It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
But I have to say I recently had to look at a recent Valve King VK100 - because it has the valve-monitoring and auto-biasing circuit, which is part of the main PCB. This had shorted and fried the board quite badly, and even though I cut out as much of the damage as I could see and replaced the burned parts, when I powered it up it ran for about five minutes and then smoked again. So the only sensible solution was a replacement PCB, at which point Peavey didn't want to know and the whole thing is a write-off.
I really do not like this kind of "improvement" to valve amps and I would tend to avoid anything which has it, which includes the Classic 20 Mini. It's unnecessary and causes more trouble than it's worth in my experience.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I say this as a former owner of a Classic 30 which I bought not knowing any better. That one is an absolute pig to work on. If you are ever tempted to buy one, stop and get a Hot Rod Deluxe instead.
Fender Hotrod and Blues deluxe have rice paper strength pcbs and a pair of resistors with alarming fail rates.
Laney L5studio head had chassis mounted valve bases, good idea, but garbage reverb,and sadly a great clean channel married to a lacklustre drive one.
£1700 for a handwired uk made Flynn amp initially seems pricey but 10 years in they will still be going strong......an investment.
I just dont like how amps have gone overseas cheaply made items that just aint gonna last.
Bought a Classic 30 s/h, needed a new cap job, local tech didn't want to touch it. Sold it and bought a HRD instead. Result.
Note - I also have a Peavey Classic 20 mini head - but brand new with extended warranty. If this fucker goes south they can fix it for free,
Most fender amps are pretty well built. Where did you hear about the alarming failure rates
Only if they're good quality and soldered properly. Sadly they weren't always...
The devil is in the detail. You can get a lot of good information from seeing how something looks inside, but it's not always the whole story. Look at what fails, how and why and you have a better idea.
Personally I wouldn't buy a Peavey amp with the TSI valve monitoring system because of this...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
the problem is the internet is telling you what’s good and bad, unfortunately the internet is full of idiots who don’t actually use the gear in anger, they just think it’s bad because some stupid twat on YouTube says it’s bad.
if you want clean wiring, PTP or turret board you’ll have to pay the labour prices.
For what it’s worth I once used a DSL at a gig and the failure rate so far is 100% . (Provided backline at a small festival, not mine! It was fine at the soundcheck but died in the set before our one and I had to use a little Hughes & Kettner, which was actually quite good.)
I don't doubt your experience at all, but to say that means they are reliable amps and that anyone who says otherwise is a 'stupid twat' or has never used one for real is simply wrong.
I drive a Renault Scenic - it's the Marshall DSL of cars . You will hear all sorts of horror stories about them, mostly for electrical failures. But I've had one for nine years and done 90K in it, and it has been remarkably reliable... at least until some twat drove into it a couple of weeks ago and wrecked it. I've bought another one, but I won't be *that* surprised if it doesn't turn out quite as good.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
https://m.thomann.de/gb/jet_city_amplification_jca20hv.htm
I'm now on Jet City amp number six, they've all been excellent and I still have three of them.
Like you, I wanted to know what was inside them at that price so I ordered the cheapest 20w head a few years ago, checked it worked, then pulled it apart ten minutes after it arrived.
I've been hooked ever since, occasionally fine tuning preamp cap and resistor values to my own preferences. Simple, robust and cheap, just like Fender were in the 50s.