I played a Peavey Vypyr recently.

[Katastrophe]

I loved the tones! It turned the Gretsch Pro Jet I was playing into a raging, snarling beast using the 6505, K-Stein, and Dual Recto models. The Dlx and Twn models were great for clean tones. This was the 30 watt version, priced at $199 at GC.

Again, and this has been said a ton, it is not a tube amph! If you are looking for the rich harmonic overtones and "clean, but with a bit of grit" sound that only a tube amph can provide, don't get a Vypyr. But, the models are incredibly close, and the "stompbox" and "rack" effects are really good. The amph is flexible and easy to use.

I can't wait to try out the 60 and 120 watt versions, the ones with a tube section. Should be all kinds of fun.

With this amph you get screamin' solos. ;) :D :dude: For the price, these seemed like a great value, and are sure to give Line 6 and Vox a real run for their money.

I wish I could give a more detailed review, but I only had about 15 minutes to play.

[stingx]

I played one in GC last week. I really liked it. I think they suffer from the same cheesy looks at the Spider IIIs though, unfortunately. That was my only dislike. Sonically it was very much kickass and far from a one trick pony. I think they'll do well with this line especially for the kiddies. Way better sounding than the Spiders they were built to compete against. Those are bold words because I am a huge Line 6 fan :)

[sunvalleylaw]

LOL! FWIW, my son really likes the batman/fang look of the thing. I go pick up his for his upcoming birthday on Friday, or over the weekend. I am glad to know from you both that the sounds seem to live up to the clips and discussion on the internet. A Vyper 30 will be very sweet for him at age 11. :AOK:

[stingx]

LOL! FWIW, my son really likes the batman/fang look of the thing. I go pick up his for his upcoming birthday on Friday, or over the weekend. I am glad to know from you both that the sounds seem to live up to the clips and discussion on the internet. A Vyper 30 will be very sweet for him at age 11. :AOK:

Oh yeah he'll love it! Nice choice for a gift. I think he'll have a hard time playing through it though once you get it in the house and realize how amazing it sounds. :rotflmao:

[sunvalleylaw]

Ha, ha, I'll wait for my turn after he is in bed. But I do plan on figuring out how to tweak all those knobs, so I can help him out after all. Just sayin' . . . :)

Yeah, it will be a nice gift. He wants one, and his grandparents agreed to chip in. They are more into buying him stuff to pursue music, than his lego interests that he still has. He loves that stuff, but they are ready to move on in terms of gift buying. :AOK:

[Robert]

Poor kid is never gonna be plugging into said amph much... daddy will be playing it - all da time! :D

[SuperSwede]

Bring your cell phones and record something for use next time Kat & Pete!

[Jimi75]

If it sounds good the looks are secondary. It's easy to redesign it at home.

[Robert]

I tried the Vypyr 30 tonight. Great metal tones! Bluesy, fat clean tones like a Fender? Uh, no sir. At least not with the cheap guitars I tested with. I could only get very digital sounds out of the amp, which worked great for heavy distortion. The effects were also more than decent.

[sunvalleylaw]

Did you play around with the Plexi model? That one has some nice warm tones, not in the metal category. Not a tube amph, but still pretty good for the price and versatility. My son likes the rectifier setting the best. It is a good one.

[Robert]

Yes I did, and it was okay. Not fantastic. I could not get as good sound as from the Vox Valvetronix for cleaner sounds.

[sunvalleylaw]

For the clean sounds, you need to dial back the pre and post gain and also adjust the EQ. Peavey tends to set up the pre-sets for each amph model with too much gain, and too much treble for my taste. Once that is done, you can get a nice, clean sound at least for my ears.

You may have done that and still prefer the Vox, but just wanted to check. I did not like the cleans as well at first too, but the shop guy who showed me the amph dialed in nice ones right away. When I brought Derek's home, before I even gave it to him, I adjusted those pre-sets and saved the new settings.