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.

2000-ish 30 watt EL84 powered tube amp. Need I say more? The PEAVEY CLASSIC 30 is the missing link in your rig. If you are at all interested in playing the Blues, or classic rock, and you probably wouldn't be here if you weren't, this amp is the Holy Grail, and you just discovered it. The clean channel sparkles, and the overdrive flat out rocks, and this thing will drive a 4x12 5150 cabinet all night long, no problem.

I don't use the boost feature, yet, although I an thinking of having it modified footswitchable for leads.

Reverb is great, it's always on or around 3. I enjoy having the fx loop, good addition from earlier versions.

Not a good choice for hardcore or death metal players, but if that's what you're looking for, 1)I'm sure you wouldn't be looking here in the first place, and 2)you definately wouldn't be buying an amp that has the word "Classic" in the name.

I mainly play a stock 2001 Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and occasionally a homebrew strat that I have been tweaking for almost 15 years now. The old Ovation CS257 sounds great through it as well. As for tone settings, I peg everything for rock and back off on the mids a bit for blues on the drive channel(pre@6-8).

The clean channel is an exceptional test bed for stomp boxes. I've used it with an '83 TS9, BD2, orig. Bluesbreaker pedal, Screamin' Blues, and even an old HM2. Great results.

One more thing that I like to do is connect the preamp out from the C30 to the power amp in of my 2x12 5150 combo, and yes I have to back the bass off a bit to keep the pictures from falling off the walls. What a cool sounding combination though.

I haul it all over Michigan and it fires up every time. A very formidable piece of engineering.

Hats off to Roger, Leon, Robin, Enzo, and everyone else I didn't mention on the Internet boards. If you have a problem with your amp, there is always an abundance of helpful posters willing to give you a helping hand. What a great community.

I've been playing for 15 years, rock, blues, some country, folk, and metal to boot. From this day forward I will always own at least one PEAVEY ClASSIC 30 Guitar amp.

The only addition that I would make, is possibly a full/half/quarter power switch. That would make it even more so the all time ultimate amp find.

standard 30watt 1x12 speaker amp. 2channels blah blah blah. bought it new. no complaints on the features except maybe a headphone amp but that in it's self is kinda silly for a tube amp. i give it an 8 because it could have more i guess

this thing sounds great both clean and dirtied up i use it for recording and mostly not over 2 for volume (need the sweet spot sound) in the clean and push it hard for dirtied....over all though i would never do a show with this amp the 1 speaker is limiting for a full guitar sound plus a line out di or some other non sense has to be worked into the over all tone at a show ...i'll stick with the vox or jcm800 for a show. any way cranked it starts to flutter a little but it does what i want it to. and for the price u can't beat it

had it now for 2yrs and no major problems...but lately the speaker is starting to crackle maybe cause i'll play for 3-6 hours straight either way thats why they sell replacements. wouldn't drop it because it's gear but i'm shure it would be ok if i did....unless it went 10 stories or something.

couldn't tell you never tried to reach them

overall it's a decent little amp great for small budgets, recording, newbies who want to get into tubes and introduced to tubechanging or something worth lending to you band mate but the amp is not a superhero

Black trim - pre & post volume, 3-band EQ, single channel but comes with a "boost" button. f/x send & return. 30watts RMA 12AX7's and EL84's with a lovely glow 'round the back when it starts cooking. Has everything I was looking for and anything else would've bumped the price up. Made in the US!

I'm a relative newcomer to the electric guitar and I've only started to gig - solo with loops and backing tracks - because my timing is hopeless and no drummer of bassist would want to go near me. I have just two guitars - a JJ Retro HB (twin humbuckers) and a Pacifica 412V - enough to cover humbucking and single-coil needs. I rarely venture to the bridge pickups. I'd tried solid-state amps and a digital amp (Vox Valvetronix) but just couldn't get the tones I wanted - simply because I was trying to emulate the tone from a valve amp! In the end I bit the bullet and went for a valve combo. I tried a Fender Blues Junior, an Ashdown, a Crate, a Boogie (nice but out of my price range) a HiWatt, and eventually returned to the Peavey - I wanted something flexible enough for both singlecoils and h/b's. Strictly speaking I couldn't find anything that covered both bases; the Fender was best for the Pacifica, the Ashdown for humbuckers, but only the Peavey was a sufficient compromise. I play (ha ha!) in the "style of" Dave Gilmour (hence the PAC) and Santana (hence the JJ). With the Peavey I can nail the SG2000 Santana tone with the JJ (think Europa) on the dot. I can get some of the Gilmour-like tones with PAC, but I really need that out-of-phase bridge/middle singlecoil. In the meantime though I've found a hoot load of custom tones for my own stuff.

Invariably the amp is attached to a Boss GT-6 via the "4-cable method", , so with the cab/speaker emulation of the GT-6 turned-off, it becomes just a series of available stomp-boxes. For practise some MIDI cables are attached to the GT-6 from/to my laptop, allowing me to edit on-the-fly with GT Edit. However I like the tone of this amp so much that I regularly play it clean, with just a Vox volume pedal attached.

One snag, which is probably not uncommon with valve amp users is that to really get this thing to generate those tones that I like - when its breaks-up and all the valves are glowing - it has to pushed hard, and that means nigh defening volumes. I wear earplugs and for rehersal (when I really do want to hear those tones) I'll wait 'till the neighbours are out. With the Vavetronix I could dial in 1 amp, 5 ampts, 15/30, even 60, but of course the result was why I have a valve amp now.

All new. Nothing awry yet. Seems built like a tank, although I understand valve amps are a little delicate.

Seems very US/Canada-centric. Do Americans just not understand that exporting firms have to provide some international support outside there home countries?

It it was nicked I'd probably have to look all over again at valve amps (there's a quite attractive Randall just new to the market). I regard it as a decent starter valve amp, and good value for the money, but the next one will be a bit more expensive - though it could easily be a more upmarket Peavey.

Hav a 2005 model. Enough features to shape the tone. Good finish. Looks, handles and sounds like a pro amp.

I play a Mexican Strat with a Gibson PAF in the bridge. Use the bridge with the overdrive and position 4 switch for clean sounds. Also use Boss 7 band EQ. The sound is great. Will recommend to use an EQ, it does wonders! There's a vibration rattles at high volumes. I know where it comes from and will fix it some time during the year. Sound is great for jazz and blues.

Have a Bandit for 10years+ and the C30 for 6 months. Nothing broke - yet...

N.A.

This is one of my best buys I've ever made with guitar equipment. Close your eyes and buy one. Won't be disappointed.

Several years old, probably; bought second hand. The best features are, one portability, two good amount of power, and three, warm tube tone. I also like the tweed and brown grillcloth.
Another good thing is that when you turn the volume knob from one to three, the volume doesn't jump radically. This is my complaint about the Fender Deluxe hotrod. When the volume isn't evenly graduated, it makes the amp hard to use except when playing loud.
I like the fact that there are only the necessary amount of controls for tone (VOL, TREB, BS, MID). I think amps that have many controls for tone are making my job more complex than necessary. If the amp has a good basic sound, you don't need those bells and whistles.

For my clean jazz sounds, it's excellent. It's a little bit too bright. Maybe this could be corrected by modification, or a different speaker. I don't know exactly how to define "presence" but this amp has it!

NO breakdowns after one year.

No experience.

I would buy another, but I think I would try the "Delta Blues" with the 15" speaker next. Maybe you'd get a little mellower sound.

Bought new in July 2005. Play mostly classic rock and blues. features are good; my only complaint is no standby switch.

Schecter Custom Strat. Clean tone is very nice and warm. Overdrive channel is surprisingly good. the distortion is very smooth and refined.

Seems okay, although Peavey should add a simple bar across the back to protect the tubes.

N/A

I've been in the market for a portable tube amp in the 15-30 watt range, and after lots of research and tryouts this one emerged as the clear winner. It clearly beat out the Fender Blues Jr in features and power. And it blows the socks off the Traynor YCV-20 that I bought and returned. This is a very very nice little amp. and it looks super nice in the vintage tweed!

I'm a jazz player, and use clean sounds. Versatility is not my concern as much as a good basic tone. The amp is great in that it is compact and powerful: smaller and lighter than the old deluxe reverbs and more powerful.

With my Ibanez AF-207 7 string archtop it's good. I've heard complaints about the amp being too trebly but with the DiMarzio Blaze pickup I actually have to turn the bass down! The middle control is effective as is the boost. Maybe the sound is not quite as refined as a Fender, but it has its own charm.
I think it would sound great with a Jensen speaker.
Although the high end is pronounced, it doesn't have that warm crisp edge that you get with the Fender bright switch.

Good. However there is tube rattle which is a problem during recording.

237 responses. That tells you something. Isn't it nice to get what you pay for? So many products where they give you some jive, snotty hype about why you should spend extra money for their product. Then it breaks anyway. I like Peavey because they offer reasonably priced, good sounding stuff for working people.

ampli 30w valvolare,2 canali(clean e overdrive) e ottimo reverbero.non ha il footswitch incluso nel prezzo(o almeno cos? a me hanno detto!!) e non ha il pulsante per lo standby.

io utilizzo questo ampli con una gibson les paul standard e con una fender stratocaster reissue del '62 e con un p? di pedaletti che, devo dire,si interfacciano partcolarmente bene con ques'ampli.
il canale pulito ? veremente tale fin quando non si supera un certo volume,ma nei piccoli club o in luoghi dove l'ampli viene microfonato ? pi? che sufficiente...il canale distorto altrettanto mostra il suo lato migliore fino a che non viene portato a volumi troppo alti perch? poi inizia un p? a tremare il case,essendo molto piccolo....l'unica pecca che trovo per ques'ampli ? il fatto che ? un p? rumoroso,probema che per? si riesce a risolvere in parte utilizzando buoni cavi...e poi per quello che costa a qualche compromesso si pu? tranquillamente scendere!!

finora l'ampli non mi ha dato nessun probema,l'ho soltanto dovuto rivalvolare...ma per un ampli valvolare usato ? del tutto normale

nel corso degli anni ho cambiato parecchi amplificatori,passando da testata e cassa al pod,ultimamente possiedo anche anche un fender hot r deluxe e ritengo migliore la qualit? sonora del classic 30...? un ampli adatto all'utilizzo in piccoli posi e sicramente ? vincente se si prendono in considerazione il peso, la grandezza e il costo!!

Price paid: Cant remember Bought it 6 years ago brand new.
Very versatile, enough for me anyway. I play classic rock,blues,pop etc..
I rate it 9 only because I think I lacks a prescence knob.
Incredibly loud 30 watts. My bandmates think its louder than 30.
The only Feature I dont use is the boost button.

My set up is as follows: 2004 U.S Highway One Fender Stratocaster, Wasbhurn HB-30 (Gibson 335 copy), korg Cmp-1 compressor, Line 6 mm-4 Modulation Modeler and Dl-4 Delay Modeler both through the amps effect loop, Peavey Classic 30.
Im a profesional guitar player from Chile, South America and Ive had this amp for at least 6 years. A friend of mine traveled to the states and I asked him if he could get me a Tube amp. Of course I wanted a Fender or Marshall but they were too expensive and he bought the peavey. When he came back and told me what he had bought I was really dissapointed, because as you all know Peavey was not known for great tube tone at the time. Anyway I decided to give it a whirl. I turned it on and ever since until now I fell in love with it. Every time I turn it on its very inspiring.
I play in 2 bands to make a living. One of them is a dance band and we have to cover everithing from Zeppelin to Maddonna. This amp does a wonderfull job. I always use the volume on 5 on the clean channnel with the strat (4 on the 335 copy) and the gain on 7 max. on the dirt channel, I hate too much distortion anyway, but on 7 you get creamy sustain and still hear the tonal caracterisitics of each guitar, specially at high volumes. On the other band, which is a blues trio, I crank the volume a little more (between 6-7) on the clean channel to get those el-84 overdriven and its awesome. I can nail S.R.V, B.B king , E.Clapton pretty much. When playing the blues I also use the dirt channel with the gain between 5-6. The other day there was nobody around on the rehearsall room and I tried the 335 copy on the clean channel at 12. It really sounded like Clatpton playing with Cream!!.
The clean channel is not like a Fender but its good enough for me.
Ive read a lot of reviews about changing the tubes and speaker, but unfortunately you cant get JJ?s tubes or many Celestion speakers in Chile. Anyway, why fix something that is worling allready. The only question I have is how does the amp sound with a cabinet. I would like to get a little more bass and thickness in my sound.Does is sound better with a 4x10 or 4x12? since I can save some money and maybe get a marshall cab.

I have played at least twice a week with it for 6 years and never had a single problem. I change the power tubes once a year anyway since they start to rattle a litlle bit.

Never had it repaired, I think there is no peavey authorized center in this country.

I have been playing for 20 years now and ive played a lot other amps including Marshals, mesa boogies,etc.. this is the best ive heard for the price and styles I play. I dont know what would I do If it where stolen since they dont sell them in this country. I think mine is the only one here. The only thing I wish it had is a prescence control. I think you would get a little more of articulation and clarity kinda like a Fender Twin on the clean channel.
Its a fantastic value for the money since I can recall the amps price was cheap.

2005 model Classic 30 - 1 x 12" speaker.

This amp only has ONE channel with additional/switchable gain stages (which make it seem like it's a two channel amp), bass/mid/treble controls, "clean" master volume and separate "overdrive" master volume ("post") control, "pre" volume pot which determines how much the signal is overdriven/distorted, reverb, switchable "lead boost" function, effects send/return, speaker cab extension jack, footswitch jack.

** NO STANDBY SWITCH **

When playing covers I play mostly retro rock - stuff like The Stones, Cracker, Beatles, G Love, Black Crowes.... even tunes from artists like Chris Issak, and IMHO, this amp is great. Like a lot of other players, I went through the whole "gotta have a Marshall 100W stack" mentality, then progressed to the refrigerator size rack/stereo setup, and these days I just want something that I can crank up and sound great with - all in a package that I can fit in the back of a Jeep - this amp does it.

As mentioned in a lot of the other reviews for this amp, it doesn't do high-gain type of distortion well, but for most other styles, with the right guitar, it is possible to pull out some great sounds. Although FWIW, like most combo amps, it pretty much is just a one trick pony - but, if you like the one trick that it does, you'll get plently of it.

Judging from it's name, you'd think it's a genuine 30 watt amp, but it's actually only 22 watts RMS. Which means that it's going to be able to give you 22 watts all night. How does that relate in a playing situation ? Well, unless you are playing with a REAL hard hitting drummer, it's plently. Plus, unlike say, a Fender Blues Deluxe, you can crank this amp to get the tubes really working, without peeling paint off the walls behind the bar - which is why experienced players buy tube amps in the first place - to get the distinctive sound of a tube being pushed past it's normal operating specs.

Volume-wise, again, you will not peel paint off the walls like you have to with a 100w Marshall to get good tone, although this amp is plently loud in a normal gigging situation. Will it do Shea Stadium un-mic'd ? No, but if you're at that stage, just put a mic in front of it, and let the P.A do the work of projecting it's tone - simple.

Although FWIW, just make sure that you put it on an amp stand to get it elevated off the ground - you'll pick up a lot of volume that way, and from my experience, you'll get a bit tighter bottom end that way too.

When testing this amp out before I bought it, I played a bunch of different amps that we're in my local store at the time - a couple of Badcats, some Fenders (Bassman, Deluxe, HR Deville), a Carr, some Marshalls and even a Dr Z. After playing through each amp, I kept on coming back to this amp. For my personal taste, the Dr Z was the only amp that I thought had this amp beaten for tone - but it's about 3 times the price ! And IMHO, it's just not a 3 times better sound.

Admittedly, I'm not one of the guys to go out and fully mod a $500-odd amp, to make it into what I want, but even when I take the affordability of this amp OUT of the equation, on the day that I tested this amp, it beat A LOT of higher-end amps in pure sound quality. Sure, it might not have a lot of features, or be able to go from Chet Atkins to Metallica, but not a lot (if any) amps can do that anyhow. In a mutshell, THIS AMP SOUNDS GREAT !

The only thing I wish this amp had was a usable boost feature. The one that it does have boosts the mid frequencies WAY too much for my taste. To the point where I'm actually considering getting it modded by my local amp tech, so that I don't have to bother carrying any additional volume/overdrive pedals etc.... I just want to plug into a wah, and play.... Plus, with the (admittedly) small stages that I play on, I just don't have the room to spread pedals all over the place and need my amp to do most of the work for me in that regard.

Just recently, when I was trying out some overdrive/line-booster pedals (to get around the lack of a really "usable" lead-boost circuit on this amp), I did start to get some of the tubes rattling in the back (apparently a fairly common occurance with these amps), but only when the volume was CRANKED - and I mean DIMED. FWIW, it hasn't come back, and up until that point I haven't had any real issues with it.... FWEIW, I play 4 nights a week with this amp (since I bought it about 3 months ago), with it normally around 6 on the "pre" volume all night and it's hanging in there.

Like with any piece of gear, a full service every 6 months to a year, and I'm sure it'll be fine. I usually go to a gig with a POD as a back up just in case (I used to use an old Fender Deluxe that let me down more times than I can remember, so I learn't to bring a back up the hard way), but so far (touch wood), this little amp has as been reliable as could be expected.

I haven't had to deal with them yet, although I'm sure the local store that I bought this amp from would have no problem in standing by this product's warranty.

SUMMARY :

This is a great amp, and in the event of something happening to it, I'd definately look for another one.... maybe even the 2 x 12 50 watt version, just for that extra bit of headroom. Just be sure to not let the Peavey name fool you - Peavey are well known to have put out a lot of mediocre sounding "starter" amps in the past, but this amp is a great sounding, solid little amp - period. If the name bugs you (like it did with me), just unscrew the Peavey tag on the faceplate, and wait for all the compliments for your "boutique" amp.

Bought it new from a Shop in summer 2005. Just everything you (I) need is there. Effect Loop without fader, but, anyway, I use a volume pedal only.

Great Sound, warm and rich, very easily set for many different guitars (I play a 73? Fender Maple Neck Strat, an early 90s Fender Japan Rosewood neck Strat, a 79? Tokai Breezysound and a 90?Tokai Love Rock). Even the Love Rock sounds fine when played clean. Still sounding great at low volumes, good also for practicing in the house.

Unfortunately, the reverb coil is noisy (humming). After a complaint at the shop we compared it to a new Delta Blues - there the reverb was also humming. So these folks explained to me that the Classic?s reverb is bound to hum. Earned big laughter when I referred this to a really experienced amp technician and engineer - he told me that none of the older Classic 30s he?s had in service had that rev-hum. He thinks id could be insufficient ICs and explained, that within the new generation an IC is used for the rev coil.

So, although otherwise sounding great, only 4 of 10

Hm. The first gig I played it the stage power supply failed. After pushing the fuse back in everything was fine - exept for my Peavey, which stayed dead. Started looking for the amps main fuse - no way to change it quickly. You have to loosen 14 (!) screws and remove the whole amplifying section from the cabinet to change the fuse.
If you want to play gigs with the Classic 30, you better have a backup - or even better, use another amp where you don?t have the problem.

Tried to complain because of being unable to fix the fuse easily, and because of the humming reverb. No answer after eight weeks! Arrogant wan...

I love the sound, I hate the hum and the customer support. At least two reasons to buy something different in case of loss or theft - or an older issue where you don?t have to battle to obtain you warranty rights.

Same as everyone else wrote

I use a Gibson SG Special w/ 57 classic (neck) and Angus Young (bridge)/ This Amp is perfect for Cream ,'DC, Sab., ZZ as well as some of the stoner rock bands like Nebula and Fu Manchu. I can also get a legit Bluesbreaker, Albert King, Elvin Bishop type of sound also. It is great.

I leave this amp set at 5 - 7 on the Pre Gain (it goes to 12) and it sounds great.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE THE BLUE MARVEL SPEAKER. The EQ's (Bass/Mid/Treble) are great with this amp. You can get almost any sound except for Thrash Metal. The Pre Gain set at 9 or higher sounds "loose" to me.

No probs yet

I have been playing for 2 yrs- all blues and rock and I think this amp is great.

My overall rating is a 9.99 because a footswith to the boost channell would help.

I brought that used bout 5 years ago and don'T buy a used classic 30 why

cold solder broke up about 2 months the tube are expensive to replace and I don'T like Peavey before and that is the conclusion of what I thinked is a pure crap it is a sound like amp not the real deal the only thing i found ok on it is the distorsion

I have a fender strat '57 RI and I dont like peavey spend money on a used hot rod deluxe is really more reliable but for the drive channel I like more the peavey but for the clean the fender blow it 2or 3 time

No it cause to me affraid to touch another peavey again :(

n/a

I have been playing for 5 years now , I own now a hot rod deluxe since 3 years and if you whant a clean sound don'T buy a classic 30 buy a hr dlx it wort much than the crappy fake tweed I wish peavey stop to make crapy tube combo or made it better

Amp was made in 2005
Footswitchable preamps, one with and one without a master volume. 3 band passive eq. Extension Speaker Jack. 12ax7s and EL84s.
Plenty of power if you like to get the power amp tubes cooking just a bit for that tube feel. Need a little more volume? Plug it into a 4x12 cabinet.
I wish it had a standby, 1/4 power switch and a presence control but that would increase the price I'm sure.

I use a Les Paul Custom Gold Top with EMG 85s
Ibanez AS73 Hollowbody with customized pickups Almico II magnets.
This amp is versatile enough to play Blues, Country, Oldies, Classic Rock, and even 80's metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden etc...
Amp is pretty quite, Turn the clean channel up about half way and she begins to growl a bit. Distortion is great, gives me more than I need. Beyond 7 becomes a bit much for my taste.

Typical Peavey Construction, No Problems

Contacted them on amps from the past, the best, very helpful.

I've been playing 20+ years.
I would replace it.
Compared Marshall JCM800, DSL 50, Line6, Ampeg Reverberocket, combos and heads with 4x12's. The only amp this didn't sound better than to me that I compared it to was an Orange Rockerverb 50, and it just sounds different.
You will be hard pressed to find an amp that sounds better and you won't find one in this price range. Back in the day their was a stigma about using Peavey, country players used them and us old school hair metal rockers were using Marshalls, Laneys, Boogies, etc... I let a couple of doubters listen to it when we were making comparisons and they could't believe their ears. If you are into names, get a Marshall 4x12 and sit this little gem behind it. Then get ready for the complements.

30 watt tube amp with channel switching and reverb.Features include effects loop,extension speaker out jack.Only thing I would change on the design would be seperate eq controls for each channel but the amp sounds so good it does not really matter!

Amazing tone for a amp I bought used for 300.00! I play classic rock as well as motown and blues and this amp can produce any sound I need.The clean channel is very "Fender" sounding with great warmth and punch and at very high volumes has a nice breakup that is desirable with any type of amp.The lead channel has a sound that will make any Marshall or Boogie fan smile!Creamy distortion with the pre-gain set at 6 or higher and responds nicely with my volume control.I play a Hamer archtop with Duncan 59's and it sounds really smooth with this amp.Here is a important bit of imformation....Dont change the stock speaker!!! I have tried several high end speakers including a Celestion Vintage 30 and the results were very dissapointing.This amp sounds best with the stock speaker.It was voiced for the amp and has the best sound IMHO with this speaker.The Vintage 30 sounded harsh and brittle,especially at high volumes.It is the classic case of "if it is not broken,dont fix it!"

I have been gigging with this amp for 2 years with no problems.The only changes I made was to replace the 3 preamp tubes with Mullard Groove Tubes for improved tone.

I have been playing in front of audiences for 25 years and have tried countless amps and effects.This amp just sounds great! Dont let the name "Peavey" fool you into thinking this is not a worthy amp.Best amp they have ever produced,worth 3 times what I paid for it.If you see one used grab it up and plug in and wail! If you cant find pleasing tones out of this amp you should quit "trying"to play guitar and find another hobby! This amp is great!

Amp was made in 2004. Purchased in spring of 2004. Had it for a year upon writing this review.
Use it for contempory worship in church 2 to 3 times a week and practice.
See other reviews for overall features. Having one eq works well for me. I prefer simplicity. I switch from one to the other throughout a set and have found both to work well DEPENDING on the guitar I'm using. I play a 2003 strat, 2002 ash strat, & 2003 telecaster. All made in America. Each sounds fantastic. Will comment more down below.
Eq settings change tones dramatically with this amp much more than does the eq on my Fender Blues Junior.
I run it stock. Don't like the boost, never use it. Wish Peavey sold it with an amp cover and footswitch. But overall pleased with the features.
Very durable and attractive amp. Mine's tweed.

As stated play with Fenders but have used American and Korean PRS' through it and like it as well. Would use compression when playing the PRS' to not have to change volume from settings for Fender's.

Primarily a lead rythym guitarist in band.

I have discovered that I am very picky about TONE. Have tried numerous amps, simulators, etc. This is a great sounding amp, even stock! Much better than fender amps, as it has more warmth and growl than does the Fenders. That, though, is a matter of preference. Each channel works well with all of my guitars some better for different songs and sounds.

I keep my setup relatively simple. MXR dynacomp, EH Deluxe Memory Man, into the input OR effects loop. Sound is effected between the two. Warmer in the input, clearer in the effects loop. Again, a matter of preference.

I considered changing tubes and speaker upon reading reviews and tried Groove Tubes. Decided I liked the Sovteks better because they breakup nicely for me and kept the stock speaker. Changing the eq really changes this amp! Work with it, you WILL find a setting that takes you to your happy place. The shrillness you read of can be taken care of with eq adjustments without losing clarity!

I run the gain channel at 4 in the pre position and prefer it over any of the numerous distortion pedals I have tried. (Too many to list)
Overall sound reminds me of a Vox AC30 with the ringy, chimey, tones with a little dirt mixed in. More punchy than Fender and Traynor amps in same price range.

Haven't had one lick of problem with it. It's quiet even at loud volumes, reverb is excellent without any hiss, and it looks like its built for the road with metal caps on each corner and thicker than normal wood that I've seen on Traynor and Fender amps.

One negaive - when I turn the amp off with the gain channel on it pops slightly. Always turn off with the amp set on the clean channel, problem solved.

Great knobs, on / off switch, good channel and boost switch.

Haven't dealt with them.

Playing for 8 years and have had this amp for 1 year. Primary amp for me. Definately loud enough on its own but have always miked it to blend in for overall mix and recording. I love this amp and have considered buying another.

I would replace it instantly if it were lost or stolen. It's officially a part of my rig and sound from here on out. I am very particular about tones and this amp meets my requirements and less than $500!

I really wish it came with a footswithch, amp cover, and the thing that bothers me the most is the plastic nameplate PEAVEY placed on the grillcloth. Overall, great amp for church, rock, country, alt. rock, but not metal.

This amp was made before 2001. It's not with me at the moment, so I don't know the exact year. The amp is versatile enough for the rock, blues and comtemporary worship styles I play. It functions as a two channel amp, but it actually adds preamp stages to get the overdrive channel. I wish it would have a separate tone controls for each "channel," however since the mods have been done (see below) I don't miss the separate eq. There is an effects loop and reverb. It has a Boost switch too (which adds midrange and some drive), but it's tonally useless in my opinion. I had it modded to be used as a mid-sweep option (i.e. to lower the mid sweep, if desired). I use this amp for a weekly (rock worship) gig. The tube 30 watts are loud enough, but one may need to mic the amp for large venues.

The tones described here reflect two significant mods that I gleaned from the reviewers here (Thanks to both of them). The first mod is simply cutting the negative feedback loop (find details in one of the reviews below). Basically, it made the clean channel louder, a bit more fender-like, and added gain overall. The second mod is allowing more bass to come through on the overdrive channel (instructions are in another review below). This mod counteracted the complaints many have had about thin, bright distortion on this channel (Note: Good tones can be achieved from the amp stock, but with different eq settings. Now with these mods I can use the same settings for both channels.) I've had several other mods done, but I'm not using them now as the mods listed above give me the sound I was looking for.
I usually use the C30 with an Am. Strat (red, silver and blue Lace Sensors). It works well for rock and blues. The amp's not noisy. I can get a decent clean sound and a great tube overdrive. The gain is very adjustable from crunch at 6 to rock gain at 12. The clean channel will overdrive like a Deluxe Reverb when cranked up. Channel 2's distortion may not be enough for metal heads, but I can use it on 12 to play a Switchfoot tune without another pedal. My rating is considering the mods. It would be 7 or so without the mods.

So for so good. I do use it without a backup, but sometimes I think it would be good to have a processor on hand just in case. I've never had any problems with it. This is the second time I've owned the amp. I gave it away a few years ago so the tubes weren't changed for 3 years, but then I traded another amp for it back. However, it's been modded a bunch, so I hope it holds up. My tech friend could fix it though I believe.

Bought it used N/A.

I've been playing for, yikes, 26 years! I have a Marshall 4210, a Tech 21 TM60 (excellent amp), and a Tech 21 TM120 (the jury is still out on that one). My guitars are a stock Tele and LP Studio in addition to the Strat mentioned above. If it were lost or stolen this time, I don't know..., but, I did buy it again :) There's nothing I really hate about it. I really like that it's a light tube combo (40 lbs.?) and the tweed covering looks great! I also have the Tweed C112E extension cabinet that was designed to go with it. I don't use it often, but it works well to make a nice little stack. For the money, it's a decent tube amp.

Well, this being my first tube amp(I've since bought three more), I was very impressed with the jump from solid state.

While not the most versitle amp on the market, it really gets the job done for my recording purposes.

It has two channels, of which I only use the clean one. The distortion channel is very smooth with a nice breakup...but I stick to my pedals for distortion.

I use this amp almost exclusively in my home studio.

This is a perfect first tube amp.

Well, when I first bought it, I was using a Gibson Les Paul Special, which is great for really fat crunchy sounds, not doesnt sound the best on the Classic 30. I've since(it's been a few years) upgraded to a Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat(H-S-S pickup configuration) And it sounds great with it given the reasonable price of the amp.

This is a great blues amp...and luckily I play a ton of blues.

This is a very warm amp. It's not thin sounding like my '65 Twin Reverb Reissue. This isnt be very best clean amp...but if you're looking for a good, fat tube sound. This is it.

Like all(or most) tube amps, when you crank the clean channel, you get a nice overdriven sound.

For some reason, it feels like it's a little less dependable than my Fender Twin. I really cant put my finger on it.

None the less, I've never had to get it repaired(aside from retubing)

Never dealt with Peavey, and hopefully never will.

This is a great first tube amp. You'll be able to hear the difference from solid states the second you hit a note. I own a Mesa Stilleto(very nice hi-gain amp), Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue, and a Fender Deville 410.

If you're looking to buy a nice little tube amp, but dont have a ton of money, buy this. You won't be dissapointed.

USA, not all that versatile, but good for the styles of music we play, which include rockabilly, brittish invasion, surf, old time country, psychobilly, occasionally new wave, punk, or r & b. 2 channels, has channel switching, but we dont use it, we dont wish for any more features than it has, but it would be nice to make a few additions to it, like a tube guard, tube holder, and an upgrade in speaker (eventually) we use this at small bars in our psychobilly band with our ampeg going clean (this amp is not a clean amp) needs standby, for sure!

play a gretsch tennesean with tv jones, rickenbacker 330 with bigsby, dearmond x135 with all sorts of replacement pick ups. play every style with little or no switching, provided our stereo memory man and ampeg are on. the ampeg does the cleans, and the memory man splits the signal. not noisy at all. clean channel? what clean channel? we use the amp for more midrangey, slightly distorted tone, so the only way to get a trotally clean tone is to roll the volume down. the distortion is very very sweet! we like this amps distortion better than any marshall, mesa, or boutique pedals (and weve used tons over the years of each) the distortion aint brutal at all. very useable, provided the master (post) is cranked!

weve gigged with this amp on and off for the last 5 yrs. we usually gig w/2 amps, so if one goes, we can just go straight thru the other, but it never failed us in all the years we used it. we always service the amp, 2-3x a year, so thats never an issue!

never dealy with peavey, but we hear good things about them!repair never done under warranty, cause all music are a bunch of dirtbags, so we bring it to ny music repair, and they do everything at reasonable prices. we dont really worry about the warranty, tho, cause we got it used.

weve been playing for 15 years, we own a gretsch tennessean, rickenbacker 330, dearmond x135, ampeg reverborocket, vox ac15, 72 fender twin reverb. if stolen, wed find another peavey classic 30. we like the distortion, theres no clean, which is kinda annoying. we compared it with the crate class a 30 watt, laney class a 30 watt, and of course the vox ac 30. no match for the ac 30 (but then what ever is?) but better than the other 3 amps, and besides 1-12's go better together, when paired up like so. wish it had a standby, tube guard, tube tamer, brighter speaker

The features are self explanatory, I don't like the boost feature, to much midrange.

The amp sounds good on it's own, but like many others I replaced the speaker with a Jensen C12N. Wow what a difference! Everything is so much warmer and fuller, the highs are so smooth now, and the bass is so much tighter. If your looking for something a little different than the celestion barkiness check out this speaker. Both channels sound so much better, and the reverb sounds fuller. I tried the JJ El84's but the new sovtek EL84's sound better to me. I know that sounds crazy, but buy a set and hear for yourself, I play alot of different amps, the peaveys sound good with sovteks, most other amps I tried sovteks in sounded pretty bad, you just have to experiment. This is a great amp for rock and blues. It is so nice to be able to switch channels and not have to mess with the EQ. Something that you can't do with a Fender Blues Jr. or a Marshall DSL combo. I've had both of those and you could never get a happy marriage between the channels without knob twisting.

I bought this amp used and had to replace the reverb tank, I guess that is the risk you take buying used. Other than that I've had no problems.

I called Peavey a couple of times and you actually get to talk to somebody, what a concept!

I've been playing over 20 years. I've owned many amps, this is a good amp, with a speaker upgrade it is a great amp. It would be nice if it came stock with a Jensen and if they could take out some mids on the boost feature. I think this is a better amp than the Fender Blues jr. I owned that amp and traded it for this one, I am so happy I did. I would change the speaker in it before changing tubes and see if that will get it done for you. I would definitley find me another one if this were lost or stolen

This is a straight forward amp, and it is very good sounding right from the store, but there is some easy improwments that can make it sound even better.

My guitar is a Godin st1, and this is what i have done to make the c30 sound better. I have changed the tubes to JJ tubes, big improvement. Instead of changing the speaker as a lot of reviews have done, i have bought a Berhinger BG412H with Jensen speakers an plugged it to the external jack. With the cabinett plugged in it was easy to compare the internal speaker with the Jensens in the cabinett. The internal speaker sounded very hars and sharp, and the Jensens sounded mutch warmer and open sound. Now i had to get rid of the internal speaker so i just cut the wires to the internal speakers and soldered on a Jack plug (Shemale). Now i am playing only with the BG412H cabinett, and i think this sound is great. I had to pay the twice for the cabinett compared to a celestion, but i got 4 speakers and a flexible cabinett for this price. I got a lot of headroom with this set up, and i can play alot higer without destroying mye ears. I can even use more treble on the C30 now. i wil rekomend this easy mods to anyone.

this is an update to my previous review

i'm updating my previous review, in which i said that the amp was greatly improved using JJ tubes throughout and an Eminence Legend 122 speaker -- i've now replaced the Eminence with a Hellatone 30 from Avatar, which is a broken in celestion g12h30 -- i originally replaced the stock blue marvel with the legend because over a couple of years i got so i couldn't stand the blue marvel's sharp highs and blah mids - the eminence was a big improvement, but ultimately not what i was looking for -- i have to say that the Hellatone is it for me in this amp -- warm, thick sound, very smooth -- great for blues -- a bitch to lug around though -- 50 oz magnet (btw, the hellatone is ceramic and the legend is alnico, and the hellatone is warmer)

This is a very straightforward amp, so it doesn't come with a shitload of features. Plain and simple, 2 channel + boost. Sometimes simplicity is better though. One thing i'd love to see would be a separate EQ for the second channel, but it works fine as it is as well.

My main guitar is a 1980 Ibanez S540, I also used it with a fender fat strat, a les paul standard, an epiphone les paul, a starfield classic etc. The amp doesn't steal the guitar's own sound, which is often a problem. I wouldn't recommend it to metal players, unless you use a separate distortion pedal. You don't get really brutal distortion out of this thing, for rock/blues it's perfect. The clean channel has a really good sound, yet loses somewhat clarity when you reach higher volumes (starting around 5). The distortion channel responds very well to EQ changes, thus delivering a wide range of sounds, from warm, chunky blues to fat rock. The amp also responds great to changes in the dynamic of your playing.
The boost option pumps out a lot of mids, great for long sustaining leads. It also raises the volume dramatically.
When I go for high gain sounds, I blend the distorted channel with either a 90s proco rat or a tech 21 tri-o.d., it works really well that way.
The amp really starts to shine when you play it through a 4x12 box, especially ones with older celestions. You get a lot more low end that way.

I haven't had any problems so far. As with most open back tube amps, you have to be really careful during transport/loading/unloading etc, unless you want to bash the tubes out of the sockets. I recommend getting an amp case.

I haven't had any contact with peavey so far.

I definitely recommend this amp. you get a lot of sound for the buck, and it's a really versatile thing. I've been making music for 14 years, a lot of gigging and recording, and for smaller live situations i prefer lower watted tube amps, so I can crank the power amp a little more for good tube distortion. When miking the amp, you can use the classic in an arena, the sound is great, and the baby's pretty loud.
I play pretty proggy rock/metal, if you play metal then make sure you get a good distortion box, the amp is definitely not a high gain amp.
It's also very suitable for blues and fusion sounds (try playing around with the boost function). As I mentioned before - the only thing I'm missing is separate eqalization for the two channels, but since a lot of amps don't have it it's not a necessary thing.

I've had this amp for a couple of years now and I finally took it to a local tech who modded it for me as per the mods at blueguitar.org. My complaints were: with the clean channel there seemed to be this overall "cloudyness" to it, and the mids were rather harsh. the OD channel was harsh and spikey. Tube and speaker changes did help but not as much as I was hoping.

I just had the basic mods done to my amp and the differance between before and after is absolutely phenomenal. The amp is now fuller, clearer and louder. The clean channel has a beautiful overall presence to it and that bothersome mid frequency is gone. The mids push it out as they should but without that harshness. With the OD channel I can now get a great power distorion going where before I could'nt. It can still bite and cut but without all that spikeyness that was there before. The Boost switch now acts more like a tone shift. It cuts a tad of the bass out and adds just a slight mid boost. I now actually like using the boost switch with the OD channel. Because there is now a lot more overall bass I've so far found it best to keep the speaker housed in a seperate, closed back cabinet. Makes for a nice, tight bass. Your mileage may vary but so far (for me)it seems to be best. The reverb even seems to sound better now!

Overall these mods have really helped to unleash the hidden potential that lurks in this amp. I've been reading on various sites about how people loved what the mods did for their amps so I thought I'd give it a try. Damn glad I did too. I know Peavey will differ with my opinion, but I really think if they had a modded version along-side a stock version they may realize how much better this little amp can actually sound by just changing a few resistors and caps. The new parts only cost me $9.00 so it's not like we're talking about some extravagent change here. Even if they just did the basic mods along with an added presence control they would have a world class top seller. Peavey makes great stuff, so why not not make this amp even better?

Made 2003 I think - Peavey taken previous comments about valves being exposed and screwed a guard around them - good idea.
For the stuff I play - everthing, Jazz through soft rock, blues funk etc - need a very good clean channel. Details have been commented on elsewhere - the channel switching works but is a pain as commented elsewhere that you only have one set of tone controls - not very versatile.
The amp is really a single channel amp with a switched in additional valve gain stage. The high gain path (i.e. when additional 12AX7EH is switched in) is fair. Not to bad with the Tele but pretty awful honky with my backup guitar (Ibanez SZ320). So for the gritty stuff I use a Boss BD2 bluesdriver on the clean which gives a very nice overdriven, warm tone for chords and enough bite for lead work.
Use in both small pubs and bigger (stage) gigs - as noted below can't use clean channel much above 3 to 4 setting on vol for the clean chordwork so have to mike and put through PA.
Given I bought it because I liked the sound and it was cheaper by a long way compared to similar Fender Blues valve combos - I'll put up with the lack of two set of tone controls.
The boost switch I find a waste of space and have never used it. Given the footswitch (two switches) switch the gain stage in/out for clean/dirty and the reverb in/out - there is no remote way of switching the boost - so for live work it doesn't get used - again, would suggest take off and save the money.

For live use better to set up the clean the way you like it and get dirty with a pedal of some sort - this keeps everything simple and under control. Or you could put a little graphic into effects loop - if you like dancing on all the pedals - me, if I have to switch more than one thing at once from rhythm to solo I lose the plot.

The reverb is not great, certainly not as good as that on the little Fender Valve combos - but I tend to use delay rather than reverb which gets very muddy very fast - so the fact that the reverb is poor is no big loss. I think Peavey could leave the Reverb off - take the solid state part of the circuit out, give cleaner signal path and save money at same time. I wouldn't miss it.

Effects loop is fine - good for delay.

The great thing is it is small, and fairly light.

Only thing which would be nice addition would be tilt back legs (like the old Fenders) - however, givem most of time is spent on amp stand this no big deal.

Would be nice to have a cover thrown in to keep the %$#% out of the amp.

The score of 8 only reflects the bits which could be left off resulting, in my view, in an improved amp.

The clean channel is great until you get to 4 on the vol knob - then loses clarity completety - this with valves as supplied (12AX7EH) - OK in small pub but needs to be left at 3 and miked for big gig.
Also very bright - main guitar is old 70's Tele Custom with humbucker at neck which I use for breaks, and both (Hum + SC) for rhythm - so tend to have to put the treble down at 4 and the mids and bass up at 8.5 ish.

As others have commented - the stock speaker may not be a celestion - but it sounds fine - and I haven't been so dissapointed to replace it (if I hadn't liked the sound I wouldn't have bought it in first place). If/when the pre amp valves wear out I would probably put in lower gain 12AX7 valves in positions 1 and 3 (i.e. input valve and driver valve) and higher gain in position 2 (the high gain valve switched in on channel 2). To get better clean sound.

When playing live I tend to stick the amp over other side of stage - I have found that the Tele will give loud hum the closer you get to the amp - so you need keep good distance between your guitar and the amp. Other than this it is pretty noise free (bearing in mind I don't use the high gain stage much).

Given I am not into any kind of distortion beyond old rock - I can't comment on how good it would be for metal or other stuff. For cleanish jazzy the clean channel is great especially with a ES335. For Blues the dirty channel is also good and has reasonable range from grit to well overdriven. For rockier stuff the Boss BD2 on clean works better for me than trying to mess about with the pre- and post gain controls of the dirty gain stage - again set them, leave them alone and control everything from minimum of pedals.

Key measure here is you get what you pay for. I compared against Fenders (Blues Hot Rod, Deville), Bad Cat, Vox, Marshall etc etc - and for the money I liked what I got. This is a cheap valve amp no two ways about it - but it sounds great for the money. Over years (>35 of playing various styles) I've had Selmer T'n'B, Vox AC50, Fender Twins, etc I don't change very often - this amp does what I need with the minimum amount of messing about or additional pedals - it is simply a good valve amp doing what good valve amps do best.

The amp is good enough to get a variety of sounds from different guitars - main live guitar being the Tele Custom. I also use Gibson Les Paul Standard - good combination with Classic 30 for 70's rock, Gibson ES333 - good on clean channel for the jazzier stuff and also a nice "nasty" tone with the dirty channel. I find I get greater tonal range with different guitars than trying to do everything with one guitar and a load of knobs on an amp.... The Tele is never going sound like a Les Paul no matter what its played through.

Amp has sufficient tonal range to get what you need from different guitars.

Score 8 = sound / cash.

So far so good. Gigged live as main amp - with/without miking up. So no worries. I do take back up (a little Vox and also a POD in case something goes wrong both of which can be plugged into main PA) - but not yet had to use.

I do take spare 12AX7 with me but not had to use it yet.. will get spare EL84s soon to be on safe side. However, I don't play with everything on 11.

Not dealt with directly.
Bought from Manson's Exeter UK - good folks, let you try out everywhichway and compare with what you want until you are happy - good store.

Playing >35 years both acoustic (duos / trios) and more serious (three / fourpiece and bigger bands).

If lost I would reassess what was on offer and how much cash was at hand. Without disrespect to Peavey there are obviously better amps around - but they cost more.

As noted above this was compared to regular Fenders and more up market Bad Cat's (I wouldn't have bought the Bad Cat - this was just to compare the cheap amp to the most expensive in the shop). I chose it because it was warm clean tone, small, light, good price and the Fenders didn't sound #200 better.

Score 9 on value for money.

I find these reviews very useful to home in on stuff - but always try it out before buying.

Pretty basic features - just what you need. No frills. 2 channels (clean & OD), reverb, and an effects loop. Nice and simple.

Mine's a 2001 model:

For the money you can't beat the sound of this amp. I think the clean channel sounds great - nice overall tone - balanced EQ and lively - with some balls behind it. Works great with pedals too. There's also plenty of clean headroom as far as I can tell. Haven't run into a problem yet with my band. The OD channel is great too (although if you dime the preamp knob, it gets a bit noisy - but what amp with the gain knob dimed (and without a noise gate) doesn't get a little noisy?). The OD channel is great for blues or classic rock tones....it's not heavy enough for metal type tones, but your pedals thru the clean channel solve that problem. The OD is very musical, smooth and has that old school classic rock tone that I love. I can some great Clapton, Bad Co., and AC/DC type tones. I think the OD channel definitely works better with HB's rather than single coil pups...at least with my Strat, Tele, SG, and LP's.

The reverb sounds good...not quite as good as the reverb in my Fender Deluxe Reverb...but good overall. I don't use the boost button since it's not footswitchable....which is too bad.

Overall - the amp sounds great. I'm thinking about replacing the spkr with a Celestion Vintage 30...but I really don't need to touch it...or the tubes for that matter....sounds really good stock IMHO.

Overall the amp seems well built. But as many others have found with this amp - the EL84 tubes do rattle a bit from the cab's internal speaker sound hitting them. I figured that out by pushing up on the tubes after hitting a chord...the noise was gone after I pushed up on the tubes. So after very little research on my part, I found two guys that sell tube retainer devices for around $20. They are designed to keep the tubes from rattling so I'm hoping mine will do just that. Waiting for it to arrive. I think Peavey should have included this type of tube retainer with the amp, instead of using those lame tube holder clips which keep the tubes from falling out, but do not do anything to prevent tube vibration. Points off there.

Well I really didn't need another amp - I've got a Marshall TSL60, a Mesa Boogie DC-5, great sounding rack cube featuring a Rocktron Voodu Valve preamp and a Boogie 20/20 stereo power amp, a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12, Fender Deluxe Reverb, Fender Blues Jr., and a Roland JC-55.

But once I got my mind set on getting something small and portable that I could use at local jam sessions or smaller gigs, I decided to start checking out every 1x12 amp I could find. I love my Deluxe Reverb, for recording bright clean tones with an awesome sounding reverb you can't beat it..but I find that it's too brightly voiced for most live rock applications plus it's got no midrange - no body - and doesn't sound all that great with my OD/Dist pedals...the BJ is a great small portable amp that does sound great with my pedals, but at 15 watts it doesn't have enough clean headroom to use with my band....so the search was on. After trying out many 1x12 amps (including some that cost 7 times as much as what I paid for my Classic 30)...I found a used Classic 30 in mint condition at a local store. After 2 minutes of playing thru it in a sound proofed room, I knew I was taking it home...plus at $275 I thought it was a steal.

Great little amp. Many, many uses. No, of couse it's not the greatest sounding amp in the world - there are more expensive amps with better sounding clean tones and other amps with better sounding overdriven tones....but I'll say it again - for the money you just can't beat this amp. What an awesome little combo. Nice job Peavey!

Simple, straightforward amp. 2 channels (well, one channel, then more of said channel), shared EQ, spring reverb. It can get a wide range of sounds within the Fender/vox-y range, but probably not as versatile as some Mesa with 239486238 knobs on the front.

With the stock speaker or with a replacement, this thing rocks. We use it in my band playing live (along side a Fender Twin Reverb and old Ampeg V4b) and it keeps up great, both volume and tone-wise. It was also nice in the studio, not a tremendous amount of noise, even at higher volumes. It gets used with Strats, Teles, SGs, and Sheratons on a regular basis, and it does all those varied tones justice.
I wouldn't say it has "brutal" distortion, it's more of a crunchy overdrive, but it's more than enough for my uses.

The tube holders rattle, there's no tubeguard stock, and the damn handle keeps falling out. It always sounds fine once it's going, but having to carry it up to the stage like a box of laundry is irritating.

No idea.

I use it for myself in a home recording environment, and the guitarist in my band uses mine live at every gig and practice we play. I've never had a complaint about the sound. (even with the dreaded boost button pushed) I checked out a lot of the newer Fender tube amps and this stood up to them for significantly less $$$. And since I am a broke musician, that was a key aspecct. My bandmate would most likely replace this with the same if it were stolen, I'd probably buy an old Champ, since I only use it for studio work.
If only the handle worked, and the tubes didn't rattle, it would be just about perfect for our needs.

Update on my old review. See the reviews for Features.

I have replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30, bought a tweed Peavey 112E extension cab, and installed a Celestion G12H (70th anniversary speaker). The cabinets (the amp's AND the ext cab), should be thicker pine or birch, and larger in size - to improve overall projection. Still OVERALL a great amp. I have added a Marshall JCM2000 TSL60 with 2x12" Celestion V30s, and a Blues Junior (replaced speaker with a Music Man 70s era Alnico speaker). The Peavey gets alot less use than it used to considering I have the Marshall dialed in how I like it, BUT in my home studio, the Peavey is used in almost 75% of the songs in some fashion (the Marshall is used in 100% of the dirty guitar sounds, the Peavey for blend, or feedback, clean, or composites). With the speaker upgrades, the tone and percieved volume have jumped up a step or two. GREAT FOR LIVE SHOWS, loud enough to me (especially with the V30 speakers).

Still kickin'. The other 2 Classic 50s I have I sold to friends, and they are still using them!

Great amp for live. It has a great dirty and a great clean channel, plus using an EQ pedal in the series effects loop can give you more clean volume (try a dist pedal with any Volume or Level control to add a "third" "lead" channel).

I am going to de-simplify my live rig, so the Peavey just is not used as much as it had been (it will remain a backup, and great all purpose amp). I plan on having my Marshall for dirt, a Fender for clean, and a D.I. for my piezo "acoustic" pickups in my Electric guitars. All of these three options will simply be routed to the amp or DI box using a 4 way selector footswitch. The Peavey covers clean and dirty effectively, but I'm going for a step up on both.

Features covered in previous review.

This is an update to a previous review regarding speaker selections. I have recently tried a Jensen MOD speaker which claims to have a "British" flavor to it. This speaker worked quite well with this amp. The celestion G1230H has a open woody sound and gives the Classic 30 that classic blues/rock sound with a fuzz type of overdrive where as the Jensen has a tighter more focused sound. It caused the overdrive to lean more towards distortion. The Jensen was quite smooth while using the overdrive channel and worked even better at higher volumes. The clean channel was still chimey with the Jensen. I found the Jensen sounded a bit strange in the midrange at first but then I set the Mid range at zero and then added more as needed. The highs were smooth and well balanced and the speaker responded well to the amps tone controls. It's an inexpensive speaker worth playing around with but it has a different character or style than Celestions.

Amp is fairly new and no problems

Have not dealt with the company

It's a nice amp, I recommend trying other speakers and runnning it through different speaker cabinets. The guitars pickup and it's tone and how hot it is will effect the amps tone so try various ones till you find the match you want and you should be pretty satisfied.

2004 model, I have had it for about a year, nice clean tone, plenty of distortion for hard rock. A boost switch that works best if you use it for a different tonailty as it gives a fatter midrange, depending on the speaker and the guitar the boost switch is great other times it's not desirable.

I use an Epiphone Les Paul copy, Fender Esquire with Invader pickup, Fender strat. The stock pre-amp tubes are very bright and this combined with the stock speaker can make this amp shrill at times. The bottom end is weak and theres not much to be done about it. JJ pre-amp tubes helped the shrill highs but I prefered the new chinese pre-amp tubes (they are hotter, give a diferent type of distoration and have a different tonal response (Marshall like). They especially helped in tube slot 3 (V3) to pump up the distortion, however JJ's may be more musical. I did not like the JJ power tubes in this amp (I love them in my Fender Blues Jr.) as they were to midrangy and tended to make the amp sound like a solid state, so I mixed two JJ's on the outside with two Sovteks on the inside, will try Harmas power tubes next. I tried several speakers, an Italian Jensen which was horrible, a Celestion Vintage 30 which had too much midrange which I could not seem to roll off but it sure made this amp into a Rock amp! I tried a Celestion green back and got weaker bass muddy mids and fizzy treble, nice speaker in a 4X12 but not a match for this amp. I settled on a Celestion G1230H which seemed well balanced. The stock speaker had a horrible high end that never seemed to break up nice in the distortion channel. I finally got some nice bass by adding a second cab with another G12H. The two speakers helped to add the bottom it seem to be weak on. I recommend trying others speakers till you find what your after, perhaps Eminence. Theres not many amps out there in this price range that puts out the distortion this thing does and also has that chimy tube clean tone (though a little bright at times). Fenders still have that deeper rich bottom which really fills out guitar tones.

Reliability has been fine

I have not dealt with the company

I have been playing 5 years and have owned Fender Deluxe, Mesa Boogie F50, Peavey XXX, Peavey JSX, Pignose G60v, Fender Blues Jr., Marshall 6100 aniversary. It's a nice amp but needs some changes to get better sound (tubes, speaker). For the money I do not know of a better amp with such a nice clean and plenty of distortion.

Amp was made in 2004
It's versilate enough for me, my first tube amp.

Has 2 channels, clean and overdrive.
Has a boost switch wich increases the volume too much in my opinion and changes the character of the amp, I must say the amp sounds better without it with the volume pretty high.

Footswitch included, channel switch and reverb switch.
It has enough power for me, I use it at home and small gigs.

In my opinion this amp sounds great, it has a nice clean tone and if you turn the volume up on the overdrive channel it really kicks. not the best for metal though.
I use it for blues to hardrock.

I haven't had this amp for a very long time so I can't tell if its realiable on the long term but I can say that it looks reliable. The tubes are protected.

N/A

Ive been playing for almost 4 years now. I use a gibson les paul special.
I compared this amp with some other amps that were priced pretty close to this one, ENGL, H&K, marshall and they all sound nice but for the price I don't think you can go wrong with this one!

A footswitch for the boost would be nice, but I don't really use the boost that much.

This amp was bought new a couple of months ago (nov 04). The amp is versatile enough for what I play. I am in a blues and classic rock cover band and an all original hard rock/punk band . The amp has two channels and a third 'boost' switch, but it doesn't come with the 'optional' footswitch for reverb and channel-switching. Why this amp doesn't come with the footswitch is completely beyond me. I've been trying to track one down at every music store in the Baltimore area with no luck, so I had to order one (NOT pleased about that). I would have gladly paid the extra thirty bucks to have it included with the amp. Swiching channels by pushing the channel-switch button on the back panel of the amp is a major pain during gigs. I have been using this amp for gigs and rehearsals, and am a little dissatisfied with the overall output. I expected a little more , I had used a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for a couple of years, but it was always a little too loud for most clubs and small rooms, so I thought by dropping to 30 watts from 40 I would be in a comfortable area. Not so - I have this amp cranked at every room I have used it in , and am not happy with the results. When this amp is cranked up, it is NOISY , I mean EXTREMELY NOISY, obnoxiously NOISY . Maybe the speaker they supplied would be the culprit, as 30 watts all tube should be more than enough for any of the rooms my bands play (Even the larger ones, as it gets miked anyway). I don't know if it is worth going to the trouble and expense to find out, as I will most likely sell this thing in the next few months.

I'm using this amp with a Telecaser Custom (sc-hb),a Strat(sc-sc-sc) and a Blueshawk (P90s w/dummy coils). The amp suits the music I play quite well. Wish it had a bit more power. This amp with the preamp turned up on the gain channel is EXTREMELY NOISY. It doesn't matter what pickup combination you use, what guitar you are playing, how many stomp boxes (or none at all), this thing buzzes like all get out. The clean channel has a great sound, and cranked up it gets a little mushy. The gain channel has a decent overdriven sound, but it is so friggin noisy, you'll get tired of hearing the constant buzzing. Even though it means absolutely nothing, the knobs are cool "these go to 12" and I am running it between 9 and 10 constantly .

Don't know, but since I am pushing this amp pretty hard all of the time, I will probably find out. This thing is built like a tank (although it has no tube protection from the rear at all). Hope nothing finds it's way too close while it is in the trailer.

Haven't had the need, but overall because the amp requires an 'optional' footswitch, I have an opinion of the type of support they are giving me from the get-go.

I've been playing for 34 years, and have run through a mind boggling array of equipment. If this amp were stolen or lost, I would not replace it. I compared it to several other amps that shared similar fetures, I should have spent a little more and gotten something else. The price I paidfor this amp, after it is all said and done, is a little too good to be true, as this amp 'seemed' to be quite a bargain.

-Bought it slightly used from my guitar teacher, God bless him
-The amp is more than versatile for my style of music (blues-rock, classic rock, some jazz)
-Has 2 channels, wish it had a headphone jack, and seperate equalization for both channels, but i'm not complaining..
-I use this amp in my home, and jamming with friends...compared to a solid state amp, tube amps are so much louder

no nonsense or tricks, very simple to get the sound you want

-Using it with a standard strat and stock pup's (still shopping around for the right pickups)
-As stated above, this amp is great for my style of music
-With any strat, you'll get some buzz on the 1,3,5 switches, but that's just my guitar's fault, not the amps
-i've never been so compelled to write a review, this amp blew me away. The clean channel is excellent, the overdrive is probably the best feature. You can go from a hard rock to a smooth, bluesy sound with just a turn of a knob. The amp is very versatile..I could probably do without the boost switch though...
(I wouldn't recommmend it for metal or hardcore, obviously!)

I've only had it for a short time, but it seems to be holding up well..
I've heard that the handles on these have been known to come loose, but i'm not too worried

never dealt with them..i don't plan to!

I've been playing about 4 years, the other amp that I own is a marshall 30 watt with all the effects, but that thing is a toy compared to this...hands down the best 300 dollars i've ever spent.
If it were stolen or lost, i'd be devastated...i'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
For the price, this is probably the best tube amp you'll find on the market.

I LOVE IT!

The Peavey Classic 30 is an all-tube guitar amplifier. But you already know that. You probably also know all the other features and technical data so I won't repeat.

I will just say that it is (despite few knobs) a very versitile amp.
I play mostly metal so I boost it with a BOSS MT-2. It makes it sound great, not too buzzy at all.
The 30watts are more than enough for band practice and smaller gigs.
I got the tube guard stock.
The stock speaker is not the best, but I love the tubes.

Otherwise, I am completely satisfied with the features.

I'm using a two humbucker (Seymour Duncan JB on bridge and an old 80's Gibson humbucker taken from a Les Paul standard on the neck position) mahogany body bolt-on neck custom hand made guitar. The clean through the neck position is just brilliant. Extremely smooth yet with loads of definition. The overdrive is very dynamic and bluesy and it works very well. When boosted the amp delivers more than enough distorsion even for some really brutal metal (I tried Deicide - it worked). The clean stays clean if you play clean. Again, the amp is very dynamic. There's almost no audiable noise except tube rattle (which was to be expected). Sometimes it compresses the sound too much for my taste but that's probably the speakers fault. With the JB coil tapped I can make great SRV-ish sounds.

I must say I was surprised by the sound quality.

Never had problems. The tubes are functioning without maintanance

Never deakt with them.

For this kind of money it is undoubtfuly a best buy. I compared it to many solid states in this price range but none could match it. I love this amp and if it were stolen I would most likely buy it again (or maybe the Classic 50).

2004 Peavey classic 30. Here's what it features: 30 Watts (12 inch Blue Marvel speaker), 2 channel preamp (push switch or optional footswitch), 3-band passive EQ, Push boost switch, and Reverb.

This amp is quite small, but it delivers a good load of sound. It's only 30 watts...no need for more. I played in many venues (from 50 to 900 people) and it delivered everytime. In practice and on stage I keep the volume around 3 (on stage it's miced, and the soundman always tells me to crank it down).

I don't quite understand the boost button since you can use any footswitch to control it...

And why doesn't it come with a footswitch for the channels?

The sound is very good. Pure tube amp that is warm and dynamic (you can play it smoothly or make it scream). This amp as the depth only tubes can give you. I use it with a Epiphone dot and it gives me crunchy clean sound (but not to chrunchy). With my strat it gives a good ringing sound.

i used to play with a fender performer 1000, a transitor amp, and it cannot be compared with the classic 30. the tubes make all the difference.

I'd only have it for 4 months so I can evaluate it's reliability for now.

NA

This amp is the perfect little tube amp I was looking for. I first though about buying an old fender twin, but they are rare and expensive. This peavey is easy to carry around and sounds really warm. Perfect for the folk-rock music I'm playing.

this amp doesnt have many features but hey-I like simplicity over 20 knobs and 5 channels and 150 effects w/ 200 amp/cab models. its your basic 2 channel ALL TUBE amp w/ and FX Loop and Reverb. i think this thing was made for me!!

i have a Les Paul w/ Gibson Dirty Finger HB in bridge w/ a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck and this amp sings to me! in line with the amp (in order) are: Classic 30>>>BOSS SD-1 Super O/D>>>Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (NYC)>>>Dunlop Crybaby Classic Wah>>>>>>Les Paul. Then in the FX Loop (in order) are: FX LOOP>>>MXR Phase 90 (modded by FX Doctor- "Script mod, True-bypass, and a hella bright Blue LED that pulses to the speed of the Phase only cost me $55!)>>>BOSS DD-3 Delay, and BOSS BF-3 Flange>>>>FX LOOP. This amps dist. sounds AWESOME by itself but w/ the SD-1 it gives you the Zakk Wylde sound. W/ the Muff its sorta a reminicant of Jimi...great for solos. The clean channel is nothing like a Fender but for $405 it think it kicks ass. i play mostly heavy rock like AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zepellin and Guns N' Roses. This amp can cover my area but if you are into Megadeth or any of those speed metal bands you might want a pedal or look elsewhere (prob. Solid States) but for me-this amp totally rocks and will blow any solid state or amp modeler outta the water!

it seems durable, but ive only had it a week so its hard to say. i wish it came w/ a tube protector though...wouldnt want them babies to be shattered--what a tragety that wood be!! :-O

never dealt w/ em

I've been playing for 2 yrs. and all ive had was a Peavey Rage 158 solid state 15watt prac. amp and a Metal Zone. i KNEW i wasnt gonna get another solid state. i heard that once youve owned a tube amp and are accustomed tothe tone youll never go bakc to SS's. theyre right. also- the Reverb really brethes life into my tone ---ecspecially whem i palm mute the speaker seems liek its bout to rip apart. VERY great dirty channel alright clean channel but i hardly ever use clean by itsself so it doesnt matter. the clean sounds best w/ Reverb on bout 6 or 7 and my modded Phase 90 w/ the Coil Tapped Neck pickup.

2003 Classic 30. This is my second one, the first lived a rough life of beach weather, drink spillage (stupid drunks who get anywhere near the stage should be shot!), and animal fur (we now keep all the gear in a seperate garage). I've had this one for almost a year now, retubed it with JJs before even turning it on, put in an Eminence V12 (Vintage 30 style) after a couple months. Wish it had independent channels with seperate EQ and gain controls. 30 watts of tube power hasn't let me down in the last 5 years for medium sized bars and clubs. Have used it outside quite a few times too, just slap an SM57 in front it and your good to go.

Guitars cover the 3 basic food groups: standard single coils, Soapbars, and Humbuckers. Used with the matching 1x12 extension speaker which I replaced the stock speaker with an Eminence GB12 (Greenback style). Lots of pedals from wah, chorus, vibe, fuzz, trem, eq, boost, and volume. The only pedals that matter for this review are the Danolectro Mini EQ and MXR Micro-Amp. I like a British tone that leans more towards Marshall than Vox and that is where the EQ pedals come in. You can get a poor mans Vox tone from the dirty channel with modest EQ settings (B-5, M-8, T-5). This is my starting point. From here I use the EQ to create a smooth mid-curve boost (makes it tonally similar to utilizing the amp's boost switch but is much smoother, less noisy, and allows more gain...the boost switch has a tendency to smack the amp with a noisy ugly stick). The boosted mids, along with the GB12 in the extension cab give me a nice fat tone that is similar to an old Marshall if not as sweet. The strats sound like they have P-90s, the guitar with P-90s gives a nice snarl, and the guitars with humbuckers are real smooth. Overdrive pedals do not really sound all that great through these amps in my opinion. Makes them sound kind of fake. However, the Micro-Amp is great for taking the dirty channel from Led Zepplin to Van Halen or STP because it doesn't really fool with the EQ, just drives the signal. Makes a nice volume boost on the clean channel for clean solos.
For my tastes, the amp sounds better with the tube and speaker changes and there is only one thing that I miss. The amp doesn't really compress as much at the volumes I play at like the old one did that I had left stock, but the overall tone is much more pleasant to me.

I have to depend on it, its my only amp. I've gigged with it for a year with no problems (gigged with the last one for 4 years with only problems coming from microphonic tubes and the junk that got inside the chassy...just keep it clean!). The new models are being shipped with nice little faux leather covers...they look nice and keep the pet hair from mucking up the stuff. I'm not going to worry about this one the way I had to for the other one.

Never dealt with them, nor will I hopefully.

Been playing 10yrs. Various pedals, Marshall VS65R (practice amp...will NEVER play this live...lifeless solidstate with no volume or punch compared the the C30) and some strats, epi's, and a custom handmade Dodson Sharky's Machine guitar. Been playing Rock (50s-early 90s), Blues, and some Motown with this rig and it has been able to cover the distance for me. Still wish it had independent channels with seperate EQs but hey, its an inexpensive amp that has a decent tone and is easily modded or upgraded. If it was stolen I would be out an amp until I could afford another...would have to borrow from pops (not so bad considering he uses either Blackface Tremolux piggy back stack, Bandmaster head, or Deluxe Reverb...all original except for a Vintage 30 in the Deluxe Reverb). Didn't compare with anything else to speak of...the first one was good enough for me to want another. Learn the basics of EQ adjustments and their effect on tone, then apply that to whatever you have...I assure you that it will sound better. Enjoy

I've had two, both made in the mid-90s, and both purchased used. I used the first playing in cover bands that did Reggae, another did Southern Rock, and I used it for Jazz recording at home. The second one has been used exclusively in a very loud Southern Rock band. These are single-channel amps, with a distortion circuit that kicks in when you hit the footswitch, not a true two-channel amp. It works just fine, though. Most people don't know the difference. It shares and EQ section, but I have NEVER had an issue getting two usable sounds - good clean and good dirty - out of it. It has a footswitchable reverb and a chassis-switchable boost circuit that I don't really care for. Please note ... this is the LOUDEST 30-watt amp I have heard in twenty-five years of playing. I single Classic 30 will hang unmic'd in a band situation. I'm using one C30 right now, and I don't use the boost switch, and I have never had to turn it above SIX (halfway). It will gig just fine, and it is as loud as any 50-watt combo made. It doesn't get a TEN because it shares an EQ, even though that isn't a problem.

The Classic 30 has one of the most beautiful cleans of any amp, even my Fender Vibrolux. It hangs with Fender cleans any day, and I know becuase I have owned three Fender tube combos (Twin, Vibro, Showman).

The Classic 30's dirt channel/circuit is a bit more American-sounding than British (cranked Fender), but you can get a Marshall tone out of them with Humbuckers.

With my Classic 30s, I have used a Les Paul, Epiphone Shereton, American and Japanese Strats, custom-made Strat copies, Ibanez jazz boxes, and even a Precision Bass through them. Humbuckers, single-coils, and Filtertron-style pickups all sound great through it.

The Classic 30 is usable right out of the box, but a speaker change (I use an Eminence Greenback clone) and a retube (JJs) sends it off the map. The Classic is very sensitive to speaker and tube changes and you can make it Vox-ish with a Weber Blue Dog and EI tubes, Fender Blackface with a heavy Jensen or the right Eminence and JJs, or Marshall-ish with Groove Tubes and a Celestion Greenback or Vintage30. It's very versitile, and even stock you can dial in very good tones, even though the distortion tends more towards classic rock, and not metal. This amp will do metal, but you'll have to stick a pedal in front of it.

I have dragged, dropped, beaten, and banged four Peavey Classic amps all over the east coast and I have never had so much as a tube rattle. I bought three of mine already well-used, and still ... the have served without a hiccup, even after being left in trunks, left in cars in the cold overnight, left in too hot rooms, left on for hours by accident ... you name it ... I've done it. The faithful little beasts always fire up with a complaint. Peavey builds the most reliable amps ever made ... period. Considering the sheer number of Classic 30s and 50 that have been sold, you should hear about more of them actually exploding due to the law of averages. But you don't. They just keep plugging along.

Well ... here's where things get sticky. I have never had to contact Peavey due to an amp problem - even though I've owned eight Peavey tube amps - but I have ordered parts to build an extension cabinet. I'm afraid it has been a disappointing experience. Everyone says they're great with product issues, but for ordering stuff ... they sick. Sorry.

Since there is no ELEVEN, the Classic 30 gets a TEN. I am not praising my latest wonder toy the first week I get it, like some reviewers. I'm relating my experience across eight years with Peavey Classics. If it were stolen, I would be glad Peavey had another convert, and I'd go pick up another C30 for $300 and never miss a beat. In my humble opinion, based on twenty-five years in the business, Peavey tube amps in general are the most reliable, best-sounding, most flexible amps made. For pure rock and roll crunch, the very reliable Marshall JCM800 cannot be beat. For clean Jazz and Blues alone, Fender tube amps are the most dependable, best-sounding amps for this alone. But for a do-anything amp, and one that your grandchildren will still be playing when you're wearing diapers and sitting in a rocking chair ... the Peavey Classic is IT! They can get a decent approximation of almost any other amp, they sound good when doing their own special thing (and it is distinctive), they are more affordable than anything made that half decent, and unless you get the one out of each thousand that statistically goes haywaire ... they will last forever.

Purchased in September 2004 - built in 2003 I think.
Is sold as a Blues Amp and that's what it is.
Two channels I guess - but only one set of EQ's (that'll do me.)
Features are fine - although 16 ohm speaker out is a bit odd.
It doesn't need any more features - I just want tube tone and volume.
I use the Amp for practice (and to annoy the family and hated neighbours).

Power - I think Rolls Royce prefer not to quote power output. "Adequate" is their description, and quite accurate for this baby also.

Main guitar is a Fender FMT Tele with twin Humbuckers and coil tap.

Blues of any style really. Current favourite though is The Black Keys and this Amp has the grunt to emulate their nasty sound.

Amp is noisy with the gain cranked and/or with reverb up near the max. Best sounds I have found are through the clean channel with a Boss Blues Driver rammed therein. Effects loop is also noisy with my Digitech RP50 plugged in - maybe different tubes will improve this aspect but money situation dictates I wait until the original tubes cark it before I spend any more money. (Fitted tubes are all Sovtek, although one is badged as Electro-Harmonix "Made in Russia".)

Quote from Dave Gilmour - "Where would rock and roll be without feedback."

I am a learner so gigs of any sort are currently a bit of a dream. Based on what I hear, this Amp should be fine without a back up.
I have only owned the Amp for 4 weeks so reliability is not an issue yet.

Haven't used Peavey support. With any luck I won't have to. As I live in Australia I will probably have to resort to the local supplier--- may your favourite Deity help & support me.

Been playing about 5 years. I also own a Fender Squier Strat (Hank Marvin version) about 1990 vintage, a Danelectro U2, an Epiphone Biscuit Resonator and a no-name Electro-Accoustic. Also have a cheapo Theremin but that may not count in this company. I have a Vox Pathfinder and a really nasty Danelectro Dirty Thirty.

If this Amp was stolen I would get another for sure. This is my first tube Amp and there is no comparison really to solid state stuff - the Classic 30 sounds so "alive" by comparison.

Anything else I'd like to share? Yep, buy the Kill Rock Stars album by LiLiPUT/Kleenex if you'd like to find out how great two chords can sound.

Basically a twin 30 x watt class B valve amp.Comes complete with footswitch and the capacity to run another speaker cabinet.Comes with switchable reverb and finished in a retro tolex.
I wanted a back up amp to take to gigs, use at home and for band practice so I could "save" my mesa boogies.

Very pleased with the sounds and power available.A very good clean sound with decent headroom and a very decent O/D channel.This amp will cover everything from hard rock to coutry and western with ease.Although its rated at "only" 30 x watts has bags in reserve to cut through and doesn't need miking up for average venues.
The only mod Ive made is to swop the stock speaker which was possibly its weak point for a Celestion G12 which has given the amp more grunt.

This is its strong point.It came with sovtek valves plus a few more mods that peavey have carried out due to customer complaints due to the potential of damaging valves as they were exposed.
Ive had it a year now.Its been thrashed within an inch of its life and hasn't flinched.The build quality is A1 and the internals seem more than up to the job.Ive swapped one microphonic pre-amp valve.Thats all.

I did e-mail them once and got an immediate responce.

Ive been playing for 30 x years and owned numerous amps.Marshall stacks,DSL's ,vintage,Valvestate, VOX, Mesa Boogie, Line6,ENGL.Don't be put off because its a Peavey ( I nearly was).This is an excellent little amp, sounds fantastic and will do anything you want.Its also built to last.

This one is a late 2003 model. As far as features go, it has a clean and a dirty channel. Can be switched by a foot switch but doesn't come with one. An effects loop that I don't use. And an external speaker jack that connect in parallel to the 16 ohm internal Blue Marvel speaker. Meaning that an external cab must be 16 ohms to match the 8 ohm tap. Came with a mix of EH and Sovtek preamp tubes, and Sovtek EL84's. Cool tweed look.

I use this for a low volume (small club) blues amp. I replaced all the original tubes with JJ's from Bob at Eurotubes. I specified early breakup since I use this amp at lower volumes. The clean channel is still really clean. I wish it would break up more when the guitar is all the way up. And the dist channel has plenty of gain. I usually get by with the with the pre at 5. I replaced the original speaker with a Celstion G12H-30. It added a bit of crunch without loosing any low end, and can still sound great when the amp is cranked. I tried a V30 and didn't like it. Safe to say the sound is of the "vintage" quality.

It sure feels hot after a couple of hours playing, but never died yet. I keep a spare set of tubes ready just in case. They are easy to change. Actually I don't worry about the tubes, but the electronics inside the amp must get that heat. And the tubes can be broken if you move it around a lot. But there are after market protectors if you want. I don't use any.

I never dealt with Peavey for product support. Never had to yet. And I have 2 Peavey EVH guitars and a Classic 50 amp also. Everything seems solid. But since Peavey is a US company, I am sure they wouldn't be to much trouble to contact if needed. Hello Hartley.

I have 3 other amps. And the classic 30 is one i couldn't do without. Easy to move around. Cheap tubes. Made in USA. And sounds great.

Bought second hand as a Head! Seems the previous owner not only removed the speaker but cut the cabinet down too. Standard channel switched tube amp with clean and OD channels, FX loop, boost (should be f/switched). Used in a normal context, a good all rounder with hidden talents!

Used with a Peavey 112E cabinet the amp served well as a clean/jazz sound at low level (theatre pit) but the o/d channel didn't seem to be up to much. However (and this is where the story really starts) with all controls flat out (not reverb) , plugged into a Palmer speaker simulator and straight into a desk (no speaker), the thing bursts into life! Controlling levels from the guitar (Les Paul) the full range of clean, crunch, heavy crunch and searing leads can be acheived. I've been looking for a Marshall PA20 to do this with but the Peavey has halted the search. it doesn't even need a drive pedal up front. Even with setting flat out there is very little if any noise from the amp. Because the cab has been reduced the reverb is too close to everything else and can't be used, but is a studio it wouldn't be used anyway! The valves have been replaced with JJs

I have and will depend on it, mainly as a studio tool, tho' its not inconceivable to use it on stage through a rack and power amp. I never use a backup and have only had one amp blow on me (egnater tol100) but that was S/H and I hadn't checked the condition of the valves (Doh!). It is also worth noting that using the amp flat out (as above) will very likely shorten the valve life

N/A

I have been playing professionally for 28 years, mostly commercial work and have been through a lot of gear in that time! Current favourites are Peavey Delta Blues (big sound) Marshall 30'th anniversary head and the above classic 'head' A variety of guitars but principally Les Pauls (40th anniversary-P100's, Standard with Duncan Custom & Dimarzio Norton, Professional & Recording-low impedance p/ups) and several others :)
As I said, I have been looking for a small Marshall (PA20 or Lead Bass 20 ). They are great for recording but the Classic 30 head and a Palmer do the business. I t would have to be replaced. One whinge (and this goes for the Delta aswell), a standby switch please!

Just a slight re-cap here, as I wanted to pass along a few small suggestions in case anyone was interested. Bought the amp new in Oct. 2003. So far I've tried the stock speaker (sounds like cardboard), an Eminance Legend V12 (distorted way, way to soon), a Celestion Greenback (liked the cleans but not the right speaker for the OD channel. Too fuzzy), and have settled for a 16 ohm, 30 watt ceramic Weber Blue Dog. Gave me a bit more clean, smooth headroom and helped tame some of the high end from the OD channel. I've also found out that this amp is a torture chamber for tubes. So I built a cabinet and have the Weber housed in that. (Not using a speaker in the Peavey cab at all.) Made the amp sound much better and much bigger. So far JJ tubes seem to sound the best but I may still experiment a bit. Currentley using ECC83S's in V1 and V2 and using a balanced phase invertor (also a ECC83S in V3. Using JJ EL84 power tubes with a #35 heat rating. Call Bob at Eurotubes and he'll set you up right. Seeing how this amp seems to be a bit dark sounding by nature/design, I've found that using an Aphex Punch Factory compressor does wonders for the clean channel. Really add's a beautiful presence to the sound. Give's the cleans more "glass." IMHO I feel that this amp is best suited for single coil style pickups. I've got a Tele with Lindy Fralins Blues Specials that sounds GREAT thru the clean channel. Even with the compressor off it sounds great. On the OD channel I've got it set for a mild crunch and it works well for me. I have'nt quite come to grips with this amp as far as humbuckers go. When using humbuckers I really rely on the compressor for the clean channel because without it the sound is still too dark and the humbuckers just break things up way to early for me, but even still I still get a bit of breakup. The only way I can get a good OD/distortion with humbuckers is by using a pedal thru the clean channel. So far I like the Tonebone Hot British for distortion the best. That pedals got some serious chunk to it! I'm no expert by any means, just passing on a few tip's in case anybody was interested. I'm also open for suggestion so if you've found something that's worth trying you can e-mail me at: Vics2@aol.com

Tube amp with pretty basic features -- bass treble mid controls, reverb, clean/drive channels, boost switch, FX loop and ext. cab line out. Reverb and clean/drive are foot-switched; boost is not. It would be a great thing if the boost were foot-switched. I don't use the drive channel so I don't care about that, and I don't know why I would need to foot-switch the reverb. I'm giving it an 8 in features due to non-foot-switchable boost.

I play blues with a custom strat and a 1974 Guild Bluesbird with the original humbuckers. I've had this amp for two years and have developed some definite opinions. After months of increasing dis-satisfaction with the sound, I finally replaced the tubes with JJs (the blues package from Eurotubes), which made a very distinct difference. This was heartening so I proceeded to replace the stock speaker with an Eminence Legend 122 from Avatar. At this point I am extremely satisfied with the tone I get from my Classic 30. It's a beautiful open and chimey sound that's just what I've always wanted. I highly recommend these upgrades. The Legend 122 is not well-known, but it's a very fine speaker with an alnico magnet and just right for blues.

The drive channel stopped driving after about a year. It just sounds slightly muddy. I don't care since I never liked the drive on the amp and always use the clean channel with a Nobels overdrive, so I've never had it looked at. It might be a simple fix, although replacing the tubes made no difference. Other than that, it's been fine.

Haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing for a long time. My rig is pretty simple -- strat or bluesbird through a nobels odr-1 overdrive to the clean channel. With the tube and speaker upgrades, I'm very happy with my tone. If it got lost or stolen, I'd look into other amps just for a change, but unless it gets lost or stolen I've got no intention of replacing it.

Bought new but the amp was the older version without the tube guard.To me this amp is a great investment.It is hard to beat the price and sound.I am puzzled at some of the reviews that give this amp a low score.They may have wanted the the amp to be something it is not.The amp is plenty loud for classic rock and blues.

As others have stated,the stock speaker is not the best..This amp is good for the price point.I added a Vintage 30 and better tubes and this helps the amp sound much better.The amp is not a Fender or Messa and if that is the sound you want then spend the extra cash to get your sound.I like the Classic 30 because it does not sound like those amps.It is very responsive to how you play and this allows the player to experience what tube amps are all about.The sound and the feel make a tube amp desirable.Tube guys know what I mean by this.When I just want to rock out at lower volumes I always seem to grab the Classic 30.With a little time and tweaking you can get a great sound out of this amp.But for gigs I will stick with my more durable boutique amps.

The amp is not like the old Peavey's.You could and I have bounced them out of the band trailer and they would not miss a lick.I am afraid you would have to baby this amp.Good for home use but not to sure about using it as a regular gig amp.The tube holders,knobs and tube sockets look and feel cheap.

I have emailed them in the past about a few things and they did not respond.

A great sounding amp for the money.Not built like a Fender or Marshall.Peavey should be proud of the sound but ashamed of the lack of quality.Peavey use to build amps that could withstand a hurricane but sounded like crap.Now they build amps that sound good but are built like crap.

1x12 combo, 3 band eq, hey, we all know. It gets an eight for this category. Although I'm into the whole 'don't get one without 2 eq channels if you need 2 eq channels', etc., I don't think there's an excuse for the lack of a line or DI out on any decent amplifier these days. So a nine 'cause it's got what you need, if it had a DI or post-preamp out it would rate a ten. Eq it good, reverb works, don't kick the tank around please.

Bonus marks for the funky tweed look and dials that go to 12.
Loses marks for the boost function being useless and not footswitchable.

This is where the thing shines. I play only originals and for what I play this is great. Clean sounds are not really sparkling but that's what tubes do, and the louder you go the sweeter they get. Dirty sounds are heaven for me. I have had this particular distortion sound in my head for around two years and this is the only amp that can deliver (gain at 5-6, bass at 11, mid at 5, treble at 6, no reverb). However, for more orthodox rock tone it can fly too. Try not to have fun when you crank up the gain to 11. If you are into tube distortion and not a metalhead then this does it. Harmonics shine through, power cords are tight and focused. And it gets loud.

I set this up in the shop next to a Laney LC-30, Marshall TSL-60 combo and that small H&K tube combo which escapes me. I liked this the most.

Bonus marks for getting that sound out of my head and into my guitar.
Loses marks for the boost function being useless.

Peavey = rock solid. Mine has the tube guard built in; I can see how people might have problems without it. Second hand and never lets me down. I rehearse without a backup. I gig with multiple amps.

Manuals could be better; take a page from Line 6, guys.
Never had to deal with them, see the previous section.

Only been playing 6 years. PRS Santana, Gretsch 1910, Maton EBG-808Cl, Gibson ES-175 reissue (I love this guitar!). Bixonic Expandora, Line 6 mm4, dl4 and fl4, Akai Variwah, Boss DS-1, NS-2, CS-1. I dial in my distortion sound, a little tremolo, Gretsch on the neck p/u, and that's my guitar heaven. Maybe yours? Maybe not. Line it up against all the other amps in your store and try them out. Buy the one you like the most, that works for your style, and forget the brand bullshit. This is a great little combo with a top tube sound that won't kill the bank and is reliable as all hell. You can do some easy mods to it if you want and it looks classy. Pedals sound great and good guitars better. This amp lets me have some fun and it will for you too.

I also play a Line 6 Flextone 3 XL and Marshall TSL-100 stack. They are great amps too but in their own way, just as this is.

Try it! Have fun.

I really wish this amp had a footswitchable boost (like a traynor or boogie). Its a decent amp, great as a backup, but not quite "prime time" as a main amp. Check out http://thejambones.com to see what I play.

You can crunch the lead pretty well, but the clean channel is a bit distorted for my liking. When I play a "clean chord" dammit I want it CLEAN! My nomad 45 does that. The speaker was replaced so its now an eminence - it doesn't seem to matter - the amps clean channel ain't that clean....

Peavey stuff is made like a tank. Get a tube guard (off ebay) for it - the tubes are way too accessable and easily broken with no reinforcement in front of them.

I'll keep the amp as a backup or maybe use its speaker in conjunction with my mesa when I'm outdoors (as an extension cab for the mesa). I'm lucky becasue I bought it already modded. Even with the mods its still a low-end tube amp - if you are satisfied with that then all is well. I am - it's only a backup.... Still better than a fender blues junior....

Bought this amp used but almost brand new.Tweed look.Stock Sovteck EL34 and Electro Harmonix 12AX7 as well as Blue Marvel 12" speaker.
Probably a recent series because of the protection grid on the tubes.
More than loud enough to play in small bar gigs with 30watts tube power .
Two channels clean and drive.Both channels are excellent sounding.
I essentially play on drive channel and play with guitar volume knob to get cleaner/overdriven sound.
Reasonnable response of reverb,mid-treble and bass knobs.This is not a Twin reverb!
Boost button useless unless you want a shitty sound
Second Classic 30 I buy.Sold the previous one (with E112 enclosure,too bad !))to buy me a Marshall TSL combo (not the best idea I had).
This baby is excellent for playing the blues.
Easy to carry as not too heavy (20kg or so)and easy to find your sound
I sometimes plug the ext send of the Classic 30 into my 65' reissue Twin reverb (clean sound) to get more headroom but miking in front of the C30 into the PA will do good also

Perfect for blues playing.
SRV type of sound (old fashion now but I still like it)is easy to get with direct plugging into the C30.
Usually plug my Fender Strat 62'reissue direct into the drive channel -Pre knob set at 10 , treble at 10 , bass and mid at 6-7 and reverb at 6-7
No effects,only a wha-wha.
A little bit of buzz when not playing but only my noise when I'm playing!

The previous one I had was of the first series so no protection grid on the tubes which requested some particular care during transport.
I know the guy who bought and he is still playing live on a regular basis without any pb.
This second one still plays perfect after 6 months I bought it used.Did not even changed the tubes.

No idea-Did not have to deal with them.

Excellent value for price.
Easy to get the sound I like for playing the blues I like (F.King, A.King,A.Collins,SRV style )without any effects.
I also own a 65'Twin reverb which is excellent with an overdrive (Jacques tubeblower or Ibanez Tube screamer) but quite heavy and loud .I also own a Marshall TSL combo (not my best choice) .
The C30 is much easier to carry .
I have been playing since more than 15 years and I had several amps , tried a lot of stomp boxes, multi effects but finally my Strat directly plugged into my Classic 30 is the best sounding for me (for the music I like)
I did already buy me another one after 2 years of trying other sounds

This amp is super versatile...I play everything from hippie shit, to bluesy rockin', to trippy shit, as well as punk and metal with this sucker...it's a badass little combo. If you've gotten this far, you more than likely are aware of the specs, so I won't get into it. I use this amp for practice and bar gigs...it's uber-loud!

Shecter M-33...set neck, two hums...pretty standard, really. The amp is pretty quiet for a tube amp...some hum, but nothing ridiculous unless you turn on your computer monitor! A little tube rattle is present but, hey, it's a tube amp...deal. The clean channel is great. The distortion is gorgeous. F'n gorgeous.

I gig without a backup frequently. No problems whatsoever, and this is a used amp. Peavey's are rock solid...my band's PA head is an '87 Peavey that has been beat to shit and still works! Up the Peavey!

Who knows? Certainly not me.

Been playing 9 years. Also own a Ricky 4003 Shadow bass...very rare...If it were lost or stolen...hmm...if it were lost I'd buy a new one...if it were stolen, I would castrate the $%#$%&@ with a rusty brake disc, and then buy a new one with the money I took from his wallet. Great amp. Thank you, Peavey, for building such solid equipment.

I recently purchased the amp brand new. I knew that it did not have all that many features (e.g. eq for each channel, etc.), but that was not a huge deal to me. I was reaaly buying the amp based on it histrorical reputation and what I found is that Peavey ain't what it used to be. I bought it and returned it in 24 hours. I am thankful for that shops return policy. Be warned. Heed this advice. I am not saying that it isn't a good amp for anyone, just not me...read on.

I am looking for the brit pop sound, feel. As is, the amp sucks for that. Especially if you need to turn it up loud. The distortion turns really cloudy and loses any tone it once had. If you are looking for a good clean sound, look elsewhere also. If you turn the clean channel up at all, it immediately begins to distort. DO NOT JAM IN A BAND SETTING WITH THIS AMP!!!!! THIS IS THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU! So basically, I think this would be a decent practice amp, but why would you want to spend $450.00 on a practice amp? I have a 10 year old Park 10 Watt amp that I paid 75 bucks for that works just fine for jamming at home.

Had it one day.

I have head that Peavey's customer support is top notch. I will give them high marks in this category.

I have been playing for about 10 years and up till now, I was playing through a Peavey 130 Special. Decent little amp. Bought it when I was 15 because it was really loud. I was looking to upgrade. I think what I got in the Peavey Classic 30 was a downgrade. I lost so much tone. From what i have ready, a lot of it has to do with the shitty speaker and tubes that come with the amp. In the end, the amp would end up costing about 700 bucks to get it to the point where it sounds halfway decent at a high volume setting. I recently purchased an Ampeg Reverborocket Head and 1968 Fender 2 x 12 cab for a total of about 750. I am very happy with it and it ended up costing about what it would have cost to upgrade the Peavey. Good luck. Feel free to contact me with questions.

I bought this amp in March 2004 at Music Stop in Sydney, Nova Scotia, brand new, so it is either 2003 or 2004, not sure. This amp is a no frills two channel amp with reverb, effects loop and extension speaker output. No footswitch included but bought it separate as an accessory. Mine is black in color and is a nice clean looking amp. It has the old style "bolt of lightening" Peavey logo.

I play Godin guitars, an LGHmb with two humbuckers and a Freeway Classic with HSH (both awesome guitars and very inexpensive too). This amp was made for me. It is a little rock/blues machine. It has that tube warmth that everyone wants and what got me was the excellent overdrive that this little beauty puts out. It has one of the nicest overdrives that I have ever heard. It is perfect for rock and blues, however metal heads may want more gain than it can put out, but that is not what this amp was designed for. The clean is nice but does breakup at around 4-5 on the volume dial, but personally I like that because is give a nice subtle grit. I am the type of player that just wants to plug an play, I do not use pedals because it is a pain in the ass to lug around and batteries/extra plugs, etc. but occasionally use a wah pedal. This amp sounds great strait. The reverb is good. This amp is loud enough to play live and can keep up with a loud drummer.

Never had a problem yet and I gig with it at least once a week. It should have a tube guard, but is not a big deal to make your own.

Never had to use them.

I have been playing guitar for over 15 years and owned several amps during that time, including Fenders, Marshalls, Peaveys, Sovtek, etc., and this one is hands down, my favorite. This is a smoking little amp. I immediately loved the sound of this when I first played it and bought it right away. I also like the fact that it is small, light and it is easy to lug around from gig to gig. I also hear that if you are to use an extension cabinet, it really comes to life. I will check that out. But as a single 12 incher, this 30 watt tube amp is louder than most 50 solid state amps. I would replace it if it were stolen. I love this amp and for the money I cannot imagine a better tube amp availiable.

About 9 years old. Not too much in way of variety of sounds but basic character warm valve. I play orchestra pits and function gigs, use effects out as D.I. where required but volume impressive.

Strat plus deluxe and Yamaha 812W sound great via POD mainly for distortion/echo. Rock, jazz, latin, reggae, whatever, this set up can do it if YOU can. Distortion channel a bit wooly for my taste. Lower O/D sounds more convincing. Reverb is wonderful. Some spitting noises when amp is cold sometimes but not often.

Had some probs about 6 years ago, possibly interference in prehistoric pit. No other reliability issues.

N/A never needed.

42 years player, pro teacher and freelance. Taylor acoustics, Ramirez classic, Musicman Stingray bass, other stuff, Trace TA 50R amp, Ashdown 300 combo. Can`t think of a rival at the price. Don`t like nasty Peavey plastic logo which snags on things (now gone)

amp was purchased brand new. with an amp like this, you're not going to get tons of features so i am not going to criticise the C30 for not having comprehensive parametric eq or anything like that. it is set up sensibly and does what it says on the box. points off for not including the footswitch (it takes a 2-button number with a stereo 1/4" jack) or a guard for the tubes (which i got on eBay for $20) which are very vulnerable in this small combo. i did get a slipcover with it though, so "good job Peavey" for that.

as backround info, i play everything from soukous to reggae (my "home" style, i guess), to latin-influenced originals, to blues, and any rock'n'roll i would dance to (no metal, thank you).... anyway.... i liked it straight out of the box, it had both character and clarity in both clean and overdrive modes, and i would have given it an 8 for it's "stock" sound (especially considering it's price). i fell in love with the sound of this amp hearing a Telecaster through it at a blues jam, and since my sound is based on a single coil for the most part, i knew i was on to something even before i turned it on - but since i'm a tweaker, i had to mess with it. the first thing i did was email Doug from dougstubes.com for recommendations for a clean chimey base-sound (clean is definitely my priority, if i had to choose one, and as you'll soon see i didn't!) - and he steared me toward the Ei EL84's for power tubes (wonderful clarity - thanks Doug!). i also picked up a Mullard CV4024 12AT7 for the first (clean) slot (i put my bucks here, since it shapes the tone most), and the Shuguang 12AX7C for the second (overdrive) channel (really warm, bright, high-output tube for overdrive), and i used the Classic 30's stock Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH for the third (driver) slot. i also installed a Reverend Alltone 1250 speaker, and plugged it into the external jack, since it's 8 ohms (removing the internal lead so it doesn't short on anything) - this is a REALLY beautiful speaker, easily living up to the hype it recieves. well, i would have tweaked anything i bought, but i have to say that i'm even more thrilled about the sound of this amp now! my handmade (by a friend) Bubinga/Zebrawood guitar sounds great using it's neck-position Seymour Duncan single coil - exhibiting both the naturally zingy top-end of the pickup (the Ei EL84's are known for a brighter sound as well) and some beautiful low-mid chunk using the boost switch on the Classic (which i always leave engaged). in the overdrive channel, with the pre set on 7, the single coil has a deep, complex crunch with plenty of rumble to propell things foward and a sweet top end, while the higher output SD bridge humbucker has less lows and highs but is so hot i get a perfect middy ZZ Top crunch... A++!! what's really great is that using just my pickup selector switch and my Clean/Overdrive footswitch i can go from a very versatile, classic clean sound to two very useful overdrive sounds with no twiddling of knobs on guitar or amp. very, very happy with this amp right about now! the reverb is very nice also, and that is a definite priority for me... first thing i checked at the music store, too.

i actually had a problem with one of the stock EL84's, and had to call Peavey when the sound fizzled out after a couple of days. they were superb in their response, immediately shipping me a new one (though my Ei's were already on order), and it was probably just bumped by the power cord or something during shipping to the dealer, but it made me think when i shouldn't have to. anyway, i've just bought it, so a rating wouldn't be appropriate here....

superb. Mike from tech support was friendly, knowledgable, and fast, and they get marks for their very helpful forum.

i wouldn't dream of asking more from an amp at this price, it's a steal, and with a couple of carefully chosen upgrades it's absolutely perfect. highly recommended.

30 watt, Class A/B tube amp. 4 EL84's in the power amp section, 3 12AX7's in the pre-amp section. 12 inch 16 ohm Blue Marvel speaker. Good reverb andeffects loop, nice Boost switch. Haven't tried the extension cabinet jack, but this amp has enough power to drown out my 130 watt, solid-state Fender 2x12, plus heavenly tube-shimmering tone poured all over that! Channel two is very versatile.

If I had to add anything to it, it'd be a tube guard and bias pot. Wish it would come in cream colored chicken head knobs.

With factory Sovtek/Electro-Harmonix tubes, the NORMAL channel is round/warm and bright. And with plenty of lows, and low-mids, it keeps a single-coiled Strat sounding full. Doesn't have the strong compression and super high-end frequencies (air) of a classic Fender Deluxe. Perhaps with the right pre-amp tubes (12AT7), that could be accomplished.

The NORMAL channel breaks up at 4 with firm picking. Thanks to the Sovtek EL84 power tubes, the overdrive is thick and bright, with good low, mid and high harmonics. Crank it past 8 and the overdrive gets brighter, slightly buzzy and harsh with more sustain and a little more volume. Hmmm... maybe a Celestion speaker would smooth things out a bit. Or you can throw in a different brand of power tubes and that'll warm/smooth things over. But even with the Sovteks, it's still a HUNDRED times better than any solid-state/transistor amp can emulate.

Channel Two has slightly more compression and high frequencies. The Middle frequency is pretty high - somewhere around 1khz. Sounds great, but it starts adding high frequencies when you turn it past 5, so I always set my Treble knob under 4 to keep the amp sounding warm. Again, maybe a Celestion G12H will taper things down a bit. Let's see... the Bass knob gives you plenty of lows, and the Blue Marvel speaker can handle all of it, all the way to POST 12....with palm muting!

With the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH and Sovtek 12AX7LPS pre-amp tubes, and PRE gain from 3 to 5, it yields a good SRV "Little Wing" tone. As you crank the PRE gain past 7 to 9, the notes get thicker and heavily distorted - a warm "Marshall" overdrive with smooth harmonics, but enough tube clarity to let your pick-up's shine through. Rolling back the tone knob on your guitar will give you a thicker, Vox AC30 tone. Turn the PRE past 9 and you get more sustain, and a bit more overdrive. Great for metal tones, without sounding too transistor/distortion pedal-ish.

The Boost switch seems to work off of the Treble knob, and the tone fattens up somewhere around 800-1khz. Good for soloing. With Boost on, Treble at 0, Middle between 5 and 6, Pre at 7, Eric Johnson tones are easily obtainable. (with the tone knob on your guitar rolled back some, of course)

Adding JJ/Tesla pre-amp tubes gives it a warmer, smoother overdrive texture. The same with the JJ power tubes. :)

And the more POST volume you give it (power tube overdrive), the better it sounds. More low mids, mids and highs. FAT tube tone! I've been fighting with pedals and transitor amps for 14 years, and I found there's no substitute for a good tube amp. Sure, some emulators come close to it at LOW volumes, but lack the frequency spectrum, natural tube compression and volume of a tube amp.

I got a bit of power tube rattle when I play around a low B. That's expected with EL84/6BQ5 combo amps. Volume and tone makes up for that. Slight buzz/rattle from loose screws on the cabinet, but it's an easy fix. Only had it a month.... so far so good.

Warranty registration was quick and easy over the net. Never had to call the guys at Peavey. Hmmm...

A SUPER amp! Great for jazz, country, blues, classic rock n' roll & metal. Extracts all the natural tone out of your guitar and brings it to life. It's loud, has a flexible EQ, rich tube tone, and it looks great too! Attractive materials, finishing, trim, cabinet design, etc... Absolutely no regrets. Hmmm... where's the BIAS POT? :)

I bought my Classic 30 used maybe 10 years ago to replace my solid state crap amp. Mostly play it in the basement, but I've brought it out for jams with friends and it holds up pretty well, even with a full band (drum kit, etc). The two channels offer lots of versatility IMO - from clean to fat bluesy overdrive. I never used the effects loop, but I usually use a Crybaby wah plugged into the amp. Great small tube amp for blues/rock. Reverb sounds great, too, but I never use the mid-boost switch - too punchy for me. The amp is also small enough to transport fairly easily. I gave it a 10 for features because, for the money, you can't expect more than this offers.

I use a 92 MIM strat. The amp sounds great on the clean channel. I get lots of spank and quack from the M+B pick-up position that comes through great in the amp. Can get jazzy clean sounds too with treb rolled off - or surf-type stuff. But, my fave is neck position on the dirty channel with the preamp turned up. When the wife and kids are out of the house, I crank the master volume and get really sweet harmonics/feedback/distortion, whatever you call it, from the amp. Can feedback a little when turned up, but I don't care. I just click on the wah pedal and have at it and punish my ears. If you have a solid state amp - this is what you're missing. Can't get really satisfactory metal sounds, but I don't blame the amp. I need another guitar for that and/or a good pedal. I gave the amp a 10 here because again, for the money, it's awesome. I've had it for 10 years and never thought of replacing it.

The amp is solid and I never had a problem with it. The only issue I see is the unprotected tubes. They are really hanging out in the open. But, I've seen tube protectors on ebay that look like they solve that. Don't know why Peavey doesn't put those on at the factory.

No experience with this.

If this amp were stolen, I would seriously consider buying another one. It just hits the sweet spot for me with respect to sound, size and features. There's not much more I wished this amp would do. I am thinking of trading up my guitar to a G&L Comanche, but I intend to keep the amp, though I could afford more. I think that says a lot.

Hmm, got my first of these a year ago, guess it was made 2003 approx..you will know the general info on this amp by now i'd imagine

Used a '73 Tele, with Seymour 'Hot' in bridge and 'Alnico Pro 2' in neck. Really liked the sound, nice glassy clean, that clipped nicely when revved, and usable gain

..Here goes, my first one of these broke down after two days home use!, returned it too local Pmt in Oxford, service was great, straight onto Peavey and next day a second brand new amp arrived, rehearsed that night, amp on no more than '6'...it blew a transformer..back to shop next day, same good service, onto Peavey, and the third replacement arrived, in pristine condition..this one lasted 3 weeks, even got too gig it 3 times...then the reverb tray broke down..back to the shop, this time i'd had enough and so had the shop, so a refund was duley issued and i got a Hughe's/Kettner Tour Reverb, knocks the shit out of Peavey for reliability. My rating for this doeant reflect the great service from the shop..it reflects how i feel about the amps reliability in general...also - how the hell could 3 individual amp's be so crappily made!?

customer support/shop support was great, and so it should be

..Well, i personally loved the amp, really did, looks the part, sounds great, just tooo un reliable, crying shame, a year later and i'm tempted to try one again, cant bring myself to go thru all that again..my kettner just gave me a wink lol, say no more.

This amp is probably7 years old I guess. Kinda lost track of time. You know the features I won't bore you. Basic 30 watt tube amp.

I have a Strat and a Paul both 91's and I use this amp with a part time Southern rock band. I have written a review (or 2) on this amp but everytime I use it I love it. I bought it as a practice amp (I used to own a classic 50)I have a Fender twin and tonemaster and I enjoy playing thru this better in small clubs. I usually crank the pre amp on every amp I play thru but last gig I didn't go past half way and both guitars just sang. The only mod I did was change the speaker to a Celestion V30 (and replaced tubes a couple of times). I use a boss compressor and a TS-9 for more crunch. The amp is just the balls for the price, one of the best deals out there. Save your money for a vintage amp and get one of these instead. You won't be disappointed. Not a good country amp (DUH), although I can get Steve Gaines tones out of this puppy easy, I'm just not into country.

never broken...ever and I've beat this thing up because of a bad cord.

replace in a heartbeat!

2002....play mostly classic country....you'all know the features by now....I play mostly small clubs to fairly large senior citizen centers with mainly classic country bands....more power than you will ever need for these venues

I use one of several strats....mexican's and American....also an American Tele....this amp is acceptable....it has a nice clean and also a distortion channel that is very poor in my astimation....if your lookin for a Fender sound you will need to by a Fender...

I use it without a backup

Peavey has an excellant support system....you can go on line to there forum and get any info you need....the forum is loaded with techs....do not ever bad mouth Peavey equipment on the forum they will crucify you....even if your right....trust me on that one....

Now to the serious stuff....I have been playing in bands since 1957, so I know what I'm talkin about....this amp sounds terrible with the Blue Marvel speaker....SOUNDS LIKE THE WORST TRANSISTER AMP YOU EVER PLUGGED INTO....I had to retube it withh JJ's for a slight improvement....I bought a new speaker on ebay for an extension cabinet and sure helped....but by the time you finish doing all the mods that everyone here recommends you will have $700.00 IN THIS PIECE OF SHIT....NOT WORTH IT....I HAVE BEEN A SUPPORTER OF PEAVEY EQUIPMENT FOR YEARS AND STILL USE THE STUFF BUT THE QUALITY IS LONG GONE....LET ME FINISH THIS BY ADDING FOR $535.00 BUCKS YOU CAN BUY A BRAND NEW FENDER BLUES DELUXE AND YOU DONT HAVE TO DO A DAMN THING TO IT....IT ABSOLUTELY BLOWS THE CLASSIC 30 AWAY MODS AND ALL....I LEARNED THE HARD WAY....I DO LOVE THIS AMP FOR SIZE AND WILL CONTINUE TO USE IT CAUSE IT'S EASY TO LUG AND MY SUPERIOR PLAYING ABILITY COMPENSATES FOR EVERYTHING ELSE....SORRY PEAVEY BUT YOU'VE REALLY PISSED ME OFF THIS TIME....these folks have a right to know the truth....I still highly recommend Peavey equipment....its just sad sad sad....shame on you Hartly.................

30 watt, switchable channels, effects loop, extra speaker jack, reverb.

I use a variety of guitars from a standard Strat, Les Paul, Yamaha RGX with active pickups, Fender Esquire with Invader pickup. I have guitars with pickups from low to high out, standard to custom. I play Blues, rock , jazz and Metal. The clean sound is nice, not Fender but it's own unique clean tone. Single coils pickups or any overly bright humbucker can sound too thin until the amp is modified. I put in bass and Midrange orange drop caps and a treble silver mica 330pf cap and changed the tone control slope resistor to 56k. This helped a lot, I had richer lows, mids and I could roll back the treble. JJ 12Ax7 tubes helped as well, the stock tubes are too bright. The overdrive channel is really thin and harsh and only works well with thicker sounding humbuckers, Strats can sound pretty horrible on it. When you setup a Fender Blues junior for overdrive it's full sounding but the Peavey is thin and harsh (commom complaint). I finally got a great fantastic overdrive after a modification to capacitor 13 (and only capacitor 13 (cap 6 on a Classic 50)). Once the mod was done I can put my Classic 30 next to my Fender Blues junior and get very similare overdrive setting, great classic blues tones I can then crank the "pre" control on the Classic 30 and blow the fender away with over the top distortion (I'm not puttin down the Fender). I tried every mod I could find, I must have done 20 or so and ended up removing them. They helped but none really got rid of the harsh overdrive (some mods caused fizzyness) and I was ready to give up on the amp. I came accross an article at www.tone-lizard covering basic amp designs and found out what was causing the Peavey overdrive to be so thin and harsh. Changing cap 13 in the Peavey to 22uf brought the amp back to basic standards that have been used in amp designs since the begining. What a change, I can go from normal channel to overdrive with little tonal change. I can dial in a very very close Fender blues junior overdrive (I have compared them side by side). I can crank the "Pre" control and dial in great hard rock overdrive. I can roll back the treble control and get smoother distortion or turn up the treble and get lots of "bite". Before this mod the amp was around a 6 or a 7 because of the bad overdrive but now with the mod it's a 10. This is not a Brutal distortion amp I have a Peavey XXX for that. The Classic 30 is a great amp once the mod is done.

I have only had six months and everythings fine.

have not dealt with the company

Been playing 10 years. I own a Line6 Flextone 2, Fender Blues junior, Peavey XXX, Mesa Boogie F-50. I would replace it if it were stolen. I love that it's small and portable and has more than 10 to 15 watts, it's has a good clean tube sound and once moddified a great overdrive. I hate that it needs to be modified.

30 watt tweed tolex all tube combo.vintage look.two switchable channels.

This is a blues-rock ampli.The clean channel is very Fender-like,
although Fender classics have a sweeter and a bit more detailed clean sound.Drive channel is VERY DEEP AND WARM (by far better than the harsh and thinny distortion you get with many others).Both have a distinctive,beautiful,juicy tube character,which is what I first like here.The ampli itself is very quiet,but if you add reverb(which is nice,but could be better)get a little noise,although no more than in other amplies(in the Blues Junior reverb adds a more discrete hiss)

seems well built

The only serious competitor I know in this price range is the Laney LC30,but in my opinion the C30 has a warmer drive, and is more compact-sized.The Fender Blues Junior is very nice but,for the same price,gives you only 15 watt and a single channel.

Basic 30W combo with tubes. I've got mine in classy tweed. It looks good and sounds awesome for that price. This machine has two channels with shared EQ (could be with 2 eq's too, but I don't need them since I've got EQ in my guitar-rack). The knobs really effect to the sound and you can get a nice growling vintage rock / blues sound out of it as well as modern style hi-gain. I'd say this amp is close to Laney's brightness and rich lows. For such a small amp it's pretty loud.

This amp sounds killer when played along with my Gibson Les Paul or Ibanez RG Prestige. Both guitars are equipped with humbuckers and the tone is really fat and rich. Lots of lows and highs. You can play rhythm parts easily thru this and when adding bit more treble, it sounds awesome on leads and solos. The amp is pretty silent (no humming, no other weird noises). Clean channel takes lots of volume and stays damn sharp and clean. Distortion channel is really great with Post and Pre knobs. You can alter them like you want and I'm sure you get the sound you wanted out of it. And if not... just throw your effect-board into it and listen to how your stompboxes SCREAM when linked to this fully-tubed beast... man I just love this amp. It's so versatile.

Ohh yes, this thing is reliable... I have been throwing couple of gigs with it and it works like a dream. Just plug it in and plug your guitar in it and you are ready, steady... GO! Of course one must check out tubes before heading for a longer trip (and have replacement tubes within...) Because I have heard that when a tube-amp is warm, once shouldn't move it around too much or it might break the tubes... so after a gig, let it cool down a bit before hauling it to back of your car.

Well... I have to say that I ordered this amp and they didn't have any of them in Europe at that moment. So i waited for a month and a half to get this amp from the States, straight out of Peavey factory. Thou, that wait was a worth of it... otherwise the customer service has been awesome. I've got a free t-shirt from Peavey because I had to wait that long =) I trust them boys!!!

I have been playing this amp for a year now. Never experienced any problems with it. It fits my musical styles perfectly. I play rock (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains...), jazz, blues, heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Slayer, Pantera...) and so on. So I need a pretty versatile amp. Everyone told me to get Line6 modeling stuff... but I didn't want those transistor/digital effect amps anymore. This has been a great deal!

I am using a standard Mexican Strat with this amp. My previous amp was a soild state Fender 30 watt amp. This amp is 3x as loud as my previous amp, and much larger too. The distortion sounds crisp and tasteful, even when set on 12(the highest number). That doesn't mean this amp can't play rock, though. That's mostly what I'm using it for. This amp can get a large amount of tones, from blues to rock, I love it.

Seems like a pretty reliable amp. Hasn't really given me any trouble.

The Peavey website has a fourum that answered any questions I had the next day. Excellent customer support.

This amp is the best amp I've ever played through. In my opinion, its the best amp for the price range. I've only been playing for a year and a half, but this amp will stay with me for many more years.

This is to update prior rating. Original tubes were mediocre at best. Installed set of JJs as many here have prescribed and indeed, the sound is 15-20% better. Best aspect of improvement is the reverb! While good before, now with volume on 5 or 6 and verb cranked, the amp bristles! While I still, of course, prefer to gig with Fender Super Reverb amps, the sound of my C-30 now insprires this Mermen fan and imulator! Therefore the Peavey is perfect for small gigs or in the big gig "bull pen." E the infamous Bob for a set of his very reasonably-priced JJs soon.

This is a 2001 year model that I purchased on ebay. I bought this amp to play rock and blues styles, and it, truly, is the best tone improvement I have added to my rig to date(playing for 15 yrs). I play mostly an old beat up strat that I have heavily modified, but I also have an Epi Les Paul that I play through it, too. This amp does exactly what Peavey says it will do - deliver classic tones (hence the name) in a no frills tube powered package. If you want separate EQ's for each channel, don't buy this amp. If you want a wet/dry mix control for the effects loop, don't but this amp. If you don't want the characteristic pops and crackles that are common to tube amps, don't buy this amp. I read some of the comments that are posted here and wonder if they just picked out a model number and purchased it sight unseen. They had to have known that this amp is a no frills straight forward tube amp. If you want all the gadgetry, but something that has that stuff already on it, but don't complain to peavey about adding features to this amp that will drive the targeted demographic away. This amp, IMHO, was designed and built for people who don't want or need all of the bells and whistles, although Peavey has added an effects loop that wasn't available on earlier models. Peavey's product line is very diverse, so purchase accordingly. I'm giving this category a 10 because it is very versatile for this category of amp.

I use both channels, but the boost seems a little harsh for my styles. I am thinking of having it modified so that the reverb switch can be used to switch the boost feature off and on. The only "noise" that I hear is a little tube rattle, which is actually the tube retainer clips. I am told that this is a common occurance among EL84 tubed combos, and is easily remedied. When I play in my band setting it's inaudible, so I may never have to address it.

I've only had it for a couple days, but 3 of my other amps have been Peavey, a Rage, a Studio Chorus 70, and a 5150 Combo, and I have never had a problem with any of them. They are a tremendous value for the money spent.

The Peavey Internet discussion board is unbelievable. They are always courteous and extremely helpful with any question you might have regarding their amps. I mean, they will reference your serial number and give you the mfg. date on any Peavey amp, usually within a 2 hour window. I also met a local amp tech on the boards who is an authorized Peavey technician. Customer support, or the lack there of, can and will, make or break a company, and Peavey has it down. Keep up the good work!

I've been playing for about 15 years now. I own a Fender Strat, an Epi Les Paul std, a PRS Santana, an Ovation CS257, and an Epi Les Paul Special. I use an RP200 for effects, along with various stomp boxes by Boss, Ibanez, MXR, Morley, and Marshall. If this amp were stolen, I would hit ebay in search of another, immediately.

I do apologise for the rant in the first section, but some of the posts make me so angry. It's kinda like buying a pickup and complaining about not having the features or performance of a Corvette. Give the product an apples to apples comparison. This a no frills tube combo. Do the research before you buy.

Mine is a 2003 model, Tweed. it has mainly basic features - one 3-band Eq for both channels, clean channel vol( cool - non-master-volume) dirty pre and post gain, reverb and a mid boost switch. it has an FX loop with no wet-dry control ( which is a bit of a bummer) and I really think there is room for a DI (Spkr Sim) out and a presence control.

W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l!!! absolutly teriffic. simple, warm and round sound - with a punch. even without the mid boost this thing is a cutting edge - hit you right in the guts! push the mis boost button and it's like a beast - louder more penetrating cutting OOOOOMPH. It yields great blues tones and mean rock sounds, it is by no meens a marshall copy or something like that but you can dial in you favorite '60-2000 classic rock tones. mine is a bit noisy, but no more that your everyday tube amp plus, I've got a lousy old gounding at my place. I play it mainly on the dirty channel with the pre gain set to 3. that way it is very dynamic and responsive - clean on the verge of OD. to drive it hard I you a ragne of differant boosters. the spring reverb is a classic peavy and it too, is pleasing to the ears. I love it.

I don't have it for too long and I haven't gigged with it yet, but my other peaveys didn't fail me yet.

Never used it.

I love it. If it was stolen I would imbark on a hunt after it LOL :)
It truly is a wonderful amp - and woth every penny. Capable of both pleasant jazzy-bluesy attitude as well as out of order classic rampage. My Semi-hollw comes throuh it full of magic with harmonics and overtones flying recklessly all over the place :)

I bought this amp new 3 weeks ago paid $425. What a dissapointment! I read some good and bad reviews here so I figured this amp would at best be some where in the middle. I should have listened! I did install a new set of JJ Tubes, and build a tube guard for it but that's as far as I went. I figured if I couldn't get it to sound like a "Honkin' Goose" with my outboard EQ, and Aural Exciter then a few hundred dollars worth of speaker, and electronic mod's from blueguitar.com weren't going to make a difference either. Besides why should I have to spend that kind of mony on a NEW amp just to get it to sound half way good? This thing was a P.O.S. from the moment I pulged it in. What a waste of money!!! Now I'm trying to sell it so I can try and recoupe some of my losses. A sad lesson learned. I should have stuck with an old Fender of Mesa Boogie amp.

This thing sounds like crap!

Don't know. I haven't had it long enough yet.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to tell Peavey that this thing sounds like crap. But I never did hear back from them. I guess cause they don't care. They made a sale, and that's all that matters to them.
Screw Peavey! I'll NEVER buy anything from them again!

I've been playing for over 30+ years. If were lost or stolen I'd replace it with something else. This amp sounds like shit. And I affraid with all the mod's everyone is talking about do here on this web page I should have known something was fishie. I wish it had someone at Peavey who would listen to what every is saying about this amp and just correct the mistakes they have made with this amp!

2003 1x12" EL84 tube amp. For a 112 combo, it's got most of the features you'd expect. Footswitchable reverb is nice. I never use the effects loop or mid-boost. I really wish it had two separate eq channels.

My gear: I play a 2003 G&L ash body Legacy with stock pickups and a '97 Ibanez Artist reissue. Occasionally I'll use a BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal, but rarely. I play mostly clean, jangly leads a la The Beatles, REM, or U2.

Channel 1: Very nice clean sounds. The tone is mostly present in the mids and treble, without much bass. It cuts right through a noisy band, but you need to watch it. At high volumes, you need to be careful or the high end will become piercing.

I usually leave the volume at around 5, which is about as loud as you can play with my strat (Legacy) before the amp starts to break up. Regardless, when pushed, this mild overdrive is a very pleasant warm tone. Also, it seems like when you've played for a few hours with the amp, it will just break up anyways at this volume.

Channel 2: Adequate. When I eq the amp for this channel, it can sound pretty good, but then the clean channel is muddy, and vice versa. The amp needs two separate eq's, but what can you expect for under $500? Again, the tone focuses on high end and mid range, with not much in the low end. My ideal setting would be to simply replicate the overdrive from Channel 1, but I can't quite seem to achieve that.

The reverb unit sounds really nice when it works...see below.

This amp is a workhorse, but it's not perfect.

I've had the 1/4" jack's solder fail, but that was easy to fix. I do have one recurring problem, though. The reverb unit, regardless of whether the volume knob is on or off, picks up a loud bass hum. It is very distracting. I suppose this is one of the hazards of spring tank units.

When you gig, amps are to guitarists what cameras are to a photographer. Always have a backup. Don't be silly.

Spectacular. Whenever I call them, they're ALWAYS really helpful. I've called for advice on the reverb unit, questions about the circuit schematic, requests for parts, and a few other things. They're always great. Their customer service alone makes me want to buy another Peavey product.

I've been playing for around 18 years. I'm in two bands trying to get steady gigs rolling.

For the price range, this is an EXCELLENT amplifier. Forget "vintage" or "classic," it just sounds great. The only thing that I need is something that can be a little louder without sounding so harsh. And two eq channels. And a better reverb unit. And class A operation. And the name "VOX" on the front. Too bad this wishlist would cost me $1700, which is why the Peavey Classic 30 is so great for its price range.

This is quite a versatile amp.I`ve played almost anything from jazz to metal with this and used only one pedal.
You can really get many kinds of sounds from this amp`.
I have been really satisfied.

I`ve used a Fender Stratocaster(humbucker in bridge position) and a LesPaul (2xhumbucker) with it.It`s been working really well.
The clean sounds are just perfect.A single coil pickup and the clean sounds onf this amp,add a lil`reverb.....just beautiful.The thing that made me buy this amp was the fact that it can produce a "warm" overdriven "blues sound".I like it.I like it a lot.
When playing metal I`ve used a BOSS SD-1 with it and been satisfied with sounds I have got from this amp.
Also tried the BOSS MT-2 with it but it sounded like crap.

Absolutely no complaining here.It`s never broken down or even had any kind os problem.

Never dealt with those guys.

I`ve been playing for 10 years now and this is absolutely the best amp I`ve ever had.
It`s got everything you need,and nothing you don`t.
It`s just great.

If you're reading this you probably know the features. Tube amp, loosely based on AC30 (4- EL84, 3- 12AX7) with foot switchable clean/gain channels. Shared EQ, effects loop, etc. Boost switch is only disappointment here - too midrangy

Been playing for 30+ years. Got rid of the "big rig" and wanted a basic tube combo with good clean and crunchy sounds. Found it for a low price in this amp. I play Blues and Rock. I switched to all EH tubes (amp was about 3 years old when I got it) and removed the Blue Marvel (P.O.S.) for a V30. Also run an extension 1-12 with a 16 ohm Mojo Tone on occasion. Strat with Lace sensors can spank and honk. Les Paul with 498's crunches nicely and LP Special with P-90's is as flexible as it should be. I run guitar into dyna comp, visual sound H2O, analog man TS-9, morley wah, into BBE D-100 maximizer DI (a GREAT addition to any rig). Can get just about any sound I want with the EQ all set at 12. This thing can get very loud, especially in the clean channel.

It's now about 4 years old and working well. If you're going to gig it, the aftermarket tube guard is a necessity. I gig it every week, play it about 4 hours in rehearsal, never shut it off and it keeps on runnin'.

If you have trouble with support, you're not trying. If Peavey doesn't respond (which would be an exception), you can get answers on a myriad of websites. I called Peavey on replacement grill cloth and had it in 2 days.

Around the house my son and I have a deville 4-10, Champ 30, SWR 60 watter and pignose. If stolen or lost, I'd get another since I don't think there's anything out there in tube combo land that can touch the C30 for price/performance. It's a heavy little sucker (especially with the V30), but it beats a big head and 4-12 cab for hauling around. Plenty loud, good tone, reliable. Yeah, I run a few effects into it, but most of the time they're switched off. The tone's that good for the price paid.

Mine was bought new in 2003 so it's about a year old. All the specs are listed below. Mine came with the Blue Marvel speaker, and also came standard with the grill to protect the valves. I don't know if this was Peavey's idea or if the shop put the gill in, but I'm assuming it was the shop.

Oh, I also didn't have to deal with crappy valves, mine came with the E-H 12AX7's. Nice one Peavey!

There are no amp feature I wish this amp had. Come on guys, if you need more than this, you want one of those crappy-digital-amp-modelling-pieces-of-rubish all the 12-year olds are buying because they "want to sound like so-and-so". I would love this amp even if it only had one channel and no boost switch. Just a clean channel with quality reverb.

All these comments are for a totally unmodified amp...

I've tried many options since I change my guitar config quite often to mess around (whenever I know I'm not going to using it for a couple of days...)

I've used this amp with manyt styles of pickups (fender lace golds, standard strat pickups, EMG SA's, Dimarzio Fast Track 2's, etc etc) and got good tone out of all of them. IMHO the best tone I got out of it was with a good quality strat straight in with the laces. "Lots of emotion" is probably the best way of describing the feeling.

The amp responds very well to the player, so if you suck as a guitarist then go buy a solid state.

I never use the boost channel, except if I play in a hall that seems to suck all the mids out of my sound. Its WAY loud enough. If you find it's too soft, moan at your sound guy.

Oh, I do have one gripe. The treble doesn't seem to be in the right range. If I turn it up, it sound shrill instead of bright. I think they could have set the treble frequency lower.

No problems yet but I treat my instruments very well and have not had a single problem with anything I have ever owned because of that.

I wanted to know what impedance an external speaker needed to be, so I asked support. I got the following answer:

And I quote:

"Specifically, the transformer IS 8 ohms. When the recomended 16 ohm extension speaker is also plugged in then the amp is still seeing 8 ohms. Becuse the secondary of the transformer switches taps. So, if you plug a 8 ohm speaker into the extension jack then the amp will be seeing a 8 ohm load. But, disconnect the internal speaker."

They get a good mark despite the above raping of the english language purely because they sent me the schematics for free... :)

Been playing for ages. I spend loads of time at music shops playing all sorts of instruments. Basically I chose this guitar because it had everything I need in an amp, i.e. volume and tone. What else can you ask for?

I assume this amp was made either in early 2004 or late 2003. Pretty simple features, basically everything I need (and more), and nothing I don't. You can refer to the website or previous reviews for all the specifics. I suppose a headphone jack would be nice, but I can certainly live without one (I use my other peavey 15 watt practice amp for quiet practicing anyway). I mainly use this amp in my bedroom, and it certainly has enough power. I haven't moved either of the volume knobs past 2. This may not have enough features for some people, but got more than enough for me. I'll give it a 9, since nothing is perfect. Overall, I'm thoroughly pleased.

My main guitar is a stock Fender Highway One Fat Strat (humbucker in the brdige). I try not to tie myself down to any one genre of music, but I mostly end up playing metal (not "nu"). Some reviews here claim that this amps distortion isn't really suited for heavier music. Based on what I've heard, it can do metal just fine. By the way, by "metal", I mean real metal. Not cut mids Korn style metal. By metal, I mean anything Ozzy has put out. I mean Randy Rhoads, Zakk Wylde, John Petrucci. I don't consider this nu metal slipknot or korn garbage to be metal, I just call it angry nerds with overdistorted tone. I believe that you can take distortion too far, and all these nu metal bands do that, probably to cover up their lack of technical ability. So, by my definition, can this amp do metal? Of course! Will this amp cut if for zit faced angry nerds... probably not. By the way, I'm 16. Besides, if I ever crave a bit more chunk or something for some reason, I can always get an overdrive pedal.

Anyway, I should probably get out of "rant mode", and get back to how this amp sounds. I'll elaborate on the distortion channel a bit more. It can do blues, country, rock, basically any MUSIC (this word is in caps for a reason) you want to throw at it. It produces a nice crunch, not fuzz like some of the other amps I tried.

The clean channel is most excellent. Couple the clean channel with a single coil... beautiful. It does everything I want it to.

I love the low end this amp produces. It's got lots of oomph, but it's not sloppy like other amps I tried. It's precise. It's bassy when it should be.

There's also a boost switch on the amp that basically makes the thing louder, adds some more midrange, and spits out some more gain. This mode is perfect for soloing, and basically for sounds that call for a bit more definition. It also handles certain kinds of rhythm work very nicely.

The reverb is excellent. I can't think of much more to say about it. But I can assure you, it sounds good.

Overall, top - notch sound. But, since nothing is perfect...9.

I can't comment very well on this yet, as I've only had the amp for a few days. However, it's heavy as hell, so it can probably take quite a beating. Still, it's beyond me how people can actually damage their amps. It just sits there, the only way something can go wrong is if you push it too hard. Based on the other reviews I've read, reliability isn't an issue. Again, since nothing is perfect...9.

I can't make any useful comments here, so I'll leave it.

I've been playing for almost two years. This is my first tube amp. My previous amp was a peavey rage 15 watter (very good for a first amp by the way). It took almost a year until I finally got my hands on this. Within that year, I tried out a few amps that interested me. Two of the main ones were a Fender Hotrod Deluxe and a Line 6 Spider. The Hot Rod Deluxe didn't sound too "hot", at least considering the price ($400 Canaidan more). The clean was good, but the distortion was kind of bland. And the Line 6... well, I learned my lesson there. It produced lots of sounds and they didn't sound bad either, but it just sounded sterile. It also lacked quite a bit of low end. It just sounds as if you can plug any guitar into it, and it'll sound exactly the same. I want the characteristics of my guitar to shine through. I love the sounds a strat makes, I wanna hear them! The Peavey was clearly the best choice. I had also heard many good things about the Classic 30's. That combined with trying the amp out convinced me. I bought this amp in hopes that I wouldn't need or want a new amp for a long time. I wanted an amp that was relatively portable, loud when it needed to be, and sounded good. Check, check, check, check. Since nothing is perfect, I'll give it a 9. This thing should last me a long time.

I just bought this amp new at a local music store. The salesguy told me it has sat in the store for a few years. It's the black tweed version with no tube guard.

I use this amp for harp. It is great for this purpose. Small and compact but with great low end. I use both the Astatic JT-30 (ceramic element) and an older CR (controlled resonance element) Shure Green Bullet 520 and the character of each mike comes through very distinctly. The 520 for dirty, growly pushes and the JT-30 for soulful, cleaner sounds. A regular Shure 57 gets me through the country stuff nicely. I don't really care what it is like for guitar, it rocks all night for me and my harmonicas. One reviewer didn't like the Classic 30's spring reverb for harp. I disagree, although I tend touse a "just noticable" amount. I hate the washed out sound that any reverb clutters with harp-playing if overdone.

I've owned a hill full of Peavey stuff. Rugged and honest products.

Never dealt with Peavey.

I've been playing for years, through unbelievable combinations of preamps, effects units, etc. etc. Nothing beats straight into the amp for me.

It seems that the people who give this category a low mark are youngsters that really would be better off with either a Marshall DSL or something like a Line 6 modeler. For my money, this amp has everything I would possibly need, the only thing I would have liked is two completely seperate channels and a tube guard.

The first thing I did was perform the usual easy mods...although it appears Peavey is listening to customers, as this amp now comes with E-H 12AX7's rather than the Sovtek tubes. I installed the JJ EL84's and added the ubiquitous V30 Celestion, and whattayaknow?...this amp is just perfect for me. When I need a bit more push, I run it through a Marshall 4x10, which requires a little roll-off of the lows. I play rhythm guitar in a lot of different styles...use a pedalboard with a DS-1 for more grind than the lead "channel" can muster, but that sound, IMO is the strength of this amp. The dynamics are great with my guitars - a Fender Mexi-Strat with a Duncan Vintage Rail/Cool Rail combo in the neck and middle respectively ad a Gibson 498T in the bridge. I also use an Ibanez SZ52. The clean "channel" sounds a little stiff with the mids up past 5, and I have to admit...it took me several gigs to really dial in the sounds I wanted, but I am totally happy with it now.

The power cord was loose going into the transformer, right out of the box...a two-minute fix, but come on... that's inexscusable quality-control. Otherwise...going on three months at relatively high-volume gigs, and no problems.

I work in a music store, and Peavey has generally been fast and efficient. (it doesn't hurt we are an authorized service center, and are only about 2 hours from Meridian, MS, I guess) so that, with the fact that I don't have a whole lot of jack invested in this thing, am not too terribly worried about the amp crapping out.

Great-sounding (with the mods) and reliable, versatile, and pretty cool-looking. Yeah, if it were stolen I would still choose it over the Marshall DSL2001 and the Fender De Ville.

I did a review of this amp last November after I bought it. I changed the preamp tubes and the speaker and thought I'd share what I can up with just in case anybody is interested. Well, I tried more preamp tubes in more combinations than I can remember. So to make a long story short I wound up with a JJECC 81 in V1, a Sovtek 5751 in V2 and an Electro Harmonix 12AX7LPS in V3. The JJ in V1 gave me a lot more clean headroom. The downside to this is that it also increased the treble. But I managed to combat that using my Boss GE-7 EQ in the effects loop. Very nice tone. The 5751 in V2 calmed the OD channel down quite a bit. It's still got that "spikey" character to it, but it's much more managable. So basically I've got the amps contols set up for the OD channel, and I tweak in the clean channel using the EQ and it all works out very well. But what really makes this amp sing is the speaker. I'm using an Eminance Legend V12. This speaker alone greatley increased the amount of clean headroom. Let me put it to you this way: on the clean channel using the stock preamp tubes and the Blue Marvel speaker, I started to get breakup with the volume at 3. With the change of preamp tubes I could get the volume at about 4 before it started to breakup. With the Legend V12 I can now get the volume on the clean channel up to 6!! How cool is that?! I should also mention that I've got the V12 housed in another cabinet that I made. I made the cabinet a bit bigger than the Classic 30's cabinet. PLEASE NOTE: This was my first time buying a brand new speaker for an amp. When I first tried out the V12 I thought it was defective because instead of getting more clean headroom (like I was told I'd get) I wound up with less. It turn's out that this is what's meant by having to break a speaker in. I'd say it took about 1 to 2 weeks to break it in and I'm very pleased with its sound. The bottom end is a bit tighter and bigger sounding, and the mids and highs are nice and rounded. Again, with this being the first replacement speaker I've tried I can't sit here and say it's better than this or that. I'm not saying that this is the ultimate for this amp with the change of preamp tubes and speaker, but in my very humble opinion I think it made this amp sound much, much better.......and it did'nt cost me that much.

Ok, it aint got the most features you'll ever see but it has enough for its price. Infact it has more than enough for its price. The reverb is very sexeh, all you'll ever need. No tube guards tho unless youre amp is but through a lot of wear and tear there isnt really a lot of need for them.

I really need a new guitar as i am using a squire strat but i decided i needed a new amp first. I thought it'd be best to get an amp with a really nice clean and i wanted a valve amp. I knew that i could just buy an od peddle later if the od channel on the amp wasnt good I tried it out in the shop and i am going to buy it very soon at #375, its a bargain. The Clean on this amp os beautiful. You'll not need any more reverb than this beauty has to offer and the tone is superb. I tried out the od tooand fiddled with the pre and post switches. The od is nice...it can give you numerous different tones but generally its nice...not dirty! If you're looking for dirty rotten od like you'd get on a Marshall or fender with the gain turned up high, then its not the amp for you. But in my opinion, youre better off getting it for the clean channel and the "nice" overdrive and then buying a od pedal for those "dirty sounds". That way youve got the lot. People do suggest getting JJ tubes instead but from what i heard from my friend who did this, its not a massive massive improvement. If you ask me, use the valves that come with the amp until you need to replace them...then replace them with JJ's. The clean channel gets a 10. But the od channel gets an 8 because although extremely variable you cant make the crunchy dirty od noise like with many other amps. Overall 10+8/2 = 9 :P

I know how reliable Peavy equipment is through two of my friends how have their amps and have done for 4 years.

I haven't dealt with the company and neither have my friends...that shows their reliability.

Ive been playing guitar three years, which is why im using a squire strat. I want a new guitar but being a 16 yr old i dont have the money for a good amp and a good guitar. I chose a good amp, and soon enough when i go bak and purchase it, ill have a great amp, not justa good one.

My particular amp was made in 2003... You all should know the features of the amp... The only difference is this one has a tube guard fitted from the factory

I use it with a 52 re-issue tele and a couple of different strats with texas special pick ups in middle and neck positions and PAF humbuckers in the bridge postion. I play in covers bands playing everything from disco thru to rock. I bought the amp primarily as a back up amp for my Marshall TSL122 (they blow up). The amp is nice and clean to a point and then breaks up nicely. I dont use the gain channel. Distortion on it is crappy. Clean is best. If you want distortion use some pedals.

Not a problem yet.

Good reliable little amp, nice sound, just dont expect it to be as good or as versatile as a boutique amp.

i mon't repeat the features. it has enough though for this price range

awsome. the clean channel is beautiful, the lead channel is very nice for rock or blues, for anything heavier you'll need a pedal.

i have only had it for a week

very responsive. i have that tube rattle that other have spoken of and so far with my talking via email, the guys at peavey get back to me very fast and are helpfull.

a great sound amp for the price. would buy again. it should come with the footswitch stock, and some protection for the tubes would be nice. The guys at peavey have stated the ratlle has been a problem for ever. It would be nice if they provided a dampner withthe tubes from the factory too.

Built in 2003. It's a basic, entry-level valve combo which will suit most playing styles. The EQ section is common to both channels but I don't consider that to be a limitation. It surprises me that some reviewers who actually ended up buying the amp give it a low rating for "features". My point is: if you think the amp is not sufficiently "feature rich" for your needs, why did you buy it in the first place? I can understand low ratings for "sound" and "reliability". You need to own a piece of gear for a while to have an informed view on those aspects, but as far as features go,
do your homework before you buy!

I use a Strat Plus and a Les Paul. I play mainly at low volumes rarely exceeding 3 on the master. Cleans are clean enough and overdrive/distortion are sweet. I might change the valves to JJ's as suggested by some of the other reviewers when the existing ones snuff it. Might even install a Celestion when the 3 year warranty runs out.
No complaints for the price (about a third of a Fender Deluxe here in Australia).

I haven't owned it for long enough nor do I intend to use it hard enough to have a truly informed view as to reliability. Made in the USA and it shows... The workmanship and quality of materials are up to par. Love the chrome plated chassis. Mine came with the tube cover. I've only had good experiences with Peavey and don't anticipate any problems other than the expense of changing tubes when they expire.

Peavey has axed their local distributor and has not yet appointed a new one. This is why all Peavey gear is going cheap in Australia at the moment. I sent in the 3 year warranty card to the outgoing distributor and asked them to confirm receiving it via email. They confirmed it within 3 days. Now, that's what I call service!

Been playing for 22 years and teaching guitar and singing for over 10.
A low maintenance solid state amp would have made more sense considering my amps are turned on for up to 5 hours a day. But common sense matters little when it comes to sound. I wanted my students to hear what a tube amp sounds like so they get a better appreciation of tone. I love the way this amp looks. It gives my studio an air of quality with sound to match. If it perished, I would buy another one if I could get it for the same price again. If I had to pay full retail ($AUS 1,399), I would probably buy the similarly priced Fender Hotrod Deluxe.
Just a final thought: Why is it that some of the harshest reviews on Harmony Central are given by people with the poorest spelling/grammar/vocabulary? I don't know... could be just a coincidence...

not many. . . ok distortion crappy clean. . . what youd expect from a peavey

wow does this thing suck. . . i mean seriously peavey has done it this time. this thing actually turned me away from all tube amplifiers for a little while. It produces a rauchy high sound. Very hurtfull to the ears. The biggest gripe is that this box has a really crappy speaker and raelly crappy tubes. . . if you replace them with jj's and the speaker with a vin 30 it sounds pretty decent actually. after those mods it still doesnt even compare to my gibson goldtone. . . not even close.

not great, like i said the speaker raelly sucks and has a very small magnet. its very wimpy and would fart alot. The tubes didnt last long about a month. i just hate peavey

this is the only place that peavey knows what they are doing. they probably have one of the best customer services around. if you have a question, they will answer the same day with an email.

its a crappy amp, but then, what do you expect from the same company that tries to manufacture everything else in the music world? modify it and make it a decent amp. or go out and but a fender deluxe, gibson goldtone, or marshall dsl201 or 401

I bought this amp this week for 5000 Swedish kronor (about 650 $), it used to cost about 8000 kronor. But in Sweden for this price it's the best amp you can get. This is a quite simple amp, two channels, with reverb. Hust like a amp should be! If you looking for a amp which fits for metal, I guess you'd better find another one than this.

I played hard rock for many years, and I used Marshall for more than ten years. Last 6 years I was realy into blues, I've been looking for a samll amp with real good clean sound. I've tried Fender Hot Rod, but I never felt happy with that. Twin reverb is way too expensive, and I do not like buy second hand. This PC 30 fits me just right, the sound is clean and warm. With some pedals I can get some killer sound. If you want have a samll amp for practice och small gigs, this is the one! For the blues I use only Fender guitars, for the harder stuff I use Ibanez and Peavey guitars.

I bought this for three days ago! This one will be my backup amp on the gigs.

Never have dealt with then yet!

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years, used to be a guitar shredder a la Yngwie Malmsteen. But last 6 years I've been playing blues most, and I realy enjoy it too. I use Fender Stratoocaster (AM Std), Telecaster (Am trad.) and Jazzmaster (Japan)for blues. For hardrock I use Ibanez S470 and Peavey WVH. This amp will be my pratice amp in my bedroom. I choosed it because it was the cheapest tube amp I could get.

i think it`s a 2003 model, bought it in germany. it already had the tube cage.
i play country , don`t need more features, maybe had liked a
tremolo effect.
footswitch and cover have to be bought seperately.

i play vintage style teles. bought the amp as a transportable practice
amp for my silverface twin`s kinda heavy.
after having used it for quite awhile and gigged with it i have to say
this little amp sounds so great that the twin stays at home.
i love the clean channel as good as the fender and the drive channel sounds plain better than the twin with a ibanez tube driver to me.
reverb is very good too.
the blue marvel speaker doesn`t lack of bass after some break in.
combined with my guitar it`s a twangin`great sustaining amp
with enough headroom to play in a blues or country band.

when i got it new there was some tube humming at low volumes when i played at home.
after a couple weeks it got quiet so there`s no noises anymore.
besides that never had a problem and for what i`ve heard from
other players the classics seem to be reliable.

no experiences

this is one of my best buys of gear if not the best in years.
tremendous sound very affordable, would definately buy again.

This is a 2003 model. You all have read most of the features here. For the price and quality they are sufficient. I can't give it a ten only because I had to order the tube guard from Peavey seperate. This should be included since it is a *MUST* fot this amp if you are going to transport it. This alone takes off 2 points.

Ok guys. Sound is subjective. Everyones ear is different hear. I think it sounds outstanding for the most part. The only thing is, the Blue Marvel Speakers lack some bass. Bottom is all that is missing here. Add a Emminence or Celestion (or a Madison Symphony..http://www.steelsound.com/product.cfm?ProductID=84) and you have a killer amp. JJs might improve it a bit more as well. I still give it a solid 9 though.

So far no bones.

Havent dealt with them yet, other than sales.

Great Value, excellent sound and sweet Tweed. I love it and wouldn;t trade mine for anything (well maybe a MAtchless Chieftan).

Black Tweed version. Purchased used.

Great little amp. Covers a lot of ground - Marshally rock, warmer clean jazz, country, voxy tones with the boost on and clean. Nice. Extremely portable and lightweight. Overall, pretty good tone - really useable for live situations! Plus, Peavey gear is usually bullet proof. ;- )

Generally use the clean channel only with the boost in occassionally for certain material.

Do wish the boost was accessable from the footswitch. And, I wish Peavey would come up with a different footswitch - they have literally used the same footswitch design for 20+ years...still cheesy/cheap.

Also wish the cabinet was a little deeper/bigger - make the amp a bit more toneful to the ear (if mic'ing, probably wouldn't make a difference unless you have a 2nd mic in the back of the cabinet).

Use all kinds of guitars - Fenders, Gibsons, Blades, Ibanez, Schecter, Danelectro...with single and hum pups. All sound great! Hums get a really nice "Creed" kind of tone. Singles can get a great voxy tone, SRV tone with a strat and clean boost, honky country tone with a tele and a compressor. Definately a swiss-army knife amp.

Does, as the other reviews note, rattle a bit - wouldn't use in a studio, but great live.

Drive channel is good for rhythm but needs a pedal for solos.

I always use the clean channel and use a couple ODs for rhythm/lead.

So far, so good. Have blown up several amps in the past months ('68 Fender Pro Reverb, '78 Fender Pro Reverb, 4x10 Fender HRD, '65 Deluxe Reverb RI - all freaky situations, none related to anything, amps each had some major flaw/situation that caused them to fail - and they were all in really great condition). The betting pool is on...so far, no one's won (but me).

Gave it an 8 because there's no tube guard...expecting to find the tubes crushed one of these days.

Playing for 26 years, pro for about 16. Have heard better, but have heard worse. For me, it solves a need for a throw-away amp - if it toasts, I'm not going to cry about it. Tired of taking "good" gear on the road and having it self-destruct. With the Peavey, it's solid, reliable, light weight...but most importantly, it really does sound good. And, I have piece of mind that I'm not going to the poor house if it dies...just find another one anywhere ('cause they are pretty common) and use the blown one for parts.

peavey has always made copys of everything else. . . this is simply a copy of a cheap fender deluxe with less wattage

i give this a two because peavey really uses crap when they build things. If you want to make the amp sound half decent you might as well just take all the tubes out, replace them with JJ or GT and replace the speaker with a celestion

dont know only played one in a store for a while

see above

i have been playing since i was 8 and am now 17, i have had my shares of amps and guitars but have rested on a american tele and a marshall avt50, (i love vox but never had the money) if you want a good low price amp for gain go with a marshall avt. . . sounds tube even tho it isnt and if you want one for clean go with traynor or fender hot rod. . . keep playing and find your tone

Has enough features for me... two channels, spring reverb, passive EQ, boost. Just the necessities.

It sounds very nice, and that's even with the awful stock Sovteks. Over the past year I've had it they've gotten so microphonic they ring like bells. Clean tone probably equals amps like Fender Hot Rod Deville, but it has way more drive than the Fender.

This amp is very dependable. One day it mysteriously stopped working, but it turns out that my bass-heavy style of playing rattled the connection loose on the output transformer. In my opinion, that does not constitute a problem! I've gigged with it twice, and it's just wonderful.

Haven't dealt with them, but others here say they do a good job.

Overall, it's a great amp. Perfect for blues, jazz, rock, classic rock, pop, even some metal. Death-metal gain freaks will surely find it too docile - although it has much more drive than the Fender tubes. Once I replace my tubes with some new JJ's I'm sure that I'll gush over it much more, but until then, well, it still kicks ass.

Has the features of a good combo, effects loop, two channels and EL84 tubes.

I highly recommend replacing the stock speaker with a V30. I did this and the improvement was incredible. Before it would sound aweful at high volumes, which is something a lot of peavey's can do. However, with new tubes and a new speaker it sounded great at high volumes. It lost a lot of its harshness and now has a nice smooth breakup. The rating of an 8 is after the speaker change.

Also, with the boost button clicked in, you can get a lot of midrange. Great for a marshally kind of sound. I play it with a Les Paul type guitar, with the mids cranked, you can get some nice lead tones. With the treble and bass knobs cranked and the boost switch off, you can get some great clean strat tones that are on the edge of breakup. Unfortunetly you can't get both these sounds from the two channels, because you just have one set of tone controls. Actually, it is not a true two channel amp. The second channel just engages more pre-amp tubes.

no probs so far

This is a great value for a good tube amp that you can pickup cheap, and by putting a new speaker in it, you can really improve the sound a great deal.

This has already been addressed plenty. To me it's got more than i need, as all i require is a loop, verb, and one good channel.

This is more than a review of the stock amp, but instead i wanted to comment on the mods a lot of people do to these. They sound good stock, but nothing to write home about. But as Mario a few reviews below states, the mods can and will (depending on which ones you do) take this amp into a whole new league.
Sock i'd give the amp a 6 or 7. Modded i have to give it a 10 because it works so perfect at gigs i truly haven't a single complaint.

What seperates this amp from a lot of others that almost sound great but aren't quite there are 2 things. One, the blueguitar.org site which has a ton of info on modding the amp in many ways. if you can solder and read a schematic the possibility to make it into a far better rig is very real. And 2, looking at the schematic reveals a pretty simple circuit with no solid state devices in the signal path at all unless you use the loop. And even then i find the loop to be one of the best i've used as transparency goes.

Anyway the point is, i have turned mine into an amp that sounds as good as just about anything you'll find other than boutique stuff, and even there i like it more than anything i've tried so far.

What i did: Cathode bias mod, (used 100 ohm resistor instead of 60 as in the BG instructions)changed C4 to an 820pf, (very important) fenderized the input, added an all-tone speaker, ($59 from reverenddirect.com)and added JJ EL84's.

Those are the things that really did the trick. The amp's disortion channel is now much less processed sounding with a little less gain and a far far more vintage vibe to it. Much more natural tone with richness and transparency. As good as any marshall i've owned and better than most,(i've owned a number of them)but with a more fendery vible. Maybe 1/2 way in-between.

In short the point is that this amp is a gem thats being smothered by some design choices who's purposes i don't understand. As the amp sounds now with the mods and speaker and tubes, i am as happy with it as any amp i have ever owned, and believe me i've owned way too many. In any case, do the mods i mentioned and add the tubes and speaker and if you like the kind of tone i do, the amp will make you real happy. I've been using the modded amp now for a year and i like it as much now as i did when i first did the mods.

I've owned 4 of these, and they are fairly reliable except for one serious problem. There are 3 circuit boards that are attached to each other with about 100 solid core wire jumpers. these fracture after a while rendering the amp dead. It's not a matter of IF, but a matter of when. The reason for this is vibration during transport. As the circuit boards are shaken in a car during transport, the wires are being stressed and eventually will fracture leaving an open circuit.You'll find that the problem ALWAYS happens when you set it up at a gig or right when you plug it in after transport home from a gig. Basically, it shows itself right after it's been transported. this is scary considering any gig you do is right after transporting the amp ! Mine have gone down on me at a couple gigs, and a couple times after transport home.

There are 2 ways to deal with this. You can make sure that the amp is always on a car seat when transporting, which will delay the problem by cushioning it against vibration hopefully for as long as you have it, tho maybe not. Hard to say. I'd wager that if you do this it will last as long as you own it if you don't gig a heck of a lot and your ride is smooth.

The sure way to eliminate the problem completely is to do what i did. I cut 1/2" pieces of thin stranded wire and soldered them in paralell to the jumpers one at a time. Considering there are probably close to 100 of them, this is a long tedious process that took me i estimate 2 hours. But well worth it for peace of mind.

Thats the only reliability issue with these amps, tho it is a big one, so i'll give the stock amp a 5.

No idea.

As for the rattle issue a few others have mentioned, of the 4 i've owned i never had that. In fact i've had no issues other than the jumper problem mentioned above.

To sum up i would say that if you're into a vintage type of sound with master volume and fx loop and verb, once modded this amp is very hard to beat even at a much higher cost than the cost of the amp and parts combined once modded. I feel the amp is so much better than stock it's a no brainer to do the mods. unfortunatly this only applies to those who CAN do it. You can pick these up used for about $200, and with the speaker and tubes you're at about $300 total. Not a bad price considering that in my opinion at least it's in the same league as amps costing 3 or 4 times as much. By the way, the modded affair has great dynamics and cleans up beautifully with your guitar volume. It also has wonderfull output tube compression at even low stage volumes. i use the distortion channel at about 2/3 up and control the clean/distortion from my guitar volume, then hit a clean boost pedal for high gain. i don't even use the clean channel. the amp really shows it's sonic worth at gigs. not bad at home either, but you can't turn it down real low for apartment playing or such. but then even the stock amp is like that. By the time it begins to sound good it's too loud at least in a situation like apartment living.

the mods i mentioned will take about 2 hurs at most......add another 2 for re-inforcing the jumpers if you wish. Once done you will probably never sell it !

sorry about the anonymity, but every time i post a contact address i get email for years after posting. If you have questions go to the blueguitar.org site and read everything you can find on the 30. You will find everything i've talked about there, tho you may have to search a bit and do a lot of reading.

You all know the stuff in this amp, OK features nothing great.

Great tone, that's why I bought this amp...love both the clean and the dirty channels. Have found a disturbing buzz on certain notes that is very troublesome to me. wondering if anyone else has noticed this or has found a solution. It is not tube rattle, i checked that out.

Only had amp three months

love the tone...
love the weight and size and even the look
hate the buzz though.....
probably would not buy another until/unless this buzz issue can be resolved favorably

The problem with this review board is that everyone who writes a review owns the product,therefore they bought the product-so its not really a real review-this review is on a product I didnt buy-
There are 170+ reveiws below this one that will tell you what the features are-in fairness,this amp does have good features for a tube amp-but its possible that its what make it lack sound

This amp sounds like you stuck a speaker and a preamp(solidstate) in a wheaties box and plugged it in-the clean channel is bad and the distorted channel is worse-Not trying to be mean,I so loved the idea of this new and probally dependable all tube 30 watt amp-but it unfortunetly sounds like a really lousy small solid-state amp, really overpriced lousy solid state amp

NA-didnt buy it

NA

Ive been playing 15 years-Ive seen amp quality go down and prices going up-Its a sad time to live in as a musician-Id seriouly advice not buying this amp,there are many other all tube amps out there that sound 1000x better than this one,this was a real clunker,I cant believe people are buying this amp for new for 400-500 bucks,or 200-300 used-remember to compare amps right next to each other cause you might think it sounds good till you set up with someone actually playing a good amp,then your out your money

Made in 1996. Versatile amp for the most part, it can do a little metal but not the best for high gain stuff. It can do most everything else (blues, rock, country, jazz, etc.) 2 channels, but I read somewhere that it is not REALLY two channels. The channel switch just adds extra gain stages? Effects loop. Footswitch. The "boost" button is really useless. It changes the sound totally, and not in a good way at all. I use this amp at home, no gigs. Although it is plenty loud enough to play gigs. Especially with the Peavey Classic 112E extension cabinet that I added, but we'll get to that later. Excellent tweed blues/rock amp. Let me repeat, this amp is LOUD. All the knobs go from 1 upto 12, which is cool if you've ever seen Spinal Tap. I rarely play with volume up past 3 or 4. Wish it had tremolo maybe like the Peavey Delta Blues amp does. I added a "tube guard" you can find on ebay only. Cost about 20 bucks, well worth it.

Using an Agile LP2500 (les paul copy) with Duncan SH-1 in the neck, and SH-4 in the bridge. Really good sounding amp. Best I've ever owned. It is only noisey on the dirty channel with the "pre" turned up loud. BUT, Peavey Classic 30's do rattle a bit. I think it is tube rattle, a common problem with the C30. Not noticable unless you are playing quiet. Clean channel is great, some say this amp leans towards the trebley side, which suits me fine. It is open back, but I added a Peavey Classic 112E closed back extension cab and now I have a very full sounding tweed mini-stack. I also added a Celestion Greenback G12M to the C30 and moved the stock speaker (Blue Marvel) into the 112E. I ordered new tubes as soon as I got the amp. I got JJ tubes from www.eurotubes.com and I highly suggest you do the same. The dirty channel is pretty good, but seems to be a bit quieter than the clean channel, I use a Soul Patch fuzz pedal and it really rips through this setup! Can do Jimmy Page, Sabbath, Pumpkins, etc... I give her a 9 after the mods. 7 before.

only had it for about a month now. no problems at all. i took it apart while replacing the speaker and it looked solid inside.

I am very happy with this amp. Upgrading tubes/speaker is a must. The ext cab really helps alot too. 112E only cost me $125 shipped to my door. Basically I spent roughly $575 total, and I have a badass tweed mini-stack, that sounds sweeter than yoohoo, and can get loud enough to break stuff (while maintaining quality tone). Probably way louder than I'll ever need since I don't gig, but when the wife is at work, I can really let her rip... so so nice. :)