Peavey Classic 30

The Classic 30 has all the features I need in my "alternative" band. It has treble, middle and bass Eq's, as well as a boost button. I t also has a distortion mode, and great reverb. Did I mention it's a tube combo? I also has an effects loop, which I never use. I use this amp when practicing with my band. It's loud enough to be heard over bass, drums, and vocals, so I'm happy. It also has a speaker extension if you want extra juice.

This amp sounds pretty good. I use it with my Jaguar, which has standard single coil pickups. Since the distortion on it is terrible, I use a Boss Metal Zone for distortion. The two get along well except for some feedback. I use this amp for our hard songs, as well as soft. It has a great range. The clean and reverb are among the best I heard in this price range. After playing it for a while the sound does get muffled though. And it rattles when you turn the volume up loud, so if your Megadeth, stay away. But if your Stone Temple Pilots you should enjoy it.

This amp does take a beating when I take it places, but it has survived. But it does rattle which can be annoying. But other than that it has been very reliable.

never had a problem

I would buy this amp again. It's done the job. If your in a high school rock band, buy it. If you playin' with heavy metal guys with monster amps don't buy it if you wanna be heard. Rock on.

This amp is all-tube, except maybe the rectifier, but what can you expect from something in this price range? It has two 12AX7 preamp valves, one 12AX7 driver and four EL-84 output valves. Peavey has fitted these amps with their own specially-designed speakers. It has some nice features: three band passive EQ, spring reverb, a mid-boost switch ( not footswitchable ), and footswitchable channel select and reverb. It's second channel, the lead channel, has PRE and POST volume controls, whereas the clean channel has one volume control.

Let me make this clear: this is not made to please everyone. The distortion isn't totally brutal, it looks unappealing to most guitar players I know, it's not loaded with features and built-in effects. It is, however a great amp for blues, classic rock ( it's not very suitable for hard rock, or punk, etc. ). It's tone can get pretty muddy at high volumes, but I suspect that my pickups are at fault ( cheap Epiphone stock on Flying V ). I don't care for the mid-boost; it muddies up the natural tone of the guitar. The tone controls are nice; they don't give overly dramatic boosts or cuts or act too subtly to be heard. The reverb is also quite nice. It's not noisy, it's not really twangy like a Fender F.A.T. series reverb. Personally, I don't like the overdrive channel. It gives a harsh biting tone that I don't like. I use a Danelectro Fab Tone instead. It sounds great! I plan to change the output valves to Mesa/Boogies, because the stock valves ( Sovtek ) aren't the greatest quality in the world. I think one of them has a loose plate, because I hear a rattling from my amp when I play a hard chord at a high volume.

These amps are very reliable. Despite my problem with the rattling in the back of my amp, it hasn't broken down or anything.

Never dealt with Peavey.

For the price, this a great amp. It can last a long time and sounds great next to other amps in this range.

This is an update of a previous review... 2 channels. share eq, spring verb, 12"bin, blah blahblah Note... it has a mid boost/shift button... it was the supposed saving point of the classic 20, needless to say if it is the same as the one on the classic 30... leave it out! maybe add an extra gain stage or something the mid shift really mudds up the works
the reason for the re-review... I bought mine, I liked it (not as much as the classic 50 212...) and then I lent it to a buddy, he killed it, it sounded like shit. just bought some Sovtek 12ax7's and I now remember why I liked the amp in the first place!

It rocks... the new tubes especially has cleaned up the clean tone... and the distortion finally sounds like it should!
I a, finally ready to say I am "almost" satisfied... it rocks, but can't do the metal thing... I formerly used a DOD thrash master and an EQ for my metal tone, but I just got a zoom pedal and.... actually, adding the eq in the fx loop, I can give it a little extra edge...

Rocks... stock tubes suck , but other than that it is cool, never had a problem witha peavey...

never dealt with them before, told their tech department about the tone problems I was having, they emailed me back in less than 2 hours... very impressive.

Love it, really like the thing, and witht he new tubes, I am no longer looking at smaller/used marshalls!
Stay loose, and keep the thing smokin!

Dual channels sharing one eq (bummer...) mid boost and spring reverb (HOORAY!) 1x12 speaker and 30 watts RMS, I think it has 4 12ax7's and 4 el-84's... but don't quote me on this...

My musical tastes range from crystal clean, to Bluesy distortion to Shred... needless to say this amp CAN NOT do it all... But it can handle clean sounds well and the distortion rocks, but not up to that "METALLICA" level of crunch. (Note: I was playing mostly SRV blues and classic rock when I bought this amp...so I knew what I was getting into...) I like the footswitch (Mine was included by the dealer) and the amp blows away the Stereo Chorus 2-12 I had before... It is a little noisy in the distortion channel, but that is probably because I play a 70's squire strat with a Seymour Duncan Humbucker in the lead, and a piezo electric guitar... (I'll see how it fares when I get my Ibanez RG565 and my Yamaha RGX back from my cousin...) THe clean channel does distort at high volumes, but since I am both a blues player, and mostly an at-home player, this doesn't bother me..

It was really reliable... until I lent it to a buddy... He needed it for a "week-end gig" which stretched into 2 months... He was a country player, but was used to a hundred watt fender custom, so he cranked the snot out of my amp... 3 nights a week, in a smoky bar. (and broke the logo plate) needless to say it doesn;t have the same kick anymore... But he REALLY abused it... I guess if you don't run it at ten for 4 continous hours though, it'll probably be okay...I figure that it's just the factory tubes crapin out.

Don't deal with them, Don't think I'll need to...

I bought it because I had just wanted a new "Real" amp. I've had a Yamaha Budokan 20 watt (Good first amp) a Rexx 100 watt solid state rackmount (shades of Triumph... but I used it with a SHITTY! cab, a 212 traynor from 78... with original speakers... and got discouraged) an original Ampeg Jet trem model (I had it cleaned up and restored by a friend... my first tube amp and WOW! the best blues tone I have ever heard... it blew up when my buddy left it on for like 8 hours one day) a Peavey Stereo Chorus 2-12 (A horrible amp to begin with, and mine needed a new speaker basket (bad voice coil)... good clean, bad distortion, traded it to get the classic 30.. But the ampp is fairly vesatile, You just need a good distortion box for super Metal Tone, and a 7-band eq pedal for dialing in that extra little bit of contouring all in all, I'd definitely buy another one, though I'd probably go for the 50 2-12, mainly because it's distortin was a little harder...

The Classic 30 has three channels: the clean channel, a mid-boosted clean channel (push the "Boost" button) , and an overdrive channel. Right now I'm not sure I like how the EL84s are doing in my Classic 30, and I may or may not change them: I put Mesa Boogies in in November 1996, and they sounded better for two months than they do now. There is an effects loop, and an extension speaker outlet: the manual says you have to connect it to a 16 ohm load, which is a little limiting of one's choices. The amp doesn't come with a footswitch: you can turn the reverb on and off, and switch from the non-mid-boosted clean to the overdrive, if you buy the $20 footswitch. The Boost function is by pushbutton only. The overdrive channel can be set for very subtle overdrive to raging British blues, and you can make a difference in the overdrive channel by pushing the mid-"Boost" button in and out. Like other Peavey amps, there are overdrive channel controls labelled PreAmp gain and PostAmp gain to control the overdrive saturation, and total loudness, respectively. The controls are labelled with white silkscreened paint on a chrome panel, which makes for more than a little difficulty reading them: I think they're also upside down when you're looking at the amp from the side with the speaker. Other reviewers have commented on the potential for breakage of the tubes. The circuit board might be flexed up and down--which risks the integrity of the printed circuit board connections--if you change the tubes without using a little manual restraint.

. The clean channel isn't as warm as my Hot Rod Deluxe: by "warm" I mean that desirable quality of harmonic richness, as opposed to clinical simplicity without overtones. The clean channel doesn't like low frequency sounds very much. According to Musician magazine, a lot of the clean sounds on the country/soul anthology "Red, Hot and Country" (? 1994) were played on Peavey Classic series amps. Check this out, if it's still available: you haven't heard full-bore southern sentiment till you've heard George Jones and B.B. King share vocal duties on "Patches" ("I'm depending on you, son, it's all up to you....") The midboosted sound strikes me as sounding like a Marshall would when playing through its nominal clean sound: I've not owned or played a Marshall since 1981 so maybe I'm not too reliable a source about Marshall sounds. The overdrive sound is pretty cool: it has a certain organic midranginess, a crudeness, that I like, without being always 25 decibels louder than the clean channel, which seemed to be the necessary case with my old Boogie .22 Caliber (see comments on my Boogie in my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe review from 8/24/97: I've since sold the Boogie). My Classic 30 has a little cabinet rattle at moderate volumes, which can be annoying if you concentrate on it. The sound is very directional: it sound a lot louder when you listen on-axis to the speaker, than when you are more than 30 degrees off-axis. I play a rosewood-neck 1982-American-made reissue 1962 strat, a 1995 maple neck Am Std Strat, and a 1994 Tele Custom, the Mexican-made guitar with with a humbucker in the neck position. I like blues/jazz. I don't get up in the morning hoping to sound like the Rollins Band I saw on a Saturday Night Live rerun last night.

No problems: I'm only a bedroom player, though, so I wouldn't know how it would fare in the gigging world. I'd be very careful about preventing objects from banging into the tubes while the amp was in transit: they are quite exposed.

I got a an answer quickly by phone when I called Peavey about the impedance requirements for the extension speaker.

. I just like the clean sound on my Hot Rod Deluxe better than on this amp: I will probably sell the Peavey one of these days. I did like the clean sound on the Classic 30 better than on my Mesa Boogie .22 Caliber when I had those two amps to choose from.

like the other classic 30

I use this amp with a stand.strat and an Hoyer ES335 with DiMarzio pickups. I play all styles from blues to Hard Rock and this amp does it all. For an hard dist., i use a self made distortion because the drive channel sounds sensationel for Blues but as an Hard and Heavy Dist. it's a little bit warm. The clean channel is clean and with my ES335 it sounds very brilliance.

Never had an problem

Never dealt with them

Yes i would by it again

Though only a two-channel amp, it offers amazing tonal flexibility. The effect loop is very handy. I wish the controls were in front, because I usually prop it back when I play. Sometimes, I set my processor on top, and that makes accessing the controls very awkward. The mid-boost control completely changes the character of the amp, making the tone raw and creamy when engaged. Lots of features for a small amp, though a headphone jack would be nice. Reverb is very sweet sounding, but not as good as an Accutronics unit like Mesa/Boogie uses.

This amp is a real pocket rocket! Somewhat limited tonal flexibility, though; it won't do extreme metal or hi-volume crystal clean. It provides the sound your looking for about 90% of the time. A guitar with P-90's in it sounds absolutely incredible through this amp! The high end limitation is apparent with a Rickenbacher or a Tele, it doesn't have the headroom to do a loud, clean, bright sound. (country players steer clear) However, this amp is loaded with personality, and is great for Blues, most rock, and Les Paul type clean stuff. This may be the loudest 30-watt amp around; it blows away a 2x130 watt solid state amp I once had. The clean channel gives an incredibly ballsy sound when cranked up to very high levels (8-up); think 1959 Plexi. Sounds best with a hardwood bodied guitar with humbuckers (Les Paul style). The extension cabinet is a sealed, one 12" affair and really extends the low end depth of the amp while tightening the sound. With my Hamer Special with P-90's, it comes alive. Lose the factory tubes, get Groove tubes, Sovteks, or Boogie tubes.

The unprotected tubes are scary and fragile, but mine is going strong. You just have to be careful, and don't store your wah pedal in the back of the amp!

Peavey's large customer service network handles calls quickly and professionally. Peavey dealers tend to be less helpful than the company itself.

I would definitely buy this amp again. Its soulful tonality is right up my alley, though the Delta Blues has a little more of an SRV sound. I wish Peavey would put their new, 5150-style logo on all their new products. The disco-era, lightning Peavey logo has got to go. This is probably the best value in a smaller tube combo amp around. Fender Twin users will miss a sparkling brightness on the clean channel. For 90% of the time, this amp will satisfy. For a certain range of blues-oriented sounds, this amp is almost indescribably wonderful.

All tube 4- EL84's, 3- 12AX7's, reverb, bass, mid, treb, pregain, postgain, normal, FOOTSWITCH IS NOT INCLUDED

This amp kicks some blues ass!! Clean stays clean, not quite a Fender clean but for $200 less than the Hot Rod Deluxe, I can deal with it!! The gain channel absolutely SCREAMS a great tone for blues this channel blows away the Hot Rod Deluxe (which just blows...), it starts to sing just past 4 with the preamp cranked.

I have used a variety of different amps over the years but alway find my way back to Peavey. It just gets the job done without fail.

Never had a problem, but they happily answered my questions.

If you are into Blues/rock/funk, buy this amp. If you are into metal, but this amp and a BOSS Metal Zone . Nuff' said.

All tube design, 2 channels - a clean channel with separate gain and a drive channel with pre and post gain adjustments, spring reverb, 3 tone controls, boost switch, FX loop, ext. speaker jack, footswitch jack, 30 watts into a 12" speaker. Tremolo which would have been a nice addition although its available in Peavey's Delta Blues model. I ended up buying a Voodoo Lab tremolo stomp box to use with it. Since I use it only at home a headphone jack would have been handy. Having separate tone controls for each channel would have also been useful. It's plenty loud enough for my needs - loud enough to hear over my son's drums, which I couldn't with my 20 watt Fender solid state. I bought the footswitch ($24 Cdn) which switches between the clean and drive channels and turns the reverb off/on. In general I prefer amp controls on the front, not the top like this has but its part of the "classic" look. I play whatever I can, which is mostly blues or rock/blues. The features of this amp are fine for this.

I like the sound of this amp. It is my first tube amp so I'm pleased with the tone after using my little solid state. I use it with a Strat Squire with Gold Fender Lace pickups. The clean channel is clean, at least at the volumes I generally play at, and I've had it cranked. The drive channel is very versatile, you can get just a hint of distortion or a lot. I sometimes use a Boss Blues Driver for distortion since I can control the tone and it gives a different sound. The amp is very quiet. The reverb sounds great and has a wide range of adjustment. Overall I find the sound to be bright (trebly - but you easily control this with the tone knob) with good bass response - it sounds great with my strat. It's easy to get a great blues tone, and of course it has that tube sound that's hard to beat. With the Lace pickups I can get a good jazz sound too. The clean channel is different from a vintage fender (no surprise). I've played through a friend's Fender Hot Rod Deville (4x10)and it's similar, although the Fender does sound better (but it is twice the price - and why just a couple of buttons for drive?). It is more different from another friend's '63 Princeton which sounds really warm and smooth. I've never noticed any rattle at high volume that others have reported.

Once developed a case of what can best be described as a case of laryngitis - resocketing the tubes cured this. This thing's three years old - still has the original (Chinese) tubes in it. As others have noted the tubes are exposed in the back. If I were to move it around a lot I would add some grill to protect the tubes.

Never called them so don't know.

I was looking to buy a tube amp when I came across this one used. I was looking at a Fender Blues Jr. (too basic), Hot Rod Deluxe (nice), as well as the Peavey Classic 30, Delata Blues and Bandit 212 as well as used vintage fenders. The market around here seems pretty knowledgeable so that finding a vintage fender for a good price is challenging.
For the money I feel that it was a good value purchase - tube sound, good features and in excellent condition. I probably would have bought a Fender tube amp if I could find one with similar features near the same price.

This amp's features are decent - See other submissions for details. I wish this amp came with a footswitch. The 30 watts is pretty loud.

This amp is very mediocre. When this amp worked it sounded ok. Clean channel is fairly clean until you crank it up. Drive channel sounds ok at moderate drive but sounds horrible when cranked. The speaker in this amp is cheezy and distorts at high volume.

I used to like Peavey. After owning this amp, I HATE PEAVEY. This stupid amp has cost me more time and heartache than any other amp I've owned. About 3 days after I bought it, it broke. The volume sounded like 1 watt and was all distorted. I took the amp back and they sent it in for repair. About a month later I got the amp back and it worked for about a week, then notta. No power. Nothing. I took the amp back to the store and they sent it off for repair. I got it back, opened the box and the tubes were smashed. The store replaced the tubes for me for free. I got the amp home and guess what?!?!? Same tinny 1-watt sound! ARGH! I marched the amp right back to the store and demanded a refund. The store manager sympathized with me and gave me a full refund.

All repairs were handled through the store I bought the amp from so I never dealt with customer service. I think the amp came with a 1yr warranty. I don't know

I don't know about Peavey's other tube amps, but this one REALLY sucks! I've owned Peavey solid state amps before and they never gave me a problem. I guess Peavey's reliability has really gone downhill with their new amps. I would never recommend or buy one again.