Peavey Classic 30/112 
by WildHorseStudios from California, February 2008
Music Background:  Been Rockin and Rollin since 1964

I just purchased this amp Feb 2008 and it Rocks right out of the box. This amp came stock with JJ EL84's and JJ 12ax7's. I play Country, Blues and Classic Rock and Prefer this sound over my Fender 65 Twin Reissue. Comparatively the clean is a little grittier but a little more Rock n Roll at the same time. And this thing weighs 25 ibs lighter. The stock speaker sounds great with this amp and is a Peavey Spec speaker built by Eminence in the U.S.... It works very well in a band situation. I've plugged in an Epiphone Valve Jr cabinet that I have dropped an Eminence Patriot Heat into and it gives it an even rounder tone with more bottom. I put my RP350 and other pedals away and at the gigs just use this amp for clean and dirty. Awesome amp, American Made and highly recommended.

  great little amplifier 
by Matt from Harrisburg, PA, October 2007
Music Background:  performer, song writier

I think the Peavey Classic 30 is a fabulous little amplifier. It really does the EL84 sound well. I replaced the stock tubes with JJs and that made the voice of the amplifier sweeter, warmer, better defined and much more useful. I purchased the amp as a back up to my Marshall DSL 401 (also an EL84 circuit). After the tube change, I use both amplifiers without preference to one or the other. They are certainly not the same amp, but both have an EL84 sound. The beauty of the Peavey is it costs about half as much! On the other hand, it only has one tone stack... I undertsand that TECHNICALLY the classic 30 is a one channel amplifier with an additional gain stage in the preamp section whcih they call channel two. That is, you are loading more preamp gain to the clean channel when you switch 'channels'. That is how the Hot Rod Deluxe works, as well as the Crate Combo amps that have one tone stack. It's not a bad thing, it's just different than having two channels like the Marshall DSL 401.

I tried different speakers via extension cabinets. I do think there are benefits to changing out the stock speaker, but not enough for me. Besides, if I want to change the speaker sound, I have a couple extension cabinets, so I can do that any time I want to. When I play with my band, I can't not hear the subtle differences between various speakers. They do not make me play better, write better songs or become a better performer on stage, so the stock speaker is okay with me.

All in all, the Peavey Classic 30 is light wieght, easy to tweak out for good clean and over driven sounds, it is inexpensive, and it looks good. If you like the EL84 sound, I do not think there is a better low cost choice than this amplifier. I actually prefer it to the AC30 and AC15s that I have tried.

  New sound 
by Chuck from salem ct., November 2006
Music Background:  rootsrock & blues

I generally play blues and roots rock type things,I am an owner and long time user of fender guitars and amps,When I picked up the classic thirty and played it side by side with the fenders I found that instead of a not quite fender sound it has a unique sound, and found myself leaning more and more towards the peavey ,I use mainly the normal channel and set at a volume level around 4 it sounds really good and has no problem on it's own with bass and drums. The only problem I've experienced is tube rattle in the power section even with the existing clips it needs some tube taming.I love the way the preamp controls are interactive unlike most amps nowadays. the reverb is good but I suggest the use of a holy grail for a fender type vibe.I did use groove tubes in the power section to soften the sound and a speaker upgrade for personal preference, but if you have the time I would suggest breaking it in before making changes.For the price ya gotta know your gonna have to do some tweaking to get a first class rig but I find it to be a nice addition to the sound collection ! Buy the way I'm on strike over fender and gibson prices !

  Versatile, quality amp 
by tj from Chicago, IL, October 2006
Music Background:  Active Musician

This is my gigging amp and I love it. It's pretty lightweight and portable for a 30 watt tube amp and really has a great overall tone. This is not an amp for metal, nu metal, shred or other hi gain genres. But if you play country to blues to classic rock, or anything in between, this is a great amp.

It does suffer slightly from cheaper stock tubes and speaker. I say slightly because the amp really sounds great right out of the box. But swapping tubes (as I did with JJs) makes a big improvement on tone. A speaker change also helps a ton. Not that it's bad before the changes, but the changes make a huge difference. Which leads me to believe that the amp circuit itself is really quality and that's what is really driving the great tone here.

The EQ is pretty responsive. It takes pedals great. I use a couple overdrives and some modulation on both channels and it sounds really good. The FX loop is good to have because the drive channel has a great crunch. So I can put my modulation in the loop. It's not quite a Marshall crunch, but then again few amps are. There's alot of headroom on the clean channel (even more now that I put the JJs in it. The clean channel has a nice sparkle. It's not a Fender by any stretch of the imagination. But unlike with Fender amps, you get a dirty channel here that you can actually use. In general this amp has two quality channels. Neither one is really top of the line (like Marshall or Fender), but both are very useable. I wish it had a direct out, but oh well. It does have an extension jack, and I'll probably pick up a 2x12 cab for it eventually.

I think the price is a little high (I got mine much cheaper that it normally goes for), but then again, I think tube amps are generally overpriced anyway. The price tag on it is pretty much in line with other smaller tube amps. So take that for what it's worth.

Write Your Own Review!
We all love gear, and we all love talking about gear with our friends and bandmates. Why not share your thoughts with the hundreds of thousands of customers who regularly visit Sweetwater.com? Write your own customer review on this product! To begin, just Click Here!