Peavey Vypyr VIP-3 Guitar Combo Amplifier

An assortment of amp models, effects pedals, instrument models, inputs and outputs, and an on-board looper make this 100-watt amp a tonal chameleon.

Overall User Ratings (based on 5 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(5) (see rating details)
Submitted March 21, 2016 by Scott Hutchins in Wilmington, NC

"Modeling Beast!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Fist off, the analog modeling of the 6505 and 6534 amps are spot on and sound enormous! I was very skeptical until a friend got a VIP 1 and I got to hear it. A month later I bought the VIP 3 from zZounds when my Randall tube combo bit the dust. You must have the Sanpera 2 in order to get the most out of this amp, but there really does almost anything you need. The only downsides that I find with the amp is (1) the encoder knobs do not feel very sturdy so be careful with them and (2) the effects do not have a level control, but with that said, the effects are set at a good overall level and sound good with cleans yet don't sound bad with a heavy gain sound as some can. Another feature that is awesome is the power soak. Again I was skeptical as to whether this feature would work as I hoped but it does. It gives the volume much more play at low volumes but you can make it VERY loud when needed. Enjoy!

Musical Background:

Have been playing guitar since the early to mid 80's. Jam at home these days.

Musical Style:

mostly metal with a bit of prog rock/metal also
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Submitted September 20, 2013 by John Z in Hanson, MA

"Vypyr VIP 3 Review"

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
A great value for the money especially if you are in a cover band and need many different sounds. The Trans Tube technology works well as the amp cleans up nicely when the guitar volume is turned down for high gain sounds. I would like a better quality speaker and there are no external speaker outs on the amp. It does sound a little 'box-y' at times but most solid state amps do. There are some fine models among them the Budda (my fave), Marshall, XXX, 6505 and 6534. The built in tuner is pretty bad which is a big disappointment. A TU12 will do trick. I also use the Sanpera II pedal which adds lots more presets and control. The Vypyr edit software is pretty awesome and gives you a nice visual when editing patches. The 12 string model is useless since it just adds and octave to each string but it does so to the high B & E strings as well which is annoying since those strings are in unison on a real 12 string. The acoustic models and amps are nice as well. You have to play with the amp to get it right so don't expect the plug & play results to be spectacular. Read the manual, download the Vypyr edit software and check out the forums and patch downloads. It is loud!!

Musical Background:

Professional musician, guitar, 40 years +

Musical Style:

Rock, blues, funk and reggae
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Submitted October 18, 2015 by Juan B in Aurora, CO

"Great for the price "

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Bought this to use for a solo project so I wouldn't have to buy 2 different amps. Have to say the tone shocked me, peavey really nailed the bass tones on this one and once I played around on it for a while I got a pretty gnarly guitar tone out of it too. The effects are pretty fun to play around with, but since I play a lot of black metal, I don't really use them, but just having the option is good enough for me for the price. Now my only complaint is that there's no line out. Which means no hooking up to a bigger cab when you want to jam with drums. Still holds up pretty well, but not quite where I need it. All in all though, you can't beat the quality for the price. Between this and my grind bass, I may never use anything, but peavey...
Sound
The sound quality for bass is instantly enjoyable and very easy to tweek and mod if need be, so you can have your tone ready with a little effort. The guitar isn't as easy to dial in, but it's definitely doable. Once you find it, you'll be very pleased.
Features
Everything this amp offers is useful, but there's no line out, which is annoying, but not deal breaking. It comes with an instruction cd and manual, which you'll need because there's a lot to learn about this amp. All in all though, it's a great amount of features for the price.
Ease of Use
The ease of use is pretty good once you learn your product. Some people are great at plugging in amd jamming away, but this amp takes a little more figuring out beforehand, but once you learn what it can do and how to edit the channels, it's a breeze.
Quality
It's a fairly well made amp. Haven't really had an issue, but it's only left my house twice, so it's hard to tell. For what I use it for though, it's great.
Value
This is probably the best aspect of this amp. For 300 bucks you get, essentially, 3 amps. In which you have, essentially, 30 amps a piece. You do the math. And at 100 watts. Come on, the value is insane...
Manufacturer Support
Haven't had to deal with peavey yet, probably never will. Have been using their stuff since I was a kid and haven't had a problem yet.
The Wow Factor
Just everything you can do with this amp. Basically all you could do to improve on it would be make it a 2x12 combo and give it a line out. Other than that it's a great investment if you like to just jam.

Musical Background:

15 year bassist/guitarist. Jam with a black metal band from denver.

Musical Style:

Black death metal
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Submitted February 24, 2021 by a customer from gmail.com

"Marcus Stee"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Very good amp for the money. Although it didn’t sound full enough for my basses, my guitars sound good.
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Submitted December 18, 2016 by Jonathan M

"Good amp"

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Bought this amp awhile back and it sounds great. I'm not going to get into all the technical details because it's already been posted and it's not my area of expertise, but I'll just say that there's a ton of stuff you can do with it for pretty much any musical style and it sounds great, I wouldn't recommend it for a bass amp though it just didn't have the bright tones I was looking for. But the reason I gave it 3.5 stars is because after about a year the electronics started going out and it kept getting worse, mainly the knobs on it wouldn't respond to anything, I'd turn a knob and it either wouldn't do anything or it would do the opposite, for example I'd turn the volume down and it would go up. Not sure if I had a warranty on it or not because I don't bother with warranties, but I ended up taking it apart (caus I'm an idiot) and that's where I really screwed up caus I couldn't put it back together after that so I just ended up having to throw it out. I'm not trying to discourage anybody from buying it because it is a great amp, maybe I just got a lemon, but beware that it may eventually go out a lot sooner than expected
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