Peavey Delta Blues

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.

This tube amp was probably made 2 years ago. It is covered in yellow tweed and has the "vintage" look to it. I bought it used and the guy before me had the tubes changed out. All I did to it was buy the $20 tube guard on eBay.

Features:
FX loop- I love it. Modern fx need a this type of loop or your tone will suffer.
Two channels- see thoughts below.
Tremolo- Not the best but I never use it anyway. Volume drops when activated.
Reverb- I like its spring reverb.

I play a semi-hollowbody > modded TS9 (TS808 specs) > Wah > amp. I also have a digitech whammy pedal and a Boss DD-20 delay running through the FX loop. My band plays a mix between rock, blues, and jazz. This amp has some serious volume and gain for 30 watts! I am the loudest one in the band. This amp should be loud enough for any gig.

I love the clean channel. Love it. It is super clear and has the right amount of bite to it. It seems that after you turn the volume up to 5 anything higher just saturates the tubes so you get this dirty overdriven sound, which is smooth as butta. I personally do not like the amp's dirty channel. It sounds muddy. Getting a modded tubescreamer (aramateffects.com $29) can really help get that heavy overdrive sound on the clean channel.

I haven't had any problems yet.

I haven't had to deal with anyone yet.

I like this amp and for the price I can't complain. I would totally buy this thing again if it were stolen. I have been gigging in the past few years and have had other amps (Marshall and Fender) but one has to be my favorite. The clean channel is by far one of the best that I have heard. This is great for my style of music.

This is a follow-up review after I've gigged with the amp. The features of this amp are still good, but some annoyances here and there. First, I bought a two-button foot switch, as this amp doesn't come with one. The Peavey switch wouldn't work (?!) and its LED's were out, so I went with a more expensive and substantial feeling Vox two-button switch. It works fine except the cord is a bit short.
One button on the footswitch will switch between clean and crunch channels, which is fine, but the other switches the tremolo on and off. I would've much preferred that the footswitch allow for switching of the boost, rather than tremolo or reverb. This would be much more useful 90% of the time.
I also which this amp had dedicated EQ for each channel, as it's sometimes hard to match up sounds on the two.
Still, I'm pretty high on this amp. Just have to take some points off here.

Still sounds great. Sound would be even better with dedicated eq for its two channels. Tubes rattle a bit, even when not cranked, but not anything I notice. Still might be an issue for recording.
The amp still makes an intermittent loud pop when shutting off. Makes me nervous, but it still works fine.
I haven't taken the clean channel loud enough to check for any breakup (it's really loud), but the clean sound itself is nice. The lead channel can go from mild crunch to full-blown saturation with pinch harmonics a plenty. The overdrive sound is just as good with my Tele as it is with my Les Paul.

No problems. Well-built. Don't like that popping sound. That burning smell is gone by now, so I guess it was just the newness burning away. We'll see that popping though.

I've tried to get onto the Peavey site to ask about that loud pop. It's a bit cumbersome dealing with the registration, etc. We'll see.

2004 Made in USA. 30 watts into a 15" speaker in an open (way open) back cabinet. Three 12AX7's and 2 6L6's (I think). Sovtek tubes. Built in tremolo and reverb. 2 channels. Tweed covering. Effects loop. Did not come with a footswitch (bogus). But DID come with a nice, possibly leather, amp cover (thumbs up). I had been looking into tremolo pedals and hadn't found a decent one in my price range. Was also looking for an amp to upgrade from my Fender Blues Jr. (a decent tube amp). Read the reviews on Harmony Central and decided to give it a shot. The cabinet is huge and weighs about 50 lbs, so not something you can just throw in your backseat for casual practice. Both preamp and power tubes have retainers to hold them in place. The features are very good, but a two point deduction for no footswitch (this is getting to be common practice and just has to stop).

I use a Fender American Strat with Dimarzio stacked humbuckers in the neck and middle and a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the bridge. I also use an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard and a custom built Warmoth Telecaster with Seymout Duncan vintage single coil pickups. The clean channel is huge, with lots of bottom coming from that 15" speaker. I've only taken it about halfway up because this thing is loud and brand new. Nice detail to the clean sound, and to my ears sounds better than new Fender equivalents...yes, better clean than the Fenders! Nice definition and some definite sparkle. The overdrive channel is what blew me away. This has some serious high gain. I was doing pinch harmonics and heavy metal riffing with no effort. Backing down on the volume knob on my Strat cleaned up the sound enough to use for chunky rhythm. Backing down on the preamp drive got me into blues type overdrive. I was truly impressed with the range of this amp's distortions. I may never need my pedals again (once I buy the footswitch that is). The reverb is nice. There's some range to this, unlike the one in my Blues Jr. which is too wet even on low settings. The tremolo was a real treat. Nice vintage style throbbing. The sound of this amp rules both for clarity, body, and versatility. I'll have to give this a 10 because it will cover all the ground I need on my gigs and recording, and then some.

Just bought it, so can't really say. Peavey has a good reputation for reliability. The amp seems very solid (definitely heavy because of that big speaker). I did notice a slightly weird smell when the amp warmed up, but I think it was just the amp cover "burning in" a little bit. I doubt it will be anything to worry about and will probably stop once the newness of the amp wears off. No smoke. What DOES concern me is how open the back of this amp is. The tubes are almost fully exposed and could easily be yanked loose with the power cord or whatever else. I would assume that made this an open back because that big speaker needs to pump a lot of air, and it probably keeps those tubes cool too, but you'll have to careful about how you store and transport this amp. Be careful and it should be fine.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 20 years and have used lots of good (and bad gear), and I have to say this amp is very choice. I would buy it again without even thinking about it. Most people I know play Marshalls and Fender Hot Rod series amps. This amp blows them away in terms of versatility (clean and dirty) and girth (that huge speaker again). I had looked into buying a Hot Rod DeVille (which actually isn't that much bigger or heavier than this amp come to think of it), but the reviews on this website convinced me to give this a try. And I'm glad I did.

This amp is versatile and has excellent tone. The 30 watts will be plenty for me on my gigs without a mic. I will be able to cover almost any genre of music with this amp. I almost hope this amp doesn't become too popular, so I can have something semi-unique. I can't wait to take this out on my next gig, just to see some jaws drop. The best gear purchase I've made yet.

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Further to a previous review, I wantewd to add the following.

I play blues/country tinged modern rock with a peppering of country sounds. I've been gigging this amp for a few months (small venues, always miced thru the PA) and last night tried something that I should have done a long time ago.

Normally I have the clean vol on 4/5 and use the od channel or various od pedals for a crunchy sound ( I don't need a fully saturated gain sound) but last night I pushed the clean channel to between 8/9 (out of 12) and plugged my 52Vintage re-issue tele straight in.

I got this fantastic smooth powertube OD- punchy yet clear with loads of sustain and it really wasn't much louder than when the clean channels on 4/5. It cleaned up beatifully turning down the vol pot on my tele and sounded great and clear thru both bridge and neck pickups. It was truly fantastic. This is what this amp was designed to do. Real powetube OD at manageable volumes!

I will only be using the OD channel and pedals at home in future!

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1 input, 2 channels (clean and drive), reverb, bass-mid-treble, and tremolo controls. Also a boost button and EFX loop. 30W, single 15" speaker, tweed tolex. I don't know exactly when mine was made, but it must be fairly new because it has the clips that prevent tube vibration. It does not have the tube guard, but I'll probably just make one from some scrap wood or metal. Also, I have a full set of JJ tubes in this amp. 3 ECC83-S (aka 12AX7) preamp tubes and 4 EL84 power tubes.

My only gripe is the supplied Peavey footswitch (for channel and tremolo switching). It was really cheap plastic with a bad connection at one end of the cable, but I got it used so that's to be expected. I built a new metal one out of a Hammond 1590B project box. It also didn't come with a cover, so I made my own from some tough automotive vinyl.

It has all your basic features. I use them all to get the sounds I want. I'm used to Fender amps, so I miss the Presence control. But the sound is quite shimmery, so it's not a big deal. I also wish it had a second input like my old Fender Hot Rod DeVille. I liked being able to play two guitars through the amp at the same time (myself on one and a friend on the other), but I can't do that now. Other than that, it really isn't missing anything. I'd say an 8 for features would be about right. It does everything that I really NEED it to do, and most of the things I WANT it to do.

My rig: G&L ASAT (tele w/ ceramic soapbar pickups) or G&L S-500 (strat w/ ceramic pickups) straight into the amp. No acoustics, semi-hollows, or humbucker equipped guitars here. No effects except for the reverb on the amp. I want to get a good wah pedal. But other than that, I don't really want any effects. I like things simple. I also may get a good echo/delay unit one day, but that will have to wait a while.

This is a great sounding amp for the money. The clean tone is great. It's no Twin Reverb, but it's pretty darn good! The drive channel is pretty good too. Not enough gain for metal, but that's not what this amp was intended for anyway. It's called the "DELTA BLUES" here people, and it has plenty of crunch for rock or some smokin' blues leads.

The tone controls are very good. You can get a lot of bass, especially with the big 15" speaker. But it's never muddy. The mid sweep is really nice. Back it off for some scooped-mid type rhythm sounds. Or turn them up for a very good Santana lead. The highs are very sparkly and bell-like, but never piercing or shrill.

The reverb is good. Not quite as good as classic Fender reverb, but excellent for the money. Also, the tremolo isn't bad. There does seem to be a small volume drop when the tremolo is turned on. But I don't use it much, so I really don't have an opinion about it. I've never used the EFX loop.

Overall, an 8 for sound. I've played some better sounding amps, but they were all a LOT more expensive. It's an excellent value, and very versatile. It's really amazing how many different (and GOOD!) sounds are in this small amp. It really does everything except metal. It may not have the volume you need for bigger venues, but it should be good enough for small clubs.

I've never played it at a gig, but I would gladly use it without a backup. It's VERY solid. To use the old cliche, it is indeed built like a tank. It just need a tube guard on the back, and it will be all set for road use.

I've only had it for a couple of months, but I don't forsee any problems at all in the near or distant future. I'll give it a 9 because it originally had the really cheap footswitch.

Never used Peavey customer support. But their website has plenty of schematics and manuals.

I've been playing for almost 7 years now. I'd get another one without hesitation if this one were stolen. I honestly can't think of a better amp for the money. It's super sturdy and versatile at a great price... absolutely perfect for the working rock/blues/country guitarist!

I play Blues-Rock with strato-tele-LP.
This ampli has two channels,effects loop,full(7!) tube circuit,15"cone etc.

This is an authentic blues machine:clean is beautiful(Fender like)
drive is pure tube tone.this ampli sounds fat and warm,with
a thick,deep,beautiful real tube sound.
I like the way tone knobs shape the sound,I like the tremolo
(by far better than expected after reading other reviews here),
I like the reverb(good quality long spring type).

Seems strong and well built.

Hope not need it .

This ampli has that warm,american tube sound I love so bad.
I also own a '65 Deluxe reverb RI and Hot Rod 4X10 DeVille,and I think that this amp has the same basic tone but with a warmer and deeper, really sincere and fat sound.

Mine is a 2003 model made in Peavey's Mississippi factory.
30 Watts all tube 1X15 Combo in tweed.
2 channels clean and overdrive with boost button.
Tank reverb
Built in Tremelo with speed and intensity control
The Good: It's all tube (I'll discuss more in tone), it is built like a tank, with the exception of some tube rattle at high volumes, this can be solved though by a 15 buck add on called Tom's tube tamer, the reverb is great at low levels for thickening up the sound, and the built in effects loop works well.
The Not so Good: My model has no tube guard although you can get an aftermarket one for about 19 bucks, the tremelo basically sucks, it's a good idea especially for playing "Delta Blues" however, turning it on cuts the volume level in half making it very impractical for use in switching back and forth. The boost channel is not great it has kind of a honky sound, and there is no standby circuit so you have to turn everything down before turning off the amp otherwise you get a whop sound through the speaker when you shut down.
Starting at a ten because the basic features are very solid but subtracting a few points because of the above mentioned flaws I give it a 7.

This is where the Delta Blues shines. I play a Fender Highway 1 Strat, mainly blues and rock with some jazz and popular thrown in. The tone through this amp is great very warm and full with a fair amount of head room, keep pushing it and you get a smooth breakup into a nice chunky overdrive tone and if you push it further you get a nice rock style distortion. Past that I don't know I don't play metal but I don't think this amp would work for that at least not without some pedals. It is best to keep the reverb set low because at higher levels it has a strange sound to it, but unless your playing surf how much reverb do you need? One recommendation is to replace the stock tubes with JJ tubes from eurotubes. Doing this will take the tone from good to awesome and Bob at eurotubes will tailor the tubes to your style of music. Overall tone. 10

It's built like a tank, I don't think I'll have a problem.

Only thing I have dealt with is peavey's support forum and the people there have been very helpful.

Overall for the price paid this amp is fantastic. Adding in 60 bucks for the retube and 30 for the tube guard and tamer and it's still an awesome value. If it was stolen I would find who took it track them down and beat them until they gave it back. I love the tone of this amp the only things I hate is the tremelo, I wish it worked better. I highly recommend this amp for those looking for a good blues rock amp at an affordable price, Great job Peavey. For more information on this amp from some real tone gurus check out the tonequest reports review. The only other recommendation to better the sound would be to replace the speaker with a weber or jensen alnico.

As below, 2 channel, reverb, footswitch (optional extra), tremolo, NOMINAL 30 watts, lovely retro styling, 15 inch speaker.

2004 model- has a tube guard on the back, and upgrades to the circuit (dunno what they are though). Seems Peavey have listened to the feedback.

Apart from bizarre tremolo gimmick, quite rudimentary features really, the footswitch (extra #20) is a bit skimpy and wafer-light, has no LEDs (no way to tell what is selected without hitting the strings), and the extra switch defeats the tremolo- reverb would be more useful here. Both channels share one EQ which isn't great and there is no presence, standby or master.

This is refelcted in the excellent price though, the features are adequate (this amp suits raw players who shun gimmicks) but anyway this amp is all about TONE.

Absolutely wonderful sound for the price. Rich, tight clean that doesn't break up too early (even with the high output hbs on my LP). Reverb nice, not too intrusive. Oodles of punch, tight lows and mids as wells as a sparkly top. Tremolo not my thing so can't comment too much apart from the fact it seems a little quiet. OD channel is excellent too, real variety of tones in there. Not bad for a pre-amp OD- not many of us who live in reality can dime a half stack to get the power amp od, so this'll do for now. Fat sound. Portable, perfect for small gigs- very loud for 30W. Metal freaks might not like this, but that's fine by me.

Chassis rattle is present sometimes- not great. Will get the electric screwdriver out.

Bit of tube crackle while the amp warms up, will monitor this closely, could be because it's v new. Gets hot, but that's to be expected. Haven't had it long enough to rate this category.

N/A

It sounds great, looks great, is portable, and you don't have to blast your audience away to get a goog power tube od. It is more versatile than the DSL401 the Marshall competitor and knocks the Fender BluesJr into a cocked hat. Slight pauicity of features for some, chassis rattle and a little bit of tube popping- but these are small negatives...The pest pound for pound affordable tube amp out there.

It's a nice simple combo amp. Clean channel (with - for me useless- boost, overdive channel, reverb,tremelo and FX loop. I like the vintage look of the delta blues, similar to a fender bassman '59 reissue.

I work in a music store and I compared the delta with a fender blues junior and fender hotrod. I play on a Strat (USA). The blues junior is no match for the delta, the junior sounds very thin and cold in comparison with the peavey. The hotrod is a different (and more difficult) ballgame. When you start playing on a hotrod, you get the impression that it sounds extremely good, but after a while, this vision changes. The reverb from the hotrod is overwhelming, but it 'clashes' a bit with the sound. If you turn off the verb, and compare the delta with the hotrod, you'll notice that the delta sounds much richer and warmer. I've always been a fender man, both guitars and amps, for example: the hotrod is no match for an (old) twinreverb, or a bassman. These amps sound way better than the delta (way more expensive too...). But the hotrod vs the delta, I prefer the delta. More mid, more balls, and if you turn up the volume from the clean channel from 4 till 7, you'll notice that the volume isn't that louder, but you'll get a very smooth overdive, with beautiful harmonics and dynamics. The overdrive channel is also nice, but I prefer my Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and Z Vex Super Hard On. In combination with these two baby's, the delta is a ball breaking blues beast. ;-) Conclusion, in the low price range tube amps category, the delta is a really nice amp and I haven't yet heared a similar priced amp which sounds better.

In its price category, I'll give it a 9. In general I'll give it 7 if a Bogner Metropolis is a 10.

Just bought it last wednesday, so don't have an opinion yet. There's a cage which protects the tubes, so that's nice if you carry around your amp much like me.

The peavey customer support in Belgium isn't optimal, it might take a long while to replace a broke amp, but hey, that's the case with most of the brands. For example Fender is a complete disaster...

Overall rating is 8. I play guitar for almost 10 years now. I'm a Strat and Tele man. I play blues, funk and a bit of the good old Hendrix stuff, and the delta blues works out really nice for me. You just might want to help out the delta a little with a good overdrive pedal. I own a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and a Z Vex Super Hard on and these are a killercombination with the dela, although is hard to find a tubeamp which doesn't sound nice with these two...

Standard tube amp w/gain psuedo-channel, op-amp tremolo, reverb,
effects loop.

Compare to Fender DeVille line for features. Give it a 5 becuase
it's nothing special (hey people 5 = avg! 10 would be better than
90% of all other amps!) so I would give a 6 if not for the op
amp driven reverb + relay switch in/out overdrive. Maybe a 6
since Fender blues/deluxe/deville use relays + op amps to
drive reverband effects loops & this is a less expensive amp.

Never buy a car without lifting the hood or amp without looking
at the schem or at least asking a friend that can read them.

One note, this amp has push-pull 4xEL84. I've only seen the
EL84s used in class A amps. They are cheaper than EL34 or 6L6
& I think the P-transformer is smaller (=cheaper) so the difference
in cost is not for nothing. The Fenders have 6L6s.

Get the black vinyl cab. The 'tweed' is vinyl, too.

Well, it doesn't sound like a Fender, but they built this
chassis (same as Classic 30) to compete with them, so you
might as well compare price/sound.

Clean "channel" is ok. Reverb is good. I don't like the tremolo.
It lacks that organic quality I remember in my Fender sans silicon
amp, i.e. proreverb. Only played the blue/deluxe/deville in the
store so I can't say there. I'd rather they just leave out the
tremolo if the price target cannot afford another tube.

My reagent amp is my pt2pt tweed deluxe. After playing a
while at fuller volumes (3-5) I notice a certain
harshness. I think it's the opamps. I feel the same thing with a
homebrew 12ax7 preamp I built with op-amps to overdrive the
tube stages. I can play my tweed deluxe at the same volumes & never
notice that.

Overdrive 'channel' is not very useful at least at pain-free
volumes. Maybe it sounds good cranked at blues distortion levels.
I'll probably try the blueguitar.org mods at some point & retube
the sucker, but I cannot see myself using the overdrive very
much. Tried it with both humbuckers & stratcoils.

First Peavey I've owned. We'll see. Definitely need the aftermarket
tube jockstrap.

Haven't tried them. I suspect they are good.

I have to bias everything in that I paid $400 clearance. I'm
building a 70s Marshall 2204. I figured I could use the
cabinet & put the 2204 in it for a 2x10 combo or use the cabinet for a
bass combo project. I have a 2x12 combo cab that I can put the DB/C30 chassis in. So I bought it with some projects in mind & also
to run in stereo with my tweed deluxe for a while. Unfortunately,
the PT is so small, it cannot be used on another project. Maybe a
class A, but I don't know.

I wouldn't pay more than $400 for it or buy it if it
was going to be my primary amp. I don't think peaveys
fetch a good resale price. The buyer would just
have to decide if this amp is right for them. I'm not
impressed with the sound, but I'm not underwhelmed either.
A 15" combo amp is kinda strange. I wonder how it would sound with
some other instruments like organ or harmonica. It sounds ok with
my basses & would be ok for low volume gigging. I don't like
the sound of my accoustic-electrics through it. The PA or tweed
deluxe is much, much better.

From the newsgroups, you might as well plan on buying some more
tubes, if you can believe what they are saying: improves sound
dramatically. That would take the amp to $500+ & I just have a
hard time paying that much for a PCB amp with op-amps! That's
starting to get into component cost range for pt2pt amp, without a
cabinet + speakers, of course (can you tell I'm cheap!)

Too bad we cannot buy the tube components for the cost they
were when everything was made that way! You could probably
build a tube chassis for $300!

Here's some picky cons:

-no stanby switch
-no fuse access
- dinky power xform
- vinyl tweed
- not much supergain sounds for 4 stage preamp
- not a true 2 channel
- opamps

I use a Strat and a Jackson which is loaded with SD's with it. I mainly play blues, funk, rock and heavy rock and this guy is perfect for those styles. Actually, you can play any style with it with the help of some distortion stompboxes. Throw a boss metal zone in front of it and there you go. It IS a vertasile amp but actually designed for blues style and believe me Peavey did manage to sequeeze some perfect blues sound in it. It has the clarity of a Fender and the chime of a Vox (must be related to the EL84's) like others have mentioned but the sound is unique in itself and characteristic. Not a Fender or a Vox clone. Yes it is not a 1500$ worth boutique amp but whoever says that it does not have a PRO sound is idiot. Completely touch responsive and what tube sound brings to ones mind is definetly in there (warmth, aliveness, breath, musicality... whatever tubes are related to). It is also able to deliver a great amount of punch (I am talking about a real great amount here) which is definetly mind blowing. Yes a 1500 bucks boutique amp would sound a bit better (I don't think that you would hear a huuuuuuuuuuuge difference) yet for 400 dollars, this amp kicks some major butt. Satisfaction is what describes my experiment with it. I really am satisfied with the tube mimic of this guy. You can gig with it easily because it can go real LOUD if you want it to. I can't imagine a drummer who would be able to play as loud to supress it. Btw, if you want some hi-gain sounds out of it forget about the distortion channel and throw in a distortion stompbox in front of it like I mentioned before. I cannot say that its own drive sucks totally but what you can achieve with a let's say a tube screamer or a metal zone for even higher gains, would be way better. However if you are into some really, really old school blues distortion (kind of ugly and muddy) the drive channel would do with the guitars tone knob turned way down. It responds to effects very good so try whatever stomp you have in front of it. And if you have an amp modeler like POD, V-Amp and etc just plug the modelers output to effects return of it and put an equalizer in between for cutting the midrange (500hz) 5 or 6 decibels. You will be in tone heaven. I don't recommend the actual input for this since the preamp would color the modeler. Use effects return as the input (effect send remains unplugged). The poweramp of it is extremly beatiful sounding. Totally responsive to the signal. The preamp is also very good sounding. Has definetly blues vibe in it. Some think that it could be a little brighter but you can make get to sound brighter than a Fender by inserting a graphic or parametric equalizer in the chain. You can use that in the effects send return and achieve even better results.

Well it has a rattle issue and mine did that. The speaker is too big and too close to the tubes and after a while tubes start rattling and you have to change them. I bought it used from a friend of mine and he said that the rattle had begun a few months ago (it was 2 years old). Normally you already have to change the tubes once a year so this is not a big deal. They last 2 years before the rattle begins. But it would be better if it did not have such an issue.

Never dealt with them so don't know.

I have been playing for more than 15 years and I am a professional guitarist who gigs and makes living out of playing. If it were stolen or lost I would definetly go and buy an other one for 400 bucks. There is no possiblity of finding anything better below 1000 dollars. I hate nothing about this amp. Just nothing. This is not my first tube amp. I have owned a couple of tube poweramps before for using with my POD and I know what tube sound is all about. Peavey Delta Blues is able to deliver it in any sense. Try one and you will understand what I mean. I have not even changed the stock sovteks (yet) on it and they are known as being one of the the worst tubes in the planet. :) The sound should improve by 20% if you throw a set of mullards or rca's in it and with that improvement I think I would want to take it into my bed while I sleep. :)

All the features are already covered in other reviews. But I will say this for those of you that have complained about the features.Just stop whinning and buy another amp with the money you saved on this powerhouse of tone.

I play a DeArmond set neck less paul style (M-75) It is korean made but an excellent player. And a Yamaha Drop 6 Pacifica. Both guitars have twin humbuckers if you are not familiar with the guitars. The tone with the DeArmond on the clean channel is awesome, very much a fender type tone. I call it an idealized fender tone because clean channel starts to break up nicely with the volume about 5. You can also cause the clean channel to break up early with the boost turned on. The overdrive channel with the DeArmond is great with neck pickup for blues riffs and soloing in any genre of music. Oh by the way the tone contols actually work. You can get so many sounds out of this amp it is amazing. But this amp really shines with the Yamaha in the overdrive channel. The amount of distortion this amp will generate will blow your mind. It is incredible. By the way I am not a blues guitar player. I play mainstream heavy stuff like Chevelle, Godsmack , S.T.P, Alice In Chains C.O.C. Etc. I play strait into the amp with no effects. This is the first time in my life I have not used effects to get the sound I was looking for. Every time I plug into this amp I like the sound more and more. I have dialed in about 7 different overdrive settings that I use. This amp is the end of a long search for me. I have owned probaly ten or more pro amps in my life and thsi is the end of my search. Again I want to recommend anyone wanting a professional amp. Without the professional price tag. Go to a Peavey dealer with your favorite guitar. Plug in-turn the pre to 9-the post to 5-bass to the max-mid at 1-treble at 9. Reverb and tremolo to taste. At this setting and a hot humbucker in the bridge the most diehard gain freak should get his fix. I am not kidding. If peavey would change the tolex to black instead of tweed and call it the Serial killer they would sell a million of them. The amp is as quiet as any tube amp I have heard. Oh I almost forgot this thing is loud. I mean LOUD. I can honetly say that this amp is as loud as any 100 watt sloid state amp I have heard. I am not kidding. This amp should cover most music styles out there.

I have only had the amp for a couple of weeks. But My brother owned the amp for 3 months before I did. And It have been trouble free a 100%. The guitarist that write reviews in this forum try to sound so professional. They always say I never gig without a backup. Blah Blah Blah. I have played most of the gigs in my life without a backup without worry. Take care of your gear and it will take care of you. I know things happen and tubes blow and all that stuff. I cant afford to have a backup amp. I have a full time job, two wonderful children a wife and bills. When I can afford another amp it will be another Delta Blues just like the one I have. I would run them in stereo for two massive 15's pushing air.

Peavey is known for the customer care the have always been good to me on every product I have ever owned of theirs. I do not think they would be any different with this amp.

I can not say enough good things about this amp. It is the best value I have ever seen in a tube amp. I have been playing for 15 years. I currently own this amp and a peavey practice amp. A few average guitars and a few effect pedals that are now collecting dust. I am an average guitar player that now has good tone thanks to this amp. My bandmates were blown away with the tone of this amp and it has fueled me to practice more than I ever have. I wanted to post this review for people that have a low budget and want a professional sound. To validate my opinion of this amp my brother owns a 2003 Mesa rectoverb combo. Which is the bechmark of high gain amps. The Delta blues does not have as much gain. But 100% of its overdrive is usable. And on the clean channel the Peavey wins hands down. There is nothing about the amp I can complain about. Tone is subjective. And for me this amp does it. If this amp were stolen I can not describe the lost I would endure for it was a christmas gift from my older brother. But I would do whatever I had to to own another.

the features on this amp are pure and simple. evrything you need nothing you dont. although i do wish it came with a footswitch when i bought it and i did wish it have another distorted channel.

i have an epiphone lp and sg and man to me it sounds awesome. in fact the sg was the guitar i tried it with and bought it to. what may sound weird is that i dont use this amp for blues i use it for punk and hardcore. bass at 12 mid at 3 trep at 12 oooh it sounds awesome. for some reason my clean breaks upat around 4 but its perfect when i want to adnenture into post-punk ala interpol and cure. the tubes are stock but it just adds to the grittyness to the sound.

had it a few times start to make weird buzzing noises but that was a while ago

this amp owns

30 Watt all tube amp: 12AX7 (3 - one is for the phase inverter) & EL 84 (4). Nice full,tones on clean channel & the distortion is real rich- execellent for blues & classic rock. Has headphone jack, effects loop, tremelo & EQ booster.

I use two guitars: 1)Gibson "The Paul" & 2) Fender American Strat w. EMG Active Electronic pickups. This amp real quit with the Gibson, a little bit noisy with the Strat(natual for single coils, especially with boosted pickups). The clean does not become distorted with high volumes. Distortion is a rich, somewhat smooth overdriven sound- real nice for blues & classic rock. The 15" speaker is nice for wide range of the sound spectrum. Much fuller than smaller speaker amps.

Very dependable. My only complaint is that the wire tube retainer on one of the EL84's rattles a little with high volume and/or bass.

Contacted Peavey Technician. Actually makes better tube retainers than the stock. Will get them soon.

I have been playing for about 15 years. Best sounding amp that I have owned to date. If it was lost or stolen I definetely would buy another. Before I bought it, I compared it to many makes in its class & price range- such as Traynor and Crate. They did not have most or any of the features this amp had, plus you can't beat the sound of the 15" speaker for blues in my opinion.

Most features are described elsewhere on this page. I wish there was a way to switch on/off the reverb with the footswitch. The Tremelo is nice, but when I turn it on it cuts the volume so much that I don't ever use it live, just when messing around. I use this amp live in clubs in Tucson, and it's got enough power, I've never even come close to going more than half on the clean channel. I play this with a Telecaster and need it to give me a good clean treble country ringing/twang for some songs. The rest of the time it gives me the pure tube distortion that I want for punk rock stuff. For the price, I am very happy with the features

This amp does everything I want. Sometimes playing it live it gives me a kick in the ass and really inspires. I love its sounds and love to crank it.

Very dependable. Been using it live for some time. I check the tubes after moving it it to make sure they are seated. One time one wasn't and it didn't work. I turned it off, waited for the tubes to cool, and reseated them all, waited (for good luck) and turned it back on. No problems.

I would seriously consider buying one again if it was stolen. I would also consider something else, since it's fun to get new stuff, but whatever I got would be held up and compared against this amp.

New 2003
30 Watts into 16 or 8 Ohms,All-tube (three 12AX7 and four EL84 tubes), 2-channel preamp, One 15 inch Blue Marvel? speaker
Tremolo with speed and intensity, Pre and post gain controls on lead channel, Normal volume control on clean channel, 3-band passive EQ (bass, middle, treble), Boost switch, Master reverb, Footswitch, selectable channel switching and tremolo, Effects loop
Classic tweed covering material,Chrome plated,External speaker jack and matching cover.

Amp has all the features I need, I mostly play at home and was looking for the warm tube sound. Money was not a object in this purchase but I couldn't find anything I liked for over twice as much.

Don't think it would match up with son's metal needs.

I play most jazz, blues, fusion, classic rock. Use a 62 resissue strat, a Gibson 335 reissue and sometimes my Les Paul 58 reissue. The clean channel is superior to everything tested in the shop, the 15 inch speaker was rich and full. The 210 had a little deeper base on the distortion, but this was more than adequate and that was not part of the criteria for me.

Not sure about the reliability as of yet, I get buy a tube guard based on a lot of what I have read. Les than $20 dollars on ebay, but the info I got from everyone I know is that the new Peveay's are very reliable. Too early to rate at this time.

I have contacted them a number of times with quesstion, got through and got good responses. There is also someone who works there who looks through the Yahoo Delta Blues Group and has responded, that is a nice bonus (never seen any other companies do that). So far so good but not any real miles on it yet.

I have been playing for about 6 years now, and have had a fender Champion 30 (dsp) and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. This was just right for me, money was not the ojbect, but as mentioned before the price to performance is very attractive, I tested every Fender in the shop (becasue I really like there sound)but this was just the right one at the right time for me. I would recommend people just check it out with the 15 inch speaker if you are looking for something with a outstanding clean channel.

See the other 8X entries below~!
It would be nice to have a standby switch along with a protected back for the exposed tubes.

The amp sounds good. Real good. It has a nice midrangy flavor to it that carries. I use this amp primarily with the Kent State Jazz Ensemble for gigs, rehearsals and practicing. The amp has a definitive sound that is produced in part by a nice big magnet in the back of the blue marvel 15" speaker. One complaint I have is that for jazz,
It does sound different from a fender combo (ie a hot rod deville-one of my other HEAVY amps) which is a nice change. I've found that Fenders clean sounds are a little blurred and don't even think about keeping it clean past 3 or 4 as they distort very easily. (Its just one channel that each stage bleeds into the distortion a little more) The peavey, although not as mellow, has a good clean sound which has punch and clairty than a fender of that sort will produce. I find that it can cover a wide variety of music styles when set up properly. The speaker is so big, it rattles all of those little tubes a good bit... still looking for a solution? anyone? anyone? Bueller?

Ok- I made a mistake. I left the thing out overnight in a van when it was real real cold in Ohio. The next day I plugged the thing in and it was all out of whack.> It crackled, it cut out and it was not good. I took it to the store I purchased it from in Pittsburgh and they set me up with new tubes and said the problem was microphonic (I killed the tubes). A day later, I'm getting ready for a gig and my gig bag gets stuck on one of the tubes and breaks it, bending the socket holder. *$&^$! So I bought 2 matched Groove Tubes to go with the sovteks. Bad move. On my gig, the amp distorted early on as when these tubes get cookin theyre very hot (more distortion). Anyway, my clean wasn't clear and when you don't sound good, you don't play as well. Case closed- I'm going to get 2 matched pairs. BE CAREFUL OF THE TUBES!

The fellas at the store covered my 1st tube change (the rattling)
I paid for the 2nd ones as mentioned above and the 3rd spare ones. In 2 years Ive gone through 10 tubes...but the store took care of the problems.

I've seen these tube guards on ebay but wonder if they would increase the rattling/decrease. Does anyone have one installed? Like I said, I'm a youngin but I've been playing for 12 years and I've owned a good bit of equipment. The peavey gets an 8- it would get a 9 or 10 if the tubes and rattling would cooporate with student life. I recommend the amp as well as a yamaga dg-80. If you don't leave your room, a fender deluxe might fit well, but don't expect Mr. Clean at your next show. Go with the Peavey.

It has great reverb, great tremolo effect, and two channels. What more could you possibly wish for? Well... I would wish for a Bypass switch and a separate equalizer for the two channels.

Really great. I have had minefor about six years. Used it on numerous gigs and on three CD's and on every occasion it sounds great. Gigs for 15 up to 700 people. I play a bluesy rock/pop style, so no metal sounds are required.
I use a Fender StratPlus from'95 and I sometimes blend my sound with some BOSS effects, mainly wah and phaser, for the heavier distortion sounds I use a BOSS distortion.

Although you would expect the tubes to break down, beecause they are not really well covered, I have had no problems at all with mine. In the seven years I have had it now (and I bought it second-hand, so I do not know how old it really is), the thinh never has seen a shop or repair man. And I am not really the most careful player, it has been taken by car, train,bus and even on the back of my bike. To and from dozens of gigs. It has been movedwith cold tubes, warm tubes.... never had any problem! Great!

Great thing, great price. Reliable, great tone, especially clean. I also made my brother enthousiastic, he uses mine at gigs, but he will buy one too.

Mid-nineties delta blues. 3 12AX7s, 4 EL84s. Two channels, etc, everyone else has covered the features. Mine is a 1X15. I practice at home and I have jammed with a few bands with it. It has plenty of power to practice with a loud band. Simple and cheap but reasonably effective clips to hold the tubes in place. Good reverb. It's not too heavey either.

My two main guitars are a Godin LG (P90s) and a DeArmond jetstar (goldtone humbuckers). I think the amp sounds fanastic. Straight forward valvey sound. It doesn't have clean headroom forever, it breaks up at around '5' on the clean channel (which is extremely loud already...louder than I was playing with the band). The second channel can be setup for any level of overdrive. I like the compromise in this amp...it sacrafices endless clean headroom for a good mix of both clean and dirty. It does nice, traditional tube clean and tube overdrive. I don't use a distortion pedal...I like the second channel on the amp for overdrive, but it does sound better the louder you can get it. It's fairly noisy with my Godin, but all amps are. The DeArmond is nice and quiet on it.

I've only had it for a few months, and i've only dragged it around to a few practices, but it's held up fine. As usual, you gotta be careful of the tubes, and getting that 'tubeguard' thing to protect tubes on the open back is a good idea if you move it around a lot. So far, it's been perfect.

I am no expert, and I haven't even played through most of the boutique amps, though I am reasonably familiar with the fender and marshall amps. I've been playing for about 15 years. I love the simplicity. I thought the peavey was a great alternative to a fender blues deluxe or hot rod amp, or one of the cheaper marshall combos. This peavey is great for the price, and it's perfect for me right now.

Purchased used 1999 model with 15" speaker. 15" model sounds better than the 2-10" and is great for everything from acoustic to blues to grunge. The 15" speaker delivers a surprisingly huge high end. Tremolo is ok at lower settings. Just say no to the boost switch.

Sounds awesome with all types of guitars - single coil strats, teles to humbuckers. Smooth distortion, great clean tones. Way loud for 30 watts.

Here is the secret to this amp. The older models (pre 2000) ran the tubes too hot. Retube the amp with Groove tubes rated between 5 and 7 and you will have great tone and long tube life. The Chinese Sovteks that originally come with the amp sound brittle. You can also get tube guards for the back of this amp on eBay.

Good support. Online manuals.

This amp is a steal on the used market. Pick up an old one, retube it and you have a bargin. Designed like the old fender Prosonic, Bandmaster, Broadcaster amps.