Peavey Windsor vs. Vypyr? Should I?

[Virgil.]

Hey guys, so I threw my Peavey Vypyr tube 60w on craigslist seeing what I could get for it, and I get a trade offer for this guy's 120w Peavey Windsor half-stack which would include the head and the 4x12 cab, new(ish) tubes, and a replaced caster... everything else is mint (Supposedly) on it.

I've heard some clips in the past from some of you that own a Windsor, and really liked them, but I wanted to get an updated take on whether or not it might be worth it? I think he would want the vypyr +$100 cash... still a good deal? Is it too good to be true?

Supposedly this guy moved from a house, then into an apartment, and now he's renting a room in a house with old people and doesnt have room for it, and can't turn it up past 1 since he gets complaints, so he needs something quieter w/ a headphone jack. So idk.

Thanks, in advance, for any help!

 

[Wohma]

Windsor is hell of an amp! It's not very much known and it's advertised very strangely, but it kills with the tone. It's a really nice high-gain amp actually, but the trouble is that it's a one-trick pony, being a one channel amplifier. If you dial a gainier sound, you won't be able to footswitch back to cleans.

By the way, it's freakin' loud, but I guess that's the problem with most of the 100-120W amps.

 

[sprack]

Windsor = JCM800

 

[Virgil.]

Well I won't be using it live any time soon and just using it for recording at the moment, so the one-channel thing doesn't bother me that much at the moment. I'm a bedroom rockstar. hahaha

Thanks for the recommendation. Some of the samples other sneapsters have posted on here (all now 404 links mostly) sounded really good with a TS9 or an 808 in front.

 

[Virgil.]

Windsor = JCM800

Yeah I saw that thread comparing the schematics of the two and it was a pretty interesting discussion. I know there are some mods available for the windsor to give it more of a 6505 feel. And even throwing a TS in front of it makes it really beefy to my ears. I've never used or played on a JCM800 either so idk what that's like to compare.

 

[Sloan]

DO IT. I sold off my Windsor but wish i still had it, really liked it.

 

[sprack]

Unless you're only valuing the Vypyr at $150 I'd say he's getting the better deal. Windsor/JCM's are fun amps, you need to crank the fuck out of them and run a boost to get "that sound" out of them, but its gnarly fun. If you're playing bedroom levels, don't do it. Stick with a modeler for that.

 

[Wohma]

Windsor = JCM800

Windsor is more of a hot-rodded JCM800, but other than that I agree.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Unless you're only valuing the Vypyr at $150 I'd say he's getting the better deal. Windsor/JCM's are fun amps, you need to crank the fuck out of them and run a boost to get "that sound" out of them, but its gnarly fun. If you're playing bedroom levels, don't do it. Stick with a modeler for that.

+1, Windsors aren't worth much, if anything, I'd say it's a pretty fair trade, even across.

That being said, the Vypyr sounds much better IMO. The Windsor is brittle and extremely ice-picky unless you have that thing turned up really loud. With some mods, they can sound great, but stock they are nothing more than mediocre.


P.S. I see you're in AZ - If it's the Windsor I'm thinking of, that guy is asking WAY too much money for it.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Funny, I was going to post about the Windsor today. I picked one up a year or so ago for $200 new. I've recorded it several times. It's definitely got that Marshall sound and some great blues tones as well. I really like the mids. For metal you'll need a boost for sure. While it's less aggressive than, say, a 5150, it seems to cut through mixes very well. One client actually preferred the Windsor tone over the 5150.

So yesterday I jammed with the Windsor with a drummer for the first time. We both felt like it was really easy to hear the notes -- it cut through the drums very clearly. I boosted with a Boss SD1. Again, it's not super aggressive and it's got a more old school sound. That being said, I was really impressed with it.

I've never played through a vypyr but I'd say don't hesitate -- go for it.

 

[midget donkeys]

I guy I played briefly in a band with bought one and I was really impressed with the Windsor. With a tube screamer it could be dialed in to sound really close to my 5150.

As stated before Windsor is loud. I actually just bought a little 15 Vypyr to practice on because I can't play the 5150 in my house without being arrested.

 

[Virgil.]

Thanks guys, yeah I'm still on the fence about this. I am only going to playing at bedroom levels and primarily just using it for recording (either mic'ing the cab or using a loadbox). So now I'm wondering just how well it might be for my needs.

P.S. I see you're in AZ - If it's the Windsor I'm thinking of, that guy is asking WAY too much money for it.

Yeah, he said he paid $800 for it, but now you can get the full half stack brand new for well under $600 at the right places. And since the Vypyr is still $450 brand new, and mine is still virtually mint and new, I think it might be an even trade across but he is really pushing for cash on top. And the place he lives won't let me really push it to test it out past 1-2 volume.

 

[midget donkeys]

The dude in band only had the Windsor head, not the cab. He payed $175 for it used which was a great deal.

 

[Virgil.]

The dude in band only had the Windsor head, not the cab. He payed $175 for it used which was a great deal.

Well when they first came out (or maybe a little after, I can't remember) they were only like $200 brand new through some retailers. And I just checked used.guitarcenter.com and there are a few being sold for under $200 as well. So I may just see if this guy will do a straight-up trade for the head and cab, if not then I might pass, as I think it's pretty fair as a straight up trade.

My only hangup is hearing from you guys and others that it doesn't sound that great at lower volumes, which is what I would have to run it at the majority of the time.

 

[midget donkeys]

Depends on how low of a volume is low. I live across the street from a police officer. Maybe your situation is better.

 

[Virgil.]

Haha, well, the walls in our house are REALLY thin, so on a scale of 1-10 volume wise, I'll probably have to be sure to keep it DEFINITELY under 4. Haha. The Vypyr I can't turn up past 5 currently, and since that's only 60w, I imagine the 120w will be twice as loud at the same volume. lol

I'm going to go ahead and tell him I'll do a straight trade, but I won't throw in any more cash considering I can to to guitar center's site and get both the head and cab for under $400 currently. That's what I'm thinking anyway.

 

[Wohma]

ubrsyntx: Then I guess your situation is pretty good in fact! I used to have an ENGL Blackmore (100W) and could not go past 9 o'clk even at the rehearsals or concerts! My Savage 60 does not get pushed past 12 o'clk.

 

[006]

ubr: When talking about tube amps, double the wattage is never double the volume, IIRC between 50w and 100w there is only 3dB difference. Solid state amps, in my experience, cannot get as loud as a tube amp of the same wattage.

 

[Virgil.]

ubrsyntx: Then I guess your situation is pretty good in fact! I used to have an ENGL Blackmore (100W) and could not go past 9 o'clk even at the rehearsals or concerts! My Savage 60 does not get pushed past 12 o'clk.

ubr: When talking about tube amps, double the wattage is never double the volume, IIRC between 50w and 100w there is only 3dB difference. Solid state amps, in my experience, cannot get as loud as a tube amp of the same wattage.

You can see how much of a newb I am. hahahaha. Hmmm... well that makes me feel better then knowing that I might be able to turn it up reasonably loud enough to get a good boosted tone out of it.

@006 - would you consider the Vypyr a solid-state amp, even though it's a hybrid tube modeler with 6L6 power tubes? I've always been unclear about that with this amp. There are some places that market it as a tube amp, and others that market it as just 'tube powered', so the sound is solid state but it's powered by tubes?

The only thing I'm concerned about now with this is that several people are saying the cleans sound very distorted and not quite as smooth or warm as on other tube amps. I really like having a compressed glassy sounding clean sound (kinda Tesseract'ish), and not sure if this amp will pull it off.

Well I just heard back from the guy and he's willing to do a straight-up trade. So now I just need to go setup a time with him to go over, test it out, and then make the official swap if things are in good working order. Since I've never played one before, I guess the best thing is to just go try it and see if I like it. Worst case, I make the swap, hate it, and I can either sell it or try and do one of those fancy mods to it

Thanks again for all of your guys' help and suggestions. As always, the people here on these forums rule so much!!!

 

[Wohma]

You can always put some low-gain tube in the preamp, 12AT7 for example. This will tame the gain, but you may have problems getting THE distorted sound them. You'll have to experiment a bit
By the way, it's not such a bad idea to use Windsor only as a power amp, since it's price is well below the common price of tube power amps.