Peavey Classic 30

Features? Well Great sound and punch are features enough!!!
No Chorus, Delay or compressor, GOOD, plays like a real Tube amp, allows dynamics to be controlled by the player, manually!!

I'm using a Tele body and custom neck with a Dimarzio Hummbucker and single coil at the neck, I play mostly blues/rock some lead.
So far this amp has delivered everything I could ask for especially for the money ($399) new.
I suppose alot of the sound comes from the quality of the instrument attached.

Don't really know except, I've never had Peavey anything go bad, (CS800, Mark IV)

NA

Top notch for clean and gain, bright if you want, warm if you'd rather, Nice to find something do as advertized.

Bought this used from a super guy in Pittsburgh off an Ebay auction. Since most of you are familiar with the layout, I'm not going to reiterate here. The previous owner of this amp took great care of it, as it doesn't have a scratch and the tweed covering looks brand new. This is one great sounding amp right up there with the vintage Vox AC 30 (not the re-issue), which uses a quad of EL 84s in the power stage. However, the AC 30 features a valve rectifier and PTP soldering, as opposed to the PCB board of the Classic 30. But I'll say this, the Classic 30 is super quiet compared to the AC 30 or Fender Hot Rod amps. When I received the amp 3 tubes were damaged during shipping, despite being contained in bubble wrap (nothing like UPS manhandling). I've spent most of the day experimenting with a variety of dual triodes and pentodes. I settled on a quad of Ei El 84s in the power stage, and 2 Telefunken 12AX7s in V1, V2 and an Amperex BB 7025 in the V3 driver stage. The TFKs have provided a warm bottom end and smooth mids resulting in a lovely sound. The Amperex 7025 is very low noise and the perfect handoff to the power stage. I also swapped out the 16 ohm 12" speaker for a Celestion Greenback. This is a great sounding blues amp and the channel for overdrive is great for classic rock. I'm going to replace all the caps with sprague, mallory and Xicons. Only other mod will be two vents in the back metal chassis. I see no reason to replace the .022 uf bass cap with a .047, as this amp has plenty of bottom. Although the amp was louder with some of the other tubes I used in the preamp stage, it sounded harsh. The Telefunkens are the way to go in V1 & V2, smooths the beast down and offers incredible dimension. Lovely clean channel that seems to love humbuckers (rich, creamy, textured, and defination), plus doesn't seem to break up beyond 8 with the TFKs or EL 84 pentodes (that break up early and aren't noted for headroom). Nice reverb with no noise! Plenty of power. Distortion channel provides pleasing harmonics of the 2nd order, with rich bluesy sustain. The boost switch brings out the woman tone similar to the vintage Bluesbreakers, especially when rolling out the mids. Versatile amp and if you're into metal, add a Big Muff.

My main axes are a 1959 LP and Gibson SG Special Limited Ed. Custom. Check out my review on this SG (Harmony Central Guitars). Super quiet amp. Clean is clean. Will insulate chassis to dampen vibration. This amp smokes away the competition. The tiny Fender Twin with channel switching.

Purchased used and looks new and still up and running. I'll know more as I use it.

Don't know.

I've been playing for 25 years. This amp is well built. No plastic corners or input jacks like Fender or Marshall. I'm impressed considering this ain't the late 60s. This is a great sounding amp, and as I understand, when everyone switched to transistors in the 70s, Peavey still produced tube amps. This amp is remarkably quiet for a valve amp. I don't know what the new ones are made like, but this one is definately well made. Had a new Pro Junior that was the noisiest amp I've heard with half the power. Soldering was awful and transformer crapped out after about 40 hours of use. Checked out the Fender Hot Rods, and they sound noisy and the distortion channel sucks! New Marshall DSL 401 I tested in the recording studio does not sound as good as the Classic 30 and is made with cheap plastic parts, go figure! I'm glad I bought this. Maybe the best kept secret around!

The Classic 30 is an all tube, thirty watt combo with reverb. They all come standard witha a twelve inch Blue Marvel speaker. Mine has a British Acoustics 12" in it. Tube compliment includes: Preamp: Three 12ax7, third one is a driver. Power: 4 El84's. Control layout is as follows: Normal Channel gain, C/S Button, Pre-gain, Post Gain, Reverb, B, M, T. 2 Channels, switchable by footswitch. It also has a boost switch, which is nice but not practical for live use because it cannot be controlled by foot.

My guitar set-up is pretty simple. I play a Paul Reed Smith Eg Bolt on, with two humbuckers, and a middle single coil. This guitar kicks!
I run this strait into the Classic thirty because I don't currently use any effects. In addition to, well I should say with the C30, I run another Carvin 12" British Lead speaker in a homemade closed cabinet. That's it. Straight foward, sounds awesome! This setup suits my playing style very well, for lack of a better word, I'm going to say "Rock." Anywhere from Pop, edgy alternative, Emo, Metal, Noise Pop, Industrial, and New Metal. Setup with the extension speaker and using Groove tubes Ecc83's, this amp's sound is comparable to a Mashall! Not quite as much gain, but the crunch is definately there. It doesn't really do metal distortion, but I'm not a big fan of scooped mids. I love the thick British crunch I get out of this! Great for Emo and Alternative! When I look at amps I tend to pay attention to the distortion most, but the clean channel is great too. With the Bridge position humbucker, it's thick, punchy, and has just enough sparkle(high). Muted strings with this setting sound really cool. Clean with the PRS distorts around 6 or 7, but I don't mind, that's what tube amps do. Besides I bounght the PRS for the Raunch. Overall this is a great Rock and Blues amp. Lots of different sounds and tone shaping.

I replaced one tube, and then retubed all of them pretty recently. the retubing was just a "I bet it would sound cool if I did this" type thing, not a major maintenance issue. This amp got heavy use for about nine months straight this last year, as I was playing for at least two hours of practice twice a week, and playing every Saturday night. I use it without a backup, and it has never let me down. Haven't ever delt with Peavey, but I think they are the best bank for the buck!

See above.

I've been playing about five years, and about a year and a half ago I got the "itch" for a tube amp. This was by far the best I played in the price range I was looking, and I have not once regreted buying it. I love this amp, there are no major changes I would make to it. Would definately buy another if were stolen or lost, if I couldn't afford a Soldano 50 tube head and 212 speaker cabinet at that time. (Chances are pretty good I'd be buying another classic 30!) This is an awesome amp, and I think it will suit a professional guitarist!

Jesus Christ is the one Lord, Savior and King!

Plenty of features here, just read someone else's review for the details

I use a Les Paul DC Standard (1999) which makes almost any amp sound great. But before i got that, i used a cheap guitar that was probably made out of the back of some van and the amp still sound great. The clean tone is good for variety of styles, including slide (although that could depend on what kind of guitar you have). I used to just pop on the dirty channel (sorry mom), and rock out when i needed it. I didn't realize until after i added a real distortion pedal that the amps dirty isn't that great for my style (progressive rock/ sometimes harder). It works for when your pedals go bad, or when you forget a battery, etc. But it's just not my cup'o'tea anymore. The volume is excellent. I hardly ever put the setting above 3 and it can rock out a room that fits around 200 people (where i play the most). In bigger settings, i can crank a little more, but it doesn't need much. I've never changed the tubes so maybe i should. And like another review said, it does sometimes get a little distorted on the clean channel,but not too often, and that really gets to me. I've got my eye on a marshall but this has done great for me, just time to move on.

Fairly reliable other then the fact that nothing protects the tubes (i've knocked a few loose and even one out, but it didn't break so i just stuck it back in and went right along).

never dealt with them

This am was my first real amp but i've had it for three years and it's treated me great. I'm still very happy with it, but i would probably take a step up if i had the means. Other then the few and far between sound problems, this is a great way to go if you need a really great amp with out the outstanding price tag. And it does well for home, small, medium, or large crowds (i've played them all).

Mine is a 1999 model.
Total of Seven tubes.
4 EL84 Powertubes,one 12AX7 driver and two 12AX7 Pre-Amp tubes.
Spring reverb,pre and post gain.
Three band EQ.
Clean,Gain and Boost (6db boost in midrange)
Effects loop and expansion speaker output.
I got mine with a 2 button footswitch, Clean/Gain and reverb control.
Great for blues,classic rock,modern stuff but sucks for metal unless you use a pedal.
30watts tube but sounds like a 60watt solid state!
I love it.
Its perfect for me!
Change the stocktubes!
Also the 112e expansion speaker is worth it, your low range sounds so much better!

I'm using a standard strat with upgraded picks ups (Blue Gold Lace at neck,Gold lace at middle and dual red goldlace at bridge)

Suits my blues style,rock and so on.
Kinda noisey with both Pre and POst gain cranked up to about 7 or 8.
Cant hear it while playing.
Great sounds out of this little amp, tube power great clean and overdrive but it gets a little fuzzy because the STOCK TUBES SUCK!

Its a peavey they last forever.

Nope never dealt with them

Love it and the expansion 112e speaker.
Great little tube amp.
I bought this instead of a fender tube amp......no regrets.
Fenders are better clean but the "fat" button sucks.

This amp has a lot features in one package. Clean and distortion channels, good reverb, all tube circuitry. Mine has the charcoal gray tolex, which looks cool. But I had to remove that gawd-awful Peavey logo from the grille!

I use a Strat, Nashville Tele, and a Les Paul copy. No pedals because I've gotten the gain channel to work well enough without one. At first, I was very happy with the clean sound, but the distortion was very brittle and soli-state sounding. I know that there are internet sites that have info on making extensive mods to the Classic 30, but I wasn't interested in changing the nature of the amp. If that was the case, I should have bought a differnet amp altogether. I did change the tubes, though. And it made a tremendous improvement in the gain channel. I put a NOS RCA 12ax7a in the first position, and a pair of 5751's in the other two. I replaced the Sovtek el84's with some EI's and the change has been well worthwhile. Now, the gain channel is very usable, even though I tend to stay on the clean channel most of the time. This little amp has enough punch to cut through very well in the 4 piece rock and blues group I play with.

I've been using this amp for the past year and haven't had any problems whatsoever. But the exposed tubes in the back worry me a little. Also, I keep a small desktop fan aimed on the tubes when I'm using it. Keeps the chassis from melting down.

The one year warranty has expired by now, but I never needed to contact Peavey or the local dealer about any troubles. Peavey gear has a reputation for being sturdy.

For the price, this is one great little amp. Giggable power output, very good tone, clean and overdriven sounds available at the flick of a switch. On top of all that, it looks great with its 50's retro style. If it came stock with some quality tubes, it'd be almost perfect.

Lots of reviews of this one already, so I'll spare the redundant details. I've played a handful of these amps, and own one myself with the matching extension cabinet. Feature-wise, this amp is basic- no digital modeling or anything crazy, just a clean and an overdriven channel. The second channel offers enough flexibility that you can set it to provide a clean(-ish) boost if you use pedals for distortion. Solid.

I play an '87 Rick 330, a Washburn Les Paul copy, a Yamaha electo-acoustic and a Powerhouse Strat through this amp. The acoustic comes through with a pretty electric sound, so I wouldn't recommend it for folkies. The electrics all play with a clean, warm sound that is very pleasant. I like the midrange boost; it adds meat and punchiness to the sound. This amp lets the color of your guitar come through; all the models I described have very different sound qualities and the amp doesn't smother them.

I've played in clubs where you HAD to use the club's equipment- as it happens, they had this amp and it worked great in spite of the heaps of abuse I'm sure had been poured into it. That being said, my personal model has a bad whistling/breathy sound when you hit certain bassier notes- my repairman says he can't find anything wrong. Also, if you have the reverb set to moonwalk levels, you may get a slow-building feedback that is pretty uncool. Oother than that, it's never crapped out on me, andI bought mine used.

Small, light, perfect balance of power and convenience, looks cool. Get the extension cab.

More than enough for what I use it for (recording, small gigs)...
channel switching,effects loop,"boost",etc. It is loud and easy to carry. 30 watts,all tube(EL84s and 12AX7s),tweed w/ leather handle,
chicken-head knobs. Cool vintage vibe . Also "pre" and "post" gain controls for overdrive. 12" speaker.

This is a tone machine. I bought it for the sweet tone and didn't worry too much about other features. The EL84s are warm and buttery
clean or overdriven. Very good reverb(but like they say,not a Fender).
For blues and classic rock...tone,tone,tone.

No trouble at all with it so far. Came with Russian/Chinese tubes(?)
Where I come from, Peaveys are reliable and road-worthy, one of their strong points.

I've owned several Peavey amps over the years and have found Peavey
to be very accomodating and customer friendly...but I just haven't had
very much trouble with them.

Playing a Fender '62 Custom Tele with Texas Specials. Great tone.
This is the second one I've owned and would buy another without re-
servation. Sounds much,much bigger and fuller than the Classic 20. I
really like the tube characteristics and it seems well constructed.

I bought this new in '96 and love it today. It has a very sweet sounding clean channel, the only amp i have heard better is a 65 fender twin. the distortion is very close to a tube screamer, very SRV like when pre amps are all the way up. the reverb tank is massive, i leave it on 3, the tank is 2/3 the size of the bottom of the amp. the boost is good when you can play loud but i dont use it much.

I use a new american hardtail strat and an ibanez rg 570, to 6 boss effects, mt-2,sd-2,bf-2,dd-5, nf-1, ge-7 then a dunlop wah. i would recommend an equalizer, it makes a world of difference. The distortion on the amp does not mix well with other effects. I have had the amp up to 8, it gets a bit distorted, like an old fender champ turned all the way up. When only on a single coil the amp hums alot, i would recomend humbuckers for this amp.

Heres where i have a complaint. I have owned this amp all its life, have all the options for it(2 :P). About 6 months ago when i would turn it on there would be a burst of static then slowly calm down after 20 minutes. IT HAS GOTTEN MUCH WORSE!! Now when i turn it on when its cold, its very annoying and very frustrating. The knobs make no difference, except the boost. Its not a ground i dont think. It has the original tubes in and i dont want to throw parts at it hoping it will fix it. IF YOU CAN HELP ME PLEASE E-mail me at Juslisn2me@aol.com. I called a very knowledgable expert on these amps, and he told me he had found one of the same year with a similar problem, it went through 5 shops, nobody could fix it. He finally found the problem after 6 months with it. What happened is this, Moisture would build up inside the amp, and would make connects not meant to be made. this shorted out several component and was one of those easy fixes, the hard part he said was finding it. i hope its not what happened to mine. the tubes are very exposed on the amp, i have put a grill on to protect them. If you can help me please, I NEED HELP

I have called numerous times, but never got an answer, maybe its just the time when i call

I love it except the problem, i would recommend this amp to most anyone although i would buy new, because you never know where an amp has been.

tube amp, two channels ONE eq. Very basic

I`m using a Hamer SAT and Dean strat and with these guitars I would expect to get some decent basic rock sounds. Well, this is not the case. Lead channel sucks big time! It is very buzzy and has virtually no attack at all. With lowgain settings it`s weak and with highgain it`s absolute mush. Clean channel lacks character and will distort much too early. Don`t like it.

I had mine for just a two weeks. (one positive thing is that it looks cool and is easy to get rid of)

I made a mistake for buing it whitout trying first (In Finland it`s there`s not much choice ecpecially `cause I used to live on the countryside)