Picked up a Peavey Classic 50...setting suggestions?

[KCWM]

I traded my Crate Palomino V32 for the Classic 50...a decision that was reaffirmed after reading a comparison thread. The search function is a great tool. Aside from a couple of rips in the tolex that I can touch up with a drop of superglue and a handle that's leather has started to come undone a little. Other than that, the amp's in great shape. The guy who I traded with was a little older and wanted a smaller amp for the gigs he plays.

I know that there are good sounds to be had from the clean channel, but I've found what others have found about the drive channel. I have some decent pedals, but I was really hoping to be able to use that. It looks like some mods are in my future.

I'm surprised that it stays relatively quiet at apartment levels without my THD Hotplate. It seems a little thin when I play my American Double Fat Strat...which is the opposite problem I had with the Palomino. Then again, I've never been good at figuring out EQs and how they interact on the different tube amps.

When I run the amp at 8 ohms into the THD Hotplate, the difference is noticeable, but not in a bad way. With the hotplate, I can turn the master volume and clean volume to max and it stays clean.

What I'm looking for is what settings some of the other Classic 50 owners set their amps at. Hopefully, I can get a nice starting point from the people who have more experience in their search for tone than I do.

The Classic 50 isn't the end of my tube amp adventure, I'm sure. I'd love to work out a deal for a Fender DRRI, which is the amp I want but can't afford. If there's any local DFW members that want a Classic 50 and want to work out a trade for a DRRI, I'd love to talk.

Here's a pic.

 

[Melodic Dreamer]

I could never turn the gain up past 1:00 or 2:00. Plus I could never turn the Presence up past 9:00.
Personally I would suggest changing the speakers.

 

[KCWM]

Which speakers? What about those warehouse speakers? I know there are a couple of 8 ohm speakers modeled after some celestions. I wonder how those are.

I do plan on retubing it with JJs.

Hopefully, I can sell these random guitar bits I have sitting around so that I can have some cash to do all of that.

As for the presence, I'll keep that in mind. Right now, I have it almost turned off. I'd rather get my sound and then adjust the highs rather than get the highs and adjust from there.

 

[alivegy]

I found turning the presence knob up past 3 started to introduce a lot of fizzy grit into the signal that I didn't really like, so I usually kept it pretty low. It was hard to find a setting where the clean channel didn't work well but the dirt channel took a lot of work. I think I usually kept the mids at 12, and moved the bass and treble between 5 and 8 depending on my mood. If you're putting new speakers in it make sure to stay away from anything with an upper-mid emphasis as the classic 50 has an upper-mid emphasis that is impossible to dial out if you don't like it. On it's own it can sound great, but if you match it to a speaker that also has the emphasis it can be a bit much.

 

[KCWM]

That's good to know. I do like a mid emphasis, especially since my main go to distortion box is a Box of Rock, with an equal reputation for a bassy emphasis. I've found that with the presence set at 2 on the dial, the distortion isn't too bad with my Les Paul, but with my tele or strat (even with the dual humbuckers), it's way too meh sounding.

 

[geezar12]

i have both a classic 30 and 50. I play the 50 with a Avatar Cab with the G12h vintage 30 speaker combo. sounds fat and smooth. none of the real middy muddy tone.. there is also a mod out there for the 50 that i have had done on the 30..it sounds crazy good.. my beef with the classics is the lack of response.. with the mod is smooths out the mids a little bit and responds like a twin(not quite that good but close).. but with the speaker combination upgrade from the "blue marvols" on the 50 it really beefed up my tone.. you might want to start with that.. you can pick up those speakers pretty reasonable..

 

[KCWM]

You know, I've been reading threads on here and other places that kept mentioning a fizziness to the sound of a Classic 50 that some people just didn't like. At first, I thought it was my strat because it's a double fat strat withe the Seymour Duncan '59 and Pearly Gates. "Maybe", I thought, "the SD humbuckers and the amp do not get along."

So I pulled out Les Paul...the guitar better known for it's humbuckers. It has burstbucker pros with the V magnets. I have the Bad Monkey set up as my light overdrive, the BoR as my medium OD, and then my cheap-o DS-1 as my higher gain OD, though not in that order in the chain. I will say that it does make the 3 overdrive pedals sound better and does WONDERS for the box of rock. But, the clean still gets that fizziness. The strings just go plunk and sound like they have no life.

Well, two down. I need a good clean sound. "I'll pull out my tele". Long story short...same thing.

I've decided that the Classic 50 just isn't for me. Maybe it's my guitars, pickups, or pedals. I've heard some great clips of the C50. Yeah, I could swap the speakers out and try different tubes. But, if I'm going to sink a couple hundred bucks into it to try to get to sound the way I want...I want to make sure it's going to work. I just don't have the money to do that.

So, I think I'm going to sell it on Craigslist and sink that extra 200 bucks into a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. When I first bought a strat from Freeman off of here, I tried it out through that DRRI. When I bought my Les Paul from GC, I tried it out on a DRRI. When I traded my latest strat for the double fat strat, I tried it out on a silverface twin. Every time, I absolutely loved the clean sound...the Fender clean. Sure, the DRRI is only 22w, but in the tube world, 22 is enough for practice, gigs, recording...just about everything that a guy like me would do.

Anyone in the DFW area interested in a Classic 50 w/ footswitch or have a DRRI and want to work out a trade?

 

[Melodic Dreamer]

I like the Deville, but I'm not a fan of the Deluxe.

 

[KCWM]

I'm not a fan of the hot rod or blues series...owned one of those and had it break down on me one too many times. I meant the 22w '65 reissue of the Deluxe Reverb amp.