Peavey Vypyr 15 Review
The Peavey Vypyr® 15 is a 15-watt modeling guitar amplifier. It has an 8-inch speaker with 12 amplifier channel models of popular amplifiers so clean and distorted combined, you get 24 unique voices of different amplifiers. In addition, you also get 12 different effects, with the ability to use four simultaneously. Now that’s a lot for a practice amp.
Because the Vypyr® 15 is the smallest and has the lowest power output of the Vypyr® series, it definitely was intended for one’s room. It is listed at $169.99 but most retailers carry it for less than $100. So, what other amplifier for less than $100 gives you this much features? We reckon, none.
Alright, there is the Line 6 Spider III, and a Fender and a Marshall counterpart without amp modelling, but the Vypyr® is leagues apart. The Fender Frontman 15G sounds good if you’re into no-frills amplification and/or have your own effects collection.
The distorted channels are what we looked at first. You can forget about most solid state amplifiers’ distorted channels, let alone digital distortion but Peavey did one better by adding true analog distortion to the Vypr series. It actually sounded good for most amp models, with more than enough gain at hand to tackle the most outrageous sustains. As this amp is a Peavey, the Peavey models obviously sounded better.
The effects are pretty decent, although as in most multi-effects processors, most of them are not everyday-usable. The TubScrm effect does not sound anything like a Tube Screamer and it is our least favorite of the effects.
You need not play the Vypr very loud because the speakers will definitely rattle—on loud clean strumming, and loud palm-muting—because an 8″ simply can not cope with such. Most reviews we’ve read so far ranted on this fact. It is a practice amplifier, it was intended for your ears only, if you want to go loud, find an amplifier with a bigger speaker and a higher rating.
Peavey might have set a trend here by them dropping the prices for something so filled with features this low. We would love to see other manufacturers follow suit, but for now nothing for less than a $100 can compare. If you want all of these settings to play with at home, buy it. If have no need for this much effects and models, but it anyway, for sure you’ll find time to play around with it.
Peavey Vypr 15
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