I always boosted mine with an OD and liked it. Finally tried a BEOD into a cleaned up(almost no gain on the amp) and I like it even better. Great demo Kyle 🤘
Seeing all these older Peavey amps like the Windsor and the VK series reminds me of playing these amps in my local music store when I was a teenager. Sadly, that store closed down years ago. Great content BTW.
i've had one of these for years, gigged it tonnes of times, used it on a bunch of records. i wouldn't try and use it for mega high gain stuff, but with the gain at like 7-8 pushed by a tubescreamer it's a killer rock/punk sound.
I work for 1800gotjunk and i got paid to take one of these home and a b52 cab with it plus a damage control dual vaccuum tube distortion pedal. Today was a good day!!!
A lot of people slept on the Windsor. My "Big" rig is 2 modded Windsors ran stereo into 4 USA Ampeg 412 cabs. Push the front of both with the Keeley metal zone. It's the most crushing tone I've ever experienced. The 2 biggest things I can tell you is to run it at 50 watts and there's issues with the high gain inputs. I've had 4 of these heads and haven't experienced the swelling effect you mentioned.
I actually like the tone. Personally I’ve started to like filthier higain tones. Even that subtle swelling effect was actually quite cool. Disgusting bass tone, D-beat and thrash the hell out of that guitar 🤘
Fun! I ran one of these guys as the "dirty channel" side of my rig, and I've never heard anyone speak of the "swell". I had the exact same problem! I called it being "late" as it had the effect of making it sound like my timing was off, which took away from the overall playing experience obviously. Took it to my amp tech, who replaced couple diodes if I remember correctly, and then it started cooking power tubes. Brought it back in and upon further research he discovered that this circuit is something called "cold biased"? Long story short, he felt terrible and bought it from me, calling it a research/learning experiment. I thought the sound was usable, plenty of power, but the "swell/latency" was a deal breaker. If you want a tube amp on a budget? Save your money for a class D lunchbox.
I had one of these for awhile. There's a knob on the back that lets you go between class a and class ab. From what I remember, one of the settings on that sounded way better than the other, and it really affected the whole amp pretty significantly. I liked this amp way more than the valve king, which I thought sounded terrible.
I picked up two for about $200 a piece about five years ago, and ran them stereo through a 6505 4×12 cab that I picked up for $180. I'm hating I had to give that rig up. I've seen a couple videos on here where an FJA mod helped it out immensely.
@@belligerentamateur +1 to this. I never understood the mod market. Like, I've owned a few of them and they're cool, but if you're going to spend as much as the amp costs on mods, just buy a different amp 🤣
I haven’t read all the comments. The swell in volume when you push the preamp had could be “sag”. The preamp filter caps can’t handle the power you want to draw through it. Add more preamp filter caps and it may help.
I have had this amp for about 5 years, got it off MF daily deal new for $179. I didnt want to quit on this amp because i could hear the magic tone in there, but there were some weird frequencies that I just couldnt get rid of, I boosted it, i used the low gain input, and nothing really helped, UNTIL I got an attenuator. I'm using the cheap PS1 from Bugera. With this PS1 and a EQ in the loop this sounds amazing. Seems the key to this amp is that you need to get the master volume up around 6, but doing that without the PS1 would not work just trying to play at home (or Yankee Stadium). Once you get the master up all those weird frequencies all smooth out and it sounds killer. Oh and also run this on a 4ohm cab this also help alot as well.
Dude! I had one of these back in the day with the matching 4x12. Traded a 1985 Ibanez for it and used it for several years in a church band. Great amp for the mid-gain stuff.
A lot of people seemed to not like how it sounded I think you made it sound good, especially in the Drop C section. Also, Leeway and All Out War? You’ve won me as a subscriber
I like the Peavey Windsor because i have the combo and IT sound good but as good as the 100 watt head but for the Price is good deal i'm an old métal head and IT rock !
If you are into modding, you can easy remove this swelling effect. You correct about reason of it, so just change R29 and R38 for 10k and 22k respectively in power-feeding circuit. In addition amp will become a bit noisy and gainy.
Hi Kyle, I just bought one for a few hundred $ and this video will help me get the most out of my amp. Thanks I got some work to do on getting it to Kranz up some high gain tones. For what big amps cost today this was peanut money fir a big watt head. I'm 68 my friend and bought stacks in the 70,s for twice the price I paid for this head! By the way love your channel !🤘
Sorry man, hasn't been my experience. Turning the amp up thins it out significantly due to the poorly spec'd power section. This has even been confirmed by people at Peavey, this was meant to be an extreme budget model. You may be confusing the speakers moving air with the amp pumping out more low end at higher volumes
Marshall nut here: The Windsor does "boomer", "hair" and "Slayer" type JCM 800 tones, but I tried every boost I liked & it didn't do my brand of Zakk/Sabbath/early Metallica to my liking. Worth a shot but it is nowhere near a 1:1 JCM 800 clone. Doomers might love it, though. Would take in trade; would not seek out. Loved the Valveking, very Laney AOR100 (also a JCM800 alike).
@@robertgoyette5863 there's a lot of "Marshallesque" stuff out there. I never enjoyed anything Tubeworks did, power amps aside, but Josh Homme considers the stuff a secret weapon. Horses for courses. Be fun to be "stuck" with a Winsor and see what I come up with.
I own both the original Triumph 60 and the 60 PAG, which is essentially the Ultra 60. THE PAG is a great amp, the original is useless without an EQ in the loop
It’s funny to me that when I was a beginning player I had one of these and got rid of it. Back then I had no idea how to EQ and amp. I kick myself thinking I missed out on really exploring my early gear.
True, I just tried out a NAM-Profile of the Windsor and even there this "overload" issue kinda recreates itself if you boost the heck out of it. But makes me also think: Got some character here.
I had an early vietnam made 5150 50 watt when they first came out. It did that exact same “swelling “ problem, wich occurred everytime i used higher output pickups. Almost like the circuit couldn’t handle the extra input gain. Fender repaired it at an authorized repair shop and said it was an early design flaw that had a specific capacitor that needed changing. Sounds like it might be in the design of the Windsor if it’s present on multiple heads. Who knows,but I definitely know what is described here, and it’s undesirable to me.
With the tone you have around the 6 minute mark, it's perfect for pushing a low gain distortion pedal. Tbh if you use something akin to a metal zone or BE-OD or whatever with the gain at 9 o'clock to push the front end, you'd probably get some pretty nice tones. Hell, if you boosted the amp with an OD like that, and turned up the gain on the overdrive, it would probably sound pretty nice, too. If you layer both of those sounds together in a quad tracking setup, it'd probably sound killer. I have a Joyo Jackman that I enjoy boosting with a metal zone, with the gain for both at 9 o'clock. I then layer that with the same amp, with the same settings, boosted with an HM-2 with the gain at 0 and everything else dimed. Or, alternately, I'll use my joyo meteor pushed with a precision drive, and then layer in the jackman boosted with the HM-2 or MT-2 as described above. Which, ngl, both of those are among my FAVORITE tones I've ever gotten.
I picked the head and matching cab up, it sounds the best with my cab with v30s. I like using a metal zone infront of the amp it comes alive with any pedal. Thanks I like seeing tone potentials with this amp!
I've got the Peavey Ultra Plus and the Windsor , love both but not through the same cab, the Ultra Plus loves the V30 cab but the Windsor works best in my Laney IRT cab which is less mid pushed and more Greenback..ish. The Boss SD1 is the best boost I've found for it too. I want a Marshall Greenback loaded cab, that will be great , the Windsor is a great 80s rock/metal amp for sure
If boosting overwhelms the preamp I wonder what a 12AT7 in V2 would do? That said what your describing to me seem more like an under specked cap value on the master volume for what your doing
Well, it would essentially still be an issue because 12AT7 would lower the signal, lowering the gain, and you'd have to boost it harder to get to the sme gain level
@@belligerentamateur true but in v2 assuming of course that it’s even remotely like a Marshall or fender based circuit you’d already have most of the preamp gain from your boost hitting v1. I’m not saying it would work for sure but it’d be something to try again not for video purposes but just for curiosity sake
These used to be really popular with some touring musicians because if they broke on tour you could find one at just about any GC or on Craigslist for $150-200
Try to push the Master More if you want to use it like a old marshall . It needs Power amp saturstion. The preamp just so much that it still clean s by rolling down the volume and then a sd1 in Front and you have a zakk tone
Great video, Kyle! Ahh, yess, the Windors... it's bad, bro. haha I had to record one of these like 10 years ago, had the hardest time getting a great tone.
Great review and you made it sound great. I did hear the pumping when you used the Friedman OD. Sounds to me like a pre-tube over compressing. A good fix for that would be a 5751 in V1 probably. Thanks for the demo. I have owned one of these for years and for the money there's not a much better rock amp out there.
I think you did the amp justice. I've considered getting one because they're cheap. I liked the tone you got with the actives near the end. I never really liked actives even though one of my guitars has EMGs. I intended to swap those for something else until I got a Triple XXX and suddenly it all made sense!
In terms of low budget 800 clones, this amp could get ya through a show in a pinch, but overall I think you're right in terms of how it leaves something to be desired when compared to other peavey amps. I had one for a couple years until I upgraded.
I think you should explore that boost button a bit more, my opinion ...I mean what it does with more master output and less gain combine with your little pedals in-front when big tubes start to glow ...
So cool :) I only discovered your channel a month or so ago but I see now you have made videos for all these (maybe not universally praised) amps I have.. Windsor, rx120, .50 caliber +.. mini rectifier (mine is rectoverb 25).. I’m somebody! 😂
I bought one when they first came out for $199 new. Still have it and use a pod hd 500 and a jsx 4x12 cab to get some good 80’s hair metal sounds out of it. Never notice the swell you are talking about. And I feel like you have turn the master volume up more to get it really cooking
You just havem't been boosting the front end hard enough. Using a pod HD, you're probably using amp modeling in front and effects in the loop, so you wouldn't really experience it, and you're essentially bypassing the preamp and using it as a power amp, so it makes sense you wouldn'tm experience the same issues. Glad you're happy with your rig!
I have used several distortion/overdrive pedals in front of it to drive it pretty hard-Krank Distortus Maximus, US steel, MXR Fullbore Metal, etc etc. Maybe they were better when peavey first came out with them and trying to get the line going🤷🏼♂️. I will have to try it again and see if I notice it!
I've been curious to see you demo the Carvin X100B. I see those sold around once and a while, and the price is very affordable, but been wanting to see how you dial it for thrash and stuff! Love the channel man!
maaan, liked that amp always and the price point is interesting. But what the heck is that rock riff you play inspired by? I know i know it but dont get bay the name thanks!
I have a 300 watt peavy bandit clearly says 300 there's no vids of it got used like 8 years ago it's a animal would love to see a review on one bought a used Windsor today
I know you've said before that you don't like these, but this video has convinced me to buy one if I can find one cheap 😂 Those mid gain sounds are awesome and I wonder if a hotmod might work better than a boost on this.
What Kyle said If you are a "pedal into slightly dirty Marshall" it might work great, but the VK is basically tonally a Laney AOR, ie a fat JCM800 with no boosts necessary.
most modded amp of all times beside the valveking cause they are just unusable soundwise stock IMO but they are cheap used and easy to mod apparently so a fun project to mod! cheers 🎸🎸
p.s. windsor vs classic vs ...???? ... and/or please play around with a peavey classic in general, please. similarities and differences to ultra series and 5150 circuits? ?????????? with pedals running how might you compare it sonically to a 5150 for ultra high gain tones? (i know i know classics are more of a crunch amp but id dtill like to see how similar they would be if the classcs is really pushed because i dig its character)
im really. surprised. played with the boss super OD, i instantly thought it sounded rather bad ass. it almost has a sort of tight fuzzy kind of flavor to it. i dunno how it sounds in person but that low mid thing youre not a fan of sounds/feels dope for hc. or am i trippin?
That "swelling" thing is something I've noticed on my Peavey Butcher series 2 (2010's) crunch channel with an SD-1, which so I hear is a 2203 clone circuit. I really wish you'd demo that amp. It's almost nonexistent on UA-cam. I really wanted it to be an 80's thrash monster, but... it's just too clean
I wonder if some of that lack luster power amp could be bypassed sort of by doing the Fender Twin thing where you use only half the tubes & the other speaker out. PLEASE read actual details (not mine) for this mod. It's easy but you want to pull the correct tubes/valves & use the correct ohm speaker out for this to work properly. I have a feeling this amps bad rep lies mostly in it's cheapest tranny the yuan can buy.
There's not enough talk about using the controls on an OD pedal depending on how much bandwidth your pips or pedals are using with HO pups my OD pedals r actually set pretty low
it's a taste thing, regardless, for the majority of amps. On some amps, the input can't handle that hot of a signal, on others, no issues. I tend to run mine full on no matter what pickups I'm playing unless the amp doesn't like it, meaning it overloads and causes issues like the swell on this amp
I had no idea what you might've meant by the swelling thing, but as soon as I heard it I was like wtf 😂 it's almost like a noise gate turned up too high and acting weird or something. I think with some mods and tweaking this amp could definitely reach it's full potential, but by the time you sink the money or time into that you might as well buy or build an amp from scratch because I don't know how much Windsor would be left aside from the chassis and head shell 😂
yeah too bad about that swelling thing maybe this amp likes single coils or mini humbuckers or a treble booster? I definitely would never buy one without figuring out a way around that swelling issue. awesome video
Yo Kyle I’m curious what it is you like about the Duncan Distortions? I’ve always found them to be dark and muddy but you seem to really dig them so maybe it’s just the gear I was using them with at the time. Thanks for all your content!
You might want to look up how to adjust humbuckers bc ime they aren't dark at all. Very "thrash" pickups almost to a fault. Back each adjustment screw out a half to a full turn & dial the pickups away from the strings a bit, it'll clear up & take some 'woof' away. The Distortions are high output classic ceramic passive metal pickups, and while I think it's a Hetfield pickup for the battery phobic, it was Matt Pike's go to until his Lace set afaik. Personally prefer a SH5 Custom or 500T over it, or better, a Fluence Modern in passive voice.
What Rocket Pig said, the Distortion is known as a very bright and middy pickup. You may have had the pickup too close to the strings. Backing the pickup away gives much more clarity and dynamics to any pickup and finidng the right height for each setup is trial and error. Try it again for sure
The jb is more wooly and mid rangey which is what it sounds like hes describing. The sh-6 is clear and aggressive from memory. I use jb, tb-4 to be exact, because i need a bit less gain from the guitar as my amp is hot. Ive honestly never heard a duncan pickup sound bad lol.
I keep meaning to buy one of those amps because they sound really good and are cheap! *NOTE* I like it right at the point just before real high gain. I feel like it holds really well there. Also I heard a guy's mod on his where it REALLY sounded amazing. I wish I knew who he is and what exactly he did to it.
Maybe im wrong here, but i like amps that have useable tones on the entire sweep of every control. I get that some people like extreme settings, but at least make most of the settings useable. There are a few amps out there that are really easy to make sound like dog shit.
@@belligerentamateur Haha…i thought you’d catch that. I played boosted Rectifiers for like 15 yrs, but yeah, they are a perfect example of an amp that does NOT have fully useable tones on the full sweep of the tone stack. Definitely ironic.but once u find that sweet spot there’s nothing on the planet like it.
This peavey amp is perfect for a starter guitarist , a young kid who has the fever to want to learn and just have fun ... 😂 Than maybe later , invest in a higher end amp... 😊
I appreciate you demoing all these peavey amps you don't see in stores too often kyle, thanks dude
For dure dude, happy to do it!
I always boosted mine with an OD and liked it. Finally tried a BEOD into a cleaned up(almost no gain on the amp) and I like it even better.
Great demo Kyle 🤘
“Go ahead and leave me an angry comment, and if this is your first time here I look forward to your complaints” 🤣😂 legendary
Seeing all these older Peavey amps like the Windsor and the VK series reminds me of playing these amps in my local music store when I was a teenager. Sadly, that store closed down years ago. Great content BTW.
i've had one of these for years, gigged it tonnes of times, used it on a bunch of records. i wouldn't try and use it for mega high gain stuff, but with the gain at like 7-8 pushed by a tubescreamer it's a killer rock/punk sound.
I love how you snuck in that Coheed riff!
I work for 1800gotjunk and i got paid to take one of these home and a b52 cab with it plus a damage control dual vaccuum tube distortion pedal. Today was a good day!!!
Holy 2005 Batman
Sounds pretty awesome. Definitely nails that 80s metal tone.
Kyle I just got myself a MXR super badass thanks to you.
I have tons of OD's and now I know why you like the pedal.
Keep up the good work.
Nice man! the super badass is a distortion though, I use the Badass Overdrve
@@belligerentamateur Thats what I meant. It was late lol
A lot of people slept on the Windsor. My "Big" rig is 2 modded Windsors ran stereo into 4 USA Ampeg 412 cabs. Push the front of both with the Keeley metal zone. It's the most crushing tone I've ever experienced. The 2 biggest things I can tell you is to run it at 50 watts and there's issues with the high gain inputs. I've had 4 of these heads and haven't experienced the swelling effect you mentioned.
I actually like the tone. Personally I’ve started to like filthier higain tones. Even that subtle swelling effect was actually quite cool. Disgusting bass tone, D-beat and thrash the hell out of that guitar 🤘
I like the tones here. I play a lot of metal, but I don't use as much gain as most. I think I need to check one of these out. Thanks for the demo.
Part of why I subscribe is because I love your humor
Appreciate you
Love that you played leeway for the tone review. Hailz!
Fun! I ran one of these guys as the "dirty channel" side of my rig, and I've never heard anyone speak of the "swell". I had the exact same problem! I called it being "late" as it had the effect of making it sound like my timing was off, which took away from the overall playing experience obviously. Took it to my amp tech, who replaced couple diodes if I remember correctly, and then it started cooking power tubes. Brought it back in and upon further research he discovered that this circuit is something called "cold biased"? Long story short, he felt terrible and bought it from me, calling it a research/learning experiment. I thought the sound was usable, plenty of power, but the "swell/latency" was a deal breaker. If you want a tube amp on a budget? Save your money for a class D lunchbox.
I had one of these for awhile. There's a knob on the back that lets you go between class a and class ab. From what I remember, one of the settings on that sounded way better than the other, and it really affected the whole amp pretty significantly. I liked this amp way more than the valve king, which I thought sounded terrible.
I had one of these. Got the whole half stack brand new for like $400 in 2009.
I picked up two for about $200 a piece about five years ago, and ran them stereo through a 6505 4×12 cab that I picked up for $180. I'm hating I had to give that rig up. I've seen a couple videos on here where an FJA mod helped it out immensely.
only problem with FJA mods is they typically cost more than the amp itself. haha
@@belligerentamateur +1 to this. I never understood the mod market. Like, I've owned a few of them and they're cool, but if you're going to spend as much as the amp costs on mods, just buy a different amp 🤣
I haven’t read all the comments. The swell in volume when you push the preamp had could be “sag”. The preamp filter caps can’t handle the power you want to draw through it. Add more preamp filter caps and it may help.
Oh ya band width is a problem with my dsl as well I just deal with it but I got some killer tones and for under $1000
I have had this amp for about 5 years, got it off MF daily deal new for $179. I didnt want to quit on this amp because i could hear the magic tone in there, but there were some weird frequencies that I just couldnt get rid of, I boosted it, i used the low gain input, and nothing really helped, UNTIL I got an attenuator. I'm using the cheap PS1 from Bugera. With this PS1 and a EQ in the loop this sounds amazing. Seems the key to this amp is that you need to get the master volume up around 6, but doing that without the PS1 would not work just trying to play at home (or Yankee Stadium). Once you get the master up all those weird frequencies all smooth out and it sounds killer. Oh and also run this on a 4ohm cab this also help alot as well.
Dude! I had one of these back in the day with the matching 4x12. Traded a 1985 Ibanez for it and used it for several years in a church band. Great amp for the mid-gain stuff.
Agree it does that stuff well
I’ve had two, Only have one now, it’s got Mesa Boogie EL34 power tubes, and imo, Just perfect.
it’s by far my number one 🎉
A lot of people seemed to not like how it sounded I think you made it sound good, especially in the Drop C section. Also, Leeway and All Out War? You’ve won me as a subscriber
My man. Glad you recognized the riffs!
I like that I can comment prematurely. Ready for another sick amp video!
I like the Peavey Windsor because i have the combo and IT sound good but as good as the 100 watt head but for the Price is good deal i'm an old métal head and IT rock !
If you are into modding, you can easy remove this swelling effect. You correct about reason of it, so just change R29 and R38 for 10k and 22k respectively in power-feeding circuit. In addition amp will become a bit noisy and gainy.
Hi Kyle, I just bought one for a few hundred $ and this video will help me get the most out of my amp. Thanks I got some work to do on getting it to Kranz up some high gain tones. For what big amps cost today this was peanut money fir a big watt head. I'm 68 my friend and bought stacks in the 70,s for twice the price I paid for this head! By the way love your channel !🤘
Enjoy man!
and to get more low-end punch you need to get the master volume up tp about 4-6 and then the amp comes more alive
Sorry man, hasn't been my experience. Turning the amp up thins it out significantly due to the poorly spec'd power section. This has even been confirmed by people at Peavey, this was meant to be an extreme budget model. You may be confusing the speakers moving air with the amp pumping out more low end at higher volumes
Marshall nut here:
The Windsor does "boomer", "hair" and "Slayer" type JCM 800 tones, but I tried every boost I liked & it didn't do my brand of Zakk/Sabbath/early Metallica to my liking.
Worth a shot but it is nowhere near a 1:1 JCM 800 clone. Doomers might love it, though.
Would take in trade; would not seek out.
Loved the Valveking, very Laney AOR100 (also a JCM800 alike).
i couldnt get a good sound with it with any pedal other than a boss os2. but dialed in perfectly it sounds killer
@@robertgoyette5863 there's a lot of "Marshallesque" stuff out there.
I never enjoyed anything Tubeworks did, power amps aside, but Josh Homme considers the stuff a secret weapon.
Horses for courses. Be fun to be "stuck" with a Winsor and see what I come up with.
If you can get your hands on one a peavey triumph 120 tube amp was awesome. I used one with and ADA MP1 through a Marshall 1960 cab. It was great.
I own both the original Triumph 60 and the 60 PAG, which is essentially the Ultra 60. THE PAG is a great amp, the original is useless without an EQ in the loop
It’s funny to me that when I was a beginning player I had one of these and got rid of it. Back then I had no idea how to EQ and amp. I kick myself thinking I missed out on really exploring my early gear.
I really like this power amp. I plug other higher gain preamps into it and it has a unique brutal sizzle
True, I just tried out a NAM-Profile of the Windsor and even there this "overload" issue kinda recreates itself if you boost the heck out of it. But makes me also think: Got some character here.
I had an early vietnam made 5150 50 watt when they first came out. It did that exact same “swelling “ problem, wich occurred everytime i used higher output pickups. Almost like the circuit couldn’t handle the extra input gain. Fender repaired it at an authorized repair shop and said it was an early design flaw that had a specific capacitor that needed changing. Sounds like it might be in the design of the Windsor if it’s present on multiple heads. Who knows,but I definitely know what is described here, and it’s undesirable to me.
Sounds like the Wampler Sovereign, otherwise a really nice IIC+ innabox
Your beginning description about that overloading sound is like maxing the RAT pedals distortion knob
I just bought one of these and really digging it. You gave me a bunch of ideas, thanks :)
enjoy!
With the tone you have around the 6 minute mark, it's perfect for pushing a low gain distortion pedal. Tbh if you use something akin to a metal zone or BE-OD or whatever with the gain at 9 o'clock to push the front end, you'd probably get some pretty nice tones. Hell, if you boosted the amp with an OD like that, and turned up the gain on the overdrive, it would probably sound pretty nice, too. If you layer both of those sounds together in a quad tracking setup, it'd probably sound killer. I have a Joyo Jackman that I enjoy boosting with a metal zone, with the gain for both at 9 o'clock. I then layer that with the same amp, with the same settings, boosted with an HM-2 with the gain at 0 and everything else dimed. Or, alternately, I'll use my joyo meteor pushed with a precision drive, and then layer in the jackman boosted with the HM-2 or MT-2 as described above. Which, ngl, both of those are among my FAVORITE tones I've ever gotten.
The other guitarist in my band uses one of these with a rat. Sounds super mushy but it evens out our sound since I have a KSR and it's super tight
I picked the head and matching cab up, it sounds the best with my cab with v30s. I like using a metal zone infront of the amp it comes alive with any pedal. Thanks I like seeing tone potentials with this amp!
Adding to my original post, I tried the mxr super baddass od wow sounds awesome.
Any chance on getting a laney gh review? Thanks kyle!
Also loved that little title fight riff you played!
You bet! I have one here right now
@@belligerentamateur yes dude! Thats my fav amp right there, i own a gh50l and i love it so much, wondering what your thoughts are
I love your Channel!!
I own a windsor and i love it when it is very loud!
Goood job bro!!
Thansk Jason!!
I've got the Peavey Ultra Plus and the Windsor , love both but not through the same cab, the Ultra Plus loves the V30 cab but the Windsor works best in my Laney IRT cab which is less mid pushed and more Greenback..ish. The Boss SD1 is the best boost I've found for it too. I want a Marshall Greenback loaded cab, that will be great , the Windsor is a great 80s rock/metal amp for sure
Great assessment of the amp. I think I’m gonna buy one tomorrow.
If boosting overwhelms the preamp I wonder what a 12AT7 in V2 would do? That said what your describing to me seem more like an under specked cap value on the master volume for what your doing
Well, it would essentially still be an issue because 12AT7 would lower the signal, lowering the gain, and you'd have to boost it harder to get to the sme gain level
@@belligerentamateur true but in v2 assuming of course that it’s even remotely like a Marshall or fender based circuit you’d already have most of the preamp gain from your boost hitting v1. I’m not saying it would work for sure but it’d be something to try again not for video purposes but just for curiosity sake
These used to be really popular with some touring musicians because if they broke on tour you could find one at just about any GC or on Craigslist for $150-200
Try to push the Master More if you want to use it like a old marshall . It needs Power amp saturstion. The preamp just so much that it still clean s by rolling down the volume and then a sd1 in Front and you have a zakk tone
Great video, Kyle! Ahh, yess, the Windors... it's bad, bro. haha I had to record one of these like 10 years ago, had the hardest time getting a great tone.
Yrah I never understood the love for these amps from metal guys. Rock dudes, makes a lot more sense
I just bought one for $149, I am more than satisfied.
Great review and you made it sound great. I did hear the pumping when you used the Friedman OD. Sounds to me like a pre-tube over compressing. A good fix for that would be a 5751 in V1 probably. Thanks for the demo. I have owned one of these for years and for the money there's not a much better rock amp out there.
I think you did the amp justice. I've considered getting one because they're cheap. I liked the tone you got with the actives near the end. I never really liked actives even though one of my guitars has EMGs. I intended to swap those for something else until I got a Triple XXX and suddenly it all made sense!
In terms of low budget 800 clones, this amp could get ya through a show in a pinch, but overall I think you're right in terms of how it leaves something to be desired when compared to other peavey amps. I had one for a couple years until I upgraded.
I think you should explore that boost button a bit more, my opinion ...I mean what it does with more master output and less gain combine with your little pedals in-front when big tubes start to glow ...
No thanks!
So cool :) I only discovered your channel a month or so ago but I see now you have made videos for all these (maybe not universally praised) amps I have.. Windsor, rx120, .50 caliber +.. mini rectifier (mine is rectoverb 25).. I’m somebody! 😂
I bought one when they first came out for $199 new. Still have it and use a pod hd 500 and a jsx 4x12 cab to get some good 80’s hair metal sounds out of it. Never notice the swell you are talking about. And I feel like you have turn the master volume up more to get it really cooking
You just havem't been boosting the front end hard enough. Using a pod HD, you're probably using amp modeling in front and effects in the loop, so you wouldn't really experience it, and you're essentially bypassing the preamp and using it as a power amp, so it makes sense you wouldn'tm experience the same issues. Glad you're happy with your rig!
I have used several distortion/overdrive pedals in front of it to drive it pretty hard-Krank Distortus Maximus, US steel, MXR Fullbore Metal, etc etc. Maybe they were better when peavey first came out with them and trying to get the line going🤷🏼♂️. I will have to try it again and see if I notice it!
@@s.manuel7969 listen at 15:27
Honestly I have always been really impressed with the M77. It is now the only overdrive that I own.
So damn good man
Some legit tones there
I've been curious to see you demo the Carvin X100B. I see those sold around once and a while, and the price is very affordable, but been wanting to see how you dial it for thrash and stuff! Love the channel man!
Hey Kyle. Don't you find the JSX and XXX fall apart at high volume too?
not even a little bit
Man thanks you so much been asking for this review for ssssssssoooo long brother Kyle your the goat ❤🤘🏻🤘🏻🔥🔥
I got a couple of years ago for 250 AUD. Ultimate amp for Doom and Stoner Rock on a budget.
maaan, liked that amp always and the price point is interesting. But what the heck is that rock riff you play inspired by? I know i know it but dont get bay the name thanks!
Hey man, any idea when the Mesa 50 Cal video will be up?
I have a 300 watt peavy bandit clearly says 300 there's no vids of it got used like 8 years ago it's a animal would love to see a review on one bought a used Windsor today
Hey Kyle, how does the Windsor work with the Duality DX in front?
Have that amp modded and you got crazy value for money.
Damn Kyle got Style!
I heard a 74 jailbreak acdc tone.with low gain.Not quite but close
Alice Cooper songs had some great riffs!
I know you've said before that you don't like these, but this video has convinced me to buy one if I can find one cheap 😂 Those mid gain sounds are awesome and I wonder if a hotmod might work better than a boost on this.
Was that a pinch harmonic at :33 seconds in? We need a longer bend sir! :D
Nice job with the Coheed Riff! 😂
This amp doesn’t sound too bad. Might be a good beginner amp.
My secret weapon bass head
Have you ever tried Peavey's Penta amp head?
Kyle if you had to chose between the Peavey windsor or Peavey valve king version 1 which would you chose? thank you for all your reviews
Valve king for sure, much easier to get to sound good, covers more ground
What Kyle said
If you are a "pedal into slightly dirty Marshall" it might work great, but the VK is basically tonally a Laney AOR, ie a fat JCM800 with no boosts necessary.
fully regret not grabbing one of these when they were being firesaled when the dealership ended here :(
"Oooh that's a right proper valve amp you got there Guv'nor."
Aaaye loud and clear by title fight!!
nailed it
most modded amp of all times beside the valveking cause they are just unusable soundwise stock IMO but they are cheap used and easy to mod apparently so a fun project to mod! cheers 🎸🎸
No doubt, I sold this one but I'll track another down and do a mod video
@@belligerentamateur
Thank you for the title fight riff
p.s. windsor vs classic vs ...???? ... and/or please play around with a peavey classic in general, please. similarities and differences to ultra series and 5150 circuits? ?????????? with pedals running how might you compare it sonically to a 5150 for ultra high gain tones? (i know i know classics are more of a crunch amp but id dtill like to see how similar they would be if the classcs is really pushed because i dig its character)
im really. surprised. played with the boss super OD, i instantly thought it sounded rather bad ass. it almost has a sort of tight fuzzy kind of flavor to it. i dunno how it sounds in person but that low mid thing youre not a fan of sounds/feels dope for hc. or am i trippin?
You should demo the Peavey Penta!
That "swelling" thing is something I've noticed on my Peavey Butcher series 2 (2010's) crunch channel with an SD-1, which so I hear is a 2203 clone circuit.
I really wish you'd demo that amp. It's almost nonexistent on UA-cam. I really wanted it to be an 80's thrash monster, but... it's just too clean
Man I'd love to, but they're almost non existent in the real world, too! Lol
Sounds good to me
The most solid state feeling/sounding tube amp I have ever played.
I wonder if some of that lack luster power amp could be bypassed sort of by doing the Fender Twin thing where you use only half the tubes & the other speaker out. PLEASE read actual details (not mine) for this mod. It's easy but you want to pull the correct tubes/valves & use the correct ohm speaker out for this to work properly. I have a feeling this amps bad rep lies mostly in it's cheapest tranny the yuan can buy.
SD-1 and marshall circuits, like lamb and tuna fish
His teeth were made of wool
Throwing down some Leeway in there? 👀👀
There's not enough talk about using the controls on an OD pedal depending on how much bandwidth your pips or pedals are using with HO pups my OD pedals r actually set pretty low
it's a taste thing, regardless, for the majority of amps. On some amps, the input can't handle that hot of a signal, on others, no issues. I tend to run mine full on no matter what pickups I'm playing unless the amp doesn't like it, meaning it overloads and causes issues like the swell on this amp
@@belligerentamateur yessir I've had that issue by slamming my loop before 🤘🤘
Great tone from this !!! 🤘🤘🤔🤔
I had no idea what you might've meant by the swelling thing, but as soon as I heard it I was like wtf 😂 it's almost like a noise gate turned up too high and acting weird or something. I think with some mods and tweaking this amp could definitely reach it's full potential, but by the time you sink the money or time into that you might as well buy or build an amp from scratch because I don't know how much Windsor would be left aside from the chassis and head shell 😂
You should compare this to a Butcher, I’ve heard that a Butcher is also supposed to be like a JCM 800
yeah too bad about that swelling thing maybe this amp likes single coils or mini humbuckers or a treble booster? I definitely would never buy one without figuring out a way around that swelling issue. awesome video
Thansk dude
Yo Kyle I’m curious what it is you like about the Duncan Distortions? I’ve always found them to be dark and muddy but you seem to really dig them so maybe it’s just the gear I was using them with at the time. Thanks for all your content!
You might want to look up how to adjust humbuckers bc ime they aren't dark at all. Very "thrash" pickups almost to a fault.
Back each adjustment screw out a half to a full turn & dial the pickups away from the strings a bit, it'll clear up & take some 'woof' away.
The Distortions are high output classic ceramic passive metal pickups, and while I think it's a Hetfield pickup for the battery phobic, it was Matt Pike's go to until his Lace set afaik.
Personally prefer a SH5 Custom or 500T over it, or better, a Fluence Modern in passive voice.
What Rocket Pig said, the Distortion is known as a very bright and middy pickup. You may have had the pickup too close to the strings. Backing the pickup away gives much more clarity and dynamics to any pickup and finidng the right height for each setup is trial and error. Try it again for sure
The jb is more wooly and mid rangey which is what it sounds like hes describing. The sh-6 is clear and aggressive from memory. I use jb, tb-4 to be exact, because i need a bit less gain from the guitar as my amp is hot. Ive honestly never heard a duncan pickup sound bad lol.
I keep meaning to buy one of those amps because they sound really good and are cheap!
*NOTE*
I like it right at the point just before real high gain. I feel like it holds really well there.
Also I heard a guy's mod on his where it REALLY sounded amazing. I wish I knew who he is and what exactly he did to it.
I bet they'd sound good for like a Clutch midgain tone, lotta mids, not too saturated
Ofc that fucks me bc lol I love saturation
@@rocketpigrecords3719 Yeah I'm definitely feeling this tone! I love that dropped C shit! That kicked my ass!
Maybe im wrong here, but i like amps that have useable tones on the entire sweep of every control. I get that some people like extreme settings, but at least make most of the settings useable. There are a few amps out there that are really easy to make sound like dog shit.
I totally get what you mean, but I also find it ironic considering you have "boogie" in your username, haha
@@belligerentamateur
Haha…i thought you’d catch that. I played boosted Rectifiers for like 15 yrs, but yeah, they are a perfect example of an amp that does NOT have fully useable tones on the full sweep of the tone stack. Definitely ironic.but once u find that sweet spot there’s nothing on the planet like it.
@@Boogieplex fully agreed
Sold me on it with the title fight riff lol
This peavey amp is perfect for a starter guitarist , a young kid who has the fever to want to learn and just have fun ... 😂 Than maybe later , invest in a higher end amp... 😊
Great information!