Peavey...

[Murph]

Young people just getting into the biz might look at Peavey and not get it. Chinese amps, Chinese guitars, some P.A. stuff and a few weird looking American (fake) tweed amps.

 

Back in the early 70's P.A. gear was not very good, not very affordable and not very available. Enter Hartley Peavey. Although I think he wanted to build guitar amps, he found a NEED with affordable P.A. equipment. When I started playing bars he was just getting kicked off, and his early columns were EVERYWHERE in the East Valley of Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Apache Jct. because of Milano Music. They must have made him millions alone!

 

Suddenly, any moron that could play 2 chords could buy a P.A. system and start a band and sound bad. (This is also the beginning of punk/alt..... )

 

The stuff was cheap, and it WORKED. There are thousands of stories of Peavey gear getting knocked over, falling out of trucks, down mountains, etc and still working. He also was big to push MADE IN U.S.A. every chance he got.

 

He jumped into EVERYTHING and nearly bankrupted Fender because this was the C.B.S. days. The early Classic 50 tube/ss hybrid, along with the Deuce (120 watt hybrid) and Mace (160 watt, 6; 6L6's, some guy from Skynyrd had one) were not real good sounding but they had gain, power and were cheap. They even toyed with a Lifetime Warranty even on speakers....... I'm serious.

 

I don't think he hurt Gibson. The T-60 wasn't in the same room as a Les Paul. If anything, so many bands popping up everywhere probably helped Gibson's bottom line during the late 70's, early 80's.

 

The end of columns was the legendary 1210T, with 2;12's, 2;10's, and 3 tweeters. Matched with an XR600 with lo/imp and a graphic you sounded pretty damned good for the late 70's. Then came the SP-2's, Black Widows, Scorpions, and finally, a deal with EVH.

 

At one time almost everything was made in Meridian Mississippi, somebody living there could probably tell you about the plywood/partical board boom of the 70's/80's, I don't know.

 

Greed took over and now Peavey gear is just another name out there with mucho Chinese stuff, I'm sure they have some decent stuff, never was a big fan but did have a later Classic 50 (all tube) with EL84's for a while. But.....

 

Affordable P.A. gear in the 70's made for a helluva ride........

[kidblast]

yea, I hear you Murph.

 

 

I used to have one of those 6 channel PA amp/boards, the one with the screw on legs, and volume controls about the size of a new york style bagel. it was indestructible. The CS800 heads were the same, you couldn't kill them. Then the speaker enclosures like the SP2, and SP1, ya man,, all over the place. every band was using this stuff and beating the crap out of it gig after gig, and the stuff still worked.

 

The guitar amps though (especially the early on solid state ones) did sound like total crap, but as you said, you could afford one if you couldn't get the cash up for any thing else.

 

The first Peavey Classic Series amps were pretty good tho, if anything, they were reliable. My buddy has the 4x10 version (modeled after the Fender bassman), bought it when they first hit the stores, maybe 15/20 years ago..

 

he's hard on his gear, the amp is a mess, and it's missing knobs, and smells like hell, but it still works, (all stock tubes too boot).

[surfpup]

The CS800 heads were the same, you couldn't kill them. Then the speaker enclosures like the SP2, and SP1

 

This We out a lot of miles on a 16 channel set up with CS800 and CS400 amps - SP3 mains and even Peavey wedges as I recall. You could not kill that stuff!

 

They made some decent tube heads too - owned both The Butcher and the VTM120. Great sounding heads.

 

However, my first Peavey was a solid state 2-12 Reknown. That sounded like crap! Loud crap - 160 watts or something - but crap.

[jdgm]

Right ON!

 

In my 1st gigging band we had those Peavey columns you mention - I paid for 'em - and the 4x10 Classic 50w, a great dark-sounding guitar amp which I would buy again if I ever see one.

In my next band I played bass awhile too and had a Peavey transistor standard bass amp and a brilliant 1x15 speaker cab, far lighter (and better) than the Vox cabs I'd previously had.

Hartley Peavey himself made visits to the UK, Europe and the Middle East to push his stuff to the dealers and some of his quotes were brilliant (and unprintable!).

And the T60 - wasn't that the 1st computer-designed and cut guitar? The pickups were humbucking but became single-coil as you turned them up - I think. Innovation.

 

The early Peavey gear just blew away the HH and WEM stuff English bands had been using up to that time, and every manufacturer had to sit up and raise their game as a result.

[rct]

1600, 2400 boards into 800 amps, Spyders(?), Spiders(?) cabinets, do I have that right? Maybe Spider cabs were CerwinVega, lugged them too. Peavey PA stuff was everywhere here on the east coast as well, from NYC down to DC. I used Peavey Classics, 2x12 50 watt amps with a pair of gains, something you couldn't really get unless you spent too much money on a Boogie, which I did later and hated.

 

There was some pretty serious Peavey loyalty around here back then. Used that stuff until the tags wore off and the names were gone, fell of trucks and kicked down steps. Easily replaced too, could find it in any small town that had a music store. I haven't seen anyone gigging any Peavey around here in a long time.

 

rct

[ksdaddy]

In the mid 80s I flipped a couple Bandits and despised them. I would have rather tapped into the volume pot on a transistor radio and used THAT.

 

In '97 I had a severely beat to crap '74 Twin that I had cut down into a head and added a modified Bassman 10 cabinet with one 15" as a bottom. It needed to be retubed and probably recapped and it was basically on it's last legs in my mind, since I don't do any amp work. I had bought it 12 years previous for $250 so it didn't owe me a nickel.

 

A guy offered me (in trade for the sick Twin) a pristine 1988 VTX Classic with 2 12's. The amp looked like it had never left the living room. I immediately turned my nose up, thinking "Bandit". But I gave it a 24 hour test and the deal was done. It did everything that Twin did except louder and with only 2 6L6 to replace if need be.

 

I still have that amp and probably always will. Amps come and go here, and I did pick up a '74 Dual Showman for bragging rights (atop a '69 Bassman 2-15 bottom), and I recently bought a Texas Red Frontman 25R for a 'grab n go' amp, but I consider the Peavey to be my main amp.

[L5Larry]

What's the first mod you do to a Peavey guitar amp?.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Remove the name plate!

[Old Rocker 59]

 

I'm a retired 20 year Navy veteran who served from 1979-99. In early 1980 right after I got out of boot camp, I was transferred to my "A" school which was located in Meridian, Miss. It was Ship's serviceman school which dealt in retail. After 1 month, we were allowed to go into town and wouldn't you know it, there it was , the damm Peavey factory which at that time, I never knew was located there . So myself and a couple of my buddies went there and got a little tour of the plant ,which was very cool. I now have a Vintage 1989 USA made, Bandit 112 complete with the original Scorpion speaker which after 24 years, is still kicking butt and sounds like it just came off of the assembly line.

[Twang Gang]

Never used the Peavey PA equipment - this is Schure country up here for that (cheap and fairly reliable). But I had the same bass player for about 25 - 30 years and he always used Peavey. Solid state heads which would last a long time, but eventually get fried in the sun at outdoor gigs in summer. He also had a bass cabinet, I don't know what it was called, that had an 18 inch speaker in it that was shaped like a bell. Lots of ports and baffles on the cab. He would go through a solid state head every 10 years or so, but that cabinet never died. And it could really punch out the low end.

[Twiz]

I have a 5150, and a Classic 50 (head). Both are great amps. I keep an eye out for old VTM's (either the 60 or 120 watt version). Those are monster amps, and you can usually find them for around $300. A lot of people hear the name Peavey, and think of crappy junk, and they're part right. BUT Marshall and Fender also made some stuff that wasn't super amazing. -The MG's, Valvestates or Cyber Twins sound to me just as bad as one of the solid state Peavey's.

[rct]

I have a 5150, and a Classic 50 (head). Both are great amps. I keep an eye out for old VTM's (either the 60 or 120 watt version). Those are monster amps, and you can usually find them for around $300. A lot of people hear the name Peavey, and think of crappy junk, and they're part right. BUT Marshall and Fender also made some stuff that wasn't super amazing. -The MG's, Valvestates or Cyber Twins sound to me just as bad as one of the solid state Peavey's.

 

It seems from your writing that you are fortunately too young to know the despair of a Fender Zodiac.

 

rct

[Twiz]

It seems from your writing that you are fortunately too young to know the despair of a Fender Zodiac.

 

rct

 

I can't say that I've heard of those. Were they good? Bad? Sorry to go off topic.

[kidblast]

It seems from your writing that you are fortunately too young to know the despair of a Fender Zodiac.

 

rct

 

 

Oh the humanity!!!

[CoreyT]

Back around '73 a friends dad bought him a monster of a Peavey amp.

I think it was rated at 100 watts or more, and had like 4x10 or 4x12s in it, and I think it was not a separate head, but all one tall unit.

Solid state too, and to be honest with you, it sounded like poop :D

 

He played an electric piano through it, and I tried my '71 or '72 Univox Les Paul through it, and the amp just did not sound good.

[rct]

I can't say that I've heard of those. Were they good? Bad? Sorry to go off topic.

 

Fednerz first whack at SS amps I think, late 60's, early 70's. Lots of guitar players I know never saw them and never heard them, but this area of the country, for whatever reason, had a bunch of them. I think in my Jr HIGH and HIGH school days all of us had one briefly at one time or another. Awful.

 

 

rct

[rct]

Oh the humanity!!!

 

That made me laugh. They were definitely tragic.

 

rct

[kidblast]

^- Yep,, quite simply one of the worst sounding amps I had ever heard, only second to the EMC Gemini and Taurus amps, (I had a Taurus, almost as bad as these fenders.) thankfully, everyone realized what a waste of material the EMC amps were and by the late 70s, they stopped the brutality.

[Greg Jacob]

My only experience with Peavey was a T-60 I picked up used from a guy outside a pawn shop (aparently, he was insulted by their offer). It's not everyday you get an American-made guitar for $150. Decent guitar, but that sucker must have weighed 50-lbs, or so it felt. I sold it a year later because of the weight and also because I thought new was better. Wish I had that back, like every guitar I've touched.

 

eBay auction for one similar...

[Mark]

What's the first mod you do to a Peavey guitar amp?.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Remove the name plate!

 

That's why the new design incorporates the logo. I had an old tweed classic 30. The rattling tubes drove me crazy. I did install a Tom Tube Tamer but it didn't

help much.

[vangoghsear]

As I made the transition into tube amps, I bought a NOS Peavey Valveking 112 for less than $300. 50 watts, Two foot-switchable channels with dedicated EQ and volume, boost and gain on OD channel, master volume and reverb all for $300. It wasn't bad at all if you play moderately high gain, but the clean wasn't great and I need good clean headroom, so I sold it and picked up a used Traynor YCV40RW that had been modified with all the changes I was planning to make to the Peavey to get better clean headroom (higher wattage speaker, better tubes).

 

After a few days use I had a problem with one of the channels cutting out on the first Valveking I bought, so I took it in for service. The service guy couldn't fix it. He sent it to Peavey and they sent me back a brand new one in the box. That one worked good, but the amp was a bit noisy and as I said, the clean channel just wasn't up to what i was going for. Still Peavey did right by me. I also own a Peavey outboard rack mount digital reverb unit that works really well and my brother owned a 200 watt KB keyboard model that worked good for bass or keyboard, but was too sterile for guitar.

[LPguitarman]

My Peavey Classic VT Series 2x12 is still rockin' strong. I replaced the original speakers with Scorpions. Kept the original speakers and made (2) speaker cabinets for my stereo system. Still have everything and it all still works after all these years.

[cookieman15061]

I had the Duece and the Classic in the VT series and they were rock solid. I remember the classic having a couple of these. Workhorse amps that never gave me a problem.

 

[kaleb]

I play through a 1993 Prowler 45w 1X12 combo (quite a rare amp). The speaker was changed to an Eminence Tonespotter before I got it. Runs 2 JJ 6L6 and 3 JJ 12AX7s. Sounds great.

[tazzboy]

I started off with Peavey Ranger 2x12 which was 120 that had both Reverb and Tremolo cause not to many amps of the time had both Reverb and Tremolo on amp. I couldn't afford Marshall so I started with Peavey. I also have Peavey Rockmaster Pre amp and Peavey 120/120 power power amp. Then I bought Peavey Classic 100 watt with 8 EL 84 power tubes (which I later sold cause I couldn't afford to get the 4X12 E cabinet). I also had Peavey Delta Blues 1x15 which I also later sold and the I sold Rockmaster and 120/120 Power amp and trade the Ranger for Fender Professional Tube Pro Reverb 1x12.

[Murph]

Then I bought Peavey Classic 100 watt with 8 EL 84 power tubes

 

I remember those. I don't think I ever saw one in real life, just pictures. There was a Country gunslinger/studio player that used them back in the mid/late 90's. I simply can't remember his name. He toured with the Cash/Nelson/Kristofferson/Jennings Outlaw thing...