Peavey ultra 120

James-Doolan

Member
Jun 6, 2007
871
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Sydney
hey just picked up this amp on the bay for 400 yo yo's:kickass: any of you guys have much experience with it? do you know of any thing recorded with it? Is it worth a crap? I think it has the same preamp section of the Rockmaster im not sure though any info/settings watever would be usefull.
 
As someone else said, it's closest to the XXX, but it's not exactly the same...A bit less gain, IMO. I owned an Ultra Plus and dug it. It was a backup to my 6505+, but it rarely saw action, so I got rid of it. I tried using it for my band's CD, and in the studio, it recorded really well. IMO, I got REALLY close to the 6505+'s tones...Not all the way there, but close. They are good amps for the money used. I picked mine up dead, dead mint for 400. Sold it for the same amount.
 
For the cash, that amp is freakin bad! I had one for years. I think it's a better live rig than recording rig however. The clean tone is nice on it. I used to run a Boss PQ-4 through the loop which helped it out a lot.
 
I have the Ultra 60 2x12 and it kicks ass. The 120 is good for recording, too. It's true that there's not as much gain as 5150's et all, but that also can be beneficial for recording.
 
@broken: I think we're talking about the same amp, this one.
@Force666: as I recall, Slaughter was recorded with a couple of solid states, Peavey and Marshall, but I can't quite remember which models.

I know that The Crown's Marko Tervonen used one, and I think "Deathrace King" was recorded with it and a Savage.

I had that amp for years and the other guy in my band had a 5150 II, so I managed to compare them quite often. The Ultra isn't as brutal (gainwise) and loud as the 5150 II, but it's WAY more versatile, has a quite nice clean channel (while the 5150's is, meh...:erk:), plus it has 3 channels.
All around, it's a great amp for its price, I sold it only to get my Savage SE!

Here's a pic of my Ultra Plus with me on stage... That red logo is just awesome!!!!:rock:
 
@broken: I think we're talking about the same amp, this one.
@Force666: as I recall, Slaughter was recorded with a couple of solid states, Peavey and Marshall, but I can't quite remember which models.

I know that The Crown's Marko Tervonen used one, and I think "Deathrace King" was recorded with it and a Savage.

I had that amp for years and the other guy in my band had a 5150 II, so I managed to compare them quite often. The Ultra isn't as brutal (gainwise) and loud as the 5150 II, but it's WAY more versatile, has a quite nice clean channel (while the 5150's is, meh...:erk:), plus it has 3 channels.
All around, it's a great amp for its price, I sold it only to get my Savage SE!

Here's a pic of my Ultra Plus with me on stage... That red logo is just awesome!!!!:rock:

Thats not the ultra i have mine is more old school i think its just the regular ultra no plus il post a pic when i go home at the week end havent tried it out yet as its from the states and i have to wait to get a step down transformer to run it on european voltage supply. Damm thing weighs a TON though definatley more than my powerball its built like a TANK.
 
Actofvengence - The Ultra you have, does it have green trim? If so, those are really nice amps, some of the first series of Ultra's that Peavey came out with. Reminded me of an old Sepultura Arise sound. Very dark and aggressive sounding.
 
Actofvengence - The Ultra you have, does it have green trim? If so, those are really nice amps, some of the first series of Ultra's that Peavey came out with. Reminded me of an old Sepultura Arise sound. Very dark and aggressive sounding.

yea it has green trim and pretty thick wood encasement the guy who sold it to me said it was an older model from the early 90's. Cant wait to try it for all i know it might not even work it was shipped quite poorley basicaly he wraped it in tape no box or foam or anything.
 
Yea i got the ultra plus were the logo lights up and its pretty sweet but now I'm almost thinking about grabbing a ultra 120 just to have for practice and retire my ultra plus to the studio!!

Has anyone ever compared these 2 side by side though or have any recordings of the ultra 120??
 
I used an Ultra Plus for years and years, I loved the tone for live, but for recordings I couldn't get my guitars to sound the way I wanted them to. Of course that was before I came to this forum and read the thread "that clayman sound". I just stuck an SM57 right in front of the dust cap on axis, so that could have something to do with it. Here's a link to the album I recorded and mix (I recorded everything but the drums). I learned a lot from that and since then I have been experimenting with the 2 Sm 57's technique, which gives way better sound. I used a first gen Mbox, in protools for that mix, no quad tracking, so when you hear the guitar tone and wonder why it sounds like its lacking thats why. Since then I have built a studio on to my house, and have much better knowledge and better equiptment. The guitar cab has 4 really nice EV Force series speakers (the ones with the huge magnets) and a nice bottom end. But the quality of the cabinet sucks, gotta rebuild it.

I never tried playing them side by side, but I remember hearing and playing the older ones, and really liking them a lot. I just recommend staying away from the Peavey cabinets which I think suck (except for the 5150's). When I got my triple Recto just recently I did some A/B comparison with my wife in the room. She said that the tone wasn't that big of a difference from that and the Mesa. I mean you could hear it and it was obvious, but it wasn't like night and day to her ears. To my ears, well that's a different story. I highly recomend running a PQ-4 through it (if you can find one) or run at least the 7 band GEQ Boss pedal through the loop, it makes an excellent difference.

Here's a link to our bands myspace and songs.

www.myspace.com/brokenfromsilence
 
anders bjorler used a peavey supreme 160, a boss metal zone and a custom built 2x10 and 2x12 cab built in his garage (linear notes)