Peavey Rage 258 Guitar Amplifier with TransTube Technology

This thing has a great sound to it. Excellent response. Loud for what it is. My one and only complaint is that the 8" speaker doesn't hold up if you crank it. And by crank it, i mean it won't be keeping up with a heavy handed drummer, but might otherwise be fine for jamming with some people. When cranked, the clean gets muddy, and the dirty gets squirrelly. I'm convinced the limiting factor is the small speaker... Which still sounds great if you're not pushing the volume too much. Takes pedals well. The sound is certainly high enough quality for micing at a gig.

Most of the other reviewers have said it all, so I want to clarify a few things for someone considering purchasing this amp. First of all, this amp does not sound like a tube amp. It does, however, respond somewhat like one, and it has a much more detailed, and warmer, "3D" tone than your average solid state amp. This amp is really just a very good sounding solid state amp, and I find "trans-tube" to be misleading. The different modes don't really make it sound like a stack, or vintage amp, so much as they are response and EQ ranges; they work kind of like a bright switch, a presence knob, and/or a depth/resonance knob, but bundled together as loose imitations of the sounds for which they are labeled. I mostly just switch them depending on what type of guitar I'm using. The gain channel lacks definition and enough gain, and generally sounds like hot garbage, but the clean channel takes overdrives and distortions so well that I don't know why anyone would bother with it. It doesn't have reverb, but the reverb they would have been able to put in it for the price would have been awful anyway, so I think it was a good move to exclude it. This amp is basically a great sounding clean channel attached to a great sounding speaker, with some pretty useful and streamlined EQ/response options. If you use a modeler, or tend to use distortions like preamps, you can get a really clear, flat response by running the clean channel in stack mode, and putting all of the EQ knobs at 9:00. Great amp, great price, easy to misunderstand, gain channel is mushy mid-gain garbage.

To describe this amp as simply very good would be a big understatement in my opinion. For me this amp reaches levels of greatness that I have not heard in ANY OTHER practice amp at this size or price. In fact the tones this thing can put out are better than pretty much every amp I have ever tried. This may sound like gross exaggeration, but this little amp wipes the floor with my Marshall JCM-1H. It actually sounds more tube-like than almost all real tube amps I have tried. This amp has a beautiful warmth to the tones, and is not harsh like solid state can be. Peavey did a fantastic job with their Transtube circuitry. The only negative is the absence of built-in reverb, but when it sounds as good as this, I don't really care. Using a small Hall of Fame reverb pedal is no big deal.

Fun to jam on

I've had this amp for 3 years now and this thing is a trooper. The cleans on it are pretty good and the distortion is okay, but lacking power. I used a BOSS Metal Zone distortion pedal on this amp and the tone that is put out when the EQs are dialed in are amazing. I use a Schecter C-1 FR Sustainiac with an EMG 81 on the bridge and the tones with that amp is amazing. It lives up to the price and quality. It has been used many times at outdoor and indoor performances and has not failed me. I played twice with the local marching band at a concert outdoor and indoor and both times the amp was very powerful. I use the Schecter C-1 FR S, Ibanez Gio, Fender Squire Strat 20th anniversary, and a Jay Turser acoustic guitar. All of the guitars tones fit perfect with this amp wherever and whenever I use it.

I got the older model of this as my first amp. i had an Ibanez Gio and as it being my only experience with guitar amps, I loved it. now I have a bit more experience and I see a few flaws. First of all, it had no reverb. Reverb is a very crucial effect in my opinion. Second off, the amp's overdrive wasn't all that impressive. at low settings, the amp was very warm, no matter what the equalization. At high settings, it was screechy and high, again no matter what the EQ's at. The EQ is okay, but unless you had the treble from 7 to 10, the amp was quiet and muffled. It's okay for anyone beginning guitar, but I'm going to upgrade.