Got the Peavey Windsor Studio

mjaggisan · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:40 am Post subject: Got the Peavey Windsor Studio

....today. Didn't have to much time to set it up an play it but so far it seems really nice. It's about the same size as my Carvin Nomad and maybe even a smidge bigger.

I had less than an hour to play before I went to work but so far it's seems pretty decent. The crunch this thing makes is really unbelieveable. With my Am. Std. strat with the '69's the thing made really nice crunch. Better than any of my dirtboxes. And it was thick and deep not like the carvin. I wonder if buckers would be a little too muddy for this guy?

So far so good. My only issues in this short time are that:

- the reverb is kinda cheesey. It's a tiny tank and while the sound gets deep it's sort of echoy deep. Maybe a larger tank would solvie this.

- While this thing breaks up really nice I couldn't dial in a really decent clean sound at any sort of volume. My favorite spot was lo gain channel with the boost button pushed and preamp on high. Ooooh that is sweet. It does respond pretty well to guitar volume but this amp seems to have no head room what so ever. I'll try a 6L6 and see if the clears it up some.

But for the price this thing is pretty cool. I'll have some more time to play with it later in the weekend and I let you guys know. But for something you swap tubes with and all it's features I'd say it's a great deal for under $400. The distortion alone is worth it.

Lonewolf · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:31 pm Post subject:

Cool man I am glad you like it. As many tubes as it can handle you oughta be able to find the sound your after. Thanks for the review.
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mjaggisan · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject:

After living with this amp for a while I'm sort of scratching my head as to whether I'll be keeping it or not.

The thing about it is that it makes great crunchy distortion. From clean classic crunch to straight on warm high gain. And for this the amp is great. However the amp just can't seem to do any sort of clean with volume. It's always on the verge of breakup or actually breaking up. Nice but there is just no headroom with this amp.

The power sponge dealy works great. You can really rock out at very comfortable house levels. But if you were to play out you would probably need a second amp for cleans. Or, at least, you'de have to mike the thing and play at very low volume to get any decent clean sound.

The amp does sound pretty nice as a harmonica amp. The reverb actually works better for the harmonica for some reason. I know changing the preamp tubes from 12AX7 to 12AT7 might help increase the headroom some. And switching power tubes is cool. I guess I might give that one more try. Quality wise the amp is sort of "meh." It's not totally cobbed but when you take out the chassis you can tell this isn't a top quality amp. That being said the circut board layout seems fairly simple and sturdy. And it's only a $400 amp after all.

Lately I'm thinking I should just get rid of all my amps and get one really good one. Problem is one amp just doesn't do it all.

Lonewolf · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:26 am Post subject:

If its not doing it for ya ditch it. When you try to get a clean are you rolling your volume down? Check out a Marshall DSL 401. I think it will get you where you want to go.
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Summum ius summa iniuria.

mjaggisan · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:05 am Post subject:

Thanks for the suggestion I'll check one out. Yeah, if I dialed down the volume and turned the gain all the way down using the low gain channel I could get a decent clean but it was at very low volume. I guess I shouldn't be expecting too much more from a 20watt amp but it just was too low. You couldn't jam with a drummer without miking it.

I also changed the preamp tube to a 12ay7 and the power tube to a 6L6 and that did sound a bit clearer and rounder but I've decided to send it back and look around some more.