Digital modelling has come a long way over the last few years starting with the now rare Johnson amplifiers, levelling out with the now ubiquitous Line 6 range and their bandwagon cohorts and culminating in the current Kemper profiling amplifier.
I suspect the main reason why these amplifiers have seen so much success in recent years is because they pack a huge palette of tonal possibility in a relatively compact package that is readily available at a twist of a knob. Gone are the days of even having to bring an amplifier to a gig; just plug in your Pod and you’re ready to rock and roll.
One company that is no stranger to success in the amplifier market is Peavey, now famous for their 5150/6505, JSX, Valve King, and XXX valve amplifiers. Truth be told, there are many professionals all over the world that depend on their products to deliver their tone night after night and that says a lot about what they’re capable of. Peavey too have entered the digital modelling market (albeit late in the game, in my opinion) with the introduction of their Vypyr series amplifiers. Let’s take a look.
Features
The Vypyr 100 is a combo amplifier that delivers 100 solid-state watts to two “custom voiced”12 inch Peavey Blue Marvel speakers. There are four channels available for each of the three banks, totalling 12 channels or patches altogether. Each preset patch is fully programmable for full recall. All in all you get 12 amplifier types, 11 editable stomp box effects, and 11 editable rack effects. All amp models, stomp boxes and rack effects can be mixed and matched ‘til your hearts content and stored.
Also featured with the addition of a Sanpera footswitch is a looper along with wah and volume pedal control. Other features include a chromatic tuner and a “power sponge” for attenuating the output, a USB recording output, and a MP3/CD/Aux input in 1/8” mini jack format.
In Use
The first thing I will say about the Vypyr is that the amp models and effects all sound great and are convincing enough to be used in most performance situations. They are all easily edited and stored and the user interface of the amp is pretty intuitive and straight forward.
However, I must admit, I was disappointed to find that I wasn’t supplied the valve version (the Vypyr Tube 120) which houses a 120 watt valve power section. Just think, the versatility of a modelled preamp section with the warmth of tube power! But alas, I was not to hear it.
Supplied with the Vypyr 100 for this review was the Sanpera I footswitch comprising four buttons for preset and bank selection, along with control of the onboard looper.
Also included on the Sanpera is an expression pedal that can be switched between wah and volume by depressing the pedal similar to how a traditional wah is toggled on and off.
However, despite what seems like a pretty straight forward operation, I have one complaint about the Sanpera: the wah/volume toggle is way too sensitive and switches when not expected to, which may cause problems in a live situation.
Another oddity is the operation of the USB recording output. Because the device is seen as a soundcard by the PC and only offers one way operation, i.e. recording and no playback, monitoring has to be done via the amplifier’s headphone jack in real time which means you cannot monitor other tracks from a recording simultaneously. I suppose the feature was intended to be used as sort of an idea recorder but it does baffle me why Peavey didn’t supply a playback facility on the ASIO protocol.
Conclusion
The Vypyr 100 is a great sounding digital modelling amplifier that many people will find useful and convincing enough to be used in most performance situations. Besides a few quirks with the footswitch and USB recording facility, I can see this amp delivering good tone to those in need of it and that’s what counts.
The Vypyr range:
Vypyr 100 – Retail R 6,999.00 incl. VAT
Vypyr 15 – Retail R 2,299.00 incl. VAT
Vypyr 30 – Retail R 3,699.00 incl. VAT
Vypyr 75 – Retail R 5,499.00 incl. VAT
Vypyr 60 Tube – Retail R 7,699.00
Vypyr 120 Tube – Retail R 9,999.00
Vypyr 120 Tube Head – Retail R 9,299.00
Please visit www.peavey.com for more information on the complete Vypyr range.
Suggested Retail Price: R 6,999.00 incl. VAT
Supplier: Tropical Music
Contact Tel. No: + 27 11 466 3535
Website: http://tropicalmusic.co.za
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