help the drive channel of a Peavey Classic 30?

[guitarman_nebr]

is there an easy fix for the drive channel of a Peavey Classic 30?

i am running JJ's in the power section and JJ's in the pre section.

the cleans are great, the amp takes pedals like a champ.

the problem is the drive channel is fizzy when the drive is above noon.

plenty of gain, but it sounds like a can of bees buzzing in there.

any suggestions?

 

[Wilbur]

Try a 5751 in V1.

 

[Jef Bardsley]

Try turning the volume on your guitar down. Let the later stages of the amp do the work.

 

[mvd18969]

I had one of these and tried to like the amp. The clean channel was nice but I could not get along with the lead channel. Very harsh and grainy. Just wasn't my sound.

 

[MikeMcK]

I had one for awhile, and while it seems like kind of a waste, liked it best using the clean channel only and an OD pedal in front.

 

[guitarman_nebr]

i have been using a couple drive pedals in front of the clean channel.

it sounds really nice. i was just wondering if there was a "fix" for the grainy sounding drive channel.

i have been through 10 pages of searches and on a few different forums.

it is not my main amp, but it is a project i have decided to try and make gig worthy.


Wilbur, is V1 only for the clean channel? i thought V2 and V3 were the tubes that affected the gain stages of channel 2.

has any one got tube recommendations for the pre amp side?

 

[dughaze]

I put a Warehouse Green Beret speaker in mine and it was a BIG improvement over the Eminence Swamp Thang someone had replaced the original speaker with. The Green Beret low end is too farty for my tastes but the Marshall flavor it added is awesome nonetheless The Eminence Swamp Thang did not sound very good I can't imagine how badly the original Blue Marvel original stock speaker sounded in there if the Eminence was an improvement.

A G12H30 or equivalent is supposed to be a good drive channel speaker in the C30. I did the tube swap thing before the speaker swap and the speaker swap was the bigger improvement in my case.

 

[rockon1]

I had one of these and tried to like the amp. The clean channel was nice but I could not get along with the lead channel. Very harsh and grainy. Just wasn't my sound.

My experience also. Im sure though there are some simple circuitry mods thats would help. Short of that a speaker change would. Bob

 

[CitizenCain]

Wilbur, is V1 only for the clean channel? i thought V2 and V3 were the tubes that affected the gain stages of channel 2.

has any one got tube recommendations for the pre amp side?

V1A is the clean channel 1st gain stage and V1B feeds the tone stack from both channels. V2 is devoted to the OD channel. V3 is the driver and PI. BTW, these amps use a cathodyne PI so don't waste your money buying balanced tubes for V3.

I've heard people having good luck putting a 12DW7 in V2. That's a unique tube that contains one hi-mu triode and one low-mu triode. The low-mu triode doesn't drive the 2nd half of the tube as hard so helps to tame the harsh distortion. I think Eurotubes has a set of tubes for the Classic amps like this.

 

[jspartz]

I run a 5751 in V1 on mine. I also have a weber blue dog (ceramic) as my speaker. I love that speaker in a C30!!! FWIW, I play telecasters with it. I have my drive on about 8 and then I use a Fulldrive 2 pedal to push the distortion a little more (all knobs straight up... actually the volume moves between 10 and noon. I also have the comp-cut engaged by pulling the volume knob up). It does some nice things and gets me in the area I am looking for.