Peavey Classic 50-212

features already covered.

American Standard Strat with Texas Specials. Primarily blues.
Has good rock tones/ distortion. Screams quite happily. Designed for Rock. Lacks depth for blues.
Overall reasonable tube sound but zero bottom end to speak of, marginal mid-range power. Have heard other players using it in gigs and the same thing: have heard players way better than me play it and they still sounded like something was missing. Reverb is only OK- loses definition and 'disappears' as volumes go up. Ended up moving back to fender for the warm blues feel.

Peavey are built to be played/ abused. No problems.

Have been playing 20 years. 18+ of it in bars.
Have Fender Quad Reverb(don't need to go to the gym if I'm hauling that around), Fender Hotrod Deluxe (my main amp now)and somewhere in Jamaica Plain is my Fender Super 60 (she still hasn't paid for it yet.....).
Have a Squire tele somewhere in Cambridge......My stuff tends to wander when I start neglecting it.....

If I was into playing Rock, I would love this amp, but I tend to stick to blues, so it is gathering dust.

I bought thi s ten years ago and it was beatup then - I have no idea how old it is. It has the normal(1,2) bright, and autoswitch channels, reverb, phaser, and a metal footswith that it virtually indestructable.

I use this with a Les Paul Standard and a Strat (mexican), and it puts out great tone. With those two guitars can replicate almost any classic rock / blues tone. Thats pretty much all we play so its perfect.

Never had any issues with it at all. Super reliable.

Never had to deal with them. Thats a good thing.

I would buy the same amp again for sure. My buddy has a newer Fender 212 that cost over twice as much as this one, and I think my tone is every bit as good, if not better.

My amp was made in Y2001
2 chanels shares same EQ section. This is my ony problem in connection with versatility....however Clean and Lead sounds good with the same settings. Yeah it has loop however Iam a guitar direct to amp guy. I only use wah wah, but not in loop. Basic footswitch. :)
I wish it had a bit more complex footswitch, or maybe dedicated eq section for both normal and lead.
I use it home smaller gigs. For band practicing, jamming I use 412 marhall 1960 and River knucklehead. (I hate to carry my combo. :)

I have loth of guitars. Lone stars( 1 with factory settings and another with Dimarzios Pro track parallel, Area 61 Reverse, Evo 2), Les Pauls (1 factory 490 R, 498 T, and one with Virtual Vintage neck and Norton Bridge), 1 PRS and so on. Tha best thing about Classic 50 is that this amp lets the guitar live. The Amp has a basic caracter. I mainly use eq setting like this Bass 7,5 ; Mid 9; Treble 5, presence variable. Pre volume 8-9, Post volume 4-8. In this way my amp sound very thick and a little dark, with tons of mids. I really love it. I love that I always hear myself during the gigs. From this point of view I prefer Classic over my Rivera.
In anyway two greatest values of this amp are overall tonality, and technically endless versatility. From countrey to heavy rock, at home, till gigs everithing works, everywhere and sounds at least acceptable way.
I really like clean channel, however lead is my fav. Lead is the cradle of incredible blues and rock sound. I am an EVH fanatic and this amp can really give you that very early EVH sound. I don't really know why.

Some tech help for those who plans to buy this amp.
Please respect your amp- This amp deserves better tubes than factory settings. I use tubeampdoc tubes. lot of percentage improvement tonewise.
Please recpect the 212 speakers (these speakers are very important component of that classic tone). Give them air to breathe. Don't cover rear side (LIKE RECTO CABS) and dont place this amp to a 3x4 feet sound trap. Give the speakers area, in order to reach their focus point. Oherwise your tone will be "chaotic, fizzy.
Be careful with post gain. Post gain is a great character potmeter, helps You to find the ballance between smooth and raw settings.
Be Careful with Pre gain (volume) past 10 radicall?? changes character.

Great versatile amp. I really like it

Never had any problem, never broke down. You have to change tubes regularly, dont look inside :)don't mod it, and save your speakers.
My points are not 10 because you have to change Power tubes more often than in other 4x el84 power section.

It is must be ok! However i have no experience.

Great all tube Amp one of the best buys. for 1100USD there is co more complex package and there is no such a delicate sound.

This amp provides everything you need in the form of features.

Clean Channel: Check
Distortion Channel: Check
Eq: Check
Presence: Check
Gain Control: Check
Volume: Check
Ability to power external cabs: Check

What else do you need?

I have to be honest. I've played a lot of amps over the last 15 years (from Marshalls to Mesas to Fenders). This is my favorite. If I had a blank check to build any type of guitar rig I wanted, the first purchase would be a Peavey Classic 50. The clean tone is fantastic, clear, and crisp (but still warm). And the distortion rocks. I play mostly rock to hard rock, and I've gotten absolutely fantastic sounds out of this little amp. Then, if I want to play the blues, I just tail off the gain a little, and I'm in business. I run it through a 2x12 Marshall 1936 cabinet (for a total of 4 12s), plug in a Les Paul, and the sound it absolutely tremendous.

Never had a single problem with it. I bought it used in 2003, and it's still rockin in 2008.

Never needed it!

I can't say enough good things about this amp. It's 50 Watts of tube power are more than enough to play any gig. The sound, in my opinion, is superior to any other amp that I've played. Whether you play jazz, blues, rock, or metal, this amp will give you the sounds that you need. Bottom line - Peavey makes really good, reliable tube amps, that really have no business being cheaper than its inferior Marshall and Fender cousins.

The only two things negative about the features that I can say is that in a dark club, with the amp tilted back on an amp stand, it's a little tough to see what knobs to tweak. Of course, if the chicken heads were on the front, it wouldn't look as cool...Gotta love tweed!
I bought this amp new in 96 or 97. The store had both the 4x10 and the 2x12 model. I play Rickenbackers so the 4x10 was the one I really wanted. Unfortunately, when I came back a week later to put cash down on it, the 4x10 was sold. Rather than look for another one, I ended up getting the 2x12. At the time, I was playing in a country band so most of the stuff I did was clean, however I can still get a good snarl out of it when needed.
The only other problem is that the tubes can be hard to get to...Although I've never had to change them, so at this point it's not that big of a deal. I purchased a complete set of pre and power amp tubes two years after buying the amp, but so far I haven't had to replace them...Of course NOW when it comes time, I'll have to remember where the heck I hid them.
This amp is definately NOT underpowered, although in a large hall (really large) the open back cab won't project as far. then again, that's what the sound guy and his PA are for, right?

I've owned all-tube Marshalls and Fenders, but this amp seemed to be the best of both worlds. To me the distortion doesn't sound harsh or over the edge because I play guitars with single coil pick-ups. In the ten or so years I've used this amp, I've been in a variety of country and top 40 cover bands, and I've been able to get everything out of it I want. The clean channel stays clean at high volume with just a hint of break up if you play hard. The 2x12's don't chime as well as the 4x10's, but the Sheffield speakers do very well with a little extra on the presence knob. I've never needed to turn the gain up more than halfway at a gig, and usualy have the treble, bass, and mid set dead center. It just seems to sound the way I want it to without a lot of messing around. From time to time I'll bring along a Boss Bluesbreaker pedal, just to have another distortion setting, without having to adjust the gain and volume on the overdrive channel.

Ten plus years and never had a problem!

Never needed it!

I've been playing in bar bands for 30 years and have played a Ric 330, 360, 360 12 string, and a 350SH. I've played them through a Carvin half-stack, Highwatt stack, Marshall half stack, and various Fender and Marshall combo's. I also owned a Vox ac30 for quite a few years, but it seemed like it was in the shop more times than not. Recently, I picked up a used Vox vt120 modeling amp, but after reading all of the reviews on them here, I'm bringing the Peavy along for a back-up. Maybe I should have saved up a couple of more bucks and got the Peavy Classic 4x10? Time will tell.
The only thing I with the Peavy had was a boost button on the foot pedal like my Carvin, or Princeton Reverb. A Boss EQ pedal will do the same thing, though.
If it dissapeared suddenly, I'd DEFINATELY replace it...I think the new ones are going for something like $800 or $900. I haven't seen any used ones around, and I'm sure there's a good reason for that.

I believe that the year mine was built was in 1997. That was what I was told when I bought it from the original owner. This amp is 50 watts of tube tone which will blow the socks off of any solid state half stack that I have played, seen and heard thus far. This amp features two channels and reverb which are both footswitchable. It also features an effects loop and a standby switch (the classic 30 doesn't have a standby). This amp has all the right features for gigging and practicing with a full band. Even at large venues this amp could be miced and mixed through a PA.

Let me first say that I am a tone freak. I have spent lots of money on gear to get "that sound" which the pros have. This amplifier is the first amplifier that I have owned where I actually find myself using this amplifier to gauge all other amplifiers to. This amp is very versatile, ranging in all music styles country, blues, rock and metal. I personally use this amp for classic rock, hard rock and alternative. Other than a Marshall JCM 800 Half Stack I haven't heard many other amps that sound as good as the classic 50. There are very few situations where you can play a Marshall Half Stack at a reasonable level and get "that sound". I have found that 50 watts of tube is about all you need. It reaches that happy medium: not too loud, but still sounds good. Most tube amp half stacks sound great, but are just too too loud.

Occationally I use a Fender Stage series 4x12 cabinet which works well for larger shows.

I have owned this amp for 3 years and so far so good, no problems. I have always heard that the best part about a tube amp is that the only items that you need to replace are the tubes and speakers. Those are the only items receive the wear and tear on the amp.

I have had other Peavey gear and ordering parts is a breeze.

I have been playing for seven years and have been gigging regularly and I have owned a fender hot rod deluxe, a marshall combo, a Marshall AVT 100 head and matching cab and have owned other digital junk (ahem digitech ahem). Nothing has compared to the Classic 50.

I play with a Limited Edition Gibson Les Paul w/ Burstbucker V pickups (not all Les Pauls have V series pickups). I also use various pedals. I occationally use a Boss DS-1 Keeley Mod, to get a variation other than the tube overdrive from the amp. I also use a Rocktron Hush pedal, a BBE compressor pedal, a Boss CH-1 Chorus and a DD-2 Digital Delay.

The only thing that I wish this amp had was a third channel for lead settings. Oh and I can't forget this part of the review, if it were stolen or broken I would hunt down the poor thieve/moron and break my Crate Strat(yeah they actually made a guitar) over his head.

Not sure on age. Seems late 90s/early 00s. Blue Marvels, 2 channels, bright/normal inputs. Recently refurbed. I was playing through a single-channel VTM 120, which was great but too hard rock-oriented and much too loud for my needs. My band's songs switch a lot between clean and distortion, so I had to buy a Marshall Gov'nor pedal for gigs, despite my preference for amp distortion. I also wanted to be able to put a touch of reverb, which the VTM does not have. I just bought the Classic 50, and so far I am very happy with the features.

This one is fun. I also have an Avatar 212 cab loaded with Eminence speakers. Running it with just the extension cab they're punchy but a bit sterile; running it without the extension cab is warm but just a touch dull. Run them together and it sounds amazing -- warm, full and punchy. The amp has a great clean sound, and while I don't much care for the Fender DeVille distortion (generally the basis for comparison), I am really impressed with the Classic 50, particularly when using the extension cab.

Not sure. This is my second Peavey. The first was very durable and never gave me any trouble, despite being at least 15 years old.

n/a

I used to be a snob about Peaveys; I didn't even look at amps that weren't Marshalls or Fenders, but the VTM changed my mind, and the Classic converted me. I suspect I'll always play Peaveys from now on.

I own three of these. I acquired #1 at a pawn shop in 1977. After you hear a Peavey Classic, you always recognize the tone. It sounded great the first time I plugged it in to a trashed-and-tortured Strat at the pawn shop. Creamy and clean and round and warm. My old lady called it ???cuddly???.

After #1, I acquired #2 about five years later, then #3 sometime in the early 90s. Natural and earthy. The more I play these amps, the better they sound. After three decades, I easily and quickly set them up to sound like any of the high-buck amps.

#1 was built in 1977. The year disco tried to molest the Blues, and the Blues laughed in disco???s face.
#2 was built in 1980. The year Big Hair tried to molest Rock-n-Roll, and Rock-n-Roll farted in their hair spray.
#3 was built in 1974. The G. Rudolf Ford years. The first of America???s unelected presidents.

I played Blues and Jazz and pretty much any song with a decent melody with my Family growing up in the 1950s, and owned and played through nearly every amp made. Listening to the radio, I grew up playing along with Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Patsy Cline. Then, the Rolling Stones and Ten Years After. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company. Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen. George Benson and Scotty Moore. All are easily obtainable on these amps.

Clean on these amps is anything you need your clean to be, or if we play an Irish wedding, I may add a Tube Screamer to nasty it up a bit. With two of these 212 combos as I describe below, I have a great 3-channel stereo rig, ready for Ethnic, Blues, Rock, Country, and easily clean enough for Jazz.

I can't help it-- it???s the nature of my obsession to dive into the dynamics of my tone, seeking the sensitive understated delicate nuances. I'm weird that way.

Likes:
Quiet idle,
Fundamental,
Clean is clean,
Heart and soul,
Basic and fundamental,
Perfect for my old-school combination of warm meaty Blues and Jazz and Rockabilly.

Dislikes:
Heavy.

After playing every available guitar for about 50 years and feeling the need to modify each one of them, I designed and built a Warmoth Spalt Maple and Basswood chambered Strat with a 24.75??? Maple/Rosewood neck. Neck pup is a Shadow AZ48 floating off the fretboard, and the saddle is a GraphTech Ghost. Each pups has a separate output to stereo the individual amps (usually amps #1 and #3).

A second amp is the way old-school players like me create simultaneous ???channel-switching??? -- we like to mix old with new music tones.

My other guitar is a Myka Dragonfly, with similar pups and outputs.

Everything else hit the road.

After thirty years on the original tubes and caps, I depend on these three Classics.

I'll say it again -- all original. Every pot, switch, tube, cap -- all original. And this is after thousands of hours of jams and gigs.

One problem -- Due to contaminated power, I burned through one of the round glass automotive-type fuses in the holder above the power cord, so I use a APC battery back-up designed for computers. It protects against electrical surges, but more important, in a black-out, it gives me a couple minutes of juice to inform the crowd of the situation. I also use a power conditioner -- no worries. I use my gear for outdoor wedding receptions in high temperature and humidity, and they always perform.

Mods:
I want to be able to check my settings at a glance, so I replaced the round chrome knobs with chicken heads.

Here's something cool: The brass corner protectors (instead of plastic) each show a nice patina of wear. Earned ???Vintage???.

Well-made. Solid workmanship. Each of mine fires up on the first crank, and I expect only one thing from them -- sit there and efficiently do their job.

Over the years, some the set-ups on some guitars put some hum through them, but a few minutes to install some simple shielding in the guitar cavities, and they cleaned up, pronto.

Excellent. Since my three amps are absolutely reliable, I had no need to contact Peavey for repair or service.

So, in preparation for this review, I e-mailed Peavey customer service for date of manufacture. That was on Saturday. Monday, the information was waiting in my inbox.

I'm impressed.

Would I acquire another Classic? YES!!! Did I mention I own three? Two of my bandmates own at least one each, as well. A half dozen of these amps in a five-person band.

Tone and reliability. I played at playing for a half-century, and one of these days, maybe I'll take a lesson. I love these old amps. I feel attached to them, more than any other equipment I own.

What would it take to make them better than perfect? Some warm boobs and a cold Guinness tap.

One modification you might consider??? after my first rehearsal with #1, I installed casters. They???re heavy, so I have my old ladies do my set-up. Repeat after me: ???Old ladies -- good.???

We gig nearly every Thursday evening since 1983. Hundreds and hundreds of jams. For thirty years, #1 sounded fine without any toys -- I played straight into it. Fingers >> guitar >> cord >> amp... no sissy stuff.

Then, in 2006, I acquired a VOX Tonelab SE to play with. Great toy. If you believe you need more gain or wish the EQ range could be wider, you might be able to solve each of these non-issues with outboard gear.

How much do I like them? I???d get a fourth one -- their tones make me want to play all the time. Every turn of any knob makes these amps sound good -- sweet and creamy, clean or gained. I can hear them calling to me at work, at church, and occasionally out on a date. Good equipment makes me want to be a better player.

These are old-school quality products built by Americans with American dedication and craftsmanship. I see myself learning from them for another thirty years.

PS: I wish I had some negatives to balance this review, but there isn't anything to report. This is plain good basic easy-to-operate easy-to-maintain equipment... a lot like me!

Everything you would really ever need the pedal it came with is cheap plastic though.

This amp was the sound I've been trying to get throughout my whole guitar experience. This sounds better than a lot of amps in this price range trust me. Like the reviewer below, I brought home the fender hot rod deville 410 the next day it craped out on me no sound whatsoever no matter what i did.I took it back and got my money, I'll never buy another fender amp. This amp is a tone machine, if your really into alternative up to hard rock it's a really good choice.Acually its goo for numerous styles thats just what i'm into.

Just got it.

Not sure

Been playin ten years. I own a telly, les paul, parker nightfly, and a solid state marshall amp. If it were stolen I'd buy another. Gave it a nine just because I've only had it a day. Based on sound, and quality I'de give it a ten it's very solid on the downside it's pretty heavy for only 2 12s. I don't need all the effects built in I never use them anyway. Compared it too fender devilles, crate v50, ampeg r212r and this peavey had the best tone plus a fan to extend the life of tubes. I do wish it was 100 watts, not to say it isn't loud it just wouldv'e been a nice option yet it does have a speaker out in back thats a plus.

Mine is one of the newer facelifted models, made in the USA (unusual for most amps at the this price point I think) and was made in 2005/2006. I bought this amp through eBay from the original owner who decided it wasn't for him - it was practically mint and I got it for ??200 less than the best on-line deal I could find in the UK.

When you get down to it this is a very simple two channel amp with a single set of EQ controls and spring reverb. I nearly didn't buy it because I was worried about the lack of a second set of EQ controls but as it turns out this really is no problem - I can get a very decent tone out of both channels with the single set of controls.

The best feature on the amp are the pre and post gain controls on the drive channel. This allows you to use as little or as much overdrive (using the pre gain control) whilst controlling the volume with the post control. This allows you to practice quietly with a full over drive and to perfectly balance the volume on the clean and drive channels.

I have scored this amp as a worthy 8 on features - it has pretty much everything I was after, two decent 12" speakers, all valve, included footswitch etc. It would have got a 10 if a cover and third channel was included.

Fantastic! The first thing that struck me about the Classic 50 was how easy it was to get a decent tone - I plugged in and no matter what you do the tone is great. I have owned Marshalls and had a brief experience with a (truly horrible) Fender Hotrod Deville (which I hated!) and this is way easier to use than either.

I think of this amp as the perfect combination of Fender & Marshall. It has a full rich clean channel, very Fender ish to my ears, whilst the drive channel does Marshall classic rock tones to perfection. I was surprised by how good the drive channel is - the best I have ever used and I certainly have no need for any external boxes (unless I am going for full on nu-metal which seems unlikely!)

The drive channel will cope with anything from crunchy country rock to full on AC/DC drive and well beyond, I use this in a classic rock covers band and it is fantastic in that setting.

The other thing to note is its volume. First of all (unlike the Fenders which are either silent or ear splitting!) you can get decent tones at bedroom volumes without ripping ears off. Equally I gigged in a busy function room last night, with a seriously noisy band and I never went over half volume - I use a slight volume boost for solos but the amp cuts through the mix very well.

I have only owned it for a few months so it is a a little early to say although I have regularly gigged it in that time with no backup and I have no worries (apart from what it is going to cost to re-tube in a year or two!)

No experience, but their website is crap!

I have been playing for 20+ years and have a small collection of Strats & Teles which all sound fantastic through this amp. What I have noticed most are the pick-up upgrades. I put some Duncan QTR pounders in one of my teles a couple of years ago but (apart from the extra output/volume) didn't really notice much of an improvement. Having got the Classic 50 all of a sudden I can appreciate these pickups, the Peavey has really brought out the tone and it sounds fantastic. It is ironic that what was pretty much a fourth place back up instrument has now become my main gigging guitar - all because I changed amps!

I compared this product very closely to the Hotrod Deville from Fender which is a near identical spec - in fact I actually bought a Deville but hated it so much I sold it within 6 weeks. The Classic 50 destroys it to my ears for two key reasons:

1) The overdrive channel on the Fender was the worst I have ever used - totally unusuable, I would have needed a pedal (which is ridiculous when all you want is a natural overdriven valve amp sound!).
2) The controls on the Fender were hopeless, the went from 1 - 10 or whatever but they were just so sensitive - very hard to control.

The only improvement I would make to this amp would be to add a third channel, it would make it even more versatile if you could kick in a gain boost on the drive setting for solos (and other noisy bits!). If it had a third channel this amp would be completely perfect, and is about as good as a two channel valve combo for sensible price is going to get.

I have scored it a 10 because I love it, it is not the best amp in the world but it is pretty much perfect to me!