• Great Amp!

  
  As reviewed by Keith Kimzey on 4/15/2010

  Back in the 90's I purchased a Classic 50 head with a 4x10 cabinet, along with a used Fender American Standard Strat, and the tone I got was phenomenal! The amp was my main rig for many years. I owned a Mesa Boogie single rectifier. It had great tone, but I was always having to send it in for repairs, and that gets tiring very fast. But the Peavey never broke down on me once. When my oldest daughter turned 16, I gave her one of my strats and the Classic 50 amp. However afterwards I found out that Peavey discontinued making the Classic series. I was very disheartened. Then last fall I found out that Peavey was making the amps again and purchased one along with a Custom Shop strat. That bluesy tone that I love so much was there! It is a very simple amp to operate, it has that great tube tone...and nothing gets better than tube! The only downside to the amp is there is no standby switch to let the tubes cool down. The most important thing to the life of an amp is the longevity of your tubes. But this amp will give you those classic rock tones with a Les Paul, and that Texas twang a la SRV with a Strat. Don't worry about this amp being able to hold its own in an actual performance. It has a big tone and carry its own against a heavy-hitting drummer and a bassist with huge cabinets. I've ordered a second Classic 30 and will experiment running these 2 amps in stereo while onstage. I thought of getting another Classic 50 combo with 2x12s, but trying to lug around 60 lbs of amp is too taxing on this middle-aged man. I wish this amp was seen more in the music stores. I bought my Classic 30 down the street from where I live back in October 2009, and the same store has not had another one in stock since. If you see one of these amps, don't be afraid to plug into one and crank it up. You'll love it.

  24 of 24 people found this review helpful.
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• Great Little Amp

  
  As reviewed by Jack on 5/17/2010

  I looked at a lot of tube amps, I read a lot of reveiws. I had a budget, I was working in I could have gotten a Bugera 1990 half stack. I was thinking about getting a Peavy 6505+ combo. But I played a Peavy Classic 30 and that was all she wrote. It suites me right down to a tee, its got the best sound I have ever heard from an amp. The cleans are better than a Fender amp so is the price tag. Its made right here in the good old USA. I can take it to church and play it, couldnt do that with a half stack. At 30 watts I still havent turned it up past 3 its got a great distortion I dont know why Fender doesent do something on the distortion side its a real shame about that. The Peavey classic 30 is a very very good amp, its good looking ,its light enough, loud enough. I'm glad I picked this up I'm gonna play it all weekend and then I'm gonna play it some more.

  19 of 19 people found this review helpful.
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• This one goes to 12!

  
  As reviewed by bennetas on 4/13/2010

  This amp sounds great. No DSP or modeling gimmicks... just great tone. I've had the unit for about 3 weeks now and I am impressed everyday with the warm sound that this amp produces. I traded in a Marshall JCM900 2x12 combo as I wanted to downsize a bit and the improved tone is drastic. The classic 30 exceeds the Marshall in all aspects. Before the JCM900 I have a JCM2000 DSL 100W head and 4x12 cab. Of course this rig was really loud but the tone of the Classic 30 is unmatched. The clean channel is sparkling. You get a real nice warmth and a little bit of an edge when you turn the gain up. The lead channel is extremely versatile as you can get a huge amount of gain or just add a little grittiness. The separating factor for me is that even with the gain cranked to 12 (that's right, beyond the Spinal Tap 11!)individual strings/notes still sound very distinctive. In other words, the overdrive doesn't replace and overpower the note but supports the note; it's hard to describe but it sounds great and certainly didn't exist on my Marshall JCM units. I just purchased the optional 2-button floor switch and haven't received it yet but I am looking forward to switching channels and turning reverb on/off hands-free. In short, this amp has far exceeded my expectations and I recommend it highly as a practice/recording amp or for small live performances. It can handle any type of music; of course certain effects will be required for metal or more specialized sounds. Very impressive especially considering the price tag. Try it out!

  16 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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