Peavey Classic 30

I think mine was built in the late 90s - I got it used a year back, so I can't say. The amp is very versatile and so is my band. I wouldn't own it otherwise. It has an effects loop and a distortion channel. Here's where the other reviewers have lost me - they say the distortion channel is useless. Monkey see, monkey do. I thought the same thing when I got mine until I actually tweaked around with it and found out what it can really do. I've mainly used this in my practice room and sometimes on a gig (but that's about to change). 30 watts is plenty of power because we mic everything anyway. After working with it I now feel I can use it on any gig with minimal effects - an echo, tremelo, chorus and wah. Keep reading.

I use Teles, Strats, and Les Pauls depending on my mood. I played in a large arena on Friday night up near Nashville and brought my '72 Fender Twin Reverb, my effects board and my guitars. Last night, I played at a small local club and brought my Twin and my Peavey Classic. I had purchased a two button foot switch off eBay for the Reverb and to switch between my clean and dirty channels. In playing around with this amp at home, I found that by engaging the boost button (to the far right) and turning the post to about 3 and the drive to about 6, I get a sweet creamy distortion I had previously thought was only possible with pedals. In fact, I've gone through a lot of pedals and never quite found this sound. Well, last night I found it. I played the first two sets with my trusty old Twin, then I plugged this baby up (sans effects pedal - just a foot switch) and just let 'er rip. And boy did it ever rip. My bass player and drummer couldn't believe it; it actually sounded better than my Twin. The clean channel with the boost button pushed had just a little dirt so that when I rolled the volume off, it sounded clean. We cover 'Runnin Down a Dream' by Tom Petty, so I used the distortion channel and fell in love with it. Next, we started pulling out some old ZZ Top and Zeppelin. It sounded fantabulous. Like I said, if you can't get a good sound out of this, you're doing something wrong, or you can't play and no amp in the world will fix that. Don't believe everything people post here. One guy apparently got pissed off at his incompetent amp tech and rated this at a 1. Peavey likely would have fixed his problem, but from what he posted, the retailer, not Peavey, dropped the ball. They never sent it back, so Peavey never got a chance.

Case in point: My bass player bought a pro-series 450w Ampeg head and it farted out on him, so he took it Yarbrough's Music here in Memphis and they jacked it up worse - then tried to charge him $200 for repairs. They had it 2 weeks and it didn't work PERIOD when he got it back, so now its at a REAL amp tech's shop. It's not Ampeg's fault. My point? Don't blame a manufacturer for an incompent dim-wit at a repair shop.

I bought a tube damper for my amp right from the git. I replaced the tubes and it hasn't failed once and isn't microphonic IN THE LEAST. Absolutely zero tube rattle. It was a simple fix and Peavey really should buy the patent from the guy who invented that tube damper and use it on every amp that leaves their plant. Since I've only had mine for a year and have just started gigging with it, I'll use a second party's experience to rate reliability. Steve Jones (not his real name) is a professional player here in Memphis and has supported himself making music for the past 30+ years. He has owned his Classic 30 and played live with it on every single gig for 15 years without any problems (He says he's working his way through poverty; actually, he's doing pretty good now). He knows good tone and can likely play rings around most of the players reviewing on this forum. This guy is that good. Anyway, he's the reason I bought mine. He carries it around in his trunk, the tweed is all tattered and torn, but it still sounds great. It is his ONLY amp. He said if it gave out on him tonight, it would have still paid for itself 100s of times over. And you guys who think the newer Fenders are the way to go - have at it. Unless you get a hand wired one, be ready for some down time. They're not 'point to point' wired anymore than I'm an astronaut. Steve has worked as a luthier in several music stores and will tell you that the Classic 30 is far more dependable; Fenders were constantly being returned for repairs, no Classic 30s. Like I said, that's why I own one and I feel it was a great pick.

I've owned other Peavey equipment and they seem committed to honoring their warranty. They usually sublet their repairs to 'qualified' techs in your area, but they don't personally oversee who that is. They let the retailer find their own techs, like most everyone else does. If you have problems with the work the tech does, call their 800# and let Peavey know about it before coming to a review forum with your soap box and negative attitude so you can downgrade something other people are raving about. Their guarantee is they will either repair OR REPLACE faulty products. I've called them about a problem with a powered mixer we use on small gigs and they were friendly and very helpful. The tech talked me through the 'repair' which was simple.

Another 10? Yep. Been playing for 45 years, 32 years semi-pro. I own a couple of hand built boutique amps, a heavily modded Fender Twin Reverb, and this Classic 30, plus a few nice guitars (as if that matters on an amp review). If it were lost or stolen I'd look for a used one on eBay or Craigslist, but I would definitely get another Classic 30. In fact, I'm watching for another one to come up on Craigslist right now. Its small and packs a big punch, looks cool, and sounds as good or better than amps costing several times more. The components are not the greatest, but they're on par with other amps using printed circuits. I'm really surprised Steve's amp has held up as well as it has, so maybe mine will too. As far as I'm concerned, it has everything I wanted in an amp and it will now be my go-to for future gigs. I always bring a back up because tube amps are notorious for frying tubes at the worst possible time, but you gotta love 'em for the tone. If this one ever goes on the blink, I'll have to see what repairs would cost, but I'd likely just buy another used one as reasonably as they're priced. I'll cross that bridge IF I get to it.

30 watt tube amp with 2 channels but only 1 eq for both channels. Has an effects loop. Comes stock with blue marvel 12 inch speaker.

I will have to admitt the amp sounds good. I play mostly single coil teles and strats but occasionaly run a les paul or prs thru it. It is a good amp for country, southern & classic rock, and blues. If you play anything heavier you will need a stompbox distortion. I am not a big fan of the blue marvel speakers I recomend changing them to your speaker of choice.

THIS IS A PROBLEM!!! I have an older model classic 30 and the biggest flaw of its constuction is there is NO protection for the tubes. The tubes are the most delicate part of the amp! They are made of glass for crying out loud! I do not feel comfortable transporting this amp to a gig for that very reason.

I contacted peavey to see if they made an after market guard for the tubes and it turns out that they do. However I tried numerous times to contact their parts department to order one and can get no response. Its bad enough that you have to order an aftermarket tube guard for a $600 amp but when they won't even return an email about purchasing one that sucks!!!!!!!

I have been playing almost 20 years. I own marshalls, mesas, egnaters, fenders, and peavey amps. Including a peavey classic 30 2x12 halfstack wich is constructed much better than the combo I'm reviewing. I love the sound and portability of the amp. 30 watts is plenty for any gig. If you need to be louder you need to be miked. However not having a guard for the tubes and the ****** customer service make this amp a liability to own.

You can read all the features from previous reviews. As it's been stated this is not "true 2 channel" but the technical reasons don't interest me. I personally think the shared EQ is a good thing! This is the first amp I've owned where I've been happy with the settings switching between the lead and clean channels. This is also the first amp I've played where both channels sound good. Usually one channel is vastly superior to the other.

I play blues, classic rock, etc. and this amp can cover it all (except metal) without pedals. After experimenting around a bit, I've added an OD-3 pedal to boost volume during solos.

The "boost" button is interesting, most players seem to hate it. For single coils it sounds ok to my ears, the main reason I don't use it is it's not accessible via foot pedal.

I've used this amp recently playing with a small group, and this amp has plenty of power. The other guitar player has a solid state head with a big 4X12 cabinet and my amp with the single speaker not only holds its own but could blow him away if I would turn the volume past 5.

Not a lot of bells and whistles, but I like things simple.

I use humbuckers mostly, though single coils sound good too. I think it's a rather bright amp, sometimes a little too harsh for me. I usually use an amp stand, but with this amp I can hear it fine with it flat on the floor.

The reverb was humming on me at higher settings. That was cured by moving the reverb pan just at little.

Someone already described the amp as a "one trick pony". I think that's accurate, but it's a good trick.

I don't think it's a good idea to ever gig without a backup, no matter what amp you use, particularly if you're getting paid. I think with tube amps it's even more important to have a spare.

I would say this is probably not an amp that would take a lot of abuse, but if you're responsible for carrying your own stuff (I dream of having a roadie someday!) you will more than likely take care when loading in the vehicle and carrying it in to play...

Can't really rate it since I've had it less than 6 months.

Not dealt with Peavey. Bought it from a music store. It was $50 cheaper than musiciansfriend.com. Will take it back there if I ever need it worked on.

OK, there are other tube amps that sound better, but they are also a lot more expensive. I compared this to other models before I tried it out in a store.

Main thing that I think reviews like this are helpful with are people's experiences. I appreciate the negative reviews too, I hope my positive experience with this amp will continue.

Trying an amp in a store is important, but you don't learn much about it until you play with others. In that environment, it hasn't failed me yet.

I am writing this review after have a bunch of Peavey Classics over the years. My main amp is a Peavey "Blues Classic" which is like a Classic 50 with a 15" cab. Great amp. I've had and sold a bunch of Classic 30s but just purchased another one this week to use as a 'grab and go' amp to replace my Crate V3112. Anyway, after many years a of playing the Classic 30, there seems be a few problems that myself and many others have had:

1. The OD Channel doesn't have a seperate eq and gets 'lost' in the mix. Solution: Buy a $28 Danelectro Fish 'n Chips and put it in the effects loop. Boost the mids and output level and now you will 'pop out' of the mix rather than lose volume. Best $28 you could ever spend. Do this BEFORE you swap speakers, tubes etc.

2. Tubes/Speakers - save money and try to get some vintage or NOS tubes. Unlike most of the retarded bubbleheads on the internet, I'm not blindly advising the "JJ/Vintage 30" swap. JJ preamp tubes are horrible at best and their EL84s are just average. Plus quality has gone waaay down as of late. To demonstrate the quality of JJs, well, my cat buries them in the litter box b/c he mistakes them for something else. I would recommend any number of vintage or NOS tubes... I am currently using a Tungsram in V1 (fantastic) an RFT in V2 (great 'crunch' tube) and a Sovtek LPS or Tungsol RI in V3. With power tubes I would just go with regular stock Sovtek EL84s or better yet, get some older Russian EL84M 'military' power tubes also known as 6p14-EB. They are similar to regular EL84s but can take a beating and rattle much less. If you want to spend big bucks on a quad of El84s, go for some NOS Tungsrams (IF you can find them.... good luck).

And please don't put a "Vintage 30" speaker in this amp. I put Vintage 30 in quotes b/c the current made Chinese Celestions are nothing like a real older Vintage 30. But either way, they are a horrible match for this amp. Break in the stock speaker first. If you absolutely hate it, spend your money on an 112 extension cab. If you MUST change the speaker, about the best you can get for the Classic 30 is a Weber Blue Dog or an Eminence Cannabis Rex. But breaking in the stock speaker and then invested in an extra 112 cab will be money better spent.

3. Replace the Output Transformer. I replaced the output transformer on my Peavey Blues Classic with a Mercury Magnetics unit and the difference is amazing. Expensive, but money well spent. I can only imagine that replacing the OT on a Classic 30 woud bring about the same improvement in tone. This last option is only for hard-core tone freaks 'cause it's expensive and you can get most of the way there by just using the $28 Fish 'n Chips and putting some REAL tubes in there. (Not JJs). I challange anyone to prove me wrong.

I got mine used, so I can only guess from what the previous owner told me that its about 5 years old. I've had it for a year. The tone of this amp is its selling point - clear and articulate. I can generally tweak around with any amp and get a tone that I can use, but with this one its very easy and it sounds good on a lot of different settings. It could be used strictly for rock, or country, R&B, blues and even jazz. I play all those styles to some degree (still can't quite get the hang of jazz even though I took lessons a few years back.)It has plenty of power - I have amps with a lot more power, but even this one is too loud for most venues if I really crank it. I mic it anyway, so volume isn't an issue. The amp has everything I want in an amp - dual channels, reverb, remote reverb switch and channel switching with a footswitch, an effects loop, and 3 band eq. Great little package.

I use Gibsons primarily, but I've also played my Tele through this a lot and it has such a sweet tone through those EL34s. As much as I like Les Pauls and SGs, I think this amp is better matched to my Telecaster. The amp is surprisingly quiet. I turned it on tonight, went to the kitchen and came back and forgot I had it on until I picked up my guitar and unplugged it - AROOOMPH! Yep, it was on all right. I usually get at least a slight hum. Is that the norm for these things? I've only played through one other but I didn't pay attention to how it sounded when the guitar wasn't actually being played.

So far so good. I replaced the tubes right away when I got it because one of the EL34s was microphonic. I put Ruby EL34s in it and EH 12AX7s in the pre. I play it all the time around the house and have used it a few times on gigs. My friend Steve has one that he's used for about 15 years on every single gig (about 5 nights a week in Memphis plus Las Vegas tours on occasion) and its never been to the shop. If it quit on him tonight, he would feel he definitely got his money's worth. I'm sure he would get another Classic 30 instead of blowing his money on a boutique amp. I've read on this review that some people haven't had the same experience as Steve, but I think a lot of it has to do with how you treat it and being able to differentiate between an amp problem and a tube problem. Then again, not all Peavey 30s are created equally. Any amp can have a bad component or two that makes the whole thing sound bad. Anyway, in my case it has been dependable and hopefully it will stay that way.

I think with any company, customer support in the eye of the beholder is only going to be as good as the person you speak with. Some people don't like their job, they don't care if your amp doesn't work don't want to do anything about it. The only time I called Peavey was concerning a PA head and the guy was helpful. Otherwise, I've never had a problem with Peavey gear.

I've played for about 45 years and have owned a plethora of amps and guitars. Overall, I've personally been very satisfied with the Classic 30 and would recommend it to any musician looking for a great tone without shelling out a lot of dough. The amp looks cool, sounds great, and is easy to carry around. I wish it had a birch plywood cab instead of the particle board, but I can deal with it.

I've got two of these, I'm guessing they're around ten years old. They are the older style, with the silly-looking Peavey logo removed. Most people assume they're old Fender amps when they see them. You know the features by now, nothing fancy. The boost button is useless, don't push it. I have no problem with the shared three-way EQ between the two channels, sounds great to me on both. I use the FX loop, very nice. These things are easy to tote, plenty loud, and after upgrading tubes and speakers, have tone, tone, tone. The only thing missing is a standby switch, but it's no biggie. I point a small fan at the back to keep the amp cool. Depending on the gig, I'll use one or both of the amps, sometimes one with an extension cab, just depends. They work great for laid back jazz gigs, rock shows, everything in between. I use them a lot on worship gigs where it's a very critical environment. I probably spend too much time listening to the playbacks, but then again, they sound great.

I mainly use a very old Strat, sometimes an old Les Paul custom, sometimes lap steels. On the clean channel, the Les Paul sounds nice and round with great sustain on chords. Works great for jazz gigs. You can get a very nice R&B tone with the Strat, very well-balanced with a fat bottom and bell-like top end. I just like the way these things sound. Unless it's a really load gig, the Ampegs and the Boogie stay home. To me, where they got things right with this amp is the way both the clean channel and the lead channel sound. Warm and sparkly clean, that "Mississippi Marshall" tone on the lead channel. Both very natural. When you crank up the clean channel, the grit starts a-comin'. I've set both amps up the same way, JJ tubes all around and Celestion Vintage 30's. It's just the ideal match. I generally use SM57s for mics, a little off-axis from center, but I've also had good results with Sennheisers. Reality check time - this is a small amp, so it's not going to sound like a Marshall stack. It doesn't have the transformers of a Matchless DC-30. Does it record well? You bet. Is it loud enough for most club gigs? Absolutely. Can you play anywhere with this amp when you mic it? It's up to the sound engineer. Very easy to get my sound, pretty much plug and play, with an old MXR Dyna Comp and a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive before the input. This gives me plenty of tonal options. I'll use the Sparkle Drive set fairly clean to fatten up clean solos, and to drive the lead channel over the crest. In the FX loop, I generally run a Rocktron Xpression followed by a Rocktron Intelliflex, so I've got any effect I want covered, in stereo when I want it. Too cool for words. I use an expression pedal with the Rocktron Xpression, so I can add post-distortion eq for the lead channel. The basic tone of the lead channel is ripe for the picking -I just add some midrange in the FX loop after the distortion for solos to fatten up the sound. The Rocktron HUSH noise reduction is outstanding, so it's dead quiet for the worship gigs. It just works for what it is that I do.

One of the amps has never failed on me, the other one has had a couple of issues, both my fault. I found out the hard way that if one of the top handle screws comes loose, the nut can fall into the circuit below, cause a short, and you'll have to replace an internal fuse on the gig. No fun. The other time - you'll like this one. I'm pushing a hand truck with the amp on it for the long trip from the parking area to the gig at Opryland Hotel in a driving rainstorm. I hit a bump, the amp falls in a muddy puddle. I get inside, turn it on, and it sounds like an outboard motor. I turn it on its side, and dries out just in time for the show and has worked great ever since. That was three years ago. These things are American-made and tough as nails. Oh - one thing you must do. Buy and install one of the commercially available rear tube guards!

Never dealt with Peavey customer support, never had to.

I've been playing for 35+ years, so I'm pretty picky about sounds, and I like gear that's easy to move. I've had these amps for a while, not planning on parting with them. Is there better gear available? Sure. Is it more expensive? Very much so. For tone/price/performance/reliability/weight, you really can't go wrong with the Classic 30. For that, it gets a 10 in my book.

Tube Amp from 2004. A "not really"2-channel.Reverb.Nice Outfit.Tone controls work for both settings.12" speaker.Footswitch for channel and reverb.

I work with Fenders and Gibsons and all kinds of pickups with a
favour for P90s.The amp responds some kind of "couloring".Clean is NOT
Fenderclean.Okay its a Peavey.Crunch is good. Too much gain causes
problems.Played several gigs and the amp is powerfull enough for that.
For bedroom rehearsal strongly not recommended.All in all i'd like to
say, good for Rock and Blues, less good for Country as there ain't no
really clean, nothing for Metal.

I'm a lucky guy to have several warhorses from obvious brand,and so
must not rely totally on this one.Better is that.My experience is a
letdown.Crap tubesockets and a terrible serviceable U-form printed circuit are the main suspects.I know now why these go new from the
dealer at about 700 and within 2 years you find many of them used at about 300 and less.I can service a tube amp but I'm not in soldering
I'm in playing.Besides my amps go only where I would go sleeping,I'm
an "tubeamphugger".This beast eats tubes like I drink beer, cheap ones
and expensive ones alike.Noises,blackouts all things you don't need.

Never dealt with them. Amp was used when I bout em.

Been playing about 30 years now,my other gear is not matter of this.
Yeah he got lost,I sold him. I can only hope that guy don't hunts me
with his axe. I will never buy one again. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a servicetechnican when you brought that one in and saw
how he wants to leave the room "PRONTO"?
May all you others be lucky with em,I'm glad mines gone!

This is a modified classic 30 they have been available to the gp since 1996. It has a 2 channel thing going. I honestly don't care about the how it comes up with the channels. It has really nice cleans and nice distortion. The only flaw is if you get right on axis you get ice pick highs. I am going to try the fizzy lifter for that stay tuned on that. One of the biggest problems I had was it was too loud by the time you hit the sweet spot. Enter Jim at Amphead in Portland. He performed a cool little mod that cut out 2 of the tubes creating essentially a classic 18. Finally I can hit the sweet spot without complaints

Currently I play a Washburn MG122 with 2 humbuckers and a Schecter C1 EA with 3 GFS Memphis Ricky tones. The amp handles these guitars really well. The Piezo pickup sounds rich without too many mids. The GFS are bright pickups that yield any thing fro a nice strat tone to a pretty good classic rock tone beautiful cleans. The Washburn has a Seymour 59 and a pearly Gates standard. The amp loves these guitars but you have to dial it in. I find the treble set on 4 bass on 10 mids on 8. I play a little of everything from pop to old hard rock to country style. I push it with an ME 50 Boss and the normal amp switching. I like the distortion especially in the low watt mode.

I use the amp to gig and use a moddler as a backup. If I need more volume I can go to th 30 watt mode. Its reliable.

Peavey is a good company. They will actually send tech data and help. But with this amp I rally don't need their help.

I have been playing for 35 years I own the 2 electric guitars mentioned above as well as a Breedlove acoustic and a schecter Stilleto studio 5 bass.I also have 3 pianos and a drum set. Those are actually the wifes' Yeah how lucky am I? I have also used various pods and currently a boss gt 8 with a graphic eq in the effects loop. Makes the fizz go away and gives it a clarity that is almost tube. None of actually get all the way there. If the amp were stolen I would be unhappy but would probably go amp shopping and try a couple things.

Everyone is aware of it's features, so let's talk about what it doesn't have...

Controls on the front, like it should
A tube guard on the back
A metal vs plastic channel switcher
An Eq for the each channel
A light to indicate which channel your on

I play out, it's a one trick pony...

I will will admit at loud settings past about 6 on post, people like how it sounds, but at lower volumes, it sucks. It's also really dependent on which guitar you use...for me, humbucker guitars seem to work best...the boost switch just adds mud at lower volumes.

I bought it to get the tube tone. Not impressed.

Under the right conditions I have gotten close but as I state latter, with the controls the way they are, it's so hard to get.

Tubes are exposed, so if you store stuff in the back, then your just asking to have the tubes get bumped. It's happened to me. It's a bad design.

Had problems where the tubes got bumped and had to leave the stage to get the tubes back in. Not Peavey's fault that my tubes got bumped but it's kinda like walking around without pants, your ***** are unprotected, not smart, they will get bumped too.

Amp has always turned on.

Never used them.

If you gig, the first problem is find your tone on this amp.

First because there is only one EQ, the boost just adds mudd at low volumes, the amp is supper bassy, so cleaning it up is hard, the controls are on the back, tough to get to, no channel light. Tubes exposed, so they will get bumped. All of which has led to my gigs, where I spend the whole night trying to find the tone, the volume, the right channel, pushing tubes back in, taking out the mud, and less time playing..I have a wall of guitars, some of them sound like crap with this amp, some are better...if you buy this amp, buy a wall of guitars.

The only saving grace to this amp, is that at loud volumes, some people think this amp souds good, and with the right guitar, I have actualy had amp techs, looking into the back to see what I got inside there. Honestly, I got lucky, it never sounded right to me, right song, right night, right room, right volume..is there magic in this amp, maybe but it's hard for me to find. Spring reverb works fine, plenty of it, if you like that heavy stupid tremelo effect, but if you move the amp, then it sound like an earthquake. Spring reverb is silly, ...I am not a solid state guy, but if you move the amp a little the solid state reverb doesn't crash, bang like a spring reverb does, and they sound just fine, and don't break.

For me an amp with controls on the front, channel switching light, metal not plastic foot switch, with light, eq for both clean and dirty channel, distortion that is tight and clean not muddy is a required, not just something to have. This amp just gets in my way, because it's the kinda amp you have to figure out, rather then turn on, move some things around, done.

I would rather play on stage, then play with my amp all night. I give this amp a 7, if you figure it out, find the right guitar, play loud it will work, but it won't do much else. It's easy on the back to move, and it always turns on. Buy it cheap and you won't feel hosed if your gig goes south, but honestly there are better amps used, for the money.

If someone stole this amp, I would buy something else.

I picked up my Classic 30 from a friend in '99, a few years after he bought it new. I think the features the amp has have been pretty well covered by other reviewees. The amp is simple and effective, just how I like it.

First, I use an stock American strat with a humbucker in the bridge position, and single coils for the neck and mid.

I'm going to break this section up into two parts: premod and postmod.

premod: The factory setting of the amp had full mids and warm highs, pretty great for blues and jazz. The clean channel was beautiful. The overdrive was weak, and the amp really needed to be cranked to get any growl out of it. I only had two complaints: 1) the lack of low end presence & 2) the treble boost created an entirely different, awful sound which did not function as a 'guitar solo button'.

postmod: I made a few changes to my Classic 30. I switched the capacitors for the mid and low equalizer circuits (low: .022uF to orange-drop .047uF; mid: .022uF to orange-drop .022uF). And I wired in an L-Pad attenuator between the amp and the speaker. The result: my little Classic 30 now sounds like my cranked Marshall TSL tube amp! Seriously.

This amp went through a decade of heavy use on the original tubes! It has been knocked over several times and survived a ten foot drop without barely a scratch.

I had one which I'm sure is common with all amps: at some point, the volume would drop down randomly, or the high end would disappear and return, etc. I bought a $7 can of electronics cleaner from Radio Shack, then opened up the amp and sprayed the hell out of the insides of the pots. The issue was instantly resolved (I think this is called maintainence).

I've never attempted to contact Peavey.

This amp has the guts for almost any occasion. It can be ear-splitting loud, and if you're playing a gig that requires even more volume, the amp will probably be miked anyways. The Classic 30 does great on its own (especially after a few mods), and handles effects well. I don't know of a better value.

Serial number states 2009 so I would say made in 2009.
Suits my Classic Rock/Southern Rock tastes great.
2 channels normal and lead. Switchable by button onpanel or footswitsh not included, luckily I have an old Bandit 65 I use for my electric/acoutsic guitar and the pedal works perfectly on the Classic 30.
Effects loop to be played with later.
No headphone jack but seems to be adjustable form pretty damn loud to bedroom levels and still retain some credibility.
Standby would hav ebeeen nice to have and boost I find just seems to muddy things up.
Use this amp in my guitar room(spare bedroom) of my house and to take along to jam elsewhere. Has plenty of power and so much easier tolug around than a half stack.
Basic guitar amp with basic amenities.
Others here have made comments about lacking amenities but the current model seems to have heard a few cries such as the tube holders in place, metal screen covering the back of the tubes, JJ's allaround both pre and power stages. Heats up quie a bit but nothing a small fan won't cure.

Used with an Epiphone LP standard plus with SD Seth Lover pickups, an Epiphone G-400 SG with a SD Custom 78 in teh Bridge and Alnico Pro II in the neck, and a Peavey Patriot Duncan JB in Bridge and SD Jazz in neck, both coil tapped with the flick of a switch.
Suits me fine for AC/DC, Aerosmith, Skynyrd, Sabbath, Van Halen you get the nint.
Somewhat noisy at times but old wiring inj house is more to bame than the amp I am sure.
Two good tones from normal and lead then use the guitar pots to do their jobs and create a greater pallate of sound.
Starts to break up at higher volumes on normal but thats the nature of the beast. Can be brutal when boost added etc but to each his own.
Allready has JJ's all around from the store so may try a speaker swap with an Eminence Private Jack I have handy.

Only had it a day so still breakling in etc . Honeymoon is sweet so far though.
Seems solid , always bring back up gear for a gig. If you ar egetting paid shouldn't you do it automatically.

Haven't called for anything on this one but with my Valveking 100 Head and Bandit always got ptrompt info an danswers

Playing as a hobbyist fsince about 1981. Guitars Peavey Patriot, Epiphone LP Standard Plus, Epiphone G-400. Valveking 10 head, valveking cabinet with cros pattern Private Jacks and VK Speakers. bandit 65 amp, Norman acoustic and Ibanez electric acoustic.

This is a two channel tweed amp. It has an effects loop and boost switch which I use frequently. Only draw-back is it has no standby switch. It's been good to me (tone-wise) for indie and country/rock.

Good warm distortion. Not a tone of clarity but I'm sure that could be improved with a new speaker. I really dig the clean, it's full and rich for a little 1x12.

Man... this is why I wrote this review. I hesitate to do this but I have to be honest with my experience because I want others to know what happened to me. Let me first say this amp came HIGHLY recommended by serious pros who I trust, but unfortunately this amp has been an absolute nightmare for me. It's been in and out of the shop for the past 5 years solid. I've paid for the amp over twice for repairs. I should've have just immediately gotten rid of it, but the tone and the cost of getting a new amp kept me from upgrading. When I bought the amp I was in a band that played about 40 shows a year. It gave me problems. By now my band plays 150+ shows a year and this amp can absolutely NOT handle it. It has betrayed me at big shows and repeatedly crapped out when I needed it (like going to Nashville to record debut album). Every amp tech says the tube sockets are absolute crap and that's usually the problem. Even when the tubes are working fine there's a god-awful rattle. There was a nasty short in the reverb tank (is that what it's called?) that took techs forever to find out and as I'm typing this there a disgusting low-end buzz that cuts in and out every few minutes. I'm done with it. Thank God I spent 300$ for a back-up Fender Blues Jr. a few years ago. I haven't even changed the tubes on that thing and it's never given me the slightest problem. Ah well, I'm in the market for a Deluxe now. Sorry if this discourages, I just had to let people know. Cheers.

While it was under warranty they were pretty decent about the first few repairs. It was still a pain to have it gone for 1-2 weeks at a time.

Like I said, great tone, great look, and very light gig-able amp BUT... if it doesn't work it doesn't work. I've grown to hate the thing and I don't think I'll ever buy Peavey products again (unless I take up steel guitar and want the workhorse solid state amp). This was a bad decision. Go Fender (or anything else) if you want a 1x12 combo amp.

I have a 2004 Classic 30. It worked well for about two years and then started making a snap,crackle, pop sound. Under warranty, It has been back to Peavey four times. Every time, according to the paperwork, the tubes are bad. The longest time it worked correctly was two weeks after receiving. 1 rating for poor dependability.

I mainly use a 77 Gibson Les Paul and if the amp was working well it was killer. If not, a trainwreck.

I never used it without a backup. Has it broken down?, that is all it seems to do. As I said, it's a 2004. The first one I bought new was a 2003 and it made the same snap, crackle, pop sounds after a year. The sales person gave me the 2004 new in the box ( THEY SHOULD HAVE KEPT HIM) as a replacement. KK's music in Manchester, TN SUCKS !!!! and so does Peavey after sending it back four times. Gimme a break, I replaced all the tubes myself before contacting the authorized dealer!

Peavey obviously doesn't care. Allegedly repaired four times, the authorized dealer, KK's, Manchester, TN, gave me a lot ot smartass runaround just to get them to do anything about it!!! The last time it was allegedly sent to Peavey it wasn't, some local yokal who said again, tubes.

I have been playing 40 years. Mainly a 1977 LesPaul, 1965 Gibson ES-335, 1978 ES-175, 1973 Fender Stratocaster, 1989 Telecaster, Peavey Wolfgang, (which I like),and several other intruments. I have Fender, Marshall amps as well as an old Bandit 65 (which never gave a problem). I will never buy another Peavey product as they and their dealers will not service the products as the warranty demands.

I own 3 of these babies (1992 Tweed, 1999 Tweed and a 2004 Black Tweed) and have seen little change in their build quality or parts selection. All 3 were purchased "pre-loved" on eBay and all 3 had minor problems because they had been used and abused for years before I got them. I work on my own equipment so this was not a problem for me (I could also get them cheaper if they had known problems as well).

They lack separate tone controls for each switched-channel (Clean & Dirty) and have no Standby switch (my biggest beef with the design). The Boost function (selectable by push-button only) boosts level AND mid-range content and I have found this only to sound good with a Stratocaster using the Bridge pickup and then only in the "dirty" mode. It sounds honky and weird to me on any other pickup combination or with Les Pauls on ANY pickup combination!

I love the size, lightweight and basic design otherwise. It has a great basic tone (reminiscent of the Vox AC30 it was no doubt designed to emulate) but I enjoy them even more with a few changes (see below).

For my use in small clubs and outdoor events I have found them to be loud enough (with a speaker upgrade and used with the matching Classic 112E external cabinet... also with the matching speaker upgrade).

I primarily play Rock and Pop in small-to-midsized clubs and I standardized on a Peavey Classic 30 "stack" because of their small size, relative light weight and their tone (when set-up properly). There are 5 changes I have made to my "stacks" that have transformed these amps from good to great:

1. Matched set of JJ tubes from Bob at Eurotubes (using EL83S tubes instead of 12AX7 types to help prevent microphonic noises, a very real problem in small combos like these).

2. Factory tube cage with dense foam "shock absorber" for output tubes (to prevent tube damage, rattle and minimize vibrational stress).

3. Small fan to promote circulation and keep everything cool.

4. Weber 4" Beam Blockers on all combo speakers.

5. All factory speakers changed to Avatar Hellatone 60L units.

If you primarily play a Les Paul with Humbuckers you probably don't need the Beam Blockers but I play most of my gigs using a Fender Stratocaster as my primary guitar and the Beam Blockers help smooth out the high-end on those single coils.

In this configuration, the Hellatone 60L speakers are very smooth, efficient and dynamic. I love the way they sound in this amp! There is a dynamic "body" in both clean and dirty channels (heightened when used with the Classic 112E extension cab) but not at the expense of "sparkle" and definition. The amps sound well balanced and smooth. This makes the lack of separate tone controls somewhat moot and with the 5-way pickup selector on the Strat it covers a lot of sonic territory!

Notice that I do not modify the amplifier circuits in any way, I just embellish the amp with creature comforts and carefully chosen accessories that make it a little more reliable, louder and better matched to my primary guitars.

I have been regularly gigging with the Classic 30 for almost a year now and I have yet to have a show-stopper sort of problem. I respect the amps and am careful not to bang and shock the amp while loading, unloading and setting up. If I notice a problem (like a noisy tube or loose hardware), I fix it before the next gig and I don't let the degradation accumulate until a failure results (this is called "maintenance").

The biggest aftermarket accessories made for this amp are "Tube Tamers" and "Tube Guards" because this is the source of most failures and problems in my experience with multiple units. This is a small combo amp and this puts the tubes right at "Ground Zero"... they are simultaneously being directly bombarded by the speaker's rear pressure waves and subject to additional mechanical abuse when power cables, speaker cords and footswitches are shoved in the back. This can result in abused tubes and broken tube socket receptacles.

It took many years before Peavey designed a "Tube Cage" for this model (it looks a bit like the tube cage that has always been standard on its big brother the Classic 50). Unfortunately it is an optional part that you must install yourself. By adding some high-density foam to act as output-tube "shock absorbers" (similar to that used in the Classic 50) you protect the tubes and prevent tube degradation and audible "rattle" due to sonic pressure waves with better efficiency and lower cost than using those third-party screens and "tube bars".

I protect my Classic 30s and 112E cabinets with covers from BS Covers (BSCOVERS.COM) as I have found that these work to prevent abrasion wear, damage from minor bumps and protect against moisture (it drizzles a lot in the Pacific NW so this is an important accessory for all my amps). These covers are very affordable, lightweight and top quality as well.

These amps are not built heavy-duty but if you respect them and treat them like a passenger in your vehicle they will repay you with good reliability. Just maintain them and don't abuse them until they exhibit problems!

Check this link for a photo of the rear of one of my amps so you can see the Tube Cage, Foam, Speaker and fan additions. I put the cables and footswitch into a "ditty bag" and that fits in the back opposite the fan and does not damage the speaker or tubes:

http://www.pacair.com/Reference/Classic30_Tweed_1.gif

I have never had to call Peavey with a question. Their manuals and schematics are easily found on the Internet and my only contact with them has been to order parts when I first rebuild them to my liking. I found the Parts Department to generally have knowledgeable and pleasant folks who have yet to screw-up an order. They have gotten it right every time and have called me back when I asked a question that they couldn't answer directly themselves (once).

So far so good!

I've been playing guitar and bass for over 40 years (since I was 10 years old) and I have a lot of equipment (over 30 amps and cabinets) at my disposal. At this point in my life, I wanted to standardize on smaller, relatively lightweight equipment that was loud enough to gig with a 5 piece band in local venues and small outdoor events. I was not prepared to give up tone, however.

In the Peavey Classic 30 I have found an amp that meets all my size/weight/reliability criteria AND sounds great! They are a really good amp stock (especially considering what I paid for mine) but can be improved dramatically without doubling the price tag.

I didn't wait to have a problem or get one stolen... I have 3 of these Peavey Classic 30 stacks so I have all my needs covered (home/backup system and multiple gigs covered). I think that about says it all from my perspective!

I have a tweed 30 head with 2x12 marvel cab, plus a 30 combo with a Vintage 30 Celestion. Won't waste time preaching to the converted.
A few tips if I may, to get this beast howlin'. Effects loop: run a 2, 1/4" jack rig with a volume control in between for another master volume pot, any old volume pot should do. Then you can run everything on the amp at 11 if you wish, and you have a final volume knob, works on both channels! Great for playing at home! I run a sraight in Boss ME50 and use the amps in stereo, big sound.

I use a few guitars with this setup. Mostly Fender and Gibson stuff.
Sure amp is noisier with single coils, but when you turn on the playing who can complain about any tube amp, they are tube amps!
More advice, play with the tubes! JJ tubes will make the amp come alive. Have JJ's in the combo, with Celestion classic 30, and Groove tubes in the head. JJ's are dirty and Groove Tubes get singin' tight punch. Perhaps I shall put some emminence redcoat speakers in 2x12 cab. Allways playing with sound. Have a Marshall and a Hiwatt, but I kinda' like what is going on with the peaveys.

Never used.

Been playing 40 years. I have 8 amps, 2 of them Peavys. Why would I buy 2 if they were crap? I have no bias, just a love for good amps, even have an old Garnet, made in Canada. But if somebody stole my old Hiwatt, I would hunt them down and kill 'em. Be true to the roots! Tubes rule!

Made around 2004,mint condition,very versatile combo,blue marvel speaker and valve guard.You all know the deal by now.
I hade mine moded which improved the tonal midrange and did away with the mid honkey sound and also made the boost switch usable,but for me when I put in a Celestion Greenback was the icing on the cake.I also have the G12H which gives a cleaner slightly toppier sound to the combo and added 3DB to the sound level,but I prefer the Greenback probably because I have been using them professionaly for 40 odd years with various amps and gives it a smoother break up like the speaker is renown for.An 8 for features,it does what the controlls say.

Fender Tele and Gibson Les Paul Deluxe,for Rock and Blues and Shadows!!!Suits everything I throw at it,I love the creamy saturation.
Clean Channel is chimey and breaks up when pushed to 5 or 6.
OD Channel I use mostly especially since the mods and speaker change,from mild break up to quite a nice saturation.Check my link for some sound bites from some of my recordings with the amp www.george-nixs.co.uk
Amp is well loud enough for rehearsal and medium gigs and miking up at bigger venues.Amp cleans up well with volume control on guitar.I use this for recording as well.
Reverb is not the best but still good to add a taste of space.
Not a brutal distortion so metal heads steer clear.For me it has to be a 10.

Have had no problems with the amp,or valves which are JJ's

I had to contact Peavey about my PA mixer head way back in 1993 and they sorted the repair no problem or questions asked.No problem with anything since.Still have the PA Head mixer and Pa speakers in use still

I have been playing for over 40 years,and own marshall heads carlsbro pro head and an old late 60's carlsbro 100 plexi type head,no master volume very very loud.2x12 cabs with greenbacks.
If this little beauty was lost or stolen I would get another usa model and mod and change the speaker again.It suits me after all these years of finding a small tube combo amp.

Tweed, 2004 version.
Quite a few features for a small amp; reverb, dual clean/drive channel switching, boost switch, treb/mid/bass.
loses a couple points for no standby switch.

I'm using mine mainly with a Telecaster, into a BD-2, Rat & a DD-3.
lots of crunch and pretty good cleans. Mine is all stock.
Overall the Classic 30 is great little work horse for the working musician who's after a fair amount of clean headroom and good tone in a small combo.

I know guys who've used the Classic 30 for years with no problems.
They have a reputation for reliability.

I really like my classic 30, it's served me for a while with no problems and great tone in a portable, fairly lightweight package.
It's no wonder that it's been a big success for Peavey.
Excellent value!!

Made in 2004.
Versatile amp for many styles, but one major drawback - there is no separate EQ for the overdrive channel. Also does not have a standby switch, and does not come with the footswitch - you have to buy this separately. No presence button or knob. Easy access to tubes. Was able to tame tube rattle with teflon tube dampeners. Boost feature is pretty much useless as it only boosts mids, and there is no button on the footswitch for it.

Use various strats primarily, plus a custom made Carvin with humbuckers. Play rock/alt, and christian worship music. Good cleans, but not quite enough sparkle - could use more presence? Reverb is just ok. Have tried many tube types - find that certain tubes such as Sovtek, EH and JJ's make the overdrive sound a bit brittle. Settled on good old Groove tubes which smoothed out the brittle overdrive a bit and has given it a Vox AC30 type sound with natural compression. This was my go-to amp until I got a Crate V32 Palomino- better sounding cleans and smoother marshall sounding overdrive, less noise, plus a standby switch and presence button. With my Classic 30, I prefer using an Ibanez TS9 tubescreamer or Marshall Guv'nor 2 (Marshall for heavier distortion) as the first level of gain (can EQ them), and kick in the amp overdrive (with pedal engaged) for screaming leads since it gives you a treble boost also.

built like a little tank. Tubes are exposed, so always a challenge to transport without damaging them.

Never had to use support

Overall I would give this amp an 8 - Easy to set up and dial in a decent sound, lightweight, plenty of volume, ok features, good reliability. Probably would not replace it if stolen though since I don't feel they are worth the new asking price of $550 to $600. I bought mine for $400 which was ok. For $500, I would get another Crate V32 Palomino if available, or look with something else with better features .

My amp is about 4 years old - I'm the 2nd owner and bought it about a week ago. Very versatile; I even cranked out some Wes Mongomery on it using an arch top and it sounded good. I just bought the amp and used it for practice with the band recently and it did a fine job. The bass player looked at it after hearing how good it sounded size and mumbled "it just isn't fair". He has to tow a lot of speaker to cut through the mix like this thing (plus a 400 watt Ampeg amp!). I wish it had an 8 ohm load feature, but a friend of mine said he used a dummy jack in the external spkr. out to trick his into thinking it had a load and it worked. I'm going to try a Celestion vintage 30 in it and see what that does, but the factory speaker doesn't sound bad like some have said on this forum, just a little too mid-rangey for my taste. I'm used to older amps, Fender mainly (Deluxe Reverb, Pro Reverb, Twin Reverb, Princeton, etc) which sound great but are feature poor. Just having an effects loop is good enough for me, so I give it a 9. Kaa-ching!

I'm guitarded in the worst way. I'll buy one to re-sell and wind up liking it and keeping it. But I still only have one too many guitars: American Std. Strat, Baja Tele, Les Paul classic, Gibson CS356, 50s Tele, and an older Washburn J10 jazz box. That makes 6 electrics - oh wait! I still need one more to have one too many. What was I thinking? The amp is quiet with humbuckers and noisey with single-coils, like all other amps. I don't like or use the distortion channel although the boost button looks appealing. Haven't fiddled with that one enough yet, but I see possibilities. The clean channel sounds great at the volume that I use, but it gets a desirable tube distortion at about half way. Its really too loud for me to use at that point because I mic my amps. I ran the volume at about 3 for rehearsal and it did the job. I use pedals to get the overdrive. I have a SF Fender Twin Reverb to compare it to as well as a Dr. Z-28. They both sound great and this doesn't have the same tone as either one, but it sounds great in its own right. I had to run the mid down almost all the way and the treble up to 7 and the bass up to 8 to keep it from sounding too twangy with my strat, but to each their own. I like it so far and plan to gig out with this one next.

I can't speak for mine since I've only had it a little over a week, but a friend of mine (who turned me on to this little jewel) has had his for 15 years, played out 30 hours a week, and has never had a moment's trouble - just usual tube changes.

I've been playing for a good solid 44 years now and have owned my fair share of vintage gear in the past from Traynor, Marshall, and Fender to Silvertone and other old tube amps. I like this amp well enough to say it has a permanent home. Heck, I may even sell my Twin Reverb now that I have this. The twin sounds great but is a bear to haul around. Nah, then I would have one amp too few! Besides, I still use the Twin for recording and for calming my nerves at the end of a long day. Plus, its like my link to the past. This little Classic 30 can do the same, but its NOT the same, you know? I'll just keep 'em both . . . . along with my DrZ and my Dumble. Its a great little amp, very gig-worthy, and easy to haul. Plus, it looks cool and won't break the bank.

Classic 30 Vintage Tweed 1x12 combo (cool looking amp!!)
Styles of music: Rock, Classic Rock, Roots Rock, Blues and Rock-a-billy. This amp has the ability to cover them all.
This is a two channel amp with the clean producing some real nice bell tones when humbuckers are used. The overdrive channel is awesome and breaks up nice at lower volumes (this thing cranks too!)It's got a standard effects loop and an external speaker output too. I use this amp in my cover band and it has plenty of UMPH! to stay up front for the leads. On the outdoor events, I drag out my 2x12 open back extenstion cabinet. I have to give the features a 1 as it is limited, but it is all you need! Volume, tone, a little bit of verb...

I primarily use a Les Paul Special with P-90's, Les Paul Standard, PRS and a Tele for the pickin' stuff. Playing the straight up R&R it suits the music style great. This amp is fairly quiet, but has the typical tube hum. The clean channel with a distortion pedal tapping in and out give you a great jazz/country/rockabilly tone. the dirty channel with a compressor used for leads is awesome! I do not use my distortion pedal for the leads as the amps own break up is nice. The Blue Marvel speaker that came with it has been replaced a couple times. It was too brittle for me. I first tried a vintage 30 (kind of the same result, but muddier), but settled on a Scheffield 5150. This speaker really beefed the amp up and gave me a much better hitting bottom end that it needed. I didn't really care for the spring reverb that comes with it, so I run a sep. reverb and delay pedal through the effects loop. I also replaced the power tubes with J&J's. Stock amp I'd give it a 6 for sound, with Mods, I'd give it a 10+...

Peavey USA,....What can I say their stuff is bullet proof and lasts.

I've never had to deal with them

I've been playing for 27+ years and over the years I've become somewhat a guitar/amp/effects whore! I have many vintage amps that serve certain types of music beautifully. I've got a few modeling amps that sound great, but just don't give me the tube amp response to string attack. I wanted a small tube amp that I could easily drag out to gigs and not care to much about beating it up. This thing is awesome and cuts through the mix with authority. For the price, you can't beat it.

Don't wanna post the features again. (Read the manual on the Peavey homepage!).

Because 'less is better' I give it a 10. Who needs amp modeling anyway when the amp itself is sounding right?

The sound is crystal clear and could turn to crunchy. Typical american tube-amp sound known from THD or Fender in my oppinion. Lot's of dynamics!

Because of the fact that this amp is sounding sweet with my Hofner 4579 (LesPaul-Copy) and my Fender Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano, I give this amp a 10 again.

Well, althought the fact that this little amp feels sturdy, I hope that it never breaks. The amp is not wired point to point and the el. parts are on 3 connected PCB's. This is done for cost efficiency and not for serviceing. If a potentiometer has to be changed, the whole 3 boards must be squeezed to remove from the chassis. This is definitely not the best way...
For this i give it only a 5

never needed it but the schematics can be found online.

Although the amp may be hard to service it was a good deal for me and it sounds very good with my Fender Rhodes Stage Piano

Okay, first of all I own the Peavey Classic 30 Head. I figured id add to this review to you can get an idea what the head is like versus the combo. The head is about 2 yrs old now. I bought it new. Features are explained well in all other reviews. This amp is very versatile for what i play, which is mostly blues and rock. Ive tried the mid boost switch maybe twice, and i don't really see any use for it, IMO! Im sure it could fit great into someones style, but not mine. I honestly don't really use the "2nd channel" often at all. I find the best way to get a killer tone from this amp is to crank it! All the tone you will ever need is secretly hidden in the "volume" control. Play light and get cleared up chimey notes, but play hard and you'll get what you ask for, plenty of smooth output tube saturation. It's really nice! I rate this 5 only as i don't use anything else but the clean normal channel and the eq with a small amount of reverb.

I play this amp with a custom strat with fender texas special pickups, an epiphone les paul with humbuckers and a godin sd with 2 SC's and 1 split coil Dimarzio DP161 humbucker. As for my cab, i custom made a pine cabinet with 2 12" Celestions, actually "Hellatones" which are broken in celestions. 1 speaker is a vintage 30 and the other is a G12H30. You can get all the info on this particular setup from avatar or steamcomusic. One speaker is 30 watts and the other is 60 watts. I have this wired in series to get a 16ohm load, speakers are 8ohm's each. My cab is open back. This setup yields great results. These speakers are nicely matched for this amp. They have a higher dB level, about 100dB's each, which would mostly likely be about 5dB higher than the Marvel's you would get stock. Celestions are very efficient speakers and a must for this amp. I play with the pre-amp tubes here and there, swapping them around to see what i get for sound. It's a fun way to easily change the dynamics of the amp. Currently ive tried JJ's, Electro Harmonix and RCA. I've tried almost every combination i can get this what i have and the results are great. My next test is a balanced Tung-Sol for the Phase Inverter with 2 JJ's in V1 and V2. I'm currently still using the stock output tubes (SOVTEK) and they seem to work fine, but im going to swap them for JJ's and keep the stocks as a spare set. I've heard great things about the JJ's, and i mean for $40 bucks, you cant really go wrong. All of my guitars sound mint through this amp. I play SRV, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Dire straits etc. I've found that if you really want a different sound from the "2nd channel", run an overdrive pedal with that channel but only set the gain up to halfway at the most. I find that with the channel gives a kind of compressed signal which is cool for picking dynamics.

When i rehearse with my band i can get away with the volume around 4. It's easily loud enough with drums and bass etc. At home, i usually play around 6-7. It seems to really be the sweet spot for me personally. Playing a 12 i find you hear more of the EQ settings.

No issues here!

Don't have any stories for this as it's never been repaired. I find you can get all the information you need for this amp online by doing searchs for what your intent is. A lot of people play this amp and there's a lot of good information out there as far as settings, speakers used, tubes, wiring mods etc. Take a look, its fun to experiment.

Also, for most who complain about the Tubes rattling, i see that in other combos as well. With a head, you wont have to worry about this as long as your cab is tight and doesnt vibrate too much. But even if your cab vibrates some which can be good as well tonally, you can set the head beside the cab or buy a stand which puts the head on top of the cab without setting it directly on the cab.

14 yrs ive been playing, first peavey amp. Ive had a fender solid state (JUNK) and an epiphone valve junior head which was fun to play with. Ive used traynors, fenders, marshalls etc. My father in law uses a 71 fender bandmaster with 2 12" jenson alnicos, a 59 reissue bassman with 4 10" jenson alnicos and a marshall JCM800 head with a 2 12 avatar cab with Celestion G12H30's. When i come home from his place i can always count on my peavey to deliver what i need, even though ive just played through some remarkable amps and cabs. I wish this amp had more speaker inputs for 4ohm and 8ohm. You are limited to 16 ohm and i find most used speakers for sale are 8 ohm and it would be nice to try those individually without taking out 2 output tubes.

2 Channels tube amp (clean, crunch). A "boost" (I don't use it). Reverb, etc... just the basic stuff but still just what is needed, nothing more or less... maybe a standby switch would have been useful, maybe not after all. Clean may lack a little headroom for big venues in my opinion but for normal use, volume is pretty much just right.

I have to add that it is super easy and fast to dial a great sound out of this amp, which may be the reason why I stick with it.

Clean channel is pretty good. I play clean mostly and use this amp as a practice amp. As I said, I think it may lack headroom for super loud gigs, but I don't do that often so for practice, this is just right.

Crunch channel is very good for rock and funk. It is a bit midrangey which is awesome, it just cuts through the band so well.

The amp is a bit "boxy" and directional, so it may be better to mike it or at least, tilt it during a gig. I ran it through an extension 2x12 once but it was too bassy for my taste.

My amp is super quiet (which is good since I am used to a Jazz Chorus).

Allright so far (about 8 years), changed the tubes a couple of times.

I have never been super-anal about tone compared to most people here but I am a pro musician and after all these years, I tend to stick with what sounds good. Other amps I have right now are are a Mesa Boogie Mark IV (main amp) and a Roland Jazz Chorus (JC120). I usually play with a strat or some sort of archtop.

I use this amp for personal practice and small band rehearsal (I'd rather gig with the Mark IV if I can though). Considering its size and versatility, I think this amp is amazing for what I do with it.

Everybody is talking about the mods on this amp but I don't see the point of that so much as I think it is fine as it is (instead of spending $300 on a replacement speaker/tubes/etc, I'd rather just sell the amp and buy something else). If I need something specific soundwise, I'll just get my Mark IV, but for practice or band rehearsal, this is just perfect: sound great, easy to dial and doesn't look like the dash board of a space shuttle (like my Mark IV).

Enough for me. I use both channels. The reverb is adequate as a starting point for a good "base" sound.
I have one with the tube guard fitted as standard HOWEVER if you buy one of those tube tamers off of ebay, youll have to resite the tube guard slightly lower as the tamer bums out against the tube guard.
Im pimping this amp as i go along.

Using with a Telecaster Plus and a Ricky 360 mainly. The Ricky likes this more than the Tele. Not that the Tele is bad but the Ricky REALY likes this amp.
I play garagey 60's country rock and this amp does what i need.
Ive discovered i have some nice valves in this amp, all power tubes are sovteks apart form one mullard, and i have 2 Brimars and a mullard in the pre-amp section.
I paln on getting an Eminence Cannabis Rex to finish off. I also use this with a 115e extension cab. NICE!
I have noticed however that the amp really sounds ace when im playin an intro on my own but when the band comes in, i seem to lose my edge. Im only able to test this obviously in a rehearsal volume scenario so its a little tricky to nail. Im hoping the Eminence speaker will help here. Ive had plantty of Fender and Marshall valve amps and this trumps them all. I also had a Peavey Bandit once which was THE WORST amp i have ever owned. It took a real leap of faith to buy Peavet again but im glad i did. These are a real bargain 2nd hand.

Mine has the tube guard fitted, ive got 3 spare 12AX7s in my case. Think im OK. I would gig without backup.

Never dealt. Got to be better than Marshall.

playing since 1982. Would replace if nicked. Like the retro vibe. All logos removed.
Had a blues junior which i sold for more than i paid for this. Bargain.
Shame it isnt true 2 channel with seperate EQ. But no biggie.

You all know the amp and what it does.
This amp has no master volume, so you have to balance your 2 gain pots to suit where your playing. I had an amp tech mod the amp and fit a master volume. What a difference.

A 9 after the mod and probably a 7 before it

The gain is pretty weak but i run a tubescreamer constantly.
The master volume allows to you crank the gains up then play withe the volume. Take time and you'll find some nices sounds.

I play mainly rock and indie and what i love about this amp is that it doesnt sound pure, its messy and it squeals, perfect for me.

The clean sounds great for blues.

Had to replace 2 tubes early on and i just changed the power transformer after it shorted out. Not the best for an amp that is only 9 months old

Great, really helpful with ordering parts

I play a Duesenberg starplayer through a noise gate then on a loop on the noise gate i have a Boss Phaser, Boss Distortion, Ibanez TS9- back to the noise gate then a digitech digidelay.

I love this amp, not great for metal and such like.

You know the features by now.
BUT the footswitch kinda sucks. You kan switch between clean and distortion and switch the reverb on/off. There??s a boost button on the amp but that can??t be controlled by the footswitch.

I??m using a eagle with dimarzio pups and a Fender lite ash special with stock seymoure duncan vintage pups.
For classic rock this amp is pretty good but the mid is killing me, it has a screaming touch to it... so i usually dial it down to 3-4.
I belive the problem is the stock speaker, now it??s being replaced with a eminence lil?? texas speaker and the mid problem is gone!
The distortion is kinda weak for playing metall, but works pretty well for classic rock.
The spring reverb starts jumping around at high volume distortion... not so good, but I??m playing with a digital reverb now so thats not a issue for me.
I??ve had some issues with the hum... probably because of somekind of ground problem.
It would get a 9 with the eminence speaker!

It??s kinda sturdy built... but a week ago the tubes started to rattle. I belive this is a common problem with this model!

If stolen or lost I would consider another amp. But it has served me quite well!

This amp is made in the USA. It's a versatile amp, but it's more voiced for classic rock and blues playing. Comes with 2 channels which are clean and the OD channel. The clean is awesome on this amp. It sounds way better when It's at 5-6 on the volume dial. As for the OD channel, It is fantastic. I usually keep the pre amp gain to about 5-6 for that santana soft gain (Think samba pa ti). This amp can do Ac/dc, led zeppelin, rolling stones, Hendrix. Mostly classic rock. It has enough gain for me. If you want metal, well you'll need to get an OD to get to Metal territory.
Wish this amp had a standby switch, but doesn't matter for me. I just turn it on and have the guitar volume to zero and just let those tubes get nice and warm for about 45 secs. Also wish that it would come with a footswitch. I use this amp in a townhouse. Does well in a bedroom too. I keep it 2-3 when I'm using it in my bedroom and 4-6 when I'm downstairs in the living room. Definetly has enough power for me, and can also get over the drummer and STILL have nice clean sound.

I'm using an ESP F-50 with stock pickups. Sounds allright I guess to me. My guitar does not suit for what I play, but it still sounds decent for what I do play now(classic rock). It has white noise coming out when you start turning it up, but you can't hear it once you start playing. So don't worry about that. It's just a humming noise. All tube amps that use EL84's will make that humminh sizzz sound. The clean channel has a lot of headroom, and starts to break up when it reaches around 7-8. Distortion is not Br00tal, so don't be expecting to get metallica out of this amp without an OD pedal.

Definetly can depend on this amp. Hasn't broken down on me. I would never gig without a backup. Always need a backup no matter what.

Peavey is very helpful. They answer my questions quiete fast. I've never sent it to them to get it repaired. Warranty is 2 years, but if you fill their 3+ year form that they have inside every amp manual. You will get an additional 3 years.

I've been playing for a year and a half. I plan on buying some new tubes since this one came with Sovteks. Put in some JJ's in there and it'll be like having a new amp! I would probably buy it again. I did compare it to other amps like the valveking 112, Palomino, and Fender blues Jr.

My particular amp was made in the late 90s.
The good: 2 usable channels (sharing eq), 1 channel with nice preamp gain, reverb, effects loop, reverb & channel switching foot pedal option, light weight, 30 watts
The bad: weak stock tubes, boost is not foot switchable and therefore useless- how stupid is that!, small boxy cabinet that beats up tubes and makes the speaker sound somewhat boxy
The ugly: Tubes rattle and the sound carries through the speaker, horrible nauseating sounding Blue Marvel speaker

It seems like these mass production companies would just go the extra mile to make products they and their fellow Americans can actually feel proud of and simply add $50 to the retail price to cover the expense of including decent tube sockets, tubes, speakers etc. But alas they do not.
I have owned this amp along with others for many years but only recently discovered that this is a great little amp! The sound was improved somewhat when I switched to JJ tubes, but the huge improvement came when I disconnected the Blue Marvel speaker entirely and played through a Celestion G12H30. What a difference! I do test recordings and A/B comparisons on my computer of my amps at healthy volumes using different tubes and speakers etc. Actually every speaker I owned sounded significantly better than the Blue Marvel which sounds just downright ugly to me. Go figure. This speaker ruins the amp in my opinion.
The amp has EL84 tubes which produce a thin sound when compared to all other types . The tubes seem to compress the signal and yield the feeling of much more sustain at clean settings than do other amps I own which have different tube types. I like this a lot! The amp sings well without so much distortion.
This amp produces a kind of dark sound which I think makes it quite different from a Vox (which I've never played through but which I know uses the same tube type and is famous for its bright jangly sound).
On the clean channel (with good tubes and speaker), the Peavey Classic 30 is tailer made for blues, 50s rockabilly, and old funk. It sounds great and perfectly right for those styles.
At first I didn't like the dirty channel. But it sounds great when played through humbuckers and turned up about halfway on preamp and master through a single Celestion G1230 in a closed back cabinet. This speaker which is about as good as it gets for 70s style rock is a big part of the reason. Overall the amps distortion is really good and there is plenty of it. It is like a marshall but smoother and much less aggressive.
I should also mention that the reverb on the amp is quite usable.

Face it folks no one amp does everything. This amp excels in the areas previously mentioned and is therefore relatively versatile I suppose.
It does not have anywhere near the sheer beauty and richness of tone as my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It does not sound aggressive like my Marshall Anniversary or do modern aggressive gain on its own. It does not do surf or Stevie Ray Vaughn which require fat sounding 6L6 tubes. It probably does not do a really authentic Vox impersonation (though I could be wrong). However as I said it does blues, rockabilly, old funk, and its own brand of 70s rock really well.
I only give it a 7 because you have to spend more on tubes and a better speaker and maybe a cab in order to get the goodness out of this amp. Buy one used if you can and spend the extra bucks on these improvements.
I would even suggest removing the speaker all together and using a roomier external cab exclusively for better speaker sound, and to also eliminate tube rattle and abuse.
About the speaker. I searched the internet and the consensus seems to be that you can use an 8 ohm speaker with this amp but only if you do the following: 1)Disconnect the internal speaker and tape the leads apart from each other for circuit protection. 2)Plug 8 ohm speaker into the extension jack.
Why does this work? The external jack supposedly switches the transformer tap from 16 ohms to 8 ohms when a jack is plugged into it.
Alternatively you could use an 8 ohm speaker internally by plugging a dummy (open) jack into the extension jack thus switching on the 8 ohm tap but not adding any load.
I'm using the first method. Try at your own risk. I am not an authority.

My Classic is from the latest batch that arrived at Musician's Friend at the end of May. Mine came with JJ's already installed with the exception of one of the 12AX7's that was an EH. I don't know which stage of the amp that tube is assigned to. They also now have locks on the tubes. I assume to eliminate the rattling tube problem. One odd thing is that the amp was sold without the footswitch. That is considered an extra. It would be better if Peavey made that a part of the retail package.

It stock amp sounds pretty good. When I plugged it in for the first time and took it for a spin, I was more impressed with the clean channel. It was very warm and round sounding w/ the reverb turned up about half way. Close to the sound of a Fender but missing a little of the glass. The lead channel has a classic vibe to it but on the jagged end of the classic vibe. I wanted to smooth that out a bit, so i replaced all the 12AX7's with JJs. When I did that, The lead channel was improved significantly, but some of the warmth and roundness was taken out of the clean channel.
The amp is pretty mid-heavy, especially the lead channel. I'm not sure how well it would cut through in a loud band setting. There are various things you can do, of course, to change that. It is pretty loud and does have some noise to it. The first thing that struck me about it was that it definitely has a country vibe. I can understand why country players use it a lot. It's a good amp for classic and southern rock as well. But isn't a metal amp. Not on its own. I'm sure over time the sound will get better as the speaker breaks in. I'm going to replace it with a Celestion G12H. Nothing wrong with the stock speaker, mind you, but I like modding mid priced gear and I want to see what it will sound like with a Celestion. I'll check back in when I get the results on that.

Don't know yet.

I've got a few e-mails in but haven't heard back yet.

I've been playing for over thirty years off and on professionally and as a hobby. I play everything but straight ahead jazz. This is my first foray back into the amp market as I have been playing through PODs for about ten years and just got sick of the loss of physicality. It was SUCH a great feeling to dig into a real tube amp again. I started out on a Peavey Classic 30 years ago and there was actually some Deja Vu in the vibe. Peavey amps really do have a sound of their own that alters your approach a little. They make you play a little bluesier! This is a good solid little amp. I'm not sure I'd buy it again if it were stolen. It hasn't completely won me over yet. If I played strictly country, I think I'd be happy. But I'm not through tinkering with it yet. Like everybody else, I do wish it had a stand-by switch.

you know the features; sweet and simple, though I also wish it had a stand by switch.

I got this amp from a guy who won it and wanted to make some quick cash, so i was pretty much the first person to play it. for the first few weeks the sound was pretty darn stiff, i like to play blues with just a hint of overdrive (pre amp at about 2-3 and volume with post)i found that the sound lost a great deal of its glitter in its highs and it didn't sustain too well. this all got quite a bit better after the speaker was broken in, but it still bothered me that i couldn't get the sound bright enough with out it sounding harsh and dry. i eventually switched out the stock speaker (blue marvel) for an eminence wizard from the red coat series. i got it because it sounded the most like a cele vintage 30, it costed about half as much, and i think it has a tighter bottom! the speaker swap improved the tone and sustain in the biggest way you can imagine, switching to all JJ tubes helped a bit, but not as much as the speaker swap. without the upgrades i would give it a 6 with the new stuff i would totally go10 for 10!

never had a big problem, one night i had a little rattle problem, but i locked it down

i think the warranty is a few years. i've never had a real problem with it, so i'll give peavey the benefit of the doubt.

i've been playing for about 8 years, active gigging for about 3. I had a fender hot rod before i had this amp. the problem with the hot rod was that it didn't break up where i needed it to, i always had not enough gain, or way to much. After the modifications this peavey amp was totally a better amp! the dynamics come out more with a little gain, and it has PLENTY of fender shimmer plus Marshall edge when needed! i really love this amp after the mods. without id give it a 6, with id give it a 10!

2006 Classic 30 combo. Typical volume, tone, reverb controls with Pre and Post for the overdrive, effects loop, and a volume boost button that just muddies up the tone. The overdrive is pretty good, but I love my pedals. Very good spring reverb. All the controls I need.

READ THIS, important! As is from the factory, pretty poor tone. Brittle highs, muddy bass, and REALLY midrangey. I turn the mid control all the way down. I bought this when the main transformer blew in my '64 Vibrolux and needed an amp quick. I thought this was the best choice my local shop had in a tube amp. When I got the Vibrolux back I put the Peavey away. I decided one day to pull it out and see if I could do anything to improve the tone. I replaced the Blue Marvel with an Eminence Legend I had and the preamp tubes with 2 JJs and an old Amperex. Incredible difference! It sounds like a comletely different amp. It's still midrangey but the tone is SO much better now. With the changes I give it an 8. Without a 4.

Peaveys are known for being dependable. I've had 2 and never had a problem.

Never dealt with them

Been playing 45 years. At one time or another I've owned every blackface Fender amp made except a Vibroverb. Supers were my favorite until I got sick of carrying them and got the Vibrolux, and I'd have to kill if it was ever stolen. I've had too many tube amps to remember but here are some others: Peavey Bravo 112, Mesa Boogie, Marshall JMCs, MusicMan 2X12, Ampeg V4, Dr Z Maz 38 2X12(great amp but really heavy), Carr Rambler (nice deluxe reverb type but way too expensive for what you get), etc. The Classic 30 is a good amp, especially for the bucks, but ONLY if you replace the horrible stock speaker. For an EL84 amp I'd save up the money and get a DrZ Maz18 2X10 or a British made Vox AC30.

made in early 2002 you all pretty much know the features, its a basic amp, a sort of no frills amp, I really wish it had a standby, but ive read that alot and of course its a tube amp so its loud enough for most applications as long as your not trying to play thrash or death metal.

I like the clean channel, very much like a fender, lots of reverb, I like the fact that you can get more reverb than you need instead of needing more and not being able to get it. I like classic rock and blues, im a product of the sixties seventies eighties, I like all styles of music, this amp is fairly versatile, it can do a good job with the blues, and sound like an old marshall to some degree, I dont like too much saturation, so this works for me, forget it if your look for tons of overdrive.

Ive had this amp for a while with no problems, ive seen them at open mic jams where they have been literaly kicked around and still fired up! one was knocked off stage and still worked!

Peavey was lightning quick with there respones, bought it used so there is no warranty, everyone fixes them!

Ive been playing over twenty years, ive had many brand name amps, Ive A/B this amp against much more expensive amps, saldano, rivera, I still liked this better, I use Prs, gibson G&l guitars, I would get another if I lost it, hey there affordable! I Just love the tone it gets, I have a Mesa,like that too, its a different animal though. I do wish it had a standby, for the money you cant beat this thing, and I can afford to spend more, but what for? I put in a Vintage celestion to warm it up, and im going for the JJ tubes as well. So save your money and give this a try before you buy anything else.

I have played through quite a few of these over the past few months. Early '90's models to current production. What I like is the consistency. The design, speaker, and cabinet haven't changed. (Some things internally have changed like the tube guard, and how the boards are layed out in the chassis.) A classic design doesn't need to change to still be current.

Low, middle, high freq knobs. Class A/B. Boost button. Dirty and clean channel. Could use a standby switch. 3 12ax7's and 4 el84's. Using it at home I don't have to go much higher than 2 on the channel volume knobs to get a beefy enough sound.

Oh yeah, the best feature? All the knobs go to 12. Not 10, not 11 (not just 1 louder), but 12. Two louder!

The sound quality of this amp rocks. I have gotten very good tone out of it with a '79 Les Paul KM (limited edition specialty model), a US made 1981 BC Rich Eagle, a 2005 Eric Johnson Strat, and a 2007 PRS CE 22. All stock. All with the dirty channel. No pedals necessary.

Boost on this amp sucks. I overdrive the amp itself on the dirty channel, no fuddy duddy distortion boxes for me. 2/3 to 3/4 for the pre knob, and the post knob for overall volume (just 1 to 2 for home playing). 3 tone knobs all about 2/3 to 3/4.

The clean channel is very clean, mellow, and full sounding. But I really like the dirty channel. I don't believe you can get good tone with a both Les Paul and a Strat out of most amps (and I just tried a Marshall DSL401, great with a Les Paul, not so great with a Strat), and a Fender Super Sonic (not bad with either, but not great with either either).

Music style is classic rock to hard rock.

No issues yet.

I asked Peavey about the current models vs previous models, and some questions about the speaker (there didn't used to be a Blue Marvel sticker on the speaker), and they were very helpful in helping me identify what I was looking for.

Playing for almost 30 years. My main amp is a Lab Series L5 (BB King and Ronnie Montrose). That amps sounds great with my Les Paul, but not so great with a Strat, hence me picking up the Peavey. I can't get rid of the L5, have had it too long with too many memories, but the Peavey is now the main amp I play through.

Two more things I really like about the Peavey:

1) Made in the U.S. I know it won't fall apart next week like some Chinese made amps I've seen comments on. You pay for that quality, but I believe it's worth it.

2) Very easy to modify this amp. Tube changes, speaker changes, and check out http://www.blueguitar.org/articles.htm for some more cool tricks with this amp. Very versatile and flexible design and construction.

I actually got an early used one 1st. Sounded great with my Strat, but not so good with the BC Rich (too twangy for the mids; the PRS had some twang, and almost no twang with the LP). Eventually found out the tone caps had been "upgraded". But no twanginess with newer models I played at 2 different stores with that same guitar. GC had a special on a floor model, so I picked that one up too. I actually like how the older models look better. But I wanted the stock sound quality. Although I'll probably try out a Celestion G12T-75 in it eventually. Bottom line is that I liked the amp so much that I now have 2 of them!

Single channel, dual-mode (we'll call it two-channel for simplicity sake, but the lead channel just adds another tube to the clean signal path), all tube (except reverb and efx loop), 30W 4EL84 output. Gain boost switch, remote "channel" and reverb switch (more on this later). This is my second C30, I had another one 12 years ago. This unit is a few years old, not the current version.

I don't remember why I sold my first one, and I wish I hadn't. Whenever I test drive other amps at a store, I always plug into a C30 (if they have one) every other amp for a reality check. These amps are voiced perfectly for me. The mids, lows and highs are nicely balanced on the clean channel. I just enjoy playing this clean sound so much. Comparable sounding clean amps include the Fender Custom Vibrolux (at low volumes) and the Mesa Lonestar Special 112, which takes this same basic sound to another league entirely. Not really a fair comparison, but I have to say that I sound just as much like me on the C30 as I do on the Lonestar. The C30 stays clean to a surprisingly high volume.
The lead mode is very nice, much better than any Fender I've tried, and I say this even though my main gigging amp right now is the Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410. I won't even use the lead channel on the Fender, but this Peavey would work for me. You lose some low-end on lead, but this is done for a reason, so the distortion doesn't get flabby. Most amp makers do the same thing. Try setting the lead gain at about 6.5 (straight up) and then feeding the amp a Tube Screamer clone set to mild boost and med/low drive. This lead sound absolutely KILLS! Very harmonically rich, easy controlled feedback, and NO FUZZ. A light touch, and it cleans right up.
My one real gripe with these amps is the rattling of the tubes. I recently picked up a Tom's Tube Tamer on eBay, and this did the trick. I would say that this accessory is a must with this amp.

In addition to the Tom's Tube Tamer, these amps need some sort of protection in back for the tubes. There is an after-market grate accessory that does this well, and the new models have them already in place. The previous owner of my amp did something else that worked just as well.
I haven't gigged with this amp, but I may once I get a spare set of tubes. I trust the 6L6s in my Fender more than the EL84s in the C30.

I previously mentioned the footswitch. I made my own, both for this amp and for my previous C30. The stock footswitch has no LEDs so you can see which channel you are in, or if the reverb is on. The voltage coming out of the channel switching jack just happens to be the right current level to drive an LED. You could add LEDs to your stock footswitch just by putting one in series with each switch. I used a red one for the channel switch, and a green one for the reverb. The voltage is negative with respect to ground, so the LED has to be anode towards ground to work.

They have been good for parts and schematics for me, very helpful. I've owned several Peavey products over the years, and I do my own repairs. Peavey takes care of me for parts and advise.

The Classic 30 is a wonderful amp, and it makes a GREAT recording amp, so long as you do something about the rattling tubes. Honestly, Tom's Tube Tamer is a MUST for this amp.

I bought this amp in 2007 from a musicstore.It is my first tube amp!At first i didnt know if it would meet my requirements but after all it did totally!I havent changed the tubes yet but i bet it will sound even better than now.

The sound is amazing,in my opinion.
The clean channel is totally clean and bright.With my 70's strat i get the perfect strat tone.The overdrive channel works great.You can get every thing you need from Classic rock crunch to a dirty-clean.
The Boost button just gives it a boost of volume and warmth.
Its never noisy and if you set it righ you can even play quiet.

Sadly the EQ doesnt affect it too much, but it does its job well.

Never had any problems

Never used it

Its a great amp if you need a good bluesy to classic rock amp.
Its warm its soft and just looking great with the tweed.
Im a Knopfler fan and this amp is the right decision if you need his sounds from '77 to '07.

Same features as listed except each amps has it's own tonal qualities. More on this under Sound Quality. But things that knock it down are no seperate tone adjustments and no tremolo but I do like that you don't have to switch connections for gain/clean.

All this testing was done with both gain and clean channels. This is were having two of the same amp really shows their quality control differences. I just got a black then a tweed amp with intentions on giving the black one back when the tweed came in but noticed the difference between the two right away so I decided to do some testing. The black amp has Russian tubes in all but the clean and gain channels where it has JJs (even the small V3 is Russian). The Tweed amp has JJs in everything. The black has good ice pick attacks and very deep base. The Tweed is much softer and can really can't do the ice pick attack. I tried swapping the tubes and this did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I was hoping this would change their personalities but it did not. Where all these people say it completely changes the amp never had a side by side I guess and the time it took to change the tubes was tricking their mind into thinking it made a big difference. It DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (at least with Burstbucker PROs which can get sharp but not as sharp as single coils I guess). Anyway, the black one was still very deep and sharp and the tweed was still much softer, quieter, and smoother (yes, the speaker was connected/phased corretly). Next, I jumpered the speakers over, NO CHANGE!!! The black amp using the tweed's speaker was still very deep and sharp while the tweed was softer even using the black's speaker. Crazy! Accourding to this board the tube swap should have done something but I swear, I changed them around 6 times and NO DIFFERENCE!!! Only thing is the JJ tubes kept bending their pins while the Russians stayed straight. Score one for the Russian tubes! At this point I'm at a delima (of course). The black one plays metal very well and can soften up when stroked smoothly but the tweed can never harshen up to be like the black. Man this sucks! I so wanted to have the tweed. But the moral of this story is if you don't like one classic 30 because it is too harsh or soft, try another and keep trying them till you find one you like. OH, and I even ran both amps with an MP3 connected to the input with volume at 6 for 6 hours so they were broken in (aimed them into the carpeted floor in a seperate room and played Tool and System of a down albums). I don't have any other speaker experience to guide me and I am new at playing (I know a little pink floyd, ac/dc, metallica, other). Hope all this helps someone.

They handled all this swapping without a problem.

Eeay to get on the phone or they call you back. But I haven't had to deal with a warranty issue.

I'd say it's a killer deal for the price. They are $399 at GC right now because they might be closing them out.

Not very many features as you all know. But what it does have I like. I like the gain but there isn't enough for metal but it certainly sounds good for just rock. Certainly is powerful enough as well. Has an Effects In but I'd rather just use the regular input (more on that later). There is no way to disconnect the internal speaker unless you unplug it. Doesn't have a standby switch which is rather odd. But, I love the tweed color!

I have a Gibson with Burstbucker Pros. Even with these the amp has very weak bass and anemic treble so I hooked a Digitech PR90 effects pedal straight into the input and cranked up the bass 6db (d8) and put the treble up 3db (t6) and now it sounds fantastic even with the stock speaker! I can't believe nobody has mentioned this before. Only downside to doing this is now the effects level has to be set to max (99) to keep the original volume the same. I don't know how this will affect things once I figure out how to use it all but hey, I'm happy right now. Connecting it this way also allows keeping the amps gain (which I like a lot) and reverb switches on the amp. Just having these adjustments on the amp and not on the pedal makes them so much easier to get to. Like I said, I don't know the real ramifications of doing it this way, I'm sure there is a gotcha problem in it but like I said, I'm happy for now. Doing all this certainly made the amp sound worlds better and the pedal has a huge amount of features as well. Raising the bass/treble could probably also be done with just an eq pedal or any pedal with those features (I don't work for digitech). Either way it beats buying some kind of speaker and hoping for the best. Now, I'd like to see anything beat this amps sound and features for even close to this price (amp $399, pedal $99 = $500). Before I'd rate the sound as only an 7/8 (that's an all tube rating. Most cheap SS/tube-hybrid deserve only 5 at best!). Now, I'd rate it a 9 because it just doesn't get any better, only louder!

I've had it only a few days but this is the Made In The USA version and from what I can tell they last as long as any in the business. I heard they are discontinuing production here and moving to China. Doubt those will last as long.

I think it has a 5 year warranty.

I'm a first time buyer but searched very carefully and didn't see anything within hundreds that I liked as much (tweed finish is nice). It could have a standby switch and a few other things but it doesn't so I'll have to live without. I'd say overall I couldn't find a better amp in this price range so I'll have to give it a 10. So what if it needed a pedal to bring out more bass and treble. I think most will always get some kind of pedal anyway and I don't see them discounting ratings because an amp doesn't have every pedal effect. Thanks Peavey for making such an excellent product at a great price!!!

2007 Model, the last of the "old style" front decals. As already stated time and again, it COULD USE A STANDBY SWITCH" - (Can you hear us, Peavey??)

Does have a mid boost that is very handy, especially with single coil PUs.

It can be a little noisy, but it definitely has a great "organic" sound to it. This is an amp I tried earlier in my playing career, but couldn't really appreciate unitl my playing progressed to the point that I quit using modeling effects and started playing the amp. It is old style all tube soudn with great tone. I/ve owned several tube amps (Fender evil twin, Deville, Marshall 401 DSL, Genz Benz El Diablo, etc.) and I can say that this amp sounds and plays great. Sound Quality is the reason I bought it.

This model has the tube guards and seems to be playing for the past 6 months since I have owned it without fault. That is one of the reasons I see alot of Peavey stuff in churches and with working (club) musicians. Peavey may be snubbed by most of the guitar magazines, but their stuff is bullet proof. I have owned 4 other Peavey amps and have never had trouble with any of their equipment.

Made a couple fo calls from a dealership with questions and have found them very helpful. What do you expect from a Memphis based company?

This amp is my secondary. I use the Marshall as my main amp at church, mainly because of the noise factor and the fact that there is no standby switch. However, I would use this as my primary with either my strat or tele. These guitars were made to be played on the Classic 30. I will keep this amp for life, just because of the sounds I can get with my Fender guitars (think Joe Walsh, SRV, etc.).

It's got what it's got. Don't we tend to buy the gear with the features we want, not necessarily the gear with the most features? Therefore I'm not offering a judgement on features.

Why did I buy this thing? I guess I read reviews that said it gives a pretty good sound...and it sounded okay in the music store (where it's often pretty hard to get a good handle on how a piece of gear really sounds). And because I'd read so many favorable reviews, I didn't bother to compare it side by side with another amp in the store. I have to say after having it a couple years as my play at home amp, the tone stinks rather badly. Clean or dirty. Also, mine, like many others, has a real problem with the tubes being very microphonic. That's really not excusable (all that growling and snorting when you hit certain notes...sounds haunted!). I just got a Vox ac15 today, brought it home, and sat it next to my Classic 30 for a fair comparison (happen to be using a stock American Stratocaster). The difference between the Classic 30 and the Vox at $600 is night and day. I'm not the guy with the golden ears...I'm amazed by the guys that can pick up on tiny differences in pickups, tubes, woods and so on. Lemme tell you, ANYONE can hear this difference. The Vox sound is so chimey, snappy and lively. The Classic 30 sounds like I took the Vox and laid it forward on its speaker. The sound from the Vox has sparkle and is articulate, while the Peavy sounds like it has blankets on it. The difference between the single pickup setting on a strat and the "in-between" setting on a strat is noticeable on the Peavey, but it's holy cow noticeable on the Vox. I had my wife listen from the other room, and she could easily pick out the Vox over the Peavey, and she's not amp savvy. Okay, so there's just about a 200 dollar diff between the amps, but after doing a living room side by side with these 2 amps, I'm kicking myself for listening to the Peavey for the last couple years. I though about upgrading the speaker, tube, and doing some mods on the circuit board of the Peavey, but I'd wrap a lot of money up in that, and the Vox already has the SOUND. Please don't get me wrong, it's not my intent to talk up the Vox, it's just what I happen to have here for a comparison. My advice: DON'T get the Peavey without putting next to the Vox or similar amp in a room where you can really hear what's going on.

I had no problem with mine other than the nasty microphonic tubes.

I did not have to deal with Peavey. If anyone knows about Peavey correcting the microphonic tube problem, I'd sure like to hear about that, though.

My overall rating on this amp's pretty low. It should either cost a lot less or be a lot better.

Features covered previously. it "works" but could use standby/presence control yadyadayada

Did a review awhile back on the C30....didn't do any of the mods I mused about but I DID put in a Toms Tube Tameer & made a tube guard for the amp Also bought a used Classic 112 E cab equpipped w/a celestion Heritage......WOW! whada difference!....still rely on pedals for distortion, tho I do play around w/the dirty channel @ home sometimes


The extra cab has made an amazing difference for my sound...full w/lottsa headroom.Have been playing a Gibson Blueshawk thru the setup.....hearing tone(s) I never dreamed of....when I wanna crunch & rock out w/an edge I pull out my Fender Tele equipped w/Dimarzio humbuckers.....boss chorus/Ibanez TS9/Ibanez sound tank trem

GREAT tone....figure only other mod I will make is maybe trade out the blue marvel in the amp for a vintage 30

HJad some issues w/tube noise/crackle when I first purchased & re-tubed the amp.....gotta bad bacth of JJ pre-amp tubes......they/my tube amp guy made it right w/fresh set, no probs since

Haven't used them, am really pissed off that Peavey doesn't manufacture the Classic 112E anymore....you gotta hustle to get one on e-bay & they ususally go for @ least $300 including shipping...have seen pristine units go for far more.


No waranty on my stuff, bought ALL used...why buy new when you have to change out the tubes & speaker right @ the get go

Have been playing longer than most people have been breathing (tho "intetmediate" would best descibe my performance abilities)...Switch off between a Gibson Blueshawk & a Dinario equipped Humbucker Tele

Features? what features? we don't need no stinkin features...
Not with tone like this. decided i had to chime in and pledge my alegiance after owning this for a year now. Like a nut I picked up a used 1996 classic 30 for $300 bucks at the local music store. add to the other five amps I have. but something about the tone hooked me. got it home set it up on a short dresser and it didnt have the same tone, till I put it on the ground. It came alive just like in the store. I think the JJ tubes (7 of those little bastards) made this amp. Great clean channel and good reverb is all I need. Pedal board does the rest. Very versatile. ac/dc to eagles, and johnny cash. Probable not for metal heads. you know the type they have the "cookie monster" style singers.

I took back my Lonestar, this amp is much easier to dial in a tone. Lighter and meaner. I use some good pedals. to get classic crunch. tonebone + tubescreamer, I can out "chunk" my dsl marshall, want the blues? go to clean channel throw the neck pickup on the tele and you can get real bluesy, or switch to bridge channel for country twang. instead of boost switch use an eq pedal for a lead boost. Probable the only knock on this amp. i would suggest a danoelectric fish and chips, only $25. Another MUST have.. I bought a tubetamer to stop the tube rattle. best $20 you will ever spend. find the extra money and replace tubes with jj tubes if you dont already have them. No need to replace speaker its fine. If you want extension speaker cab. email or call avatar speakers. One 16 ohm 12in.cabinet.and you'll blow out any drummer only with sweet ass tone. I must confess I am not ashamed of Peavey but I did remove the logo. I know, how shallow of me.

Super reliable. Proud to say I like my things "Made in USA" Oh yea. "F" the B-52Amps and all the other Chinese crap. although I must admit b52amps do sound real good. they just heat up and fall apart. I know.

No need to even call them..

25 years of playing. I had a serious case of gear syndrome before I found the Classic 30. I've stopped the crazyness. If stolen, I wouldn't wait a day till I got on Craigslist, eurotubes,and toms tubetame. I'd have the whole system before the weekend. Overall.
$300 amp,$120 tubes, $20 tubetamer. Small price to pay for happiness. and you'll have enough money left over to get a Boss loop station so you can plug in a rythym and play 30 min leads.I swear i want to spoogie in my pants when i hear this amp.

Mine is an old Classic 30, obviously fairly early in production. Bought it 2nd hand. Looks like it's been to hell and back. Scratches and rust all over but that's fine by me. FX loop, 2 channel, reverb, ext footswitch and ext cab jack. Great to see an amp with a bare minimum of features. Nothing I wish it had and the 30W is plenty of power. Not too heavy. This is a weird question: if it doesn't have many features BUT it's not meant to, does it get a high or a low mark??

Well, as has been covered below, the clean sound is solid gold. I never use the od channel- just pedals through the clean channel. I use it with Fender single coil guitars (strat, tele, Cyclone II and Lead 1 (modded with a single in the neck posn)) and the single coils really shine. We play indie pop but I'd say whatever style of music you play, it's got such a nice clean tone that you just put whatever pedals you want in front of it and it will sound great. I use a bunch of Boss, MXR and Electro-Harmonix pedals and my tone is great. No discernible noise, above what is expected.

I've had it for about 6 months now with no problems. As above, it looks like it's been around the world a couple of hundred times but is still going just fine. I love the beat up look of it. It was re-tubed before I bought it so I can't comment on tube life. No tube rattle. One thing: the other guitarist in my band has one as well and the chrome guard with the knobs on both is really rusty. This may be a design flaw. Also, they get incredibly hot. I've got other tube amps and they don't get anywhere near the temperature this does.

Can't say. Never needed it.

I've been playing for 15 years and have owned a bunch of gear. My other tube amps at the moment are a Fender Super 210 and an old Vase Trendsetter 60 head. As someone else has said, this is a 'go to' amp. it's light, cheap and reliable. You don't worry about it as much as the Vase and won't do your back in like the Fender has. We have band members without cars, so I have to transport them and their gear to rehearsals/gigs, so it just makes sense to take the smaller, lighter amp, especially when it sounds just as good anyway.

Bought brand new in 2007.

You know the features already mentioned. I run it at about volume 3-4 for clean channel. 4-5 pre amp and 4-5 power amp for drive channel. reverb at about 3, bass 6-8, mid 4-7, treble 6-9.

I wish it had a stand by switch. The Peavey 2 button pedal for channel switching and reverb is a joke. Must cost peavey about $2.50 to make it in China and they try to sell it for $100 AUD. There is no light to let you know which channel its on and it feels weak. Also there is an extra boost/lead channel with no foot switch so I never use it. I mean who has time to stroll back to there amp, stop playing and flick the switch by hand. Dumb Peavey Dumb.

This amp sounds great. The clean is almost up with the Fender clean and the distorted is really flexible. I tried Laney (not bad), Fender Hot Rods (clean beautiful and as one reviewer put it the distorted sounds like finger nails down a balckboard.) Marshall (great distortion but ok clean - Having said that I gigged with a Marshal AVT 100 the other day and the clean was quite nice), Vox Valve / Transistor things (clean ok distortions sucks) and few others.

I play some blues, classic rock, and some poppy stuff. I run it with a Roland/Boss ME50 so can dial up sounds from clean fat beautiful tones through to killer distorted metal.

Currently own an Applause Fender (clone) with a Dimarzio Super Distortion S in the bridge (with Single/humbucker switch), a cloney middle pickup and a SD STK-S2 in the neck. And man, on the dimarzio this amp rocks. With the SD its a different sound, fatter and muddier but sound great. I also have a Special Edition KOA strat with SD single coil pickups and the strat sound from the amp is beautiful.

Simply put the peavey sound is really quite good for both Clean and distorted. And this is without any mods.

Now dont get me started. Had it for about 3-4 months. Took me 3-4 months to find it and try it. It started to create cracking sonds when playing about 4 weeks ago. Put it into the shop and just got it back today. They replaced the power supply and some other stuff and the same problem is still there. BOO HOO HOO.. Not fair. I am now getting sick of this.

Seems that when you play it.. and I dont play really loud.. Im to old now. it just starts cracking up producing big pops and bangs like a valve is about to fall out. Not happy Jan.

Dont know but local music store Davis Music is great.

I have been playing off and on for 10 years.. spread over a 30 year period.

Overall it sounds great. Reliability to date. SUCKS !!!! Bang for buck I think this is one of the good amps out there (when it works) but if it comes back still cracking and popping it will end up as a boat anchor. And I will be trying another model or brand.

This is the older tweed model of the classic 30. Features have already ben covered mostly, it's got two channels, 3 band eq, spring reverb, and an effects loop. No standby, no lights on the pedal, it does have a mid boost button( whoop-de-frickin-doo). Not totally all tube, the rectifier is solid state, but sounds great. Plenty loud, why anybody would need more volume is beyond me, I never ever turn it past about 3, even with a post-heavy-metal-deaf-drummer. If you need more, throw a mic in front of it. All in all, a very straight ahead little amp, I'm giving it an 10 cause it covers the bases for me. Does it have all the bells and whistles of some line 6 pos, no. Does it have the features it needs to do exactly what it was intended to do....yes.

For what I do this amp is perfect. I play blues/country/rock/jazz and it sounds sweet. It just sings and I honestly couldn't ask for more. I've wanted to justify buying a Mesa Lonestar Special, but couldn't...(no, the peavey doesn't sound as good, but it only cost $350 used, and the difference is not worth $1000....). It's quiet (once you get the friggin tubes well connected...check on ebay, there's a tube holder that makes a night and day difference, without it there's a rattling crappy sound, with it you get the butta I'm otherwise describing). The distortion is not "brutal", but that's not a word I would ever hope anyone would use to describe my playing either....I'm using it with a custom built tele, a 1951 epiphone archtop, a custom built lap steel, and a custom electric mando. I put a tremolo through the effects loop (Voodoo labs) and run delay and wah/volume in front...it sounds great. Clean is very smooth with nice depth and warmth. The overdrive can be thick sustain leads (not it's high point, but do-able) but has a really nice warm break up that I love

It's a tube amp, so all it takes is one knucklehead to put it out of service. But, if you carry back up tubes I think this thing is amazing. Never a problem (again, once I solved the tubes staying in ). I play it 5-10 hours a week and no issues....it's built like the proverbial brick outhouse, but without bricks and without the hole to crap in....... I would use it without a backup, who has money, time, and space to haul extra amps around?

no idea. This amp is "self-biasing" (not that I couldn't find an amp shop that would have chraged me $50 to slot the tubes in) so as long as you buy matched sets of tubes you should be fine. The nice thing about tube amps is they are a classic design, so people know how to work on them.

I've been playing for 13 years or so, I'm primarily acoustic guy, but this amp got me going on electric. I have a Taylor 414ce, Collings OM3, Yamaha 512, Custom Tele, 1951 Epi arch top, breedlove mando, GD Armstrong custom Mando, etc etc, etc (yes I'm a degenerative addict and there are starving children who die because of my misuse of resources.....)If it were lost or stolen I would pry look for another one, I do really like it. I don't think there's anything close to the price range that gives this kind of tone and portability....if I had more money I would look at the Mesa Lonestar Classic (special? whatever, the lower wattage one). I love the vibe and the sound (the tweed just looks cool) and I pulled the Peavey logo off the front as soon as I got it home (unfortuately Peavey will always be synonymous with butt rock to me). I am a professional musician (by which I mean, I make my livelihood by playing music, not that I am rich and famous). A standby switch would be really nice, and lights on the footpedal (sucks to not know what channel you're on, but I spose that one could use their brain just that little bit to remember....) Friends, use your ears....so much of the industry is about posturing and brand name, but there's a lot of branded gear that sounds like crap, and a lot of gear people don't think twice about that sounds really good.

The features on this amp are acceptable and is easily adaptable to rock, country, even metal. It's got plenty of punch for any small club gig. I've used it at 200 square feet and have had no problems.

The reason I've rated sound quality so low is because this amp is so noisy. The actual sounds that this amp generate are great - good versatility. It plays great for almost any style. But the noise factor is just plain unforgiveable. I've played my custom-shop Strat, Gibson 61 reissue SG, Gibson VOS '59 Les Paul through this amp, with and without stomp boxes. It does not matter what guitar you use, the amp is so noisy (especially when you kick in the "boost channel") that the hum/hiss is so distracting to other members of my band and especially annoying to me that I will not gig with it any longer and I am in the process of trading it in for a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

Haven't owned it long enough to give an intelligent assessment. But what I can say is that the Classic 30 is solid and built like a brickhouse. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and have owned an amp this noisy! What a shame, because it's a really nice amp, otherwise.

Never had to deal with customer support

Like i said, I've only played through this amp for a couple of months. I own a Dr. Z Route 66 (best amplifier in the world); a Fender Custom-Shop Vibroverb, and a Marshall combo JCM2000/TSL122. I would not replace the Peavey Classic 30 if it were lost or stolen. As a means of comparison I can only say that it's the smallest amp I own, yet it's the noisiest. It's a shame that Peavey has built an amp that produces such great sounds (great for howling leads, lots of crunch, and great clean sound for rhythm) but will drive you to distraction (it makes me crazy) because of it's noisiness. You have been warned.

This particular amp was purchased in March 2007. This model seems to have undergone many manufacturer changes in recent years. They appear to be listening to user comments. Many of the user mods you read about on the net have been incorporated. I make note of this since older/newer models may be different from the one I own.

This is a popular amp and the features are described elsewhere. The biggest cons are:

1) There is no standby switch which is generally unheard of on tube amps.
2) The foot pedal is cheap plastic and has no lights.
3) The foot pedal switches the drive channel and the reverb. Who ever switches reverb on/off? It should switch the MID Boost.
4) The cabinet is particle board instead of plywood. My only complaint here is that it adds to the weight, all just so the manufacturer can save $1 on each unit.

Since I paid $525 for this new, the CONS are minor. It's not like we're talking a $2000 amp here. It's also a very attractive box.

Sounds quality is where the amp rules. The clean channel is wonderful--especially after you break the speaker in. I play mine for several hours daily and after 3 months, the box took on a sweet sound. Very nice breakup when the volume is turned up to 5 or 6. The drive channel is not bad, but the dirty/distorted sound is quickly lost in the mix. I have had much better results using a good TS808-based overdrive pedal on the clean channel. I also like the tone better after I changed out the SOVTEK EL84 tubes with JJs. Some people suggest changing the speaker, but I think they are nuts. This is a great sounding $500 amp. Change the tubes and break-in the speaker. Plenty of volume. I play with 6 to 7 guys and this amp can cut thru easily. The amp also includes an effects loop which is great for chorus and echo. I occasionally plug it into my 72 Marshall 4x12 cabinet and this amp takes on a whole new and unbelievable tone!

I have recently started to experience annoying tube rattle at low freqs. This is confirmed by grabbing the tubes (with an oven mitt on) to see if the rattle stops. I have a Tom's Tube Tamer on order to solve the problem ($20 on ebay or build your own).

I called Peavey once and reached a real technician on pickup.

This is my daily go-to amp. Also great for hauling to jams since it is small. It is inexpensive, so if it is lost or stolen, it can be replaced easily. Always receive complements on the tone.

Features are basic but good. Too many amps have features, features, features but sound sh*t. This sounds great!!!!! I'm giving it a 9 for guitar sound without effects or 5 channels for nothing.....it is what it is!!!!!

I have 3 amps now...... a Marshall AVT100x (poo!) lots of features all sound crap, Ashdown FA-40 great amp for rock but not metal as the company advertises, and this wild Peavey animal!!! This thing beats them all, it's truly fantastic. Great clean that beats any Fender and i know..... i just sold my fender bassman! I use a BC Rich (USA) Warlock with seymour duncan humbuckers and an ESP Custom Mirage with Gibson Explorer humbucker. This may sound like a strange combination but it really sounds great, i play metal and classic rock and this amp is great with a metal pedal (i use Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff). The overdrive channel is great for things like AC/DC etc, smooth tone etc. but don't expect anything heavy without a pedal it's classic after all. Loud enough to gig? hell yeah unless you're plying in a stadium!!! great for small bars, parties etc. (Beats my marshall on volume and that's 100W)

No opinion

No opinion

I've been playing for 12 years and have owned lots of amps over the years (unfortunately!) Marshall TSL:- Marshalls do what marshalls do....great for classic brit rock but no good for anything else (by this i mean versatility for a good price), Fender Bassman :- Thought it was great until i bought this Peavey..now sold. Mesa Boogie (can't remember the model) maybe more depth in tone than this but look at the price and for the clean i would honestly say the classic 30 is better. This is the best amp i've ever heard ....basic features which sound great and in my opinion that's the most important thing......want features buy a multi-effects pedal and sound digital! want tone buy this!!!!!!!!!

Features have been mentioned plenty. No need to rehash. Could use a standby switch. Plus, it should have come stock with a tube guard. Slackers! I do like that it has an Extension Speaker out.

Great clean side. Stays clean fairly loud without the boost on. Actually, I don't use the boost at all. It does boost the volume, but it adds too much noise. Plus, it's loud enough without it. The dirty side is great! You can zero in on a small amount of grit or full out distortion. Excellent for blues and even rock, but not so much for metal. However, I'm a bluesman and this amp is perfect for the blues.
The guitars I play thru it- 1983 Squier Bullet. This is not the $99 Bullet you find today. In 83, they were made in Japan, with a beautiful maple neck, a truly sweet guitar. This amp and guitar are a perfect match for my ears. I also play a 1979 Fender Stratocaster (autographed by Buddy Guy) and a 68 re-issue pink paisly Fender Telecaster that I bought new in 1985. As of yet, I've really only played the Bullet thru this amp. It sounds that good!

I wouldn't gig with any tube amp without a backup, but this amp does seem reliable. I've had no troubles and have yet to re-tube it. I've read a lot of reviews where users upgrade the speaker and tubes, but honestly, I think it sounds just fine stock.
This past weekend I had an outdoor gig and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see exactly how well 30 watts and one 12 inch speaker would perform. For outdoors, would it have the power to cut thru the rest of the band? If not, I had my Fender Twin 2/12 100watt waiting in the wings. Wow! I knew this amp would be plenty for any indoor gig, but outdoors it held it's own just fine! I was pleasantly surprised. It had plenty of power, volume, and the tone was still there. Nice.

n/a

I've been playing for 30 years. I play Blues, Rock, Country and Jazz.
My main love is the blues. My other amps are- Fender Twin 2/12, Fender 85 (solid state), Fender Blues Jr. I run a variety of Boss effects pedals- compressor, overdrive, Octave, Delay, Chorus, tuner, Earnie Ball Volume Pedal.
Pair this amp with your favorite Fender guitar and revel in the blues!

My amp has a "New style" front but lacks stock tube guard, assume amp is early run new style...it's 'black tweed" (pressed tolex?) black grill cloth.

First thing I did "to" the amp after purchase was take off the oval Peavey logo & paint a nice black & white yin yang on the flat backside...flipped it over & screwed it back on;)

Features already covered numerous times, lack of standby particularly glaring ommision, presence control would be a good idea IMO

Sweet tone, did immediate re-tube after purchase. Was sorta bummed that the sovtecs were buzzing on an almost new amp but was prepared for the disappointment after reading many reviews on the Classic 30.

Play thru an old Boss chorus an Ibazez soundtank tremelo & occaisionally use a soundtank tube screamer w/drive turned low just for a little boost. The boost circuit in the amp just a tad over the top in the small venue situations that I find myself in....the amp sorta "squawks' unless you're ready w/some slight eq/volume adjustments

Plan to have some of the mods layed out @ www.blueguitar.org/ done when my "tube amp guy" has some time & I have some extra cash>

The basic mods (stand by, presence control, tuning the OD circuit in w/different filter caps etc seem sensible options to me.

Too soon to tell, have a Fender DeVille for backup. (much prefer the Classic 30)

dunno, Peavey site doesn't list 112 ext cab, only the 212 "Beetlejuice" fronted cab. Combo looks ridiculous sitting on a table level cab IMO.

Guess I'll e-mail Peavey & ask "them" why the hell they don't offer a matching 112 cab anymore & tell ya ltr, eh?

Have been playing 20 yrs, classic rock, blues. "variety" Itza tossup if I would buy again, dunno> Crate currently busting their ass to compete w/Peavey in the small affordable great sounding tube amp category.

Crate offers a Tone Tubby speaker in their black V30 & Celestion in the Palamino (blond) V32....both have a standby switch;)

Altho I love the tone of this amp, I stongly suspect Crates V-30/V-32 offer similar satisfaction....didn't getta chance to try the Crate, it's a LITTLR bit more expensive and was unavailable locally.

Ha!....gotta say my Classic 30 looks cooler w/the yin yang switch on the front logo...give it a shot, blaze a trail into "boutique" amp territory

2 Channels. 1 EQ section for both. Effect Loop. All tube!

I'm using an Iabnez with a Dimarzio pickup (one that Steve Vai used).

Great tone, tone, tone! This is a great amp for up to rock. Once again, the tone is so sweetfully crunch, yet you get enough gain to solo with fluidity. This is not for heavy metal.

Clean channel is great, too. Almost like fender clean. Quality.

I hear the sound will improve with better tubes, but it still sounds great with sovteks in it.

I just love the tube tone, and it's loud, too.

Can't comment, yet.

Don't let the price fool you. This is a great sounding all tube amp for rock.

Looks cool (tweed), sounds sweet, light enough to carry around, still loud. My search is over for now, for a perfect rock amp.