Peavey Delta Blues

My Delta Blues 1-15 has all the regular features listed on every other review. Mine has the effects loop, so it's not TOO old. I've had it for about four years, and I bought it from a fellow forumite in Austin, TX. I noticed that the garage band in According To Jim TV show seems to have dropped the Delta Blues, and substituted a Fender of some sort. Too bad. See the next category to find out why, after four years, I submitted this review.

The original sounds were O.K., but lacking something. The reason I'm doing this review is to report the improvement in this amp after changing the 16-ohm Blue Marvel speaker out with an Eminence Redcoat Big Ben. Wow! The improvement was immediate, even before breaking the speaker in. Now that I've gigged with it for about nine months, it really has a superb tone. I would recommend a speaker upgrade to anyone with the 1-15! I used to think the tremolo was useless, but I finally found a setting to play "scratch My Back". Like most, I almost ALWAYS play thru the clean channel, with a TS-9 in front.

Other than the normal need for a tube guard, I haven't had any of the "rattle" problems that many other users have reported. I made a tube guard very easily out of a piece of 3/8" threaded rod, covered with black shrink tubing to prevent rust. I've replaced most of the tubes with Groove Tubes.

I also have a Classic 30, and I contacted Peavey Customer Support for a schematic for it, and they directed me to an on-line order form, which allowed me to order it easily. Other than that, I haven't needed any support. I know one of their guys from another forum, so I know I could always get in touch.

I've been playing since 1960, owning various electrics and amps, none of which would be considered boutique or high-end. The Peavey provides me with a very good tone for economy bucks. I probably wouldn't sound any better with a Dr. Z or Divided by 13! If it was lost or stolen, I'd buy another one. I THINK they're still making these, but it wouldn't surprise me if they quit. They have SOOOO many other amps that I think these get overlooked by dealers and customers. A shame!

See other reviews for the features

OK Here's why I submitted this review. I bought my amp used and the
tubes (I think original) had seen better days. The amp sounded so-so
and I got wierd audible low-frequency noises when I played certain low notes on the low 'E' string of my guitars. I was going to give up and sell it BUT WAIT!!! NO!!! I replaced the output tubes with JJ Tesla EL84's and was AMAZED at the difference! No more noise and rich
wonderful tone. I own many (MANY!) amps and this Delta Blues is now one
of the best sounding amps I have. So, try new tubes first before
giving up.

Seems fairly well built. the chassis is a little thin and the circuit
might be difficult to work on. I installed an after market tube shield
(the exposed tube area is the worst physical feature of this amp.) I
built my own spring-loaded tube hold down and ditched the spring clips
to prevent tube rattle. Haven't had any kind of failure after 2 years.

Never dealt with them - Have owned other peaveys - all were reliable

Excellent sound now - but I did have to tinker with it quite a bit to
get it where it should be. Oh, by the way, the tremolo really isn't
very good or usable, so that also lowers the rating.

2000 Peavey Delta Blues. EL-84 based.Very nice spring reverb and tremolo. I did a couple mods - Cas Azera @ Tone Tools in Sarasota, Fla. made a custom pine fingerjointed cabinet w/real lacuered tweed (go to www.tone-tools.com to the artists section and see a picture). Also, I substituted a Weber 15" California apeaker for the stock. This amp has all the features I need or use. I stick to the clean channel, and use a Keeley Katana for a lead boost w/my Gibson 335, or a TS-9/808 mod w/ my Strat.

In my opinion, this is one of the best amps out there for classic rock, R&B. After the mods I did, the tone is even better. With the 335, I think it rated righ up there with the best boutique amps (I have owned Victoria, Bad Cat, Top Hat, etc), and vintage amps (Super Reverb, Vibrolux, etc). I compared it side by side to a 1964 blackface vibrolux, and it just sounded better. I know this is all subjuctive, but this amp really meets my needs. I usually play it in medium size clubs, and mic it for the band mix. Really great musical and natural overdrive that cleans up well with a roll off the volume knob, and great low end especially when using the 335 (thanks to the 15" speaker). Very vintage/old school tone, if that is what you are in to. Honestly havent heard a better amp for the king of stuff I play.

No problems and have been gigging regularly with it for a year or so.

Haven't had to use customer support.

I am admittely a gear junkie and have been playing for about 25 years. I have owned countless amps, but have been most pleased with this project. No complaints. Really cool looks (especially w/ the Tone Tools cab), and the tone is unbeatable. Highly recommended. Fantastic value.

2004 Delta Blues amplifier: 30 watts, 2 channels, 15" Blue Marvel speaker. Other features as described below.
This is a nicely-equipped amp in that it has normal and lead (crunch) channels, tremolo (vibrato), reverb, 3-band EQ - a good set of standard features. The amp lacks a standby switch, which is a significant design oversight (despite Peavey's spiel to the contrary). A tube guard is also sorely missing from this amp: it is WAY too easy to knock the tubes or jar them loose. A tube guard is $20.00 on eBay - Peavey should include it for free.

The 15" speaker is a real plus when it comes to the sound of this amp. Perhaps not as fast and crisp as a 10" or 12" speaker, the 15" Blue Marvel outshines its smaller siblings in bass response and overall fullness/richness of sound. I use this amp with a 2004 American Deluxe Strat and a 2005 American Tele - the amp really brings the best out of single-coil Fender guitars. It also performs well with hollow and semi-hollow body guitars. Having said that, the sound (as is the case with most Peavey gear) is rather generic. The Delta Blues is a good all-purpose amp for blues, classic rock, country, and even jazz (I play them all), but it doesn't have "the sound" - not to be expected in this amp's price range. Also, the amp seems to have a very narrow sweet spot: step a little to the right or left (or tilt the amp up or down) and you very quickly lose a lot of volume and tone. I notice this with my Classic 50-212 as well. This amp cannot fill a stage with sound - not when the rest of the band is playing at medium volumes. My 50-watt Classic 50 can't do it either. Peavey design?

I've had my Delta Blues for more than a year and have had no problems. I've been playing Peavey products for almost 30 years and every one of them has been built like a rock. Peavey makes very reliable gear that can keep up with a working musician.

I haven't dealt with Peavey directly. However, their staff participate on forums dedicated to the amp and are very responsive.

Value-wise, this is a very good amp. You get a lot of features, great reliability, and a good tube sound for very little money. If that's what you need, you can't go wrong with this amp. If, on the other hand, you need an amp with "the sound" that can keep up with a five-piece band playing at higher volumes, this amp may not do the trick. The amp is what it is: a well-priced, well-built entry into the wonderful warm world of tube sound.

OK, this is my final review on this product (I mean it). I guess it would've made sense to wait a few months before reviewing a product, so apologies to anyone who's used my previous reviews in deciding their purchase for this amp. This review updates all rating areas.
This amp runs three 12AX7's and 4EL84's. The tubes are low-grade Sovtek, which I'll get into later in the review. The amp has two channels (clean and drive) with shared eq, tremolo, and reverb.
The amp came with a nice, thick cover, which was a good touch. However, I wish it had dedicated eq for each channel, but shared controls is reasonable for an amp this price. I also wish it came with a footswitch standard and that the footswitch would switch the reverb on and off instead of the tremolo, which I think would've been more useful.
Overall, this amp does have alot of features for the money.

I use an American Strat with Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups, an Ephiphone Elite Les Paul Standard, and a Warmoth Telecaster with Seymour Duncan pickups. I run them through Fulltone pedals (Full-Drive 2, Distortion Pro, 70's Pedal, Fat Boost, ChoralFlange...but never all at the same time).
The stock amp provided pretty good sound. At first I thought the lead channel was really cool. It had a huge amount of saturated gain available and pinch harmonics were very easy to get. It was also fun playing with controlled feedback in this amp. However, after a short time, this channel got boring. It doesn't have a good low gain overdrive sound. Also, the volume available in this channel is lacking. It doesn't cut through very well and just doesn't have the power to hang in a loud, full band situation. I've stopped using this channel at this point and rely on (good) pedals in front of the clean channel.
The clean channel is really quite good. The 15" speaker gives the amp lots of meat to its sound, much more than 2 x 12's that I've tried in the past, and much more than a 4 x 10. The clean channel starts to clip sweetly at around 4.5 or 5, which is a good volume for this to start in most gigs. As I've said, I run good pedals in front of this to add overdrive or distortion and this has worked very well. When the clean is purely clean, it does have a lot of sparkle to its sound, again with a nice bloomy mid, and solid, deep bass response. The output on this channel is very loud and easily cuts through a loud band for a moderate size club.
The tremolo is a nice feature to have. I rarely use it, but it sounds pretty good from what I can tell. I haven't noticed a significant drop in volume that previous reviewers mention.
The amp had lots of noise problems in the first three months, which I will get into in the "reliability" area of this review. As far as the sound when its working well, I'd give it a moderate rating, as the drive channel doesn't cut it for me. Still having one really good channel (which this amp does have) for the money is still pretty good.

Here's where we go downhill. I had severe tube rattle and hum with this amp. Granted I had gigged with it, I always baby my gear and never leave it in the car overnight, even when I get home from the shows at 3AM. I always keep it covered when not in use.
The intermittent hum sounded like what you would hear when you put your ear to a seashell. Almost sounded like current running through the circuit. On top of that, the tubes would rattle as early as 3 on the clean channel, despite having stock wire tube retainers. The amp chassis also seemed to be rattling severely.
I looked for support on Peavey's website (more on this in "customer support") and after a few frustrating weeks on forums, etc. I decided to replace the stock tubes with JJ Tesla power tubes and Electro-Harmonix preamp tubes. The noise problems are gone and the amp now sounds noticeably better to boot. Even the amp rattle sound is gone (which now I suspect were the tubes as well). I'd recommend re-tubing this amp sooner than later. It's not cheap, but good tubes will make the amp worth keeping rather than selling.
It's reasonable for a manufacturer to cut costs here in the interest of keeping the price low, since tubes eventually need to be swapped out anyway. But it's still a shame, as good OEM tubes would've made this amp a gold medal finalist right out of the box.

When I was looking for Customer Service contacts at Peavey, all I could find on their website was a link to a forum, which seemed to be just for users rather than Peavey staff (but I later found out that Peavey staff also participate). As I mentioned in a previous update, there was no email address given for customer service. I know I didn't miss it because I spent a long time in disbelief looking for this email address on their website. I then posted a scathing review on HC and within a few days an email address was back. Hmmmm. Coincidence maybe.
Anyway, I did receive a few responses to my posts on the bulletin board and one of the participants suggested replacing all the tubes (thanks, Jim). I then used the email address for Peavey Customer Service (which had mysteriously reappeared on their website) and contacted them. Aubrey from Customer Service called me and said that it was most likely a bad preamp tube which was causing the noises. Even though the 90 warranty on tubes had expired by a week, he said he'd be willing to cover the replacement. I decided not to drive an hour each way to my nearest authorized dealer and instead ordered a full complement of replacement tubes for the amp online. I swapped them in and I'm all set.
It was frustrating trying to get a contact at Peavey, but it looks like they've addressed this for now. It was nice of Aubrey to offer to cover the tube work despite having passed the 90 day mark. Still, the whole experience did leave a bad taste in my mouth and I will reconsider purchasing Peavey again in the future.

I've been playing for over 20 years. I gig, I play for fun, and I'm in the middle of cutting an album. I've owned and do still own lots of gear and have been leaning more and more toward boutique equipment.
I had originally wanted to get a Fender Hot Rod, either the 4 x 10 or 2 x 12. I already have a Blues Jr. In the end, I went with HC reviews and decided to try the Peavey. I love this amp's unique, full sound on the clean channel. It's the perfect size for the size venues I play and I like the fact that it is a unique configuration. I like the fact that it came with an amp cover. I also like that is sounds great (since retubing) with my Fulltone pedals.
I don't like the drive channel and think it's pretty much useless. I hate the fact that I had to retube this amp almost immediately (those tubes are expensive, adding nearly $80 to the overall price of the amp). I don't like having had to buy a footswitch, only to find now that I don't even need it because the drive channel is crappy. I'm also not crazy about the covering on the amp (cheap looking faux tweed).
But overall, I would buy this amp again, believe it or not. The clean channel and that 15" speaker cab are worth the money alone, even after having to swap out the tubes. The amp gives me what I need and now that the noise issues have been sorted out, it is my "go to" amp for all occasions. Overall, I'm glad I purchased this. Good luck!

This is a follow-up to a previous review. Features well-documented. This review is to make known some other issues with this amp.

Low frequency rumbling /rattling has started to show up. It sounds like what you'd hear if you put your ear to a seashell. It's intermittent, but when it's there it makes the amp unuseable for recording. This sound is there even when not even playing anything and with the volume off on my guitar. No issues with same setup through my Fender Blues Jr, so it must be the amp. The amp also came with wire tube retainers for power and preamp tubes, but the tubes still rattle even when I'm only playing through the clean channel at about 4 (that's #3, not 4 o'clock).
The amp sounds great when these problems aren't there, but the noise is enough for me to downgrade my previous rating and give this amp a 6.

When I first got the amp, there was a burning vinyl smell, but that went away quickly. It was a brand new amp and I guess it was just burning in. The intermittent loud popping sound when turning the amp off has also gone away, which is all great.
What's been a sore point is the weird rumbling even when not playing. Maybe this will go away too, though it seems unlikely. I wonder if there's a bad ground or something, or if the tube might be microphonic, or if they're just rattling (they shouldn't be, especially if I'm not even playing anything). This amp hasn't let me down on a gig, but these problems have turned into a source of frustration for me. Even worse is that there's currently no way to contact Peavey customer service (see below).

So I go to Peavey's website to ask their techs about the problems I've been having. The only contact they offer for support right now is a forum. It's not clear whether or not this is read and answered by Peavey technical staff or if it's just a place for other Peavey users to post bulletins (seems like the latter to me). Peavey offers email addresses for contacts as relates to selling their products, but no email contact with regard to support after purchasing. This is POOR and absolutely unconscionable. Don't contact us unless you're considering buying our products? We don't give a rat's ass if you've already bought one? Utterly useless. Now I'll probably have to take this amp to a technician to have it looked at instead of getting support from the manufacturer. This indifference to its customers POST-PURCHASE guarantees I will NEVER buy a Peavey product again. It's a shame because I love this amp (when the problems aren't surfacing), but I won't do business with a company that only cares about revenue rather than customer satisfaction. I would give them a zero here if it was an option!

I've been playing for over 20 years and have owned and still own lots of pro gear. I love this amp. It's clean channel is perfect for me.
I've given the product good reviews, but I felt this update was necessary because of all the annoying problems I've been having with this product. I'm still using it, but it will no longer be my go-to amp until I get these problems sorted out.
And the lack of support for the product? Listen Peavey! This is NOT the place to cut costs. You need to keep your EXISTING customers happy. As it stands, you've lost this customer and anyone else who cares to ask my opinion of your company. Utterly worthless!

2003 Peavey Delta Blues Combo 30Watt Tube, solid state rectifier, 2 channel clean and overdiven, effect loop, reverb, bass, middle and treble controls.It also has channel switching and tremelo. I don't use the mid boost or effects loop much.

I play a 59'Gibson Melody Maker modified with a single humbucker, 76 Telecaster and a 2000 Mexi strat with Texas special pickups. The amp works well with blues rock style I play, especially with the Fender Guitars. The clean channel will break-up, but only at 5 O'Clock and above. The dirty cahnnel is suitable for low to mid level volumes however it will also sing at high volumes if you take time to experiment. A good tube overdrive or Tube Screamer will push the dirty channel to a warm but very crunchy sound that is suitable for SRV, Aerosmith, Trower or AC/DC. Metal heads look elswhere.

Always works for me!

Never had a problem with this amp, however the support has always been good , I have owned 3 other Peaveys over the years.

I have been playing Guitar since 1975, I have an old Alamo, 1973 Fender Champ and Pro Junior in addition to the Peavey. I have owned a Fender Princeton Silver Face, Fender Deluxe Reverb Silver Face, Peavey Special , Peavey Bandit, Crate Vintage Club 30 and 1970's Randall RG120-210. The Peavey Delta Blues is a great amp for the money period! Loud enough to gig with quiet enough to use at home. Sounds great with single coils guitars! I would buy another in a heart beat! Better value than all those high priced Vox, Marshall, Fender and Line 6 solid state modeling amps, there is just something about tubes that cannot be duplicated!

All tube, two channels, reverb, tremelo, boost switch & best of all a 15 inch speaker.

I have a 97' U.S. Fender strat, a 82 jap Epiphone sheraton & a 04 Gibson les paul standard. I can't begin to tell you how nice my guitars sound through this amp, it's has all the sounds I always wanted. The clean sounds are full yet bright, plenty of top, bottom & mid range. The dirty sounds are nothing more than sexy, but not over the top. All my guitars sound fantastic, especially the stratocaster, I put that down to the 15inch speaker. You can get every thing from Hendrix to The Edge. Slap on my fuzz face with the less paul & even my metal head teenage cousin thinks it rules. I'm not saying this is a metal amp though, not by any stretch of the imagination, but if you have some decent pedals as I do & like to experiment the thing just sounds ace in almost any situation; fuck it, for me it sounds ace in all the musical situations I might find myself in.
Originally I was going to buy a Marshall DSL 401 but the Delta Blues sounded better & looked oh so pretty (the ladies always comment on it's good looks, even ones who don't give a shit about electric guitars).
You do get a volume drop when you engage the tremolo, but what the hell, the world isn't perfect, grow up and get used to it.
If you play alternative (as I do), blues, rock, country, pop, jazz, funk, regae and beyond then give this amp a try, it's really cool (good with pedals too).

No problems so far and I've had this amp since 98'.

I couldn't comment, I've never needed it.

I have 15 years playing experience and i'm completely addicted to playing the guitar. If some twat nicked it I'd find out who it was and send some heavies round to retreve it forthwith and give the thieving scum a right old seeing too. This amp rules (for the money that is). Excellent value for anyone entering the fantastic world of valve amplification. I would highly recomend this amp to almost any one looking for good tone. Buy a good strat, some groovey pedals and one of these amps and you'll never look back. Marvelous.

Made in 2002. I play mostly overdriven blues-based rock and this has that completely covered. It is not really a "features" amp though and if I were to change anything, I would make the treble boost foot switchable and I would allow turning off the built-in speaker when porting out to an extension cab.

The built in tremelo is usable, but it cuts into the volume. I don't use that much reverb because the club I usually play in has its own reverb built into the structure, lol. This thing is not a good amp in a tight space, because of how much AIR it pushes. It has the special feature of ONE giant 15 inch speaker, giving it a full sound like no other. I use a 15 inch matching cabinet from Peavey (Classic 115e) and the two in tandem are outstanding.

My main guitar is a Fender MIJ 80s Strat with Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. This is the perfect amp for this guitar because it has such great low end and as you know, many Strats NEED this to be the primary instrument in a band. The amp is PLENTY powerful otherwise and if you retube it, sounds as good as ANY tube amp.

I have tried a lot of things to see what I get. Even used the little Brian May Deacy amp from Vox to DRIVE this one. But after I retubed the Delta Blues, I got away from using pedals on this baby, because the pure tone it generates is outstanding. I typically turn the pre all the way up and the post about three-quarters. I switch to clean for some songs, and this breaks up great at higher volumes. Even with my Strat, it has plenty of bass response. This is NOT a practice or good home use amp, but it is fantastic for small to medium sized clubs. Really pushes air. It will feed back in enclosed spaces, especially with reverb on.

This is not BRUTAL distortion. It is very rich and bluesy. Retube. Retube. Retube. It sounds average with the original tubes, but it is a monster with a professional set up. (I used Groove Tubes and had the thing biased, etc.) After retubing, I found I didn't need ANY pedals, but this beast is very TS-9 compatible if you go for that sort of thing!

You gotta atleast modify. After brushing a tube with a rolled up shirt and having it come out at a bad time, I bought the twenty dollar tube guard and installed it myself. It is solid as far as the body construction, but the tube issue could really break your heart if it happened during a big gig. Because this thing is not super expensive, I felt it was no big deal to spend a little extra to put the guard on.

No opinion.

I have been playing for 12 years. I own a Roland JC-120 (polar opposite of this amp), an Ultrasound AG-50, a bunch of "recording" type gear (Brian May Vox, tiny Marshall, Behringer modeller, Epiphone acoustic amp, other stuff). I even own a theremin, lol. If this amp were lost or stolen, I would try and fine a good deal on Ebay for the same thing. I really think the fifteen inch speakers give me a sound like no one else. A friend said to me the other day that playing his superfine Les Paul through a classic '83 Marshall Stack was great but "generic." One thing you will never say about this Delta Blues amp is that it sounds generic. It has it's own feel and you should really try one out before purchase. I prefer it over similar Fenders (Blues Jr. / Deville) and I like the fact that it is truly American made. I love how much AIR it can push, how it handles the FULL spectrum of highs and lows, and how it sounds overdriven. I wish it were a bit more versatile, but I really LOVE this amp. I think you will like it a lot more if you gig out and if you like to fiddle with things... I give it a nine, subracting a point for the things I had to change, like buying the tube guard.

2005 model, tweed, 30 watts into 1x15 Blue Marvel. If you've read the other reviews, you probably know all the features. I like the tremolo a lot better than most reviewers - I thought it sounded really good.

Initially I was very impressed with the sound of this amp, very sweet with my Les Paul.

It seems like it has a lot of features at first, but most of them turn out to be sorta useless...

Ok, now for the bad news. This amp has no real power. I borrowed it from the music store where I teach for a day, to try out on two gigs. It was fine on the first one, playing jazz and oldies in a trio at an old folks home. It did fine, sounded great but even there I had to turn it up to 4 on the clean channel (bass 5, mids 7, treble 5 or 6). I was playing the Les Paul. It sounded really sweet, singy and sustainy. So I'm thinking, cool, I think I'll buy it.

That night I had the 2nd gig, playing blues at a small club. The lineup was two guitars, bass & drums. Halfway through the first song I was getting buried (the other guitar player was using a strat through a 30 watt Laney 2x10). By the second song I was wishing I'd brought my regular amp. Even the bass and drums were drowning me out. I ended up turning every knob up all the way to try to get some stage volume, but it didn't get much louder, just more distorted. Lots of high end sizzle, no low end. All that high end made my pickups go microphonic too, which I've never had a problem with before. At one point we did a surf tune and I put the reverb up all the way and couldn't even tell it was on.

Sorry to rain on the parade, I just don't think it's a viable amp for professional use. It sounds pretty great up to 4, though, very nice clean. It just won't stay clean...still, I'd think about getting one if I never had to play loud.

Can't say, brought it back the next day...but it's a Peavey; it'll probably last forever.

Can't say.

I've been playing 20 years. My main amp is a Dr.Z Route 66, but I have some others, and a bunch of guitars. I'm not anti-Peavey, I have some Peavey PA gear, but this amp is not going to do it for you if you play with any volume.

One other thing - even though I felt like I couldn't hear myself with this amp, I ended up with a lot of ringing in my ears - way more than usual.

It's too bad, I really liked this amp at first.