Music Hardware - Peavey Backstage Amp

[Seth]

Welcome to another "Music Hardware" article, this time we're going to take a look at the Peavey Backstage Amplifier. This little amp's RRP is a scant $79.99 (£45.47 at the time of writing), weighs only 4.5 Kg (10 lbs) and the sound and quality of the amp is well worth the money.

The Backstage is part of the TransTube series of amps, all of which utilise a patented technology from Peavey designed to give an authentic valve sound without the hassle or problems. According to their website, the amp reproduces this sound well with good overdrive capabilities. Sadly, I don't own and have never heard the sounds of a valve amp, so whether or not this statement is true or just marketing talk I can't say.

In this article, I'm going to give you some information on the capabilities of the amp and my opinions of it's features. So, lets take a look at the important stuff, the specifications!

Specifications

The Backstage is only a 10 Watt RMS amp, driving a 6.5 inch single speaker, so while you might not be able to rock a large venue with it you'll find that this amp has plenty of kick for practising at home or for jamming with your friends or your band. The amp also has two switchable channels - clean and overdrive. Sadly, as far as I know, there's no way to connect a footswitch to the amp so switching the channel either requires a third hand or somebody else to press the button. That said, the clean channel is smooth and gives nice tones and the overdrive gives some serious punch to those heavier songs and riffs.

The equaliser (EQ) on the Backstage is only 2-band, so only stretches to filtering High and Low signals, but I've found this EQ setup to be more than enough for what I use it for - practise. Should you be needing more control over your amps output in terms of EQ, a more elaborate (and most likely more expensive) amp will probably suit you better than the Backstage.

Last, but by no means least, the Backstage also features an Auxilliary input jack so you can connect a CD player to jam along to or even a microphone if your singing is required. The amp also has a headphones output, so if your parents or neighbours are asleep and you get an overwhelming urge to play your bands latest song or just your favourite riff you can do so while keeping everyone else happy with the quiet.

What I Think...

Overall, the Backstage is a pretty decent amp for £45 and should serve any guitarist well regardless of whether they're just starting and need a cheap practise amp or whether they're rocking every weekend at a local bar and need the same thing. Sure, it doesn't make tea or dance along to your music, but if you're looking for a good amp to fool around with then the Backstage is the one for you.