Peavey Special 130

Pre gain, Saturation, post gain, clean volume, eq. low, mid\shift stack knob, high (pull thick), prescence, reverb 2 channels

I use mine with a homemade Gibson style guitar with PAF pickups (known for the smooth sound...I play some modern and classic rock, hardcore, punk, ska, and some blues, and it works great for just about everything I use it for. I've had a few quirky problems which I'll explain...My clean channel has never worked right, and when it sorta half-worked, it was so sensitive that it wasn't woth using. The previous owner of mine had it hot rodded at 4 ohms pushing 300 watts. THIS AMP IS LOUD

this amp rocks. I have never had any major problem with it...I've had some strange noise in the pots, but that corrected itself. I've had it cut out a few times, which was easily remedied by a good whack with the fist (my hand still hurts). I would never have the money for a backup, but if I did I'd get another one of these (maybe I'd steal it from some of the guys who submitted reviews that said they wouldn't care if it was stolen) It's bulletproof...I've played at hardcore and punkrock shows and had it thrown off the stage more than once.

I've played since I could lift a guitar (I'm 17). I have a Korg multi pedal that works likea bunch of stompboxes (great for those of us who don't like all this programming shit). If it were stolen, I'd chase down the SOB that took it (they wouldn't get far, it weighs a ton), and kill him for touching it. Then i would beat his miserable body into the ground with it. The only thing I hate about it is that when peeps look at it, they say, "What a piece of crap!" so then i have to melt their eardrums to show them what I think of their opinion. Oh, yeah, ask my parents wht they think of it...:-P

This amp was made in the early 80's. It is real simple, the only features are channel switching and reverb on/off (via footswitch) and a midrange boost knob. I wish there were an effects loop in/out that was footswitch controllable. The one thing thsi amp really has going for it is it is LOUD! I have been using this amp now for about two months (my other main amp is the Bandit 112) and this 130 is far and away the loudest amp I have ever played. Even on outdoor gigs with upwards of 1000 people in the audience I have not had to turn the volume knob past 2! The speaker is really wierd, too. It has a hole where the center of the cone is. I have no idea why this is, but I like the sound of it.

I am using the Special 130 with a number of electric guitars, mainly my cheap Japanese Kramer Focus 1000. I play in an oldies band (50's and 60's cover tunes) and this amp is fine for that. I use very little heavy metal type distortion, but I like the cheesy fuzz sound of the 130's overdrive channel.

Built like a tank, weighs way more than it should for its size. I'll probably stick some wheels on it soon. I would definitely trust this thing to get through any gig. Hey, it's a Peavey!

Never had to deal with Peavey.

I have been playing since TV was black and white. Most of the stuff I have is Peavey amps and cheap Asian copies of real American guitars (I like them better). I would definitely try to replace this amp if it were stolen, but I don;t know if there are too many more out there.

This post is an update from my 4/26/99 post.

Now that I have a nicer amp, possibly my earlier rating of 5 was too harsh. I mean $175.00 got me alot of amp for the dough.

I traded my Special 130 in a few months back to move into a tube amp and cabinet set-up. My 130 had just started doing some funny things. First, it began having a minor cutting out problem. Two, a few of the pots began getting noisy. My feeling on the amp is that the 130 watts was rattling everything to death. You might need to tighten things up occasionley and check electrical connections from time to time to keep one reliable.

No idea, I've heard Peavey is pretty good.

Down one point because of minor reliabilty problems, but for a first amp or backup you won't get a meaner amp for the money. When I hooked mine to a 4-12 cabinet it was unreal, what a wall of sound it spit out. Brutally loud, and I mean brutal, loadest combo I've ever heard by a long shot (the tag said "LOUD" when I bought it)

Manufactured in 1981

Purchased in 1982 in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada - I am the original owner.

My previous amp was a 1975 Silverface Fender Twin. The Peavey is the loudest amp I've ever owned in 30 years of playing, and has never been overshadowed by competing louder equipment (or drummers) It was a technically versatile amp for its time, if a little complicated to set up and use. The overdrive / dirty chanel was never a strong feature, and if that is what you require, do not buy this amp. If you play clean, but like lots of ability to cut through, you can not find a better amp. Features are well described in other reviews on this site - I won't bore yoy with them. I always wished the amp had a vibrato effect.

From '82 to '95, the amp was used with a 1981 USA made Fender Bullet Deluxe, 2 pick-up guitar to play mostly country music. It was a good match, and I often had other players comment on my sound. Since 1995, I've been using an Ernie Ball/Music Man Albert Lee Signature model, which is now my main guitar and which incidentally is the very best guitar I've ever played or owned - period. The guitar and amp sound beautiful together. Clean, crisp, smokin' !!

Had the reverb unit serviced about seven years ago. Apart from that, zero maintenance and has never ever failed me. A testament to Peavey build quality if ever there was one.

Never had to use it.

This has been my sole amp since 1982.

I'd buy it again, but I've alwas hankered for a Music Man

Again. I Continue to review something of my Rhythym guitarists (Because I love Submitting Reviews). The amplifier is possibly an 1981 or 82 model, versitile, and has two channels, an effects loop, outs for speaker cabinets, and 100% solid state (for the early 80's) circutry. It has controls for Pre (Pull for bright), Saturation, Post, Clean Volume (Pull for Bright), Low, a stack knob midrange controll with controls for shift, high (Pull for thick), Presence, and Reverb. As far as tone goes it is extremley versitile but it has its own voice (It has some mod's made to it which I will expalin later).

If you read my past reviews+ the other lead humbucker/rhythym Single coil guitars I have made in the past few months, I have used them all on this amp and It seems like it makes the weakest little Ethiopian plank with Lego pickups sound HUGE!!! It's noisy, but that is because this amplifier is pushing more wattage and speaker than it had to begin with. The guitarst told me he had a 12" Peavy Scorpion Speaker and 200 Watts of power added to it all to make a 300 watt powerhouse (I know it sounds crazy but if you saw how sensitive the volume knobs are, you'd see what i mean). I played through it at a gig at AUM and we only had to turn it up to 2 and it was loud enough to hear across the soccer field, any further we could have taken our tone to the interstate not so far away. This amp is clean as a whistle on the clean channel, I bet it even at ten (I am not going to try, that would be like the Apocolypse if I did that on either channel). The distortion is a blizzard of noisy implements much like nails, and washers, and bolts, and sharp shards of glass being hurled at you by a force 5 tornado/hurricane.

If you punched this amp it would break your fist. It weighs too much to break down.

Just talking about this behemoth combo would squash somebody.

If it werent for the weight this amp would be almost perfect. It needs HEAVY DUTY castors. It has a theft protection though, the person hauling this amp away would crumble under it's enormous weight and be found the next morning, squashed like a little bug, under this amp. Oh! It may look like a little combo with one speaker, but I am almost giving myself a hernia just at the thought of lifting it up.

this amp has more than enough power, if only you could get a good dirty sound without losing what your playing into the sea of fuzz.
But for an older amp and for a relative new comer to the world of equipment it does me fine.
When i have reverb on it tends to somtimes pick up radio which totally messes up the sound.

i use a fender strat standard with the standard pick ups in it.
the amp suits generally most styles you would want to play.
the amp does tend to make alot of noise when you use the dirty channel but i use a boss noise gate which helps to get rid of most of the back ground noise.

i wouldnt use it at a gig without a back up.
i got it about a month ago and sometimes it cuts out.

I traded a Fender Frontman 25R and a Randall practice amp for it. The guy thought it was 45 watts, but apparantly it is 130W. Lots of useless knobs for me, no reverb or channel switching on the amp itself, you need a footpedal for that. High mid low EQ, and a Thin-Fat knob. Dirty and clean channel, reverb, "thick" pull-out knobs.
Unfortunately, there is no real Master Volume setting, makes it hard to be clean and loud.

I use a customized Fender Stratocaster. I had two humbuckers put in. I play blues, metal, rock, and some punk. The amps two channels are different beasts altogether...

Clean : I love the clean channel on this amp. It's real powerful, and the amp's reverb is excellent. I use a Digitech RP3 through it for now (planning on Boss GE-7 and MetalZone when cash is available) and it actually sounds pretty good. I prefer the amps reverb over the RP3's, and I use it even with distortion. With good pedals you can get basically any sound you want out of the amp, it wont interfere and screw up the signals. I'm not exactly sure how to turn up the volume with out turning up the gain on the clean channel, so I just turn up the Output Level on the RP-3, and it works fine.

Dirty : Don't expect even a half-decent sound out of the dirty channel. It just sucks. Its kinda hard to explain how bad it is, but take my word for it, its not pretty. The best I have been able to get out of it is an adequate blues lead sound for practicing!

I've had it for only 2 weeks, but it isn't broken, defective, or even beat up looking for an old machine.

N/A

Out of all the amps I have had, this one has been the most powerful, and easily has the best clean sounds by itself. Because the Frontman I traded was almost new, I think both myself and the dealer made out pretty good. If you are looking for a clean slate to add effects to or run a processor through, this is definitely the amp for you. If you want a more practical compact amp that you can take around to plug-in-and-jam, then you'll be disappointed.

its a old amp,im not sure i bought it used.just read the other reviews for this part,they have the same features

im using a fender mex strat and a palmer guitar.the strat sound good,better then what it sounded on my other amp,the palmer is a heavey metal type guitar.it fist my style good(some metal,"grunge",punk,that stuff).this amp could probably produce alot of diff tones. this amp is really loud and sounds pretty good for the age of it.the clean channel is ok but could be better,the dist. channel isnt that good,maybe i need to work on it to find the dist. better but its hard to hear the dist but when you do it pretty good.it sounds good at low volumes,havent tried high voulem yet but it seem like it would be good.

this amp is really reliable.its real solid and i trust it alot.i would most likely use it without a back up,yeah probably would since its so loud and stable.this amp has never broken down on me.

nope

ive been playing for 4 years,im only 14 so i guess its a good amount fo my age.if it was lost or stolen,i would probably get a new amp,or try to get this one back.i dont like the weight of it,its pretty heavey to carry around everywhere but nothing to complain about.i wish it had better dist. and tubes,that would be better,i would buy a dist. pedal for this amp.

this amp has plenty power and volume.It has a excellent tone.This amp is good for country and if you have two amps it sounds great.

I play a glaser strat and get a great sound.I use two special 130s with a t.c.chorus m-one processor and get a excellent sound.I play country,gospel,blues and rock and te amp does the job.

I play every weekend and have used the special 130s for the past fourteen years without any trouble.I use it without backup.

Have not dealt with company.

Excellent sound and very dependable.The amp is good for any music you want to play.You just have to know how to set it.

Bought it new in '89 for too much money. Dirty channel never satisfied me. Clean channel was a decent sounding blank page to add effects to. Effects loop never sounded right to me. Like putting an electronic pillow in the signal path. Didn't like the eq setup after a while. The mid-shift cut/boost pot sucked. Felt and sounded cheap. The pull-out knob "thick" settings were useless to my Strat. Reverb was ok for a spring unit.

Used with an old Aria Pro 2 and an old Strat. Metal/Hardcore/Experimental styles. Dirty channel was ok for classic rock fuzz at high volume. It lacked the chunkiness that I like. Turning up the low frequency eq just made it sound boomy, and with the power of this amp, frapped speakers are easily achieved at high volume. I hooked up an old Traynor PA bin with an 18" speaker to speaker out#2. I'm sure something similar could help fill in the bottom. I lent the amp to a friend and it came back bleeding overdrive saturation into the clean channel. Not a big deal since I never played clean on the clean channel anyhow. Best sound achieved with an old distortion stompbox and a chorus pedal. This amp is FACE_RIPPING LOUD! Feedback galore as you can imagine.

Other than blowing the speaker and that pre/saturation bleedthrough thing, This thing is a solid (and heavy!) chunk of transistors. I played with the blown speaker for a year and it still screamed.

Never had to deal with the company.

I've been playing 17 years. I've tried all kinds of different signal processing equipment in all kinds of configurations with this amp. It doesn't sound great at low volumes. It has too much power for an amp its size to use with only a single 12". Its almost bulletproof and it'll make your ears bleed, but if someone ever steals it, I'll try something else.