Peavey Bravo

[pushover]

I was looking to buy a cheapo guitar for the kid and in the process of checking it out I stumbled across a 90's vintage Peavey Bravo that was being used to try out the guitar. I was actually much more impressed by the amp than the guitar. It seemed to generate a nice range of different tones, ranging from a pretty clean clean, to a nasty overdrive sound, all coming from a cheapo Mako brand tele copy, and at a volume level that was pretty reasonable. The amp is an all tube, 25watts combo, into some no-named internal 12' speaker, complete with .

 

I didn't actually buy it, but we did talk some about price and his first number was $200, and I'm pretty sure I could talk him down some more. I did a little internet search when I got home and it seems to have relatively decent reviews. Anyone on this list actually have any experience with one. I'm sorely tempted since it would be nice to have a smaller combo that was more luggable than my big dog amp, and this seems like it might be a pretty good deal.

 

Any words of wisdom?

[pushover]

Looks like I touched on an amp that people don't have any experience with. Since no one actually warned me off, I decided to trust my own ears and instincts and I bought the amp.

 

I haven't really had a chance to get to know it properly yet, but my initial impressions are really good. It's not a particularly loud amp (which is what I was looking for actually), so I'm not sure it would be useful for anything more than a coffee house gig or something like that, but it makes great tones at house volume levels. Sofar I'm really quite impressed with it. If anyone is looking for an at home, or small gig amp, you might want to take a look and see if any of these are for sale in your area.

 

To summarize features, it's all tube with 2 El84's and 3 12AX7s. Inside this particular amp the EL84's are Telefunken, and the 12Ax7's are unknown made in china tubes. It has 2 channels, switchable, with separate controls for each channel, and two inputs, high-gain and low gain, one 10db lower than the other. From the back it looks like a solid state amp, since the tubes are stored inside a compartment in the chassis. But that just means there is no worry about anything like tube rattle. The clean channel is pretty clean (not fender clean), but played through the low gain input up till about 7 or 8 it stays clean. It also has a bright switch which is really helpful with my 157. The lead channel has pregain and postgain knobs, allowing you dial up the gain you want, and then adjust the volume. The pregain knob is a push pull knob that goes all the way up to insane. This amp really shines as a distortion amp that you can play at reasonable volumes. Some of the reviews on harmony central describe this amp as a little Marshall stack in the box, and I can definately see why.

 

I'm not overly impressed with the internal speaker. Not sure what brand it is. It's o.k. but not great. Due to the configuration of the amp it's essentially an amp head in a combo box with the speaker plugged in with a normal 1/4' connector. I connected it up to my Avatar 2x12 closed back cab and now it really sings out. Good speakers in good cab make a huge difference. Maybe someday it might be worth upgrading the speaker, but since I can just plug it into my external cab I don't see that as any kind of priority.

 

Like I said, I haven't played with it that much yet, but the separate controls for the two channels is nice. The controls are quite sensitive, and you can really get everything from blues to metal by messing with them (no pedals). My one complaint sofar is that it seems like there is cross connectivity between the bass, mid, and treble controls, in that changing one seems to make me want to tweak the others. Might just be my imagination though!

 

Well that's enough for the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to play it some more tonight. Like I said.. this seems like a really nice little amp. If you see any for sale, you might want to consider trying it out. For less than $200 that would leave you plenty of room to buy some new tubes, or replace the speaker if that's what you want.

[212Mavguy]

Looks like I touched on an amp that people don't have any experience with. Since no one actually warned me off, I decided to trust my own ears and instincts and I bought the amp.

 

I haven't really had a chance to get to know it properly yet, but my initial impressions are really good. It's not a particularly loud amp (which is what I was looking for actually), so I'm not sure it would be useful for anything more than a coffee house gig or something like that, but it makes great tones at house volume levels. Sofar I'm really quite impressed with it. If anyone is looking for an at home, or small gig amp, you might want to take a look and see if any of these are for sale in your area.

 

To summarize features, it's all tube with 2 El84's and 3 12AX7s. Inside this particular amp the EL84's are Telefunken, and the 12Ax7's are unknown made in china tubes. It has 2 channels, switchable, with separate controls for each channel, and two inputs, high-gain and low gain, one 10db lower than the other. From the back it looks like a solid state amp, since the tubes are stored inside a compartment in the chassis. But that just means there is no worry about anything like tube rattle. The clean channel is pretty clean (not fender clean), but played through the low gain input up till about 7 or 8 it stays clean. It also has a bright switch which is really helpful with my 157. The lead channel has pregain and postgain knobs, allowing you dial up the gain you want, and then adjust the volume. The pregain knob is a push pull knob that goes all the way up to insane. This amp really shines as a distortion amp that you can play at reasonable volumes. Some of the reviews on harmony central describe this amp as a little Marshall stack in the box, and I can definately see why.

 

I'm not overly impressed with the internal speaker. Not sure what brand it is. It's o.k. but not great. Due to the configuration of the amp it's essentially an amp head in a combo box with the speaker plugged in with a normal 1/4' connector. I connected it up to my Avatar 2x12 closed back cab and now it really sings out. Good speakers in good cab make a huge difference. Maybe someday it might be worth upgrading the speaker, but since I can just plug it into my external cab I don't see that as any kind of priority.

 

Like I said, I haven't played with it that much yet, but the separate controls for the two channels is nice. The controls are quite sensitive, and you can really get everything from blues to metal by messing with them (no pedals). My one complaint sofar is that it seems like there is cross connectivity between the bass, mid, and treble controls, in that changing one seems to make me want to tweak the others. Might just be my imagination though!

 

Well that's enough for the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to play it some more tonight. Like I said.. this seems like a really nice little amp. If you see any for sale, you might want to consider trying it out. For less than $200 that would leave you plenty of room to buy some new tubes, or replace the speaker if that's what you want.

 

Niiiiiice! Glad to hear you had good luck. Can't say I've ever heard that model of Peavey, but Peavey stuff has a history of reliability.

[lb61906]

I was looking to buy a cheapo guitar for the kid and in the process of checking it out I stumbled across a 90's vintage Peavey Bravo that was being used to try out the guitar. I was actually much more impressed by the amp than the guitar. It seemed to generate a nice range of different tones, ranging from a pretty clean clean, to a nasty overdrive sound, all coming from a cheapo Mako brand tele copy, and at a volume level that was pretty reasonable. The amp is an all tube, 25watts combo, into some no-named internal 12' speaker, complete with .

 

I didn't actually buy it, but we did talk some about price and his first number was $200, and I'm pretty sure I could talk him down some more. I did a little internet search when I got home and it seems to have relatively decent reviews. Anyone on this list actually have any experience with one. I'm sorely tempted since it would be nice to have a smaller combo that was more luggable than my big dog amp, and this seems like it might be a pretty good deal.

 

Any words of wisdom?

 

 

Hey There,

 

The Peavey Bravo is a SWEET amp. I'd buy them all day long for $200. For an tube combo, they perform well. They are also somewhat hard to come by given that all the "players" have the hidden in their basements to practice on when they don't want to crank up there stack. I think you should play the amp and if you like it, get it!

 

JJ

[smurph1]

Congrats on the new amp..I've liked every Peavey I've ever owned..Wish I had my 2x12 Classic 50 back..Enjoy!