Peavey Delta Blues

First of all, note that I am going from a 25 watt solid state practice amp with an 8" speaker to a 30 watt tube amp with a 15" speaker ... more than a slight difference between the two.

I think this was made in 2003.

I play easy listening broken down country sort of stuff. I wail sometimes too ... but just for fun.

2 channels, very clean clean and dirty crunchy ... although this is definitely not a metal amp.

I don't think it lacks features ... I haven't found a headphone jack yet - which would be nice, and maybe better tube protection would be nice, that's about it.

I am not that crazy about the tremolo ... but I am not that crazy about tremolo. I guess I don't get it is all.

I use the amp at home, with the volume at about 2. It's got enough power to use in small gigs.

The amp has a footswitch that is kind of neat, if not unexpected.

I like the tweed look, for what it's worth, and it's not impossible to lug around at roughly 50 lbs.

I Groove Tube 12AX7s and Ruby Tube EL84s, and the stock Blue Marvel speaker. I understand that upgrades to tubes and the speaker can be made.

I usually play a Peavey T-60 or a Yamaha acoustic electric through this amp.

It is very suited to my style, and to my delight it makes quite a nice acoustic amp.

It's not a noisy amp. There is amp hum, just like any other amp - including solid state amps.

NOTE: COMPACT FLUORESCENT LIGHTS CAUSE A WHACK OF HUM - check it out for yourself.

The amp makes lovely clean tones, and sounds very crunchy when dirty.

You can dial in whatever you like with the Pre and Post on dirty. I have not had the opportunity to crank it enough on clean to get it to break up, as marriage is like a clean channel ... if the amp is loud enough to break up, the marriage will break up. When I do crank it a bit, something rattles a little at high volume ... maybe a wire tube holder?

The distortion is not brutal. It's "lovely" ... metal will not really work all that well here, but anything and everything up to that is a dream.

It's a Peavey.

I have dealt with Peavey on routine stuff like when a guitar was made, etc. and they are very attentive.

I have not needed repairs of any of the Peavey products I own or have owned.

I have been playing for three years. I have had two other Peavey products before - both 1980's guitars: T-15 (a sweet little 3/4 scale) and a Patriot (same as the T-15, but full size).

I have a 1982 Peavey T-60, a couple of acoustic electrics, a 25 watt solid state practice amp and a multi-effects pedal.

It is so nice to have upgraded my guitar to a T-60 and my amp to a Delta Blues. I think I would buy this amp again, as it has a wonderful tone and a very broad range of tones available as a result of the 15" speaker.

In a way, the only drawback is that it is a big amp that I really can't crank without really upsetting everybody ... it's loud.

I kinda wish it had a headphone jack ... but I have a practice amp which has a jack, so it's kind of a non-issue.

It's a NICE amp to look at and listen to.

I've been a die-hard Fender user for my entire playing career, and honestly, always thought of Peavey amps as, well, crap. Wrong! More on that later. I bought this on Ebay. Not sure what year it is. Features are fine for me. In fact, too many! I only use the clean channel, which is perfect for the style I play, which is mostly straight up rockabilly. Reverb is not spectacular, but usable live. Love the vibrato. I use this amp for gigs, and it has plenty of volume to handle every situation I've faced.

I was totally blown away by the sound of this amp! Like I said, I've been a die-hard Fender amp user for over 20 years. I've been reading great review after great review on the Delta Blues, so I decided to head to my local Peavey dealer and try one! Honestly, I couldn't believe I was playing a Peavey. My amps at the time were a Fender 4x10 bassman and a Fender Blues Junior. I absolutely fell in love with the sound of this amp, ordered one on ebay, fell more in love, and sold my bassman! Like I said, I only use the clean channel, and it's killer! It's got a smooth breakup above 5 or 6 that is perfect for blues and rockabilly. Too clean is not for me, I like a little bit of pure tube overdrive in my tone. I thought the 15" speaker might not be my cup of tea, but I absolutely love it! Huge bass, clear mids, and nice highs. This is a fantastic sounding amp. I can't comment on the overdrive on this amp as I don't ever use it. Clean channel absolutely smokes!

Haven't had it long enough to know.

Don't know

I still can't believe my main amp is a Peavey! Oh well, I guess I've jsut been misinformed all this time! I play in a fairly well known rockabilly trio, and this is now my #1 go to amp. This amp is loud enough for big gigs, but I can actually turn it down for small gigs and get a really nice tone. My bassman had to be cranked to get the tone I liked, and sound men hated me! My only complaint is that the reverb is a little bit "tinny" sounding, but it's okay for live work. it has all the features I need, and even a few I don't. As far as bang for the buck, I can't imagine how you can beat this amp. I've paid 4x as much money for amps that didn't sound half as good as this one! If this were lost or stolen I'd replace it as quickly as possible. This is a great amp if you're playing any type of American "roots" music.

Not many amps come with trem anymore, the trem is decent to good. Foot switchable to avoid filling my effect pedal board with any additional pedals.

I changed the tubes to JJ's and yes big tonal difference, I also changed the speaker to a Weber California (16ohm), massive tone difference, cuts better, lowers the low end and gives it a modified bassman tone. I prfer it this way and have had many local players look strangely at my DB and wonder what it is... Then they cringe because there 1500 dollar amp doest have as good of tone

Well, you know the saying about Peaveys "They sound like crap for a long time" Aside from the BS about sounding like crap, they last and I change the tubes, without affecting biased every 6 months as I play 2-3 shows per week with this amp.. NEVER FAILED ME!

Whats better than an English speaking customer service TECHNICIAN.
Peavey is USA MADE in MISSISSIPPI!

Not a racist or an ahole, but I do believe they do a great job.

I love this amp, sure there are very expensive amps that may have a particular better sound for the style you prefer, but for blues/country clean tones and running an effect board with 10+, this is my choice of an all around durable, good sounding road horse that performs as hard as I do every time we get on stage.

This is a follow up to an earlier post...changed the stock tubes for a set of matched JJ tubes and the difference is amazing. It has really brought this amp to life. It sounded great befor but the matching JJ tubes have just seetwend this amp up tremendously. This was a great American made amp but changing out the tubes to Matches JJ's has just bumped the sound quality up to a new notch. The best investment you can make on a great amp is even better tubes. I can't recomend the JJ's enough. The 15# blue Marvel now REALLY sings. Make the switch and you'll be amazed at the sound quality. I'll put this amp up against any American made amp and it can hold it's own with the best of them. A great amp deserves great tubes....you'll imediatley hear the difference...This baby is a soli 10 now!

Amazing with the JJ's!!!

American made and ver well made at that

One of the best amps you'll ever own..tons of headroom and swet clean sound that breaks up just when it should. This amp is a solid 10

Delta Blues 115, trem, o/d, reverb....excellent features! Bought it almost 10 years ago. Changed out tubes to JJ's, changed to a larger Accutronics 4 spring reverb tank.

Loves single coils, HB's, P-90's. I play zydeco/funk/jazz/country/classic rock. Suits me jest fine. Clean and clear, fairly detailed. Big tight bottom end and snarky mids, which I LOVE.

Never let me down. I've had it for going on 10 years.

If you haven't checked out the Delta Blues Yahoo Music Group, it's an EXCELLENT resource for all things Delta Blues related.

Great group of folks, and an employee of Peavey is an active member too. To me, that's good customer service. Cool, cool site. I'm not affiliated whatsoever with the company, by the way....just a huge fan of the product :)

Playing for 18 years, I own/have owned lots of gear. Last year, I mistakenly tried to sell this amp, but the sale fell through. Never again will I have such a lapse! I'm so glad it fell through, I would have been kicking myself right about now. Great amp, I would buy it again in a heartbeat. I gigged with a backline Deluxe Reverb Reissue a couple of weeks ago, the amp that I thought I would move to, if I ever sold my DB. In my opinion, the only thing the Deluxe does better is reverb. And I only use a touch of that anyway. I love the mid-heavy, growly, snarky tones I get outta my Peavey more than the glassiness of the Deluxe.

Enough for normal use.

I really like the sound of this amp! It is good for blues, funk, jazz and even metal. It is loud and clear. The tone is very clean. I use a extended eq, but the tone is well to control by the amp it self.
I don't like the drive of the amp. I miss a little more power. A external fuzz stompbox sounds great through the speaker. Good for any kind of guitarist

In the first month the amp fell down of a rack during a repetition. The sound was gone, but an amp mechanic made it work again. That was because i wasn't carefull enough. So far so good. The amp seems to be a strong beast.

..

Great amp for many music styles. It's weight isn't that much and you can take it with you easy. The tubes are ok. Never played such a good amp for the price it cost.

This amp was made in 2006, I believe. Peavey has started putting metal tube guards on the back now, which is nice. Two channels, straight forward, clean and dirty. The 15" speaker is a nice addition, and adds something to the tone. The reverb is nice enough for me, and sounds good. The trem isn't amazing, but I only turn it on lightly, to add the slightest wobble to my sound, so it's enough for me.

I have yet to take this amp out for performance, but I have no worries. We rehearse pretty loudly, and when I use it in rehearsal, I don't think I've ever turned it past 3. It's louuuud.

Finally, it's definitely an electric blues amp. I can get a variety of tones, and I love 'em all. You can get a nice hard rock tone in a pinch (think AC/DC), but you're not getting into super-metal territory. If you're interested in an amp called the Delta Blues though, you probably expect that.

The boost button is cool, but inconvenient. You can't really run over and push it on, and I don't think it can be turned on with the foot pedal.

All in all, nothing fancy, but not missing anything important.

I play two G&L Asats through this mainly. One with their fancy magnetic field pick-ups that come in the Special, and the other with two classic Tele pick-ups, and an added middle strat.

Essentially, I play blues, and blues-influenced rock. I love this amp for it. It gets a nice crunch when I need it, and it's clean is beautiful. On my 3-pick-up, put through the clean channel, with all the pick-ups on, it creates a tone that you can easily use to substitute an acoustic, and I actually prefer in tone to acoustic.

As far as the overdrive channel, I love it. If you want a metal sound, it's not going to happen, but if that's what you want, you shouldn't be looking at this amp anyway.

The boost adds a nice touch too, and creates an over-bearing sound. I like it, but you need to be careful, because it can easily become too much.

Finally, I can't say I know how the sound gets when you crank it. I uhh, don't want to ruin the foundation of my housing. It holds up with an acoustic drum kit (very loud drummer on top of that), at 3, and goes to 12 (that's one more then 11!).

All in all, I love the sound, and I actually have a hard time making the amp sound bad. But the sound is definitely niche.

The amp, unfortunately, broke down within the first week. Which was unfortunate. But I'm not entirely convinced it was Peavey's fault. I was stupid, and bought it in the middle of January, and took it home in -30 weather. It was fixed in about a week, and since then it hasn't had a single problem. So it definitely loses points, but it could be worse.

The Peavey tech who fixed it was really weird, but really nice. He got to it as quickly as he could, and went out of his way. It was all under warranty, and he was very nice. To top it off, it came out of the factory with non-factory tubes. Under technicality, as he told me, it wasn't under warranty, and he was supposed to ship it back to Peavey. But since it was Peavey who dropped the ball, he did the repair anyway, didn't charge a thing, and took my word that it wasn't I who put in the tubes (it really wasn't). So despite the crappy part of it breaking down, the costumer service was great.

I've been playing for around 5 years, and this my first serious amp I've owned, but not used. I don't gig a lot, but intend on it in the future, and this amp will go through a trial by fire. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't think twice about buying a new one. I love the tone, the features do what I want, and to top it all off, it looks cool. This amp, suits me perfectly, and it has a classic tone, with a nice vibe that sets it apart too. I don't understand all the technicalities, but for what I want, it does the job and then some.

A great amp, that does what it's supposed to. I don't have to worry about dialing in a perfect setting, because even if it's not perfect, I have faith that it will sound good. Personally, I like simple, and this amp doesn't have any unnecessary frills, and I'm happy with that.

Once again, definitely geared towards the blues player, but if that's what you're looking for, it's beautiful.

The only reasons I'm taking off points is the fiasco I had when I bought it.

features? the only special feature is the tremolo. this is quite a nice touch which has actually proved useful in one or two songs so far.

however, this amp isn't really about features. leave that to line 6... what you have here is a simple, great sounding amp. it has an amazing clean sound. I tried several amps in the shop, fender, hughes and kettner, marshall and other peaveys - and the delta blues was much warmer and more rounded than the others. it sounds somehow "real" and has a lot of depth.

the crunch channel is good, too; it gels well with my band sound (bass, drums, vocals and sequencers) and provides a kind of "edge". it doesn't do black sabbath or slipknot sounds, tho - it's more crunch than distortion. I use pedals for fuzz and more "rock" overdrive.

it's got an eq - one knob each for bass, mid and treble.

it also has a "boost" setting which I've never used, 'cos it's just too loud.

the reverb is OK, sounds like guitar amp reverb, doesn't sound like you're really playing in a church, which is fine by me. think of the reverb on chris isaak's wicked game and you're close.

it has an effects loop, a jack socket for an external speaker and you can give peavey another 30 EURs for a footswitch, which plugs into the back and allows you to switch channels and turn on/off the tremelo. this has proved to be a good investment, I just wish it came with the amp in the first place.

oh yeah, i use a cheap no name semi acoustic and an 80s hohner 12 string electric (goth guitar). I play guitar as a backing instrument for indie/electropop songs (www.litmus.de)

and! it's missing something! there should be a standby switch.

giving this 8 (sour grapes for the footswitch and the lack of standby!)

I'm getting my boxes mixed up...

see above. great clean sound. wonderful. warm and gutsy for solo singer songwriter stuff, twangy for clear for thinner "cut through the mud" sounds, depending on what you do with the eq.

no hiss, sometimes pops when I switch off, but I think that's got something to do with my pedal setup (7 different pedals) and battery levels... not a big problem.

it's REALLY loud. I play with a live drummer and a bassist who uses an enormous fender bassman thing - i totally pwn both of them, or at least i could if I cranked the amp up. I don't - i play on 2 at the most! I've never turned it up to 10 because I want to by able to hear birds singing and other pleasant sounds for the years to come. I actually have a small problem at gigs that the amp is too loud, even on 2; like I just want to hear the monitors and all I'm hearing is my guitar coming from 3 meters behind me... again, not a problem with the amp, we just need more practice! no, we're not a rock band.

top marks, here - the best clean sound. in this price category, at any rate...

only had it 6 months, been wonderful so far.

let's hope I never need to find out about this...

I've played other people's amps for years and figured it was finally time to get my own. I'd previously been impressed by a mesa in a rented practice room, a DIY custom job that looked like a sewing machine but sounded like a harrier jump jet (i.e. very loud and direct) and a borrowed vox ac30. mesa is too dirty and too expensive. the ac30 is also a bit pricey (with teh good speakers), the one I knew was unreliable and sounded tinny on occasions. the delta blues is about half teh price of the ac30 and to my ears at least sounded just as good if not better. I lose indie cred for choosing the peavey but i certainly saved a bunch of money! ha!

I wish it had a standby switch, otherwise I'm very very happy with it.
great, great sound, looks pretty good (no intrusive cheesy peavey logo!) and very easy to dial in.

Is pretty well designed, but I would like the speakers to be disconectable and two inputs.

The clean channel is good (which is why I got it) and it stays clean and focused when turned up, the distortion is nothing special, but you have to spend an arm and a leg to usually get an amp with good distortion so I use distortion pedals, and the reverb is nice.

Only had it for less then two weeks, but the person I bought it from added a piece of wood over the back to protect the tubes so that probably helps.

Never needed it

It is a pretty good amp and its previous owner (my guitar teacher) says that it's loud enough for indoor gigging. I also got a geat deal beacuse he modified it for tube protection (see reliability) and stole an idea from his old black face Fender Super Reverb and silver face Fender Twin Reverb and installed electrical outlets in it.

Nice reverb, but gonna use something else for that.
Tremelo is nice, but not the best, gonne use something else for that also. I need to switch.

Well....this part is most important for me. The sound is incredible, accept for het driven channel. It??s perfect for blues ofcourse but for some heavier stuff you need an external pedal. A RAT will do just fine to make it dirty! The all tube sound is ok, but i??m considering replacing the tubes this summer. Also the speaker will be replaced after summer. A little mod, but i??m sure it will turn this amp into a beast. 30watts is enough for gigs. Even for arena gigs it will be fine. These day don??t require a 100 watt tube. PA will do fine.
The soundings are great...just love this amp. The drive sure is little choppy, but for bluesy/funk stuff it??s good.

Build as a rock.

Never had to call them.

I give this amp a 9 because if we put it against the price this is a hell of an amp.

Had this amp over 5 years. Playing in a UK covers band I need everything from clean to Santanaesque sustain and this amp gives me all that. Never had a problem with the tremolo which seems fine. Yes it would be good to have the reverb switched but this amp only cost me ??350 - what do people want for this sort of money? This is a LOT of amp! Agree about lack of tube protection so I made a wood baffle and PEAVEY UK gave me some tweed cloth. Doesn't have DI facility but for about ??25 Peavey do a little DI box which is easily installed and velcroed inside the amp cab. This has a female XLR socket to allow connection to the PA.
I believe that this amp is unique in being the only guitar amp available with a 15" speaker. It deserves a high rating on that alone.

I often get comments about my gig sound, usually from musicians in the audience. One told me he was going to get rid of his Fender valve amp and get a PDB after hearing mine. The 15" speaker is smooth and creamy when cranked, but sparkles when clean. I considered a re-valve and a helpful UK valve dealer recommended replacing only the first pre-amp valve with a GROOVE TUBES and what great advice this proved to be! It gave me sweet sustain and saved me loads of money. All other valves are as fitted by Peavey.
Guitars used: Vintage 335, ES135 with Fralin P-90s, Jap Reissue Tele with Lollar Imperial Humbucker and Tele Special bridge pickup. The amp sounds great with all guitars particularly the Lollar equipped Tele which I gained in a swap with my Fralin-equipped Strat. The amp did not like the Strat when using O/D channel and gave me muddy sounds.
One criticism: I wish they'd made this a 50 watt amp as I'd like a tad more headroom when playing clean but it was only a problem on bigger gigs and we've solved it by sending the backline amps thru the PA.
True this isn't a shredder's tool but for the couple of songs that I need that sound I just use a Boss Mega-Distortion.

So far so good, never take a backup.

A resounding 11 out of 10 here. Peavey UK are absolute gentlemen!
Before buying the amp, my dealer arranged for me to try the 1x15 and 2x10 versions at Peavey which is fortunately a fifteen minute drive away. I was treated royally and found both amps all ready for me to try in a demo room.
I have the amp serviced every now and then and receive the same professional but friendly service. The only problem I've ever encountered was when I re-valved it myself and one of the tubes that I'd bought was faulty. The engineer went through several stock tubes and tested them while I watched. He went through several before being satisfied. Not only was I not charged, Peavey gave me a footswitch for the amp free of charge. When I said that I'd bought valves myself and was of course prepared to pay , the response was, "You've had a problem with one of our amps and we want you to be happy." For this reason we use a lot of Peavey in our band.
A great contrast to the treatment I got from the Gibson Custom Shop who didn't want to know about the wrong value tone pot they'd put in a ??1500 guitar!

Have played for 35-plus years pro and semi-pro and used Marshall, Ampeg, Fender but the Delta Blues is the most user-friendly of them all. Taking into account sound, reliabilty, on-stage usability, weight, looks, price and manufacturer support I'd use no other amp. If I was picky I'd welcome a tad more middle like the Ampeg had but a Boss Graphic sorts that. There isn't an unkind sound in this beauty; I can't imagine a greater value-for-money product anywhere on the planet.

I am novelist want-a-be guitar player, looking for that special sound of my own. I can???t sing, so I got to make it up somehow. I was shopping for a vintage sounding tube amp. I looked at the Mesa Boogie, Lonestar Special; the Fender Blues Deluxe and the Peavey Delta Blues (PDB). I was even considering purchasing a truly used vintage amp with point to point wiring with the Rivera design. I preferred the Mesa Boogie, because of the feature (more so for my wife) of being able to switch from a 5, 15 or 30 watt amp. But not at 3x???s the cost. The Boogie comes with 1x12 Speaker 4xEL84, 5x12AX7, 1x5Y3 tubes. The Fender Blues Deluxe boasts 40 watt output and 2x6L6 output and 3x12AX7 tubes with a 1x12 speaker. The PDB is 30 watt, 1x15 Speaker with 4xEL84, 3x12AX7 tubes. The Boogie is made here in the USA and the PDB is made in Mississippi, home of the Delta Blues. Fender???s amp is made in Mexico. I was able to try this amp out and purchase it at my local music shop (Wray???s) for less than what the Big Online Music Price Buster Specialist were selling it for. I don???t thing you will find anything comparable to this amp for the same price tag (just under $600.00). If you want power and the Heavy Metal sound, then go with on of those 200 watt transistor amps with a 4X12 cabinet.

I think the key to a good sounding tube amp is to crank it up to full throttle and make those tubes sing. I understand ZZ Top made a lot of their recordings with a 5 watt tube amp cranked to the max. Going from ???Clean??? to ???Dirty??? is the sound everyone wants to hear. This amp does do a good job of that, although some do say the clean is better than the dirty. The 15 inch speaker does give you some advantage in the bottom end.

This thing is built like a tank and seems like it would last a life time or maybe even longer. I don???t play gigs yet so I wouldn???t know. I haven???t really had it long enough to find out. Thus, to be totally fair, I would have to stay neutral and give it a rating of ???No Opinion???.

I tried Peavey???s website which was user friendly and called the Customer Service toll-free number and the people there were also friendly. The wait to talk to someone was not too long and you don???t get someone from a third-world country. That???s very important. Also, there is advantage to purchasing from your local Dealer for this very reason. I was concerned that the 3x12AX7 tubes did not glow in the dark like the 4xEL84???s. I was told by both the Dealer and Peavey, not to worry because the 12Ax7 tubes are for the preamp and therefore they don???t use as much juice and do not light up like the El84's which are the output, but they are still working. Please send me some of your feedback on this.

I own a used Hamer guitar with Seymour Duncan ???Humbucker??? pickups. I am anxious to hear the sound of the single-coil pickups that come with a Strat, but don???t have one. Also have a Genz Benz Acoustic Amp for the Takamine. I understand this amp can also be used as an acoustic amp, but I don???t know since I am afraid to try it out. If it does, I wasted my money buying another amp that I didn???t really need. Overall, I am completely absolutely satisfied with this amp. I can???t really compare it to anything else, other than my Fender G-DEC 15 watt practice amp which blows this one away. Just kidding!!! Some of the things I did not like are that it only comes with one input and I had to fork over another $29.99 for a footswitch, because it does not come with one. In closing, the only way you will find out if this amp is for you is to go try one out at your local Dealer.

you all know the features so this is about the db 15inch. got it new two months ago from a dealer. traded a fender cyberchamp and a fender bassman 25 bass amp and 200.00 cash. the cyber champ sounded good in the fender sounds but I could never get all the effects to stay off no matter it always reset the reverb and chrous and I could hear the delay leaking through so I had enough of the cyber junk and wanted a tube amp. liked the classic thirty and decided to get the delta blues.

this is a well made, good sounding amp but the reverb is not tube driven and that sucks hot air. the trem is usable to a degree. did not like the blue marvel speaker so I had bought a Eminence cannabis rex for another amp and it sounded great for that amp so I made a ring to reduce the baffle to 12"{you can get one on ebay from rick@rawwoods.com}reduces the 15 to 12. I have one coming from him because mine is a bit cheezy looking. anyway put the CREX in the delta blues and man what a sound. it really brings the delta blues to life.
much better sounds everywhere then the blue marvel and just as loud.works well overdriven and clean but excells at overdrive, very tweed deluxe sound. had been using a ts9 for overdrive on it. I have a red fang coming for it and may go that route so I can get more of a vox sound as this is a bit more american tweed sounding. vox is just around the corner on this with the right speaker.I used a les paul Tokai and a fender strat w/ texas specials for the test. the les paul sounds were very good in all settings although this c-rex speaker darkened my other amp so much as to make the paul almost unusable but worked well with a tele and strat to the point that for the first time in my playing of 25 years I saw no need for reverb. the C-rex is head and shoulders about any speaker I have ever owned and that includes a weber bluedog and a few celestions and a lot of eminence speakers that came in new amps. I believe it to be one of the very best speakers availible at any price.
but it may darken somes amps as it did my peavey classic to the point that a les paul might be to dark so take note.

this amp needs a tube guard. can't believe peavey is still cranking them out without one. the retainers work well but they are for retaining and won't stop the tubes from taking a hit.I will either make or buy one in the near future beacuse a power tube halfway in or knocked out and not known about could cause a meltdown of vital parts in the amp. shame on peavey for letting this go for so long.because of that this rating will be very low.

peavey is everywhere and have much better service then fender.

been playing a long time 25 years{sounds like two}. as for gear had a lot of the older and new stuff. this amp rocks NOW. but be prepared to put some extra money in it down the road and the 15" speaker is hard to replace as there are few choices out there at this time. also its a 16ohm and that makes it harder.peavey told me if I use just an 8ohm speaker to unplug the cab speaker and plug in the 8ohm through the extension speaker jack. I wonder if everyone who changes out the 16ohm 15" blue marvel is doing this and what are the ramifications if you hook an 8ohm to the speaker cab wires? peavey got very vague about these questions when I asked and I believe it was intentional as I asked several times trying to understand what I was being told.why can't people be honest anymore.if some of you amp experts read this please email me and give me the answer that peavey would not. my question is this. why can I not hook up an 8ohm speaker to the speaker wires coming out from the chassis? my addres is trooth123@netscape.net

Mine is an early model. This is a fairly basic amp. Very easy to dial in good tone. The effects loop is a nice touch. Tremelo not the best, but it's functional. The amp weighs very little and is a great amp for gigging. I have read criticisms of the overdrive channel, but I think that's just because they aren't using it correctly. I find it to be very sweet. This is not an amp for metal players. Rock, Blues and even jazz players will dig it.

I've had this amp for quite a while. It sat unused, because I was never happy with the sounds I could get out of it. It sounded harsh and brittle, with very little character, but VERY LOUD. I was going to sell it, when I decided to try some new tubes. I put in Euro Tubes EL84s. WOW what a difference! It's amazing. I think the originals are Sovteks. I replaced the 12ax7s, also, but I went back to the original sovtek 12 ax7s. The combination of the Euro Tubes and Sovteks is very cool. The Normal channel starts to break up nicely at about 5/6. The 15" speaker delivers a nice low end chunk. I play a Carvin California Archtop, and the tones I get from this amp are really impressive. Everything from very Vox like chime to Fender clean. The overdrive channel can produce sweet, singing tones, with a very usable overdrive/distortion. I have several tube amps... old Fenders and a Rivera. This amp can hold its own against them all, and it sells for $500 new. I find myself going to the Peavey all the time, now. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with this amp, after a few alterations.

As it comes out of the box, this wouldn't be the most reliable amp. Besides replacing the tubes, I purchased the Tube Tamer to eliminate tube rattle and a screen to protect the tubes.
After those changes, I have found it to be very reliable.

I haven't had to have any dealings with customer service. I'm sure they're very nice people.

I love it. It needs the alterations to make it come to life, but they cost very little, maybe an additional $100 altogether. That brings the price for a new amp up to about $600. You won't find an amp that delivers the tones you can get from the Delta Blues for twice that much. This is the best value, I've found, out there. Plus, you can pick one up used for $300 or less.

Bought it quite new in a mint condition
15" Speaker
Two channels
Boost mode
Reverb
Tremolo

I'm using Fender Deluxe Strat, Fret King Teles and a Les Paul made by Kortmann. Goal: 70/80ties rock and blues sounds. This amp is perfect for that sounds - Still Got The Blues is such a joy with it and it simply sounds perfect. Very dynamic reaction on your guitar volume and it sings and sings with a nice, warm and creamy voice. I love it. It is a bit noisy in the drive channel but that's the way it is with high gain settings. It's definately not too noisy. It can be very, very loud and practicing with the band without the PA is no problem at all. At the beginning it used to sound a bit harsh and fuzzy cause it simply needs to be pushed a few hours to burn in the tubes and slacken the speaker. Do it alone and without the band. After that period it is just a blues and rock heaven. It is very pedal friendly allthough I only use a H&K Tube Factor or Reussenzehn Daniel D. and that not very often. The TF-drive (mode 2) is not that good as the amp's. The clean channel is warm, sparkling and mellow at the same time and it reacts very dynamically - the more you feed it, the more you get. Solely with your attack (and good pickups) you can gain the crunch. I also love the 15" speaker since it has a wonderfull bottom. You got that really nice punch going directly to your guts. Suddenly you hear the differences between guitars and pickups and then you begin to understand, what is it all about pickup distance from the strings and staggered magnet poles, bypass capacitors etc. - things I'm simply with all the modellers. It is simply perfect for warm and punchy Texas blues clean and crunch sounds. Sure, there are better amps outthere but for the money you can't do anything wrong with this amp. You can always sell it for almost the same amount - there must be a good reason for that.

Built as a rock - no problems so far.

Never needed it so far.

One of the best Amps you can buy for that money.

My amp was made in 2002? I bought it off of ebay..just looking for an affordable tube amp. It has two channels..clean..overdrive. Clean is okay, od sucks. Hmm..it also has tremelo but that sucks too..nice tweed covering..15 inch Blue Marvel speaker. Spring Reverb. I play classic rock and blues...just what it was made for...but there's no way this thing will work for any live show like what I play..maybe for a bar or coffee house. nice practice amp.

This amp gets noisy when the controls are turned past 5..the amp goes to 12 so that's a problem. The tremelo cuts the volume of the amp in half when engaged...so forget using it. I also hate the fact that you cannot turn the reverb off at all. The clean is ok but the overdrive is squawky and weak...no guts at all. Not good for much other than blues...if you have a Les Paul maybe it will be okay..but i use strats..which i love and will use forever...go Fender!!

Hmm...seems to be built well enough. i got in in pretty rough condition and then nursed it back to health..but now it stays in the closet.....

Yeah right.......

I just can't say that this amp is good for much. I've been playing for ten years and I have spent plenty of time with professional musicians learning about what makes good gear good..this amp isn't it. I had a Fender Ultimate Chorus. I would get another one but in light of the coolness of the new Stage 1600 DSP i'll be getting that instead. can't get much use out of the Delta Blues.

Others have described this fairly well. I have the 15" model. It did not come with a cover or switch. Its feature set is pretty basic which is why I've given it 8/10.

If you are considering this amp the comments about tone stated on this board are correct. The clean channel is warm and rich -- good tube amplification. The lead channel is perfect for blues / rock. It can go anywhere from Neil Young to George Thorogood. It will not do Van Halen. However, that kind of super-driven sound is pretty easy to get from a transistor. The Thorogood sound needs to come from a real tube. "Who do you love" sounds amazing on this amp.

My primary guitars are a Peavey hollowbody (H/H) and a Strat (S/S/S). I own various pedals (voodoo overdrive (which is nice, by the way), Q Wah), and a modeler pre-amp. I don't use any of these with this amp (although I could see using the modeler to get that infinite sustain metal sound). The amp sounds great with both guitars and I continue to find worthy new tones from the combination of guitars and settings.

On this website some people have complained about the volume. Not sure what the fuss is about, past 7 or so this amp will rattle your house apart. If you are having volume troubles, check your tubes. Tubes are not transistors and with a broken tube you can sometimes still get sound, just much softer (and this goes for both pre-amp and power sections).

The amp arrived with a busted pre-amp tube in the lead channel (the box was clearly abused a little in shipment). For $20 I wasn't going to bother Peavey. I replaced it with a mullard clone. So keep in mind that I've never really heard this amp in its stock configuration and my love for its lead channel tone might be based upon the mullard tube switch.

Peavey dealers are few and far between. I will say, when you find one, they tend to be totally in love with Peavey. There are many people who sell Peavey equipment, but most are just places that will order it for you. The dealer in San Diego is great (dealt with him on the guitar, not the amp).

I've been playing this amp a few weeks now and I would not part with this amp for anything. If stolen, I'd find the thief and, put his head right up next to the speaker, crank it all the way up and ensure that he never found joy in music again. I would buy another; can't say that about most of the equipment I own.

My amplifier was made in mid 2005 in America.this amp has 2 channels, 1 clean, one dirty. 3 band eq, one for both, not one for each channel, a mid range boost, reverb, tremolo with speed and intensity. there is an FX loop, a jack for an external speaker cabinet, and an optional footswitch. this amp is fairly versitile, not meant for ever style, but can cover most of your rock and blues genres pretty well. It's all tube (3 12AX7's and 4 EL84's) with channel and mid range boost switching with the optional footswitch. It would be nice to have 2 independent eq's, one for each channel, but it's not too necessary, also, a standby switch would have been nice too, but it doesnt make too big of a difference. This thing kicks out volume like you wouldnt believe, you might want to invest in some quality earplugs. So far, I only use it at home, but it could easily handle medium sized club gigs. The tremolo isnt the most used feature, but it is nice to have once in a while. I would have really liked peavey to have made all the features switchable, but the world isn't perfect and nothing in it is. One of my favorite feratures...all the knobs go to 12.

I am currently using both a Peavey Raptor Plus Exp(S/S/H) all standard and a squire acoustic with a duncan maverick soundhole pickup. it sounds stunning with both these guitars, and let me tell you, they are far from top of the line guitars. I play anything from acoustic, to classic rock, to prog rock, to whatever i feel like playing, and it is simply an amazing sounding amplifier for all of them. The clean channel is sparkling with amazing tube tone and volume. If you are ever able to crank it to about nine with a humbucker, you can get a pretty sweet sound much like what you'll get out of a Vox AC30. It is a bit noisy if you really like having your reverb up to 12, but besides that, it's very quiet. The clean channel stays clean when you want it to, but at high volume, you can get 'er to sing with beautiful naturally overdriven tone. The dirty channel is alright, but it I don't spend too much time using it. With the pre set to around 4 or 5, you can get a decent AC/DC tone if you're into that. This is definately not a high gain amp, if you throw a pedal in front of it, it would sound just fine, but it's not meant for metal or heavy rock. It does not sound at all boxy like some reviews say, it suppose each ear hears it a little differently.

So far I have had no problems with this amplifier. I'd never go gig with it without some extra tubes just in case, but taking a back up amplifier is just crazy. This amp has not broken down and if it ever does, I know I can trust Peavey to fix it.

The people at Peavey are very friendly folk, they'll talk to you to make sure an issue is resolved. While I was waiting for my amp to arrive in my local music store, peavey support was very courteous. If you ever have questions about the Delta Blues, go to Yahoo.com, there is a Delta Blues group and a Peavey representative, Mike Brown, stops frequently to offer as much help as he can. I am going to give this a seven because it took over two months for the amp to make it to the store so i could pick it up.

I've been playing for about two years now, and i own a Peavey Raptor Plus Exp, a squire acoustic with pop-in pickup, hardshell cases for both of them. i have a few pedals, a practice amp, and a few gig bags lying around. If it were lost or stolen, I would most definately cry. After I was done, I would go get another, perhaps try out the 210 model. I love the tone especially on clean, but i dont like the lack of footswitchable features. I compared this with a Fender Hot Rod Deville(the 40 watt one) and i just loved the clean on this one more than the Deville. I also looked at a blues junior, and decided on this one because of the volume and again, the clean channel. I wish it had a standby switch, but thats alright. I would also like to note that it came with a cover straight from Peavey which rocks. Nothing's perfect, but for the price, this one's a winner. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

See above reviews for the details...I think mine is a 2004 or 5 .It HAS a very solid tube cage......EXCEPT...I hated the overdrive channel sound until somebody at PV.com told me to replace the V2 Pre-amp tube with an ECC 832 from eurotubes.com....Lower gain...BETTER SOUND...10 bucks...I'm THRILLED...Now I like both channels and it's plenty loud.But I only use it in my home studio....But I was a pro gigger for YEARS,and I know from LOUD...I NEVER turn the master above 4 or so.....

I use a Couple of G&L's (ASAT Custom Semi hollow GunOil Birdseye neck and a Legacy) and an 83 Greco Les Paul Custom (that i would DIE if I ever lost)With the 10$ preamp tube mod the DB sounds punchier.Quiter(backround noise wise).Is LOUDER...And the OD channel sounds GREAT now...

Had it for a year...Starts every morning.Even when cold.

The place i got it at gave me a cover and a pedal,and said "if any thing goes wrong,just bring it back.Dont sweat the warrenty"

I've been playing for 30 years.If i lost this amp I'd get another one in 2 seconds and then Call Bob at Eurotubes to get the 832 mod.I don't hate anything about it....It even still smells good when it gets hot.It also sounds great driving my Tone Tubbys.I talked my older brother into getting one too.He's STILL thanking me.Thats about IT......

two channel reverb trem, good eq,, pretty loud. Plenty of features.

Dont like the distortion channel, but dont use it anyway, Clean channel is nice. Deep bass response is pretty flabby if you play hard. Overall tone is decent, and affordable. Very reduced volume using tremolo, and not that great. Reverb is ok, nothing special. Thats the sound in a nutshell--OK.

Dont know, traded it in.

It is a nice amp, and at its price is a good bargain. I have played Fenders for a long time, and couldnt get used to it, so I traded it in and got a used Deluxe rev. It sounds decent until you play it in comparison to a Fender, which I prefer.

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.

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.