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ejendres « Great sleeper amp »
Published on 10/11/11 at 09:02The Peavey Ultra Plus is a 120 watt, 3 channel all tube amp head. Channels 2 and 3 have shared eq. It has foot-switchable on board reverb and an effects loop. There are high and low inputs.
It has a 'resonance' switch on the back. You can switch between tight, med, and loose. It basically tweaks the low end response. Its a cool little feature, but in my opinion it doesn't change the sound enough to make a noticeable difference in the mix.
UTILIZATION
Its really easy to get a good sound out of this amp on all three channels. Manual is really straight forward.
This is a fixed bias amp, which mean you can just put in a new matched quartet of 6L6s tubes whenever you need to replace the tubes. This feature makes it a great first tube amp.
SOUNDS
I used it with delay and a noise gate. The loop is fairly transparent but definitely tweaks the sound some, nothing noticeable in a mix though.
Channel 1 is very clean, I really liked it. Its an almost Fender sounding clean, very clear and bright. I used it a couple different times when tracking guitars in the studio and to this day its still one of my favorite clean tones.
Channel 2 is also really impressive. It has the typical Peavey eq curve, nice full sound with an upper mid spike. This channel is nice and crunchy without reaching high gain levels. Very nice tone.
As far as I understand it, channel 3 is the exact same circuit as channel 2, the only difference is the gain pot. This means it sound good, but it also means it sounds near identical to channel 2, especially since they share an EQ. I don't really consider this a 3 channel amp, more like a 2 channel amp with a gain boost. That sound, channel 3 sounds great. Its a killer metal sound.
OVERALL OPINION
What I like least about the amp is the shared EQ. It makes it so channels 2 and 3 do not have much tonal distinction. However, its still a good tone. For the price its a killer deal. These things can be had for $300-400 easily.
All in all this is a great tube amp, it has great tone and its built like a tank. I gigged this for months and I never had any issues, and the fixed bias makes it really easy to maintain. It makes a great first tube amp, or a great amp for those who want killer metal tone on the cheap.
It has a 'resonance' switch on the back. You can switch between tight, med, and loose. It basically tweaks the low end response. Its a cool little feature, but in my opinion it doesn't change the sound enough to make a noticeable difference in the mix.
UTILIZATION
Its really easy to get a good sound out of this amp on all three channels. Manual is really straight forward.
This is a fixed bias amp, which mean you can just put in a new matched quartet of 6L6s tubes whenever you need to replace the tubes. This feature makes it a great first tube amp.
SOUNDS
I used it with delay and a noise gate. The loop is fairly transparent but definitely tweaks the sound some, nothing noticeable in a mix though.
Channel 1 is very clean, I really liked it. Its an almost Fender sounding clean, very clear and bright. I used it a couple different times when tracking guitars in the studio and to this day its still one of my favorite clean tones.
Channel 2 is also really impressive. It has the typical Peavey eq curve, nice full sound with an upper mid spike. This channel is nice and crunchy without reaching high gain levels. Very nice tone.
As far as I understand it, channel 3 is the exact same circuit as channel 2, the only difference is the gain pot. This means it sound good, but it also means it sounds near identical to channel 2, especially since they share an EQ. I don't really consider this a 3 channel amp, more like a 2 channel amp with a gain boost. That sound, channel 3 sounds great. Its a killer metal sound.
OVERALL OPINION
What I like least about the amp is the shared EQ. It makes it so channels 2 and 3 do not have much tonal distinction. However, its still a good tone. For the price its a killer deal. These things can be had for $300-400 easily.
All in all this is a great tube amp, it has great tone and its built like a tank. I gigged this for months and I never had any issues, and the fixed bias makes it really easy to maintain. It makes a great first tube amp, or a great amp for those who want killer metal tone on the cheap.