Peavey Classic 30 mods and suggestions

[albacore]

Inspired by Josh's topic on the Peavey 20, and the obvious familiarity that folks have here with the Classic 30...

I have recently got a Classic 30 (fairly old, but with the cage around the tubes) that is stock as far as I know, apart from a re-tube. There's a lot of material out there, lots of possibilities. So help me out:

What are your Top 3 or Top 5 things to do to get the best out of a Classic 30? What has the biggest impact, or biggest bang for the buck? Not just internal mods, but tubes, boosters in the effect loop, just sticking plugs into sockets etc.

Much obliged in advance for any suggestions.

[tomteriffic]

1: Take the logo off the front

2: Put in a good, strong set of tubes, the Classics are tough on power tubes.

3: As you noted there is a ton of info out there on possible internal mods,  The VERY FIRST one I'd look into is the mod around the input section.  The majority of the input signal is shunted to ground on these.  This was a self-defense decision, to protect the amp from a line of six boosters and fuzzboxes in front of it.  This mod opens the amp up, let's it breathe and gives it more signal to work with.

4: The boost button mod.  On both of mine, the boost button was more of an "icepick" button than a boost.  Changing a few caps and resistors modifies the response to be a gentler boost over a broader range of frequencies.  I never turn it off.

5: Speaker?  Mine are both fairly early, pre Blue Marvel speaker.  I've never felt the urge to replace them, but it's up to you.

There are tons of others, such as making the boost button foot-switchable (tricky and iffy, since the audio signal has to travel down that footswitch wire and back), etc.  The two I noted seem to make the most difference.  Use quality components and you can take a good working grunt's amp to a near-"booteek" experience.

YMMV, closed course, professional driver, do not attempt at home, etc.