort with the volume knob, but I usually don't need those volumes providing post amp distortion.

The distorted sound is great, I can tweak in sounds from Ritchie Blackmoore to John Petrucci and Steve Vai with the only the gain, honestly. This one also works great with various music styles. The boost switch increases the level of the sound and changes the character of the sound, giving it a good punch in the mid's. The clean channel sound great for jazz and distorted sounds like Allan Holsworth, very nice!

This amp always worked freat so far. I've had it for about a year now, so i depend on it.

Noidea

I'm 19 years old now, and I've been playing for about 5 years. I previously owned a peavey bandit, but I wanted a real tube-amp, and this was exactly what I wanted. I have in the FX-loop Ernie Ball volume pedal > digitech digidelay > electro harmonix holy grail reverb. It's great to have good reverb effect, especially with the clean sound. I also use various pedals in front of it (phase 90, dunlop wah, compressor etc.). I am getting a marshall 1960AV cab next week, and it will be very interesting to find out how it sounds. I am happy with the tone i get from this one, and for the money, you won't get anything this good, I think. I would maybe think twice about buying another one if it was stolen though, and maybe go for something more expensive.

My Classic 30 was made in 2004. I bought it in order to achieve the characteristic 70's sounds.I guess you all know the features, i only use the clean channel and the reverb. I use it at home and in my rehearsal space with may band and this is a LOUD bastard.

My rig consists; Gibson Les Paul Custom and Fender Toronado----> Teese rmc-3 wah, lovetone cheese source, Loooper 5 including: Fulltone Choralflange, Maxon ad-9, Boss dd-20, Zvex Fuzz Factory, boss Tu-2---> Zvex Lo-fi loop junkie, Mesa Boogie V-Twin.
I use the clean channel with my pedals. The clean sound is great, yet, with so many pedals it requires some tweaking in order to achieve your own sound... I got mine and I'm preety much satisfied, especially using the V-twin. I use this amp to play Progresive/Experimental Classic Rock. As I told, this amp is a LOUD motherfucker, yet, it breaks up about 5 giving you a bluesy sound. The semi-crunch channel sounds a bit fuzzy for my tastes, i prefer to use pedals instead.
I previously owned a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue and I clearly prefer the Classic 30 which is cheaper, lighter in weight, sounds better in my opinion, and has a visually appealing look.

Seems well constructed. No problems so far, no noise whatsoever.

Music Store is responsable for the warranty, and they're very professional.

Great little box, nice sounds, portable, beautifull. Classic all over.

Nice portable tube amp with all the features I need. Plenty of power for gigs. LOUD! Mine's about 8 years old.

I play a Fernandes Dragonfly Pro, Tele, strat, SG. All sound good thru it. I play everything from blues, rock, alt., metal. It handles it all! Amp dist. is nice and pretty versatile. For metal step on a pedal! I run a Marshall lead 1960 4x12 and whoah! If you own a c-30 you gotta try it. The clean channel at 6 has an amazing punch. Reverb is decent- no fender. Stands up well against my fender hot rod deville 2x12 and is so much lighter. Definately gig worthy, very loud. Perfect amp for most situations unless you need to be REALLY loud & clean( the clean breaks up at 4-5) Got mine from my buddy Nick when he passed. He is missed and had great taste.

Has not failed in any way. Always sounds the same(GREAT!)

No clue

Been at it 17 yrs. Own a deville, carvin x-60 head( excellent tone!), vox valvetronix, epiphone galaxy, fender & lab series solid state amps. Lots of stomps & multi-fx, samson wireless. The C-30 is 2nd only to the deville. Just an awesome amp regardless of price range. I want another one or two. Modeling and solid state amps in this range just dont compare. Not even close. Sounds awesome plugged straight in. Likes pedals. Run a ext. cab for a huge sound! Fool who steals can deal with Nicky upstairs.

30w 112 tube amp, clean and dirty channels sharing 3 band eq, spring reverb, channels and reverb are footswitchable, 16 ohm extension speaker output, boost switch, effects loop. Seperate EQ for channels would be nice. I use the amp at home for recording and the occasional, high-volume stress relief. This has enough power for most situations, even keeping up with a full band in a large venue with an ext. cabinet. Of course you can always mic it. 1 pt off for shared eq. I've never missed the standby switch that all my other tube amps have had, but I don't play out either.

LP Classic with Seymour Duncans, Atiquity neck and Seth Lover bridge, through many pedals, right now: Bad Horsie, Ibanez phaser, modded tube screamer, pro co rat into amp, arion sch-1 chours and rocktek delay in effects loop. I play anything from light finger-picking to heavy metal, with lots of blues and rock n roll in between. I even screw around with country if I've had too much to drink. This amp is versatile, fits country, blues and rock just fine. I think it would be great for jazz as well, but am not schooled in that genre. With higher output pickups and the gain maxed I got some decent metal tones. I get any kind of distortion and overdrive I can imagine with my mellow pickups and combo of pedals. This amp loves pedals. It loves em in front and in the loop.

I have had a Zinky MOFO w/ 2x12 cab (that I use with the PV) and a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12. I still have an old 60's Fender Dual Showman with a 2x15 cab and a Randall RG75 112. I use the 2x12 Zinky cab with this amp because without it, the PV is too boxy and sharp in the upper-mid eq zone, for my tastes. I guess harsh and somewhat less lush. The Zinky cab is very dark, too dark for my tastes, but balances with the mid/treble happy PV perfectly. I've heard one played stock, no effects, no ext cab, mic'd to pa, in a large night club and it rocked 70's - 90's rock no prob. Another thing about this amp is that it is very responsive to preamp tube changes.
The clean is beautiful. Great, warm and glassy tone. It does break up with louder volumes, usually past 6-7. I love this break up, perfect for raucous blues. Tap the Tube screamer at this volume and OMG, sweet! So, the clean channel at room levels is perfect for recording clean guitar, reacts well with pedals, and breaks up quite nicely with volume.
Dirty is blues to rock, AC/DC Zepplin all day, and the tube screamer again just pushes this channel over the edge to nice sustain and chunkage. This drive channel is much better than the Fender drive channels. The drive is not as nice as the Zinky, but I have no need for 50 watts in excess of $1000 price tag when I can get close at 30w for $300. 3 points off for need of an extension cab to get rid of upper mid harshness (I almost sold the amp), plus a point for great tubey clean and rock n roll drive in a versatile package for not a lotta moolah.

The el84 tubes shake loose at higher volumes, even with use of a tube tamer. Frustrating! But, other than that, I've had it for while now, and nothing has smoked, blew, burnt, or rattled besides tubes. The handle cover did come unglued, and that is a minor irritation. Minus a point for those two things.

Couldn't tell ya.

Been playing for...wow...ummm...17 years now. I've had all kinds of expensive guitars and have listed the nicer amps I've had (and the Randall). I'd shop around for another amp if this was stolen. I love to shop. I doubt very seriously that I would find anything close to this for the price. I'd love to own a Soldano HR 50+, but alas, am not financially prepared for such a purchase at this time. Maybe in a couple of years after graduating college, again. The Soldano Atomic is a tempting package, but have never had the opportunity to play one. Overall, good sounds stock, versatile, loud, rocking amp, capable of filling many many needs, recording, bedroom rock, live gigs, for a number of genres, all with better overall sound than the Marshalls I've tried and the Fenders I've owned, at a fraction of the price. I almost lost the amp because of the harshness, but the ext cab opened it up and made all the difference for me. A solid 8, and a 10 for the money, really.

My Classic 30 came home today on 10/12/2005 it was born on 8/4/2005.
This amp fits my style like a glove. I play rock, jazz, and blues. The amp only has 2 channels that are switchable along with the reverb. There are no features I wish it had at all. I don't mind only having one set of passive eq to share between the channels. I just want to play not tweek knobs. I have only played the amp in my home office (for 4 hours straight). I can't beleive I can type right now. With 3 12AX7's and 4 EL84 this is the warmest sounding tube amp I have every heard. It was nice to hear every note for a change instead of the mud I was used to with my ADA MP-1. Talk about easy to find the sweet spot(s). Notice I say spot(s) not spot. It is versatile because the tone is so good in both channels that you don't need separate eq's.

I have a Jackson USA soloist, a Charvel, and a 50th anniversary S1 switching strat. They all sound fantastic. I think I am going to call in sick to work tomorrow so I can stay home and play this thing. The amp suits me so well I feel like I lost the 15+ years of life only getting one now instead of when it first came out. I am thinking about buying a second one tomorrow. I did not push the amp. I want to break it in so I don't know about the high volume stuff yet. My wife came in and asked me to turn it down because it was to loud so I had to step down from 2 to 1. I can't imagine 12. I found the dirty channel sweet spot with the post up between 2 and 3. This is a warm tube sound distortion. Not a compressed saturated low end heavy metal type. But I put my Boss Metal Zone MT-2 in front of it (which has great eq options and tones of saturation (too much for some people)) and I just got the missing third channel and the missing heavy distortion at the same time.

Don't know yet. Just got it today.

Don't know this stuff. Read the warranty or play your new tube amp. That was a "no brainer". I played but I think it is a year.

I have been playing for about 30 years. Studied guitar in college. Played in Jazz and Rock bands. I am going to buy another one of these or maybe even the Classic 50 if I can find one. WHY didn't I get one of these before now? What a dumb ass. Also to date I didn't know I could play like that. It pulled tone from my fingers. They are killing me now. If you like jazz, rock, and blues this is IT. If you like metal, industrial, and heavier stuff it will still be great but you will need a pedal. Get the crunch and the sweet sustaining lead from the dirty channel. You need the mids in there to easily drive the sweet spot. Get the scooped mid compressed heavy rock metal lead from the pedal. My boss MT-2 sound increadable in front of those 7 tubes.

2 channel. I only use the Gain channel.
The clean channel does sound great, big & fat.

It has great Tube tone. I put an Eminence Governor 12" speaker in the combo & put the stock speaker in a 1x12 cab & I run them together. It sounds great. The gain channel sounds incredible. Much better than Fender Hot Rod Deluxe/Deville. The gain is very tight sounding. I play Hard Rock music (AC/DC - Redd Kross).
I would mic it in most situations, but it can hold it's own with most 50 watt combos & any small or medium sized room.

Peavey makes great gear. Fixed bias on power tubes, YES!
I've been a gear snob for far too long. I had no idea Peavey
amps sounded this good.

Probably the best phone support I've ever delt with.

This amp makes we want to use a combo again.
I've been on a serious quest for tone over the past 4 years.
This is a keeper. I have this Classic 30 & an old Peavey
Butcher head & a VL-1001 Ampeg (2 of the best amp heads ever)
After going through Mesa, Hiwatt, Marshall, Sovtek, Laney &
probably a couple others this combo really makes the Rock happen.
Don't be a dumb ass like me & dump your hard earned money into
over-priced gear, try one of these. It will be the best $300 to
$400 you'll ever spend on an amp.