OLD FAVE
The story goes that the inspiration for this amp came from Hartley Peavey seeing a Bo Diddley concert in Mississippi in 1957. So taking in that vintage vibe you’ve got a tweed covered cab that looks a treat with a brown ish/ox blood dark red sorta grill cloth. Steel corners and control plate for a solid recognisable look and black strap handle and some black chicken head/pointer looking knobs — classic. Control wise there there are Normal and Bright input jacks, a 3 band EQ, presence, normal and lead volume controls, a channel select switch for lead or normal channels, a master volume, reverb level and lead pre and post gain controls.

I FEEL THE NEED FOR TWEED
Four EL84s and three12AX7s onboard here and 4 of Peavey’s own 10″ Blue Marvel speakers for that classic amp setup. Normal channel — normal gain/vol control for desired level, tweak the EQ, verb and then move master volume and presence to taste. Spanky and bright you can roll some tops or presence off for a rounder tone or push the channel vol control to make it push a little harder. This will do clean country twang, jangly rock, rounder blues and warm jazz with some playing around. Onto the lead channel and you’ve got the ability to set the pre gain which is the input vol of this channel. You then would work the post gain which controls the overall volume once your desired sound is set. It takes a little getting used to but once you’ve got your head around it you’re away — slight broken jangle to some grittier action all with the backup of 4x10’s moving air for you.
CLASSIC CATCH
Something about 4x10s that really feel good. Not so much for volume but the extra spread and dynamic that it throws makes for good times indeed. Both channels are usable and whilst you might be inclined to setup the clean channel and then run some pedals you do have the lead channel for switching if you prefer. The ‘verb is big and can do washy at higher settings if surf or ambient spatial sounds are what you’re after, otherwise 3–6 for a less intrusive effect. Presence will push those tops that bit extra and works to give you some more edge in the mix but don’t be a super shrill bridge pickup, full presence ice pick kind of guy — keep them tame! One of Peavey’s faves and best sellers and it’s easy to see why – classic.

By Nick Brown

Price: RRP $1699
Distributor: Audio Products
Phone: (02) 9669 3477
Website: www.audioproducts.com.au

For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

BIG CASE, BIG SOUND
The PR15D speakers are indeed housed within a large casing, but this is partly due to the fact that they have a 15-inch woofer in there, so they were never going to be small. With an internal bi-amp design that sees 150 watts going to the woofer and 50 watts going to the compression driver, you have a total of 200 watts of Class D amplification with Peavey’s exclusive DDT compression. What this all amounts to is a speaker that is powerful and punchy without lacking anything in the bottom end. The large cabinet further reinforces the 15-inch woofers’ drive, and really gives a solid whack in the lower frequencies. This means you can use it in a band situation and know that the PR15Ds will keep up with the solid transients of the drummer’s kick drum without the need for an additional sub if the space does not allow for it.

EASILY PORTABLE
I was a little put off when I sized up a pair of these with my little car, but they still managed to fit, and each speaker has a number of cleverly placed handles to make it easy to not only set up, but also get the speakers in and out of vehicles. This makes them a great option for musicians who need to move their PA around. Alternatively, if they are going to be used in an installation setting, they have fly points so they can easily be mounted from the ceiling.

EASY AS
Around the back it couldn’t be easier. There is an input on a combination jack that takes XLR and TRS connections, switchable between microphone or line levels. A volume control, link output and direct input – hat’s it! Plug it in, turn it on, wind it up and get the party started. Right from there, they have a very nicely seated voicing that is going to sit well with most styles of music without the need to heavily EQ your signal before the speakers, although every room is going to require specific attention. Use them as a monster fold back or side fill, set them up for a DJ, use two, or four, or more for a front-of-house system – whichever way, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how much punch and kick these speakers give you for their price point. If you aren’t convinced, just ask my neighbours, who politely but firmly knocked on my door not too long after I got them going.

By Rob Gee

Price: RRP $
Distributor: Audio Products Group
Phone: (02) 9669 3477
Website: www.audioproducts.com.au

LINE ‘EM UP
It may have a fairly neat footprint, but within the casing you are going to find 20 separate channel strips, all with microphone preamps. Peavey has included their new Silencer Mic Preamps in this model and they do live up to the name. You can really run the gain up on each and every channel without worrying about adding unwanted noise. Just more signal off your mics or other signal sources. So that’s 20 microphone preamps and two stereo inputs all slammed up alongside each other – more than enough for most situations using an analogue console these days. Every channel has a low-cut filter, mute, PFL and routing buttons to send it to the bus outputs or master fader. There is a three-band EQ with sweepable mids on the first 18 channel strips, whereas the last two sacrifice this control for an additional stereo gain control alongside the mic gain. What really grabbed my attention as soon as I got this baby out of the box was the auxiliary send – six of them! Now, I may be getting a little too excited for my own good, but I really do appreciate a live console manufacturer who understands the value of more than a few auxiliary sends. Really, you just can’t have too many, and they somehow managed to squeeze six in there. The first four are pre-fader sends and the second two are fixed to post-fader, giving you plenty of options for monitor and effects.

DIGITAL BONUSES & CLEVER ADD-ONS
Speaking of effects sends, there also happens to be a dual digital effects processor built into the unit so you need not have to route your signal out to external rack units if you don’t want to. This is more than just your typical preset selection of rudimentary effects though. It is a serious pair of DSP engines that allow you to chain effects and really sculpt the sound with a five-band parametric EQ and a 27-band graphic EQ, among many others such as reverbs, delays, compressors and feedback suppression. If this wasn’t enough, the analogue console you thought this was has even more options within the digital realm. Around the back are two USB connections, both A and B ports. This means you can stream audio from a computer or memory stick straight into a separate input on the console or connect a computer directly for recording from the master bus – it’s that simple. You can capture every gig with a plug-and-play interface built into the console that will not send noise through the PA speakers. And, if all that wasn’t enough, the guys at Peavey went and put the headphone output on the front of the console in the right corner, not on the top panel, so your headphone’s lead doesn’t get in your way – very clever. This one gets two thumbs up from me.

By Rob Gee

Price: RRP $1,999
Distributor: Audio Products Group
Phone: (02) 9669 3477
Website: www.audioproducts.com.au

I CAN’T STOP COFFIN
The PXD Odyssey II is a single cutaway beastie with a sharp, spiky, utterly brutal headstock and rather odd-looking (and odd-feeling) precision tuning machines. The body is made of mahogany, and there are a few neat bevels to break up the visual monotony of the pickguard-free, bindingless surface. The mahogany set neck features a rosewood fretboard with a single aluminium triangle inlay at the 12th fret. There are 24 frets, and the scale length is 24.75 inches – pretty standard for this type of axe. Truss rod adjustment is via a dual action torsion rod accessed by removing the three screws holding the nameplate on at the headstock end. Interestingly, the Peavey logo itself is not visible on the front of the guitar. Weird. The guitar is shipped in a Coffin Case brand case (and yes, it’s coffin-shaped), stamped with the PXD logo. Frankly, I find the child-sized coffin case a little creepy but maybe that’s cos I’m a dad. I probably would have loved it in my full-on brutal days.

The strings are anchored via through-body ferrules, and the bridge is your standard tune-o-matic-style fare. Electronics are a pair of EMG active ceramic humbuckers (an 81 and a 60) with an EMG Afterburner circuit (a powerful boost), and a three-way pickup selector toggle switch.

METAAAAAAAAAL!
The EMG 81 is a powerful, metal-sounding pickup ideally suited for soloing. One thing I particularly like about the 81 is that the sound stays uniform and even over the duration of bends. This is because the pickup is built around rail magnets, which means there’s no dip in magnetic field as the string is pushed laterally in a bend. Aside from being a great lead pickup, the 81 sounds great for power chords and drop tunings (although I only got as low as drop D on the PXD before the strings started to feel a bit floppy due to the small scale length).

The 60 is a great neck humbucker, featuring close aperture coils loaded with ceramic magnets. It has a bright attack and lots of output, and it takes just a few seconds to recognise its solo tone as the one you’re hearing on Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” – that clear, rounded, sustaining, mellow tone. Combined with the Afterburner, the 60 is a killer lead pickup for metal. It might not be particularly dynamic or gritty for blues, but it’s great for shred. The Afterburner also brings out a nice edge from the 81, and it’s quite enjoyable to kick the Afterburner in for solos on the bridge pickup, then flip it off again for rhythm.

Structurally, the nut is a little roughly cut, and the neck angle feels a little shallow for this type of axe, although the fretwork is quite good, aided by the binding. Interestingly, the Afterburner knob operates a lot more smoothly than the other knobs, which makes it easier to carry out cool swell effects, from distorted to mega-distorted and vice-versa.

BETTER SHRED THAN DEAD
The Odyssey II is a neat little axe that definitely knows its place in the world – it’s a metal axe designed to chug out on, kick out savage riffs, peel off a few blistering leads and look suitably metal while doing so.

By Peter Hodgson

Price: RRP $1299
Distributor: Audio Products
Phone: (02) 9669 3477
Website: www.audioproducts.com.au

For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

24 AMPS, 22 EFFECTS AND A WHOLE LOTTA ATTITUDE
Like the Vypyr 100, the Vypyr Tube 60 features 24 amp channel models: two channels each of various amps including Peavey originals like the XXX, JSX, 6505 (formerly the 5150) and Classic, as well as other models that offer clear hints as to their inspiration: Dzl, Rec, K-Stein, Twn, Dlx, Plxi, Brit and B-Kat.

There are 11 editable stomp-box effects and 11 “rack” effects. In other words, the stomp effects are located prior to the preamps in the signal chain (better for “gain” type effects like overdrive and wah), and the rack effects come after (better for time-based effects like delay, reverb and some modulation effects). I really dig this method because it reflects a real-world setup rather than simply an amp. The stomp effects are TubeScream, Analog Phase, MOG (monophonic octave generator — one octave up plus one octave down), Analog Flange, Auto Wah, Ring Modulator, XR Wild (an overdrive pedal designed for use with the amp’s clean channels), X Boost (which boosts certain frequencies and warms the tone), Fuzz, BC Chorus and Squeeze (a compressor). The rack effects are Tremolo, Chorus, Envelope Filter, Slap Back, Flanger, Looper, Octaver, Phaser, Rotary Speaker, Reverse and Pitch Shifter.

You can use up to five effects simultaneously, and if you use the optional Sanpera II pedal you can even access an on-board looper. The Sanpera also gives you access to up to 400 presets, compared to 12 if you use the amp without it. It includes 10 momentary selector buttons with LEDs, dedicated tap-tempo capabilities and a bank increment/decrement function, and is self-powered via MIDI. You can use it to select your presets or to turn individual effects on and off within a preset. It also features an on-screen tuner, which is a great asset for when you don’t want to keep peeking back at your amp between songs.

Like the Vypyr 100 and a few other Vypyr models, the Vypyr Tube 60 can be used as a computer audio interface via a studio-quality USB 2.0 output, which is recognised by computers as an audio device. There’s also a studio-quality headphone out, MIDI in/out and a MP3/CD/Aux input.

THYS VYPYR WYLL BYT
Although built on the same sounds as the Vypyr 100, the Vypyr Tube 60 feels a lot more interactive and amp-like. While a lot of amps in the ‘90s experimented with tube preamps and solid state power amps, the real tube glory comes from the power amp, so it makes a lot of sense to combine the Vypyr’s analogue distortions, digital amp recreations and a tube power amp. Picking dynamics feel more, well, dynamic, and the amp seems to have greater harmonic content than its fully solid-state counterpart. This adds an extra sense of warmth to the medium-gain Plxi model, and it brings the 6505 and JSX tones quite close to their real-world counterparts. The 6L6s add a nice sheen to the clean tones, lending a glassy feel and rounded bottom end. The effects are a nice touch, especially when combined with the Sanpera II and its additional level of control. The looper controls presented by the Sanpera aren’t particularly difficult to get your head around, and it’s a lot of fun having such massive processing power right there at your feet. Sanpera II’s switches are thoughtfully laid out and well-labelled, with the looper switches set aside on one level and the bank switches on another, plus stompbox, effect, delay and reverb buttons doubling as the preset buttons. Tap Tempo is also nicely isolated in the bottom left corner.

CHOMP!
The Vypyr Tube 60 takes the flexibility and utility of the Vypyr 100 and pumps it through a tube power section, picking up a lot lot of extra amp vibe along the way. It’s nicely portable and it’s adaptable to stage, studio, rehearsal and lesson applications. Tube amps are a different beast to solid-state ones, and players who are used to digital modelling (and let’s face it, there are guitarists out there now who have grown up in an era of digital simulations rather than the real thing) may prefer the solid-state Vypyr. For those of us who are addicted to the feel and sound of tubes, the Vypyr Tube 60 is awesome, and Sanpera II really opens up its capabilities beyond what you could reasonably expect from an amp.

By Peter Hodgson

Price: RRP $1199 (Vypyr 60); $499 (Sanpera II)
Distributor: Audio Products Group
Phone: (02) 9669 3477
Website: www.audioproducts.com.au

For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au