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[Kurtastrophe.]

Okay...so like. My Peavey Windsor head doesn't have enough gain for my tastes!! should I get an overdrive pedal? or something like the MXR distortion III? (what do you guys think about putting a Digitech Bad Monkey in front of it?)

BTW I'm new.

[MrSandMan]

Hi Kurt, welcome to the boards. We just gave away a Bad Monkey last month for the Gear-Monkey give-aways... Great pedals! I'd recommend one.

I guess my question is what type of music or tone are you after?  If you like metal, check out the MT-2 or MetalMuff. 

Also, the stock power tubes in the Windsor are probabably Ruby EL34's. You'll find JJ EL34's will really give the amp more umph.

[Kurtastrophe.]

Thankyou =].

[floydmoline]

erp.... coming from a guy who owned a peavey windsor..... they DO NOT take pedals well...... at all

i tried to use both an MXR distortion+ clone, and a Big Muff PI in front of the amp and both had the same effect, destroyed the bass. and added more noise than distortion........ sadly the best distortion a windsor gets is what it has, even a clean boost just boosts noise and doesn't change the distortion character, it just adds saturation to the distortion tone it already has......

if you are looking for a more metal tone an MT-2 will help.... if you are just looking for more gain in the same style the amp has on it's own, change the tubes to JJ's that helps ALOT.

my recommendation is swap out the stock tubes (ruby power tubes) for JJ E34Ls, the pre-amp tubes should already be JJs

[Kurtastrophe.]

Thanks! I'll really consider the tube swap. In the future I might try to get it modded or something....Do you think a good noise gate would solve the problem when putting a pedal in front of it?

[ninja636]

A good noise gate might help, but I'm not to familiar with Peavy amps. A good one is the ISP Decimatar pedal(also comes in rack mount). That thing is freakin' awesome. The Boss NS-2 (the one I have) adds a lot of color to your tone. I'd try the tube swap, but not the mod. I'd sell it and take the money and add some to it and get a high gain amp. Unless it holds some sentimental value for you.

[MrSandMan]

I agree with Ninja, before sinking the money into the Windsor, look into the Bugera 6260 or a Peavey 5150. The Bugera is basically a Peavey 5150 clone.

I might be way off suggesting these amps to you because I don't know what tone or style of music you're after.

[Kurtastrophe.]

Yeah I don't think I'm gonna get a mod because I have a warranty on it.


I think I might swap the tubes, buy an attenuator, get a bad monkey, and a MXR Smart Gate. hopefully it turns out well.

[Kurtastrophe.]

BTW I'm gonna use the Bad Monkey to boost the gain. I might ask to try it out on one of the Winsors already in GC.

[indytruckboy]

Just about any dirt pedal in front is going to kill some of the bass freq.
But I would try a Digitech Death Metal pedal if that's what you are worried about. That pedal can be had for a few bucks more than a Bad Monkey. It's a solid pedal. And if there is too much "death metal" there for you, it has a internal trim pot so you can kick it down a little.

You never did say what style of music you wanted to play out the thing.

[Kurtastrophe.]

I play everything from indie/alternative rock to metal. I'm in a metal band and an alternative band....

[Kurtastrophe.]

I'm probably gonna try tons of things, including your suggestions. And MrSandman, I was actually considering buying a Burgera amp or a 5150 first but I saw the Windsor at Guitar Center for around 300 so I just got that, I'm probably gonna start with getting a metal muff ( I really like that pedal ) and the JJ EL34 tubes. Thanks for all the help.

[Kurtastrophe.]

By the way, just curious, floydmoline, how do (or did) you like your Windsor?

[jeffreyliu838]

I don't own a Winsdor, but I have tried out a BB pre amp with a Fender Blues Jr. It's a pretty ballsy, yet warm pedal. I liked it.

[Kurtastrophe.]

SUCCESSSS!!! Okay...I'm really happy with what I have right now. With extra gain pedals, I found that with the two outside tubes pulled, the amp has a really farty crappy low end. My friend gave me back my Boss Mega Distortion that I never liked and so I was just experimenting with it, and something happens to the amp when you add a pedal with the two outside tubes pulled (to make it 50 watts) that makes the amp sound really crappy and farty. I put the tubes back in and dialed the gain on the amp to 12, and used to pedal to add a smidge of extra gain to get more of an aggressive sound out of it and WALLA!!! It worked very well....but now I have to spend more money on the tubes when they blow, but it's well worth it. I'm really satisfied with what that pedal did to my amp, the pedal through a clean sound sounds quite crappy to me though...