Peavey XXX

[lhrocker]

Does anyone have any opinions on the Peavey XXX? I have a chance to pick one up at a great price. I actually have a XXX cab, so it will be a matching set. Is the amp more Marsahll or Mesa or anything else?

[Dreamland_Rebel]

the XXX sounds great!
i prefer it to a Rectifier.

[sevser]

I have been abusing mine for years...Great amp. I actually liked it best when matched with a 5150 cab. Sounds great with my G-Flex too...

Takes a shit kicking and keeps on ticking…

[mor]

I had a Triple xxx, and i was very happy with him. The clean sound is very good, but his crunch is very powerful. Great sound for the price vs mesa or another.
Now i have a diezel and perhaps this is better than the peavey but it was very expensive too, while the peavey was less expensive.

[hippietim]

I'm not a fan of that amp or the JSX at all. Buzzing bee distortion and solid state sterile clean.

[Spivonious]

i'm not a fan of that amp or the jsx at all. Buzzing bee distortion and solid state sterile clean.

+1000

[bfloyd6969]

Does anyone have any opinions on the Peavey XXX? I have a chance to pick one up at a great price. I actually have a XXX cab, so it will be a matching set. Is the amp more Marsahll or Mesa or anything else?

Great amp. Complete the matching set. I'd say it is in the middle of the Marshall and Mesa tone wise (IMO).

[Inazone]

My brother has one, and it's making me sound bad at gigs! He went from having some pretty lackluster pedal-based tone to the XXX distortion, and it really sounds good. It combines the features I like about the 5150/6505 and JSX in one amp, and the used prices on them are very reasonable.

That said, I've never been 100% happy with the lead tones I've achieved with ANY Peavey amp. For rhythm purposes, I like them a lot.

[horns666]

I like the JSX, I thought the distorion was focused, warm and smooth..very responsive with harmonics. Don't ask me about cleans or crunch, I don't swing that way baby. I'm not found of the the XXX..that amp sounds like what Tim described the JSX to me. The 5150 is a bit flubby, dead and fizzy..you could overdo it with all of the control on that amp..to subper sizzle, super flub, or super mush..so you gotta be careful with the 5150s. You can't push the gain passed 6 at all, but that's all the gain you'll need. I like the JSX because the gain is 100% usuable..you can dime it and be OK if you wish.

I like the sound of the JVM better than any Peavey these days. But I like the Uber more than anything, but not with the stock preamp tubes..they suck!

[jgcable]

Pete. its more Mesa than Marshall. Its a solid amp. Great for metal. Its a modern sounding Rectifier.

[Cleveland Metal]

Yeah, I always said it was Peavey's answer to the Recto...

[bibz]

I couldnt get along with the xxx at all, way to harsh and fizzy right off the bat, but the jsx had 'it' for me. I'm sure a tamed down xxx would have a nice unique sound, but the jsx has a much more forgivable sound. It's a gainy sumbitch though, so use the low input if you need a nice barely overdriven sound. Love the clean channel too, especially with 6l6's through g12t75's.

[ken361]

Just got the 212 combo its pretty decent. I use to have a tonelab running through my carvin belair tube combo but it sounded kinda harsh. So this my first all tube and no digital distortion amp, would like some more bit on it VH type. Still need some effect pedals though!

[Shotgun]

I have been abusing mine for years...Great amp. I actually liked it best when matched with a 5150 cab. Sounds great with my G-Flex too...

Takes a shit kicking and keeps on ticking…

Same here, started mine stock through a 5150 and loved it, have since moved to a G-Flex and done some tube swapping and love it even more.

I love being able to flip a switch and swap out 6L6 to EL34 (there's pretty much your JSX right there), and with GT's 928-PRs I can go to EL84 when I want. Love the clean, but I don't go there often.

I can't remember what preamp tubes I've got in there now, that I've been so much happier with than using all 12AX7s: I want to say that after trying a 12DW7 (neutered it), a 12AT7 gave me the extra headroom between dirty and crunchy and all out metal on the gain that I was looking for. Can't remember where I put it, or whether I swapped any of the other preamp tubes, I'd have to look.

Could not disagree more with the reviews that say the XXX sounds solid state or buzzy or harsh, but that's just my ears, and for the difference in price I'm probably more forgiving.

For what I paid for mine, I couldn't be happier with it. I'd have to spend assloads more for several different amps to top what I'm getting out of just this one.

YMMV.

Keith

[sevser]

I played straight into it side by side to my other guitarists SS rigs...And the XXX blew him out of the water with every rig he had...3 differnt drummers and 1 bassist agree... I did try different tubes in both the pre amp and the power section. I ended up being happy with Electro Harmonix pre and power...(6L6) and Svetlana EL34s

I like the 6L6's in there if I run straight through...However I did find I like the EL34's when I just use the power section and my XTL as my pre...I also find the "loose" setting makes it breath much better...Gets rid of that over compressed sound. I tighten things up with other methods, such as EQ, pups and whatnot...