# Bought a dead amp for the cab..



## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

and speakers and knobs. Peavey Renown.
160 watt beast. Seller says it blows fuses when turned on..I buy it as is.

Took the chassis and speakers out, put in 2 Celestion g12t75s 16ohm, speaker jack, and I've got an 8ohm 2x12 (that I don't need....).

I needed one knob and a speaker for a Bandit 65, the other speaker goes into a Special 130.
Not bad for $60.

So after doing all this speaker swapping and wiring and knob pulling, I decide to plug the bare chassis in and wiggle some of those connector plugs that connect stuff on the circuit board to see what happens...and wouldnt you know it the stupid thing works.

Now what??? I think it needs a bunch of bad solder joints reflowed...if I wiggle some control knobs it hums loudly then a breaker goes off. Yes, a past owner replaced the internal fuse with a breaker...this must've been trouble for a while.

Soldering all that means taking the board out. Probably a 2 hour job for me to try this.
I do not need a 160watt 2x12 combo!! Might be fun though....
Restore this or what??


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I would give it a go if I was you. You only have 60$ in it!


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Restore, restore, restore!


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I might... I found a website blog where this same amp had the same troubles, of sorts. His solution was to resolder all the controls, and there are lots of pictures.

But is it worth it? Asking price on the web seems to be around $200 to $300, and at that they still don't sell. 

One cool feature is this amp has the parametric mid control. The Special 130 has this and you can get some interesting sounds out with mid cuts or boosts.

A second is it uses an output transformer! An autoformer... it can put full power into 2 or 4 ohms, or slightly less into 8. It also keeps the amp or speakers from blowing up if either one blows. DC voltage can't get to the speaker and a shorted speaker output can't short the amp.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

tomee2 said:


> and speakers and knobs. Peavey Renown.
> 160 watt beast. Seller says it blows fuses when turned on..I buy it as is.
> 
> Took the chassis and speakers out, put in 2 Celestion g12t75s 16ohm, speaker jack, and I've got an 8ohm 2x12 (that I don't need....).
> ...


Everyone needs a 160 watt 2x12 combo. If you think you dont, you're mistaken.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Sounds like an easy fix. Probably a good amp for a steel player.
Or just sell the working chassis for $50 to recoup most of your costs.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I'll give it a shot, and a friend restores vintage 70s stereo amps so I'll enlist his help. Compared to rebuilding something like a Pioneer or Sansui home stereo amp, these are simple and easy to work on. The ICs are all in sockets, how easy is that if one of them blows. 

I might be selling the Bandit though as I'm really up to my neck in Peaveys now...and now I still need a knob!


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Its probably a perfectly good amp, but in the monkee-see-monkee-do world of guitar it has no "perceived" value.

Sometimes I just want perfectly clean. The Renown probably has it in spades. That era of Peavey is well-known for its integrity of build and design.

I know nothing about the tech side, but my Peavey rig is still going strong and is used every day for practise. It's a Monitor 300 and three-way cab that has done everything for 25 years, from mini PA to mono hifi to gigging bass amp. It has been loaned out relentlessly too.

I do understand the "too much gear" part tho'.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

jb welder said:


> Sounds like an easy fix. Probably a good amp for a steel player.
> Or just sell the working chassis for $50 to recoup most of your costs.


A steel player, country tele picker, or jazz guy would be all over an old big power Peavey. Western swing guys love them too


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I like clean, with reverb, which is why I got the Bandit, then the Special 130. and sold my Roland Cube 60. But 160W clean....in my basement. Could be fun!

Kapn I know what you mean... Peavey has some strong followers yet others say these are the worse amp ever....

I'll get it going... it might take a while but I'll post back updates when I do.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

could work well as a keyboard amp, too?


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

We have a Yamaha keyboard and electric drums in the house, both not getting used much by the boys, so good idea! 2x12 on the drums would be good actually. It has 2 inputs too... genius!


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I picked up a Studio pro 112 strictly for the speaker size (also transtube 2 channel) and swapped the Blue Marvel out for an Emi Reignmaker and this amp is killer now. I say fix it and throw good speakers at it. I have had a few Peavey amps, and have liked each one. I'm a tad jealous of your find. I was looking for something like this, but Ottawa area seems to be saturated in good deals. 6hr drive though, no thanks. ;-)


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Well, I got the circuit board out and will try to revive this thing. See the other thread for a question on caps...


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I read your other post, there is 3 of them ! 

Since didn't know where to reply, chose here 

Pretty certain its a bad solder ( that's just my opinion, plenty of better people here to help out). Its not obvious to find but I would personally go over them... 

tedious work...


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I dont know what happened with the 3 posts. I uploaded 3 pictures and it made a new post each time. 

I'm going to see what my friend says, he restores vintage 70s stereo gear and recaps those all the time. 20 small caps is about $20 in cost and a few hours time....


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

tomee2 said:


> I dont know what happened with the 3 posts. I uploaded 3 pictures and it made a new post each time.


As you may be having issues seeing your posts, you may have not seen my response to your cap question here: https://guitarscanada.com/index.php?threads/peavey-renown-are-these-bad-caps.236446/#post-2434320


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

All done and working!
I put a pair of 16 ohm G12T75s in it. 8 ohms instead of 4 and 97dB vs 100 for the Scorpions all helps with the volume, a little less in your face loud. To me they sound better too. 

It's like having a Bandit and a Special 130 in one box! I'll have to sell the Bandit 65 now... owning 3 of these early 80s era Peaveys is a bit much.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Cool stuff !!!

Happy for you...

I love those Bandit 65, owned one for 20 years and regretfully sold it when I seperated... Great low volume sound for bass !


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Frenchy99 said:


> Cool stuff !!!
> 
> Happy for you...
> 
> I love those Bandit 65, owned one for 20 years and regretfully sold it when I seperated... Great low volume sound for bass !


They are nice for what I need. This Renown is overkill, but both channels have a master volume something the Bandit only has on the distortion channel so this is actually better for me in the basement. So ya, a 160w 2x12 turns out to be exactly what I needed! Ha.


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