Peavey Vypyr 15

[mickie08]

So I picked one of these up last week to mees around with and use as a practice amp with the thought that I might be able to get by using it as a pre-amp into a PA for some of the casino gigs where they don't allow any stage amp/volume.

I got to say, I took it to a gig last night and used it with a line out of the headphone out, straight to my board EQ'd pretty much straight up on the board. I had 4 presets programmed in..1 was straight Deluxe clean, 2 was a peavey classic with a little OD added to it, 3 was the same clean tone with a reverb and delay added to it, and 4 was the 5150 with a pretty decent amount of gain set up.

Going straight to the board and coming out of my PA (JBL 12" monitors and Community 15" mains) it sounded really good. I was very surprised. I knew it would work but figured at stage volume with a full band it would start getting that thin solid state sound that alot of smaller ss amps have a tendancy to have when turned up. Not at all. IT was a little bright, but I was using a tele with a brand new set up pups that are a bit hot, just put new solid metal saddles and new set of strings. I had to drop the treble on the guitar a bit but man.. It was a nice little setup and cost me $88 including buying the 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor for the line out. I am tempted to take it back and buy the next size up but then figured why... This thing weights like 5 pounds, is small, and can do what I need. And, I can always go in and add a few more presets even though those 4 are the main ones I would always use.

Anyway, good little amp for the price...frontal control I think are better than the mustang's top controls, sounds are good, and It costs less than a fucking pedal.

As a somewhat hardcore tube amp player when I have been playing electric, I am not sure I will go back. The emulations out there and the sounds available are just awesome. I kind of wish Peavey would just make the guts of this into a stomp box/DI. That would be awesome.

[vivadeluxxe]

I've read that they can function as a bass amp too, have you tried it with a bass yet?
The reason I ask is that I'm currently looking for a small bass amp. I'm playing bass with a band that's mainly acoustic songs with a couple of louder electric songs... the drums aren't very loud, but I was thinking I'd probably need something a bit bigger than a practice amp, but also small enough that it's not a pain in then arse to carry around...

[paul_]

I've read that they can function as a bass amp too, have you tried it with a bass yet?
The reason I ask is that I'm currently looking for a small bass amp. I'm playing bass with a band that's mainly acoustic songs with a couple of louder electric songs... the drums aren't very loud, but I was thinking I'd probably need something a bit bigger than a practice amp, but also small enough that it's not a pain in then arse to carry around...

Any guitar amp functions as a bass amp, but for gigging I'd advise against an 8" speaker 15-watt combo. The real risk you run with bass through any guitar amp is blowing the speakers when you crank it. I've seen someone do this to a Marshall Valvestate 2x12 just with a Les Paul and a Big Muff, so that little practice amp potentially wouldn't last too many instances of the louder electric material (and probably couldn't be heard properly over the drums anyway).

[Nick]

I've read that they can function as a bass amp too, have you tried it with a bass yet?
The reason I ask is that I'm currently looking for a small bass amp. I'm playing bass with a band that's mainly acoustic songs with a couple of louder electric songs... the drums aren't very loud, but I was thinking I'd probably need something a bit bigger than a practice amp, but also small enough that it's not a pain in then arse to carry around...

Do you guys use a PA? just get a bass di like a sansamp/mxr m80/behringer equivalent.

[vivadeluxxe]

Thanks for the info guys...

Do you guys use a PA? just get a bass di like a sansamp/mxr m80/behringer equivalent.

Yeah so far I'd just been going through the PA just using a standard DI box for rehearsal, but I was wondering if I needed a small amp onstage to help with monitoring even if it was being DI'd through the desk...
Having looked at the Vypyr specs, it mutes the speaker when the line out is used, which definitely rules it out....

[Nick]

Yeah it depends on the venue and how good their monitors are. I use a 100 watt gk 12" combo and it's been loud enough for a stage monitor for any gig we've played. It's kinda heavy but still smallish, can be angled up, and only ran me $170 used. Many places we play we don't even need it though, it pays to ask the venue/soundguy first if you can.

If you go the di route it is at least handy to have one of the bass boxes I mentioned to be able to have some control over your tone going into the board.

Sorry for thread hijack.

[vivadeluxxe]

Actually Nick, looking at the GK MB 100 watt combo, it seems ideal for what I need... They're a bit more expensive here the UK, but I'm going to see if I can find one in the black friday sales...