Peavey XXX II

[Beyond Black]

I went and saw Havok and Exmortus at Reggie's in Chicago two weeks ago. Both bands were playing through the same XXX II half stacks and their tones were absolutely crushing. Thick, fat and articulate, with this ripping fucking midrange that wouldn't quit. Anyway, I had to have one after that show. Scored one dirt cheap on Reverb, and it arrived today. I'm blown away by the tones I'm getting out of this amp. Plugged straight in it's very loose and flubby, but I'm keeping the gain low and clean boosting it with an OD-9, and that's tightening it quite a bit and giving it this unholy grind, while retaining some of that thickness this amp has. This beast sounds like a frothing, rabid dog and will easily hang with my Engl, Stealth, Yeti, and dare I say, out-heavy them. Here is my question. Mine is loaded with EL-34'S. Who's had this amp with 6L6'S or KT 77's, and how do all these tubes compare in this amp?

 

[Beyond Black]

And I do know that this amp is just a JSX with the mids re-voiced.

 

[rottingcorpse]

havok kicks ass! (sorry,no help with the amp question)

 

[lessthan12]

And I do know that this amp is just a JSX with the mids re-voiced.

my buddies local shop has a JSX head for $200, of course I can get a better deal but was wondering if it was worth it

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Man, I hate to rag on this amp and be so negative about it, especially since your diggin it so much, but I've got say I have never disliked an amp more than this one.

I owned this amp for the better part of 3 years and tried everything I could think of to make myself like it. I couldn't stand the highs, regardless of how I set treble and presence, I hated the mids, I hated the low end, and I really didn't like the gain structure TBH.

There was a day here and there where I thought I had a tone I liked out of it, but they were few and far between. I know it has an active eq, and I spent more time going back and forth with knobs trying to make it sound the way I wanted than I have with any other amp.

I played it with my MXR 10 band in the loop, which helped immensely, also boosted the front end with a TS9 clean boosting, swapped preamp tubes like mad, and ran it with JJ 6L6's and the stock Ruby EL34's, and tried it biased hot, biased cold, biased everything in between. Just never felt or sounded right for me.

I tried this amp with 4 different guitars and numerous pickups and it just never worked for me.

Sorry, all that ranting and negativity aside, I'm glad your enjoying it!!!

 

[sg guy]

I went and saw Havok and Exmortus at Reggie's in Chicago two weeks ago. Both bands were playing through the same XXX II half stacks and their tones were absolutely crushing. Thick, fat and articulate, with this ripping fucking midrange that wouldn't quit. Anyway, I had to have one after that show. Scored one dirt cheap on Reverb, and it arrived today. I'm blown away by the tones I'm getting out of this amp. Plugged straight in it's very loose and flubby, but I'm keeping the gain low and clean boosting it with an OD-9, and that's tightening it quite a bit and giving it this unholy grind, while retaining some of that thickness this amp has. This beast sounds like a frothing, rabid dog and will easily hang with my Engl, Stealth, Yeti, and dare I say, out-heavy them. Here is my question. Mine is loaded with EL-34'S. Who's had this amp with 6L6'S or KT 77's, and how do all these tubes compare in this amp?

-KT77's-

-have you biased it? If so what was it??

 

[sg guy]

Man, I hate to rag on this amp and be so negative about it, especially since your diggin it so much, but I've got say I have never disliked an amp more than this one.

I owned this amp for the better part of 3 years and tried everything I could think of to make myself like it. I couldn't stand the highs, regardless of how I set treble and presence, I hated the mids, I hated the low end, and I really didn't like the gain structure TBH.

There was a day here and there where I thought I had a tone I liked out of it, but they were few and far between. I know it has an active eq, and I spent more time going back and forth with knobs trying to make it sound the way I wanted than I have with any other amp.

I played it with my MXR 10 band in the loop, which helped immensely, also boosted the front end with a TS9 clean boosting, swapped preamp tubes like mad, and ran it with JJ 6L6's and the stock Ruby EL34's, and tried it biased hot, biased cold, biased everything in between. Just never felt or sounded right for me.

I tried this amp with 4 different guitars and numerous pickups and it just never worked for me.

Sorry, all that ranting and negativity aside, I'm glad your enjoying it!!!

-what were you using for tubes? What was your bias settings?

 

[flatheads_4ever]

havok kicks ass! (sorry,no help with the amp question)

yes they do!

 

[flatheads_4ever]

The XXX can't be too bad. I know Gary Holt and Lee Altus from Exodus used them for years. As a matter of fact, at times they use a profile of them on their Kemper now!

Ed

 

[Beyond Black]

havok kicks ass! (sorry,no help with the amp question)

yes they do!

See them live if you haven't. They DESTROY and their tone is sick!

 

[Beyond Black]

And I do know that this amp is just a JSX with the mids re-voiced.

my buddies local shop has a JSX head for $200, of course I can get a better deal but was wondering if it was worth it

It's worth a try. If it's got a loose, flubby low end like the XXX II, set the gain low and clean boost it and it should be killer.

 

[Beyond Black]

I went and saw Havok and Exmortus at Reggie's in Chicago two weeks ago. Both bands were playing through the same XXX II half stacks and their tones were absolutely crushing. Thick, fat and articulate, with this ripping fucking midrange that wouldn't quit. Anyway, I had to have one after that show. Scored one dirt cheap on Reverb, and it arrived today. I'm blown away by the tones I'm getting out of this amp. Plugged straight in it's very loose and flubby, but I'm keeping the gain low and clean boosting it with an OD-9, and that's tightening it quite a bit and giving it this unholy grind, while retaining some of that thickness this amp has. This beast sounds like a frothing, rabid dog and will easily hang with my Engl, Stealth, Yeti, and dare I say, out-heavy them. Here is my question. Mine is loaded with EL-34'S. Who's had this amp with 6L6'S or KT 77's, and how do all these tubes compare in this amp?

-KT77's-

-have you biased it? If so what was it??

 

[MetalHeadMike]

The XXX can't be too bad. I know Gary Holt and Lee Altus from Exodus used them for years. As a matter of fact, at times they use a profile of them on their Kemper now!

Ed

Gary used the Triple XXX.

The Triple XXX II were talking about is 100% a COMPLETELY different amp altogether. No idea why they chose to name this amp the Triple XXX II

Like Beyond Black stated, the Triple XXX II is a rebadged JSX with a slightly tweaked mid voicing; and I'll add that its gain structure was tweaked slightly also. That's what the Peavey engineer told me when I bought mine back in 2012.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Man, I hate to rag on this amp and be so negative about it, especially since your diggin it so much, but I've got say I have never disliked an amp more than this one.

I owned this amp for the better part of 3 years and tried everything I could think of to make myself like it. I couldn't stand the highs, regardless of how I set treble and presence, I hated the mids, I hated the low end, and I really didn't like the gain structure TBH.

There was a day here and there where I thought I had a tone I liked out of it, but they were few and far between. I know it has an active eq, and I spent more time going back and forth with knobs trying to make it sound the way I wanted than I have with any other amp.

I played it with my MXR 10 band in the loop, which helped immensely, also boosted the front end with a TS9 clean boosting, swapped preamp tubes like mad, and ran it with JJ 6L6's and the stock Ruby EL34's, and tried it biased hot, biased cold, biased everything in between. Just never felt or sounded right for me.

I tried this amp with 4 different guitars and numerous pickups and it just never worked for me.

Sorry, all that ranting and negativity aside, I'm glad your enjoying it!!!

-what were you using for tubes? What was your bias settings?

The stock power tubes were Ruby something EL34s: (Ruby BHT or BSTR--one of the two) and then I swapped those for a quad of JJ 6L6GC.

Bias came set at 27 mV, and I tried running the bias anywhere from that up to 42 mV. I settled on around 37 mV. Honestly I couldn't tell much of a difference in tone at all between any of the bias settings. Bias was set with a true bias probe.

Even though I still didn't like the amp regardless of tubes, I did like it "more" with the JJ 6L6GCs in it. Sounded slightly deeper and tighter in the bass/low end.

I swapped preamp tubes with all the popular varieties: Ruby, JJ, Sovetek, Pentalabs, and Tungsol. Tried all sorts of cocktails.

I had one head replaced shortly after getting it (brand new) thinking something wasn't right with it, and the replacement head sounded exactly the same running it with all the same tube swaps and bias adjustments.

When I finally decided it was time to replace the amp, I ran it side by side against a few candidate amps: Engl FB100, Engl Blackmore, EVH 50 watt and 100 watt. To my ears, they were all infinitely better sounding/feeling than the Triple XXX II. There was no contest whatsoever.

Just wasn't the amp for me.

 

[Beyond Black]

Man, I hate to rag on this amp and be so negative about it, especially since your diggin it so much, but I've got say I have never disliked an amp more than this one.

I owned this amp for the better part of 3 years and tried everything I could think of to make myself like it. I couldn't stand the highs, regardless of how I set treble and presence, I hated the mids, I hated the low end, and I really didn't like the gain structure TBH.

There was a day here and there where I thought I had a tone I liked out of it, but they were few and far between. I know it has an active eq, and I spent more time going back and forth with knobs trying to make it sound the way I wanted than I have with any other amp.

I played it with my MXR 10 band in the loop, which helped immensely, also boosted the front end with a TS9 clean boosting, swapped preamp tubes like mad, and ran it with JJ 6L6's and the stock Ruby EL34's, and tried it biased hot, biased cold, biased everything in between. Just never felt or sounded right for me.

I tried this amp with 4 different guitars and numerous pickups and it just never worked for me.

Sorry, all that ranting and negativity aside, I'm glad your enjoying it!!!

-what were you using for tubes? What was your bias settings?

The stock power tubes were Ruby something EL34s: (Ruby BHT or BSTR--one of the two) and then I swapped those for a quad of JJ 6L6GC.

Bias came set at 27 mV, and I tried running the bias anywhere from that up to 42 mV. I settled on around 37 mV. Honestly I couldn't tell much of a difference in tone at all between any of the bias settings. Bias was set with a true bias probe.

Even though I still didn't like the amp regardless of tubes, I did like it "more" with the JJ 6L6GCs in it. Sounded slightly deeper and tighter in the bass/low end.

I swapped preamp tubes with all the popular varieties: Ruby, JJ, Sovetek, Pentalabs, and Tungsol. Tried all sorts of cocktails.

I had one head replaced shortly after getting it (brand new) thinking something wasn't right with it, and the replacement head sounded exactly the same running it with all the same tube swaps and bias adjustments.

When I finally decided it was time to replace the amp, I ran it side by side against a few candidate amps: Engl FB100, Engl Blackmore, EVH 50 watt and 100 watt. To my ears, they were all infinitely better sounding/feeling than the Triple XXX II. There was no contest whatsoever.

Just wasn't the amp for me.

Sounds like you really wanted to like it and gave it plenty of chances. Too bad it didn't work out for you. Oh well, plenty of others to choose from.

 

[napalmdeath]

KT77's work best, IMHO. I don't know how much truth there is to it being a "tweaked" JSX, I've read many accounts that say it's the very same.

I will say this, I have a JSX, and it is the 4th I've owned. To each their own, I still say to poster above, whatever. Tubes, bias, speakers, guitar, pickups, etc., all play a role, of course. I recently bought and returned an Engl Fireball 100, and kept the JSX.. Go figure..

I run Mullard EL34's in it, an NOS Blackburn Mullard in V1, an NOS GE 5751 in V2, a Ruby 12AX7HG in V3, and balanced Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V4. I boost with a TC Spark Booster, and my Randall cab is loaded with G12T-75's and V30's in X-pattern. It's just plain devastating, pure, crushing tone. I'm really digging my 5150 III 50 watt as well, but the JSX isn't going anywhere. It's an underrated beast of an amp. I truly didn't care for 6L6's, to me, it smoothed it out too much, and lost some of it's aggressiveness. KT77's always worked best for me, I just happened to have the Mullard on hand. No complaints.

 

[napalmdeath]

Oh, and listen to Unnatural Selection. Simply one of the best produced, crushing tone I've ever heard. I've seen pics with both XXX II and JSX, as well as 5150 III in the back line, but I believe that album is all Peavey, and sounds insane.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Man, I hate to rag on this amp and be so negative about it, especially since your diggin it so much, but I've got say I have never disliked an amp more than this one.

I owned this amp for the better part of 3 years and tried everything I could think of to make myself like it. I couldn't stand the highs, regardless of how I set treble and presence, I hated the mids, I hated the low end, and I really didn't like the gain structure TBH.

There was a day here and there where I thought I had a tone I liked out of it, but they were few and far between. I know it has an active eq, and I spent more time going back and forth with knobs trying to make it sound the way I wanted than I have with any other amp.

I played it with my MXR 10 band in the loop, which helped immensely, also boosted the front end with a TS9 clean boosting, swapped preamp tubes like mad, and ran it with JJ 6L6's and the stock Ruby EL34's, and tried it biased hot, biased cold, biased everything in between. Just never felt or sounded right for me.

I tried this amp with 4 different guitars and numerous pickups and it just never worked for me.

Sorry, all that ranting and negativity aside, I'm glad your enjoying it!!!

-what were you using for tubes? What was your bias settings?

The stock power tubes were Ruby something EL34s: (Ruby BHT or BSTR--one of the two) and then I swapped those for a quad of JJ 6L6GC.

Bias came set at 27 mV, and I tried running the bias anywhere from that up to 42 mV. I settled on around 37 mV. Honestly I couldn't tell much of a difference in tone at all between any of the bias settings. Bias was set with a true bias probe.

Even though I still didn't like the amp regardless of tubes, I did like it "more" with the JJ 6L6GCs in it. Sounded slightly deeper and tighter in the bass/low end.

I swapped preamp tubes with all the popular varieties: Ruby, JJ, Sovetek, Pentalabs, and Tungsol. Tried all sorts of cocktails.

I had one head replaced shortly after getting it (brand new) thinking something wasn't right with it, and the replacement head sounded exactly the same running it with all the same tube swaps and bias adjustments.

When I finally decided it was time to replace the amp, I ran it side by side against a few candidate amps: Engl FB100, Engl Blackmore, EVH 50 watt and 100 watt. To my ears, they were all infinitely better sounding/feeling than the Triple XXX II. There was no contest whatsoever.

Just wasn't the amp for me.

Sounds like you really wanted to like it and gave it plenty of chances. Too bad it didn't work out for you. Oh well, plenty of others to choose from.

Agreed Glad your diggin it!

I have found my ideal sound/response with Engl. Absolutely love my Savage and FB.

But there's still so many amps I want to try! Peavey 6505 or 6505+ is probably next.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

KT77's work best, IMHO. I don't know how much truth there is to it being a "tweaked" JSX, I've read many accounts that say it's the very same.

I will say this, I have a JSX, and it is the 4th I've owned. To each their own, I still say to poster above, whatever. Tubes, bias, speakers, guitar, pickups, etc., all play a role, of course. I recently bought and returned an Engl Fireball 100, and kept the JSX.. Go figure..

I run Mullard EL34's in it, an NOS Blackburn Mullard in V1, an NOS GE 5751 in V2, a Ruby 12AX7HG in V3, and balanced Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V4. I boost with a TC Spark Booster, and my Randall cab is loaded with G12T-75's and V30's in X-pattern. It's just plain devastating, pure, crushing tone. I'm really digging my 5150 III 50 watt as well, but the JSX isn't going anywhere. It's an underrated beast of an amp. I truly didn't care for 6L6's, to me, it smoothed it out too much, and lost some of it's aggressiveness. KT77's always worked best for me, I just happened to have the Mullard on hand. No complaints.

As for the Triple XXX II being a slightly tweaked JSX, I got it straight from talking in great length with more than one Peavey engineer when I was considering buying one. They told me: "The Triple XXX II is essentially the same circuit as the JSX only the mid range voicing and gain structure have been slightly modified". FWTW.

To each their own is exactly right. Couldn't agree more!

In no way was I trying to convince the OP, or anyone else, that its a bad amp; was just stating it was just a bad amp for me. This is just the first thread that I've seen pop up on this amp, and I felt the need to rant on my experience with it.

 

[napalmdeath]

KT77's work best, IMHO. I don't know how much truth there is to it being a "tweaked" JSX, I've read many accounts that say it's the very same.

I will say this, I have a JSX, and it is the 4th I've owned. To each their own, I still say to poster above, whatever. Tubes, bias, speakers, guitar, pickups, etc., all play a role, of course. I recently bought and returned an Engl Fireball 100, and kept the JSX.. Go figure..

I run Mullard EL34's in it, an NOS Blackburn Mullard in V1, an NOS GE 5751 in V2, a Ruby 12AX7HG in V3, and balanced Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V4. I boost with a TC Spark Booster, and my Randall cab is loaded with G12T-75's and V30's in X-pattern. It's just plain devastating, pure, crushing tone. I'm really digging my 5150 III 50 watt as well, but the JSX isn't going anywhere. It's an underrated beast of an amp. I truly didn't care for 6L6's, to me, it smoothed it out too much, and lost some of it's aggressiveness. KT77's always worked best for me, I just happened to have the Mullard on hand. No complaints.

As for the Triple XXX II being a slightly tweaked JSX, I got it straight from talking in great length with more than one Peavey engineer when I was considering buying one. They told me: "The Triple XXX II is essentially the same circuit as the JSX only the mid range voicing and gain structure have been slightly modified". FWTW.

To each their own is exactly right. Couldn't agree more!

In no way was I trying to convince the OP, or anyone else, that its a bad amp; was just stating it was just a bad amp for me. This is just the first thread that I've seen pop up on this amp, and I felt the need to rant on my experience with it.

Fair enough. Interesting take on the "tweaked" comments. Maybe that "tweak" to the circuit is what you didn't like? Maybe it was just enough to fuck up a good amp? I owned one, briefly. I didn't really have it long enough to recall a big difference. I am a fan of the JSX, however. One of my all-time favorite amps.