Peavey bargain from Thomann

[mr zed]

6 hours ago, stewblack said:

Lying in bed reading this, a glance to my right... 

I hope you’ve had the floor reinforced 😳

[Mudpup]

6 hours ago, stewblack said:

Lying in bed reading this, a glance to my right... 

Is that your headphone rig?

[stewblack]

10 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

Is that your headphone rig?

You guessed it! 

[la bam]

Mine has arrived today!

Not had chance to play it yet, but first impressions are it's much much more well built and sturdy than it looks. All metal case, quality buttons etc.

It's also much bigger and heavier than I thought. It's more of a 2U half rack power amp size than a modern micro bass amp.

The bag is also ok. It's not that padded, but theres nothing stopping anyone putting extra foam inside.

Will update on sound asap.

[Raslee]

3 minutes ago, la bam said:

Mine has arrived today!

Not had chance to play it yet, but first impressions are it's much much more well built and sturdy than it looks. All metal case, quality buttons etc.

It's also much bigger and heavier than I thought. It's more of a 2U half rack power amp size than a modern micro bass amp.

The bag is also ok. It's not that padded, but theres nothing stopping anyone putting extra foam inside.

Will update on sound asap.

Same here, looks great, noisy fan...but at that price what's not to like!?!

 

[la bam]

Great stuff!

I dont think the fan will be an issue at all,once playing.

[machinehead]

Excellent chaps.

I gigged mine on Saturday night through a Barefaced Super Midget as stage space was tight.  It was a well packed medium sized bar.  It performed really well.  Great sound and power to spare.

Some thoughts... the fan is noisy but you only hear it at home and never at rehearsal or on a gig.  The case isn't great but better than nothing.  The tuner seems to be accurate  and a useful feature.  The build quality is high - not the highest in the market but perfectly functional.

EDIT If you want to remove the silly sticker on the top, do it after using the amp for some gentle heat.  Mine came off in one piece quite easily.

I hope you enjoy yours.

Frank.

Edited December 30, 2019 by machinehead
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[sbrag]

Just placed an order. Let's see what comes. I was looking at £4-600 amps (OBT, Laney Nexus sls) etc. then saw this which has all the features I want so let see how loud the fan is as it seems the only complaint I've seen!

[LukeFRC]

On 19/12/2019 at 17:12, Al Krow said:

500W at 4 ohms, so going to be around 300W at 8 ohms.

if you look on there back it gives the RMS output in volts at 4 ohms... that suggests if they are giving RMS output it's actual output rather than "burst power" that a lot of amps will use for ratings... so it might sound louder than you expect 

[Al Krow]

9 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

if you look on there back it gives the RMS output in volts at 4 ohms... that suggests if they are giving RMS output it's actual output rather than "burst power" that a lot of amps will use for ratings... so it might sound louder than you expect 

I presume you meant watts rather than volts? I thought RMS was industry standard - AFIK only Bugera and Trickfish use the non standard peak power rating for their amps. Pretty much everyone else provides an RMS output.

[la bam]

Had mine on in this house - its flippin loud.

Gain hardly on. Volume on hardly one.

Very loud.

May give it a blast tonight with the stomp.

[sbrag]

Any one got any good cab suggestions for one of these as the Peavey ones seem a bit cheap looking. I'm looking for a bf compact or thinking maybe a Fender Rumble 1x15 or 2x10?

[Phil Starr]

Mine has just arrived, it is quite clearly rated at 44.7V RMS. Power is V²/R so that would be 500W into 4ohms and 250 into 8ohms. Of course There is lots of wriggle room about how that was measured but an RMS voltage is a measurable, verifiable thing so I kind of trust it to be reasonably accurate. Oh Luke has put that up

quite impressed with the sounds available, simple tones and the switched sounds seem quite usable on a ten minute run through. 

It doesn't come across as well made as some. the Bugera has a much nicer build, but that may just be the case. Not as tidy as my MB Tube either and the chrome bezels on the sockets look a bit rough for example. It all works though and it's what is inside that counts and so far Peavey stuff has never let me down even in old age.

Gigging with it tonight, I'll let you know

[Al Krow]

20 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Mine has just arrived, it is quite clearly rated at 44.7V RMS.

Aha - thanks, in which case @LukeFRC I stand corrected re volts vs watts! 

[Phil Starr]

Hi Al, the whole RMS thing comes from the maths behind AC voltage measurement. Produced by an alternator spinning round and round in a circle it produces electricity which traces out a circular pattern as a sine wave. Half of the wave is positive and half negative. The average voltage is zero and the actual voltage is changing all the time. To calculate the 'equivalent' DC voltage you square the peak voltage to make both halves of the cycle positive, then work out the mean average then find the square root to convert it back to volts. Root- Mean- Square. You can then use this figure to calculate power. You'll find pedants who will say correctly that there is no such thing as RMS power but really ???

[Al Krow]

31 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Hi Al, the whole RMS thing comes from the maths behind AC voltage measurement. Produced by an alternator spinning round and round in a circle it produces electricity which traces out a circular pattern as a sine wave. Half of the wave is positive and half negative. The average voltage is zero and the actual voltage is changing all the time. To calculate the 'equivalent' DC voltage you square the peak voltage to make both halves of the cycle positive, then work out the mean average then find the square root to convert it back to volts. Root- Mean- Square. You can then use this figure to calculate power. You'll find pedants who will say correctly that there is no such thing as RMS power but really ???

Agreed (and nice journey back to school physics!) 

Must admit I've not see too many "power" ratings expressed in volts. I would have thought that watts was far more usual, given that it's a measure of power rather than potential difference? But maybe that's just a lay person rather than an engineer's perspective? 

But surely you and I are missing the really important point of whether this amp is any good for... 

 

 

... metal. 

[mr4stringz]

So, worth picking up seems to be the general consensus. In need of a lightweight head for my ‘octave up’ rig so likely to pull the trigger unless there are any good reasons why not from anyone? 

[la bam]

Well, I took mine to a new years eve gig tonight.

Now, you know when you have nights that are just odd....

Well, the promoter (without telling us) managed to combine two nights into one. Our Queen tribute and a happy hardcore / bounce / rave selection of djs. (wtf!!). Needless to say it didnt work! (Whod have thought?!)

any who at soundcheck I went bass guitar, into stomp, into return of fx loop, into cab.

there was a slight hum / buzz coming through the soundmans kit. I dont know if it was because of the routing into the fx loop, but I didnt have time to investigate it, so I went back to the quilter just because we had no sound check time to play with.

so, perhaps I'll have a look at that tomorrow. Maybe ill try in line or turning the stomp input down etc. I'm sure it's not an issue, just simply because I hadn't time to work it out.

one thing though - with the gain on 12 o'clock and volume on 12 o'clock, through a 4x10 it was very loud. No need to worry about power output.

[machinehead]

25 minutes ago, la bam said:

Well, I took mine to a new years eve gig tonight.

Now, you know when you have nights that are just odd....

Well, the promoter (without telling us) managed to combine two nights into one. Our Queen tribute and a happy hardcore / bounce / rave selection of djs. (wtf!!). Needless to say it didnt work! (Whod have thought?!)

any who at soundcheck I went bass guitar, into stomp, into return of fx loop, into cab.

there was a slight hum / buzz coming through the soundmans kit. I dont know if it was because of the routing into the fx loop, but I didnt have time to investigate it, so I went back to the quilter just because we had no sound check time to play with.

so, perhaps I'll have a look at that tomorrow. Maybe ill try in line or turning the stomp input down etc. I'm sure it's not an issue, just simply because I hadn't time to work it out.

one thing though - with the gain on 12 o'clock and volume on 12 o'clock, through a 4x10 it was very loud. No need to worry about power output.

I gigged mine tonight too.

Peavey miniMax into a pair of Barefaced one10s.  It was a dep gig in a bar with a feckin DJ upstairs and we could hear the music through the floor during songs.  I didn't know the band previously,  but it went well.  The Peavey was barely ticking over and still loud enough.  They were quite a loud band too.

You could do worse for well under £200...

Frank.

[Phil Starr]

Another good gig, although again with no chance for a soundcheck, Peavey minimax into a 1x12+horn of my own design, but a PA speaker so FRFR. Because there was no soundcheck I just started with everything flat. Nice punchy sound straight out of the tin. coincidentally gain on 12.00 and vol on 12.00 too. Three hour set with just a 10 min break and it played without drama and sounded nice and punchy, more like my old Hartke 3500 than my Mark Bass Tube. I hadn't had time to play with the controls as the amp had only been delivered that morning but yeah, nice warm punchy sound and not too coloured, I liked it.

The fan is noisy though, not a problem at a gig of course.

[Chienmortbb]

16 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Hi Al, the whole RMS thing comes from the maths behind AC voltage measurement. Produced by an alternator spinning round and round in a circle it produces electricity which traces out a circular pattern as a sine wave. Half of the wave is positive and half negative. The average voltage is zero and the actual voltage is changing all the time. To calculate the 'equivalent' DC voltage you square the peak voltage to make both halves of the cycle positive, then work out the mean average then find the square root to convert it back to volts. Root- Mean- Square. You can then use this figure to calculate power. You'll find pedants who will say correctly that there is no such thing as RMS power but really ???

Pedant alert. Strictly speaking RMS volts x RMS amps gives Average watts but that sounds more wimpey than hefty RMS watts.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 31/12/2019 at 14:12, LukeFRC said:

On 19/12/2019 at 17:12, Al Krow said:

500W at 4 ohms, so going to be around 300W at 8 ohms.

if you look on there back it gives the RMS output in volts at 4 ohms... that suggests if they are giving RMS output it's actual output rather than "burst power" that a lot of amps will use for ratings... so it might sound louder than you expect 

I wouldn't be so sure... the rating plate states that its power consumption is 160Watts. With an SMPSU that suggests it's around 150W continuous even if it its more at the peaks... another example of why a 500W class D amp and a 150W old-style TE like @stewblack's might sound equally loud...

[LukeFRC]

10 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I wouldn't be so sure... the rating plate states that its power consumption is 160Watts. With an SMPSU that suggests it's around 150W continuous even if it its more at the peaks... another example of why a 500W class D amp and a 150W old-style TE like @stewblack's might sound equally loud...

achhh it all gets beyond my ability! I bought a big old class AB amp myself last week- power consumption 950w it says  

[Beer of the Bass]

I that's a regulatory thing, where they'll state a "typical use" power consumption when the amp is outputting at a set proportion of its maximum output. The back of the Gallien Krueger MB series are labelled like that too.

[Stub Mandrel]

39 minutes ago, Beer of the Bass said:

I that's a regulatory thing, where they'll state a "typical use" power consumption when the amp is outputting at a set proportion of its maximum output. The back of the Gallien Krueger MB series are labelled like that too.

The 100W PJB Briefcase amp says power consumption 160W on the back... it's not simple!