Peavey VTM120

[easstudios]

Found one for sale at a killer price so had to jump on it. Seller says it’s been serviced recently but wasn’t quite putting out 120W. Still has the original filter caps (which looked like shitty Illinois branded ones) so I’m thinking they’ll be the culprit. Figuring i’ll get my tech to recap and check over it for my peace of mind….

Stoked to try it, they don’t come up in the UK often. I love amps where you can dive into different mods like the Mesa Mark amps and Friedmans etc. Seems like these are pretty typical Jose type mods on the dip switches.

Anyone recapped one before? any other maintenance worth doing on these given their age?

 

[anomaly]

I had a VTM-60 for a while, and I gotta say for 60 watts that was one loud amp! I think a recap and a cleaning of the pots and jacks are about all the maintenance you'll need to do.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

I have a VTM and yes, it’s very loud.

 

[bubbastain]

I've had many VTM's over the years and none have actually needed any repairs. I had to replace a pot once that had broken but that was physical damage. I do have the parts to recap a VTM 60 sitting in a box. And I will actually be picking up a VTM 60 this week.
I'll check the bias, clean tube sockets, pots and jacks. That's it.

 

[Devin]

VTM's fuck; love my 60

 

[Randy R]

Great amp, the vtm will hang with most high end amps

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

I've had many VTM's over the years and none have actually needed any repairs. I had to replace a pot once that had broken but that was physical damage. I do have the parts to recap a VTM 60 sitting in a box. And I will actually be picking up a VTM 60 this week.
I'll check the bias, clean tube sockets, pots and jacks. That's it.

Glad you found another one!

 

[Techdeth]

I have a VTM and yes, it’s very loud.

You have everything lol

 

[Techdeth]

Idk if I ever played one of these

 

[bubbastain]

Glad you found another one!

Well, found one for a reasonable price. Still the most I have ever paid for one but the days of $300 VTM's are gone. Definitely my favorite basic single channel amp. They work for me and it's simple enough that if something breaks I can fix it. This will be my first tube amp in over a year.

 

[bubbastain]

Idk if I ever played one of these

They're good solid amps. Good options of sounds for a single channel amp. They are not amazing or anything, but good Marshall 800ish tones with a few gain and tone options. Ugly and unnecessarily heavy. FWIW, I found I could get the blue channel of the regular 6L6 EVH 50 watt to sound damn near identical to how I set my VTM's. However, the VTM can't do a lot of what the EVH can do. But when I had my EVH I rarely left the blue channel and only ran the gain at about 11 o'clock at the most.

 

[easstudios]

has anyone dived into the schematic properly?

I found this resource which describes all the dipswitches and what they do - very much Jose style mods. People always compare the amp with the dipswitches disengaged as kind of like an 800

https://www.ampbooks.com/mobile/classic-circuits/peavey/

 

[easstudios]

Arrived yesterday, all seems to be in pretty good shape. Sounds UNREAL, absolutely love it straight off the bat. Very similar to a 5150, just a hint more Marshall flavour although the dipswitches allow you to go in some other directions. It has that 5150 aggression and bite, with perhaps more of a Marshall midrange. Tons of gain on tap.

 

[Racerxrated]

Those are nice amps for the money; when they were 5-600. I’ve had a few and they do a nice 800 impression. But not quite there. I did have a ‘mod 5’ modded version that was cool.

 

[Spaceboy]

Had one of these for awhile, great amps and used to be dirt cheap. Kinda been growing in popularity lately though.

 

[ewill52]

was my first amp after the practice amps i learned on. Loud. Heavy. basically indestructible. I wasn't mature enough to appreciate what it was lol, I ran it with a metal zone in the front. I was 18. It was the early 90's. I make no apologies.

 

[easstudios]

was overdue a squad photo….

 

[ClintN667]

Have them open it up and get pics. I just got a 120 and it had foil wrapped around one of its fuses and burns around the molex cable. I sent it off to be recapped and haven't gotten a quote yet.

 

[easstudios]

screen grid resistors look a little toasty, and I’d probably prefer some of the caps to be swapped out with nicer ones just for reliability going forwards. Doesn’t seem too bad all things considered (obviously build quality is done to a Peavey budget).

 

[Kidkramer71]

Bubbastain made me a believer of the vtm years ago when I bought speakers off of him .
I still like my Bogners better, but they are way more expensive.
I feel for the money the vtm I'd hard to beat.