I played a Peavey Windsor today

[Nitro Express]

Basically a copy of a JCM 800 Marshall with a power drop knob that turns the amp into class A from class A/B. It also has the pressence/ ressonance from a 5150.

It's well built with a steel chassis but the chassis construction is inferior to a real Marshall because it doesn't have the welded, reinforced corners. The case is also made from particle board and not plywood like the 5150.

You can get a VH tone going though. The amp has good harmonics and has and edge to it you can't dial out but that is good for VH. I got the Atomic Punk intro happening with a Phase 90 no problemo.

This amp is loud as shit too!

I had to laugh when I saw the transformers were made by a company called Chuang Meei in Taiwan. I Google searched the company and apparently they have a real good reputation for quality transformers.

I won't buy one. I'm not buying anything from China if I can help it. At least they are selling the thing for a low price. I hate companies that sell the imported crap for a made in USA price.

The amp isn't as well made as a 5150. The vynle covering was done well but that particle board would crack with a good hit and the amp just kind of had that cheap Chinese vibe to it. It smelled like a hot wok when I fired it up. LOL!

[kentuckyklira]

Nice review!

Still sounds like an amp an aspiring kid could get as his first "real" amp, without risking too many $$$$$!

[Nitro Express]

I would have given my left nut to have a Peavey Windsor when I was 15. I wanted a Marshall so bad but they were expensive so I had a Yamaha amp. The Peavey Windsor in today's money would be the cost of a good solid state combo in the early 80's.

The controls were smooth. No pops or farts. The amp is quite with no buzzing or hissing. I like the knob that blends class A to class A/B.

It's got mighty balls in class A/B but if you want to drop the volume you dial it over towards class A. It takes two power tubes out of the signal path and runs the two remaining ones in class A opperation which is putting out around 30 watts and then you dial over to class A/B and get a full 120 watts.

I had it running through a Peavey 6505 cab. I would love to run it through a Marshall cab with some Celesians.

What you are getting is a Peavey Classic 30 that can go to JCM 800 territory. It had more gain than I thought it would.

The thing is the amp didn't clean up very well with guitar's volume knob but I was using the high gain input.

But they are going to sell a lot of these and my mom would have shit her pants if I had one of these monsters when I was a kid. Can you hear me! I think the fucker is louder than a 5150!

[Kilkmaru]

Sounds like im gonna get one.

[ELVIS]

Hmmm...

Interesting...

[Nitro Express]

For the money it looks like a good amp. It's very marshallish and seems well built. It's pure tube distortion with no diodes.

People are giving it good reviews. The list price is $399.

[Coyote]

I think I'm gonna pursue a Laney instead...

[ELVIS]

Every new peavey i've tried has this odd squishy, compressed distortion that I don't like at all...

I wonder if this thing sounds the same...

[Gringo]

Originally posted by Coyote
I think I'm gonna pursue a Laney instead...

Good idea! I have a Laney GH50L head, and it's a damn good amp!
One channel with a switcable gainboost.

[Coyote]

Originally posted by Gringo
Good idea! I have a Laney GH50L head, and it's a damn good amp!
One channel with a switcable gainboost.

Exactly the one I've been drooling over...

[jhale667]

I'm just gonna build a Metro plexi replica, get a Power Brake and be done with it...:D

[Nitro Express]

All the amps designed by James Brown have that squishy compressed sound but Mr. Brown quit Peavey and is head of design at Kustom now.

The Peavey Windsor was designed by another guy and it's a round Marshall sound with an edge to it. I like it.

My friend bought the one I played and the first thing he did was tear into it. It's got an adjustable bias with a port to plug you multimeter into to. Fuses all over the damn thing so you aren't going to toast the board. The chasis is a solid chunk of steel.

He says it's built well but it's circuit board construstion with three sepparate boards. One for the power amp. One for the preamp, and one for the power supply.

There's even a big resistor that bleeds the power off the the filter caps when you turn the amp off. It looks like theres a relay switch that switches to the resistor when the amp is turned off. That way nobody kills themself dinking with the amp if they don't know what they are doing. Pretty cool safety feature there.

[Nitro Express]

If you want old school Marshall, Metropaulos is better than buying from Marshall. With good THD hotplates available and good cheap EL-34 on the market, you deffinately can go the old Eddie route again.

The Windsor is like a good JCM 800 Silver Jubilee to my ears. It's only got three filter caps like the Jubilee and so it sounds best not cranked out.

The old plexi Marshall had six filter caps and that's why those old amps have that deliciouse midrange cranked. You better live on a farm or use a damn hotplate because you are going to neuter the nieghbors!

To be honest, I think the Metropaulos amps sound better than many plexis.

Let the collectors have their fun. I'm not into the brandname thing. I think it would be fun to build a kit amp and have a logo made that says SHIT and put that on my amp.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
You better live on a farm or use a damn hotplate because you are going to neuter the nieghbors!



Well, I DO have a long history of annoying neighbors (just moved a few months ago...doncha love the looks on your new neighbor's faces when they see you carting in multiple 4X12s...LOL) :D...but yeah, I mentioned I planned on using it with a Power Brake, or Hotplate or something...dunno, my buddy had a Hotplate blow a transformer on his vintage Plexi...needless to say he was PISSED....ended up replacing it with a Mercury Magnetics one for now...

[BrownSound1]

I guarantee you that his transformer would have blown had he not been using the Hotplate. It is no different than a speaker load as far as the amp is concerned. The thing people don't realize is that by using a Hotplate, you are going to want to run the amp at full bore...which will not only speed up power tube wear, but also cause transformers to get hot and fail. That happens with or without an attenuator in the chain. I'll be honest, I don't know many people who run 100 watt Plexis at full volume without some attenuation. Try that shit in a club and they'll be telling you to turn it down or get the hell out. :D Seriously, I think this is why people say "the attenuator fried my amp," because before they got one, they weren't running everything on '10'.

Oh I have to agree with Nitro on the Metropoulos Amplification stuff. George's stuff shits all over Marshall's HW series stuff....or just about anything else Marshall has released in recent memory. I'll not buy another "new" Marshall ever again.

Metroamp doesn't have any secret circuit or component values that make them sound better...they just use accurate parts based on the original design specs. Marshall on the other hand is using the cheapest kung fu resistors and caps they can get their hands on, and Dagnall is making less than faithful reproductions of their own transformer. It's a damn shame really. Thank God for guys like George, who take the time to investigate why a certain transformer sounds the way it does, and then have it manufactured to that EXACT spec. Or guys like John from Sozo capacitors who knew some of the mojo in a Marshall and Vox amp was due to the Mustard signal caps that were used, and had them faithfully recreated.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by jhale667
Well, I DO have a long history of annoying neighbors (just moved a few months ago...doncha love the looks on your new neighbor's faces when they see you carting in multiple 4X12s...LOL) :D...but yeah, I mentioned I planned on using it with a Power Brake, or Hotplate or something...dunno, my buddy had a Hotplate blow a transformer on his vintage Plexi...needless to say he was PISSED....ended up replacing it with a Mercury Magnetics one for now...

THD is a very reputable company and they deffinately know what they are doing when tube circuits are involved.

The problem with cranking an old low gain amplifier like a Marshall Super Lead 100 is niether the tubes or the output transformer were initially designed to be driven that hard. Marshalls drive the power tubes especially hard. What happens is this builds heat up in the output transformer and if you look at an old one, the windings are insulated with a coated paper. The heat eventually burns through that paper and the transformer shorts out.

I remember an old hippie dude that used to fix burned out transformers. He ran a music exchange and also did amp repair. He was the one who talked me into buying a distortion peddle saying it would save my amp. I had been reading all those EVH articles in the guitar magazines and fried my Fender Champ diming it. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

Jim Marshall has pretty much turned the opperations of Marshall Amplification over to his kids.

Talking to his son when I schedualed a tour of the factory the last time I was in the UK, it was apparent the son wanted to take the company forwards and was real keen on the brandname he had. He seemed like a smart guy but I think to get those old amp sounds you are going to have to go with a small company like Metropolous.

Marshall Amplification is a business and makes more money selling solid state amps than expensive handwired amps.

I like Marshall's speaker cabinets but for bang for the buck, I buy Peavey stuff now. It's gotten better and the company is great to deal with.

I'm just as happy running a THD amp head through an Avitar speaker cab. It sounds great and I don't need to be a Yngwie wannabe with a wall of Marshalls. That image is so overused. I would love to come out with a line of cabs called MONKEY FUCK just to have a wall of those words behind me. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

The Brits are selling out just like many of the US manufactures have. Nobody buys a Peavey for it's hated brandname and that's why I like their stuff. You dig into some of it and wiegh how it's made with what you paid and you are getting a way better deal then some of the wanted brandnames.

Sure it's circuit boards but it's millitary grade ones mounted so they won't break. Everyone was bitching that the 5150 was fixed bias so the company added a adjustable bias on the 5150 II. The JSX is probably the best amp for the money. They make Chinese amps but they give you a big price break on them. I mean they would lose my business if they put an Ulta price on a Tube King amp.

Hey, I would love a Soldano or Bogner but I don't want to spend that much.

[Nitro Express]

I think what Metropoulos is doing is tottaly cool. The collectors have ruined the chance of the average guy getting an original Marshall. From what I hear, those rich doctors and lawyers suck at guitar and don't deserve those old amps.

Anyways, let's analyze some good old amps and try and copy them. Now let's put our amp into kit form so someone can save some money and built their own.

That's tottaly cool.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
The Brits are selling out just like many of the US manufactures have. Nobody buys a Peavey for it's hated brandname and that's why I like their stuff. You dig into some of it and wiegh how it's made with what you paid and you are getting a way better deal then some of the wanted brandnames.

Sure it's circuit boards but it's millitary grade ones mounted so they won't break. Everyone was bitching that the 5150 was fixed bias so the company added a adjustable bias on the 5150 II. The JSX is probably the best amp for the money. They make Chinese amps but they give you a big price break on them. I mean they would lose my business if they put an Ulta price on a Tube King amp.

Hey, I would love a Soldano or Bogner but I don't want to spend that much.

I´ve never understood why people hate Peavey. Hartley Peavey set out to give people affordable stuff that was a good bang for the buck. What´s bad about that?? Back in the 80s, lots of people would never have seen a stage if it hadn´t been for cheap Peavey PA gear.

That said,

if I ever find someone selling a Delta Blues or a Classic 50 4x10 combo for cheap over here, I´ll get it!

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
I think what Metropoulos is doing is tottaly cool. The collectors have ruined the chance of the average guy getting an original Marshall. From what I hear, those rich doctors and lawyers suck at guitar and don't deserve those old amps.

You forgot the Japanese businessmen!:(

[BrownSound1]

Originally posted by kentuckyklira
I´ve never understood why people hate Peavey. Hartley Peavey set out to give people affordable stuff that was a good bang for the buck. What´s bad about that?? Back in the 80s, lots of people would never have seen a stage if it hadn´t been for cheap Peavey PA gear.

That said,

if I ever find someone selling a Delta Blues or a Classic 50 4x10 combo for cheap over here, I´ll get it!

People don't like Peavey because 95% of everything they make sounds like shit. I'm being serious here, especially when you compare their amps to Fenders or Marshalls. That is the mentality most people have of them. Years ago when they had amps like the Renown and Heritage, or the Deuce or Mace...and you compare those to the Fenders of the time or to any other manufacturer they didn't measure up. The only pro guys who used Peaveys at one time were country players, but even now most of them have gone back to Fenders. Of course you've always got that contingent that says, "Skynyrd used 'em." Well I hate to inform them, but most of Skynyrd's guitar tones sounded shitty.

Now I will admit that Peavey has gotten LOADS better in recent years. I respect that they make just about everything for their amps IN HOUSE. Transformers, voice coils, pickups, you name it and they make it. Their amps have always been built sturdy....you can beat the hell out of them, and they'll always turn on and work.

There have been a handful of Peavey amps that I do like though. The VTM series were pretty cool amps with some decent tones in them. I kind of like their newer TransTube amps, especially when I think back and compare them to their old amps with "Saturation" controls. Peavey has really pushed the solid-state envelope, IMHO. That's true solid-state, not modelling...there is a difference. I should note the 5150, even though I'm not a huge fan, is definitely THE amp that made the rock world take notice of Peavey. There are certainly worse amps you could own than a 5150 series. Other than that, forget about it. Maybe it is because I had to play those old Peavey amps as a kid...Musician head on a 2x12 Scorpion loaded cabinet, or an LA 400, and a Heritage with the built in phase shifter. When I could afford my first Marshall and Fender, then that was the end of my Peavey days.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
People don't like Peavey because 95% of everything they make sounds like shit.


BINGO.

[Gringo]

Originally posted by Coyote
Exactly the one I've been drooling over...

Go get it! I tried many amps: Marshalls, Hiwatt, Orange etc. I was looking for a good British classic rocksound, and i think the Laney GH50L was the best...for me.

[Nitro Express]

Someone must have bought and used that old Peavey stuff because the company is still here and Hartley has his own jet.

Peavey's big market is sound reinforcement. They did the sound for the US Capital Building and the Sydney Opra House.

PA's and sound systems is their biggest product line.

My first Peavey purchase was a classic 30 amp and it was a great amp. My Wolfgang Special is the basement guitar that I jam on. It's ugly but a good playing guitar.

[DLRdelight!]

well i was asking about this amp couple months ago and im looking to get it in feb. i bought a used 5150 cab already so now its all about getting this head

[BrownSound1]

Loads of people bought Peavey because it was a) cheap, and b) cheap. It was the perfect amp to buy your kid who was learning how to play, or a cheap purchase for the working man when compared to Fenders or Marshalls. Peavey always has filled a niche, so yeah they are successful. They do sell loads of PA equipment, and I don't have a problem with that stuff...just their guitar amps. These days they appear to be doing well as a poor man's Mesa/Boogie, instead of a poor man's Music Man or Fender. I know that Triple XXX amp is quite popular with the kids.

I did forget to mention the Classic amp line as a good thing they did. I do like those amps just fine, of course I'm sure they looked at a few Vox amps when designing those things. ;)

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by BrownSound1


I did forget to mention the Classic amp line as a good thing they did. I do like those amps just fine, of course I'm sure they looked at a few Vox amps when designing those things. ;) Nothing bad about that. After all, even Jim Marshall looked at some other amp before making his first!

[BrownSound1]

Yes, Jim Marshall did copy the Fender circuit...actually Ken Bran did it, but we credit it to Jim. The Fenders were taken directly from the Bell Labs stuff, so it all goes back to that.

[Nitro Express]

Non of those guys really knew what they were doing that's why those old Fenders would distort too soon instead of giving distortion free volume increase. Guys were turning them up and getting the raunch.

A good amp is a good amp nomatter who makes it. Lot's of flavors out there to choose from, more than ever now. Not a bad thing. If you want an old plexi copy it's there if you want high gain it's there and not only that you can price shop in every category. I've never seen good tube amps this cheap in my life.

[DLRdelight!]

well i checked the local guitar center and sam ash to see if they have the windsor but no luck. imma call the guitar center here in hollywood since itn is basically 20 min away. if they dont have it should i just order it????

[Nitro Express]

FJA Mods in New York is selling a modded Windsor. They say the stock amp is decent, they just round the sound out a little more.

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/msg/248561101.html

[DLRdelight!]

so would it be a good buy??? not the mod one but the regular one

[Nitro Express]

FJA Mods said the Windsor was built road worthy and the build quality was fine. We tore the one my friend bought apart and the chassis was plenty stiff out of the case and it secures to the case with four bolts on the bottom and four screws on the back. It's got three heavy duty circuit boards. The main board houses the preamp, the bias adjustment, and filter pots. The power tubes and splitter tube have their own board, and the power supply has it's own board. There are sevral internal fuses and one main external fuse. That's good because the fuses will blow before something on the amp fries out.

To my ears the amp seems to be voiced like an older Marshall running full out in the preamp. It's a pretty hot amp and does not like to clean up with the guitar's volume pot. It doesn't have diode clipping like the JCM 800 amps do. The power tubes are four Ruby EL-34's. The amp is LOUD! It sounds good at low volumes but is at it's best running it.

It really sounds good with a Phase 90 and you can deffinately get into old school Van Halen territorry with it. It's deffinately not voiced to be clean, this is a rock and roll amp. Everyone who has played one says the amp has a certain edge to it. Some don't like it but I think that edge fits the Van Halen sound very well. Harmonic come off great. The amp has a great mid-range growl and screams like it has been hotrodded. For $399 you can't go wrong. Order you one!

[Nitro Express]

From what we can tell the amp seems to have an automatic filter cap discharger on it. Over by the large canister filter caps there is a huge resistor and a relay swittch. The on/off and standby switches are on the opposite side of the chassis. When you turn the amp on and off the relay switch by the capacitors clicks. Looking at the traces on the board, it looks like the capacitors are switched to the big resistor when the amp is turned off. This means the high voltage is bled off everytime you turn the amp off! We are not 100% sure on this but that's what it looks like.

The amp does have a nice heavy duty bias pot and even a tap to stick the positive lead of your multimeter in to bias the amp.

Since the high voltage discharge of a large capacitor can kill you, it looks like Peavey went to the extra effort to make sure the amp makes itself automatically safe incase someone does open the amp up.

[Nitro Express]

The amp case is made from chipboard and has a thin particle board covering on the inside. So i was mistaken. It's not Baltic Birch plywood like a 5150 but it should be strong enough and it's well made. The tolex covering is well done.

I've never seen a new 100 watt amp with so many features go for so cheap. I have two Sovteks and the Windsor is way better made than either of those.

FJA Mods was impressed with the quality of the transformers and he's a guy who puts in Mercury Magnetics transformers in his modded amps. The cut some corners. The case is made from less expensive chipboard but is still plenty strong. The power supply has only three large filter caps and no choke. This is a cost cutting measure but Marshall did the same on their later JCM 800 amps including the Silver Jubilee.

There's plenty of room in the amp so a choke and extra capcitors certainly could be added.

For the money, the amp has plenty of balls and sounds good. I mod might refine a thing or two but I think it sounds fine.

If you want glassy Fender like tones, this is not the amp. This amp does old classic British tones quite well. It sounds like the cross between a VOX and a Marshall. I played "You Really Got Me" on it and it had the vibe. The old VH songs sound smoother on the Windsor than the 5150 II. Dance the Night Away never came off good on the 5150, but you can get the vibe with the Windsor without diming the thing out. I like it.

[DLRdelight!]

looks like imma order me one!!!

[Nitro Express]

There's a good review at harmoy-central on it.

[BrownSound1]

I don't remember JCM 800s having diode clipping...the JCM 900s do though. JCM800s were basically the older 2203 circuit.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
I don't remember JCM 800s having diode clipping...the JCM 900s do though. JCM800s were basically the older 2203 circuit.

I don't think all the JCM 800 models did. Marshall model numbers are confusing. The Silver Jubillee amps do have the diodes and a lot of people like that sound.

I just see it this way. A lot of people were using peddles with diodes in them to push thos old Marshall amps and so Marshall just incorporated what the peddles did into the amp itself.

I could care less if the amp is all diodes and transistors is it sounds and plays good.

I've tried every tube emulation they sell and I still go back to tubes and hey, when you can get a 100 watt all tube EL-34 powered amp head for under $500. Why do you want to by a transistor thingy?

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
I don't think all the JCM 800 models did. Marshall model numbers are confusing. The Silver Jubillee amps do have the diodes and a lot of people like that sound.

I just see it this way. A lot of people were using peddles with diodes in them to push thos old Marshall amps and so Marshall just incorporated what the peddles did into the amp itself.

I could care less if the amp is all diodes and transistors is it sounds and plays good.

I've tried every tube emulation they sell and I still go back to tubes and hey, when you can get a 100 watt all tube EL-34 powered amp head for under $500. Why do you want to by a transistor thingy? The first JCM800s did not have diode clipping. Later ones did, and the last series was more or less the same as the first JCM900 amps, plus/minus a few frills.

[Nitro Express]

I took my daughter to see The Donnas. Their guitar player was getting great tone out of a DSL 2000 and a 1960 cab. She plays a lot like Ace Frehley and something about her was making me horny. Now when I hear that kind of Marshall tone my dick starts to get hard. LOL!