Tell me about the Peavey Deuce.

[Comanche]

There's one on Craigslist for $100.

Any thoughts about this amp.

 

[rabidhamster]

That's a pretty decent price, those amps are solid performers. Solid state preamp, tube power amp. Very decent sounding clean amp, distortion is no good. Dirt pedals work nicely enough, but the preamp could play a little more nicely with them.


For 100, the speakers/chassis/cab/OT might be a good price point to gut the thing and drill some holes for preamp tubes. Also depends what speakers are in the amp now, some of peaveys speaker options around this time period were quite loose in the low end.

 

[old mark]

Late '70's to mid 1980's. US made, actually, I like the tone a lot. They are GREAT blues amps and the drive is really OK if you set the controls right. For the price, if its all working its a deal. I LOVE old Peavey SS amps and have several.

http://peavey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=162793&sid=d943b3cdaf8d8f300575821c19b7c856

One of Peaveys earlier designs, called the Mississippi Marshall. This was a 120 watt amp, and Peaveys are VERY VERY loud for their ratings - I have an old 75 watt Bandit that I have never had past 6.

 

[SixAngryStrings]

Get that Lynyrd Skynyrd sound... I heard they used the Deuces. $100? Grab it!

 

[ScottMarlowe]

Get that Lynyrd Skynyrd sound... I heard they used the Deuces. $100? Grab it!

They mostly used the big brother to the Deuce, the Mace. Which is just about the same but with twice as many output tubes. (correction, the Deuce had 4 6L6 and the Mace had 6...)

The distortion on them is GREAT if you're getting it from the output section, i.e. don't crank the preamp, crank the master volume. But it's loud as hell when you do that, so not really apartment / bedroom friendly. They do make EXCELLENT amps to plug into if you've already got the sound you want from another smaller amp with preamp out or a pedal board etc. For the price you're getting a lot of amp cheap. Typical street price on these, VTX, CS and CC 2x12 combos is $199 so $100 is a good deal as long as there's no problems.

 

[entresz]

Awesome sounding amp for cleans - a good alternative to something like a Fender Twin. Overdrive from the preamp= not nice, but the power section overdrive sounds good. They're very well made amplifiers, they deserve to cost a lot more than they tend to.

 

[SonicBoom]

OP - That is a very early version that appears to be all solid state. Follow the link and note the output transistors in the second photo. It wasn't until later (1976 or so) that they came out with the hybrid version with a tube power amp. I'd pass on it if it is SS. It is NOT the same amp as the Deuce that everyone is referring to.

[URL="http://www.vintageguitaramplifiers.net/for-sale/vintage-1975-peavey-deuce-twin-12-cts/24782/]Vintage 1975 Peavey Deuce Twin “12″ Cts | Vintage Guitar Amplifiers"[/URL]

 

[Namelyguitar]

If my info. is correct: each of these versions had solid state preamp with (4) 6L6 tubes, and spring reverb. Speakers were (2) 12 inch, and the II model also had the option of (4) 12 inch speakers. VT model was made with Black Widow speakers.

Deuce
Deuce II
Deuce VT

 

[ScottMarlowe]

OP - That is a very early version that appears to be all solid state. Follow the link and note the output transistors in the second photo. It wasn't until later (1976 or so) that they came out with the hybrid version with a tube power amp. I'd pass on it if it is SS. It is NOT the same amp as the Deuce that everyone is referring to.

[URL="http://www.vintageguitaramplifiers.net/for-sale/vintage-1975-peavey-deuce-twin-12-cts/24782/]Vintage 1975 Peavey Deuce Twin “12″ Cts | Vintage Guitar Amplifiers"[/URL]

A guy on the Peavey forum who's pretty familiar with the Deuce series said the only all solid state deuce he'd seen was a 1x15 but hey, ya never know, the 70s were a crazy time.

 

[SonicBoom]

A guy on the Peavey forum who's pretty familiar with the Deuce series said the only all solid state deuce he'd seen was a 1x15 but hey, ya never know, the 70s were a crazy time.

Yep, I agree. All kinds of strange stuff going on then. Hartley Peavey's book says the Deuce was built from '69-'72 before switching to the Deuce II. My Deuce (240T) was built in '77 and is not a Deuce II.

I'm on that forum, too, btw - SeDeuced. The only all SS Deuce that I was aware of until now was the Deuce Festival - 110w. This appears to be yet another all SS variant. Notice that there is no OT, only a PT, and you can see the 4 output transistors in the photo. Weird.

Also, the hybrid version had a special OT switching setup with dual output jacks similar to this one, but one jack was marked "remote speakers" to run another 4 ohm cab at full output into 2 ohms.

Fwiw, I bought a Peavey Std. all SS head new in '79 before I bought my Deuce in '82. Sounded cold and sterile - no soul at all. It's output transistors looked just like these with the black plastic insulating cover.

 

[entresz]

A good SS Peavey is the old Session 400s and Session 500s. I have a '76 Session 400 and it's one of the best clean amps I've ever used. It's clear, fat, warm and takes overdrives very well. I paid quite a lot of money for mine, here in Australia they're pretty rare, but in the US they're very cheap.

I've also got an old Peavey Programax 10- it's a 2x12 SS amp that uses the same power section as the Session 400 limited - it's got a midi program memory bank where you can save up to 10 settings and switch between them. The list price back when it was new (1985) was $999 USD. It's a good sounding amp, but the overdrive is very... 80's. Again, it's a good clean amp that handles pedals really well.

I've got a bit of a soft spot for Peaveys, particularly the older ones. I find the tone to be Fender like but with less of a pronounced mid dip (but that can be dialed in if desired).

 

[DOOD]

I found this Peavey all solid state Duece amp awhile back in a basement. From the Peavey forum, I think this model was only made in 73'. I was going to put it up on craigslist for $50. I doubt this is some rare collector piece but if anyone thinks I should sell it for more, or just throw it away, any direction or history would be appreciated. How does it sound? Not that great but it is LOUD!

 

[DOOD]

here she is!

 

[chasenblues]

 

[Gridlock]

Nice, congrats.

 

[dro]

I had the later version With Phase Shifter and Black Widow 12's
Gigged that amp for 10 years or more.
Thing weighed a ton.
But for what it was, sounded pretty good. Probably the best sounding SS/Tube amp of the time.

 

[CB91710]

I had the later version With Phase Shifter and Black Widow 12's
Gigged that amp for 10 years or more.
Thing weighed a ton.
But for what it was, sounded pretty good. Probably the best sounding SS/Tube amp of the time.

Yep... My first "real" amp after going through a Best Products cheapie and one of the old "Rock" pine amps.
Thing sure spent a lot of time in the shop though, and every time it was one of the ICs, so a quick repair.