Meet Hartley Peavey - Founder, Peavey Electronics

[SurferJoe46]

I found a rather interesting article on GUITAR.COM::

Meet Hartley Peavey - Founder, Peavey Electronics

Just a snippet for interest ::: : By Adam St. James

.........If you blow out a speaker, or if your customer blows out a speaker-- I think it would probably be a fair guess to say that musicians are not technical experts in many cases. And they don't realize that a 100 watt amplifier can easily blow out a 200 watt speaker. They don't understand why. And the why is a square wave contains approximately 2.5 times the energy of a sine wave. And if you stick a square wave into a speaker, the square tops and bottoms, that's like DC, like direct current. And that sits there and heats up the voice coil and the damn thing burns itself out.

.......Another thing that's pretty interesting is a lot of people are convinced that you have to get these big old welding cables from the power amplifier over to the speaker cabinet, and they go out and spend $100 a foot for this wire that's as big as your thumb. It goes over to the speaker, attaches to the terminals, and then it goes through the same little chicken-sh^t (my edit) wires over to the cone, right! (laughs). It's so stupid, but people do that, because they actually believe that the more money they spend, the more they get.

There's lots more. Like I say - he's interesting and successful. Mostly successful and outspoken, but not necessarily in that order.

I'm trying to use the rules for C/P for "Fair Use Rules" correctly and give credit to the original writer for copyright permissions in these situations.

[RexNFX79]

Most of what he says seems inarguable. Good article, I've always liked that guy. Reading that kind of makes me feel stupid for spending what I've spent on some of my gear!

[Mr-Wunderful]

I like that Peavey fella.

[hdracer]

He was one of the greats in the industry. But, like his products, he will never get the respect the he is due.

[RTL]

I like how he cut Chip Todd completely out of the picture when describing the way he "invented" his guitar manufacturing process...

Mr. Peavey hired Chip to start the Peavey guitar program. It was Chip who took gunsmithing machines and modified them to make guitars. Peavey basically had nothing to do with that concept, other than approaching Chip looking for a solution.

[SurferJoe46]

Yeah - but maybe there are other 'dynamics' involved there and not having been a fly on the wall myself --------

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by hdracer

He was one of the greats in the industry. But, like his products, he will never get the respect the he is due.

I think that Peavey is *still* recovering from years and years of making simply AWFUL products. Anyone who encountered Peavey gear back in the late '70s/early '80s knows what I'm talking about - it was the cheap crap that only the most dead-broke guys bought - and sounded like it.

Peavey makes *much* better gear now - and has for years - but to many folks, Peavey will always have that stigma.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Hartley's been a successful businessman but he doesn't know about square waves and clipping and DC.

[Basshappi]

Excellent read....and he's right.

[Basshappi]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

I think that Peavey is *still* recovering from years and years of making simply AWFUL products. Anyone who encountered Peavey gear back in the late '70s/early '80s knows what I'm talking about - it was the cheap crap that only the most dead-broke guys bought - and sounded like it.

I disagree.

[BigOldHarry]

gotta say... I'd trust Bob over Hartley on this one...

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Originally Posted by Basshappi

Excellent read....and he's right.

Not about the technical stuff. I wish he wouldn't perpetuate the clipping and DC myth in particular.

[winston]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

I think that Peavey is *still* recovering from years and years of making simply AWFUL products. Anyone who encountered Peavey gear back in the late '70s/early '80s knows what I'm talking about - it was the cheap crap that only the most dead-broke guys bought - and sounded like it.

Peavey makes *much* better gear now - and has for years - but to many folks, Peavey will always have that stigma.

I have to agree with this. My first amp was an '85 TKO 65 that was heavy, rattly, unreliable, and sounded truly terrible. I owned a '90s Patriot and have had 3 Cirrus basses--all were great.

The other thing that bugs me about Peavey is that through the 80s/90s they trumpeted "Made in the USA" so much that their eventual embrace of low-cost Asian manufacturing seemed hypocritical.

[sevenyearsdown]

I've never heard, or played through any Peavey gear that sounded good. It will last forever though.

[Basshappi]

Let me clarify my statement.

Hartley is right in his assesment of the needs of working musicians and brought good, dependable gear to market at affordable prices. He was an innovator of musicial equipment manufacturing processes (and of course he didn't work alone, he had many talented people working for him).

Also, I have played through much Peavey gear from the 70's and 80's and while some of it was lacking (what manufacturer dosen't have a few "less than stellar" products? Ever play through a Fender PA?), most of it was good sounding, dependable (damn near indestructable in most cases) and affordable.

I believe that the "stigma" that Peavey suffers from is for two reasons. The first is their early design esthetics. Many people are(were) put off by how Peavey equipment looked and thus never really honestly assesed how the equipment sounded or performed. And the second reason is simple price snobbery, which I think Hartley addresses effectively himself in the linked article.

As for my personal experiences I have used a large amount of Peavey PA equipment over the years. In fact I ran my own live sound business for several years and my system was composed of mostly Peavey equipment, it was 100% dependable (so was the old QSC and BGW stuff. ).

I bought a Bass MkIV amp in 1983 and have used it ever since. It has been 100% reliable and it sounds great. I've played through many different cabs and currently use a Peavey 410TX with it.

In the end I feel that we should each play what we like and not disparrage the choices of others.

Cheers!

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by RTL

I like how he cut Chip Todd completely out of the picture when describing the way he "invented" his guitar manufacturing process...

Mr. Peavey hired Chip to start the Peavey guitar program. It was Chip who took gunsmithing machines and modified them to make guitars. Peavey basically had nothing to do with that concept, other than approaching Chip looking for a solution.

He conceived of the process.. then found someone to do it...

Sorry.. someone has to be the leader in the project.

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There are some excellent articles interviewing him about family run biz etc..

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Contrary to what some of the replies are.. he does know what he's talking about.. and is gifted in making it understandable to the masses.

====

Yes they've put out some less than perfect gear.. that was affordable and still running today... this was their mantra.

He's not stupid...

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by sevenyearsdown

I've never heard, or played through any Peavey gear that sounded good. It will last forever though.

Hunt down some of their high end gear...

Stores and average players rarely have seen/played it.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Peavey has made many underrated products that performed much better than people ever expected them to.

[sevenyearsdown]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

Hunt down some of their high end gear...

Stores and average players rarely have seen/played it.

Your probably correct. I guess I'm comparing dollar for dollar to other brands. I should have clariffied that statement.

[WingKL]

I still remember listening to and playing through Peavey solid state guitar amps back in the 80's. They sounded like absolute crap (especially the Rage). I thought all SS guitar amps sounded like crap till Crate came along.