Peavey JSX Mini Colossal

This little monster has everything it needs.
-Volume
-Tone control
-Tremolo effect Speed/Depth
-One 12AX7 and one EL84
-Mic Sim XLR out
-Built in Attenuator (Power Sponge), which basically functions as a master volume
-FX loop
-Cabinet Impendance 4,8,16 Ohms
-Comes with an 8 inch Weber Speaker
-CHROME KNOBS!!

It's got quite alot for it's size and don't be fooled...this amps sound depends on what you throw at the input and that's where it's versatility lies.I know there isn't a 3 band EQ but I'll give it a 10 because it doesn't need one, plus you can always throw an EQ on the FX loop.

As I said this amp does not forgive sloppy playing.I believe that if you can pull out your licks on this amp you can pull them off with any modern amp.The dynamics responce is amazing so if you're a shredder who needs a high gain amp that always gives you 150% this is not your amp.BUT if you give this little amp a chance you might fall in love with it.

It can get from CLEAN,Crunch...and I mean CRUNCH, to down and dirty OverDrive.I use it with an Ibanez JS1000 with passive dimarzio Humbuckers and a Satchurator for Dist/Gain boost.It sounds killer!If I set the amp at a point where it starts to break up, use the Satchurator and consider that this pedal has a MORE switch I can basically have a variety of tones.It's almost as having 3-4 channels.

This amp is very responsive to your guitars volume knob...unless ofcourse you've got active EMGs or other active pickups.Actives don't cooperate well with the Mini Colossal.

I managed to get some really modern rock-Satriani tones with the Mini colossal-Satchurator but DO NOT FORGET this is a Vintage sounding Class A amplifier.IT SOUNDS VINTAGE!And don't underestimate the 8 inch speaker...it can get loud for 5 watts on it's own.I also hooked it up with a 2x12 Marshall cab and it was LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD!You can easily rehearse with a rock band if you use a cab with the Mini Colossal.

Using your guitar volume is the trick to get this amp to really sing.The Tremolo effect sounds brilliant...analog!Do I need to say more?

Also the XLR output sounds great.It doesn't sound 100% exactly like the amp, but this not a big surprise since speakers colour your sound.If you use a speaker simulator you can get BIG sounds with the XLR and the amp sounds so warm!

The Mini Colossal can be Very quiet or VERY Loud!

This thing is built to last...it fell off a 2x12 cab high after playing with it and take a wild guess!Nothing happened to it!No tube damage or cosmetic damage!It's build like a tank and it's quite heavy for 5 watts.

I never had to deal with them so far

The Mini Colossal is an overall great Class A amp.

You can practise,record and gig with it!It's sounds a bit small with the 8 inch speaker but when I threw a 2x12 it sounded BIG AND LOUD!You won't believe this till you listen for your self...it can get loud!

This little beast sounds warm and welcome!It's a great amp!I just love it!Oh and it sounds great with wah wah!!It's the first time I've dealt with a One channel amp and haven't been bothered by the fact.

The only CON I can think of is the PRICE.It IS PRICY!But if it sounds good I personally don't bother much.Yes you can get a wide variety of Heads-Combos at the same cost but I personally prefered the it's sound, plus the fact that I will be ACTUALLY playing this amp.It wont just sit in the corner playing at low volumes.

Bought the amp in November 2007. Selectable ohms, ext cab capable. 8 inch internal speaker built by Weber specially for this amp. Tremolo rate and depth controls. Volume and tone. effects return, power sponge. XLR out, a great feature and runs very true to my guitar tone. % watts but sounds excellent. * becaue I wish it had a bit more power like 5 to 15 or 20 watts switchable.

A great sound from clean to dirty. The trick is to make sure you use your guitar volume and tone controls also, doing so makes this amp a lot more versatile and easier to get the tone you are looking for out of it. I use the XLR into a firebox and my mac or powered speakers and think it does a good job of reproducing the amps tone. It also take pedals very well but I find I love the tone without so I don't use them much. Also a big change was the tubes. The 12 ax7 failed in a few weeks, it happens, and I didn't care for the EL84 in it as much as a Russian Military tube 6n14p I put in. A very good tube. I did almost return the amp I hated it that much at first when I got home. But when I learned it was a Weber speaker I gave it a few weeks of beating to break in. Very important to break this speaker in good for the best tone.

This little amp was knocked off of a 4x12 cab by my toddler and it bent a knob shaft but just keeps on running, another plus for that Russian Military tube, very robust. This amp as been thousands of miles with me and just keeps running. 10 because my toddler and I have tested it, a lot!

The few times I have dealt with PEavey were positive. A call is best but they are busy so you may wait a bit. Emails do get answered but can take a long time but if you aren't in a hurry they will answer. I think they have great customer service. 8 beacuse of wait times

I have two other peavey amps and a slew of Guitars and some mandos and other gear. I wish this JSX was in the 20 watt range but since it isn't I am building a Weber Smokin Joe 2 kit. I would replace it if it was stolen. I have thought of running two for stereo. I give an 8 just becasue it was a bit pricey.

It's a small amp with lots of character. The 8" speaker takes away from the "beefy" range, but you can drive an external speaker cab when needed. I think you could use this amp with a pretty quiet band. If you use a bigger cabinet, you might be able to rehearse with a louder band (I'm not sure). If you play with a really loud band, this amp won't have enough power (without PA support).

It has deliberately simple controls. The tone knob produces a nice range of useable colors. It lacks a separate knob to boost bass (which with an 8" speaker, would have been useful). It has a pair of parallel speaker outs (one is connected to the internal speaker). It has a speaker load selector switch (4, 8, 16 ohm) so you can match the amp to the speaker(s) you use. There is a control called a "Power Sponge" which allows you to attenuate the volume of the amp, without affect the tone or drive. You can have a big distortion sound but keep it on the down-low. The tremolo is very well done.

I use an American Standard Strat, and I find the sound through the speaker to be very versatile, interesting and pleasing. The clean tones are sparkly and smooth. With a little overdrive, it sounds clear and aggressive but not harsh. I like the hard overdrive of this amp, but I am not very experienced with hard distortion sounds.

There is an XLR output on the back of the amp that supposedly has a mic'ed speaker emulation engaged. I didn't like the sound of this output. It just doesn't sound right. Some notes sound weird, the distortion seems to fight with certain pitches. It can be used in a pinch, and for some applications, it might be alright, but I wouldn't use it for anything critical.

I've heard that hooking up a 12" or a 2x12" is the key to getting the most out of this amp. I like the 8" speaker sound for some things. It does have a charming personality, and will fit nicely in an ensemble sound, as long as something else is handling low-end.

When I got the amp, the metal cage that covers the tubes was only attached on one side. I found two screws and fixed it. Otherwise, the build quality seems very good. The 8" speaker seems a little lightweight.

They put high quality tubes in this amp. The control knobs on the front are solid metal (brass?), and the power cord is a standard removable grounded cord. Seems to be made very well.

I have not dealt with their support yet, so I can't offer any opinion.

So far I am pretty happy with the amp. I don't have enough experience with tube guitar amps to be able to give a comparison with other amps. I like that it is Made in the USA because I like to support manufacturing and labor in my own country. I've had good luck with Peavey gear in the past.

It will be a great practice amp, I will use it for recording (rather than the tube emulators I have on hand). I love that it is very portable and versatile.

I wish it had some way to boost bass, or that it had a bigger built in speaker, but overall, it is a nice product with some strong features.

This amp is designed to be a low power high quality recording/practice amp. It is full of features usefull in the studio.

5 watts of gritty Class A power

EL84 power tube
12AX7 preamp tube

Effects loop
Built in Tremelo

Built in power attenuator (awesome feature)

XLR line out with cabinet simulator (sweet feature)

Output knob (attenuator)
Volume knob
Tone knob
Tremelo rate knob
Tremelo Depth knob

Very touch responsive. Goes from crystal cleans with the volume on one and a single coil pushing it to wonderfull overdrive with full powered humbuckers in front and the volume at 6. Back off the guitars volume to adjust gain. If you need more put a tube screamer in front it sounds incredible.

Built like a tank. It's a Peavy that's built in the USA. It'll outlive me if I keep tubes in it.

I have been playing for 14 years and owned several amps over the years from Music Man, Fender, Matchless and Mesa Boogie. This is my first Peavy. I've always liked the JSX head's overdrive and lead tones but never needed a an amp that powerful. When I tried this amp out I played a Fender Deluxe Players Strat through it. The combination sounded so good I bought them both. This amp cost the same as a Bad Cat Mini (great little amp which I almost got), and with the attenuator, tremolo, effects loop and xlr out it is much more versatile.

5W, all tube class A amp, single channel. It has an effect loop, an XLR recording output and a power sponge to control the volume of the 8 inch speaker.
The front controls are minimalist and to the point : volume, tone, plus speed and depth controls for the built in tremolo.
At the back you have a switch for the ground lift, and a dial for the power sponge.
Very easy to get a wide range of sounds, from clean to overdrive.

This amp is a little wonder. It really forces you to control the volume, not only at the amp itself but at the input, i.e. your guitar.
I'm playing two JS1000 guitars, one with a PAF Joe in the neck, the other with the PAF Pro. Both guitars have FRED pu in the bridge.
Even though the sounds and tones of the amp are fantastic (in my opinion), I find it very difficult to get clean tones with my setup. The only way is to use the coil tap and rollback the guitar volume to around 8, with the amp's volume at 1.
But for bluesy tones, this amp gives awesome warmth and has a very vintage character.
Pushed to the max, it manages to produce some nice gritty distortion but clearly this thing needs a distortion pedal to make it go to 11.

The amp is very quiet, I have not had the opportunity to use the ground lift. The power sponge works quite well, and this feature is a godsend! I live in Japan and sound insulation is not the main priority of the mansion builders here... With the powers ponge I can play with the distortion level I like without having people complaining.

I like the recording output very much but you have to keep in mind that this signal will need a bit of reverb added to sound great. The first time I recorded the amp through this, it sounded a bit "closed", even though the tone pot of the amp was at 8. Once I dropped a little reverb, the sound opened up nicely.

It is built sturdily and gives a reliable impression. I wouldn't worry.

Never dealt with them.
Comes with standard 1 year warranty from Peavey.

I've been playing on and off for about 12 years, mainly blues/rock, Satch type of stuff, with some jazz sprinkled here and there.

I had a marshall valvestate combo back when I was in Europe, but ever since I moved to Japan, it's been difficult to justify buying an amp, because of space and also volume constraints. I've been using all kinds of amp virtualisation/simulation stuff and never was satisfied with those.

The JSX mini colossal was the thing I've been looking for. It doesn't take much space, and I can play at bedroom level with the amp cranked at 10, thanks to the power sponge. The fact that Satch is behind it is just icing on the cake.

If I had to design a version 2 of it, I'd refine the EQ of the XLR output to sound a bit more like the Palmer speaker simulator, and would enhance the loop circuitry. Other than that it's fantastic as it is. If stolen, I'd definitely buy another one.

brand new mini, 5 tube watts, single channel, one volume knob, one tone knob, 'sponge' (power soak), xlr recording out, seperate speaker outputs at different ohms, efx loop

excellent range of clean to distortion. true tube touch sensitivity and overdrive characteristics. on clean, you dial the tone way down, on distortion, way up. if you put single coils in, you get a lot of clarity at any gain setting. with humbuckers, it can get mushy at the highest gain settings. putting a overdrive, distortion or clean boost in front of it was the best way to get what i like out of a tube amp. responds well to pedals. using a yamah DG stomp fx pedal in the loop, was as clean sounding as my boogie loop. there is some tone suck in the loop. boosting the output of the dg stomp overcame the suck.
best used as a 'crunch' machine, driven by a high quality distortion pedal (barber direct drive) for high gain tones.
xlr out, was the reason i bought it. works like a charm. not as clean and natural sounding as my Palmer PDI-09, but for the cost versus performance factor, it's a winner.
8" speaker sounds like ***. big suprise there.... but unplugging the little combo speaker, taking the 8 ohm output to my closed back 1x12 cab with celestion greenback, and the amp creates sonic bliss.
in my mind, recording direct, and only using the 8" speaker as a means to get some physical feedback from the amp, is the forte of this little combo.

haven't had it long enough to comment.
made in USA does have a bit more clout to me, than MIM or MIJ or made in china.

waiting for months, literally, for this thing to come out, i was met with many run-around excuses for why this thing was late, late, late coming out.
whatever the REAL reason why this thing was a good half a year late with it's release, is probably a secret that Peavey wants to keep.

for what this is, and for what it was designed for (certainly not micing the speaker) i give kudos to satriani, and peavey, for making an excellent little recording/practice amp.
i believe, if they were to release this in a HEAD ONLY version, they'd sell like hotcakes.

It's fairly simple. But for a 5 watt Class A amp. It has built in Power Soak, Tremolo, volume, tone control, effects loop, ground lift, selectable impedance 4,8,16 ohms, simulated xlr recording out. Internal speaker is 8 ohms. Can get very loud or very quiet and retain great tone. One EL84 and one 12ax7. Also has additional speaker out or you can disconnect internal speaker and just use a separate cab or both internaal speaker and ext. cab.

I found the clean very vintage sounding and I love it. I liked it better with single coil pickups. I plan on using it for clean stuff and bluesy stuff. I find the crunch good but i would like to put an OD pedal in front to liven it up some.

seems good

haven't dealt with them

i think it's a great amp...i suggest buying used though. I don't think it's quite worth the hefty penny internet retailers are offering it for. But it's a great amp for sure! A Keeper!

As you may know,this amp is a very simple 5watt Class tube amp with on EL84 and one 12AX7. It has an 8 in Weber speaker,effects loop, a speaker extension jack out,a Direct Out that simulates the cab being mic'ed and a built in tremolo circuit as well as a speaker attenuator (Power Sponge).
For a small amp it does pack a lot of features to give it some great versatilty for practice,studio , or even live applications.

This amp gives you back what you put into it. Single coils are cleaner sounding while humbuckers break up quicker. Play it soft and its very mellow and chimey...whack the strings and it goes right into sweet overdrive. It breaks up very quickly on the volume but thats the beauty of this type of amp. If you think of the volume as your pre amp gain and the power sponge as your master volume, you can crank the volume (I prefer it between 4- 7) and get some nice grind at real low volumes. Straight in the amp yields gain levels somewhere around Hendrix (Voodoo Chile) and SRV at least with a strat. It takes to OD pedals well....but there is no need to crank gain on pedal...use it as a boost if more gain is needed. I like to control the gain all with my guitar volume as this cleans up nicely by dropping the volume a bit.

Everyone is unhappy with the 8 inch speaker choice and guess what ...unattenuated higher volumes...sound just like an 8inch speaker!!!!!lots of speaker distortion...farting out, and buzzy gain...BUT a small turn of Power Sponge cleans this up and with the ext speaker out you can drive a any cab up to a 4 x 12 nicely with this amp. In fact I used this at a band rehearsal....everyone laughed when they saw size of amp....but I plugged it into a 4x 12 Marshall...sent a line out to mains..... a little monitor level ( not needed but it was there) ... and I tweaked the volume level and Powers sponge to give me the gain I wanted and the volume I wanted through the cab and PRESTO I filled the room with cranking guitar without blowing my ears out and it easily got over the drums (classic rock band doing Hendrix to Van Halen..btw). Best yet was the guitar filled room evenly this way...no loss of sound as walked around. Bottom line, there is no reason why you cant gig with this with the right PA support and a extension cab if you had to.

I also use this in smaller practice spaces with the line out to PA and speaker up near my head attenuated and its great as a portable practice amp...NO MORE 90lbs combos up and down stairs and in/ out of car twice a week.

I wont comment on recording / or tremolo circuit because my experience is limited with these.

So far this amp does exactly what I need it to.....in a real portable size and at manageable volumes.

SO far so good...the only quirk is at low ( near zero ) attenator levels sometimes the volume slowly jumps up and down a touch. I believe this is just a quirk of using the attenuator at this level.....a small nudge one way or the other does stop this though.
Time will tell if this is a problem.

Only thing I wish it had was a 12 in speaker....but then it wouldnt be so light and portable. To be honest, the attenuated 8 in speaker is just fine for late night practice in my home with the volume down low. The speaker ext and Direct out more than make up for this feature though.

I bought this amp because I wanted a tube amp that I could play at apartment level volume with and still get that tube mojo. This amp is 5 watts to begin with, but also has a built in power attenuator that let me dial in the exact tone I am looking for at volumes that will not wake the neighbors. It is very simple - just a volume and tone knob along with the level of power soak on the back. The amp also has a tremolo, so there are a depth and speed control on the amp as well. Simplicity at its finest!

It has that chunky 3 dimensional tube sound I was looking for at any setting or at any volume. It takes all pickups qquite well, but my favorite are p-90's. It also works well with effects and my Line6 Floor POD.

Can't say, but it seems built quite sturdily. Very heavy for such a small amp.

No opinion

I am very happy with my purchase. At 500 bucks (599) list, it is pricey for what it is, but the sound makes me forget about that every time I plug into it. I love this amp!!