flimz
Active member
Peters Triple Channel!
Got this a week and a half ago, but didnt get the chance to jam with it until friday night. Lets just say that I was blown away, and so were the guys in my band. Some of the amps I currently own and gig are Bogner Shiva 20th, Friedman Smallbox, Splawn Quickrod. As you can see they are all Marshall style amps to one degree or another. All fantastic at what they do, and Ive been happy with all of them. But how could I try and combine all those great attributes into one killer amp?
Im not an ultra high gain guy, and Im mostly a heavy rhythm player with the occasional lead. So I studied the clips on the Peters website, and I immediately gravitated to the Regulus, and Vega clips. They seemed right up my alley. Almost old school and modern traits combined. At least thats what I got from it. There was no way to hear or try a Peters amp, so judging by the clips, youtube vids, and the reviews Ive read on this forum, I took the plunge.
James was awesome throughout the entire build process. He promptly answered all my questions, and provided very thorough and technical descriptions of everything. It was a cool experience. He seemed to know what I wanted and it really helped ease my concerns about the unknown. I came to learn that he also does the woodwork for the head shells as well! So I had him install Mesa leather corner protectors, instead of the metal ones. Never been a big fan of those. He did an awesome job.
Ok, on to the tones...
The Halo clean channel is extremely flexible. By varying the gain and crunch/edge switches, I can go from high headroom cleans, to bluesy overdrive. My Shiva cleans are outstanding, and the Smallbox plexi channel is awesome as well. The Halo channel bridges the gap, and is just what I was hoping for. The 100 watt EL34 power section really helps this. Very happy with the clean channel. James doesnt sacrifice anything here, even though his amps are serious high ganiers.
The Regulus channel is that perfect middle channel for me! I can set the gain lower and Im in classic rock heaven. One of the things I commented to James about was how when the gain controls are set very low, the amp doesnt lose balls. Very cool. The cleanup with my volume control is excellent! Better than my Shiva and as good as the Friedman. Possibly better. This channel can easily go into 80s hard rock no problem. Hit the crunch switch, and its like stomping on a boost pedal. Love it.
Now the channel I spend most of my time on is the Vega. When I discussed the preamp circuits with James, I explained that I wanted to be able to seamlessly transition between the channels without it sounding like completely different amps. Some people want Fender cleans, Marshall crunch, and Soldano (etc) leads. Thats all well and good, but for me I want my tones to come from the same family. Makes for easier dynamic transitions within a song, without major swings in the eq curves.
The Vega channel takes off from where the Regulus channel is set. Plenty of gain on tap to do legato style leads. It seems most people go for his higher gain preamps, but this one is way more than enough for me. In fact I find myself setting the gain controls very very low, and still have mega sustain. Cool! The crunch switch acts differently on this particular preamp circuit. It adds punch in a slightly different way. Not adding any saturation, but rather shifting the feel. I have it set to "on".
The amp has a host of other tone shaping controls. Presence, Depth, and a few power section switches on the rear. But the most powerful one is the Damping control. Man this one transforms the attack and low end in a Huge way! I tried the amp with different cabinets, and this control became invaluable. The lower you set it, the softer and rounder the attack. Turn it up and the low end becomes massive and the cut gets aggressive. I wish all amps had this feature!
Of course Im honeymooning with this one, but so far the amp has achieved everything I was looking to accomplish. Big iron, flexible preamp circuits, killer build quality, and also something unique tone-wise. Big and heavy? Yes. Expensive? Yup. Worth it? Hellz yeah!
James took this pic before he shipped me the amp.
Got this a week and a half ago, but didnt get the chance to jam with it until friday night. Lets just say that I was blown away, and so were the guys in my band. Some of the amps I currently own and gig are Bogner Shiva 20th, Friedman Smallbox, Splawn Quickrod. As you can see they are all Marshall style amps to one degree or another. All fantastic at what they do, and Ive been happy with all of them. But how could I try and combine all those great attributes into one killer amp?
Im not an ultra high gain guy, and Im mostly a heavy rhythm player with the occasional lead. So I studied the clips on the Peters website, and I immediately gravitated to the Regulus, and Vega clips. They seemed right up my alley. Almost old school and modern traits combined. At least thats what I got from it. There was no way to hear or try a Peters amp, so judging by the clips, youtube vids, and the reviews Ive read on this forum, I took the plunge.
James was awesome throughout the entire build process. He promptly answered all my questions, and provided very thorough and technical descriptions of everything. It was a cool experience. He seemed to know what I wanted and it really helped ease my concerns about the unknown. I came to learn that he also does the woodwork for the head shells as well! So I had him install Mesa leather corner protectors, instead of the metal ones. Never been a big fan of those. He did an awesome job.
Ok, on to the tones...
The Halo clean channel is extremely flexible. By varying the gain and crunch/edge switches, I can go from high headroom cleans, to bluesy overdrive. My Shiva cleans are outstanding, and the Smallbox plexi channel is awesome as well. The Halo channel bridges the gap, and is just what I was hoping for. The 100 watt EL34 power section really helps this. Very happy with the clean channel. James doesnt sacrifice anything here, even though his amps are serious high ganiers.
The Regulus channel is that perfect middle channel for me! I can set the gain lower and Im in classic rock heaven. One of the things I commented to James about was how when the gain controls are set very low, the amp doesnt lose balls. Very cool. The cleanup with my volume control is excellent! Better than my Shiva and as good as the Friedman. Possibly better. This channel can easily go into 80s hard rock no problem. Hit the crunch switch, and its like stomping on a boost pedal. Love it.
Now the channel I spend most of my time on is the Vega. When I discussed the preamp circuits with James, I explained that I wanted to be able to seamlessly transition between the channels without it sounding like completely different amps. Some people want Fender cleans, Marshall crunch, and Soldano (etc) leads. Thats all well and good, but for me I want my tones to come from the same family. Makes for easier dynamic transitions within a song, without major swings in the eq curves.
The Vega channel takes off from where the Regulus channel is set. Plenty of gain on tap to do legato style leads. It seems most people go for his higher gain preamps, but this one is way more than enough for me. In fact I find myself setting the gain controls very very low, and still have mega sustain. Cool! The crunch switch acts differently on this particular preamp circuit. It adds punch in a slightly different way. Not adding any saturation, but rather shifting the feel. I have it set to "on".
The amp has a host of other tone shaping controls. Presence, Depth, and a few power section switches on the rear. But the most powerful one is the Damping control. Man this one transforms the attack and low end in a Huge way! I tried the amp with different cabinets, and this control became invaluable. The lower you set it, the softer and rounder the attack. Turn it up and the low end becomes massive and the cut gets aggressive. I wish all amps had this feature!
Of course Im honeymooning with this one, but so far the amp has achieved everything I was looking to accomplish. Big iron, flexible preamp circuits, killer build quality, and also something unique tone-wise. Big and heavy? Yes. Expensive? Yup. Worth it? Hellz yeah!
James took this pic before he shipped me the amp.
I love both these amps but I have a thing for Peters amps. 
