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King Loudness « Good practice amp »
Published on 08/13/11 at 22:21This amp is a pretty basic little practice combo. It's about 15w of power, solid state of course. It's laid out with two channels... clean and drive. They share an EQ of bass, middle, and treble controls. In addition, this amp features an onboard reverb to add a bit of ambiance to the tone. I own it's reverb-less sister the Rage, and I do wish that it had reverb 'cause other than that it sounds great. There's really no other features on the Blazer other than that. There's a 1/4" jack for a CD out and another 1/4" for headphone practice. It's pretty simple and great for a starting player.
UTILIZATION
Getting a decent out of this amp isn't really that difficult overall. The Peavey Transtube stuff tends to sound really good anyway and it does feel slightly more tubelike than a lot of other small amps that claim to be tube emulators. It's laid out with the two channels and they're easy enough to dial in. It's got a shared EQ, but it's not like the controls are that effective with an 8" speaker anyhow. That's the key for a starting guitarist anyway... simple but effective.
SOUNDS
I've tried a few of these amps with various guitars. It sounds exactly the same as the Rage, which I love, but with added reverb. The clean channel is a cool sounding one... sure it's solid state and coming out of a cheap little speaker but it sounds good with a bit of that cool vintage sag that old Fenders have (I know, it sounds crazy). The drive channel goes from great '60s/'70s classic rock tones to some cool convincing modern metal tones. The onboard reverb here gives it a decent ambiance too and makes it sound a little bit bigger than it really is. I'd like to hear this amp through an extension cabinet, but c'est la vie.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Peavey Blazer is a cool amp for someone starting out. They can be picked up for under $100 used and for what it is it works really well. It doesn't have the features of a Line 6 or the newer Peavey Vypyrs, but it works well enough with a couple core tones. They're pretty neglected and under-appreciated... show one some love!
UTILIZATION
Getting a decent out of this amp isn't really that difficult overall. The Peavey Transtube stuff tends to sound really good anyway and it does feel slightly more tubelike than a lot of other small amps that claim to be tube emulators. It's laid out with the two channels and they're easy enough to dial in. It's got a shared EQ, but it's not like the controls are that effective with an 8" speaker anyhow. That's the key for a starting guitarist anyway... simple but effective.
SOUNDS
I've tried a few of these amps with various guitars. It sounds exactly the same as the Rage, which I love, but with added reverb. The clean channel is a cool sounding one... sure it's solid state and coming out of a cheap little speaker but it sounds good with a bit of that cool vintage sag that old Fenders have (I know, it sounds crazy). The drive channel goes from great '60s/'70s classic rock tones to some cool convincing modern metal tones. The onboard reverb here gives it a decent ambiance too and makes it sound a little bit bigger than it really is. I'd like to hear this amp through an extension cabinet, but c'est la vie.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Peavey Blazer is a cool amp for someone starting out. They can be picked up for under $100 used and for what it is it works really well. It doesn't have the features of a Line 6 or the newer Peavey Vypyrs, but it works well enough with a couple core tones. They're pretty neglected and under-appreciated... show one some love!