Blazer 158 Review

TransTube Blazer 158 is perfect for practice. Hear for yourself. -- TransTube does make a difference.

Features:	8.3
Sound:	8.3
Reliability:	8.5
Impression:	8.3
Overall rating:	8.4
Users rating:	8.3
Comments:	5

overall: 8.8

Featured review by: Nemesis_brood, on july 21, 2006

Price paid: $ 139

Features: This is one of the best practice amps you can get as far as I'm concerned. 2 channels of clean and distortion with pre gain and post gain, a CD input, 3 band equalizer with vintege and modern Switch, and reverb. No effects but if your a beginer then it don't matter. Plenty of power for playing for your friends and practicing. I play punk rock/alternative/and '70s style rock. Let's see how the sound is shall we? // 8

Sound: I am playing on a Ibanez JS100 with a ultra distortion bridge pickup (don't know the manufacture). This amp is very good for punk rock songs, Not to much distortion that it sounds like metal crap but enough to give it a solid sound. The Vintage setting I think is the best because when you turn it to modern it sounds like someone put a heavy blanket in front of the speaker. Very nice clean setting. This thing puts out to much bass unless you turn the low down then it sounds whimmpy. Also the reverb gives a very nice echo effect and the sound gets muddy when turned up over 7. Very loud for a small room. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Well, this thing wasn't made for gigs. You could mabey use it in a small room gig or somthing with it turned all the way up but I wouldn't suggest it. I am sure I will have this amp for a long time as well. Haven't had any trouble with it so far. // 10

Impression: All-in-all this is a good practice amp! Plenty of distortion for punk rock, good clean setting for alternative, and a nice Vintage mode for older rock. This amp is pretty much the same as the Rage 158 but with no effects and cheaper. If it were lost or stolen I would be sad but buy another one. I can't recommend this amp to metal fans but if you like less distortion than metal, don't settle for anything less! Definatly a good buy. // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: Meowordie, on november 13, 2008

Price paid: $ 15.00

Purchased from: yard sale

Features: I got this amp when I started playing, bought it at a yard sale for 15.00. This amp is quite versatile, it has a nice clean tone, and also sounds great with the reverb. There are two channels a clean and Gain channel but on mine the gain really didn't work from what I found but, with the newer ones it's better. this amp has pretty much all you need for beginners. I use this amp all the time when I'm just jammin out in my room before bed. it's a 15 watt amp and is pretty loud. it's a transtube and it sounds just like a tube amp with out the hassle. // 10

Sound: I use 3 single coil pick-ups, I play a variety of music, like classic rock, blues, rock, modern rock, and whatnot and that amp did just fine with all of them. it dosnt have that much feedback when you turn it on it's very nice. it makes a nice led zeppelin tone I like to use it for the ocean with a little dist. the distortion on the amp is mostly just a volume boost, I couldn't seem to figure out how to make it work on mine so I used my dist. pedal. // 9

Reliability & Durability: It's quite durable, it has lasted a while from what I know and nothing wrong with it yet. It dosnt take tubes so don't have to worry about that. Also I turned it up all the way when I first started playing and it was pretty good that loud and the speaker hasn't had any problems. // 10

Impression: This is a good match for the style of music I play and is a great practice amp but I just use it as a practice amp because I have a 120 watt amp so that's why I don't do anything else with it but I like it's tone better than my 120 watt Behringer vampire. so I hope this helps you out with your view on this amp. // 9

overall: 8

Reviewed by: Mushroom123, on may 21, 2008

Price paid: $ 63.2

Purchased from: Used

Features: I think this is an older Peavey Blazer 158 because it's not as aesthetically redesigned like the ones I seen in stores. Clean channel, distortion channel with pre and post gain, 3 band EQ- low mid treble, and reverb. 1 input jack and headphone jack. Pretty standard for a practice amp. // 8

Sound: I've used this amp with a RG321mh and a Squier Strat, it sounds pretty good depending on what you play. As for what sounds good on this amp? Clean sounds pretty good, light distortion sounds good (zepplin or classic rock), as you turn the distortion up you can get a bit heavier distortion while still sounding good... reverb sounds good you can get that jazzy tone from this amp. what's bad? not too good if you practicing metal, it seems to struggle with getting that very heavy distortion. The clean stays clean no matter how loud you turn it and it can go pretty damn loud. Distortion does get a bit hummy at loud volumes, but it's not a perfect amp it's just for practice. I only play in my room so I don't know how else this amp performs in other environments. Not the best sounding amp ofcourse it's just for practice, not performing. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This amp is very dependable and sturdy. I would recommend it for the traveling man, but definately not for gigging. Atleast not if your serious. This amp never broke down on me or had any problems, it's pretty portable and small. Reliable and durable but not gig worthy. // 8

Impression: I've used this amp for a year now in my room and it's been satisfactory I'd say, it's a good quality practicing amp, but leaves a little to be desired if your venturing into metal or something with hard distortion like punk or something. The only bad part about this amp is that, it can't practice heavy metal too well because the distortion lacks. But other wise a great practicing amp. // 8

Reviewed by: unregistered, on july 23, 2008

Price paid: $ 95

Purchased from: Ecko music

Features: I bought this amp six years ago, when I got most of my first gear. It features clean and distortion, with a little knob for reverb, which I never use; as well as a headphone jack. I personally never use the distortion since I always use pedals. Now I'm using a DS-1 and a Small Clone. It's been pretty useful for rehearsals and practice. It's quite loud in a room and aside from a few tone issues it's worked for me. // 7

Sound: I am playing it now with a strat with the original pickups, I mostly play alternative like Radiohead and Nirvana, and since I use it only for rehearsal and practice it does get noisy with the distortion, which I wouldn't recommend; the clean sound is in a lack of a better word. Superb, no matter the settings it gets a clean sound, granted you have a good guitar. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is not for a gig, I mean, the size says it all! This amp actually tends to overheat and get a weird tone, but if you let it rest a bit, it will work nicely. However that can be annoying in the middle of practice. // 6

Impression: I love the clean sound, no doubt about it, I've been playing for 6 years and I've used it with a Samick with a Zoom 606 and my current Boss-EH pedals with a Strat. My only gripe with this amp is the overheating, which has let me down before. I will definitely change it over time, but right now is my main amp, and since it's clean sound is pretty cool, I can Live with the flaws. // 7

Comments

[hippieking24]

i've always liked peavey amps because they are good amps, but this one leaves a little to be desired

[Maverick91]

I have that amp,and i am impressed.
I play all the guitar things on that amp:rock,punk,metal,thrash,reggae,hc...
It is good.
Ok,you can use it in a gig,but you must put a microphone in front and bring any strong speaker to get the sound in whole hall,room,club...

[g-griezejs]

Maverick91 wrote:

I have that amp,and i am impressed.
I play all the guitar things on that amp:rock,punk,metal,thrash,reggae,hc...
It is good.
Ok,you can use it in a gig,but you must put a microphone in front and bring any strong speaker to get the sound in whole hall,room,club...

Or maybe add a cabinet to it (forgot if it has an output for an external speaker..)

[k2pblcnme]

Not a big fan of this amp. Nothing special in the tone I found. I'm gonna upgrade to an Orange Crush 30r

[Samus-Chief117]

I have this amp and I don't like it, basically because it's not capable of giving that cruch that Metallica's Palm mutes give. I use alot of palm mutes, and they simply don't work with this amp. Everything else works great!