Peavey Heritage VTX

My model was made in 1984. The styles of music I play are country, blues, jazz, rock, and metal. It can't do metal, but it can do everything else perfectly. 2 channels, lead and rhythm. Both channels are blended, but are footswitchable on and off. Be warned, it isn't distortion and clean. It's exactly as it's labeled. Both channels can be played clean. For clean chords and picking I like the rhythm channel, but for jazz I like the lead clean. Both channels can get pretty dirty, but sound best with the bright switch pulled. It comes with a built in phaser, I really like this feature because you can pull out the knob and have it 'parked', similar to the effect of having a wah on but not adjusting it. It really thickens up your tone. It has plenty of power for whatever you want to do. Last jam session, my drummer was blown backwards with the volume at 3, I turned it up to 4 just for fun and for my own safety will never bring it up past that!

The guitar I'm using is an Epiphone Dot, with dual humbuckers. I mentioned my music styles above, and it suites everything but metal. When I strike out a full size D5 (x0023x) with the volume cranked it's a beautiful sound. It's true colors truely are shown with the volume up.

It's an '80s Peavey MIA amp. These things mean one word: indestructible. You might have heard people saying that their amps are so tough that they could drop them from their roofs and they would still work fine. You can say that not only would this Peavey still function, it would leave a crater. Yes, it is very heavy. But totally worth it.

I won't rate this category because I haven't had to deal with Peavey at all, but I know that they are legendary for their customer support and they still have diagrams and manuals available.

I've been playing for about a year and a half. This amp was an upgrade from a 30 watt Line 6. I can't find any fault in this amp, it's great. I would definitely try and replace it if it were lost or stolen. If there's anything else I could add to it, it would be a heavier distortion capability, but it's so versatile already, I can't ask for too much more.

The peavey Heritage VTX series has is 2x12" and has two channels, Clean/Distortion, Reverb, a built in Phaser that provides a cool rotary sound and a PARAMID shift Equalizer that lets you get sounds like a Bassman Amp when set to 150 to 200 or a Marshall head when set to 1.5k. They work great as long as the pots are all clean and you keep some new Ruby tubes in it.

Its a pretty clean sounding amp with lots of volume and headroom. Great Reverb, The Distortion takes some work to get a smooth sound but add a tubescreamer and wah then hang on! I use it for clean Country Leads, Jazz and Blues.

Built like a tank in the U.S.A. Not a crappy China made amp.

Peavey has great website , was still able to get a free schematic and manual from their website.

Only thing I miss is effects loop, other then that its a pretty kool amp. If some stole it, would try to find another.

Made in the mid 1980's. Very versatile amp,6L6GC Tube power section and SS Pre amp (which I don't bother with) I can get anything from country twang natively, to headcrushing Metal with a good stompbox. I only use the clean channel cos I have enough stompboxes to cover the gamut of everything other than clean. For that I leave it up to this sweet sounding amp by itself. I use this amp in my band and it is loud enough for even the biggest gigs at 130 Watts! We do Rock and Metal covers from the 60's to current stuff.

Like I said before I can coax anything out of this amp and I would take it over a Marshall or Mesa hands down! Yeah that's what I said, and I paid about 1/8th of what I'd pay for a Marshall and 1/10th of what I'd pay for a Mesa. This thing is not noisy at all unless I totally crank it but that's to be expected with any older TUBE Amp.

Well it still has the original tubes in it and it's a Peavey! Nuff said there. Peaveys (especially older ones) are indestructible. I can depend on this amp no matter what.

Well if you have ever dealt with Peavey then you know they are second to none in support.

I've been playing for 20 years or so and I own quite a bit of gear and guitars and this baby is my sweetheart.

Two channel hybrid amp, with phase and reverb. As with the old Fenders, has extension speaker jack, and male phono plug to use the Scorpion speakers seperately if desired.
This amp truely has enough power for indoor or outdoor gigs. I run it through two Marshall 4 12's and it cooks (without the Scorpions running).
Sounds good enough that I use it rather than my repaired Marshall head.

the amp has a good sound. The clean channel has a nice full bottom end, and sparkling highs. By dialing in the phase knob at different intervals, many different sounds can be achieved.
I use Fender Stratocasters and a Les Paul Classic. My Clapton Strat
with active pickups and a mid boost really sounds good through this amp. Overdriving this amp produces a decent distortion, much better than the old solid state Peavey Musicians and such, but a high quality distortion pedal through the clean channel better suits my tastes.

I bought this amp for $200.00 bucks from my bass player, about 2 years ago, when my Marshall head died. He had purchased it used about ten years before to use on the couch with his Fender Mustang.
He nor I have had any problems with it.
I did however remove the tubes and clean them with glass cleaner
and improved the sound.

No experience with manufacturer.

I have been playing since I was eight (42 years). I would definitely buy another one, in fact am casually looking for one as a backup.
I prefer my Line 6 Spider 212 for recording, because the Peavey is a little more noisy, and of course does not have a direct out, but it is a fine amplifier. Weighs 90lbs though. When I get around to it, I'm going to remove the Scorpions because I don't use them anyway, and it should be easier to carry!!!

I believe mine was made in 1984. I use the "clean' side only and love it. For indoor and outdoor gigs it is just fine. I am not an effects man and use very few. What effects I use are via a basic Korg processor which has worked fine for years. If anything it almost has too many features!!

I use a Tele playing country, 50's & 60's. The processor handles any needed distortion. I get what I want.

I have owned this since 1992 and have been a regular weekend warrier since 1988. It finally failed me in December 2006. Tech man checked it out and changed the tubes and it is now fine. Considering the years of hard service it has rendered me for $350 used purchase price Peavey made an excellent product. It's the best musical accessory investment this old warrier has made.

It is nice to know that if these babies need service,they can get it.
I've never had to contact Peavey.

I've been playing since 1967. I would by a simpler, lighter unit if I had to replace mine.

Great features Phase and Reverb are great. original foot switch works great.

The Distortion kinda sucks but i use my boss metal zone. the speakers are origional scorpion 12'' and dont sound too good with the bass turned up. Very muddy. the clean is great. i use the bright pull switch on the pre alot. Its ear piercing, i dont turn it up past 4. im too scared!

Extremely reliable, i only had a problem with the foot switch input. one of the prongs bent but a pair of plyers fixed that.

Havent needed any

Great powerful amp!

I bought this amp in 1987 and have used it for some studio work and live work with country bands. It has a two channel with the ability to switch between or play both at once. The parametric EQ is great and helps to tune your sound to a particular room. The spring reverb is more than acceptable and the phase shifting is fairly high quality.

For a straight - clean sound, I could find nothing at the time that could beat it. I played a Strat through it going into a Boss rack setup that included Compression, Distortion, Chorus, and Reverb. It has tremendous presence at all volume levels and it does go LOUD. I have no doubt that hooked to a Marshall stack, that this thing could perform in almost any venue. My understanding that Neal Schon of Journey used one for awhile.

After hundreds of gigs, I never had a single problem.

I don't know, I never required any support.

I played a 1961 Fender Bassman for several years prior to buying the Heritage. The Bassman had a great sound, turn it to 10 and you were there, but it was one dimensional - you could never alter the sound - or fit the sound to different rooms. It did not have enough power for larger rooms or outdoor events. The Peavey Heritage was versatile and powerful. A great amp if you can find a used one in good shape.

This amplifier is really cool. Tube power stage, Solid state preamp. mine still has the original, american peavey tubes in great condition.
it is not a modelling amp, and in my opinion the best effects come from pedals anyway, but it has a cool phaser on it.
Like most peaveys in my opinion, the distortion is really bad. But the clean channel is AWSOME and i play through pedals anyway. I play mostly classic rock and it is great.
The reverb is insane. it is a spring reverb, and it is so powerful it is not even funny. It does not sound chunky and un-natural like a lot of verb units. it's pretty smooth up until about 7 (at which point it the reverb is so loud it sounds like it's being played a million miles away) and after that it gets a little wierd. but again, you would have no reason on earth to use more reverb than that unless you were just curious. The loud reverb goes great with the phaser too. PLENTY OF POWER. it is loud already, but you could easily use it to power a larger cabinet if you wanted to and get it even louder for some gigs.
the mid-range adjustment is a little wierd though, so i will give this a 7.

This amp weighs about 1,000,000 LBS though.

I play with a Schecter C1+ as my primary, and for distortion i use a Tone Bone Hot British pedal. As stated above, i mainly play classic rock, and this amp is great for it IF YOU USE PEDALS. The on-board distortion on this amp sounds dull, muddy, cheap and tiny, as is classic of peavey amplifiers. If you play dirty and dont use distortion pedals, THIS IS NOT THE AMP FOR YOU. However, this amp works VERY well with pedals. It sounds HUGE. Between the dark, meaty, grumbly tone of this amp and the hot british pedal, it sounds like it came straight out of deep purple's live albums. The one problem with the sound of this amp is that it is tough to find that magic spot, between the pedal's eq and the amps eq. It takes a little playing around. (it's a very narrow audible notch) but once you find it, it hits you hard.
So if you dont use pedals for distortion, i can not give this amp anything more than a >>>5<<< (a 10 for the clean channel and a 0 for the distortion) but since i do, i have to give it a >>>9.5<<< (10 for the clean and 9 when dirty)

cant really say. I've never had anything go wrong with it, but i've only had it for several months. however, everything on this amp is original, and it's at least 20 years old so it cant be too bad...
I would play a gig with this amp without a backup though, because (A) i cant afford a backup, (B) i dont have one, and (C) i dont want to lug all that stuff around

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for about 5 years. While i do not currently own any other ELECTRIC guitars i have been playing electric for about 3 years. The only other amp i currently own is a Fender Champion 110 (the loudest 25 watts you will ever hear in your life) Although i have experiance with many different amplifiers from huge marshalls, to vintage fenders, to the cheapest amps money can buy.

i would definatly buy another one of these (if i could find one.. they are not easy) if it were lost or stolen.

i LOVE the tone of this amp. loads of power, deep punchy sound and you can run it's two channels together at the same time from the same input jack. however, it has 3 major problems. it weighs a million pounds, does NOT have castors (i will install some) and it is REALLY UGLY.
overall, i would have to give this amp a solid 9 FOR MY PURPOSES. If you dont use pedals and you want to play dirty, i would rate this a 5 at best. I am very pleased with it and would reccomend it to anyone who asks. If it looked better and weighed less i might give it a 10.

I have a Peavey Heritage VTX amp and it's up for sale providing I can get the dosh I want for it.
I don't know when it was made but it was given to me in pieces about six years ago. Last year 2005 I sent it to a valve amp techie who fixed it for me at the cost of a capacitor, new valve bases, valves and a brand new reverb unit as the old one was missing, plus collection and delivery. He said that the the original owner of the amp had somehow cooked it (idiot). I am not a gigging guitarist but a home player so have never really wound it up to full volume, I can tell you that it will make your ears ring way before it gets to full volume. I can also tell you it will play very clean and loud or very dirty and loud, it will also do both quietly if required. It will sustain forever and the different sounds you can get from it are pretty much limitless if you are prepared to play around and spend some time with the controls. The unit is quite tidy for it's age and there are some things that require sorting out to turn it into original spec so here you go: There is no footswitch for it and you cant get one from Peavey, they told me you can purchase one of there new footswitches and have the wiring modified to make it work properly with this amp, I do have the wiring diagram for it in my possession. When it was given to me there was a wooden panel missing from the back of the speaker cab, it was the panel that protected the valves so I have moved the lower panel up to replace it so the valves are protected, there is no panel at the bottom of the cab. The amp section is held in with roofing bolts as Peavey sent me the wrong bolts and I couldn't be bothered to send them back. When using the amp at highish volume levels (as high as you can get at home that is) I think I could hear one of the speakers rattling but not 100% sure so might need a replacement or recone. The speakers are Scorpion. I fitted the reverb unit myself as it came as a separate unit from the techie that did the repair job. I fitted the reverb in the bottom of the cab as far away from the speakers as possible, there were no visible signs as to where the old one was fitted, but when the reverb is set to very high volume, more than necessary that is, the amp starts to scream a bit. I have since been informed that the reverb unit should have a leather cover over it which helps to suppress feedback if you can believe that. Anyway I need quite a bit of dosh to upgrade my PA system cause that's what I do for all types of bands in my area. I am looking for #800.00 cause I know you just cant get hold of these amps anymore and I don't really want to part with it anyway but I will for #800.00 so if you want it e-mail me at graham@advance.demon.co.uk or 07748132911 UK. BE WARNED, do not waste my time, if you want it then it's #800.00 I will not let it go for any less than that. If you require any further information regarding the amp then please do get in touch with me.

I have two guitars one being an original hand made Shergold Meteor and a Jap Srat copy both of which sound great through this amp with certain pickup settings, on other amps sounded pretty dull most of the time. Also have a Warwick Thunder 1 bass guitar which when used with the swept phase locked on certain tones sounded awsome to say the least.

Since being repaired, I have not had any problems with it but to be honest I dont play much these days.

Have not had any problems contacting Peavey for help and information and they even supplied me a footswitch wiring diagram free of charge.
I scored 8 because they sent me the wrong chassis bolts (tossers).

I have a feeling that for the rest of my life I will regret selling this amp but hey, needs must and my PA is earning me more dosh than the Peavey amp at this time. I have scored it low as I'm asking a $%^& load of dosh for it!!!

Indistruttibile amplificatore della mata degli anni ottanta! 2 canali (pulito/distorto), eq. separate per ogni canale, riverbero e phaser.
E' un insolito ampli ibrido che ha il pre a transistor e il finale valvolare (4x6L6GC).

Le chitarre che uso sono tipo stato. Il suono che cerco una distorsione
crunch anni 60/70. L'amplificatore si presenta con un suono veramente versatile anche se non raggiunge ma distorsioni "metallare".
Sono molto soddisfatto del suono di questo ampli! Se proprio bisogna trovargli un difetto dico che e decisamente troppo potente per poter essere suonato in casa (e a volte anche in sala prove... L'amplificatore genera infatti una potenza di ben 130w!!! E' decisamente un animale da palco!!!

L'architettura dell'ampli e decisamente indistruttibile! Inoltre pesa veramnte tanto! Comunque ha ormai piu di 25 anni ed e ancora in ottime condizioni!

Ormai lo suono da diversi anni e mi sono sempre trovato bene!

Not sure how old this amp is but I accidently ran into this page:-)

I got mine back about 10 years ago. I needed something bigger than my Triumph 60 halfstack and my old guild thunderbird was getting hard to find tubes for.

I was actually looking for the sound of a twin reverb or superreverb.
Found this at a store along with a rack mount 12ax7 preamp

I usually use the tube preamp instead of the built in solid state one.
This amp is a good one. I play blues and slide. with the two preamps I have a VERY wide range of tones.

BTW I put fender speakers in it (bue label) With the all tubes and the seakers I got pre CBS fender sound at a bargain price.

varied I play a tele strat (with actives) 335 les paul and an electrified dobro through this amp.

It can play clean quite well...actually I use one channel completely clean and one dirty. Clean puts out more db cleaner that the other amp I use when playing (always have the twin and a stack rigged) a JCM800
Not rally sure How high it will go clean ...my amps are also miked to a 2000 watt PA for volume when needed.

I can MAKE the distortion brutal when needed increasing the gain on either the internal preamp my rack mount tube preamp or the gain on my active pickup strat.

bout it about 94 put hot rod tubes in it and speakers.

haven't done anything else but use it since.

bought it used

Im a retired engineer (aerospace) If it were to break I'd fix it myself.

hmm music in general 47 years guitar 40 years

don't know if I'd buy one again...they're not in production.

Since then Fender has made repros of the Old pre cbs models...I would probably get one of them as I could order it and not hunt around.

I believe this Heritage was made in the mid 80's (as per Peavey). I dont know about versitile, it seems to like to take the lead and isn't very sweet down below like my two Twins. I had it tuned up by a guy in Benicia CA who did a great job and repaired the foot pedel to it's original shape. Would be nice if it had a trem or vibrato but they made it with so much stuff and so many buttons, I think a Vibe might have gotten lost. Two channels, great Scorpian speakers. I read complaints about it's weight, but it's still about 8-10 lbs less then my early 90's Twin Red Knob and my late 90's Evil Twin. Hey..that's it, they could have put some legs on it to tilt it back.

I have lot's of guitars. Les Paul, two Strats, ES 340 and ES 346, and an Americn Dlx Power Tele. I'm not really up to what this old soldier can do. It feels it's best when you've got it cranked up and nasty. It likes to scream and do it harsh. I'm proud of this Peavey Heritage. I've got it's little brother, the VTX Classic 65 too. Another one that doesn't get much credit.

NO problems. No complaint. Some of the colored dots have fallen off a couple knobs, but that's age. I should be more concerned that Peavey can't produce replacements. Not much service. It's only got 4 tubes so there's nothing to really even Bias according to the tech.

Peavey was ok for answering what they could. But they didn't seem to want to or care to want to address replacement parts such as knobs, foot pedal and din plugs (well, at least they didn't blow me completely off). I was lucky to find the tech I did. He's also a Fender and Marshall warrenty rep.

Been playing 39 years, but I willingly admit I'm a hack. I have learned a lot about equipment and how it should sound and feel the last 8 years. When I see Neil Young using an old Sears Silvertone amp on stage, I realize you don't have to be major or overly expensive to be good. My Peavey Heritage is a rauaus party amp.

Lots of knobs and settings available. 2x12, 130 watts, 2 channel, very heavy. Old.

I use a Les Paul and SG. Play rock. Its quiet, and plays real loud. Distortion is pretty good, but like most Peaveys I have heard, it has a lot of features but sounds like dog. Clean tones are very muddy and indistinct, reverb is lousy sounding and very artificial. Thw whole amp sounds extremely processed and digital. I cannot believe anyone actually could think this amp sounds good. Maybe its just the 80s thing. I got it real cheap, and am going to dump it asap. What a pig. I have never heard a mainstream production Peavey combo amp in the last 25 years that was listenable. The newer models may be better, I dont know. I did hear the new Penta head and cab, and it is pretty nice.

Probably very good. They have a good rep for reliability.

Dont know the year. From the look of it, I would say the mid 80s. So many eq possibilities, there is something for everyone. Phaser built in, Two channels. lots of pull switches, high low inputs, 2-12s . Wish it had tremolo. 130 watts!

I use all the usual, Tele, Strat, SG, es135. Very good clean, very Fender like, decent distortion, which I really dont use. Extremely quiet. NO hiss or hum. Someone took good care of it and must have serviced it regularly. Reverb is not as good as a Fender, but still is fine. I had a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15, 2005 model, and this amp is better in every way. No comparison.

I am easy on my stuff, and dont expect any trouble. Play at home, and anyway its too damn heavey to lug around.

I wanted a Super Reverb, even the reissue, but dont have $1200. I saw this sitting in a corner at the guitar store, and as I was without any amp, figured why not? Very pleasantly surprised. Its a very nice amp. I feel it is a much better made amp than the Fender reissues. Still will hold its own in any comparison, and at the price, it leaves a lot of room in my guitar budget.

Don't know the year, bought in the late 80's for METAL. Not considered a metal amp, but it worked at the time with a ProCo Rat very well.
2 Channels with switching/combining feature. Never used Reverb after hacking the WEIGHTY Black Widow speakers off the bottom and turning the amp into a head only. Amp is loud and actually gets good tone at low volume. I use it at home. Plenty o' power.

Used crappy beginners B.C. Rich Warlock with the RAT pedal to pretty good effect. Wasn't until I got a strat copy with an active EMG pickup that I used the SATURATION on this amp at full force WITHOUT a foot pedal. People thought this was stupid, but I really liked the sound. It was rough and smooth at the same time.
Not a noisy amp at all. The phaser was a really cool feature, with a mid-sweep lock. You could make tones that sounded like they were coming out of a tin can with this.
Clean channel was very clean. Distortion with active EMG at full position sounded exactly like Sepultura's 'Beneath the Remains' album.

Very dependable, it was built like a tank. I had it propped up on a chair for awhile and one of the tube sockets shorted in and out. This plagued me for over a 6 year period. No one could figure out what the problem was--trasitors were blowing at random and the amp would die. Finally, someone caught the shorted socket in action and replaced it. My fault.

Never tried to contact company. Repairs were done by my inexperienced soldering hand, as well as some talented repair people in SF Bay Area.

Playing for 16 years on this amp. It was really my first amp, and I have little cared at all to buy anything else. I was into the Mesa Boogie "rectal-fire" B.S. for a little while, but looking back that is such a boutique amp. Too much leather and diamond plating. Peaveys had no such appeal and little street cred on the METAL scene, which was why I decided to keep it. Everyone could buy their Marshalls, etc....

Bought my Heritage VTX from a guy I was in the service with in 1982 for $300, it was just two months old and he realized he needed the money more then the amp - Lucky Me! I used to play a lot of Skynard, Allmans and the like, this amp had the perfect sound, With an overdrive pedal I could also make a reasonable facsimile of Hendrix, Sabbath and some heavier stuff. I like to tinker with the settings, the variations you can get are almost limitless. I loved the footswitch, which has been lost somewhere over the last 25 years, I am trying to track down a replacement. As far as power, I alway knew it was loud, but recently my 15 year old got a Marshall Half Stack and wanted to jam with me, to his suprise (as well as mine - I guess I had forgotton just how much power this thing really has) when he tried to crank up the Marshall to show off to the old man, I pushed the post gain up to about 7 and watched his eyes pop (any louder and I think they might have started bleeding!)

Back when I played regulary I used a Les Paul, a Tele, an SG, a double neck SG (the twelve string sound with the pase shift was an awesome thing to hear), and an ES-235. THe only one I kept all these years was the Les Paul (1980 XR-2 Model) I loved the way I could play at high volume clean, and the sound stayed that way, and with the footswitch instantly change to the saturated sound. THis was a great option in songs like Boston's Long TIme where the sound switches back and forthe several times, this amp can do it without any volume adjustment.

Talk about a tank this thing has followed me around the country for 25 years and still cranks like it was new. Everything is original except I had to replace one of the speaker baskets, and only that because on of my drunk college roomates put a piece of wood through it. Its been stored in basements, garages, and car trunks for months on end, and is seemingly completely unafected by the abuse - I wish I had held up as well over the past 25 years as this amp.

I've never had the occasion to deal with customer support, but I was amazed to find the Manual for the amp as an on-line pdf file on the Peavey website.

I've been playing for 30+ years, I've had a few Ampegs, a Fender and a Marshall. When I stopped playing regularly, years ago, the only two pieces of equipment I kept were my Les Paul and my Peavey Amp. A few years ago my now 15 year old started playing seriously, and now likes to jam with the "old man", I know I made the right choice on what to keep! If it were lost or stolen - I'd find another one - evidently, the way these things were built, there's still a lot of them oput there still cranking it out.

I bought this a couple years ago used for a hundred dollars. I honestly don't think the guy knew what he was doing selling this amp to some kid, but hey, it works for me! This amp was made in 1984 and still has all the original parts, tubes included. I have found this amp to be very versatile, able to replicate a multitude of sounds from country twang to hard, "Song 2"-esque tones. You just gotta tweak the knobs for awhile. I love that both channels (lead and clean) are active. Lets you play with alot more sounds than what you'd normally be able to acheive. The built in spring Reverb never works anymore (Apparently the only thing in this series that wasn't built like a tank), but when it did it had a beautiful, airy feel to it. Perfect reverb. It did what it was supposed to do, you know? This amp has more than enough power, I've NEVER had to go above 1 on the post-gain knob in order to easily overpower my freind's marshall set-up, cranked max. :D This sucker is LOUD, basically.

I'm only using a squier 20th anniversary strat, but it still sounds damn beautiful coming through this amp. It suits whatever I decide to play, really. It's like the guitar and the amp have some harmonious relationship going on. Point is, with a strat, you'll probably get any tone you want as long as you tweak a bit. Again, this sucker is LOUD. I garuntee that you would not want to be in the room for fear of having your ears bleed if it was cranked to anything above 2 on the post-gain knob if everything else was cranked. And again, this amp can come up with just about any sound you want it to as long as you like to tweak knobs. There's your hard crunch, a crystal clear clean channel, a mix of the two, playing with the EQ etc. etc. And then there's the freeze option on the Phaser that's just a whole OTHER bag of tones to play with. I don't think you can get tired with this amp's sound unless you never play with the knobs. The distortion is absolutely brutal, crossing the line from crunch to pure bone-rattling power if you so want it to.

I have done some pretty irresponsible things with this amp, and that's aside from never giving it maintenance. I've played with it in the rain, it's been in a dank basement for a year, I've left it on for a week, the usual stupid stuff. But it still plays like a dream! I'm actually surprised at how well made this thing is. Maybe because it's built like a tank (hefty-ass thing it is. Weighing in at around 100 pounds. Yeesh!).

Never had to deal with them, but they always have these manuals online and such, helpful things they are. As someone else said, the best customer support is building products that work.

I've been playing for a little over five years now, and this is the only gear I've ever owned. I might want to upgrade the speakers, but apart from that I don't need to upgrade this beast. If it were stolen, I'd be pretty screwed, but I think I'd seek out another one. I've been able to compare it to other products, and I'd still prefer this one. It has raw power behind it, y'know? I wish it had a working reverb, but I'm sure a pedal can replace that. I guess that's it for this review, my only advice is if you're able to find one of these amps, take it!

I don't have a clue when it was made, but it was probably made in the 80's or so. This amp has a lot of gain and will make your ears ring for days if you are not careful. Reverb, phaser, and two switchable channels that can be mixed to create a fairly diversified sound. The Black Widows speakers that was in the amp had to much edge, so I took them out an had a couple of car JBL subwoofers reconed to be voiced to PA and guitar application and now the amp sounds realy good. No efects loops, just preamp in and power amp. If you had a head phone jack on this amp, it would most sertanly kill you. I have Two blackface twins 135 watters and a Mesa Tremoverb, three Music Man HD-130, Fender Tonemaster, Ampeg VT-40, JCM 900 High gain, and a Laney pro 50 head, and also a Peavey Duel 212 and I love the different sound they all have for Blues, Rock, and Surf. Yeah, power it has, 130 watt of ear bleeding power.

I am using most solid bodys on this amp, because the half accoustic that I have will feedback to much. This amp has to much gain and power for those kind of guitars. I play anything from Jazzmaster, Stratocaster, Gretsch Duo Jet series, Gibson Les Paul and SG, Mosrite on this amp. The grinding gain is very smoth and I have to let go of my chords and damping the strings, it is just as good or worse than my Mesa or Marshall 900. Unbeleivable gain. You know why Lynnard Skynnard was using these amps way back then. Lynnard Skynnard southern Rock swamp stomping sound, for sure. The distortion does not have that fuzz sound, it is just smoth high gain cranking ear bleeding sound that will make everything that is not screwed down will rattle and fall down on the floor. This amp is very quiet, even at high levels until you plug a guitar in to it.

Yeah. I can depend on it. It is build very sturdy too, about 100 lbs sturdy. Very reliable amp as well. I would feel confident not to need a back up if I would decide to take this on a gig, but it is all about maintenance. The only thing I have to do, is to stick a fresh set of power tubes in to it. It does not have any preamp tubes to worrie about, since this is a hybrid amp

NA. Never had no reason.

I think have been playing for about 3 years now effectivley,(Dont have much time to play) but have owned and messed with guitars and amps on and off since the sixties. As I stated, I own a lot of amps and different guitars and you just got to collect and buy tons of gear to you are satisfied with your sound. I have weeded out what I don't want and I told my wife that If I die I want her to bary me in my gear, then I will be happy. I am satisfied with the stuff I have now and will never sell this amp.

Made in '87, discontinued for some reason, it got 2 channels, reverb, phase shifting. 130 watts switchable down to half power (65 watts) which is a nice feature. I used it on a thousand gigs and then it broke down. For about 85 dollars it was up and running again. I have about 14 other amps: fenders, hiwatts, a marshall and this is a "seedier" sound that is sometimes called for. The coolest feature, as others have mentioned on this site, is the "Freeze" mode of the phaser: when you step on the footswitch for the phaser in the frozen mode, it sounds like your guitar went into a tunnel. I can't say enough about that, particularly when you turn it back off again- reminscent of Randy Rhoads, and the solo in "In my time of Dying" by Led Zeppelin. The change in sound is in some ways more drastic than channel switching.

I use Les Pauls and Teles, This amp can stay pretty clean, but that's not what I would use it for. It can get pretty noisy, but that goes with the territory. The overdrive is much grainier than any of my other stuff, and that's what makes it worth owning- it's very different from the all-tube Fenders, etc

I've come to love Scorpion speakers- they have a nice warm low-end. Even when it's really loud it doesn't hurt your ears.

Super-reliable, like I said.

Actually, I lost the footswitch, so I'm looking for another one to replace it. I bought it new, and it couldn't have been more than $375. At the time, I owned only one other amp, and I needed something versatile, because I was doing everything from reggae to hard rock, so I ended up using it several times a week for many years. I guess the reliability of it is a big part of why I love it- it only broke down once- and that was after 7 or 8 years of beating the hell out of it, and sometimes leaving in the trunk of my car until the next gig, in the winter, even, in Chicago, even! It brings back great memories, and it makes my collection of amps well-rounded, because at this point. most of my other amps are pretty "high-end" and valuable, but the Heritage has a seedy sound to it that those amps can't get. For the amount of money I paid for it, it's a ridiculously good deal. Worth its weight in gold to me, and I wouldn't sell it for five times what I originally paid for it!

I bought this amp new in 1984 for about $600. It has 2 channels with channel switching via the 4 button footswitch. I have used the preamp out and power amp in as an effects loop for a rackmount ART digital multi-effects unit. The built in spring reverb never did work, but with my digital effects units, this was not an issue. This amp is so heavy that I don't like moving it around anymore, so I leave it set up in a theater where I gig weekly and take a much lighter Dean Markley with me on the road.

One feature that I love on this amp is the phaser. It has a pull switch that allows you to stop the sweep of the phase at any point in the cycle, and after stopping the sweep, you can use the rate control to place it wherever in the sweep cycle you want it. This is a fantastic feature that I have not found on any other amp except the Peavey Classic VTX and on no other brand at all. It makes the tonal possibilities almost limitless!

I play a 71 Gibson SG Deluxe with 2 humbuckers as my main guitar(I played a Les Paul for a while, until my back couldn't take it anymore!). I also sometimes play my 89 Fender Anerican Standard Strat, but my second choice of guitars is my 82 Peavey T-27(it gets better 50's and 60's Strat tones than my 89 Strat). No T-60's for me. They're heavier than Les Pauls.

The Heritage suits my styles of music(country and classic rock). I can get very clean sounds at high volume levels, but I must confess that I prefer outboard distortion devices to the dirty channel of the Heritage for the rock sounds I want.

This amp is very dependable. I have not had to replace any parts in 20 years of use. I don't know what Peavey did to make this amp so reliable, but I've had to have my Markley worked on twice within 3 months this year, and never had the Heritage in the shop at all. I've replaced tubes and the speaker in the Markley, but nothing in the Peavey Heritage!

Never had to deal with Peavey's customer service, but I lost the manual that came with the amp, and Peavey's web site has a downloadable PDF of the manual, so I just downloaded it and printed it out. I did this also for the misplaced manuals for my T-27 guitar and my 1545 monitor cabs. So my opinion of Peavey's customer service is very high.

I've been playing guitar since I was 14 years old(I'm 57 now). I also own a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp that my parents gave me for my 18th birthday. It's a very sweet sounding amp, but I take it on very few gigs because it has too much sentimental value to me since my parents are both now deceased. I also have a late 60's Sunn head that I inherited from a dear friend and former band mate who was killed by his wife in a murder/suicide. Although I have some cabs that work with it really well, I don't take it out on gigs much either for the same reasons of sentimentality.

If my Heritage were stolen or lost, I would try to find another Heritage on eBay. Failing that, I would go for a Peavey Classic VTX, so long as I could get the footswitch with it.

The only thing I don't like about the Heritage is its weight. I'm getting too old to be lugging such a heavy amp around. And I wish it had a temelo like my Deluxe Reverb has.

solid state pre amp tube power

It has a nice sound to it but its not a metal amp. the cleans are good and the reverb is ok. I run a rockmaster preamp into it and it sound great for harder rock. I also have jensen cn12 in it and it sound pretty full.

I will answer this about 5 yrs from now.

This why i am leaving a review for this amp. When I got it I had question and needed help on find the footswitch and other things. I have been emailing them for 2 month now and no response. I went to a peavey dealer and he told me he would call peavey and get back to me, yeah right. I went down to his store and acted like I was going to spend a grand for an amp. I asked him about my footswitch and the lies stutterd out of his mouth, He blamed peavey so as i see it, if its has anything to do with peavey the customer support is bad compared to other brands that i have dealt with.

I use my amp like a power amp. I have no need for any of the features. I work it like a dog and it keeps up

what i have here is a peavey heritage vtx 2x12 130watts rms amp. tube output, solid state preamp. i think the distortion is great and the eq section very workable. the clean sound is beautiful. good reverb too........ and power? please, this thing will set your hair on fire! i play a variety of music in my band from country to metal and it does it all with no problem.

ok. tone is a personal thing.either you like it or you don`t. if your looking for british sounds( ala marshall)this ain`t you amp. i have 14 amps in my collection right now so i have a lot to compare this amp to. my regular guitar is a 79 strat and it sounds incredible through this amp. i also own two marshall heads(50 watt jcm800 and 100 watt jcm800 and a jcm800 4x12 slant cabnet) my les pauls sounds better through the marshalls and the strat sounds better through the heritage. the strats sustain with this amp is awsome. i set the normal channel to max distortion and mix the lead channel in with max distortion and you can control your sound real good that way. i also own a peavey renown and 2 deuces. live, i use the heritage for my sound and out of the "line out" into the renown(130 watts + 160 watts). both amps are paired with a 2x12 celestion cabnet for a total of 8 12 inch speakers.WOW WHAT A SOUND. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sustain for days.in a nut shell, single coil pickups will sound better than humbuckers with this amp. the brightness of fender guitars counters the dark sound of peaveys.just like marshalls counter the muddy les paul sound.

reliability is another reason i use my peaveys more than any of my other amps. this amp has 20 year old tubes in it and they still glow that nice light red like they should. i`ve had my marshalls re-tubed twice in the past five years have still blown tubes on me twice on gigs, once in the middle of a marshall tucker`s "can`t you see" and we`re a trio so my bass player had to solo it while my roadie had to run to the van for my other head. and yes the bias was set proper, i just play a lot.they always say "re-tube your marshalls every year". thats easier said than done when moneys' tight. i think i`ll stick with what gets the job done, my peaveys!

never needed it.

been playing for 28 years and every peavey i`ve ever owned never ever broke down on me. i will keep buying more and more peaveys as long as they are out there to buy.

Bought by my brother in 1984 at Luca Music in Providence, Rhode Island with the optional 4 X12 cabinet. I own the cabinet now and still use it with my ada preamp through an alesis RA-100 power amp.Its built like a rock! The heritage was never mine but was used on several occasions up until the early 90's. my bro then "garaged" it and sold it in 2001 with the original tubes in it!!! THis was after i told him "hey if you ever want to sell it, come to me first." He did the same thing to me with his 1984 american strat. thanks a lot bro! lets see if memory serves me correctly, it had a built in phaser with a cool feature where you could stop it mid sweep. solid state pre amp and 4 tube power section (never understood this concept. good distorted sound should be shaped with the tubes then amplified. As far as the power section goes tubes are looser sounding and sound better at higher volumes when driven but a solid state power amp delivering clean power from a tube preamp doesnt really break up and fizz (in a bad way like using a transistorized preamp section and amplifying it through ss or tube power amps. as a matter of fact i sometimes like the tightness of a solid state power amp.) lets see, 2 channels;beautiful clean sound, crappy distortion. plenty of power, dudes!!!!huh? did you say something???!!!!

i used a bc rich st3, a strat and a mockingbird through it. never used just the internal distortion. usually would put an eq pedal in front of it to use as an overdrive,or a boss heavy metal pedal.both of these were used in combination with the internal distortion. made a pretty good noise. but the real gem was bypassing the preamp and slaving the power amp with my ada mp-1. thats why i wanted this amp today!like i said distortion is crap on this(i suppose for a country "bite" with a tele it would be fine. give it a 7 overall for sound because of the crap preamp. but the power section is designed beautifully. more on this in reliability section.using the power section with outboard gear yields beautiful results. for this i would give it a 9. so ill find some middle ground and give it an 8 . the phaser is awesome, very rich sounding like i said the stop sweep feature(i forget what they call it) is awesome, and it can be controlled by footswitch if i remember correctly. if not i know for certain that the sweep was stopped by pulling out a w\switch in the phase section

the power section of this amp is a work of genius. it will not eat tubes!!!looking at other reviews here have justified this.you have people with these amps these days still using the same power tubes!!!
Its built like a tank. and if memory serves me correctly it was spec'd at weighing 93 lbs or something like that.its like 1/2" plywood encasing this thing!! maybe even 3/4. same with the cabinet which i use today with the same speakers. another thing to not, i bought a tko bass amp in 1982 (solid state) left it on for a whole week when i was 16 and went on a high school band trip).left it at a friends house where it soon became his(possesion is 9/10 of the law i guess). guess what! he still gigs with it!!!! peavey definitely makes reliable products built like tanks!!! i tell you peavey deserves the highest mark!

four products, my brothers heritage, my 4 x 12 cab, my tko bass amp, and my peavey triple xxx(its the bomb!)....never ever had to contact peavey!!and im sure anyone in possesion of that heritage or tko bass amp never will. peavey is great to deal with due to the fact that they have service centers everywhere! so i dont know how their customer support is, but i suppose the best support is making a product that doesnt break down!it gets a 9 cause ive never spoke to them. who knows? if you call them, they may be assholes!! ha! ha!

ive been playing for 18 years!!(whew)i think i explained enough about this amp in the other sections. lets see overall rating? 6(features)+8(sound)+10(reliability)+9(customer service)=33; 33/2=8.25....hmmm... give it an 8. shouldnt all overall scores be determined this way?

Made in 1982, Very versatile amp. I was desperate for rich Tube sound and POWER without the loud volumes I play Gospel, Jazz, Blues. Two All of the features of the Standard Heritage VTX 130 Watt Combo, and they work vary well. A headphone jack would rupture my eardrums. I wish the low power settings were really LOW. Sometimes I need the EL84 tube smoothness, with a light touch of butterscotch. Line out dosen't work, don't know why. I don't use the ext speaker. I am miked or DI via a tube preamp into the santuary so I get a VERY nice stero spacy effect. Bought used from Music Go Round, Laurel, Md for $350. Plenty of DEEP, RICH tone, Soul satisfing flavor. I'm probally the only person left standing using this Great Old School Amp.

Currently using a 1998 Parker Nitefly SA, SSH, with Dimarzio custom singles and bridge PAF dimarzio, A Jay Turser 137 335 and a Boss GT-5, with a ME-30 backup effect, and a PV Classic 30 for light work.
Amp is very quit with a quiet guitar. I use a inline ground switch due to the amount of equipment we have on stage. Clean channel distorts well with high saturation at 5 or higher. Distortion is not as smooth and pleasing as el84s, but my audience loves it. I can get a good Santana, David Gilmore (Pink Floyd). Wish I could get Fender lush reverb/tremlo, or PV classic 50 trem/reverb (sea sickining) effect.

Very Dependable, Never use a backup, used it in the rain, play every weekend, sometimes every night. Never broken down. Put in new tubes, 4 6L6GC and this baby took me where no other amp has gone before. This baby makes my eardrumbs bleed with pleasure.

Excellent for VTX and Classic 30. Got the Users manuel from on line. Actually spoke to a person once.

I was desperate for Soulful sound, Power without the volume, and the ability to give what the band leader wanted, when he wanted it (Darin Atwater and Handel Smith are awesome brothers). Playing since age 8. Professional for 12 years. Would get a simpler amp. Love it all. Does take some serious tweaking, This thing lasts forever.

I want an amp from this series!

great.

should b okay.

ive been playing 21 years.I NEED ONE OF THESE OLD-STYLE PEAVEYS WITH THAT SKYNYRD SWAMP TONE! I can't get one,'cos it seems they don't make anything with that voicing anymore. I want a Deuce,a Mace,a Heritage or a Stereo Chorus. I CAN'T FIND ONE! I'm in Nottinghamshire,England,U.K. and I'm in a charity band doing swamp-style country-rock and Skynyrd covers-and ONLY THESE AMPS WILL DO!! The Marshall I use just doesen't cut it.Can anyone help me get one? it needs to be in good working order,as it will be gigged,again and again. People can have their Boogies,Marshalls,Line 6s,etc,etc- I NEED AN OLD PEAVEY CAPABLE OF THIS SOUND,It's the ONLY sound I'm happy with! Email me if you can help.

Old-style Peavey tube combo, but updated slightly from the Mace and Deuce series with a PRE/POST amp in/out, a line out, and a few other new goodies like a half-power switch. It's still the old solid-state pre-amp circuitry with a tube power amp section utilizing four 6L6GCs for 120 watts. Drive channel with Peavey Saturation (distortion) circuit and clean channel, reverb and phaser. Two twelve-inch Scorpion speakers. The updated EQ section of each channel yields unlimited possibilities, and each parameter actually does something to the sound.

Much like the Mace, the clean channel is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever heard ... period. It's not a Fender sparkly clean, but rather a very warm and crystal clear Peavey clean which will not break up until you reach volumes that would kill small animals. Beautiful! The distortion channel yields Peavey SWAMP TONE that Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and .38 Special were famous for. It's not a Marshall scooped mid crunch, and it's not a Fender crunch ... it's a dark, boxy, sound that is closest to a Vox AC with everything turned to 10. Some of the pre-amps on the Mace and Deuce series sound a little out of whack, and requires the saturation to be back off a little to retain clarity. But just a little saturation, on top of a fully cranked pre-amp keeps it fairly articulate. It's sweet ... it's just different. Possibly it's an aquired taste.

These Peavey VT amps WILL NOT DIE. These things can be found all over the country still running strong WITH THE ORIGINAL TUBES! This series of amplifier is, without a doubt, and without equal, the most dependable vacumn tube device ever designed. It will out-live you.

Even now, twenty years after it was made, Peavey will make sure you get schematics, manuals, or instructions for modding newer switching pedals to work with old VT amps. Every other manufacturer in the world can take a que from Peavey in the Customer Service department.

I have owned Fender tube and solid-state amps, Marshall combos and half-stacks, Crates, Ampegs, and just about everything else. I love the sound of these old VT amps and they have been the most reliable amp I've ever owned. Gary Rossington (and other Southern rockers) still uses the Mace heads and cabinets he got from Peavey in the early 70s today. That says alot.

Bought the Amp new in 1983 - ordered from Peavey with Black Widow speakers.

It's an incredibly versatile amp, but just doesn't quite have a warm enough overdriven sound unless you push the power amp hard. Clean sounds are great.

Two channels with an "Automix" footswitch - also controls the built in Reverb (spring) and Phaser. I've since bought a digital reverb, so no longer use the built-in reverb, but it's not bad. Phaser is used sparingly and in its "stop" mode: ie. you stop the LFO and adjust the comb filter frequencies by hand - goes a good way to getting acoustic tones out of an electric.

It's very loud - too loud for home use - but has a half power SPL switch. Gigged it a few times and have never run out of power, nor have I ever needed to mic it up.

Effects loop is there, as long as pre-amp out and power-amp in is good enough for you. There's also a "line out" supposedly equalised to the speakers. If I need to directly record from this amp, I use the pre-amp out (much higher level) through a DI box.

Pre amp is solid state and power amp is valve (tube, for those of you on the other side of the pond). I read elsewhere here that I might get a warmer sound by replacing the four 6L6's with SovTek equivalents - must try this. However, the original Peavey stock 6L6's are going strong.

A warmer overdriven sound at lower volume levels would be nice. See comment above about the Sovteks.

Never broken down. Peavey stuff seems very well built.

Spoke to Peavey in the USA to get a schematic for the amp - they were very helpful. Never had any other reason to contact them.

Playing for the past 25 years - I don't have any other guitar amps.

If stolen, I'd probably go for something a bit newer.

At the time of purchase, I compared it to Marshall and Laney combos - the sound and BW speakers really sold it to me.

Oh, I play bass through this amp too (can't afford a separate bass amp) and I'm convinced those speakers will take ANYTHING.

Bought from Ebay. No idea to it's age. Man does this thing have features to it. I especially like the saturation and the phaser. I play mostly Contemporary Christian music. This thing is too loud to take to church. Only complaint is there is no effects loop. This thing has more knobs to keep you busy. It is basically a simple amp though. It is 2 channels. Both lead through pre and post amps. At 130 watts you don't lack for volume.

There is a wide array of sounds you can get from it. P100' pickups used and the only way to get a crunch from this thing is to turn it up to a volume that the next county can hear. This is a clean sounding amp. It does make a hum when switching from standby to on but not so much as it is noisy. It does have a reverse polarity switch on the back to take away some of the noise from electric polarity.

This baby mixes both tube power and circuitry for one of the best sounding amps I have ever used. This thing is not very easy to move around, I believe it weighs 95lbs. Tough as nails as all the Peavey equipment I have used. Uses 4 6l6 tubes which I have never had to replace. Also uses the black widow speakers.

Way out of warranty, have never even tried to contact customer service. Peavey is a good solid piece of equipment.

Have been playing 35yrs. If this thing was stolen I would try to replace it. I love the sound this thing has. I use a Peavey 4x12 cab with celestions and it just sings.

I got it in sept 2001 for $200 used but still good. I play metal and christian it covers it. The phaser was broke who cares its a perfect gig amp.
I don't like the back breaking 95 pounds but i can get my bass player
to get it for me. his back not mine

Its sounds great in the mix. I use a boss super overdrive SD-1 and a cry baby its like the perfect rig for me. The lead on the amp even sounds good to me. but my girl singer is always complainig that its to load get ear plugs

Its sronger then Schwarzenegger I never have a back up its has new speakers and thats it. Im going to put new tubes in it soon and thats all I plan to do with it.

if it got stolen i would get a cyber-deluxe and move on

I'm not sure what exact year mine was manufactured. I bought it used in late 1990 for $250.
The amp is verstatile enough for my styles. I primarily play distorted blues, at other times it's clean sound with reverb. I primarily play SRV, Albert Collins, Albert King, John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy things, with a liberal dashing of ZZ Top thrown in. My other ventures are old Van Halen and any Yngwie Malmsteen. This amp handles them all.
I have the two channel model. I lost the foot switch, but both channels are turned on. I simply turn down the volume on the channel I don't want to use or adjust both to my ear when I use both. It does have channel switching - I need to go to a pawn shop and find a 4-bay foot switch and take a schematic to my audio tech and have him rig it for me. I don't have an effects loop in my model. This is a minor drawback to me. I may be mistaken, but it does not have a headphone jack. If it does, I never have used it.
I wish it had a tremolo feature. When I try to pull off some early Billy Gibbons and some early Albert King, I need some tremolo, as in the '60s Fender tweed models or the Vox models of the day. I never use the phase unit in it, although I can say it is a very decent phase unit. I just never had a use for the phaser in it.
I use this amp only in the spare room of my house. I've never played live anywhere, but should I do so in the future, it will go with me. I have played with a drummer and it is one of the rare amps that can punch thru the drums clearly. Rack that accolade up to the 130 watts, I suppose. It has more than enough power for me. In fact, in the carpeted and furnished spare room of my house, it is hard to stay in the room with, has run the cat behind the couch (although that might have been due to my playing - haha) and has drawn a call from a neighbor to turn it down when I goosed it up to only 5 for 15 minutes or so.
I normally don't like solid state and tube hybrids, but this amp is the exception to the rule.

I'm running as my main guitar a 1982 Kramer Pacer, with a finished maple neck, a "real" Floyd Rose (clip the balls off the string and clamp them down in the saddles, not a Floyd 2 where you feed them up a tube with the balls still on), with a single humbucker (Seymour Duncan George Lynch Screamin' Demon) with a volume knob, a tone knob and a mini switch to switch coils on the pickup. I have tried many times in vain to knock this guitar out of tune. This is my favorite guitar, bought used in '89. I also run a Washburn Nuno Bettencourt N2 with no mods except a Seymour Duncan George Lynch Screamin' Demon (you think I like George?) humbucker in the bridge with Washburn's version of the Floyd Rose tremolo. This little guitar has an excellent factory neck pickup which sounds wonderful thru the Heritage amp. Another guitar I run is a 1990 Ibanez RG550 - with the Ibanez version of the Floyd Rose, with two single coils and a Dimarzio PAF Pro humbucker in the bridge. And last I have a 1986 Kramer Striker, with one humbucker (tilted at an angle) with the crappy Floyd Rose 2 tremolo that I never use. I rarely play this guitar. It is a dust-catcher that has plans for a "real" Floyd Rose and will then be ready to see some action. It has a Duncan Distortion in it, I believe. All of these guitars mate well to the Heritage amp with seemingly no changes to amp or effects settings. For effects, I go into an Ibanez Tube Screamer, then into a Rockman Distortion generator, then into a Boss 7-band EQ, then into a Digitec delay, then into the low gain input of the amp. With the hot pickups I'm running, plugged into the hi gain is too much for my tastes.
The clean channel is just fine at high volumes, and does not break up. All the Peavey amps are legendary for their clean tones, hence the large use of them by many country artists.
The distortion is a bit too much. The Scorpion speakers have a tendacy to "whomphf" the higher the volume is turned. This causes you to have to back off your lows in the EQ. Unlike a Marshall, which sounds better the louder you turn it, this is not the case with the Heritage amp - not in my case, anyway. I had a friend who installed two 30-watt Celestions in his Heritage and it solved this issue. Currently, I get a Boston meets early Van Halen sound out of my amp, and I am satisfied. I can quickly go to a Chet Atkins tone or a SRV sound that is fairly respectable.

I would not hesitate to gig with it without a backup.
After buying the amp in late '90, I played it a few months with no problems. While playing it one night at home, I put it on standby and like an idiot pulled one of the tubes out (thinking I had turned it off but forgot I had put it in standby mode earlier) and reseated the tube. A very loud and frightening (when you're leaning over the open back of it) POP signaled the end of that hay ride. I subsequently took it to an audio tech who charged me $120 (in '91) to repair it. I played it another week and eventually it was barely audible (even when turned up to 8) and it sounded as if the speakers were blown. In addition, touching any metal part of the amp gave you a nice little tingle. I took it back to the guy who originally repaired it and he said he found nothing wrong (????). I took it to another amp specialist, he found some bad capacitors and charged me $140. It worked a few more weeks and did the same thing all over again. I went to take it back to this guy and he had moved with no way to contact him. What followed was storage in my mom's un-airconditioned garage with boxes stacked on it, as an end-table by my bed in my apartment, or in the attic of my house until late '99, when I took it to be repaired by a REAL tech. He went thru it and found lots wrong, plus two ripped speaker cones (he thinks from the heat in the garage and attic - I live down South). For $125 he repaired it good as new and it sounds much better than it did when I bought it originally. I've never had a minute's trouble from it since and the only reason it "broke down" in the first place was due to my ignorance, not any fault of the amp itself. I feel bad that it sat as a virtual end table or stacking area for things (and one-time home for wayward mice) for so many years while I used other amps. I thought of selling it many times in a broken state and even once after it was repaired, but I have decided against it. It will likely be a "keeper". I give it a 10 - Very dependable rating because I feel it would've given me no problems had I not broke it.

Never called Peavey customer support for any reason.
The warranty was expired when I broke it, so I didn't attempt to call Peavey. Plus, it was my fault that it broke in the first place. Had it been under warranty, Peavey would've most likely discovered this fact.

I've been playing since late 1985. I own a Washburn D100 acoustic and a generic nylon-string classical guitar. I have an early '80s Kustom 50-watt head (that sounds nice ran thru just the speakers of the Heritage - bypassing the amp). I have a real nice Zoom drum and bass machine, a Pandora PX3, and a Zoom guitar amp modeler - all of which I don't run thru the amp, I use headphones for these.
If it were stolen (by a strong person with a good back), I wouldn't set out on a maniacal mission to replace it, but if one turned up in my path, I would be incilned to buy another.
I love the power and the clean tone and the reverb. I don't like the inferior speakers that break up in the lows under high volume.
Being green in the playing world by 4 years when I bought it, I didn't compare it to any amps before buying it. My friend had one at the time and I liked his, and I wanted a loud amp with two 12's fairly cheap, so I bought that one. Not sorry I did, though when it was broken those 8 years I was sorry I did, but didn't have the maturity then to realize it was my fault, not the amp's.
Wish it had nicer speakers and a tremolo unit.

My amp was made in 85 and I have owned it since 92. I play mostly blues and classic rock in clubs in Kansas City. I have owned many amps thru the years and I have to say that this one is the best for me by far. Power wise, I don't think that I've ever played a combo amp that has the volume that this rig does, you really have to crank it before it will naturaly start to get a nasty tone. The phase unit is good, and easy to operate. No effects loop is a bummer.

I play telecasters, stratocasters, and Les Pauls and I love the tone I get with all my guitars. One thing about it is that when you get to the club, or wherever your going to play, you will want to adjust the amp. I will normally turn it on and let the thing heat up, and then roll the bass to zero, then turn up to stage volume with my guitar full up on volume, then roll the bass back up to where I like it for the room. I've never had trouble with buzz or noise out of mine, the ground switch works well, sometimes I will turn on somewhere and have a little buzz, and I just reach around and flip it and it always fixes the problem. I use a boss ME-30 unit for a little gain and chorus. The distortion is great for blues and classic rock, probably not a first choise for a death metal dude though.

Some prick broke into my place about a year ago and knocked it off its stand. It messed up the place where the foot switch hooks to the back of the amp, witch is not a very good set up really anyway. The little connector pins are not durable at all on the footswich connection and suck for constant use and are prone to get messed up when you haul this amp, so I just eliminated it and wired it up straight, and it works alot better for me. Mine amp has Scorpion Loud Speakers in it and they sound fine. They have field replacable baskets and are available at mose peavey dealers. I play out 3 or 4 times a week and I have never had any trouble. Just keep up with it and don't abuse it and it should work forever.

I have called for parts twice for this amp and some other equipment I own and Peavey was always very helpful. The guy even spoke english. The online download manual is a really cool thing most companys don't do.

As a blues player I get these guys who want to be Stevie Ray telling me about there old Fender amps and stuff. I own a Twin and a Vibroking and I keep going back to the Peavey. Its really heavy but outside of that is a great amp. For a working blues player who is not obsessed with nameplates on my gear, I love this amp

Mine was made in 1986, I think. I bought it only six months ago and I like a whole lot. The only problem is, if you don't have a Top Notch guitar, you will be stuck with a few sounds. I have a Fender Strat with EMG pick-ups; that set-up allows me to get so many different sounds out of them. I can play blues, jazz, punk, soft rock, and even stuff that is supposed to be acoustic.
First time I plugged it in, I had no idea what the volume was at, but I broke my windows, it was so loud yet crisp.

I already mentioned that above.

No problems since I got it... haven't used it at gigs yet; I use a Marshall head connected with PA systems within my stage.

This thing is not bad at all.... First off it's all about pounding metal! It has two drives that can be bleed into each other. Tube and solid state. It has an equilizer for each channel with an insane amount of reverb and a built in phaser.

I use...A fender Jag-stang with an invader in the bridge. This fucking amp can scream.... 'nuff said.

The only problem i had was that i used it too loud and it rattled the connection cables off the speakers, but that's too minor to real bitch about cause it only occured that one time.

I've been playing long enough to know that the majority of music (the reason i started) now sucks....All i need is a compressor, 12 band equilizer and 40 naked chicks and I will have an army strong enough to break the walls at MTV, then we could blow the whole place up.

I bought the Heritage mainly for the tube power section. It contains four 6L6s valves with a solid state preamp. I plug either a Peavey ProFex or a Digitec (with two 12AX7 valves) into the Power Amp section. There is a factory input in the back of the unit just for this purpose. The preamp input completely bypasses Heritage integrated preamp. Because the pre is bypassed, the 15+ nobs on the front of the unit are totally circumvented. You can turn these nobs to any level or effect with absolutely no impact on the sound. I play a wide variety of music from blues to hard rock utilizing both a Guild S-300AD with vintage Dimarzio pickups and a Fender Strat with traditional single coils. Since the poweramp was the only feature on this unit I wanted, it works perfectly for the purpose for which I bought it. It has good outputs for plugging into sound reiforcement (important if you do church work). The only reason I give this less than a ten is because it is not in stereo.

I have practiced with my band a number of times without using my rack preamp equipment. The preamp works OK but sounds somewhat limp. If I didn't use a rack preamp, I would give the Heritage a 7 (it does have a nice built-in phase unit that quills some of the limp solid state sounds). But utilizing just the power section, this thing can sound very sweet. Why Peavey put such a limp preamp together with a versatile power amp is beyond me. The Heritage uses two rebuildable 2/12 Scorpions that provide a tight clean sound. I've never had to rebuild these speakers. I plug two 2/12 Ceslestions into the aux. output to get that wonderful tube gurgle (you can probably get this same sound using a power-brake to load the tubes). My ProFex is used for most of my clean sounds because of the wide range of effects. This thing is very crisp when down low and will maintain its clean sound all the way to the point where it begins to hurt the ears. Since I like a tube distortion, I use the 12AX7 Digitec for most of my rock. If you are looking for a simple inexpensive tube power amp and have rack effects you like, the Heritage will not let you down. I would rate it higher than an 8 if I hadn't played ohter high-end amps that I like better (but probably like them more for their preamp sections than their power amp sections).

This thing never stops, never pops, never crackles- it just 'motors on.'

The only time I contacted customer service was to get a manual. I got it, they were nice enough so I have no complaints.

I'd give this amp a 7 if I had to use the preamp (it has lots of nice nobs). Since I do not use the preamp and this thing does what I would like it to do, I'd go for 8.5. Since there is no 8.5 rating available and it fits my purposes, the 9 works.

Im not sure what year the amp is...they made these in the early 80s from what I understand. Very versatile amp.

This amp gets just about any sound you want. I play in a small cellar band...and I find the 130 watts is just a little too much for a basement. We play older rock 60s-70s, and to get a nasty distorted sound...I have to turn it up...4-5, with makes it just too loud.

The way this Heritage is built is really good. Ive had no problems with it at all....and Ive owned it for almost 18 yrs now. Its a wonderfully built amp, Ive banged it around some and it just keeps on working. If your band was moving stuff around all the time, this thing would definitely hold up.

I have emailed and regular mailed Peavey Co. a number of times...I also have a Peavey T-60 guitar, and they have always responed with whatever it was I requested. They are very professional and seem to really take an interest in what your looking for, or any information that you need.

Ive been playing for 20 yrs. I find the Peavey Heritage a great amp, with the exception that it is very heavy (about 95 lbs. I would recommend this amp to any player, especially a younger "kick ass" player for the simple reason it really has "balls"..its very loud.

This is the second peavey I have owned, and frankly, I am dissapointed with it. It has plenty of knobs to mess with, the best of which are the Saturation, and the pull bright/thick on the EQ. This thing did have an awesome flanger and reverb built in, but the type of music I play did not use them at all, so they went to waste. Has 2 12" speakers, and it is a hybrid combo, meaning tubes and transistors. It also has the two active channels, so you can mix your clean and "distortion" channels together.

I played through an Ibanez RX series, and through my buddy's Les Paul, the Ibanez has really hot pick-ups and made that amp squeal like a pig. I mostly play punk and metal, and this amp almost never delivered any high gain distortion. On occasion after messing with it for about two hours or so, I would find something that sounded descent, but once you change the settings, you lose it forever. This would make a good jazz, or blues amp, but if you are looking for a good distortion, go with the transtube. The only good thing I can honestly say about this amp is that it is loud as hell. I had my neighbors 1.2 miles away calling the cops on me. I guess the only way you could get good distortion through this puppy is through a Boss Metal Zone.

Hey, it's Peavey, these things never break. They are built like tanks. I actually tried to blow it or fry a speaker or something once, but it is impossible. If you buy one that works, it will work until the day you die.

Never had to deal with them, and if I did, it would be because I purposely killed the amp with a crow-bar or something.

I bought this amp just because of the wattage rating, big mistake. In my opinion, stick with transtube. I am currently playing on a Fender Stage 112SE, and a Crate GX212, either of which I would pick over this thing any day. If it was stolen, I'd laugh at whomever stole it, then buy him a back brace (this sucker is heavy as hell) to help him get it to wherever he was taking it.

Bought the amp new in 1981. It is a hybrid solid state front end with a tube power section. It has the standard Peavey features of that period, two channels- clean and dirty. The effects loop has never been very useful for me, mainly because I use pedal effects. I think it would work better with rack mounted stuff, due to the signal levels of pedals vs. rack. My model has Black Widow speakers and it makes an already heavy amp really heavy pushing 95 pounds. It has 130 watts with a low power switch which I find of limited use. In fact I can't tell the difference except at extremely high volume levels (usually outside gigs). I play in a four piece - two guitar bass drum country/classic rock band. The amp has a phaser that some people have liked and it is OK if you need a phaser, but it doesn't rival something like a EH Small Stone going into the front end. Still it is rather handy to have.

I mainly use a 1982 Fender Strat that I bought new. I have modded it to death, but it's a good guitar so the mods have only improved it. It has the David Gilmour EMG set-up, large frets, Sperzel locking keys, and recently I've gone to a blocked trem. The Heritage is a versatile amplifier. My other amp is an original 1965 Fender Twin. No, the Heritage doesn't have the thick Fender reverb, but strangely enough, I still prefer the Heritage due to it's versatility. The Heritage is quieter and due to the self adjusting bias feature of the amp and the fact that it runs the tubes cooler when idling, the amp is very good on tubes. In fact, I've only retubed it once in 17 years, and that was only out of boredom, the original tubes still sounded good. I went to Sovtek 5881's, which sounded a tad warmer. I have also replaced the Black Widow replaceable speaker baskets when the speakers developed a rattle in them. This was not from playing, I think it was because the amp stayed in our band's trailer for a while, and probably got hot in the summer sun. The amp has a very loud clean sound. The clean channel only starts to break up around 5, which is LOUD. The "sweet spot" for the clean channel is between 2.5 and 4 ( with post gain at 10). For lower volume levels, the post gain can be backed down to allow the pre gain to be in the 2 to 4 range. Less than 2 really thins out the sound. I use a TS-9 Tubescreamer modded to TS-808 by Analog Mike, mainly on the clean channel. The dirty channel is useable, though not the best in the world, I have a setting that sounds decent, and when I really need a high gain sound, I combine the Tubescreamer with the dirty channel.

I have gigged with this amp for 17 years and it has never failed me. My repairman has done minor stuff over the years, but there's not much go wrong. The tubes last, the speakers are rated at 300 watts apiece, so it is an extremely reliable amp.

I've not dealt with Peavey directly on the amp, but the Peavey dealer who is also my repairman has been excellent.

I've been playing for 28 years. As mentioned earlier, I have a 65 Fender black face Twin which I would never part with, and also have use of an original black face Fender Vibrolux which belongs to my partner in my band. The Vibrolux has been on an extended loan at my house for the last 3-4 years, and I practice some with it, but it isn't loud enough for most of our gigs. Since we don't have a sound man, in most cases we don't mike our amps, we just get a good loud vocal sound, a little kick drum in the system and let the amps blow! The Heritage has played in every conceivable situation, from tiny private parties where you have to be really low, to outdoor street dances where its been pushed over 5 on the clean channel. For years I have looked for a new amp that was lighter in weight due to a bad back and equal in features. I have not been able to find one that was that much better unless I paid a lot more money. I don't do music for a living and I have a good income, but buying expensive amps, etc is not in the budget. If you come across a Heritage, if it's as good as mine has been, it will be a good one. I give it an "8" because I know there are better sounding amps out there, but I just don't have the bucks to put into them. My Heritage is still my main amp.

See above for features. Two inputs, btw. Tube power amp with a Transistorized preamp. I like it. It has 10 times more power than I will ever need (130 w), and will accept an extension cabs if I ever get crazy and need more. It works really well when people have competitions in the dorms as to who's stereo plays the loudest rap music. They don't hold those any more :-)

I use an Alvarez Ac/El, and an Ibanez EX series. It really works with both guitars. I figured I would need a new guitar when I ran out of sounds with my old one....It was the amp, though. This amp is so cool. I can play blues now, and stuff other than clean/100% nasty distortion. The concept is mind boggling. It is very easy to get a good light tube distortion out of this thing.

Never broke. Original 20 year old tubes, at that. We've moved it everywhere, too.

Manuals online is a nice touch. Try getting an online manual for a Marshall....
Other than that, i have not dealt with Peavey.

Playing for over a year, and I don't think I will ever replace this thing.

Bought NEW in 1984. This amp can do anything you'd ever want an amp to do. Has 2 channels, with footswitch control for ch1/ch2/mix. Has "line out", effects loop, speaker output. channel 1 has 6 pots,
channel 2 has 8 (I think). great reverb and phase are downstream and affect both channels. The phase shifter can be fixed anywhere in the phase spectrum by pulling out the sweep speed knob. This makes it easy to dial in hard to get sounds like Tom Sholz (Boston) or Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights). Its nice to have it pre-set and just step on a pedal..its like having a 3rd channel..works great for gigging.
The amp is incredibly loud for 130 watts. I would recommend going to Peavy's website and downloading the user manual for more details.

I've played in rock bands since 1978, doing bar gigs, anything from crystal clear balads to shred. I bought this as my first "real" amp..money was no object. I looked at marshalls and boogies and labs...and...just about everything there was...Finally talked to a guy at Rhythm City (Atlanta GA) who told me "38 Special" had just ordered 8 of them, but were only taking 6. I called my brother who also plays and we bought both of the remaining 2.
This amp for its sheer ability to provide any level of distortion, and variance of tone, and to hold the sound quality over the total volume range, is just incredible. I've played with alot of others, who are really suprised by the tone I get.

This has been my "gig" amp for 15 yrs.
Had the output completely stop one nite before a big gig....i played the gig with a little 8 inch peavey amp mic'd to the board...sounded fine. Ended up just being a connector had vibrated loose. Thats been it....everything else, hardware, naugahyde cover, knobs, tubes, footswitch, grill cloth, speakers....all doing great!~

when it stopped working at the last minute before a gig..(see above)..I called Peavy and had a schematic in 2 days. A Technician was very helpful...but when the symptoms are....the red light comes on and there is NO sound..and the tubes arent glowing.....it leaves ALOT of possible failure modes. Have talked to Peavy about some borken effects pedals...and I think their customer support is just great! I imagine if the amp ever really broke down to where transistors were shorting...and all.....well it IS 15 yrs old...

When i bought this amp...my goal was to buy THE amp for me...and I was still kinda embarassed when i bought it....alot of buddies had bought Peavy "classic"s or "duece"s and Peavy was still kind of a poor mans first amp, in my circle of musicians. I actually took the "Peavey" logo off the front...(I kept it though...should put it back on since this amp as more than earned its keep) If I ever had to buy another amp...I' sure my first look will be at Peavy's

This amp is pretty versatile. One channel has a 4 band EQ with a pullout "high" knob for a fatter sound; the second channel has a 3 band EQ with the mid being parametric. Both channels have a pullout on the pre gain control for a bright sound. The spring reverb is good quality, and the phaser is excellent.
I don't have a footswitch (I'm getting ready to order one), which means I can mix the channels. It has a preamp out/amp in pair which also allows effects loops. The low-gain input jack still allows overdrive with hot pickups, and the high-gain input guarantees it.
The two twelve inch Skorpio[tm] speakers sound great. The saturation knob on channel one has a nice tube overdrive sound at fairly low settings, and theh hi/lo output power switch works great at limiting the power. I could still fry my eardrums in the living room with the lo power setting, tho.
It also has a ground lift switch, which I've never had to use. There's also an additional speaker output jack.
The amp uses 4 6L6 type tubes. I think mine are original; this amp is probably between 10 and 20 years old. I bought it used, and it's gotten moderate use.
I wouldn't mind a compressor (I miss my Lab L5 8^), but overall I'm very happy with this amp! I use every control on the front panel. Mostly I play at home. Even outdorrs, it's great. I've played it in a 300 person room, and it did fine.

I play all sorts of rock, from metal to light, from classical to alternative. Occasionally I do some blues, jazz or country; the amp works for all of them.
My main guitar is a Hagstrom Kent with two DiMarzio SDS-1 pickups. Other than not having a middle pickup, it sounds pretty much like a hotrodded Strat. My son's BC Rich Strat-alike with a humbucker bridge sounds really good through it as well.
The amp is a tad noisy sometimes, but I'm certain the tubes need replacing, so that's understandable. The only other complaint I have is that at very low volumes it's always distorted. But I'm talking about levels quiet enough that a baby could go to sleep in the next room, and most people probably don't play that quietly very often.
When it's set for a clean sound, it stays clean even when played loud. When you overdrive it, the distortion is a great tube amp sound.

I bought it used for $200 used from a friend who paid about that at a pawn shop for it, so I don't know the history. But it's been carted around a moderate amount, clobbered, dropped a couple of inches, knocked over, and suffered no ill effects. I trust it.

I haven't dealt with Peavey directly yet, but their web site is prety good. I got a free PDF copy of the manual there, and I'm ordering the schematic. We have a couple of authorized repair centers in the area, and the one I deal with has an excellent relationship with Peavey.

I played for several years, stopped for about 12 or 13, and have been playing for a year or so recently. I've been around other musicians the whole time, so I'm familiar with the equipment. I also run sound at church on a Mackie mixer, with a variety of amps, 1/3 octave EQs and speakers. I have a Hagstrom 1 (Kent) guitar with completely new electronics.
I would definitely consider another Peavey like this. Ideally I'd like to play one side by side with a Lab L5, and pick between them. In the price range, I haven't found anything I like better.
Yeah, it's a bit heavy - but I haven't seen a good 100+ watt amp with two 12s and a reverb that was lightweight. Anyone who thinks this is bad should play an equivalent, old Univox!

This amp has a strange set up. It has two channels, yet there is not a push button to change between them. Each cahannel has its own volume controls, so you can mix both channels together at the same time. Each chennel has low, mid, high eq , and pull bright controls. The lead channel has a pull knob for THICK on the high, and a presesnce control. As well as a saturation knob. The normal gain channel has a pyramid and shift knobs. The amp also has killer reverb. The most magical part of the amp is the pahser. Even though it is not always "twanging" it is acticve. You can mix it to get deep nasal like sounds. IT is the true heart of the amp. The amp is a hybrid with a solid state pre amp, and a tube power amp. The tubes are 4x6L6GC's. It also has two monster transformers with a high power and low power.

You have to really play with this amp to get your tone. It is pretty universal for all playing. Yet I reccomend it for blues and classic rock playing. The best way to use the amp is to play with every feature over and over. I personally have about 4 diffrent tones I like out of it. At first I was disapointed with my choice of this amp. It dosen't have a straight forward sound. You really have to play with it a lot, the tones are in there you just got to find them. It is also very loud, so loud i think it would blow the stock speakers. The overall tone is a bit hollow unless you play with the phaser, then the amp comes alive. I used to leave it off, and that is why I thought it sounded bad. You got to use the phaser in the pulled out posotion.

Heavey and tough. It has huge transformers, Over all it is pretty rugged. I've had it for a year and used no backup. Tube wise I reccomend using Sovtek 5881's or the Sovtek 6L6GC. If you really play hard I would change the speakers.

Peavey has always been cool about service, I'm sure the parts are still available.

I am very happy with this amp. BUT YOU HAVE TO FIDGET WITH IT. I would buy another, if I could find one. I have only seen one other. Good bang for the buck.