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Vintage threads from the first ten years

peavey vs. fender

9/9/2003 7:00 PM
Me	peavey vs. fender i am considering either a peavey classic 410 or a fender hot rod 410 any opinions? pros and cons? thank you

9/9/2003 7:19 PM
Bob M.	Play 'em both and pick the one that sounds best with your guitar and other stuff (if priced comparably). Bob M.

9/10/2003 1:15 AM
Me	i was wondering in terms of reliability, and stuff like that

9/10/2003 1:45 AM
dazco	Well, as far as i'm concerned i like the classic series better by far. (hot rods sound utterly dull to me) But the kicker is this...Steve alola's mods ! (did i get the name right finally?) I did the following mods to a classic 30 from Steve's site...cathode bias, fenerized input, tone stack caps, replace C4, (A important one!) presence control, (tho u won't need to do that with a C50 since they have one already)replaced speaker with an all-tone. I swear this makes the amp FAR better,and puts the peavey well out of the fender's leauge. I just did these mods again to both my new C30 i just got and a friend's delta blues. He was blown away completely. The keys to the tone are replacing C4 to make the distortion cleaner and allows you to clean up far better with the guitar volume, the cathode bias mod which livens it up considerably, and the all-tone. With the mods, which took me about an hour and 1/2, the distortion becomes much more vintage and the gain drops enough to make things right. The amp becomes much more alive and responds to your playing like a real good tube amp. I recently took a little trip to a boutique store and tried the DrZ's, Rivera, GT, Reverend, and i left there feeling like i prefer my C30 to all of them. The mods IMHO turn the amp into what i consider a contender for best production amp, and also allows it to seriously challenge stuff in the $1000-1500 boutique category. No, it won't touch the clean sound of the Dr Z. But the overall tone and features and other plusses of this amp had me as i said feeling like i prefer it overall to some much much higher $ amps. And i actually prefer the distortion more than any of those amps i tried! If i had to describe the tonal quality it now has i would compare it to a good sounding early JCM 800. Not in TYPE of tone, but quality of tone. It seems to sit right about in the middle of marshall and fender tone. And with the presence i can turn the treble down more than normal till it's a bit muddy and turn the presence up to get a more marshall tone. If i sound like i love this modded amp, well, i really do ! The hot rods to my ear are one of those amps that you really begin to hate once you become familiar with the tone. I prefer the peavey easily, but as i said there IS no comparison after the mods. I'd pretty much guarantee that if you do the mods i described you will like it far more than the fender too, even if you prefer the fender to the stock peavey. Steve's site has schematics for all these mods and also mods for the 50. But i'll tell you this.....the 30 is plenty loud to gig with and IMO sounds better than the 50 and has more mods at steve's site. There's also the delta blues with a 15".(a C30 with tremolo and a 15") My buddy's sounds awesome after the mods. Big and fat, yet portable. Can't say enough about these amps and Steve's mods.

9/10/2003 1:45 AM

dazco

Well, as far as i'm concerned i like the classic series better by far. (hot rods sound utterly dull to me) But the kicker is this...Steve alola's mods ! (did i get the name right finally?

)

I did the following mods to a classic 30 from Steve's site...cathode bias, fenerized input, tone stack caps, replace C4, (A important one!) presence control, (tho u won't need to do that with a C50 since they have one already)replaced speaker with an all-tone.

I swear this makes the amp FAR better,and puts the peavey well out of the fender's leauge. I just did these mods again to both my new C30 i just got and a friend's delta blues. He was blown away completely. The keys to the tone are replacing C4 to make the distortion cleaner and allows you to clean up far better with the guitar volume, the cathode bias mod which livens it up considerably, and the all-tone.

With the mods, which took me about an hour and 1/2, the distortion becomes much more vintage and the gain drops enough to make things right. The amp becomes much more alive and responds to your playing like a real good tube amp. I recently took a little trip to a boutique store and tried the DrZ's, Rivera, GT, Reverend, and i left there feeling like i prefer my C30 to all of them. The mods IMHO turn the amp into what i consider a contender for best production amp, and also allows it to seriously challenge stuff in the $1000-1500 boutique category. No, it won't touch the clean sound of the Dr Z. But the overall tone and features and other plusses of this amp had me as i said feeling like i prefer it overall to some much much higher $ amps. And i actually prefer the distortion more than any of those amps i tried!

If i had to describe the tonal quality it now has i would compare it to a good sounding early JCM 800. Not in TYPE of tone, but quality of tone. It seems to sit right about in the middle of marshall and fender tone. And with the presence i can turn the treble down more than normal till it's a bit muddy and turn the presence up to get a more marshall tone.

If i sound like i love this modded amp, well, i really do ! The hot rods to my ear are one of those amps that you really begin to hate once you become familiar with the tone. I prefer the peavey easily, but as i said there IS no comparison after the mods. I'd pretty much guarantee that if you do the mods i described you will like it far more than the fender too, even if you prefer the fender to the stock peavey. Steve's site has schematics for all these mods and also mods for the 50. But i'll tell you this.....the 30 is plenty loud to gig with and IMO sounds better than the 50 and has more mods at steve's site. There's also the delta blues with a 15".(a C30 with tremolo and a 15") My buddy's sounds awesome after the mods. Big and fat, yet portable. Can't say enough about these amps and Steve's mods.

9/21/2003 5:06 PM
tirpluK	Could you please post the address of Steve's site? I've been looking but have been unable to find it anywhere. Thanks, tirpluK

9/10/2003 2:51 AM
jeremy	get the peavey. its cheaper and better built, IMO. sounds better too. jeremy

9/10/2003 4:40 AM
Enzo	My shop is authorized by both Fender and Peavey. I see both. I agree with go with what your ears tell you. I like the Peaveys myself. The Fender wins for the big clean sound, but the Fender distortion channel is really pretty lame to my ear. I like 410s, but do audition the 212 version too. I think both amps are well made, I see no shortcomings in either from a service perspective. I used to curse the Fenders trying to get the board out, but once I got the method figured out, it is nothing more than pull the pot nuts and a few screws and worry it free. It flops down for soldering just fine. The innards of the Peavey are quite accessible. The Peavey Classic 30 is inconvenient to work on, but you are looking at the Classic 50 which is totally different. Peavey has a reputation in the industry for solid relieble amps. And it always amazes me when I call Peavey for a part for a 15-20 year old amp and they say "sure, send it right out." Try finding that kind of support anywhere else. Good warranties on both brands. I don't think you will go wrong chosing either amp. Just give them a good listen, and figure out what you are getting for each in terms of price.

9/10/2003 4:40 AM

Enzo

My shop is authorized by both Fender and Peavey. I see both. I agree with go with what your ears tell you. I like the Peaveys myself. The Fender wins for the big clean sound, but the Fender distortion channel is really pretty lame to my ear. I like 410s, but do audition the 212 version too.

I think both amps are well made, I see no shortcomings in either from a service perspective.

I used to curse the Fenders trying to get the board out, but once I got the method figured out, it is nothing more than pull the pot nuts and a few screws and worry it free. It flops down for soldering just fine. The innards of the Peavey are quite accessible. The Peavey Classic 30 is inconvenient to work on, but you are looking at the Classic 50 which is totally different. Peavey has a reputation in the industry for solid relieble amps. And it always amazes me when I call Peavey for a part for a 15-20 year old amp and they say "sure, send it right out." Try finding that kind of support anywhere else. Good warranties on both brands.

I don't think you will go wrong chosing either amp. Just give them a good listen, and figure out what you are getting for each in terms of price.

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