Peavey Classic 30

Amp was made in 96 or 97, bought it used? Very Versatile - I play Most styles of Rock except Death metal or Kid Rockrap or metallicrap. Favorite bands are Deep Purple, Rush, Queensreich, old Aerosmith and Zepplin - give you an Idea of my sound. Some Blues, some classical(sounds pretty good for my resonator guitar) I replaced the speaker with a Reverend all tone, replaced the tubes with Groove tubes. I am writing the review because of a couple of bad reviews by others comparing this amp to Laney and Marshall( this amp was never designed to compete against those amps or any $500+ amp. This is a basement or small club amp for Rock and Rollers and it does a great job at it. If you want a Marshall or Laney or any other sound buy that sound, because it ain't here, Mine says Peavey right on the front - DOHHHHH!.

Have an Ibanez RG270 with SD 59 and JB, 72 Strat - Stock, 78 SG - Stock. Various pedals including Mesa Boogie Bottle rocket and vintage Cry baby. Amp is very quiet when it is below 3 a little noisy at jammin levels no more than any other amp with pedals turned on. Amp can be very sweet sounding and get pretty crunchy with the right pedals(don't forget this is a $400 amp- Brand new, not a fender, marshall, boogie or other expensive amp), very open sounding if you don't have it hooked up to a cab. Oh yeah I have 16ohm Cab Dohhhh! 1959 Marshall Cab. I use it for my Plexi Head. Clean channel is not the cleanest but sounds good, Midboost is not great, but OK for bluesy sound at low volumes. The Ext. Jack for the speaker is 8 ohms by the way I checked it, maybe mine was modded, but I don't think anyone is going to go thru that kinda trouble for an amp like this. Taking off just one point for distortion, but I use my Bottle rocket.

Use it 2-3 nights a week, I play in a basement mostly, Do some stand in stuff at a Blues bar occasionaly with my freinds band. I put new tubes in it, because I don't care for the cheap tubes that were in it. Like others have said, the back is wide open, I should put some kinda guard on it, but I haven't done that yet.

No problems dealing with them on this amp, but they wouldn't help me out with an old Peavey 400 series manual that I want. Other than that, most repairs and service can be done with basic electrical knowledge. Giving a 6 because I think they should be a little more helpful even when people buy there stuff used. Or atleast kinder.

Been Playing over 25 years, since I was 14. Would buy again if I could find a good deal. I like the variety of Rock and blues tones. Don't like the combined tone controls for the clean and distorted tones. I have a variety of stuff, have never sold or gotten ridden of any of my old stuff over the years. Some Items - Plexi 1/2 stack. bassman 50/ with newwer showman Cab. Play bass too, I plug it into the Peavey when I am too lazy to go in the basement andturn on the Bassman. Sounds good at low volumes but wouldn't want to tear up the speaker for a loud jam session. Pedals include. Mesa Bottle rocket, cry baby, MXR paser, electric mistress, reverend drivetrain, Lexicon lxp-5. Gibson skylark g-5 model, Fender Champ and couple of silvertone amps. Missed a few items. Take care.

You know by now all of the features that this amp has. I have been playing for or 25 years and use this amp for home, stage and studio. I will rate this section on features......but one thing is garbage and that is the extension speaker output jack is for a 16ohm speaker......seriously........whos has one?

Ive got a 52 Tele, 63 Strat, 3 Les Pauls and a 70 SG. The amp sounds like shit with a Fender at high volume levels due to interference. One may as well hold up a TV antenea for all the noise you gather unless HOLDING the strings all the time.......annoying on stage and not a pro look! Bad earth because touching the control panel will stop some of the HUM.......The gain is mud as is the boost.Clean channel gets a 7.

Ive so far had this amp changed TWICE in 2 weeks and this is another dud full of faults. Bad earth problems, faulty valves and I am now waiting on a replacement.......AGAIN!!!

Pretty sad all round......NO QUALITY CONTROL WHATSOEVER.

Ive had Laney valve amps and they rock.......as does Marshall and Fender.....this one is absolute garbage and if I cought someone stealing it I would probably help them carry it to the car. Never again will I buy PEAVEY products!

I wanted to leave another review. If you are good with upgrading parts and soldering, I highly recommend doing the modifications on blueguitar.org. I did and I'm very satisfied. I bought this amp used and with no warranty so I said what the hell. I used a combination of silver mica, WeberVST, and Orange Drop caps and carbon film resistors. The changes were done to the input caps, boost caps and resistors, tone caps, and output / coupling caps and resistors. The tone is full and lush, harshness is all gone. This amp sounds so thick and gooey / crunchy at the gain at 5 and picks up dramatically from that point to very high gain. The boost function is usable now. Before it was too muddy and congested. Now it just punches through and sings when engaged. Output tubes are JJ's and input tubes are Mullard ECC83. I also use a Weber load dump if I want to get that hot VOX pushed EL84 tone or just get a wicked sound with the gain maxed along with the output dimmed.

Seems to be holding up well.

They responde to my emails.

I great amp stock for its price, but a little harsh before the modifications / upgrades. Now, its absolutely wonderful. It beats any 1x12 that I've tried up to 2x its price range. Can't ask for anything more.

Bought this amp new in 2003, and it works perfect for what I want to play. I like to play rock without huge amounts of gain, so if you want an amp with death metal gain then don't get this amp. Two channels, effects loop, extension cab output, reverb, etc. I wish there was a seperate EQ for each channel, so that's why it loses two points for features. This has four EL84s and three 12AX7s. This has plenty of power to play in a band situation, and enough to gig. The "boost" switch is pretty useless, so I never touch it.

I play rock, ska, and...just about anything I think sounds cool and this is a pretty versatile amp. You can get about any kind of sound out of this besides really high gain stuff (metal). Which if I ever decide to play metal I could always get an overdrive pedal. This sucker can be loud. If you think you'll ever need more than 30 watts of tube, think again. The clean channel is really nice, not Fender clean, but that's not what it's supposed to have. This was my first tube amp, and it really does sound worlds better than MOST of the solid state stuff that's out right now. I'm really surprised at the sound you get from this amp for such a good value!

Haven't had a single problem, but like most people I'm pretty worried about the tubes being exposed in the back. I guess I'll have to order a tube guard for it.

Haven't had any problems so haven't needed to contact them. I think it has a two year warranty, though?

I've been playing about two years, and previously I've only owned a Squier Champ 15 (I think...) and a Marshall MG30RCD, both solid state. This amp sounds miles and miles better than either. I play this through a Gibson SG and occasionally bust out the ol' Squier Strat. I love this amp!

Hardly any features at all other than the obvious. Has a boost switch which boost the input gain but sounds like it just adds a whole lot of mids. Two channels that share eq. Reverb. A loud little amp that could be used anywhere providing it was close enough to you. Mine came with a tube guard. Apparently some don't.

Pluging straight into this little baby is very dissapointing. The dirty channel isn't too bad if you have a guitar with high output. But when I set the bass and mid to full, treble to half-way (to get rid of a horrible 'honk' in the eq) then boost the level and eq on my boss CS-3 with just a little sustain then -'voila'- it starts to sound like a decent amp. I adjust the eq on the cs3 for 'shimmer' that the amp alone doesn't have. The boost button just adds mids but is supposed to be an input gain boost however - my Roland VG-88 sounded yukky in this amp until I pressed the boost button. WOW. Sound fantastic now. I guess this would work for most pedal boards. The little classic 30 now sounds a bit like a fender something or with the vg-88 pluged in sounds very Mesa/Boogie or BobCat or even Marshall. Considering my experimentation I don't think I'll get rid I of this amp. And it it very loud with both combinations even clean sounds don't break up when pushed to 'stage tolerance' levels. It would have scored a 5 but because of this I'll give it an 8. I'm being brutal I know but compared to a high-end Mesa or Fender or Marshall this is how it sounds.

Not sure yet. I really need to gig with an amp for about a year day in day out to see what's happening with it but this a Peavey - very reliable amps. Lots of hum with reverb level up so not sure if that's the beginning of a problem.

No idea what-so-ever.

If you use this amp purely to plug in another decent piece of equipment or pedal combinations to get a sound then it rates very high. Speaker doesn't fall apart at high volumes. It looks great. Simple to use, simple to get a basic sound out of (needs a compressor badly though).

Bought it new in Oct. 2003. I assume that by now you know the features on the amp, so I won't bother. Two features that really should come as standard equiptment on this amp are a tube guard and a tube retainer. The exposed tubes ARE an acdident just waiting to happen, and theres enough vibrations that make the tubes rattle. One of the power tubes in my amp does just that when you play low notes. One night after the amp was good and warmed up I put on a heavy glove and touched each tube as I played a low E note and found the culprit. As soon as I touched one of the power tubes the rattling that I heard was gone. I know that Peavey is aware of these problems and its something that really should be looked into. So based on the lack of these two very important items, I'll give it a 7.

Ah yes, sound. Well, the reason that I bought the amp was because for my needs I thought the sound was very good. I'm 50, been playing guitar for about 7 years now and even though I'm just an at home player I have all the desire to want to be the best player that I can possibly be. I love the Marshall type of distortion but I have no need for that much power. I tried a Carvin Nomad and Traynors YVC 40, but neither amp really impressed me much. The distortion on the Carvin sounded like the amp had three blankets over it, and the Traynor sounded kinda fuzzy. The thing that I really liked about the 30's distortion was that it has (in it's own way) a Marshall "type" of quality to it. I mean, for an amp with EL84's in it I was quite surprised. No, I'm NOT saying that it sounds JUST like a Marshall because it does'nt. But it does posses that full "crispy edge" needed to pull off certain tunes, but it does'nt have that tight bottom end to it.
Like anything else, you start to notice things that you'd like to change after a while. One thing that people are right about is that this amp does not have enough clear headroom on the clean channel. Stars to break up at about 3. I experimented with various pre amp tubes and the ones that I so far favor are Sovteks. I've got a 12AX7WA in both V1 and V2, and a 12AX7LPS in V3. This gave me a lot more clean headroom, but it also gave me more treble. While I'm still searching for that magic combination this one will do for now. The distortion also got a bit fuzzy. What I do is to set it rather low with the pre amp at about 4 and the post at about 7. This gives me a nice breakup that's good for a crunchy but audible rhythm. I then use a Boss SD-1 overdrive pedal for leads. I've got to find another overdrive pedal because while the SD-1 has the right amount of grit and clarity it rob's the signal of bass. By the way this amp is very pedal friendly. I use a Boss delay in the loop which works great, and I also use Tonebones Classic and Hot British in the clean channel. Because there is so much variation with these pedals it's not hard to get a good sound out of each with this amp.
This amp does have a loud hum to it. It can't be heard when you're playing but it is there and I'm going to have it looked at.
As of right now I'm pretty happy with the way the amp sounds. I might find a replacement speaker to use as the main, and build an optional open/closed back cabinet. But as of now I have no idea what speaker would do me best. So based on the tube "mods" that I did, I'll give this amp an 8.

Seems pretty well built and since I just play at home it should out live me. (That's a scary thought!) I'll give it a 9.

I have'nt dealt with Peavey yet but it see,s that they are pretty easy to get along with according to the reviews that I've read here. So because i have'nt dealt with them myself, I'll give them a 5 based on "we'll see."

Again, for my needs I'll give it a 9. The tone of the amp is basically pretty good and it can get pretty loud when you want it to which is part of my learning process: I learning to play thru a tube amp at a fairly decent volume. I'm not trying to be loud for the sake of it, but to learn how to play with control. Anyone can play loud but how many can play loud with control. This amp is allowing meto do that. Nice small package, nice sounding package that can kick it out and it's very pedal friendly. For me it was a good buy. I'll give it a 9.

This amp was purchased used on EBAY.
It's a 1 X 12" combo all tube amplifier with the tweed finish.
This amp can get snappy blues ultra-clean, or distorted when driven.
It has a nice Low/Mid/High EQ and a boost switch. The only thing i was disappointed that it doesn't have was a headphone output. That is the ONLY reason that I rated this category a 9

Let me tell you this, the Classic 30 is one of the best amps I have EVER heard. The stock setup is great on it. The tone is so warm and clean, its like BUTTA.
I even like the dirty channel of it . Although, it would be nice if it could get a little nastier. No problem, thats why i have effects =)
The amp is no noisier than u should expect an all tube amp to be. If your looking for a great amp for a good price, this is the one!
It can get VERY loud by itself. That being said, it also has a cabinet out on the back of it to connect an extension speaker cabinet for more output. This could be the loudest 30 watt combo I've ever heard.

I've only had it for a couple of months soI dont have enough input for you here. So far, so good. Build quality is EXCELLENT.

Havent had to deal with them yet...so no input here yet either.

I would certaintly hunt down the fokker that would try to steal this great amp. It was WELL worth the price I paid for it used. (mine is in NEW condition) and if somehow, I had to replace this amp, I would definately buy another Peavey Classic amplifier!

got it used think its about 3 yrs old,2 chanles effects loop plus chan switchin and pedal,got plenty of power to do small gigs or just swing a mic in front and still get the big sound! all tube this little bastard kicks some major ass!

I have a fender devile and a musicman hd130 which are both wonderfull but real ball busters to carry around,this little beast will get you some of the same sounds at half the wieght without losing the tones I like.I use a john bolin custom built strat ,a vintage custom built strat with pups wound by vintage vibe guitars which are wonderfull a custom Tele and a 335 and get any
sound I need!

yes I would not worry about a back up at all this amp is a tank i have used many peavey amps I had one fly out of the back of my van at 65 mph roll down the hyway when i got to it it had a few bumps and scrapes one broke knob, but I pluged it in and it work I used that amp for aprox 3 more years befoe I traded it in sold that kind of sold me! lol

I have dealt with Peavey in the past and they were extremly helpfull and fast to get me the parts I need so i have no complaints!

I have been playing for aprox, 38 years now 26 of those were out on the road,used many different kind of amps and if this amp were riped I d would not bat an eye buying another they are made to last I dont use many effects just a duncan pickups booster I guess I m still trin to make my shit sound like a guitar then I ll branch out the fancy stuff LOL

All tube. 2 Channel. 3 band EQ one set for both channels). Effects loop. Reverb. Extension jack for ext cab.

Sounds like a full sized amp with a list of features that long.

Purely features it won't be a full 10, but this is a small compact practise amp, not exactly a full sized amp... but then again the Vox AC30 is a "full sized" amp with even less features and same Wattage.

Items that would make the Features section a full 10:
-Tube Guard (on an amp with this design this should be a given!).
-EQ for both channels.
-Tremolo/Vibrato (The Classic Series Delta's have this feature though).

Most people view this amp as a different category - a small practise amp, if this is your viewpoint the features are a 10. If you view this amp like I do now (a nice "full size", useable, recording/gigging amp), it's a 8 in the features area (the one set of EQ takes off 2 points). The Effects Loop is an extreme plus on this little dog.

I admitedly use this mostly with humbuckers. Mostly. I also use on a regular basis p-90 and Telecaster single coil pickups... but, the warning still stands - I'm a humbucker type of player.

Through a DiMarzio Super Distortion it crunches exceptionally well. Nice and weighty/ballsy. Through a Seymour Duncan Little '59 for Tele it has nice bass and meaty mids (still keeps the Twang). Through my semi-hollow Gibson with '57 classic pickups it is nice as well (maybe almost too weighty though). Standard Tele retains it's high sharp twang but has a nice body to it. Through my Gibson w/ p-90s (Gib in the neck, SDuncan CustomCustom in the bridge) it is very awesome. Clean is warm but brighter than an old Fender. Not sharp and brittle like non-tube amps but not old Fender again :) Dirty can get a bit muffled when really cranked, I usually back off on the gain anyways (sort of an Angus "cleaner dirty" idea). When the amp is pushed the clean warms up a bit more, and the dirty gets more "middley". Nice and old school tube gain, more cranked to near the top than turn of the Gain knob kind.

I use this for Hard Rock Alternative (theCult, GnR, mixed with Pixies/Pink Floyd clean and trippy with heavy delay at times).

The amp is a bit noisy, but overall the tone is good, so this subtracts a point. The fact that Marshalls, Vox, and Fenders all do their things slightly -SLIGHTLY- better also takes off a point.

So far don't know yet. BUT...

I have 2 Peavey Classic 50s (a 4x10" and a 2x12") and both have seen some godawful accidents... only to live to tell the tale. One fell off of a chair, one tipped over. They are pretty tough amps, so I have confidence in the Classic 30 "mini me" version. I'll give it a default 5 instead of a "No Opinion" only because of the track history of my other Peavey Classics.

Nice website forum. Haven't had to deal with them though. I did have my first Classic 50 repaired once a while ago... I think it was covered by warranty, but I don't remember.

For comparison here is the equipment I use and have:

Amps-
Peavey Classic 50s (classic rock to the MAX godamnit!!!)
Fender Blues Junior (a great blues/classic rock amp)
Marshall JCM 800 (one late 80s 100 watt, one early 90s 50watt 2 channel w/ Reverb) - both of which I had to Sell! I miss them.

Guitars-
Gibson CShop 2001 '57 Reissue LesPaul Custom (all mahogany)
Gibson ES-135 2002 special edition (classic '57 humbuckers and bigsby)
Gibson Les Paul 2001 Junior Lite (with SDcuncan Custom Custom in bridge)
Fender Standard Telecaster 1998 (with customized controls and a SD lil '59 in the bridge w/ coil splitting options)
Fender Standard Telecaster 1994 - stock p'ups
Jackson 2001/02 RR5 (pre Fender w/ a SD JB in the neck and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge)

Effects (basically a delay and wah)-
Boss GE-7 EQ pedal (for lead/solo/volume boosts via fx loop)
Boss Digital elay/Reverb (for spacey effects and old school rockabilly delay)
CryBaby Wah pedal
Boss TU-2 Tuner (the best pedal tuner ever)

--

If it were stolen I'd replace it. It's more portable than my 50s and sounds similar. Great for practise and/or gigs.

4 power amp tubes, 3 preamp tubes. It has enough power to practice at home and for a small gig. Versatile amp. Reverb, bass, middle, treble, 2 channel selector. External speaker capability.

I got my amp from eBay with 4 JJ tubes for the power, 2 groove tubes for the preamp and 1 electro harmonix tube for the last preamp. It also came with an Eminence Alnico 122 speaker and a Metal tube guard that protects the tubes in the back.

The sound is beautiful. Great warmpth and a wide open sound for many styles of music. No distortion but just get pedals and you'll be fine.

Damn reliable. These things last forever. Get a tube guard to protect your tubes though.

Haven't had to deal with Peavey. But you can the manual and tons of other info about the unit on their website.

Great amp. I would get another if It were stolen/lost/etc. I love the sound!

I don't know when this amp was made since i got it used. I'm guessing around 1998 - 1999 since that's the date on the info package that came with it. The amp sounds awesome for the price I got it. $250 used from the Guitar Center. Not sure if the channel switching works since I don't have the footswitch. Clean, gain, boost, bass, treble, mid, and reverb. One 12" eminence made speaker that sounds pretty damn good, very chimey.

I love the sound of this amp. Very hot Vox sounding, there's plenty of gain if you need it, but keep in mind, this is an EL84 based amp. When's the last time you heard or seen a Nu-Metal band (or any Metal band) play an amp with EL84 tubes? There's a reason, EL84's are very rich and complex tubes but dont' have the bottom end needed for Metal sounds. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of gain, but its not a bottom heavy Marshall / Mesa type gain. More like Brian May, Brian Adams or the Beatles on steriods. Very smooth, rich and harmonic. Sounds even better with a compressor or treble booster up front. All in all a really, REALLY, cool little amp.

Not sure, just got it and its used so I'm not expecting much.

Don't know,

I have over 18 years of experience and I've gone through tons of amps, especially smal combo amps. Line 6, Behringer, Rocktron, Marshall, Mesa, Crate, Vox, and Fender to name a few. This amp without a doubt blows away those amps when I factor in cost, looks, weight, and sound. The only combo i really liked was the Mesa Nomad, but that was over 4x the price and very HEAVY. The Classic 30 has as much gain as the Mesa but is more open and chimey - more like a Vox AC30. I plan to upgrade the capacitors and a few resistors just to improve the sound a bit more. Why not, its used and not under warranty - might as well see what its capable of.

mainly i use SC gNl tele tigh HB in da neck(keef rockz harder than any otha motha out their but i must say i like MICK taylor era stones da best)and a 62jag and casino. but i only have one thing to say the coolest thing about this amp it that on the drive chanel it has the sound of a marshall or any other nice medocer to higher gain amp but your guitars tru voice still comes thrugh like like it doze on a fenders this is my second reivew but i just thought how cool it was how the amp doze that and the clean just kickz ass

You know what goes here.

Stock this amp sounds good but not awesome. This amp suites my strat very well and has a great blues and rock sound.

If you want an awesome sounding amp upgrade the tubes when you get it new or used. The best tubes for the money are jj tubes.( www.eurotubes.com ) They make the amp sound much more defined. The tone quality increases dramatically and all aspects of the sound are made much better. The reverend all tone speaker combined with the tubes give it a very enjoyable sound.
http://reverenddirect.com/reverend/amps_etc/alltone_speakers.html

This amp was gigged for 3 years by the previous owner and has held up great. My friends 2 y/o classic 30 is still like new. This amp is built to last many years.

N/A, never delt with them. Great website though ( www.peavey.com )

Well this amp isn't perfect but it is a great value. With out the JJ tubes this amp would be an 8 out of 10 but with the new tubes it sounds wonderful. The new tubes ran me about $62 from www.eurotubes.com and the shipping was as fast as it gets. Email or call Bob and he will set you up with a custom matched set of tubes for you classic 30. Any questions get a quick answer and you can't find a better person to deal with.

If you are reading this you probably already know the features of this amp. Pretty basic 30 watt, tube amp with 2 channels. I rate this a 7 mainly because it doesn't have separate eq for clean and overdrive. I also think peavey should include a footcontroller to control the reverb and channel select.

I'm using a Gibson BluesHawk and a Breedlove acoustic. I primarily play rock, contemporary christian, and blues. The amp suits my playing style, however, like several other users I made modifications. i immediately changed the tubes to JJ (Tesla) from eurotubes.com This improved the overall warmth of the amp, and gave me clearer cleans and unmuddied the overdrive. I also changed out the stock speaker with a WeberVST 12F150. The speaker isn't fully broken in yet (takes about 20 hrs), but again this really made the amp sound bigger and gave be better bottomend.
The classic 30 is very quiet from my experience when compared to amps like the Fender HRD. I currently run my effects through the effects loop (delay, chorus, flange, noise gate) and run a Ibanez TS9 direct from my guitar. This really works for me. Not a heavy metal amp, but I can get great crunch with a pedal and great blues/rock sound from the amp's OD channel thanks to the new tubes and speaker!

Seems to be built well. The first thing I bought was a tube guard on Ebay. This is a must have investment if you want to protect those tubes! I keep an extra set of tubes handy, but I have experienced no problems.

Haven't dealt with the company except to order an amp cover and footswitch. Both took a longer than expected time to arrive. When the foot switch arrived I thought "you must be joking!" it is a cheesy plastic body with an ultra thin cable. For $25 I expect more. My Marshall footswitch is built like a tank in comparison!

Overall a great starter tube amp. I'm no pro and I only "gig" in church. I don't need a $1000 amp or a huge stack. Currently I mike the amp with a Shure S57 and it sounds great! The amp is plenty loud for small clubs, and miking it is the way to go anyway. Even stock, the clean channel is very good and the OD channel usable for leads. Like I said, it should come with a better footswitch and separate EQ, but I bet that is how they keep the amp price down to ~$415.

You know the features from all the submissions below. A 6 because while it offers the basics, it's nothing above average. Mine came with the tube guard. Comes stock if you get recent production.

Using a 91 les paul junior, Stock P100s or 89 US strat. Nothing else, just a simple rig. It sound very sweet FOR THE MONEY. It's no fender, but it cost a hell of a lot less. I'm a dirty blues/rock, generally sloppy player. I like to dabble in other stuff, but the classic 30 suits my ears, with a fairly growly tone. It suffers from a lack of sparkle on clean, a bit dissapointing as I have played both guitars through some fenders that really shone, particularly in relation to the Gibson. The Classic 30 seems to enhance the darker tones of the Gibson rather than the sparkly nature of the pickups. In terms of the strat, nothing is ever going to compare to a Fender amp. When it comes to a little distortion, and a growling bassey grind it delivers adequately. Again, not a revelation of tone if youre in the upper end of the market, but if you want a good versatile tool that you can mod without being afraid of the consequences, a great little amp. I give it an 8 because it is a great little tube amp, with a lot of balls FOR THE PRICE. Don't stack it up with things 3 times the price (or more), compare it to all the trani amps in the price range, and you'll have no regrets.

It's been pretty good so far. 3 gigs. But I've two friends who've gigged with these for years without hiccups. Beware of the tubes. They're like high e strings.

No Idea. I hope never to have an idea.

What's with all the people giving 10s for everything. I use this sit for critical reviews. I say 7 because it lacks some clean sparkle, is a little noisy with the reverb making that worse, It's never going to be worth what I payed for it again (who cares!), and it is just a basic honest valve amp. I've been playing for 9 years, own all that's listed, and a Maton accoustic. I chose this amp because it sounds great for the price, is easily modded, has great reviews from my mates, and I'd started to hate my strat, playing it through a lesser 100w piece of crap trani amp. Love it again now. If stolen, I'd get another one. In comparison, I played everything I could find in a combo (don't want to lug a stck around) from second hand to new. This was the best compromise. No regrets.

After reading all the reviews for both Classic 30 and Classic 50 combos, the main differences are the Classic 30 doesn't have a fan, no Presence control, and no Master Volume (which may be a good thing.) The old 50 was 4 OHMs, new ones are switchable 8 or 16. My Classic 30 was made around 2000 and is 16 OHMS. (I read that Classic 50s have been made since about 1977.) Weight of the 30 is about 20 lbs. The Classic 50 combo weighs 60 lbs. Huge difference.
This has 7 large chickenhead control knobs located on top rear area. No headphone jack. It is all tube 30W Class A, 1 12" speaker, has reverb, effects loop, extension speaker jack, and 2 switchable channels (clean & gain.) It is not a high gain amp. I give it an 8 here because it does not have any built in effects, but it does have Reverb!

The sound is similar to my old Blackface Fender Super Reverb, with about 1/3 of the weight too! I have only tested it with a Fender USA Strat, but others say humbuckers work well with it. Both the Clean and Gain channels sound great with the stock tubes and Eminence Blue Marvel speaker. There is no feedback with the single coils! The only hum happens when you use Reverb all the way up. The Reverb is Nice and can be switched with the footswitch.
I play blues and classic rock. This amp is not for Metal! If you want to use active pups, use the Gain channel only. Don't use a Big Muff with it. Other pedals work fine.
I play it in a small room with carpeting. I have not gone above 5 for Volume, which is loud. This shows that I can push the tubes and speaker and have them break up nicely. Other owners say it is good for small gigs. Remember, the Classic 50 is much louder, too much for a bedroom, better for very loud band rehearsals though. The neighbors thank you, I thank you.

Peavey amps are very reliable. I had an old Triumph 65 that I loved. I might use it at a gig without a backup if I had to. The 4 EL84 tubes are great, but supposedly they need replacing more often. I still have the stock Chinese 12AX7 pre-amp tubes and Sovtek power tubes. Will replace the pre-amp ones soon.

Comes with a 1 year Warranty, except for tubes. I have only had it for a short time, but all owners say it is built like a tank (good quality wood & metal corners.)
About 2 years ago, I called Peavey and spoke to someone that was helpful in pinpointing the date of manufacture for my Triumph 65.
This is very important because most amp companies are not easy to deal with.

I've played since 1977 off and on. I own most of the major types of guitars, Fender SF Bassman head, Fender Princeton Chorus, Peavey Classic 30 tweed head, Silvertone 20W, and just sold a Crate 80DSP.
If lost, I would buy it again. I read many reviews on popular amps and chose this because it got the best reviews. I'm happy with it. If you know of a better amp for under $1000, please write me and let me know. Or, write me if you just want to talk about amps. Chow!

Features. this amp has a few but it haz the one that matterz the most BAD ASS TONE

any one who dose not suck will dig this amp thatz all their is to it. it rawks oh so hard and that is no lie i just luv it so much i own a a.c.30 and have owned a fender B.J. and hot rod delux both had no head room witch dose not bug me to much becaus i rarely play 100% clean but when it came time to rawk they sucked at least with my g&l tele thing with a bad ass humbuking picker in the neck any ways this is just the best amp out on the market 4 the cream.itz clean is not as chime freindly as my vox but it is so much easyer to rawk hard core with this baby but I will say it is hard to beat the tone of the vox with a rat in front but all and all u can beat this thing my twangers r a 62 jag g&l, tele,and epi casino my baby girl

it is tight i wold depend on it if my life was at stake

i bought this amp from a good man who is tall as hell............ but any who i luv it so much iam 16 and my band has taken a samll break but now we r giging agian thank god and this rips it up hard core every time. the stuff i rock out to it mick taylor era stones ooh u have to luv that shit,live at leeds who,beck era yardbirds,oasis,weezer,GnR,erly zepplin,the strokes,and last but far from least my god CHUCK BERRY and i luv tom petty i luv mike camble but i must say i hate SRV or any other white man who plays only blues come we have stole enough from black people at least try to do something new with what we have stolen and by the way i like my tone the way the O.D.B. likes hiz bitchez RAWWWW

i've already submitted a review, but just wanted to address a statement from someone else about 10 or 15 reviews below. He states that peavey listened to customers and finally installed a tube guard on the classic 30.

Well, i hate to dissapoint you all, but i just got done ordering a second classic 30 thru a dealer and thru this experience i found that while some people at peavey seem to think this is the case, they are NOT, I repeat, NOT shipping with guards. What they did was to design and manufactur a tube guard, but it is for after market sale only !! In other words, peavey has chosen not to add a needed piece to a defective design, but instead they want you to pay for thier mistake ! Nice, eh? Well, i bought a second c30 anyway because i really wanted a pair to run stereo. But i assure you it's the last thing i'll ever buy with the peavey name. The tubes are exposed in a way that makes them so vulernable to being knocked out or having the tune pins bent that even while being as carefull as possible i have bent the pins numerous times in the years i've owned my current c30.

Just a note for those of you who are considering this amp. A great amp, but thought you should know.

Listed below a million times... mines the old one when they still used Chinese tubes but they're long gone. I bought mine new in about '97 give or take...
I must say I disagree with most comments about the boost switch - on it's own it's good a bit to full on, so I had a tech mod it so there's a tiny screwdriver adjustable pot and it's also now footswitchable. Now it's perfect with a strat to boost the mids as well as volume for a kind of Gilmour-ish solo boost. Nice

Generally use a Fralin loaded Strat and it sounds great. When I bought it was biased way too hot but with that sorted it sounds great - more open and less harsh.
Clean channel is great but the dirty one is superb - higher gain sounds great too, but I tend to stick with gain on 6 or seven because it is just so dynamic and responsive. I use pedal (either RAT or Boss Line selector) to send a heap more gain to it for heavy sounds.
I've still got the original speaker, but that's got to go. I generally run it into a 65 Fender bassman 212 cab and that really brings out what this amp is truly capable of.
The volume level is fine - I was initially worried it wouldn't be loud enough on stage but even with a reasonably loud drummer I have never had it in my monitors. I now play in a band with samplers and acoustic instruments as well and the volume is perfect - loud enough to not need foldback assistance not loud enough to swamp everything else.

Gigged with mine constantly for about 7 years. The only time it failed at a gig was because I had been lazy and hadn't retubed it or serviced it in years. No one to blame but myself :-)
I now generally have a Sansamp as backup but that's just 'cause I'm paranoid (and better organised these days!)

Over all I'm very happy with it. I also have an original 65 Super Reverb and both amps excell at different things so both get used a lot for recording.
Evereyone whinges about things like the cheap speaker and tubes etc but that's fine with me because once you've made the changes it sounds amazing and unique - no one else is going to have your exact compliment of mods. When I bought it I coouldn't have afforded a boutique amnp or Boogie (I was pusching to pay $AUD800 new for it) so I bought it - liked the basic tone but have now evlolved it into something that I really love and will definitely keep.
I guess the point is - it's a good base to create whatever you want. The quality is there and the stock tone is good - with plenty of options for improoving what you don't like while keeping what you do like.
Gotta get me a Weber and tube guard now...

The Peavey Classic 30 has two channels, reverb, a volume and gain control, three-band EQ, an effects loop, a "boost" button that I never use, a single 1/4" input jack, a single 1/4" rear-panel power output jack, and a 1/4" rear-panel channel footswitch jack. In short, everything a good combo amp needs with the possible exception of a headphone jack.

I play a Peavey T-60 for softer sounds and a hot-rodded Stratocaster (Seymour-Duncan Quarter Pound SC bridge, Seymour-Duncan Hot Rails HB middle, Fender Lace Blue neck)...sometimes with an Ibanez Turbo-Tubescreamer and a Voodoo Labs Proctavia...for outrageous sounds. Meanwhile, the Classic 30 can manage any sound from clean to dirty. There are very few analog guitar sounds that can't be produced by this combination. Now...if I could only quit my job and practice 24 x 7 (grin).

It's a Peavey. Anything made by Peavey that I've ever owned has been built for eternity. Good stuff.

I've never required any.

I'm an intermediate guitar player with more dreams than natural talent. But I do enjoy the time I'm able to spend with this stuff. I've been working on "Smoke on the Water" for twenty years now (laugh). I've also owned a Fender Champion and a Tech-21 Trademark 10...two nice solid state combos. I also once owned a Gorilla amp, but let's not go there. I bought the Peavey Classic 30 because it was small enough to fit into my house, loud enough to annoy the neighbors, and very nice sounding. I would buy another one in a heartbeat (although I hope to own this one until I can no longer remember how to turn it on).

Described well by other reviewers. Ordered last Tuesday, got mine this past Saturday at Milano's in Mesa, AZ. I picked the Tweed with Brown amp cover included, nice extra! Needs to have footswitch included though. Could use a Standby switch. I also heard that tube protection covers were being shipped with Classic 30's now. Not this time, so I bought one off E-Bay. At the $409 price point, the features are great.

I use a modified Strat, changed with Bill Lawrence L-290/280s and Eric Clapton Strat electronics. The amp suits my playing style just fine. I like a clean platform to start with. I use a Boss GT-6 through the effects loop return when I need a lot of sounds, or will plug straight-in the Input jack for jam sessions. This amp is ambiently very quiet and has good tone with my guitar. It can get very loud if desired. I a/b'd this amp with my new Gibson Goldtone GA-15RV and it held up fairly well, tonally speaking. This is considering the Classic 30 is $300 less in price, has a cheap speaker, with more features. It is even slightly smaller that the Gibson amp. However I do think that my guitar configuration has alot to do with the nice sounds I'm getting with it.

It seems vey well built, but I've only had it a short while.

The repair shop, M-Troniks, is right across the street from Milano's. I'm not worried about getting repairs during or after warranty.

I've been playing on and off for 29 years. I now am in three bands. after owning large combo amps, I decided to go with two smaller tube amps, using one most of the time unless more volume or a backup is necessary. I just couldn't turn up my large amps to get to a tonal "sweet-spot" at the Churches and small gigs I play. Plus, the large combos are too heavey to carry around and pack. Hence the Classic 30 and the Goldtone GA-15RV, with the Boss GT-6 for effects. I will use the Classic 30 much of the time, since it seems to take the GT-6 very well. It will be the workhorse, and I will pull out the Goldtone for a backup if needed.

Well, I think that the features that it does have, are very minimal. Clean and overdrive channels with footswitch, and an effects loop, WOW.... Big whoop..... even though I do not like digital effects, this amp could have way more features.......

I am looking for more of a clean tone... This amp sounds like its on a slight overdrive no matter how you have it set up.... It sounds okay for some styles of music such as rock, or metal, but not cleaner soft tones...

I have literally gone through about 6 of these amps.... And trust me, my dad and I take care of our stuff like its a child..... I was carrying the amp out of my house to go to my friends house to jam, when suddenly, the handle broke right off. I ended up dropping the amp right on the concrete, not to mention all of the other problems it has had before then..... I haven't used this amp in about 2 years... I hate it.

DON'T BUY THIS AMP!!!

rather than cover the same ground, i'll leave this mostly for other reviewers, as it's covered fine by previous reviewers. but i will say this. for the minimalistic cost-effective design, i take my hats off to peavey for doing their home work. they have kept the most usabe features - ie, 2 channels: clean and overdrive, and reverb.

this is what's it's all about, right? don't be fooled by the affordability of this amp compared to fender,vox, marshall to name a few. this amp is pure class. i've just bought it and compared it to my vox ac30 and it holds its own tonewise. in fact i am smiling with surprise at how good this amp is. i have lots of vintage amps - fender twins, a bassman, and other old australian amps people you may not have heard of. but i really have to praise peavey for retaining a classic sound. an el84 power section, which the classic 30 has, almost always sounds good.

i still love my vox ac30 and my fender basssman, but the peavey is so easy. i mean the overdrive channel had a top-end crunchiness that is not easy to get from the vox - not at a lower volume level. and the clean channel is fine: an articulate high end and plenty of low end as needed. nice reverb too. of amps with reverb, i have owned at least 3 fender twin reverbs, a fender pro-reverb, a musicman 210 sixty-five, a rivera m100, and roland jc-120. the classic 30 is fine by comparison.

time will tell...but it's made of chipboard - not ply or solid timber so don't spill your beer on it if you want it to last

given how expensive valve amps are now, peavey have done a great job. the size, features, and good tone, at such a good price makes this amp an excellent buy. i bought this amp just to try and sell down the line but i may hold onto it after all!!! its just so practical for the money. it your skeptical about peavey, as i was, just try one. you can take the peavey badge off - as it doesn't much the tweed era look - if you like, and you have a great amp that looks the part and sounds it as well, and it's such a good buy!!!

year... I think 2002. 1 channel with 2 gain stages + boost (ueseless), shared eq, 30 tube watts, light enough, big enough. Might be the perfect amp considering features only, very basic. Which I apprecciate. A 4, it does one thing, and does it good.

Sound... Whether I use my Strat or Maverick F1 or Gibson SG, it sounds bluesy, lots of rich mids, and a soft, smooth top end, but very thin and flat. I (try to) play everything from metal to country, but it only works at low-volume low-gain settings. And the mids... no matter how you turn that button, it sounds the same. just a little thinner/fuller... it would be a lot better with a real speaker in it, instead of that crappy 'blue marvel'-shit. can't turn the amp up half-way before it begins to distort... since I love a good clean tone over everything, there's no chance it will work.

and how brutal is the distortion...? well, the small ammount of distortion you can get out of this bastard is as brutal as my grandma... =)

have owned this for maybe... 1? month, it don't feel that solid... but it have stood up with 2 speaker changes, and is still working. good enough for me!

been playing for 11 years, and the only things I've been able to depend upon is my Yamaha CG-101 and Fender RocPro 1000 (excellent amp by the way). if it were stolen... I'd probably just be glad and go get some insurance money. this could be the perfect amp, and I really want to like it... but it sounds so... wrong... not my kind of amp. I'll sell it, and go for a Traynor YCV40. now, that's what I call an amp... =)

You know the features...this review will focus mainly on modding the amp. I'll go into what i did and what gave the most tonal benefits.

As stock, the amp is without a doubt good for the money. Nothing spectacular, but useful and has no real bad aspects. However, they can be made to sound much better with some simple swaps and mods that anyone can do. There are also some mods that should be left to those with more experience.

You will find lots of mods for this amp at blueguitar.org by the way.

I wanted to describe what i've gotten from the amp with a number of mods i've done and explain a few simple things those who aren't experienced enough to do all of them can do to really improve the amp.

Fisrt off i'll explain what i feel can be done SIMPLY to give the amp a much better sound that will put it in a whole other league IMO.
First of all, replace the speaker with a reverend all-tone. I assure you i don't work for the company, but i gotta say this speaker is possibly the best i've ever had, and i've tried a lot of speakers. They're only $59 at reverenddirect.com
If you do the speaker upgrade you will have to connect it differently than the stock 16 ohm speaker because the all-tone only comes in 8 ohm. To do this, remove the speaker wires and tape up the ends so they don't touch. (you won't be using them) Make a 1' speaker cable with an "angle" plug on one end and solder the other end to the speaker with the lead attached to the hot of the plug to the hot terminal of the speaker. Then you will plug the speaker into the extention speaker jack. When the extention jack is used it switches the transformer to the 8 ohm tap so it'll be compatable with the all-tone 8 ohm speaker. This "mod" by itself will greatly enhance the tone, and is a must in my book.

Next, replace the tubes with JJ tubes available at eurotubes.com (no, i don't work for them either) This is a worthwhile "mod" too, tho not nearly as important as the speaker.

Lastly, this is actually a mod, not a swap as with the speaker and tubes. This mod REALLY makes the amp sound much fuller, bigger, rounder, less buzzy, more vintage, louder, and best of all takes literally 5 minutes ! This mod is a MUST ! Once inside the amp, you'll see that the 3 circuit boards are jumpered together with many little wire jumpers. You will be looking for one that is connecting the bottom board (the one against the chassis that the tube sockets are on) to the middle board. look at the side where the input jack is and count from the end jumper. It's the 8th jumper from the end. So count 8 jumpers over from the input jack side on the bottom edge of the board where the bottom and middle boards are connected.
Snip the jumper wire and push the ends away from each other so that they're definatly not touching and you're done. What you have done is remove the feedback loop from the 1st preamp tube.

Do those 3 things and the amp will absolutly improve a lot.

For more advanced guys i would suggest installing a presence control. IMO the amp's treble range isn't quite right, and doesn't have that sparkle that lets it sound articulate. Try and turn up the treble and because of the range it's in it just gets thinner and ratty sounding. The presence allowed me to turn the treble down more than usual and replace the lost high end with the higher range presence, giving the amp a more flat and balanced high end with plenty of sparkle. And it doesn't get thin like you might expect, especially because of the feedback loop mod which fattens the sound a lot.

The 1st 3 mods will really make the amp a lot better, but IMO adding the presence to those 3 REALLY does the trick. I have done other mods i got from the blueguitar.org site such as the cathode bias mod, replacing the tone stack caps with better quality, fenderizing the input, and a few other small things.

But i think doing the feedback loop mod, the presence, and replacing the tubes and speakers are the ones that really made the biggest difference for very little work. The cathode bias mod also made a big improvement......maybe the biggest of all, tho it's

I've owned 3 of these amps, and the only problem i ever had was when one of the jumpers i mentioned in the feedback loop mod broke. A simple fix, but you had to find the problem 1st. Might have caused a trip to the tech for those not used to working on amps. But other than that they've been totally reliable.

Don't know

As stock these amps can't be beat as far as bang for the buck. Only critical players may be unsatisfied in the long run. But even many of them will be content with them. I personally think they are one of the best buys ever in tube amps, and the bonus is that they can be made to sound a lot better by messing with them. The more time you put into modding them the better the results. I made mine my main amp because it just plain sounded better after the mods than my marshalls. I sold em !
Gave it an 8, but after the mods it's a definate 10 considering the price.

People like to talk trash about these amps, and there really isn't any good reason too. It seems so many people who submit reviews are jackasses, so I thought I'd take the time to jump in the fray on the side of the classic 30. Mine is a 2001 I believe, purchased at Fred's Music Shop in Lancaster PA for $350 on sale. You should know the features. The only thing that has bothered me about this amp is I can not find a footswitch that will activate the boost. If I could solve this problem I would give it a nine.
I was originally hoping to get a fender 15 watt amp to play in my small college apartments, and decided since this amp sounded almost as good, and could be used to play with friends (if I had any) this was the better buy. Another thing I don't like is the effects loop, but this could be because I prefer my few effects in front.

This brings up another problem I have with so many other reviewers. This is where they would list a half million dollars woth of primo gear that they also own, and then bitch about how bad this amp is. No, nobody dreams of owning a peavey, but this amp sounds great for the price. You can get great blues and rock tones, mellow out for some jazz (at least my sorry attempts) and then clean it up and pretend you electric is an accoustic.
The distortion is a bit noisy when driven with my collection of shitty single coil guitars, but quiets down when driven with my danelectro distortion pedal. STOP LAUGHING AT MY GEAR!! When my Hamer Eclipse feels like working you can get nice tones with a humbucker guitar. I think when reviewing an amp it's important to consider the type and quality of the guitar that is most likely to drive it. Some people review these amps using a vintage les paul they stole from jimmy page or frank zappa or something like that. How rediculous!

Here's where I'm not sure what's going on. This amp rattled loudly when ever I played any note within a step to an A on any guitar. I took it in for free service under the five year warranty, and they said they got it. I brought it back again, and they said they found it. Latter they told me it needed re-tubbed. I'd only had it a year, and for most of that it had been left at my parents house. I had never really opened it up with friends (whom I don't have). I took it back again, and the repair guy had peavey send all new parts and componets, which were switched for free. Finally they told me what I was hearing was unavoidable with small combos because the tubes and speaker were in the same enclosure, and I sat near by and played at low volumes. Sure enough all the small combos of every brand did the same thing in the store. Some people tell me there full of it, others say the same. I hardly notice any more, but what an ordeal!

I suppose this speaks more for Freds than peavey, but they always took time to help and talk to me, look over the amp, call me with updates, and get the amp back to me in a timely manner. Peavey did pay all the service charges and fees, except fot the new tubes.

I have been playing for 7 years. I'm not as good as I could be, or would like to be, but school and work have gotten in the way of guitar. I'll be done with college soon, and hopefully will have more time to persue the instrument. If this amp was lost or stolen I might replace it with the same amp. Getting new stuff is always fun, and since I have so little gear, I always want something else different. I might get a Fender 15 watter, just because I don't want my neibors to hate me (still trying to make friends). If I anticipated alot of jamming and playing small clubs I would surely buy it again.
I drive this bad boy with a mexico strat, Dan-o 56 U2, the eclipse, and friends (not good friends) guitars. I think this guitar would work well with a Epiphone Casino, because it has lots of clean headroom. I deffinately think this amp is a great value, especially if used in a small combo and miked. It's not too heavy, and sounds good at volumes that won't make you ears bleed. Fun to turn up and pretend you don't suck!!!!

This tube combo has loads of features. At 30 tube watts, it has 2 channels (clean/distortion), Pre and Post (Gain, Volume) knobs for the distortion channel, Spring Reverb available with both channels, A boost button, and Bass, Mid, and Treble Knobs (the same for both channels.) It also comes with Effects Send and Return jacks, as well as Footswitch (sold seperately but worth getting) and External Speaker jacks. Also has a very attractive toggle on/off switch and red led light. The amp comes fitted with a Blue Marvel Speaker and a very nice and rugged Black Tweed covering.

I use this combo with a Squire Fat Strat (Humbucker, Single Coil, Single Coil) It performs astoundingly with both my humbucker and single coils. I have recorded with it on an album and I intend to use it at all my future live shows with a Marshall 4x10 cabinet plugged into the External Speaker Jack. The distortion can be quite crunchy and at the same time you can get mild and light distortion sounds and all the while have it sounding an performing beautifully. I play blues, jazz, rock and alternative music and it fits all of these styles beautifuly. The boost switch is the only function I've never used, it gets a bit muddy, but it's really only a bonus feature and not really needed to me. Sounds beautiful.

This amp is about as reliable as a tube amp gets... Tube amps are prone to problems more often than Solid State, Digital, etc. because of the tubes being glass and fragile. The fitting for the tubes is very solid and also about half of the back of the combo is covered by the casing of the amp and tweed (which also protects the speaker.) Nice feature for those moving the amp around alot. I haven't had it long enough to see how long tubes will last in it, but it still sounds as great as day one.

I haven't needed customer support yet, but I have heard that Peavey is extremely good with repairs, services, and warranty coverage. Comes with a 5 year warranty.

The overall rating value is 10. It is fantastic. I was looking around at tube amps for a few years before I bought one. I used to own a 30 a few years ago and I wish I had never gotten rid of the first one.
For the price, it's pretty much the only tube amp I'd get. They are originally $400+ and I got mine on sale for $299.00, which was great! Either way I still would have paid full price for one. I'd definitly buy it again if it were lost or stolen. My prior amp just didn't cut it. it was a Crate DX100-H Digital Head (with my Marshall 4x10 cabinet) Tube is the way. This amp will get you there.

You all know the features, so nothing about that.
I use this amp mostly for playing blues. 30 Watts might not seem much BUT IT IS LOUD!
No problem at gigs. Last gig: 200+ people. Still power left.
I give it a 10 cause I believe that an amp is an amp. If You want effects: Use pedals

I use my Fender Am. std. strat. This amp is perfect for Blues. You can go crunchy or wild without ANY additional effects.(I actually sold my Tubesceamer TS-9 recently - With this amp You really dont need any distortion/overdrive)
For rythm its just fine - Warm tube sound.
Bill Gates could learn a lot from the Peavey staff. This is the REAL "PLUG AND PLAY" thing

I have gigged several times with this amp without backup. Im confident.
As others has stated the tubes are exposed, So Watch out! I have mounted a tubegard for the same reason.
Only 8 beacause of the exposed tubes

Havn't dealt with Peavey.

I have been playing on and of for about 20 years. I've had Hiwatt, Carlsbro and MusicMan amps before, But this litte babe beats them all.
If it were stolen, I would by a new one straight away.
I bought the Classic 30 (a demo model) cause it has the precise sound I want (And it was cheep too)
My "normal" band plays 60's and 70's pop. I don't use this amp in this band. Im plugged into the mixer and PA through a Boss GT-3. But thats a completly different story.

THE FACTS: Made in 2003, this amp is a two channel 30W combo with spring reverb and a 12" 16 ohm Peavey Blue Marvel speaker. Channel one has a volume control, and channel two has pre-gain and post-gain controls. There is a standard three band eq and reverb level control that service bot channels. There is also an effects loop and a gain boost switch.

The separately purchased $20 US footswitch provides channel switching and reverb on/off. There is a 16 ohm external speaker jack, and last but not least, the tubes: four SovTek 6QB5/EL84's with an ElectroHarmonix 12AX7 driver for the power amp section and two ElectroHarmonix 12AX7's for the preamp section. I'm sure there are more facts to list, but good God, if you need more get it from Peavey's website.

THE OPINIONS: I feel that the principles of electricity dictate that the more stages and knobs you have on an amp, the harder it is to keep the sound good. This amp does not have a ton of knobs, and it does sacrifice some features like separate eq for both channels. However, I believe the Classic 30 makes up for what it lacks in extremely clever feature choice and good sound quality.

First, the ability to turn reverb on and off with the footswitch is excellent! I don't like a lot of reverb in my rhythm work, but I do want reverb for leads. This is a very classy feature available in a $460 US amp. I didn't find this available in any comparably priced amps.

While I haven't needed to use this feature yet, I like the fact that I can drive external speakers with this unit. In addition, I find the effects loop useful for my Boss delay and eq pedals.

I don't find the gain boost switch very useful, because I feel it kicks the amp into an overly loud, ugly sound.

The only feature that I really miss in this amp is a presence control. Without this control, I don't use distortion as often as I might. This is not a huge problem for me, since I primarily play clean, but this could be a problem for someone else buying this amp.

I love the way this amp sounds. It pushes a clean tone that can range from smooth to cutting. The reverb is subtle and sweet. When overdriven at about 5 on the main volume, the amp growls.

Distortion through channel two is nice, but not the best feature of the amp. Since I rarely use heavy distortion, this is fine for me, but if you're looking at this amp you should be aware.

I play a 1997 Ibanez Artist Reissue AR300 with stock (Ibanez Super 58, I believe) pickups. I play with this amp once or twice a week in a church band. I usually play in a clean, twangy rock tone a la REM's Automatic For the People.

This amp does not push a lot of bass. I was looking for this in an amp, because I ride on the theory that I leave bass for the bass guitar and use the highs and mids to get my point across.

The amp puts out a slight noise hiss when the volume is up, but more or less what you'd expect from a tube amp.

SUMMARY: If you're looking for a reasonably priced amp with a very good clean or slightly overdriven sound, you'll like this amp. If you're looking for a metal tool of annihilation, look elsewhere.

You'll probably want to order the $20 US metal grate tube guard for this amp, because the tubes are exposed in back. I haven't had a problem with this, but why risk smashing your tubes with an ill-aimed 1/4" cable?

Outside of this, I can't really comment on the reliability of this amp because I haven't had it very long. Seems good so far.

Very good. I had to call them to ask where in the circuit the effects loop comes (it's the last stage before the power tubes), and I had to order the tube guard. Peavey got on the phone with me right away and was very friendly for both calls.

I've been playing guitar for 17 years. I own a lot of other musical equipment. If this amp were stolen, I would buy it again.

I liked this better than any other comparably priced tube amps (Fender, Crate, Marshall).

If you're looking for massive distortion, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a glassy clean tone and rich overdrive for less than $500 US, buy this amp.

This is the part of the amp that for me stops this amp from being an overall great amp. There are 2 channels but with a shared eq. I was able after some time able to get a good eq setting that would work with both channels but I am still not totally happy. The 2nd thing would be the boost switch, while it did give an overall boost to the amp I think it added too much mid scoop and therefore was useless to me and 3rd was the fact that there is no standby switch or master volume. I can do without the standby switch but I really wish there was a master volume. The one real great thing here is you can make many different mods to this amp at a reasonable price, which for me makes a big difference.

Now here?s where I have to give 2 separate reviews, 1 as the amp sounded the way I got it which was stock and 2 the way it sounded with some fairly inexpensive mods. First the stock version. I paid about 250 for this amp on ebay, which if you look you can find them for around this price or 300. It came with fairly cheap Chinese tubes and a peavey blue marvel speaker. With the stock amp I was able to get a fairly good clean sound with some nice tones reminiscent of fender but admittedly not as good. The clean channel started to breakup at around 7 or so to a very mile overdrive. Now for some this might be a great thing but for me I like a lot of clean headroom. The gain channel is where I was totally shocked. After trying many fenders the peavey just had so much more gain, that?s not to say it was in the heavy metal range. I was able to get some real nice classic rock to modern day tones (Aerosmith, Clapton, Zeppelin, Matchbox 20, Tonic). I was also able to get some real nice blues from slight overdrive to singing SRV. The main problem was the clean channel and the lack of headroom. So as stock I would have to give it a 6.5 ? 7.0. Now the 2nd review. The first thing I did was get some new tubes. For the power amp section I got a matched quartet of Tesla (JJ) El84?s and for the preamp section I got an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH for V3 which gave me a little more clean headroom and some slight gain drop-off. For V1 & V2 I got Tesla (JJ) 12AX7?s. The next thing I did was replace the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. Now yes these mods while simple did cost around 165 but consider that this amp goes for about 450 new and comes with a stock Peavey speaker and cheap tubes. Most people when they get a used tube change the tubes anyway. So with the minor improvements the sound was much better. My clean channel now has more headroom, now my breakup is around 9 to 10 and I have some better bass response. My gain channel even though I put an Electro-Harmonix to get more clean headroom I really didn?t sacrifice much gain. I even think that the gain smoothed out considerable. I really thing the improvement were worth it. The amp is more responsive, it is much quieter and much better sounding. That?s why for this part I have to give the amp a 7.5 to 8. Now I know that might not sound like I great ratting from the stock ratting but it is, remember no amp is a 10 unless you bye a Bogner or so other Boutique amp and even then there not perfect. For the price I paid I think I got a great little amp.

I haven?t had the amp for too long so I can?t really give a fair ratting here but from what I hear this amp is pretty sturdy.For those who have made comments about the fact that the tubes are exposed, then get a 20 dollars tube guard like I have and the problem is solved.

I good little amp for at home or small clubs. With a few small changes this amp can hang with anything and oh almost forgot it loves pedals.

My newly aquired amp is a Classic 30 BT (Black Tolex) from 2002.
I want to post this review as an update of the previous posts.

I haven't used this amp long enough to give a statement on the sound and such things. I just want to inform all potential buyers about a few points.

Improvements have been made!
It seems that Peavey really have listened to the critics in this database! I'll list some quotes below and the remedies from Peavey:

Quote: "The only problem with this amp is that it comes with chinese tubes in the pre-amp. Very noisey, I recommond changing to russiain tubes much better for tone. That why this category only gets an 8.5." - Kevin Kelley at 01/12/2003

Remedy: Peavey now use Electro-Harmonix EH12AX7's and Sovtek EL84's

Quotes:
"I don't like the way the tubes are exposed in the rear of the amp." - Frank DeSalvo at 11/26/2000
"I'd do the following: add some sort of firm metal mesh to protect the tubes... add a reinforcement/bracket for the power cord, down low, to keep it clear of the tubes... " - Michael at 05/15/2002
"They really need to put a valve guard on the back of these things." - Anonymous at 11/09/2002
"No protection at all for the tubes. Cord gets tangled easily in tubes" - Choir Boy at 04/13/2002
"Tubes are very exposed and I have already damages 3 tubes with the power cord catching them other than that no issues"

Remedies: Peavey has installed an own "TubeGuard" from factory. A metal mesh that "embraces" the tubes, both underneith and on the back. They have also added a cord clamp that guides the cord on a safe distance from the tubes.

Conclusion: If you ever hesitated buying this amp for the above reasons (-I did), don't hesitate anymore!

I'll be using the amp for my Fender Rhodes Electric Piano.
My first impression of the sound is really great!

After the improvments It should worth be a 9, based on the current average 8,3

Peavey seems to be listening to their customers... Great!

I've put together a page with some photos of the improvements. Please check it out: http://user.tninet.se/~ynt784g/peavey_c30/

Traded a '70's Flying V in 1999 for new Classic 30 and 70's, silver- faced Princeton Reverb. Work wonderfully together. Best features: Thirty blazing watts of tube power. Nice reverb. Beautiful NOS tweed frame with oxblood grill looks great onstage.

Use with '72 Strat reissue and '72 Tele Custom. Sounds like a poor man's Vox to me, but that ain't bad. It lacks the high-end Vox and/or Fender chime and especially the, for example, Vibrolux thump required to make it a "10" to these middle-aged pop, surf and soul music ears. I have come to ignore the boost and channel stuff (see reveiws below) and merely crank the main to about six and rattle the windows with classic rock tone. For more bottom I sometimes add a 4x12 and stand back. Considering the typically remarkable price, this booger gets the top grade after all! Seek info on re-tubing and mods. Interesting reading whether or not you go for it. Mo money!

Like a tank--blah, blah . . . See below.

Never needed help but have heard very good things about Peavey support.

Played mainly pop and rock for 35 years. Have owned and played some great stuff along the way, with my favorite guitars being the Tele Custom and a Rick 360. Best of amps, a '68 Super Reverb. One problem with the Super and other olympian amps, however, is the weight. The Classic is half the pounds of the Super and is, therefore, much easier to tote. The 30 has good tone, is powerful enough to blast a gym, and is low enough in wattage to get a tad of natural tube overdrive without ear damage. If stolen I would go get a used one as they seem to be ubiquitous and also are very durable. Wish it had more beef in the bottom end, but that would mean a heavier amp in both weight and price.

Other people have already listed this amp's features. I play a variety of music, including jazz, blues, rockabilly, surf, and classic rock, and this amp covers it all pretty well. Clean sound is compressed and "tubey-sounding," which may not be every jazzer's cup of tea but sounds great for clean rock tones. Frankly I don't think I've ever used the gain boost switch, never having found it necessary for the kind of music I play. As for power, in spite of what 14-year-old metalheads will tell you, this amp really has all the power just about anyone needs. It's more than loud enough for gigging in bars, frats, and the like, and anything bigger than that now has a sound system you can mic up into. The days of playing in front of a wall of stacks just to fill the hall are long gone. The foot swtich is very convenient, and although the lightweight plastic switch box looks and feels flimsy, it has withstood years of stomping from 210-lb me with no problems.

I use a strat copy with Texas Specials and an Epiphone Sheraton II semi-hollow guitar with big, fat pseudo-PAF humbuckers. The amp fits all of the music I play just fine, with a very warm, singing distortion tone, compressed, vintage-sounding clean tone, and some very cool sounds ine between the two (more on this later.) It makes a lot of noise with my strat copy, but that's the fault of the guitar's single-coil pickups and poorly shielded wiring harness. On other channels it's quiet, humming noticably only when the distortion is cranked way up. There's a pretty smooth transition from clean to distorted as you increase the gain on the overdrive channel. Around setting "4" there's a great sweet spot nobody else has mentioned - a compressed, almost clean tone that gets crunchy around the edges when you really dig into the strings. It's perfect for aggressive surf guitar or rockabilly. The distortion never really gets harsh, even at the highest end - metal fans should look elsewhere, or use a stomp box.

After amost 7 years of using this amp on a daily basis and gigging with it whenever and wherever I can land a gig, I have no complaints. The amp has been dropped off of the front edge of a stage onto a concrete floor, had half the tubes knocked out by a falling cymbal stand, and withstood countless other abuses, never needing any repair beyond straightening out the bent pins on the tubes and putting them back in place. The only problem I ever had was when the amp was stored overnight in a car in sub-zero temperatures and then wouldn't work right the next day. It was fine again after 24 hours indoors.

Never had a problem, so I can't comment. Although it's pretty cool that it's been 7 years of constant use without a problem..... see my comments under "reliability."

I give it a 9 only because I reserve the 10 category for gear whose use directly causes religious revelations...

I bought this amp 7 years ago when I was in high school, expecting to use it for a couple of years and then move on to bigger and/or more "prestigious" amps (fenders, marshalls, etc.) Somehow I never did - this amp is the right size for what I do, sounds great, and is totally dependable. I've tried a lot of amps over the past few years, and while I've played through some that I liked better for one sound or another, none were as versatile and all cost at least three times as much. This amp is all about bang for the buck - it's not perfect, but it beats the pants off of anything Fender, Marshall, or Mesa will sell you for under $800. And that's assuming you get a great deal on the Fender (or Marshall, or Mesa...)

This is my first REAL amp (moving up from a crap starter amp). I heard some really good things from several websites, so I took a chance and bought one (Also tried a Marshall VS; didn't like it). There wasn't a lot of choice for music stores where I live, so I was limited in my selection, but I can't imagine finding a better price for the features this one has. I play hard rock/prog rock, this amp sounds great! It sounds huge, which is good because I'm currently the only guitar player in my band.
This amp has:
2 Channels
Bass/Mid/Treble
Pre/Post for gain channel
"Normal" volume (clean channel)
Effects loop (not sure if it's series or parallel), but it always on if there is an effect plugged into it
Reverb (Good, but I like my delay pedal more)

This is amp really loud, I filled up my whole school's auditorium (about 700 people) on half volume.

The one reason this amp scored low is that it only works with a Peavey footswitch, and will only change channels if you have 2 or more buttons (one button will only work the reverb).

I'm using a decent Aria Fat Strat copy with a PAF in the bridge. It's used mostly for Rock/Prog and sounds good. It doesn't have a lot of gain, and when you turn it past 10 (Nobs go to 12... take that Nigel!!) your dynamics get cut off. The amp itself seems quite, but I don't use that much gain. This amp (I would think) lends itself very well to blues and classic rock. I actually saw one performer at the Poconos Blues Fest using one. The clean and distorted channels both work well with dynamics, but in my current enviroment, I haven't been able to pump either up past halfway.

I generally am careful about how I travel with my amp, especially because there isn't anything protecting the tubes on this amp. However, in just a gigging environment, it seems to hold up quite well. The tubes, however, seem to get quite hot and there is a strange rattling occuring even after I took it to a tech (it goes away when I play quitely). These are why it didn't score as high as it could have.

Don't know about peavey, but their website was quite helpful.

I think this amp will suit most non-metal needs, even though I've met several metal players using one. In short, this amp has tone. No advanced cab modeling, no multi voiced channels, just tone. It's price is also the best I've seen for any amp coming close to being gigable.

2 channels-clean and overdrive with reverb. 2 EL 84s in the power section. Has all the features I need and enough power. I have seen other reviewers compare this amp to Fender amps, which I don't think is fair-only the blues Jr. has EL84 tubes. The amp has more in common with Vox and Marshall than fender (on the clean channel, of course-the overdrive channel is sort of unique).

Using several guitars with this amp-Les Paul Jr, tele, strats and Hamer Special FM. I like blues and blues based rock, classic rock and old metal. This amp is versatile enough for all these styles.

On the clean channel, strats sound classic-hendrix tones are right there. Cranked up, the clean channel breaks up around 6 on the dial (goes to 12)and sounds great with all of my guitars.

The dirty channel needs some time to find the sweet spot. I usually keep the gain around 8 and use my guitars tone and volume knobs to tame the distortion. I keep the treble knob set at about 4-5, the mids all the way up and the bass at around 6-7. With the Les Paul junior, I bring the treble up just a little, but not above 50%.

Tone secret-mids is where it's at kids! (Except for the 80s scooped middle metal/Randy Rhoads thing) Some people here do not like the mid boost switch, I say try it and really take some time to adjust your guitars tone and volume pots-this amp is capable of some great tone.

the reverb is nice on this amp-I keep it at around 3-4. It is not a fender sounding reverb, but it thickens up the tone nicely.

This amp offers tremendous tone for its price range, but you do have to tweak to find it! EL84 tubes are a great match for P-90 pickups, by the way.

I have been playing 17 years and I like this amp alot. I also own 2 vintage fender amps and this amp sees just as much playing time.

I bought this amp new in 1999. Simple, simple, simple. Three 12ax7 and four EL84 tubes. All tubes except the ss rectifier and reverb. This is one easy amp to use. Clean and Drive channels with shared three band EQ, reverb and boost(they could have left this feature out) and an effects loop. The two channels are footswitchable, however the boost and effects loop are not. The effects loop is series, but I have not had a problem with any of the pedals I use, the only issue if any really is that they never designed a standby switch into this amp. No biggie, it gets hot but nothing you'll need to worry about, I have had mine nearly four years and it never over heated. I think that covers it. I give it an overall 8 for features because how much do you really need in a guitar amp. It either sounds good or it doesn't, period.

This is not a do it all amp, they really don't exist. Even my THD Univalve doesn't do it "all". This amp can be a little more than a one trick pony however. Stock these amps are great, but everything can improve a little, right? First of all, listen to those who say to use the JJ/Tesla EL84 power tubes, they speak the truth. I like to get mine from Antique Electronics(tubesandmore.com). Because of the EL84 power section this amp sounds more on the British side of the pond than anything else. You can get some fenderish clean out of it if you flatten out the mids, not scooped metal head, just flattened. It is more so however a culmination of Marshall, Vox and maybe a bit of Matchless with not as much adjustability in the EQ. For style examples this amp can easily do Hendrix, Zepplin, Bowie, Space Hog, Radiohead, The Who, some Stones work, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith. Basically a great amp to cover nearly the entire spectrum of rock n' roll. You can get some earlier 80's type metal but for the heavy low thrash today, you will never get the low end tight enough on this amp.
this is a rock n' roll guitar amp as you may tell by the examples for comparison tones. I is also quite loud enough for any drummer with out the assistance of a PA.

As I said I have had mine nearly 4 years and never had any problems. I have cold started this thing in a basement at temps around 30 degrees farenhieght and it played great after maybe 5 minutes of warming up. I have and will again play with out a back up. You can too.

I have called Peavey for a few personal inquiries about the amp itself, but never for any problems. They have always gotten on the phone with me immediately and answered all my questions untill I was satisfied. A seven as I have not had to deal with them on any repairs. Or does do they actually deserve a 10 for that alone? You decide.

Out of a Marshall TSL, Mesa Dual Recto and a THD Univalve, this is my favorite amp of all time because I know what to expect, how to get what I want out of it and the fact that I know I can rely on it no matter what enviroment it gets thrown into, it always plays the same. Great!

This is a basic amp but I rate it highly because the only feature that I wish it had that it doesn't is seperate EQs for clean and distortion. I find it hard to get settings I like for both channels. I usually set it up so the distortion sounds how I like but then the clean channel isn't as lovely as it can be. I really like the reverb. When I bought it I originally wanted an amp with two distortion channels but I now think that if I want any sound this cant do I can just add a pedal. No internal effects but I think thats a good thing as I can pick and mix pedals and play around.

I mainly blues, with a little rock and very little metal. Gives a lovely warm, valve distortion unlike my old solid state amp. The clean channel is exceptionall, especially if the eq is set right for it. A little noisy but that doesn't really bother me. I play with a cheap les paul copy which isn't the best of guitars but does the job fairly well. I was surprised how versatile the amp is, from its looks you'd think that it'd do blues, country and nothing else but you could just about get away with metal I guess. I think the stock valves and speaker are fine but I would like to experiment if I had more money.
In the shop I also tried a Marshall AVT 50 to compare, which made me buy this amp as I thought the Marshall sounded dull in comparison. The 30 watts is probably loud enough for gigs but can be made to give power amp distortion without deafening you. The reverd's great.

I got this amp cheap because the reverb was broken and the amp made a whistling noise. There was one wire broken in the reverb tank and the whistling noise was created by a faulty valve. Its very solidly built and should last well, but is a valve amp so might have problems.

When I emailed peavey about the whistling noise it made they very quickly told me that it was caused by a faulty preamp valve. It turned out to be a power amp valve, but they had suggessted that I replace all the valves in the amp as it was second hand. I think Peavey were fast, and have a good reputation for customer service.

I really love it, had a great deal on it. Probably the best #200 I've ever spent. Sounded so much better than the Marshall AVT.

This amp is a 2000 model with Sovteks for tubes and very good build quality.I purchased the extension cab off Ebay for $200 to add some fullness live.Two channels share same EQ with mid boost switch and no standby.Plenty of tube power,just right so you can crank the power tubes good and make it sing.

I am using two new SG's,one with alnico hums and a Classic with P90's.I have went through a lot of amps in the past 5 years,8 to be exact,and this is a keeper.The best warm clean I have heard and a smooth but gritty overdrive.This covers all the bases but metal and I don't go there anymore anyways.5 to7 on preamp gets great blues tone,7 to 9 classic rock,9 up gets you Santana on neck pickup.I play my Hughes & Kettner Club 65 and Marshall DSL from time to time but am always amazed when I come back to this amp.

I tried a variety of speakers with this amp and a Celestion Greenback really brings out the sound qualities I admire
most in this thing.I tried a Vintage 30 but the midrange was overkill to my ears but was way louder.If you need more volume and like punchy
mids go that route,if you want vintage vibe and sweet,singy highs go green.I also replaced preamp tubes with JJ Teslas recently and some
good tones there also.

It is a Peavey,built like a tank.Way better than the HK which sounds good but has a problem everytime it's moved.The Marshall has a lot of plastic and particle board and the Peavey feels like it is built to last.

The Peavey web site and forums are the best,bar none.I have sent emails to Marshall and HK and never heard back.Peavey has techs who read and post constantly and very good with follow up.

The best smaller tube combo out there.I have spent thousands as I like to buy new and I always praise this amp.It has never failed and the louder you crank it the better it sounds.You can get them in black now if you don't like the brown tweed but I like the retro look just fine.If the Peavey thing bothers you pull the logo,the amp snobs will thank you.Buy one of these and keep it,you will be glad you did.

The amp is a 1998, and the amp covers ever style from cool jazz to hendrix. Two channels clean and overdrive, & effects loop and reverb. This amp has all the features you can expect out of an amp. I use this amp for bedroom pratice and on stage. 30watts all tube is loud enough to play over most drummers. If not you better find a new drummer.

I use a strat and tele both with dimarzo pickups, and a samick tv twenty with a JB in the bridge. And play mainly blues, grunge, and classic rock. This amp covers every style great. The only problem with this amp is that it comes with chinese tubes in the pre-amp. Very noisey, I recommond changing to russiain tubes much better for tone. That why this category only gets an 8.5. The clean is great classic fender. The overdrive is great for that classic James Gang tone.

I would put my life on this amp. Just change the stock pre-amp tubes.

I never had to deal with them be the guy who re tubes my amp said they are great to deal with. Much better than fender.

I have been playing 14years. And have had many amps this one is by far the best, even better that many fender tube amps I have had, and much more durable. If lost I would get another one, maybe two. This amp blows the fender blues deluxe away. If you are a tube amp fan on a budget this is your amp, and any fender or marshall user will be converted if they ever tried one.

ALL TUBE, COMBO, 1 X 12, CHANNEL SWITCHING, REVERB, EFFECTS LOOP, TWEED COVERING

I USE THE STEVE VAI MODEL JEM AND REPLACED THE BRIDGE PICK UP WITHA SEYMOUR DUNCAN JB. IT HAS A MUCH SWEETER TONE.
I PLAY ALL STYLES AND THE AMP FITS ALL QUITE WELL

BRAND NEW

BRAND NEW

THE REASON I'M ENTERING THIS REVIEW IS BECAUSE I WAS SINCERELY KNOCKED OUT BY THIS AMP.
I HAVE BEEN USING 100 WATT MARSHALLS WITH 4 X 12 CABINETS FOR YEARS. I PLAY EVERY WEEKEND AND PLAY A VARIETY OF STYLES. THE POINT IS I'M WAS GETTING TIRED OF LUGGING THE MARSHALL AROUND ALL OF THE TIME. I DIDN'T THINK A COULD FIND A SMALL AMP THAT I WOULD LIKE. WHEN I PLUGGED THIS ONE IN WITH MY PEDAL BOARD, MISC BOSS, DS-1, DELAY, TC ELECTRONICS CHORUS, WAH WAH ETC AND MY WHITE STEVE VAI JEM WITH THE SEYMOUR DUNCAN JB PICK IN THE BRIDGE POSITION, IT BLEW ME AWAY!!!!!
I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT THIS THINGS DONES AND FOR ONLY $400 NEW FROM SAM ASH. ALSO I WEIGHS ONLY 33LBS!!!!!
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A SMALL AMP WITH GREAT SOUND AND INEXPENSIVE, TRUST ME, TRY THIS ONE OUT. I JUST HAVE TO GET OVER NOT HAVING THE HUGE MARSHALL BEHIND ME, BUT IF I CLOSE MY EYES..........MMMMMMMMMMMMM

2000 classic 30, '93 extension cab w/ sheffield

strat, les paul.
good clean, breaks up nicely past '5'.
distortion more saturated with yugo (ei) power tubes.

- have used for 35 gigs with high gain/volume over last 3 months. re-tubed recently as one tube became microphonic. no backup, no worries.
- stock tubes are fine, but it's fun to experiment.
- this is my 3rd classic 30. # 2 broke down from a fall, repair was fairly inexpensive. i've toured with this amp and if babied, it will be reliable. no hard knocks, don't freeze it & then fire it up. let it warm gradually.
- it's dimensions are such that a standard width rack mesh grill (2 space works nicely) will screw onto the back perfectly, protecting the tubes. these cost 10-15 bucks and should be installed immmediately.

a few phone calls and transfers will get you an actual tech. have a reasonably intelligent question ready, and you'll be taken care of. not sure about warranty.

* if the volumes are down, no pop will occur when shutting the amp off. those of you who cannot live without a standby switch, remember this.
- the extension cabinet is highly recommended and fills out the low end. it should be 16 ohm. get the matching peavey for $200.00 and swap speakers if ya want.
- these amps record very well. i've achieved monstrous tones in the studio that could pass for any competetive tube amp.
- kills the marshall dsl 401 at 1/2 the price and at least has metal inputs and corners, unlike the plastic laden marshalls.
- better overdrive than comparable fenders. pro/blues juniors are cool, however.
- a few more amps are finally coming out to compete with the classic 30 in this price range, (reverend) so i'd look them over before buying another classic 30. they'd have to be spectacular to sway me from peavey.
- i've dealt with scoffs from gear snobs for years as a result of playing these amps - primarily from trust fund, fly by night boutique amp owners in the boulder, CO scene. it's all ultimately in your fingers. i think peavey is an americana, nutty company with a zillion products - some cool, some not so cool. keep your logos on, you're not fooling anyone.

GREAT TUBE COMBO AMP!
2 channel, effects loop, speaker out, 2 selectable foot switch.
I think it was 1 year old when I bought it used.
Nice reverb and all the distortion you need unless you are a metal head. I play inside my house and it is too loud at times for me. I know a couple people who have the same amp and use it at gigs indoor/outdoors for alt country and is unbelievable hooked up to PA or miked. Don't need to mike it if in a bar. Nice for rock, blues, country, you name it. Mid Bass and Treble controls make this amp put out all kinds of tones. For half the price of a Marshall it is a must buy. 30W tube is all you need.

Currently own Washburn MG74 and sounds great. I have heard a Fender Tele and a Gibson LP through this amp and both of those sound even better. Blues, Rock, Country, it's all good!
Nice distortion, nice reverb, nince low punchy bass, crunchy to clear highs and hits the sweet spot with Mids.

Haven't blown a tube yet! Use without a backup? I know a few guys who do and hasn't failed them yet.

Ordered a footswitch and cover from Peavey.com, very easy smooth transaction.

I've been playin for 10 years and am currently 21 years old. This is the only amp I own, but have played on a Peavey solid state for a few years, Tube is better. Absolutely love it, no hate.

Mine was an early 90's I do believe. This amp has got a really great clean channel, distortion channel, boost switch, reverb, and really tacky "tweed" tolex covering. My amp was abused to no end in the high school jazz band and a various multitude of garage bands. It not only survived but never let me down.

I almost exclusively used only a Gibson SG Standard through it. It sounded really punchy with a nice warm tone. It really worked fantasticly for jazz band. I would always fight with the other guitarist (the "b" guitarist) about him bringing his piece of junk crate to competitions. My classic really sounded beautiful on the clean channel with the reverb up to level four. I am not a fan of really heavy distortion, for blues and the like it works. I mean it had the tone what more could I ask for? I never used any effects or anything through this amp. Just my SG and that's it. I loved the clean channel on that amp.

This amp is a tank! You have to be careful about the tubes though. Backup tubes are a must! It is definetly a pain that the tubes are so freely exposed to the world but you deal. But like i said this amp survived jazz band. Gaggly weak nerds tripped and fell with this amp, then it got bounced around underneath a bus. Very durable!

Never dealed with them.

I had the amp for three and a half years I'd say. It was my first tube amp and "real" amp I guess you could say. I had four years prior stuck to a cheap pratice amp. I really loved that amp, but sold it so I could buy a Fender early 70's twin (the love of my life). I am definetly thinking about buying this amp again for those smaller gigs and practice sessions. I did love that little amp and reccomend it for anybody on a budget. Nothing sounds nicer for the money by far.

This is an update to comment on the TubeGuard for the Classic 30 made by Dan Bartosik. I found the TubeGuard on E-Bay after reading about it here. It is an engineered metal grill that almost perfectly matches the Classic 30 chassis. It attaches to the cabinet with 4 screws and will keep the tubes from getting banged or broken, a common complaint with Classic 30 owners. At $19.95 plus $6.00 shipping, it is a bargain.

N/A

N/A

I have talked to Dan and swapped e-mails. He is a guitar player who found his own fix to a problem a lot of us have and decided to have some fun and make a little money and share it. Shipping and delivery was prompt. A really nice guy.

If you have a Classic 30, you need one of these. If you don't get one, don't complain about busted tubes.

i bought this brand new in september of '01 for $370.00 US. i use it for harmonica. i liked the footswitch for switching cannels and turning the reverb on and off but don't use those features anymore. i find the reverb unit isn't that good for harp playing and now run a danelectro slap echo instead which was a dramatic improvemant also as for the preamp-postamp settings, they do VERY well when the band is at a lower volume to give an excellent dirty tone, but when the band gets loud, forget it, the signal gets too compressed and i can't get it loud enough to keep up without feeding back. i can't hold that against this amp because it's a common problem and when the amp gets turned up on the clean channel it sounds good anyway.

i guess i covered some of these questions above but i would like to say the tone is very beautiful for what i do. i try to play a more melodic style than just a straight dirty chicago blues sound and this amp is just about perfect for that. we play a more accoustic blues-country sound and i don't know if i could get a better amp for that, very clean and mellow tone. plus, like i said above, as long as the band doesn't get too loud the preamp-postamp channel is great for crunch when the song calls for it even though it's useless at higher volumes. i do love the tone but like i said, for harmonica, try replacing the reverb with a danalectro slap echo, i think you'll like it better.

like with about everybody else, my handle broke off once and is now fraying apart, i bet someone lost their job over this chronic problem. i know it's stupid to nit pick but it must be kind of embarrassing for peavey. otherwise never a problem yet. yes i gig without a back-up amp, but, being a harmonica player, the p.a. system is my back-up.

never had to use it.

i've been using it since i bought it new in sept. of 2001 i gig fairly often currently once or twice a week. i also bring out my old gibson 6 from time to time which i love but it's so old! in closing i'd like to say that most amps are made for guitars of course and not made to amplify an accoustic sound, when one works good for harp it's kind of a fluke. this amp does work. if you want a warm and mellow harmonica tone i'm not sure there is a better amp anywhere. and the pre-postamp channel gives you great versatility even if only at lower volumes.

Features are the basic, its classic

The reason why I am submitting this is because i am concerned. I purchased this amp after reading the numerous good reviews, and with the good price, i decided to purchase it. The clean channel is nice with good reverb, im not that demanding, but the overdrive is horrible sounding, so muddy, no smoothness, over compressed, i think there might be a problem wit my particular amp, i got it off ebay, excuse my run ons, but i dont care, so basically it sounds so muddy and horrible, and especially on the higher strings of the guitar, tehre is no give and the sound is incomplete, it makes the guitar almost feel unplayable, like i cant make it do what i feel. Please let me know...

If the problem is what i think, then my amp has a defect, and teh reliability is bad

na

email t_dey@email.com, i am thinkin about getting hte fender cyber deluxe

Two channels (clean/overdrive), 3 band EQ (shared), reverb, effects loop, footswitch, extension speaker jack.

I often see this amp compared with Fenders, but it sounds much more like a Vox to me. It's very loud for it's size. I bought it to use as a practice amp, but now I'm gigging with it. I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. This made a big improvement in the tone. The stock Blue marvel speaker sounded kind of boxy and one-dimensional. The overdrive channel is decent, but I found I can get the best blues sound by cranking the clean channel up around 10-12. It begins to break up nicely past 6. I use a TubeScreamer to get additional overdrive for leads when I need it.

The only failures I've had have been self-induced. Twice now I've cracked tubes trying to straighten out the leads after the tubes got pushed back. I bought a TubeGuard on eBay which shrouds the tubes, so this shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Don't know, but I hear they treat their customers well

For the money, it's a great amp. It displaced a Hot Rod Deville as my main amp following the speaker upgrade. I've played through a lot of amps over the years, and the Classic 30 stands up to some of the best amps owned. For me, the days of Marshall stacks are over. The older I get, the more my back appreciates big sound from a small package. I guess size does matter :)

You can read all the reviews below for its features.. I will list the biggest non-features of this amp. One set of tone controls for both the clean and the overdrive channels. That just doesn't work for me.
Also another non-feature, you can not easily disconnect the built in speaker to drive another speaker cab instead. The built in speaker is not one of the nicest I've heard.

I have a number of amps and use this amp only for weekly band rehearsals. I gig every weekend and use 2 Rivera's, which are perfect for me. I "save" them for gigs and just leave the Peavey at the rehearsal site. It can be a good sounding amp, especially the clean channel, once you play around with it a bit. It came with JJ's that everyone loves, I will be swapping out the JJ preamp tubes with NOS tubes I have just to try them out. The JJ power tubes sound fine when pushed, so they are staying. As I said above, I truely dislike the fact that there are only one set of tone controls on here. During gigs that is totally unacceptable, for rehearsals its a majoy pain in the ass. I play mostly Les Pauls and a strat, but I find that I can set the amp up to sound good clean, but when I switch to the over drive channel it sounds like harsh crap.. or I can set up the overdrive channel and then the clean channel sounds like shit. I have some overdrive petals (a Keeley ts-9 and a fulltone2) and that get me through rehearsals, but live it would never cut it. I am considering swapping out the speaker as well, to a Celestian V30 as those sound killer in my Riveras. I play classic rock and blues (i.e Hendrix, Zep, ZZ Top).

So far so good. I don't move it around much so I don't worry about the exposed tubes (that is a peavey brain dead design move). If I were using it to gig, I would fix that. It gets very hot and I know the heat will eventually effect the circuit board, but as a rehearsal amp, it is doing very well.

If I need work, I'll bring it to the amp tech I go to. The peavey website is pretty ok, nothing great.

Overall, I would say its a nice basic inexpensive amp. I use it in a limited way, for rehearsals only, and in that capacity it works well enough. I would never use it to gig, it doesn't sound good enough, it isn't flexible enough nor would I trust it enough for that. If it were stolen, I probably look for something else. Its Ok. That's the best I can say about it. Its ok if you can dial in a tone and leave it, but I don't use one tone for all the tunes we do, I go from a BluesBreaker kind of Les Paul tone (which the Peavey really doesn't do very well, the Rivera's DO it REALLY well) to a warm, clear and clean tone often in the same tune. If you gig every weekend and do material where the sound of the guitar has to change often, this is not the amp in my opinion.

i think every one knows the features.

I play a 72 custom tele and a standard strat. i get great tone from both. I play bluesy southern rock and a bit of new stuff. I can do it all with this amp. I dont get the mid boost though. it totally chages my sound so i dont mess with it. peavey should put that on the footswitch. i get standard single coil hum with my strat like everyone else does. other than that there is no extra noise. all in all it is a great sounding amp.

i have only used peavey amps and have never had a problem with them. although they should do something to protect the tubes.

never delt with them

i've been playing for 9 years and this is a great amp for the dollar. i gig with it and have had no problems. it is perfect for my music.

My C30 was made in 2001...it covers what I try to play, blues and classic rock very well..all other features have been cover very well over the past 6 yrs, and the other 120-something revues...mine came from the factory with the Electro-Harmonix EH12AX7's and Sovtek EL84's...I have replaced the tubes with JJ/Tesla ECC83S's and Tesla EL84's, but do respect Peavey for putting in very good tubes that beat the hell out of cheap Chinese tubes that most amps in this price range come with..the 30 watts works very well, cause you can get to power tube saturation without blowing your ears off, tho, still plenty loud..I do wish it had seperate EQ for Normal and Drive channels, but 'ya know what ?...this would make this a more expensive amp, so it don't count now does it..considering COST, size, quality and what I expect from an amp of this design, I give it a 10...

Let's talk about this "sound" thang for a moment..."Tone is in the ears of the beholder", and most of all, IN THE HANDS!!!...you have to use an amp for what it was designed to do..the physical size, and material of the cabinet, open or closed back, the signal prossessing of tubes or solid state ,gain structure, tone stack "curves", electrical conditioning of either rectifier tube or diodes, PC board vs. point to point wiring, and size of speaker...you gotta have a clue as to how all these things work together to create "tone"...most of the tones I like (blues and classic rock) came from "open-back-1X12-all-tube" amps as far back as the "tweed" Fender Delux, and "black face" Delux..the amp over all is quiet, and I find the tone stack to be very versitile...clean channel starts to breakup nicely by about 5 with my guitars (stock '93 Am. Strat, and an EC Strat w/Gold Lace Sensors)...I would not call the drive channels distortion brutal, but my GTR's are not set up for brutal, and again, the design of the amp ain't set up that way either...this is not a shred machine..if that is what you are looking for, re-read the 1st part of this section...for ME, and my WALLET, this thing is a 10, and if the name "Peavey" is a problem for you, why 'ya readin' this in the first place...BTW...the tweed look just slays me...

THIS IS A TUBE AMP...I don't care who makes it...tubes are fragile and unpredictable..if your gonna gig with this, or any tube amp, at least have extra tubes or a "plan B"...Peavey seems to make amps about as solid as anyone, and I would highly recommend a tube protector of some sort cause these are just hangin' out there...

I have never dealt with their CS...

I am 42 yrs. old, and only picked up "geetar" in the past 2 yrs...BUT...I played drums for 35 yrs., 20 yrs. professionally in NashVegas, engineered for about as long, grew up in a musical family surrounded by the best of what is now called "vintage" amps and guitars, so I have some idea what great tone is and what makes it..I won't ever play out of my living room cause my playing sucks so bad, so if I lost this amp I would definitly make "The Worlds Stupidest People" TV show...I would at some point love to run this thing through a closed back 4X10 cabinet, or move up to the Classic 50/410 amp, but the 50 watts thing bothers me...believe it or not, just too much power for my needs