Guitar Gear

Peavey Windsor Studio

At-A-Glance: 15-20 Watt Class A tube amp, 12″ speaker, balanced XLR out with mic simulator.

Price: $399.00 (street)

Features:

• Class A Power Amp can use various octal power tubes including EL34 (stock), 6L6GC, 6550, 6CA7, KT88, KT66, or any variation on these types
• Two 12AX7/ECC83 Preamp tubes
• 15-20W (rms) into 4, 8, or 16 Ohms with “Power Sponge” output power attenuator
• No negative feedback in Power Amp
• High & Low Gain Inputs
• Preamp Volume
• Low, Mid, and High EQ
• Footswitchable Boost function
• Footswitchable Effects Loop
• Spring Reverb
• Transformer balanced XLR Recording Output w/passive mic simulator
• XLR Ground Lift switch
• Dual Speaker Outputs
• Impedance Selector
• 1/4″ TRS footswitch jack for Boost and Loop defeat
• 12″ Blue Marvel Speaker

I’ve never been much of a Peavey fan, but there’s something VERY cool about this little amp. For starters, I dig the fact that you can use different pentodes with it – and you can switch them with out re-biasing! Imagine getting that glassy sound with a 6L6GC (standard in Fender deluxes), then switching over to a KT88 for a more compressed overdrive sound. That feature alone makes it really attractive. But on top of that it also has a built-in attenuator!

This ain’t a giggin’ amp – least not for anything more than a small venue. As the name implies, it’s made for the studio, and with its included features, it’s clear that that is what it’s made for. For home recording stiffs like me, this amp seems like an ideal amp to have in my home studio. I used to be really dubious about low-power amps, but for low volume applications, you just can’t go wrong with a low power amp. Why? Simply because you can get low wattage amps into breakup at a much lower volume than with higher output amp. And with the right mic placement, in many cases you can’t tell just how little that low wattage amp really is. 🙂

But here’s the real kicker for me: It costs $399 retail. You can find it on EBay for even less! That alone is worth a look. Now I know that you might be thinking that this is just a cheap amp. Maybe it is, but based upon the demo below, I think this amp may deliver WAY more value than for what it’s selling. Check it out:

I’m going to have hit a Guitar Center or another local shop that carries one to try it out. If you’ve got or played one, I’d love to hear your insights!