Peavey PV 1200

Peavey’s PV line of amplifiers are not at the same level as their CS range. I would say they are more suitable for permanent installations like public address in a shopping mall, background music or churches. Perhaps the PV line was made to compete with the QSC amps which dominate those markets.

Her rated power output is 400W into 4Ω and 240W into 8Ω. Even though she is specified to operate down to 2Ω at 600W, I do not recommend it. There’s a bit of specsmanship here. .

Peavey PV 1200Fig 1 – Peavey PV 1200 Amplifier Schematic

Fig 1 is the circuit of the PV 1200. As can be seen, she resembles the QSC typology, the difference is that the power transistors emitters are grounded (Green Line) whereas in the QSC amps, it’s the collector. Nonetheless, the power output is actually from the power rails going through the main filter capacitors.(Red line). In order for this to work, the op-amp front end is bootstrapped to the rails (Blue lines).

Frankly, I am not a fan of this type of circuits. I fail to see the benefits over more conventional ones. I have eight Electro-Voice AP2600, similar to the QSC, that came out of movie theaters and all of them had their filter caps blown. This is the result of passing high current and voltage through them.

Summary

In 2017, I worked on this PV 1200. One channel was broken so it was a good opportunity to put her on my bench. To my horror, the damage was extensive. I found so many blown parts.

Like I said before, she’s alright for light duty but don’t expect the PV 1200 to survive in a “live” concert. For that, invest in a CS amplifier instead.