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Peavey Delta Blues Guitar Amp Review

Blues Guitar, Delta Blues, Guitar Amp, Tube Amp, Vibrato

In the search for an all tube guitar amp that would not break the bank I came across a Peavey Delta Blues. For the most part I have always stuck with either Marshall , Fender or Vox tube amps. But on this occasion I had the chance to try the Peavey Delta Blues side by side against a Fender in a guitar store and to my surprise I much preferred the sounds I could get from the Peavey. As the name suggests this amp is made for blues but this amp is far from a one trick pony.

If it is crystal clean tones you are after then the Peavey Delta Blues is very hard to beat. The Delta Blues comes in two different models. One has 2 x 10′ speakers and the other has 1 x 15′ speaker. I decided on the 15′ speaker model and let me tell you I have yet to have heard such smooth tight lows in any other amp. Although the Delta Blues is only a 30 watt amp it has a ton of headroom and unless you are playing for a crowd of thousands it should have plenty of grunt to suite most occasions.

The controls of the amp are as follows. Input Jack , Normal ( This is the master volume, channel switching button, Pre, Post, Reverb, Bass, Middle, Boost switch, Treble, Effects send and return Input Jacks, two controls for the vibrato with Intensity and Speed and finally a power light and on/off switch. Yes the Peavey Delta Blues has one of the best sounding vibrato/tremolos built into an amp I have heard. There are jacks in the back of the amp if you want to add a footswitch. The footswitch will control tremolo on/off and switch channels. The other jack is a speaker out allowing you to connect a larger speaker cabinet.

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This amp is sort of a 2 channel amp allowing you to switch between clean and a nice crunch that you have to set with the Pre and Post Dials. But the reason I say sort of two channel is it does not have a separate equalizer for each channel. Most people might be more inclined to use effects pedals instead of channel switching so you are not messing with the equalizer. As far as reliability goes I have had no problems and to me this amp seems to be a solid and reliable investment.

So how much would you expect to pay for a Peavey Delta Blues? Well I got mine second hand at a guitar store for $300. They will retail brand new for around $650 from most retailers. That is still several hundred less than you will expect to be paying for a Marshal, Fender or Vox tube amp with the same sort of specifications. If I had not tried something new I would never have known what I was missing. The Peavey Delta Blues has my vote and if something happened to mine I would most likely run out and buy another in a heart beat. So the next time you are in a guitar store try one yourself.