|
Well I suppose sooner or later I will have all of the gear I won reviewed but first we'll start with the core of my sound, the Peavey XXL 100W 212 combo. Title of Equipment: Peavey XXL 212 Combo Price Paid/Price New:$500 CAN/$899 CAN (That's how much the sticker was when I bought it anyways) Year Manufactured: I think 2003 Specs: (straight from the horse's mouth...that horse being Peavey.com) Features Two 12 inch Blue MarvelŪ speakers Three fully independent channels Bottom, body and edge active EQ on Ultra channel 3-band passive EQ on Clean and Lead channels 3-position EQ and gain voicing switches on each channel 100 watts RMS into 4, 8, or 16 ohms using tube amp output transformers Power level switch for 25, 50, or 100 watt operation Power amp damping switch (tight, medium, loose) Footswitchable effects loop with effects level switch Preamp out/power amp in patching jacks Digital reverb Master volume 3-button footswitch included Classic jeweled pilot light Chrome plated brass control knobs Sound: 5/5 I cant say enough about this thing's sound. I have played through all kinds of high-end amps extensively, including (but not limited to) Peavey JSX, Marshall JCM 800, Krank Krankenstein, Crate BV300, Bogner Uberschall and some others I can't remember. Of course all these amps sound great (some more than others) but the mere fact that a solid state combo can but heads with them is amazing. Before I go any further I want to describe my sound to you. First and foremost I'm a metalhead primarily. And when I say metalhead I'm talking mostly old-school american metal and some more classic stuff. My two biggest influences are Dimebag and Zakk so you can see that I play with some majorly chunky toys. My two main guitars (as of now) have mahogany bodies (no, theyre not Gibbos) which helps the amp with a warm full sound. I get all the chunk I need out of this bad boy (with the Ultra channel) without getting muddy, which is amazing. Because most SS amps lose definition if they have the lows turned up too high. But I can get other types of rhythms too. Just by fiddling with the EQ and choosing a different gain voicing I can go from Zakk's chunk to Alexi Laiho's awesome rhythms. The key to this sound is not to sound shrill though, because some amps I've played (especially the Krankenstein) sound REALLY shrill when you scoop the mids and it just sounds liek you're running through a fuzzbox with the treble on 10. Now for those of you who don't play metal (although I have no ida why you wouldn't :P) fear not, the Lead channel has all the mild distortions to overdrives you could want. I've played all kinds of music with my band including stuff by Alicia Keys, Iron Maiden and Pearl Jam so take it to heart when I say this amp is versatile. I mainly used the lead channel for just that: solos. That way I could have all my rhythms on my chunked-out ultra settings (I play with the EQ at Bass-8.5, Mids-2.5, Treble-7) and then switch to the Lead which would be chock-full of mids so my solo can cut through. The Lead channel can get you anything from Judas Priest style high-gain classic metal (think painkiller....drool) all the way to AC/DC. Or if blues is your bag then dialing down on the gain can hit that up as well. Like I said....versatile. And the clean channel? Well out of the three voicings I only ever use one: named "warm". Coupled with my Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble I can get excellent mellow chords or interludes. (think Call of Ktulu intro). Played straight into clean on the neck pickup can be a little too punchy though so I recommend dialing down the volume on your guitar a tad unless you're looking for reggae-ish sounds. Quality: 5/5 I'll try to keep this one brief. BUILT LIKE A loving ROCK!!!!!!! I have dropped this thing down stairs, it has fallen off stages and even fallen out of the back of a moving (albeit slowly) van. The only repairs I've had to do on it was replace the reverb pot when it accidentally snapped off. Granted the corners are banged up, but hey that's what those metal things are for right? Peavey's quality control is better than any company I've seen. They hit these things with hammers before they ship. Overall Value: 5.5/5 I've already told you how great it sounds and how long it lasts. And It butts heads with some of the greatest amps out there! The one amp I have yet to compare it to is a triple rectifier, but I plan on that next weekend. For those of you that have up to $1000 Canadian to spend on a great amp that can be used for the biggest club gigs or the smallest practice sessions, look no further. The sound, simplicity, ruggedness and price of this badboy are all amazing. Please for the love of god, try one out. Hope my long-rear end review helped, but as you can see I love this thing. :P
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2005 06:54
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 03:37 |
|