Peavey outdate the switchable channel guitar amp at a stroke. Gary Cooper undergoes a digital conversion.

It's been a long while coming — not just the final arrival in the UK of Peavey's remarkable Programax 10, but the whole rebirth of the concept of fully programmable guitar amps. The word 'rebirth' applies because the idea has been around for some years now, in fact since back in the mid 1970s when the ill-fated Orange Amplification setup launched their OMEC model. That the OMEC prototype worked wasn't in doubt; but neither, unfortunately, was the fact that it was too far ahead of its time, as the digital technology required to make an amp capable of being programmed with recallable tone and effects settings wasn't available until the early 1980s. Either way, the OMEC floundered, as, soon after, did Orange themselves.

It's taken the advent of mid-80s digital technology and the MIDI communications system to enable a manufacturer to develop a programmable amp that works — and even then it can't have been easy for Peavey to get the Programax 10 on the market, judging from the time-lapse between its first appearance as a prototype (over a year ago) and its very recent appearance in our shops. But now it's here. The Meridian, Mississippi plant has been producing 110v models for US consumption for several months now, and the first export models will be reaching the UK by the time you get to read this review.

So, what does all this 'programmable' and MIDI mean in a guitar amp? In straightforward terms, the Programax is a 200 watt transistorised guitar combo which allows you to set up to ten completely independent sounds, store these in its memory and then recall them at the touch of a button. The MIDI part, meanwhile, means that these sounds can be recalled by any MIDI control device, notably Peavey's own footswitchable RMC 2000 Remote MIDI controller.

Yes, despite the fear of high-tech which most of us guitarists seem to suffer from, the Programax 10 isn't just easy to understand, it's astonishingly easy to use too.

THE DETAILS

If you hadn't been forewarned, you'd be unlikely to suspect Peavey's Programax 10 of containing anything so remarkable as its digital programmability at first glance. Very sensibly, Hartley Peavey's design team has chosen not to let the high tech innards of their new combo be reflected too strongly in its cosmetics. Had they done so, they would have been running the risk that we archconservative guitarists would have taken one look at it and run screaming for the comforting familiarity of a nice, warm valve amp. As it is, the Programax 10 looks just like a Peavey should — black and mean, road tough, and practical to the 'Nth degree.

Open backed (revealing two of Peavey's Scorpion 12" speakers within), the Programax is a typical Peavey all the way, from the familiar chromed comer caps and top runners protecting the 3/4" thick woodworking, through the silver and black cloth grille and the jagged Peavey legend, to the top mounted carrying strap. Bearing in mind the prodigious 210 watt RMS output and the quite large size of the amp (it measures approx. 26" wide x 20" tall x 9½" deep) the Programax is surprisingly lightweight. In fact one-handed carrying (even up a flight or two of stairs) is easy — there'll be no extra payments to your roadie on account of his hernia, you'll be glad to note!

The amp's control gear is going to seem familiar to any player who has ever used a Peavey transistorised amp. Twin jack inputs offer the usual high and low sensitivity levels, and are followed by a conventional enough set of controls following Peavey's familiar Pre-Saturation-Post Gain-Low-Mid-Mid Shift-High and Presence arrangement. Following these come just reverb and master volume, with a neat row of 12 latching push-buttons succeeded by the mains on/off switch which completes the front panel's line-up.

The key to the Programax's brilliance is hidden within its conventional-looking front panel. Although there is no apparent indication of it happening as you turn any of the pots a digital reading is taken of its position and internally noted. Suppose you set up a clean Country sound using the rotaries. Once you've got what you want, you then move to the the furthest left top button on the twelve button row, which is marked A/B. Push it once and it alternates the selection of either of the two memory banks. You choose which memory bank you want (let's say A), then hit button 1 and hold it for just a few seconds until its LED stops flashing. Now you have that clean sound stored inside the Peavey's memory. To recall it, all you have to do is re-select A1 and hey presto! there's that sound again — exactly as you set it up. You can do this up to ten times, each memory storing any sound you can conjure. If Peavey weren't the people that they are, of course, this sort of arrangement could be fraught with many perils. Imagine you're on stage and you select your pre-programmed, ultra-raunchy rhythm sound. The only problem is that the venue you're playing at that night seems to suck out your treble. No problem. All you do is keep your pre-selected sound and adjust whichever control (maybe the High or the Bright switch) you need to get that extra bite in your sound. This, thank heavens, doesn't louse up your preprogrammed sound, it just modifies it for the occasion. On the other hand, should you decide that what you've just set up is actually better than the programmed tone, and you'd like to store it for future use, all you have to do is latch in the programme number button, hold it until the LED stops flashing and what you've just set becomes your new 'A1' sound.

All these operations are carried out just using the top row of buttons on the Peavey. The bottom row, meanwhile, provides you with a further set of parameters. In turn, they offer Bright, Thick, EFX1, EFX2, Man and Mute. Bright and Thick mean just what Peavey users will already understand, while EFX1 calls up the back panel's Effects Loop 1 (a pre-Eq loop, most suited to instrument level effects including most pedals) while EFX2 brings in the second loop, which is a post Eq type, suitable for line-level (0dBV and above) 'professional' effects. This second loop, by the way, also has a return level pot, so that you can compensate for any gain differences between the amp and the effect you've chosen. Manual and Mute are just what their names suggest, the former enabling you to return from any programme back to whatever you've got set up on the rotary controls, the Mute acting as a form of standby, effectively turning the amp to a 'waiting' silent mode.

THE PROGRAMMAX 10 IN USE

Despite the difficulty of explaining all these functions in words, Peavey have done a remarkably good job in the accompanying manual of showing how to set the amp up and how to select, programme and re-programme the huge variety of sounds that this amp will produce. For this they deserve the eternal praise of prospective and future owners.

I don't reckon myself over-bright when confronted with new technology, but, given even a fairly cursory read through the handbook, the Programax became second nature to use within around 30 minutes. To get you going, Peavey have pre-set 10 sounds which, in a way, remain there even if you overwrite them. An internal NiCad battery powers the memory when the amp is switched oft and enables your own programmes to last for around three weeks. If the amp isn't used after that, then sadly your own programmed sounds will be lost, and the settings will revert to the original ten pre-programmed at the factory. A longer lifespan would be useful, but as this is a professional's amp it's hard to imagine three weeks going by without it being used. Moral (as Peavey advise) — keep a written record of your programmed settings!

So, what's the purpose of this incredibly clever amp? I can see a multitude of applications. Take, for example, the live player who uses a Strat and a Gibson. You could set memory bank A to give you five of your favourite Strat sounds (each of which can be easily recalled) and use bank B for your Gibson. For a session player who may need to be able to get 'that XYZ sound' for a harassed producer, he can work his sounds out at home, pre-store them and then deliver them in the studio to order. Instead of just having a conventional twin channel amp, where you can switch between a rhythm and lead sound, the Programax 10 lets you have a full ten sounds to choose from (including the ability to vary reverb and effects use), all from either a front panel touch button or from a footswitching unit.

Initially, as you might imagine, some care does need to be taken when using this amp. You have to understand how it works and get thoroughly immersed in the operating procedure, otherwise it isn't too difficult to make mistakes. For example, I did wipe a few sounds I wanted to store at first, but you soon learn!

THE SOUND

After all the excitement of the Programax 10's ability to store and recall preselected sounds, the tone of the amp is quite conventional, albeit a very good example of what the modem transistorised guitar amp can do. The tone facilities and the excellent spring reverb work as well as they do on all of Peavey's newer tranny combos, enabling you to get a wide variety of sounds. It'll happily deliver a crystalline Country sound, a rich Jazz warmth and an overload that will satisfy the most manic HM fan — and it's loud, too. Particularly impressive is the way in which you can balance the pre-amp gain and saturation control against the master volume to get a close replica of a valve sound. In this respect I'm not sure that it's the best valve simulation I've heard, but it's certainly one of the best. Whether the differences between it and 'the real thing' might deter some potential pro buyers (at whom this amp is surely targetted) I'm not certain. It may sound anomalous to suggest that Peavey might mix 'obsolete' valve technology with all this high-tech digital stuff, but it could be that they'd appeal to more professional guitarists if they did.

CONCLUSION

I can see a multitude of uses for this amp. A session player could enhance his or her living from its ability to recall a 'popular' guitar sound at will, a gigging player could use it to play the most amazingly versatile set without ever needing to stop in between numbers and fiddle with amp settings, and the player who uses several guitars on stage could have each of them set to their favourite sounds, simply button or footswitch punching to select the one he wants for each number.

The Programax 10 is a remarkable product. At an RRP of £899 it's quite costly, but it offers the pro guitarist so many benefits that it won't be hard to justify the price. Congratulations, Peavey — you've shown the way forward in amp design with the Programax 10, and a lot of players are going to be extremely grateful!

RRP £899 inc. VAT

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