Peavey VTM Amp

[angelodp]

Hi, I have a Peavey VTM amp head left over from my kids garage band days. Is this a candidate for a gut job and re-do or not worth the trouble?

[xtian]

Looks good to me! USA iron, likely.

[thetragichero]

if it works, you could probably build two amps with the money you'd get from selling it ($500-700 on reverb, the only listing right now is a bare unworking chassis for $350b although they're never gonna get that much)
these are reasonably desired, old peaveys have a cvlt following in some circles

[lumox0013]

yes please sell, they are great amps used by soundgarden , blind melon and many others these were peaveys answer to the jcm800. some say setting the dip switches in a certain way will give you a jose mod .cheers

[roberto]

I agree, sell it if you don't like it and build something from scratch.

[SoulFetish]

2 of my good buddies had these back in high school. One of them still has his, and I play it when ever we get together to jam at his place. IMO, these are one of the most underrated production amps made. There are some things that you want to look out for, as they've been around for long enough to show some of the flaws in the design and have some common issues (like all manufactured amps).
But, they are total chameleons of rock and roll. They seem to lend themselves nicely to being dialed into whatever kind of sound you are going for within some limits. I don't think it's a great amp for Metal, really. But it will give you a nice range of flexibility right up until that point.

[angelodp]

Ah, ok. Let me put some tubes back in and listen. This thing is like new but not played in twenty years.

Thanks A

[Colossal]

I'll put in a vote for sell it and build something from scratch that you want.

[TUBEDUDE]

If it hasn't been played in 20 years, power up on a variac to reform your filter caps.

[ChopSauce]

If it hasn't been played in 20 years, power up on a variac to reform your filter caps.

Yes, maybe.

NB Sorry, but it doesn't make much sense to me to sell it if this amp is underrated - and I don't believe at all that you could build two amps from just selling it, as the cost of any hardware adds - but do as you prefer for sure.

[teemuk]

The VTM series is basically a Marshall 2203 "clone" with some extra improvenents an the DIP switches introducing various typical modifications to the circuit (yes, one of them equivalent to that "Jose mod" with clipping diodes). I doubt rebuilding would make the amp any better, as it in practice is already improved from the extremely revered 2203. The only "issue" is that the amp was made by Peavey and not Marshall.

[thetragichero]

many of us refer to them as ¨mississippi marshall¨
to be honest, besides being super heavy i´d rather have the peavey (but i suppose i am exactly the kind of person the working class aesthetic is aimed at)

[angelodp]

This is very very interesting. I can recall playing the amp years ago, when the kids were not at it, and thinking that although it sounded pretty damn good it could not be a great amp because.......

Don't judge a book..... Now I am very very inspired to get this bad boy up and running again. have to bust for some good tubes. Any recommends, my budget and initial thinking is JJ's or Tung Sol?

Have to find the cage that covers the preamp tubes.... where the heck did I put that.....

Appreciate the candid and inspired notes.

A

[angelodp]

Will this amp accommodate EL34's (had 6L6 originally), and can I pull two of those and run with a pair?

A

[thetragichero]

what are you looking to achieve with that?
i see no mention of the ability to run el34s in the vtm maniacand I'm curious whether the filament winding could support 2.4a additional current draw from a quad
I'm of the opinion against removing power tubes to reduce output. too easy to forget to mismatch the impedance
my thoughts are to get it running like it's meant to and if there's something you don't like tonally, sell it