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The Windsor's performance is more rocker than regal

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Peavey has launched some highly successful amplifier designs and more often than not the company has demonstrated the uncanny knack of managing to blend solid performance with excellent value for money.

Perhaps the most noticeable recent example is the ValveKing 1 x 12 combo; following its arrival on UK shores, supply was outstripped by demand by some considerable distance.

Another recent hit was the Penta head, which saw its designers finding inspiration in the power and aesthetic simplicity of old-school British valve heads while incorporating some clever analogue voicing circuitry. The company’s new Windsor head returns to late sixties Britain for inspiration, but this time at an entry-level price.

Hauling the Windsor out of its box, there’s an understated classiness exuded by its cream and black vinyl covering, and the gold hue of the front panel is a clear nod towards Bletchley’s most famous exports.

That said, we can’t help feeling that the none-more-80s Peavey logo is at odds with the general aesthetic, unlike the scroll typeface used for the ‘Windsor’ legend. It’s a shame that the company can’t come up with something that better suits the retro stylings of amps such as this and the Classic Series models.

Cosmetic issues aside, there’s plenty of horsepower under the bonnet of this amp courtesy of a quartet of EL34s, but sensibly there’s a master volume control to ensure that you can rev up the preamp volume and achieve maximum dirt at volumes that won’t get you evicted.

Along with the expected three-band EQ section, further tonal sculpting is possible thanks to presence, resonance and texture controls. The presence and resonance pots control the tightness of speaker damping in high and low frequency ranges, while the texture knob controls the dynamic response of the amplifier and ranges from a ‘modern’ class A/B to a ‘vintage’ class A feel at either end of its spectrum.

The front panel also provides easy access to effects send and return quarter-inch jack sockets, although some players will prefer these hidden around the back so that stray leads don’t inhibit access to the amplifier’s controls.

Around the back, there’s very little going on other than connections for the mains lead and speakers, an impedance selector and a connection for a standard latching footswitch that triggers the boost function, also accessible by pressing a switch on the front panel.