6534 Amp

[Nitro Express]

You can get good guitar equipment for less money now than you could when I started playing in 1978. There were some god awful amps in the 1980's and they had stopped making tubes and the Soviet Union hadn't opened up so they were making solid state amps out of necessity. Good tube amps that were affordable came back due to demand and cheap available Russian made tubes. So amps got better due to the Berlin Wall coming down and that's the truth of it.

[GAR]

Ive had a 61 bassman, a 68 and a 73 bassman 100 and Ive only been cool with the Vibrochamp.

Don't know how Ed got anything decent out of a Bandmaster - fenders are 9 times out of 10 clean-only amps and when you find one that has something, you'll find it's been tweaked/

[Nitro Express]

btw I was taught shut-down from a few amp techs was the right way to do it, your way.

Their theory is, you give the filter caps a chance to dissipate instead of hard shutdown which they say risks over-capacity peaking that can cause micro-pilferations of the mylar/electrolytic paste barriers which may or may not shorten it's life.

Tubes aren't affected, Ken Bran and Jim Marshall told me that.. though I feel because they couldn't explain "why" they might be incorrect. Jim told me "doesn't matter one way OR the other, if you want to hit standby before shutdown it won't help or hurt anything. The standby is there to prevent cathode stripping from cold start operation letting 'em warm up you see."

So regardless of possible tube or caps shock from hard shutdown, I also rely upon advice from a few pro players who say: when you shut off, just hit both switches simultaneous. Yeah, I hear a low "klunk!" when the final stored energy hits the speakers, but I figure that's what the 1amp fuse is for. I mean, that slight pop is nothing compared to the way the speaker jumps from a Hush-silenced stillness to a full chord roar. Nothing at all like it.

So that's why I hit both Standby and Power at the same time, but only Power on first for a minute before doing Standby.

I have three Peavey heads and they all have a bleeder resistor built into the circuit. There's a relay switch that sends the stored capacitor voltage to the bleeder resistor when you turn off the power switch on the amp. You can hear it click off when you turn the amp on. So on the new Peavey's you just turn them off without going to Standby and the amp bleeds the power off to the resistor. It's also a neat safety feature incase somebody opens the amp and starts poking around in there. They won't get zapped. The instruction manual does suggest putting the amp on standby and letting it warm up for two minutes before playing.

[Nitro Express]

Ive had a 61 bassman, a 68 and a 73 bassman 100 and Ive only been cool with the Vibrochamp.

Don't know how Ed got anything decent out of a Bandmaster - fenders are 9 times out of 10 clean-only amps and when you find one that has something, you'll find it's been tweaked/

Ed would warm up with a Fender amp. I worked security for a VH show in 84 and peeked into the tuning room and both him and Mike had Fender amps in a big road case. It was a combo of some kind but it sounded nice and crunchy, fat, and would scream. It really sounded great. I would love to know if it was stock and what he had done to it.

[Nitro Express]

Ive had a 61 bassman, a 68 and a 73 bassman 100 and Ive only been cool with the Vibrochamp.

Don't know how Ed got anything decent out of a Bandmaster - fenders are 9 times out of 10 clean-only amps and when you find one that has something, you'll find it's been tweaked/

I never was big on bassman amps. Too flabby sounding. I like a good Twin Reverb and I love a good Dual Showman. In fact, I still have a Dual Showman and I run an old Alembic preamp infront of it. Sounds great!

[Seshmeister]

This amp sounds much better to me, but the peavey is nice as well...

That amp is just over half the price of the Peavey here so a no brainer...

[ELVIS]

And it says Marshall...

[Nitro Express]

And it says Marshall...

The 6534 isn't a Marshall clone. It's more like a Soldano clone with EL-34 tubes in the power section. Marshall or Peavey both a good family owned companies that still make good products. Look at Gibson and St. Louis Music. Like Leo Fender once said, "Never sell your company because you will just sit back and watch other people ruin it." Amazingly Jim Marshall is still alive. When I was at Marshall you could smell his cigar smoke drifting out of his office. I couldn't believe the old man was still at it.

[Seshmeister]

He's 87!

[GAR]

Last two years running, I hung with Terry. I didn't ask if his mom n dad came - I think the year before he attended on a Saturday at NAMM but he's getting up there.

Terry runs it now pretty much, youll see him in the youtube factory tours talking about the differences between the old and new Tolex glues.. the new ones which SUCK by the way.

[GAR]

That amp is just over half the price of the Peavey here so a no brainer...

Tell your government to evict all the third-world's dregs, vote conservative, detach from the UK and EU teat, fuck the global-warming lie bullshit and actually make products in Scotland - then you can get rid of that whopper of a VAT keeping you all in virtual serfitude which will permit you to buy American products at a 1:1 basis.

Here in the US it's 5% percent duty, and ALL.. A L L the EU think that's an unfair advantage.

I'll tell you what's unfair now... no duty. Marshall sells an amp to Spain, the Spaniatards pay nothing but buy a Peavey, Metro, Mojave, Goodsell or Freyette and you have to pay double from US to UK.

And it's all the Americans' fault.

[Seshmeister]

The conservatives are the 3rd sometimes the 4th party here.

The US puts big import tariffs on stuff too which is why people are saying Marshall amps are expensive over there.

[GAR]

That's not true! It's 5 percent import duty - check it yourself online.

I did that 10 years ago myself, the classification is consumer electronics - I see guys buying vintage used FROM the UK and paying no duty, person-to-person using the mails.

Getting an amp from there to here however, it's $275 postage.

[GAR]

Hmm I wonder does Peavey have a Custom Shop - you could have someone on the board pick up a used 5150 head off Craigslist for $400-550, have it sent to Peavey for a 6534 board, trannys and extra tube upgrade, then have it sent from there to Peavey's Oakley Hay Corby Northants UK facility as a "repair order" getting it in with a container shipment, paying no duty and no shipping.

[Seshmeister]

That's not true! It's 5 percent import duty - check it yourself online.

I did that 10 years ago myself, the classification is consumer electronics - I see guys buying vintage used FROM the UK and paying no duty, person-to-person using the mails.

Getting an amp from there to here however, it's $275 postage.

My understanding has always been that US import duty is higher than that in the EU.

I just checked and it's only 2% to import guitar amps so much less than the US.

So we still don't really know why this amp is so expensive here. As I said it's kind of irrelevant anyway as they aren't likely to sell many with the competition from Marshall...