NUGAD - Thrift Store Score!

[KuruPrionz]

New Used Guitar Amp Day!

 

We are finally having cooler, slightly overcast weather and the recent rain cleared the air from the smoke (parts of WA and BC had wildfires).

So I wanted to get out and poke around a bit. Nothing I wanted at Goodwill so I went to Value Village. 

There it was, a Peavey Vypyr VIP 1, a bit dusty but otherwise excellent. I found a power cord on some other thrift store item and a horrible karaoke mic with an attached cord ending in a 1/4" plug. I went over to the testing bench, plugged in the amp and the mic and messed about with it. The amp works perfectly and is very low noise. As always, the 8" speaker is a disappointment. 

 

Ask price is as the photo shows - $25.99 plus tax so $28 and change. I had a 20% off coupon for donating to VV, $22.12 out the door. Stole it!

 

I have another VIP 1 that I cut a new baffle for and mounted a Peavey Scorpion 10" and it's an amazing sounding amp now. 

I have another Scorpion and a 10" Weber NeoMag so I just need to do a little carpentry and I'll have 2 of these little monsters. I will try the NeoMag, haven't heard it in one of these amps but it's a great speaker. 

I like the idea of one without effects and one with. I have a Rivera A/B, A+B box and a TC Electronic Flashback 4 that can take mono inputs and run dual outputs so that will be easy and simple. Photo attached, I plan on cleaning it up and taking the tag off soon so it's all purty.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Congratulations on a super cheap steal of a deal!

Will a 12" speaker possibly fit in there? Or is a 10" as big as you can go? For that matter, maybe you prefer a 10" over a 12"... ?
 

[RABid]

Wow. Original Viper. I have a 3. And what a deal.

[KuruPrionz]

47 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

Congratulations on a super cheap steal of a deal!

Will a 12" speaker possibly fit in there? Or is a 10" as big as you can go? For that matter, maybe you prefer a 10" over a 12"... ?
 

Not sure about a 12" but I have 2 really good 10" speakers and the other amp sounds great with the Scorpion 10" in it. 

I just measured, a 12" is just about half an inch too large, a Scorpion 12" would probably fit since they are a bit smaller but I don't have one. 

So it goes.

A 12" might have more bass but I don't worry about that, let the bass guitar and kick drum carry the low end.

[KuruPrionz]

9 minutes ago, RABid said:

Wow. Original Viper. I have a 3. And what a deal.

Original Vypyr has the "fangs" on the plastic front thingie. The VIP is the second series, was introduced in Jan 2013 and ran up to the whenever the new X series arrived.

I had a VIP 3, it was too big, heavy and loud for what I wanted to deal with although you can easily throttle it down with the power control and the master volume. Still, those don't make it lighter and smaller. The 3 also has one more dial full of effects, that's pretty cool but not sure I need it. 

If I played keys the 3 would be a better choice and the 8" speaker in the 1 is pathetic but a high quality 10" kicks it up a good ways. 

 

I used to have the 60 watt one with a preamp tube and 2 output tubes. That really didn't sound any more like tubes than the VIP series if you dial them in right. 

That took a while, I learned to run the Post Gain (which is a stupid name since it isn't "after gain") knob way up and then just tweak in the Pre Gain enough to make it sing. That sounds great and the master volume lets you sound great quiet or loud. As is often the case, Peavey gear gets under-rated and sells cheap used. 

 

Yep, I stole it. I drop by the thrift stores often, stuff like that will disappear in a few minutes sometimes. I'm there to help that happen!!!! 😇

[RABid]

I drop a lot of things off at a local church run thrift. I really should go in and do a quick look just to see if I can someday find a deal like that.

[Larryz]

@KuruPrionz, Congrats on the cool little amp find! 😎👍

[KuruPrionz]

19 minutes ago, RABid said:

I drop a lot of things off at a local church run thrift. I really should go in and do a quick look just to see if I can someday find a deal like that.

I highly recommend it!!! 

I've been thrifting for decades, we have a couple of smaller shops here too - Assistance League and Whatcom Humane Society. 

You never know what somebody will donate and you never know who will "process it, price it and put it out for sale".

Way back when in Fresno, I went to the Salvation Army store and asked to see a guitar behind the counter. It was a Gurian, a rosewood one. 

It needed a little work but nothing serious. They wanted $65 for it. I sold it on eBay for almost $1,300 and the buyer got a deal. 

That was my best thrift score by far but I've done well. It's a good place to buy some clothing, even if you are picky. They have all sorts of stuff and it comes and goes. 

[desertbluesman]

$22.12 out the door. And that is one cool score.

[Caevan O’Shite]

11 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Not sure about a 12" but I have 2 really good 10" speakers and the other amp sounds great with the Scorpion 10" in it. 

I just measured, a 12" is just about half an inch too large, a Scorpion 12" would probably fit since they are a bit smaller but I don't have one. 

So it goes.

A 12" might have more bass but I don't worry about that, let the bass guitar and kick drum carry the low end.

The biggest reason that I tend to prefer 12" guitar speakers isn't so much the low-end (though I do tend to like that, as well), but rather what I perceive as a sort of 'shimmer' and 'harmonic-swirl', whereas 10" speakers tend to sound more straightforward, tight (in a good way), with faster attack. I suspect that a 12" speaker's usual slower reaction and attack, and greater surface area moving around, contributes to said 'shimmer' and 'harmonic-swirl'.

I was very impressed with the overall tone and performance and feel of Fender Vibro-King 3x10 amps, though! Which begs the question- how great might I find a Vibro-King 3x12... ??!!     

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

The biggest reason that I tend to prefer 12" guitar speakers isn't so much the low-end (though I do tend to like that, as well), but rather what I perceive as a sort of 'shimmer' and 'harmonic-swirl', whereas 10" speakers tend to sound more straightforward, tight (in a good way), with faster attack. I suspect that a 12" speaker's usual slower reaction and attack, and greater surface area moving around, contributes to said 'shimmer' and 'harmonic-swirl'.

I was very impressed with the overall tone and performance and feel of Fender Vibro-King 3x10 amps, though! Which begs the question- how great might I find a Vibro-King 3x12... ??!!     

The variables are infinite! The differences between an EVM 12L and a Jensen 12" speaker are substantial. The differences between a Peavey Scorpion 12" and 10" are much less notable, they use the same magnet structure, the same voice coil and the same spider. The cones use the same materials. The sizes and weights of the frame and the cone are different. The Scorpion 15" uses the same design and features as the 10, just the frame and cone size are different. Those three speakers are as close to similar as you will find in a speaker line from a manufacturer although the same exact facts are also true of the Electro-Voice EVM series. And yes, the 10, 12 and 15 in the series do not sound identical. As a general rule, the larger the cone - the smaller the field of dispersion. 15" speakers will "beam" more and provide less volume off to the sides than a 12" or 10". An 8" speaker built to the same specs as a 15" speaker (I don't know of any such coincidence) will have far more dispersion and a more even sound throughout the room. 

 

There are certainly other differences from speaker to speaker, as you mention. I'm not disputing that at all. Question: does the company that makes the 12" speakers that you like also make a 15" or a 10" with as many of the identical parts as possible? Obviously, the weight of the cones will vary and that is certainly a factor. The frames on the larger speakers will be heavier too but that's not likely to influence the sound much if at all. Beyond any doubt, the 15" speaker will require a larger and heavier cabinet, something I hope to avoid.

Other than that and the change in dispersion, would the speakers sound similar or different? There's probably no way to know. So it goes...

 

I've owned and played many guitar amps with 12" speakers. Peavey made Vypyr VIP 2 and 3 with 12" speakers. I owned a 3, great amp but I didn't want to lug it around. I've seen a few of them in music stores and pawn shops. Up here in little Bellingham I've only seen 1 VIP 2 and they wanted way too much for it. Somebody else's fun. 

 

10" Scorpion speaker is a great sound and it fits the amp I bought for $22. When I mount the speaker I'll have a pair of similar amps, I have 2 Sanpera 1 pedals and cords, each amp has a buttload of variations and I plan on exploiting that by setting them up with different tones and effects. There will be "shimmer deluxe" and "harmonic swirly-whirly galore"!!!!!! 😇

 

 

[surfergirl]

4 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

I was very impressed with the overall tone and performance and feel of Fender Vibro-King 3x10 amps, though! Which begs the question- how great might I find a Vibro-King 3x12... ??!!     

I wanted a Dr.Z Z-Master. A Joe Walsh signature amp, 30 watts, 3x10. The $3400. price tag was and is way out of my price range. It's probably a lot cheaper than the Bandmatsr it's based on.

[Caevan O’Shite]

20 hours ago, surfergirl said:

I wanted a Dr.Z Z-Master. A Joe Walsh signature amp, 30 watts, 3x10. The $3400. price tag was and is way out of my price range. It's probably a lot cheaper than the Bandmatsr it's based on.

I myself pine for Z-Wreck and Z-Wreck Jr, heads and 2x12 cabs, myself!
 

 

20 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

As a general rule, the larger the cone - the smaller the field of dispersion. 15" speakers will "beam" more and provide less volume off to the sides than a 12" or 10". An 8" speaker built to the same specs as a 15" speaker (I don't know of any such coincidence) will have far more dispersion and a more even sound throughout the room.

Indeed! Couple that with the size-ratio between a little speaker and a large diaphragm in a close-positioned microphone,  effectively simulating a giant mic-diaphragm compared to the smaller speaker-cone, and you get the results heard on many classic studio-recordings and close-miked small-amps in concerts. Eric and Duane on the Layla album? Frank Zappa? Tom Petty and Mike Campbell in Heartbreakers concerts?
 

 

20 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Question: does the company that makes the 12" speakers that you like also make a 15" or a 10" with as many of the identical parts as possible?

Some, maybe. Not sure about some others. There are likely very similar speakers by various makers in a greater variety of sizes, as well.