Peavey Ranger 212

Features? Yah..lots. Enough power? Enuff to make the ears ring at high volumes. Where do I use this amp? ( Where do you THINK I use it...under water? Yah, I'm SpongeBob's Lead guitarist.) She come with the JJ tubes for everything...with reverb and trem she is full up with features.

Yah. The les Paul. She sound preeeety good. Then I change to eminence speakers. Now she sound even better. Clean she sound very nice. Lead channel she can go anywhere with blues or heavy. Good for the Reggee and Soul sounds on either. Yah. She is good for everything. She make no noise.

What you think? I don't know. She seem good and heavily built.

What you think?

I play Island music and in church. I always bring her to every show. She never fails me. She is very good. She is quiet as a mouse too she make no unwanted noise.

This amp has two channels, an impedance switch (4, 8, 16 ohm), a ground switch, passive EQ for each channel with bright/boost/shift (contour) switches, spring reverb and tremolo (both with on/off footswitches), an effects loop with an adjustable level for the return, which also has its own on/off footswitch, Master Volume, Master Resonance, Master Presence and standby. The four-button footswitch is included, making feature management very nice and convenient, and for a 120 watt tube combo it has a lot of features going for it. It comes equipped with two Blue Marvel speakers, which are respectable sounding loudspeakers (Eminence manufactured.) The Blue Marvels are 8 ohm, wired in series for a 16 ohm load across the tranny with all 4 6L6 GC tubes operating. BTW?the amp ships Sino ?RUBY? STR tubes. They are okay sounding but they look cheap and weak, construction-wise. Reverb is pretty nice?about 2/3 as deep as your typical Fender reverb. It will do surf, but won?t match the benchmark depth of Fender reverb. Tremolo is excellent?I never put the trem?s depth above halfway?it?s deeper than any Fender?even Vibrolux / Vibro-Champ! This amp is heavy (almost 85 pounds, stock) and it needs casters to move it around. On the plus side?HEAVY amps sound the best?always have?always will. If SPL is a feature, this amp is LOUD!

STOCK RANGER: I?m using a Les Paul and an Ibanez SA 160 (FAT Strat clone) plugged into the low gain input. Dead stock with original speakers and tubes, the Ranger exhibits an acceptable & unremarkable, loud, clean signature up to around 7 on the dial of the clean channel, which is deafeningly loud, by the way. Pickup and wood character comes through acceptably. The sound is wide open, with almost no detectible compression. As the channel breaks up, it moves into a nice overdrive with single notes and chords decaying into clean fades. Very nice, with the kind of clean that brings to mind a Fender Twin, but not as round-shouldered. The overdrive channel will do ?Hard Rock? and early metal (Van Halen tones) with the gain up at 2/3 or so, using humbuckers. Single coils don?t sound nearly as crunchy as humbuckers through the Lead channel, in my opinion. Overall, the amp is respectable albeit unremarkable.
MODIFIED RANGER: I have modified my Ranger in the following ways:
1. Lowered output by removing two power tubes and switching the output impedance selector to accommodate the impedance mis-match. It?s just as loud but pushes only half the watts. The new power tubes are NOS ?original? Svetlana 6L6GCs, with the brown base. BTW, these are great tubes in this amp. JJs were a little too bright for me?just my personal taste.
2. New alnico Eminence speakers (35 watts power handling, each.) These speakers produce an exceptional clean AND crunchy tone, with zero mud and an unsurpassed clarity.
3. Preamps are NOS Phillips JAN types except for the driver, which is the original Peavey (SINO) 12AX7.
As with the stock appraisal, I?m judging the SOUND with a Les Paul and an Ibanez SA 160 (FAT Strat clone) plugged into the low gain input.
With the modification, I love the sound of this amp. As a matter of fact, I got this amp with the intention to get it ready for sale on ebay?it didn?t belong to me. I was asked to look it over and fix a bad pot, so the guy could sell it. I offered the option to him of selling it to me when he brought it to me, and he agreed. So I fixed the pot, installed the new speakers, lowered the overall power rating and installed new tubes. Once I did this, it came to life and I wound up buying it! Then I added casters, of course!
In modified form, the clean channel mimics the classic, powerful Fender Twin Reverb sound-sans the deep reverb and the JBL D-120 blast. EQ settings: all knobs on 10, effectively removing them from the circuit, which is how I ran my FTRs. Twins are like Porches; there is no substitute! This amp comes close, but no cigar. Mind you?the Ranger is terrific, as modified?it simply doesn?t match the sound of the two Twins I have owned. The Eminence alnicos very nearly match the clarity of the legendary JBLs, but fall short of the sheer POWER of the D 120s. To compensate I use the resonance control (a GREAT feature) to introduce a fuller low end (trying to emulate the FTR low end) and I?m telling you?this amp really delivers the goods for loud, round-shouldered clean, a beautiful crystal clear articulation and top-end shimmer. It sounds very full, rich and penetrating without a hint of nasally, midrange honk. Single coils or humbuckers deliver their personalities with authority and pick-attack is almost too articulate...you can?t hide any mistakes! String definition is the best I?ve ever heard?this amp has a SS rectifier, which helps of course. The Eminence speakers are extremely tight and surprisingly bottom-rich, with zero mud. The cone breakup doesn?t really start until they are up near full power, which is a level that is stupidly loud. I have to give this channel glowing remarks at all volume levels including living room levels, too. Try THAT with a FTR!
I play with clean tones mostly but I appreciate the original, Van Halen Brown Sound. I happen to love this sound, actually because it resembles a clean voicing but has the added capabilities of easy pinch harmon

Peavey Tube Amps are solidly constructed but REPLACE THE STOCK TUBES?that?s the only weak link. The Ranger has nice PC boards, a well constructed cabinet (heavy too) and it?s nice looking. As a platform for easy, non-invasive modifications, they are amongst the best choices. I had a BRAVO 112 for a while and that little guy was a fun amp with just a new speaker and some JJ EL84s?but not enough clean headroom for me, so it went to eBay. Peaveys are not P2P wired, so you can only go so far with the more ?organic? types of circuit mods, unlike P2P Fenders, Marshalls, etc. They ARE reliable. I never gig without a backup...do you?

I own (or have owned) lots of Peavey amps. Of the four that I have in my home right now, none has ever failed me at a show or rehearsal. I had a minor ?digital? glitch with a Transformer 112 and they took care of me like I was Hartley?s first-born son. They are the best.

Don?t overlook the Ranger 212. It is a fine starting point for building a first class machine. As a stock unit, it is very respectable, too. I would buy another one if mine ever got stolen. I would do the same mods, too.

Previous reviews cover this stuff...in short the Ranger is a two channel tube amp with 120 watts of power, on tap. Master Volume and channel volumes. Passive EQ. Reverb, tremolo and effects loop...all switched from a four button Peavey footswitch. Bright on clean...bright and contour and boost on lead channel. Pair of Peavey, 12" Blue Marvel speakers. Lots and lots of features. This amp street-priced at around 700-800 bucks when new, as it represents one of the most feature-filled amps in the peavey lineup, circa late 90s. For rock, it's hard to beat.

My son and I collaborated in obtaining this amp for him to use. We play in a band together and he has been wanting a tube amp (he owns a Peavey Revolution 112) so we took the plunge and stole this dusty gem for around $300 bucks. It came with a weak reverb and end-of-life tubes, not to mention the previous owner decided to use rubber cement to hold his cheap, chinese tubes (Ruby / Sino 6L6...made in china) in their sockets. The cement melted and congealed every time the amp was fired up so you can imagine the mess and the barnacle-like bond achieved by the cement. We had to break the tube base of one of the 6L6s just to remove it. It required some real effort and a lot of elbow grease to get the chassis back in tip-top shape, but we managed to clean it up and get it re-stuffed with Sovtek 5881 and NOS 12AX7 tubes. Whoa...what a difference! This amp flat out rocks for surf, rock, classic oldies and hard rock. Metal? Stick a pedal in front. The amp doesn't do NuMetal on its own. Not a problem for us...we do classic rock, surf and bluesy stuff.
So...how does this thing sound when it's in good health? For starters, I heard my son punching out PIPELINE on it today. Dead-on NAILS the soaking wet reverb and tone of the Ventures. The Tremolo is perfect for Ghost Riders or Apache. Clean is glassy and authorative...Lead is definitive ROCK..
If you purchase one of these and it doesn't sound excellent... replace the tubes. If you still have doubts, remove the chassis and clean the pots. This is a sweet sounding, powerful amp in the same vein as a 100 watt Fender Twin. It ought to sound excellent and it will with proper tubes and care.
The Clean channel's power curve is linear till about 5 on the channel volume. At 6 the amp gathers palpable power unto itself and begins to show a pronounced bottom end that thumps-no kidding. Incredible punch and clarity. This...with the master volume on about 4-5 and the resonance tuned to 4. Very reactive tone controls and the bright switch enable the user to precisely tailor the EQ to the power. Nice. Well mannered.
The lead channel has every texture from clean (Yes, you can play the lead channel clean, too!) to serious, biting crunch. Nice harmonic content, nice harmonic feedback. Doesn't get away from you, if you know what I mean.
The boost button is nowhere as reactive as the gain boost on my Peavey solid state amps, which is a good thing actually, since the Ranger's pre gain has more power and drive than I'll ever use. I don't use it or the contour button, either. This channel sounds great "as-is" without too much in the way of bells and whistles needed, IMHO.
Just for jollies, we tried a BBE sonic-maximizer processor in the effects loop...couldn't get a better sound...in fact ...it diminished the raw tone...so we deep sixed that idea. Adding a compressor to the front end enabled us to dial in the "sweet-spot" easily. I highly recommend a little compression up front, using the low gain input, for a nice smooth attack, focused punchiness and crystal clear definition.
At high volume levels the Blue Marvels get muddy. The previous reviewer suggests removing a pair of output tubes and adjusting the impedence of the amp to lower the overall power and get some power amp soak going at lower power levels. If you do this, you can climb to higher volume levels without the muddiness. It's a good idea, actually. At 120 watts, you really need to be pushing another 2-4 speakers, so as to balance all that power more efficiently. Dropping two tubes and running at 50% is worth investigating. (Don't try this if you don't know how to do it properly...email me for details.)
I can't fault this thing. It doesn't have any flaws that I can find.

All the tweaking was done with an Epiphone SG 300.

Reliability = PEAVEY. I'll change the tubes and check their tightness in the sockets every time I move it. That's all you need to do. Peavey makes 'em to last.
We don't do "no backup" gigs. It only takes one disaster to ruin your day...nevertheless, I trust this amp because of the Peavey nameplate. I never had a Peavey amp go south on me, ever.

Dealt with 'em on several ocasions. THE BEST.

I'm a long time player, over 50. Started out in bands in my late teens. I only recently got turned on to Peavey amps in the last 5 years or so. We own several Peaveys between us, and we are true believers when it comes to the Peavey products. The Ranger-although somewhat abused by the previous owner-turned out to be another reliable, good sounding Peavey amp. I recommend it. For the money it is an excellent buy, and I'm sure this one will be around for a long, long time.

BTW...spend 10 bucks and install good casters. Eighty pounds!

These were made in the late 90s and have the same livery as the first wave of TRANSTUBE amps...black and silver tolex and brushed aluminum. Comes stock with 2 X 12 Blue Marvel loudspeakers, Two Channels...clean and lead. The clean has a bright switch and passive EQ. (Close your eyes and listen...you'll swear it's a Twin Reverb.) Mine came (used) with replacement, Chinese RUBY 6L6 output tubes and Philips 12AX7WA preamps (4), which closely resemble the 7025 in tone. Lead channel sports the typical Peavey linup...pre and post gains and passive 3-band EQ with boost (more of a FAT switch), shift and bright buttons. The power amp has a tuneable cabinet resonance knob (very nice for dialing the amp's bottom end thump-very effective!) and a master presence, also very effective. Comes with the best tremolo I've ever heard and a decent but not fender-type reverb. Footswitch turns on/off: Reverb, Tremolo, Effects Loop, which is adjustable BTW. Also the channels switch from the 4 button footswitch. Impedance select switch (4, 8, 16 ohm) and a line out. Aux speaker jack. A LOUD 120 watts. Master volume and standby switch. Peavey's improved version of the venerable Twin Reverb...without the killer reverb. Tremolo makes up for it...it's better than the one on my Vibro-Champ. Features-wise...this thing rocks! Gotta take one point off cuz there's no casters on this 80 pound mutha!

With humbuckers in the clean channel it sounds very rich and full with nice harmonic content. Honestly, it can be made to sound more like a Twin than a Twin! (Except for the sopping wet reverb that is not present, of course.) Plenty of midrange bark with the volume (master) at around 3-5 with the channel volume at 9. This puppy can really growl and it's loud. Dial up the trem circuit and you're putting toes on the nose. Very surf-o-licious!
Clean has a nice variety of tone signatures. Sounds very nice through the Blue Marvels.
The Lead channel is touchy but it reacts well to individual guitars. Once dialed in properly to fit the guitar, it reacts well to volume roll-backs and picking nuances. It can be set for clean, grit, edge or full-on distortion. I can't get my SG to push it into a metal sound but it is perfect for bluesey stuff, rock and hard rock. The boost fattens up the channel's overall sound and seems to cut the presence some. I prefer the tone without it but it by no means is a bad feature. The midrange is selectable using the shift button; out is upper mids, in is lower mids. A nice touch for attenuating single coil harshness. I can achieve Marshall-like crunch easily with the pre gain at 5. Past that it's very compressed and loses some articulation, with the SG. From 1-5 there are a lot of nice tones. Good harmonics. Bright switch is very effective. What a killer sounding crunch this thing has. There is also a very nice bluesy tone available and it can do the Santana tone/sustain thing, too. Very versatile and it has enough power to play ANY venue. I can't wait to mate this with a 4 X 12, which brings me to a point...I prefer this thing with two 6L6 tubes in it rather than the stock complement of 4. It achieves a decent breakup sooner and at high volume levels the low end is tighter. I pulled the outer two tubes and changed the impedence to accomodate a pair rather than a quartet. I have never used pedals of any kind with it. No need thus far. Maybe a clean boost pedal will work its way into my lineup...but that's about all I'd ever need. I'll go with a 10 in the sound category.

I own several Peavey Amps. They are well built and last forever.

They know me by name. They're like family.

I've been playing for 20+ yeares. I used to love my old Twin Reverb but I sold it because it was too heavy to cart around. After a few years, I realized what a prized sound that amp produced. I have it back again (and more) in the Ranger 212. I love the sound of this amp; it's big and fat and cuts so well. This is an amp that is not well known. You can get one much cheaper than a Twin or a Super Reverb and it has more features! What an incredible amp this is. I'd buy it again in a minute. BTW...I'll be putting casters on this thing, for sure.

Have no idea what year this amp is. I bought it used off eBay. The lead ('drive' or 'dirty') channel is excellent in that it is so adjustable, with the pre and post gain controls. You can set it up extra overdrive or almost as a 2nd clean channel. Reverb is very adjustable and the tremolo is one of the best. Too many amps have set reverb and trem. Resonance and presence controls give even more control to sculpt the sound. Effects loop is very good, with no pop when selecting it.

Pretty much stated this above, clean is extra clean, from low levels to extreme volume. Lead channel very versitile, from clean to total dirt and extreme overdrive. I use this for a wide range of styles, early '60s British, old Blues, southern rock, metal, it does it all. It is LOUD, if you want it to be, but sounds great at lower volumes as well. It will do all a Fender will and, in my opinion, alot more.

seems to be built like a tank. I move it often and have never had a problem (except with my back from moving the weight of the thing, it is like 75 lbs.)

Haven't dealt with them, it is a used unit

I love it. very versitile, good tones, reliable. I'd look for another one if something happened. for the price I couldn't find anything close. Almost stayed away from the Peavey brand, but glad i didn't. Only amps that is comparable, for me, are the messa boogies, and you can't touch one of them for the $450 i got this for. I've played them side-by-side with Fenders and Mesas and they definately hold their own, and get compliments as well.

Well, I just wanted to say, that I bought the Peavey Ranger 212 because of these posts here. I was looking for a new amp for quite a while, played sum Marshall amps, but wasnt really satisfied with them. So i saw this 120 Watt tube amp on ebay, and thought what the heck i ll give it a shot, since it got such a good review. Anyway, I really like them amp. The sound is not as flat in the low volume range as the Marshalls are in my opinion. With the reverb on I feel like B.B. King ;-) the blues sounds awesome.

Well I am playing guitar for like a year now, and still got my Collins guitar an ST-10. Its one of the cheapest guitars ya can buy on the market, but actually sounds as good as the low price fenders.
As I said the clean channel is awesome, even cranked up the sounds is clear and just a little disorted.

Well, its my first tube amp, so my only fear is, that the tubes might brake sumtime. Since the amp is kinda heavy, almost 40 kg (could be 50kg ;-) ) its hard to move it around.... but with the amp's sound in mind, , ya will carry it everywhere ;-)

Never dealed with it, so dunno.... might find out sometime :)

Its just awesome! Good clean channel to play blues with reverb. The disortion isnt to bad either, I do like the Marshall's one better though, even if it sounds kinda artificial to me. BUT the sheer power of this amp, confinces everyone. Its loud, its clean its just wonderful to have !

Made in USA. purchased about 18 months ago new.

2 channel combo. features are pretty standard, 2 input, 2 channel, effects send, preamp out etc. but a few features really stand out.

First the power amp has presence and resonance control. This can really help you control your low end.

Second, the effects sent is great. It is switchable from the pedal swithces, and has voltage control. This is the best effects loop i have ever used.

third, 120 tube watts. super loud without mud.

I bought this amp, because I needed something really loud that had a good clean channel. I play lead, and tend to use a lot of effects. Many people with much more expensive gear than mine have commented on how nice this thing sounds. I think you can find these things used for $400 or so.

Only major complaint i have is the weight. Should have come with wheels. I've seriously considered buying a speaker cab, and chopping this thing up and making a head out of it. My other complaints are pretty minor. Wish the drive boost was more pronounced, and could be controled on the floor. All in all more features than any other combo i looked at.

BTW I almost never give 10's

Honnestly, I was hesitant to try this amp simply because of the peavey label. I looked at Marshalls, Fenders, Line6, Mesas, Johnsons, and a few other brands i cant remember right now. Of all of them the only ones that I liked as much or better were the mesas, I had about $1100 to spend, and The only mesas i could afford were the 1x12 combos. I liked the nomad quite a bit, but I wasnt sure what perspective bands would think when i showed up to try out with a 1x12 combo (I was bandless at the time)

Anyways the clean channel is super clean, but has a sepparate preamp volume which if cranked yields a nice mild over drive. The drive channel is versitile for just about any type of music you might want to use it for. A marshall stack sound will never happen, but i did jam with a metal band a few times, and it seemed to mix in quite well. My current band is kind of a straight up hard rock with 2 guitars. I live in Seattle so there's a hint of that early 90's sound in it. This amp fits it quite well when dialed in correctly.

I use an ibanez js100, and a hammer wannabe prs (dont know the name) The JS100 sounds great, the hammer (which sounds like crap through everything) sounds pretty good through it to. I tried my other guitarist thinline telle throug it and it sounded magical, and his les paul sounded great too.

Lots of variety and control on this amp, works great with effects. Would give it a 10 if the drive channel sounded more like that mesa nomad, but it sounds pretty great anyways. Sound very solid loud probably partly because of how heavy it is.

Havent had a problem yet. Year and a half in to it, should probably replace the tubes pretty soon. I play with out a backup, and this is not a piece of gear i really worry about, unless someone drops it. Give it a nine, because i have only owned it for a year and a half. If it no problems after 5 yr warranty expires then i guess ill come back and give it a 10.

When i bought it the shop had lost the manual. They called peavey, and i had it in a week. I've never dealt with them directly. This is my first peavey purchase, but i will make it a point to check them out in the future.

Love this amp. Maybe someday if i have $2500 burning a hole in my pocket i'd buy a mesa stack, or find some boutiqueish type stuff. I think i'd be better off to spend that money on a nice guitar or two. Sort of wish i bought a used one after seeing what they go for, but I think i did pretty well considering they were asking $799 for it.

I would give it a 10 if i could cary it on my shoulder, and not change anything else about it.

Bought my Ranger in 1999. It has great coverage and a big sound with lots of flexibility! I play a Fender set-neck custom shop strat w/Anderson-bucker and two "hot" single coils (can't remember the name?)I play country-rock and need lots of clean with headroom. The Ranger has enough to handle! My last amp was a Mesa Tremoverb.(Too heavy!) I also use a Burner tone/overdrive pedal to suppliment for some crunchier tones. This amp has been reliable and I have only one complaint...it's still too HEAVY! Otherwise...PERFECT!

Fender Set-neck Strat w/Anderson-bucker and 2 "hot" singles. Suits my "country-rock" style perfect! Noisey only in old buildings with bad wiring or close to RF waves. Lots of headroom for clean solos and overdrive to almost match my previous Mesa Tremoverb. Clean channel is undistorted at high volume. 7-8. Distortion is either crunchy or smooth. Doesn't have the snarl of a Boogie, though!

Never broke down yet! No backups for me! I don't neglect my equipment. I even bought an amp cover for it!

Never needed customer support! Yet!!!!

Been playing for 38 years! No other amp. I own a Pod, Mackie sound equipment, etc. If stolen? Gotta think about it! The weight gets to me! I love the versatility! I hate the weight! Compared it to my old Mesa Tremoverb. Wanted "balls/guts" with less weight!

This amp made in 1999.I Play hard rock and classic
and this one really KICK ASS.It have two
channels,a footswitch,I play every were and this
one no need more I mean it have 120w of TUBE POWER
thru a pair of twelve's.

I use a gibson custom,a fender Yngwie signature
and a Jackson RR.With them together l ready for
the WAR.The distortion kick ass and there fender's
like clean.With the distortion I can play anything
I mean its all tube power.

I can really depend of it in any
situations[gigs,jams,etc...]this one its like made
for war.Stock tubes no problems.

I never had to deal with peavy yet.5 years
warranty.

I been playing for 21 years,and I also have a mesa
heart braker,carvin legacy and there no compare
with the sound and feel of the ranger.If this amp
were stole or lost and I no money,I sold one my
others and buy it again.GET ONE THIS AND GO KICK'S
SOME ASS*************

This amp was probably made in 1999,he have killer
tone in both channels.I must play metal and heavy
rock,ozzy,iron maiden,etc..,thru a jacksonRR and
the sound is really fucking loud l mean there 120w
of tube power in 212 configuration.Before I get
this one I see some marshalls,fenders,etc...,but I
come home with the RANGER. RANGER'S REALLY KICK'S
ASS**********