Peavey Mace / Deuce / Classic?

robgilmo

I am after something that will give me a Skynyrd tone, however, I don't want something that will blow the windows out of my house! I have been reading up on these amps and apparently they are very loud, that's not such a bad thing but can they be played quietly as well? And what kind of money would be reasonable for one?

ICBM

Yes, they can be played quietly - but you probably won’t quite get the sound you’re looking for that way. These amps are valve power amp/solid-state preamp hybrids, so at low volume it’s basically like running a pedal through a clean valve amp.

They're cheap to buy - a Classic should be possible to find for under £200 up to about £250, a Deuce for £200 to £300 and the Mace is very rare and probably more expensive due to the direct Skynyrd association.

They are also heavy...

robgilmo

Ive found a couple for sale on the bay, 2 Classic VT Series and a Deuce, both for 100 quid ish, but they couldn't be any further away. That's the problem with living in Suffolk, everything is far away, even the local shop!

ICBM

A Deuce is a steal for £100 - the valves are worth that, and it's not impossible that it will still have its original Peavey-branded Sylvanias - but it is true that for that money, they tend to be found in out-of-the-way places and they're so heavy no-one wants to ship one.

I'm actually quite surprised that no-one - as far as I'm aware, but I have looked - has made a 70s-Peavey-in-a-box pedal yet. You would think that with the Skynyrd association and the fact that it should be achievable in the most part by just copying the existing solid-state preamp circuit, that it would have been done...

robgilmo

I know, perhaps no one wants to be Lynyrd Skynyrd! Could I get close with an SD1 and a Vox Cambridge? I was thinking of picking up an SD1 today when I'm out.

ICBM

robgilmo said:

I know, perhaps no one wants to be Lynyrd Skynyrd! Could I get close with an SD1 and a Vox Cambridge? I was thinking of picking up an SD1 today when I'm out.

Not an SD-1 really - too midrangy and not raspy enough - if I had to pick a Boss overdrive I would probably go for an SD-2 Dual Overdrive, if you can find one. Of the current Boss pedals a distortion of some sort (not a DS-1 though) might actually be closer - and a Rat is closer still.

The Peavey 'Saturation' circuit is actually quite clever, and has dual-stage clipping - it has both Tube Screamer (SD-1) type soft overdrive in a feedback loop, and Rat-type hard clipping - the further you turn up the saturation control, the more the Rat-type clipping dominates.

robgilmo

The only ones the shop stock in my price range are ds1 4a 40th , ds1 , ds2 turbo and the sd1.
I might just wait until a peavey comes up for sale closer to me but I am getting a really good deal on the SD1 and a case for my Tele.

ICBM

robgilmo said:

The only ones the shop stock in my price range are ds1 4a 40th , ds1 , ds2 turbo and the sd1.

Of that lot the DS-2 will be the closest - it's actually got both types of clipping as well. You probably want to run it with the turbo on and the gain lower rather than the other way round, but try both.

(Edit - corrected for not reading the schematic properly!)

JayGee

Someone I went to school with had a Classic bought for him by his grandparents in 1976.

First footswitch controlled channel-switching amp I ever saw, to a 16 year-old brought up on either nasty FAL/RSC combos stuff or very, very, very tired AC30s or WEM Dominators it was like a vision of the future and unbelievably glamorous even without the Skynyrd connection...

It was actually possible to engage either channel independently or both both channels simultaneously, depending on which of the two sockets you’d plugged into you’d get them either in parallel or cascaded in series which turned it into a sort of poor mans Boogie with levels of sustain/distortion/compression never previously encountered in our corner of West Yorkshire :-)

ESBlonde

robgilmo said:

Ive found a couple for sale on the bay, 2 Classic VT Series and a Deuce, both for 100 quid ish, but they couldn't be any further away. That's the problem with living in Suffolk, everything is far away, even the local shop!

The advantage of Suffolk is that a metric shitload of hauliers arrive empty at Felixstowe port on a daily basis. Talk to a couple of groupage hauliers and you'll probably get it picked up from anywhere in the country and delivered to you or a local haulage yard for small cost and proper care. Not worth it for little things, but probably better for large items. Doesn't work for urgent deliveries so well though.

robgilmo

Thanks guys, I just put a deposit down on a Deuce, I haven't tried it yet , its in London so wont be picking it up until the week end, how loud are these things? Or more to the point, how quiet can they be? Could I get away with using it as a home amp?

gubble

robgilmo said:

Thanks guys, I just put a deposit down on a Deuce, I haven't tried it yet , its in London so wont be picking it up until the week end, how loud are these things? Or more to the point, how quiet can they be? Could I get away with using it as a home amp?

They can be used at bedroom levels and they also get mega loud.
I had one for a while and only really tested it at home so whilst i know they go quiet i can't really make a statement about the tone.

For gigging however they're brilliant. Really loud, great sound and takes pedals really well. Basically the closest you can get to a twin reverb on a budget.

I think i paid £120 for mine a couple of years ago and moved it on as didn't have the room to keep it.

richh

I had a Deuce a long long time ago.  They are good amps but are very heavy and loud.  I do recall getting a good clean tone at lower levels, but if you want crunch / drive it would probably be very loud.

At the prices you're talking about this could be a great bargain, but if you need a new set of valves or repairs doing, it could start to get quite expensive.  Hopefully you've got a good one though?

robgilmo

Thanks guys, I was getting a little worried there that I might not be able to use it at all at home, I should be able to get the volume up to respectable levels during the day if the family are out but on a school day when the kids are in bed its good to know it can be turned down. My playing room is in the conservatory and with the doors closed the room is kind of sound proof to a quiet amp like my Vox Cambridge turned down so hopefully this wont be too different.
I am really looking forward to cranking it up though!

ICBM

What richh said. You can always play a big amp like this quietly - the only question is whether it sounds any good like that.

These do, at least for a clean sound. Whether you’ll be able to get anything very Skynyrd-like with just the preamp distortion at low volume is more questionable...

robgilmo

I just collected it, not tried it yet, still wobbly after the long drive, but so far so good, and now I know what heavy is.

robgilmo

Guys, I may need a bit of help with this, ive plugged it in, plugged in my guitar, switched it on at the back, switched it on at the front out of standby, switched normal channel on with the foot switch, I'm plugged into the ''normal'' input.

No output, when I strum heavily I get a loud crackling noise, like input is going through but a dodgy connection won't allow it to go through fully, pre and post gain set to half way, if I drop them down I dont even get crackling.


Looking into it from the back I can only see the right hand tubes glowing but the sun is bright so the other two may be glowing , its hard to tell.

Any ideas? Guitar works fine, lead works fine.


I will give the guy a bought it from a call to see if he can shed any light on it but thought I would ask here first in case its something simple like a poorly seated tube that's shaken loose from the car journey or something.

ICBM

It won’t be a valve. For no sound to come out all four would have to be dead.

Try plugging the guitar into the Power Amp In jack. It could possibly be corroded switch contacts there which are stopping a signal getting through unless it’s very loud.

If it’s not that it’s a trip to a tech unfortunately.

robgilmo

Plug the guitar in and playing it through the power amp socket?
 I put the cable in and out a few times and this seems to have helped, it sounds a little better. I guess it needs to come apart to clean this socket?

ICBM

robgilmo said:

Plug the guitar in and playing it through the power amp socket?
 I put the cable in and out a few times and this seems to have helped, it sounds a little better. I guess it needs to come apart to clean this socket?

Ideally, yes. You need to rub some fine-grit sandpaper between the switch contacts. Contact cleaner sprayed in from the outside *might* fix it, but if the corrosion is bad then it won’t - worth trying first though.

robgilmo

In normal operation should there be a jumper cable between poweramp in and pre out?
I am not seeing any contacts in there unless there is a plug plugged into it, unless its behind this?