Peavey Classic 50-410

As stated above 50 watts 4/blue marvel 10 inch speakers. 4 EL84's and 3 12AX7's. Has lead and normal channel and came with a eefects pedal for lead and reverb. Has dial EQ so you can get a wide range of tone out of this.

I play it with a fat strat with noiseless singles and a pearly gates. The amp sounds great for blues and probably anything else you want to play through it. It can be as nice or nasty as you want it to be. Just a great all around amp suitable for home (not past 3 or you will blow the windows) or stage. Breaks up real nice after five.

Mine was purchased in 1993. (maybe the first year they came out) I changed the tubes in it with a matched set of EH EL84's about 3 months ago. It started on fire. Cost me 182 dollars. If you change tubes in this and the fuse blows just take it to an amp guy. I didnt and put a new fuse in it and again it started on fire. The circuit board fried. The amp guy said it could have been a bug on the board, bad tubes, tubes to hot or any number of a million things. I have never heard of this happening to anyone before. Peavy really didnt understand it either. One thing to remember is that it is self biosing and if your new tubes dont fall in the set range look out. Maybe 11 years was to long to change tubes eh. Otherwise it has not a scratch or dent on it and has been everywhere. It is a tank as one reviewer said.

Peavy was very good. Answred all e-mails and I was always able to talk to a human that spoke english when I called. Thats a plus anymore. Very good folks at peavy

Other then the tube thing this is a great amp especially if you are playing a strat or something with single coils you will love the tonal range you can achieve from this amp. It can also shred if thats yer bag.

As posted by everyone else...50 watts, 4 EL-84 power tubes, 3 12AX-7 preamp tubes. Two channels, though shared EQ. Footswitchable channel and reverb. I bought mine new in 1999, so it has the effects loop. More than enough power for my use. Despite some who complain about the shared EQ, that's not an issue for me. I just dial in the clean tone the way I like it and if I need more bottom from the drive channel, I use my guitar's tone controls. Overall it's a pretty versatile amp but if you want to play nu-metal or any of that same-o, same-o dropped D stuff, you'll need a pedal of some sort.

I primarily play a Fender Standard Strat which has Fralin Vintage Hot pickups. I also use a very, very nice Samick "Greg Bennett Design" Torino, which in reality is an SG. I play classic/southern rock, blues, power pop, borderline jazz and older instrumentals like surf music, etc. This amp is GREAT for all that.

I like it more with the single coils. The 4x10 configuration is my "secret" to getting the sound I like. Lots of upper mids which really cut thru a stage mix.

I really started playing this amp a lot at a couple jam sessions. I'd just plug straight in to avoid stage clutter...guitar, cord and amp. I'd use my guitar volume to control the amount of overdrive. With the Strat volume on 5 or 6 for clean, then roll it up to 8 for fat bluesy overdrive, all the way up to 10 for huge classic rock power chords and singing, sustained leads.

One night, a guy came up to me and said, "You have the BEST tone. What kind of distortion pedal are you using?" When I told him I wasn't using one he was incredulous. I've taken the pointy Peavey logo off the amp because to me it just looks better. I've received more comments on how great my "Bassman" sounds at these jam sessions since I've been plugging straight in. This gives me an opportunity to tell guys about the Peavey.

I've been gigging a lot lately, too, based largely on being heard with this amp at a few jam sessions. Guys asked for my phone number, and my phone is ringing. I wish the amp were smaller and lighter, but I don't think I'll worry about it any more.

I tend to dial in a darker, richer sound than most Strat players. The Fralins can really bite and sting, and I take some of that out with the amp...treble on 4?, mids on 7, bass on 9 (controls go to 12). Presence control about 6. If I want more bite or sparkle, it's easily dialed in with a bit more treble and upping the presence control.

With the SG, I have to completely change settings to get a more useable sound. But lately, I've been switching guitars in a set and not making any adjustments on the amp. And I'm really enjoying the rich, warm tones of the humbuckers. I use the SG mostly for slide tunes, but have rocked out with it a lot and am liking it more and more.

Get this amp cranked on the clean channel and be prepared for some great creamy tone. Smooth and sweet, and just right for rhythm or lead playing.

I've replaced tubes twice just because. It's built like a tank, but I take care of it and make sure I don't stack stuff on top of it that will break the knobs. I don't put stuff in the back of the amp, except the footswitch.

The only problem I had with the amp was due to my own negligence. I carelessly tossed the footswitch in the back, which loosened one of the speaker wires. So I played the amp a couple times with only 3 speakers working. I noticed the amp lacked power and just wasn't sounding right...slipped the speaker wire back on, but then the tubes were shot, so replaced them with JJ #37's. I think I'll go back to the JJ 38 power tubes, and have put in a balanced phase inverter with the JJ ECC-83 pre amp tubes.

Peavey has the best customer service going. Period. I've never needed them, but what other company can upload a user manual for a product they no longer manufacture? They are just awesome.

I don't worry about repairs with this amp. It's a workhorse.

This is MY amp. I'm looking for a Classic 50 head so I can use it with different speaker configurations...4-10's, 1x15, etc.

I love everything about it. Hate nothing...well, I do get tired of lugging it around. I compared to Fender Hot Rod Deville. The Peavey won hands down.

Very versatile two channel reverb amp with footswitch for blues and rock styles. I have an effects loop in mine, so it's a later built version.

Works wonders with single-coil guitars, not too convinced with humbucker equipped guitars, it gets muddy. Thankfully, my main guitar is an AS Strat. However, I did play a gig with another band where the guitar player used an SG and the same amp, and it sounded pretty good.

I play mostly heavier rock, and the amp is great live. In the studio, I've spent countless hours trying to reproduce my live sound, and it just doesn't work. Even with more than $25k in recording equipment, it just doesn't dial in. It sounds brittle when miked in the studio, and doesn't have sparkle in the highs. With EL84's, you'll get a nice glassy, compressed punch with the clean channel cranked. Distorted channel is a bit "plasticky," where the sound seems to be played through plastic speakers. I don't like Marshall amps for the same "plasticky" sound. It's the crackly midrange that drives me nuts. On the other hand, I'm also not fond of the Dual Rectifier sound, as I feel the distortion isn't thick enough with 2nd order harmonics. They have gobs of gain, just no character.

Overall, the amp is relatively quiet in both clean and distorted channels.

The amp can go from glassy clean to wide-open arena rock in sounds, it's very versatile. Blue Guitar has a list of mods to tame the distortion channel, and give it a bit darker character, which I haven't done yet. One thing I absolutely recommend is replacing the entire tube set with Tesla tubes, they make the amp sing a whole bunch more.

I would replace this amp if something happened to it. It's a great gigging amp, and it beats lugging a half stack around. I've done that and won't do it again until I have roadies... which may never happen, lol.

I may seem to not like this amp, but I'm really particular to the type of sound I'm looking for. I haven't found it yet in any amplifier. I do like the overall voicing of all Peavey amps, all of them... from the Classic to the Wiggy to the 5150 series amps, they all voiced to sound like Peaveys. Now, if only the 5150 had what I was looking for...

Great reliability. This is the second Peavey amp I've owned, and I'm hooked on the quality of their amps. Even though the electronics are on a thin PCB, the amp is built well enough to gig without a backup.

Never had to deal with them. Amp has been rock solid in reliability.
That's the best customer support you can ask for.

For $400 on the used market, you can get a very good sounding amp that will keep 95% of players happy for years.

Bought the amp new in 2004. Features are good enough for me. I play in a church so I cant get it too too loud but it is a pretty loud amp.

I use a standard strat and a Les Paul classic. I really like the strat thru this amp. I have lace sensor pickups in it and the sound is great. The distortion can be a little much at times, but thats ok bc I'll just kick on my fulldrive and all is still good. The clean channel is really good too, no fender but it is a good sound. But for the price, and its sound, I would definitely buy the amp again if it were stolen.

hasn't broke down yet...(knock on wood)

I've been playing about 3 years...owned a Fender Deville...the Peavey beats it...owned a 2x12 marshall tsl combo...had pros and cons...but if i had too choose between the peavey or the marshall probably the peavey only because it is cheaper but they are both great amps...when i get a little more money i will probably get the marshall again. Like I said if it were stolen i would definitely buy it again. great value!

Unsure of year, no effects loop though so an earlier model. Features are listed on other reviews. Very versatile as it has a great clean tone and a very good lead tone, as good as the earlier Marshall's I have used but not over the top like a dual rectifier. Looses a point on versatility due to the lack of effects loop.

I have tried it with a Standard Strat and a Taylor Acoustic/Electric. In a word GREAT!! I bought it the day after purchasing a brand new Fender Blues Junior that had a non-working reverb an hour after taking it out of the box. I bought the Fender after doing a side by side with a Marshall AV20. I wanted a small amp that would sound good at low or high volume. The little fender smoked the Marshall tone wise on clean, to the Marshalls credit it did have a real crunch mode which the Fender lacked but I fugured I would use a pedal for that and went for the all-tube superior tone. After getting home and discovering ther bad reverb I was dissapointed but still liked the tone. THEN I happened across the Classic 50 410 at another store the following day. 50 Watts ,great clean headroom, and a lead channel that is better than a JCM800 cranked even when playing at really low master volume settings. I took it home and ran it side by side against the Fender. There was no comparing the lead channel crunch because the Fender just doesn't have it but the clean was far cleaner that the Fender (the Fender can't really go completely clean). But I noticed the Classic seemed a little harsh and trebbley after an hour of loud volume playing whereas the Fender seemed more musical but muddy. I decided the try replacing the first two 12AX7's with some old GE tubes I pulled from a Techtronics Oscilloscope. What a difference!!!!!! The harshness was gone, the sound has far more overtones, is far warmer, and the presence control now actually functioned as it should, with the stock Peavey super 7's you just could not dial out the trebble without destroying the overall tone and the sound in general was just very clean with minimal overtones. The Fender sounded too trebbley even in the neck possition but with the old GE's in there the sound really changes depending on the pickup selected and the tone controls. The lead channel now sounds creamy smooth with each chord note more dicernable and musical. Tubes really do make a huge difference, I'm now wondering what effect replacement EL84's would have?

Haven't had it long enough but based on what I have read it should be reliable and certainly rates better than the brand new Fender with a broken reverb. I have only had one Peavey product previously, a Minx 30 bass amp, great little amp for low volume practice and coffee shop type gigs, it broke after ten years of good reliable service, the speaker is still being used as a monitor though!

I have been playing for 25 Years and had and played through all sorts of equipment. Do yourself a favor and get a good quality 100% tube amp. I picked the Classic 50 because I love the clean Fender Sound and the Marshall crunch sound and found it in one amp for $400 rather than having to buy both and spending upwards of $2000. The Solid State stuff is the reason so many emulators and medals are made, if you want tube tone then buy a tube amp. I will say that my Digitech RP50 is great for practicing while the wife sleeps and does a good enough job of emulating good tone to make playing enjoyable and inspirational.

'94 model. It has clean/dirty channels and effects loop. The reverb tank was not working, hence the low price!

I use it with a Les Paul Standard(w Duncan 59/JB PUs)and it really sounds nice. The clean stays clean and full and the distortion is cool. It reacts to the way you play which is mostly what I like about this amp. You can push it! The previous 5150 combo I had had too much gain and sounded thin. The 410 Classic sounds fuller for some reason?!
I also plug it into a Marshall 412 cab during band practice and like the post below says it turns into a different amp. Sounds like an older Marshall halfstack. Also, the tubes were 10 years old in this thing, so I retubed it with all JJs. Much smoother sound now.

I keep up with servicing and I've had only one Peavey amp fail me and that was due to a bad power tube. I have used it without backup and it's fine.

Nicest people on earth. The Peavey forum has a lot of info, too!

For $250, I can't complain at all! No, it doesn't do "hyper-gain" so you'll need a 5150 or XXX for that. What I do to get things "heavier" is I throw a graphic eq pedal in the loop and goose the bass up, adjust the mids and highs and it's good to go. This is a great "set it and forget it" amp!

What can I say, clean overdrive and reverb. What else is needed on a tube amp. I like that it doesn't offer more drive like my Fender Hot Rod deville. MY FAVORITE THING IS THIS AMP IS FAN COOLED. That is awesome. Great for all styles except heavy crunch rock or metal. Why use a tube amp for that anyway? I give it a 9 because nothing is perfect. I do wish the knobs and writing were turned for me to see from front like most amps. That gets confusing.

GREAT! The overdrive is awesome. I love the EL84's for power tubes. The overdrive is so vintage sounding it scares me. I use with a Hot Rod Deville and i never use the clean on this amp. I use very little reverb but what i do use is great on here. Very natural sounding. The presence can be too bright and brutal but just makes it more versatile. I choose to keep it down pretty low. I love the mid range. I set it very high.

TOTALLY DEPENDABLE! I have had no problems so far. Hope I don't.

I would definitely buy this amp again. Has the best natural overdrive of any newer tube amp on the market. I never use the clean channel on this amp, i keep it on a mild overdrive for my clean with the Hot Rod Deville totally clean for a classic blues clean sound. THIS IS A GREAT INVESTMENT FOR A TUBE AMP! Beats the poop out the new Mesa dual and triple rectifiers that sound so processed and solid state.

not too may features, I will spare you the discription, read other reviews.

very nice sounds, good distortion, clean sounds. the 4-10 cab makes the amp. I also play the amp with a 4-12 cab, it becomes a very different amp with a closed back cab. Very focused distortion with great bottom end. I would recommend the amp for its sound

Well it broke recently. DO Not Buy this if you think you want to have an amp you can work on or have worked on for resonable rates. Peavey needs to change the manufacture of this amp so that it will be awesome. Other manufacturer's amps are much easier to service. if you buy this used you might spend more money on repairs than what you invested. by the way, call any amp tech or person experienced with the sertviceing of classic series amplifiers. they will all tell you in so many words that these amps suck to work on. Ask peavey ask any one. I like peavey products, i support the company, but i do not support teh manufacture of this amp, they should change. they are reliable I will rate this section low due to how hard it is to service this amp

Uh costomer service can be great, but warranty work on this amp can be a struggle due to excessive bench time to even check the oil on this one. peavey does well to support its users. but beware if it breaks

based on sound I rate this amp high, based on serviceability, I bring the rating back down to where you will see it

I own peaveys, drz amps, a kustom tube head, mesas. I dont compare the amps. they are all unique. you dont reallyaccomplish aything with comparisons. you wither use what you have or dont. its that simple.

I'll start by saying this, when I bought this amp i was trading in a line 6 flextone 210. I needed some cash and was able to get a very good deal on this amp. As far as features are conserned it doen't touch the versatilety of the emulatore style amps but as far as TONE is consernd it BLOWS THEM AWAY nothing can touch the sound of a good tube amp execpt a great one! simpley put 3 12ax7s and 4 el84s make for a great tube amp. two cannels "clean" and "drive" awsome reverb. super constuction i really like how the tubes a monted in the chassis. Tubes can break all to easliy. When your out on the road thats the last thing you want to deal with, i like the extra protection for the tubes. Mine is older so it don't have the effects loop, but i dont think i would need one any more any way. i dont know the year it was made.

i play a 96 fender american strat w/stock pu's as my main axe. this amp really sings. The first thing i noticed was how responsive it is to dynamics. This amp makes me want put the pick down and place fingers all night. I just got it less then a week ago and replace the the tubes right away this made an astonising differnce in the sound. much much warmer and very throuty, you just need let this amp warm up on stand by to soak the transfomers and the el84s. This is why the amp has a cooling fan, i think its a good feature becuse i can't hear it when i'm plaing at the volume this amp was made for, and it allows the transforer to really work hard with less risk of blowing up. Good thinking peavey. My band is a 6 pc R&B Funk and Blues. 2 horns keys bass drums and me. The line 6 was a good amp but for all its sounds it lacked personality the classic 50 is all about that. The first opertonity i've had to play out with it was at a jam in hallow maine that my friend runs he uses a a Gibson lp classic into a tweed fender 212 blues deville a fine rig, but i was blowen away at how my amp sounded next to his that night. i have a fulltone fulldrive2 that i really like so im not realy all that in to the overdrive channel yet what i have heard is pretty good. i took off the back to take a look a the inerds and noticed an ic chip in the pre gain stage of the over drive channel. that means the the over drive is developed the same way a tube screamer works, with transisters, not like a boogie by way of a "cascade" gain stage. hey who cares?, not me! I use a full tone full drive that's like a tube screamer any way. i'm so far very pleased with the sound of this amp. for a mass produced amp it realy out does alot of them out there even ones costing alot more. I will how ever replace the stock speakes with jensens or webbers.

ok ive had good and BAD experences with peaey produces before at one pont i vowed never to buy another one again (i dont know why i changed my mind yet) i havent had this amp a weak yet but just the fact that im takeing the time ti right a review says someing about this amps sonic quailty. so ill tell you a some storys about peavey and me. my first amp ever was a trans tube bandit that i bought brand new about 4 mounths in to it it sarts doing this funny thing called "moterboating" this usally only happens to class a amps im told. Its when its starts have a vibrato like sound, bandits dont have vidrato. whats worse is that it only happend some times i sent out 2 times and finally just sould it back to daddys and bought my first tube amp an 80's teal strip peavey ultra 120 head, that amp never had a problem while i owned it. on good note i have droped a peavey cs 800 down a filght of stairs dented it works fine so i hope for the best with the classic 50. It looks tough!

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im 22 now and was 13 when i started playing guitar i also have a fender silverface music master bass that i some times use and mic up for gigs the line 6 was my main amp and the classic 50 will be replaing it so i wont be bringing a back. i really love the sound of this amp compared to the fenders today if it were lost our stolen i might replace it or find some thing differt like an old music man or a silver face something but i wnt be buy any thing new untill i can afford a carr, mojotone, or a budda

I'm pretty sure I have a model that was made somewhere between 94 or 95, bought it in 95 or 96 (can't remember exactly). Versatility is my biggest problem with this amp...and maybe they fixed this in later versions...no effects loop, no pre out, no headphones, a single EQ for both channels and that's just low/mid/high. The Presense control is nice though and there are two inputs, "normal" and "bright" but there's very little difference in tone between these. There's a single "Normal" knob for your clean channel gain, while the lead channel has a "Pre" and a "Post". The master volume control is a good feature though. At the very least Peavey needs to put in a small hi/mid/lo EQ for each channel. The knobs all go to "12" instead of "10", not that it matters, just an obscurity.

I'm running a Mexican Strat with a SD Hotrail in the bridge and a Gibson 3-pickup Custom Nighthawk through a series of effects to this amp. I really like the clean channel on this amp. Doesn't distort too soon, stays nice and creamy even at high volumes. My biggest complaint about the sound is that regardless of the guitar you put in front of it, it doesn't change *much*. Luckily I happen to like that sound for the most part and I've supplemented for the lacking of the amp in quality effect pedals. But the lead channel...seems to be stuck in 1987 no matter what I do with the EQ. The more you boost that "Pre" the more it sounds like the 80's. The high end does seem pretty harsh too. Again I've countered for these with about $1000 worth of effect pedals. The other problem I have with it is that the preamp seems to overdrive or something after the amp has been used for about 45 to 60 minutes I get this "Vrmph!" sound following palm mutes or any other low end playing. Bugs the hell out of me. Sounds like the thing is broken or something. Maybe it's my speakers or something?

It's too big, too heavey and too loud for small gigs (coffee shops, etc) and the tone of this amp absolutely sucks at low volumes. However at very high volumes it gives me that low-end feedback I mentioned, so it's got (IMO) a limited range in terms of appropriate venues. Not extremely noisy. Some hiss at high volumes on lead channel. I simply use this amp as a loud speaker for the most part and process my signal through a chain of sound conditioners. If you just need a good clean channel, and a way to project sound and can create your own distortion and EQ by other means....or if Def Leopard is your thing, you'll like this amp.

At some point along the assembly line, the head of a small phillips screw (just the head now) fell or was placed inside the circuitry panel. Eventually that screw head lodged itself on the circuit board and shorted out a couple of traces on the board. Luckily I know a very good technician that was able to troubleshoot the problem within an hour, but I was told it had to have happened at the factory unless I had opened it up and was messing around with it (and I hadn't). I found that the knobs tend to come off pretty easy too. The cabinet itself has taken a beating but seems to be holding up quite well.

Haven't dealt.

I've been playing for about 8 years and I've had this amp for about 5 or 6 of those. I traded in my Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 (solid state) for this amp because my 212 was having some serious issues. And before that a Peavey Audition 110. Maybe I'm just hard on amps? Or maybe the fact that I've owned 3, they've all been Peaveys, and all had problems is no coincidence? If I lost this amp I would be pissed and happy. Pissed about having to spend more money on a new one, but happy for the necessity to get something nicer. And I will eventually but I probably will keep this as a practice amp. I think my biggest problem is I've reached a level in my playing where I just want something better. I would recommend this amp to someone that has passed the "just starting out" phase and is into playing with a band, but doesn't have the money for a Fender or Marshall and is not extremely caught up in tonal quality. I might get the 212 instead of the 410 if I had to do it over. Better low end with the 212 I think (and lighter). Definitely needs a separate EQ for each channel. I hear later models implemented an effects loop too. Could be nice.