Peavey vintage late 70's MarkIV bass Head???

[weekend warrior]

I was wondering what you all thought of the overall tone and usability of a vintage peavey MarkIV bass Head? I need a good back up to my 72 SVT head for smaller clubs.I have used the orange bass terror and a couple of different preamps with seperate power amp setups and so far am not happy.Any suggestions???

[MNAirHead]

Much of this depends on your cabinets...

I never had an issue or complaint with them.. never had a failure.

[weekend warrior]

im using an Orange OBC115 cab.

[Oren Hudson]

I've used that head with the matching 2-15 Black Widow cab and with a Crate 2-15 cab. Both were satisfactory in volume and tone. Lots of power and EQ.

[SJan3]

I had a Peavey Mark IV( I think) head with a 2x15" BW Peavey bottom years ago.
As I recall, I was completely satisfied with the tone and output of this rig. Of course I was in my 20's and playing a real '66 Jazz Bass but I do recall it as being an excellent rig.
Ironically, someone must have really liked it because it was stolen out of my Chevy Citation hatchback along with a '78 Stingray! BASTARDS!!

[Oren Hudson]

Originally Posted by SJan3

Ironically, someone must have really liked it because it was stolen out of my Chevy Citation hatchback along with a '78 Stingray! BASTARDS!!

SUCKS!

[fenderphil]

Originally Posted by SJan3

...someone must have really liked it because it was stolen out of my Chevy Citation hatchback along with a '78 Stingray! BASTARDS!!

heck, if they would have lifted just a couple of pounds more, they would have made off with the car as well!

[fenderphil]

back on topic:

I had one and it was a good amp, but sounds nothing like a tube amp. or even a hybrid amp. and its pretty low wattage as well.

[thumpbass1]

Actually the Mark IV appeared in the early to mid 80's, following the popular Mark III head. I bought a Mark IV head with a matching BW loaded 2 x 15 cab and that rig easily outperformed, and sounded far, far, better than the 150 watt, all tube SUNN Model T head with matching SUNN 2 x 15 cab I had. They are an honestly rated 210 watts at 4 ohms, 300 watts at 2 ohms, and matched with an efficient 4 x 10, or 2 x 15 cab they can be loud as Hades, and with decent tone to boot. You get graphic and semi-parametric e.q., a bright switch, effects loop, and in and outs, etc with a built in crossover for bi-amping; all the stuff that makes for a nice bass amp. The Mark IV head can make a traditional P-Bass fan all happy with the ability to dial in all of those classic bass tones, or make your modern active boutique hot rod shine too. I ain't saying they are the most refined sounding bass amp head ever made, but Hartley Peavey got an awful lot right with the Mark IV head than he did wrong. I still have this Peavey rig and I still gig it on occasion. In over 25 years of well gigged service it hasn't even coughed up a fuse. Very reliable I must say.

[80'sRocker]

Ah, the Peavey Mark IV. My favorite old amp...period. You might make it your main after hearing it!

[AdamR]

Ive been gassing for a Mark VI to gi with my 1810 cab

[MNAirHead]

I have a mark VI up for grabs... clearing space from my 60 basses and 20 amps.

[SJan3]

Originally Posted by fenderphil

heck, if they would have lifted just a couple of pounds more, they would have made off with the car as well!

Got that right! Actually, they couldn't get the 2x15" cab out of the hatch but they managed to smash both drivers with a boulder to gain access. So, I loaded it back up with 2 JBLs and bought a Gallien Krueger RB400; the old BIG one. Still kicked major booty.