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Below is a short review I posted on the Peavey Vypyr Forums. Just for a bit of background: I own both tube amps as well as have owned a fair share of the major modeling amps over the years (starting with the original Line 6 Ax 2 212). I still own my original Valvetronix AD120VTH 'blue' head, as well as the DigiTech GSP1101. Another recent modeler I picked up is the Yamaha THR10 (great little amp)..which I have next to my bed on the nightstand. I use the THR10 as a bedroom practice amp, and when I am not using it as an amp, I use it's Hi-Fi capabilities to play music through.
I also own an original Peavey Vypyr 75. While I think it is a great solid-state modeler, the built-in Noise Gate (which is not adjustable) has always been a sore spot. The original Vypyr Noise Gate would choke off notes, and was especially noticeable on medium gain tones. It also adversely affected sustain and touch sensitivity. The poor Noise Gate implementation has held back this amp from what it's true tonal capabilities are.
I use the Vypyr 75 for teaching guitar lessons. When I learned that the new VIP series was available, I was intrigued. I decided to order the VIP 3, when I learned that the Noise Gate issue had been corrected.
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Hi folks. This is a follow-up to my previous thread/post in which I received a VIP 3 DOA (Dead on Arrival).
Okay, the new replacement VIP 3 arrived today from Sweetwater (great service!). In was boxed in the same inferior (IMHO) packing as described in my previous post. That is, it is double cardboard boxed--that's it, no foam peanuts, no Styrofoam molding or bumpers, nothing.
I cringed when I took the amp out of the inner box, and found a bunch of small broken pieces of black plastic. There was more small pieces inside the back of the amp (which is semi-closed), and which I was able to remove by hand. Looking at the amp, I can't figure out where they came from, because everything appears intact..so it will remain a mystery for now.
The good news is that the amp started up, no problems. At first, I fumbled a bit through the digital display menu/UI. I had read the User Manual a few days ago, but I didn't have it in front of me, at the time I started up the amp. Nevertheless, after a few minutes of poking around, I was able to pick up the workings of the interface, and it is rather intuitive after you work with it -- even without the manual
I then settled upon Bank/Patch setting A-4. I can't recall the factory preset name/setting, but it sounded pretty good, and was my jumping off point for modifying to my tastes. I immediately fell in love with the 'Butcher' amp model, set on 'orange' (medium = square symbol on display), with a Tube Screamer maxed out in front. I dialed in some slap-back delay and reverb, added some mids (no scooped tones for me) and immediately found my 'go to' tone! I ended up with a creamy over-driven 'Marshall' tone which had wonderful sustain and dynamics..perfect for lead style neo-classical playing (e.g. Yngwie). I absolutely loved the tone I was getting and had quickly dialed in.
Unfortunately, I then started messing around with different amp and effects parameters, before saving the patch to a preset. And here is where something very weird and troubling (at first) happened. All of a sudden, the sustain was lost, and the amp lost it's rich dynamics. It was like a blanket had been put over the amp, or the sensitivity of the noise-gate went haywire. The tone became plinky and thin, and notes lost all sustain and presence.
For a few minutes I panicked. I made sure all the levels were correct, and made certain any post-effects were off. I double-checked that the effects and amp model parameters that I had engaged, were where I had originally set them. So, nothing obvious stood out as the source of the problem. Then, I began to think..I had been messing around with all sorts of amp models and effects, without saving anything, and my guess is that I somehow had overloaded the memory buffer in the DSP (or something to that affect). So, I turned off the amp, and turned it back on. I hadn't saved my previous tone, but I was quickly able to re-create it, and once I did, I saved it (over-wrote A-4 factory preset patch). The problem is gone, and I got back that amazing tone, sustain and dynamics I first heard. All appears well, now, and so far this problem has not reoccurred. So, I think it had something to do with the memory and/or I inadvertently had caused some type of stack overflow.
I thought I would mention this issue, in case any other VIP 3 owners run into the same problem. My recommendation would be to immediately save any tone that you get that is a 'keeper'. And if it should occur, try cycling the amp (turn it off and back on), and start over in dialing in your tone, and then SAVE.
UPDATE -- Further to my previous post, I have played a good couple of hours with the new VIP 3, and I am happy to report that the weird and dramatic loss of sustain/tone/dynamics issue has not come back..so all is well. It appears to have been an isolated incident.
I can definitely say, just from programming a single tone/patch, that the quality of the tone, sensitivity and dynamics are richer and superior to my Vypyr 75..no question. Peavey has definitely improved upon an already very good solid-state modeling amp. The fix / improvement to the Noise Gate is literally Night and Day, and almost justifies the upgrade, all by itself.
Cheers, all.
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So, to recap, the new VIP 3 is a great solution for a practice amp, and Peavey has turned the already impressive Vypyr into an even better sounding, more responsive amp. It should be noted that the amp modeling and distortion is analog (not digital), via their TransTube technology. Only the effects are digital.