Peavey 3120

Techdeth

Techdeth

RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
What all you guys have experience with this amp. Dying Fetus used last I saw them and it was crushing !
Cool add too
IMG_1169.jpeg
 
They're pretty awesome, was my last amp that I just sold recently. I got it cheap and it was cool, for death metal yes.

If you like the low mid frequencies or even scooped mids it's a great amp.

The eq is active so at noon everything is at 0. Adding adds, cutting cuts. My settings ended up at like 3, 2 and 3 type of thing. Might as well turn the eq to 0.

There is a 3 way switch on the back for the feel, like loose/tight whatever. Also the FX loop levels affect the tone. I had my levels maxed.

It's very old and very heavy weight wise. I wouldn't hesitate to get another although there's better amps. I highly prefer the 3120 over the 6505+ it's tighter, the gain is cleaner.

Kind of a sleeper but I probably wouldn't pay more than $700. I sold mine for $500 and it took months to sell at that price :lol:

I would definitely choose an EL34 5150iii over it though if I had to pay more than $700.


Edit: just read the ad posted from above. You can even see the EQ on the rhythm channel is all set to 0 :lol: it's weird but that's how it's done.

I Will also add the layout sucks. Worst out of most amps other than 6505 for me. I couldn't take the front off and getting to the tubes from the back is a nightmare. In addition, the labeling is extremely hard to read. Bass/treble/mid/etc it's literally blocked by the rhythm channel knobs. So unless you're using a full stack to where the amp is eye level, you will have to hunch over to see what you're doing until you memorize. Damn whoever designed that layout can suck it.
 
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The 3120 is a renamed XXX without the mudflap girls. The only difference is the 3120 came stock with EL34's.
 
I wanted a XXX or JSX back in the day. Never got one, but did test drive the heck out of them at the music store. This was also 20 years ago and I was going through the Dimebag scoop the fuck out the mids phase, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The XXX has that typical Peavey midrange to it. Not quite the same as a 6505, but in the same ballpark. The XXX midrange focus was shifted a little to the lower-mids than the 6505 if memory serves. With the active EQ it was relatively easy to get a good tone. The clean channel was pretty decent. The Crunch channel has decently useable gain levels before it became too much. The Ultra channel was brutal and had so much gain it was hard to control. You just barely had to crack the gain knob and you were already into saturation overload. Both the crunch and ultra channels has the same tone, ultra just had way more saturation.

Back in the day I would have said hell yes to a XXX. Today not so much. I'd rather the JSX. From my understanding it was derived from the XXX. It also has a very similar tone to the XXX. The difference is mostly in the saturation levels. Basically the JSX kept the clean channel of the XXX and used the XXX crunch channel as the Ultra on the JSX. The difference is the Crunch channel being reworked for the JSX, though it still sounded somewhat similar. Ultimately the difference was the useable saturation levels on both the crunch and ultra channels of the JSX. They didn't go into oversaturation as quickly as on the XXX.

For a quick history on the model names...
-Started with JSX and XXX.
-Peavey rebranded the XXX as the 3120.
-Satriani left Peavey.
-The JSX became the XXX-II.
 
I traded a buddy a Marshall cab for one a while back. I knew it was a XXX in a different skin, and since I played a XXX years ago when new and liked it (I had a way different idea of tone back then), I figured it was a good deal for me. Next to my Plexi, and Morris XS III, I wasn't really getting sounds I could jive with so I let it go, along with a CMG Ashlee, and got my old Budda SD45 stack I had sold back. So it provided more use in selling it than it did in owning it. Not a bad amp, its sound just was for younger Matt.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I wanted a XXX or JSX back in the day. Never got one, but did test drive the heck out of them at the music store. This was also 20 years ago and I was going through the Dimebag scoop the fuck out the mids phase, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The XXX has that typical Peavey midrange to it. Not quite the same as a 6505, but in the same ballpark. The XXX midrange focus was shifted a little to the lower-mids than the 6505 if memory serves. With the active EQ it was relatively easy to get a good tone. The clean channel was pretty decent. The Crunch channel has decently useable gain levels before it became too much. The Ultra channel was brutal and had so much gain it was hard to control. You just barely had to crack the gain knob and you were already into saturation overload. Both the crunch and ultra channels has the same tone, ultra just had way more saturation.

Back in the day I would have said hell yes to a XXX. Today not so much. I'd rather the JSX. From my understanding it was derived from the XXX. It also has a very similar tone to the XXX. The difference is mostly in the saturation levels. Basically the JSX kept the clean channel of the XXX and used the XXX crunch channel as the Ultra on the JSX. The difference is the Crunch channel being reworked for the JSX, though it still sounded somewhat similar. Ultimately the difference was the useable saturation levels on both the crunch and ultra channels of the JSX. They didn't go into oversaturation as quickly as on the XXX.

For a quick history on the model names...
-Started with JSX and XXX.
-Peavey rebranded the XXX as the 3120.
-Satriani left Peavey.
-The JSX became the XXX-II.
Click to expand...
... and the JSX II confusingly turned into another Butcher amp before release, but then was never released anyhow. Peavey was a bit of a mess at this point :giggle:
 
Dave L said:
... and the JSX II confusingly turned into another Butcher amp before release, but then was never released anyhow. Peavey was a bit of a mess at this point :giggle:
Click to expand...
Apparently a few were made of the Butcher 2. I have one and it is fantastic. I don't believe it is based on a JSX circuit though. Has an 800 channel and a plexi channel.
 
I remember playing one in Guitar Center when they were new, and it cut out every time we switched channels. Decided not to buy it. I mean, it sounded good when it worked. I guess the switching issue was common on those.
 
The Ultra series covers decades and uses the same basic circuit. Triumph PAG, Ultra 120, Rockmaster pre, Ultra Plus, Triple XXX, JSX, 3120, XXX II. They are tighter feeling and a bit more polite compared to the 5150 series. If you're into boosted high gain metal then it's splitting hairs.

It's not hard to swap a few components to get the best of a few revisions. I've owned 4 different versions from the series. The XXX/3120 is the least flexible. The older amps and JSX will cover low and mid gain better because they have different crunch gain pot values.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I wanted a XXX or JSX back in the day. Never got one, but did test drive the heck out of them at the music store. This was also 20 years ago and I was going through the Dimebag scoop the fuck out the mids phase, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The XXX has that typical Peavey midrange to it. Not quite the same as a 6505, but in the same ballpark. The XXX midrange focus was shifted a little to the lower-mids than the 6505 if memory serves. With the active EQ it was relatively easy to get a good tone. The clean channel was pretty decent. The Crunch channel has decently useable gain levels before it became too much. The Ultra channel was brutal and had so much gain it was hard to control. You just barely had to crack the gain knob and you were already into saturation overload. Both the crunch and ultra channels has the same tone, ultra just had way more saturation.

Back in the day I would have said hell yes to a XXX. Today not so much. I'd rather the JSX. From my understanding it was derived from the XXX. It also has a very similar tone to the XXX. The difference is mostly in the saturation levels. Basically the JSX kept the clean channel of the XXX and used the XXX crunch channel as the Ultra on the JSX. The difference is the Crunch channel being reworked for the JSX, though it still sounded somewhat similar. Ultimately the difference was the useable saturation levels on both the crunch and ultra channels of the JSX. They didn't go into oversaturation as quickly as on the XXX.

For a quick history on the model names...
-Started with JSX and XXX.
-Peavey rebranded the XXX as the 3120.
-Satriani left Peavey.
-The JSX became the XXX-II.
Click to expand...
Heaviest guitar tones I ever recorded were with a JSX, a Genz Benz 2x12 and a 5150 4x12. Engineer even put a 421 mic on the port holes of the Benz cab lol. Glorious.

My Peavey path - 5150 for a long time, lots of amps came and went but that was my number one, then the 5150II, then a modded 5150II, quickly back to the OG 5150, then the XXX, then the JSX. I still get tempted to buy another 5150 and JSX just to have them.
 
OldGtrGuy said:
They're pretty awesome, was my last amp that I just sold recently. I got it cheap and it was cool, for death metal yes.

If you like the low mid frequencies or even scooped mids it's a great amp.

The eq is active so at noon everything is at 0. Adding adds, cutting cuts. My settings ended up at like 3, 2 and 3 type of thing. Might as well turn the eq to 0.

There is a 3 way switch on the back for the feel, like loose/tight whatever. Also the FX loop levels affect the tone. I had my levels maxed.

It's very old and very heavy weight wise. I wouldn't hesitate to get another although there's better amps. I highly prefer the 3120 over the 6505+ it's tighter, the gain is cleaner.

Kind of a sleeper but I probably wouldn't pay more than $700. I sold mine for $500 and it took months to sell at that price :lol:

I would definitely choose an EL34 5150iii over it though if I had to pay more than $700.


Edit: just read the ad posted from above. You can even see the EQ on the rhythm channel is all set to 0 :lol: it's weird but that's how it's done.

I Will also add the layout sucks. Worst out of most amps other than 6505 for me. I couldn't take the front off and getting to the tubes from the back is a nightmare. In addition, the labeling is extremely hard to read. Bass/treble/mid/etc it's literally blocked by the rhythm channel knobs. So unless you're using a full stack to where the amp is eye level, you will have to hunch over to see what you're doing until you memorize. Damn whoever designed that layout can suck it.
Click to expand...
I really wanted yours but fuck shipping….
 
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