Peavey = garbage?

[pflash4001]

I have 2 Peavey Patriot basses. They're USA built and feels and sounds great AND can be found used for next to nothing. I found one with rusted strings and covered in sticker goo and bought it for $40. The other is in need of a good setup, but structurally sound. I got that one for $99. They're amps are good solid workhorses. They're very solidly built. Like someone said earlier, I had a TNT fall out of a moving pickup and play flawlessly at the gig 2 hours later. They may not be a Mercedes or BMW, but they are a great realizable Ford that will get the job done. I would never dissuade anyone from trying Peavey.

[RhynoRock]

I have never had anything made by Peavey fail on me. Ever. My first bass was a Fury P-bass, I still have it and I still use it. The neck is great, no buzz, and it doesn't move. I had a Mark III head that I used to beat the snot out of, never failed. I currently use a Kilobass head on a 2x15 cab with Black Widows, no trouble whatsoever. And I like the sounds I could get out of everything I've owned from Peavey. The Kilobass is really flexible with the EQ, but its also a friggin hammer. I love Peavey's equipment and I defend them all the time.

[gard0300]

As far as Peavey basses go. You will probably pay top dollar on TB for a Peavey bass. Just because people who know the quality, will ask for a quality price. But at a pawn shop, Craigslist or GC you can get a deal. So that tells me, people who know basses. Like fellow TBers hold peavey to a higher standard than people who don't.

[Munjibunga]

Peavey ≠ garbage. Peavey > garbage.

[abstractart06]

USA made Peavey basses are hard to beat in my opinion. The overall value, playability, and build quality is exceptional. I have never been one to follow the crowd, so Peavey's image in the market is not important to me.

There seem to be many others here on TalkBass who feel the same.

[Rockford]

I'm pretty happy with my 2 Cirrus basses. They've held up well and you can make them sound like whatever you want. I considered them comparable to several other custom brands costing twice the price. My little Peavy 25 watt amp that I got when starting out close to 20 years ago is still in daily use at my wife's school and gets a lot of use. Just routine maintenance. No repairs or failures. Anyway, I'm happy with the Peavey gear I own.

[Scott in Dallas]

Some of the top pros in all facets of the music industry have used and relied on Peavey gear for decades. Peavey pioneered a lot of the processes that everyone uses to build instruments today. The fact that you could get a Peavey bass for half the price of a Fender in 1985 is because their production methods were so inexpensive. The fact that you can get a Peavey bass from 1985 for less money than it cost new is because people wrongly refer to it as 'entry-level gear'.

[GreggBummer]

I don't normally weigh in on these kinds of threads. However, I have to voice my opinion in this case.

I am not loyal to any brand. Not Coke or Pepsi. Not Ford or Chrysler. Not Fender or Gibson. I really make a judgement based on the product itself. I find that I spend my money better this way.

That being said, I have been buying Peavey products for years. I have had amps, a bass, a PA, mixer and microphones. Not a single one of these has been junk or performed poorly. They all have been high quality, built to last products that I would recommend to others. This is a HUGE compliment coming from me. The only other thing I would recommend like this are FERNO emergency medical services bags... and no one here cares about that. (trust me, they are the best).

I play a Peavey T40 all the time. It is heavy, ugly, and uncomfortable to play for long periods of time... but the damn thing rocks.

I also play through a Peavey Tour 450 amp. That thing has been used and abused... and it keeps right on going. Exactly what I wanted and exactly what I got.

Peavey makes good stuff. No complaints here.

[hsech]

I played a Peavey Combo 300 bass amp with a 1x15 extension for loud gigs or just the Combo 300 by itself in the early late 80's. It was built like a tank, could take abuse and weighed a ton. Oh did I mention it sounded great. Really good EQ section for the day. We played through a Peavey PA and the guitar player played through a Peavey guitar amp. Yeah, I know, it was solid state but it was good sounding gear and hot stuff back in the day. I haven't played anything Peavey for a lot of years now, but you still see a lot of the old ones around. Brand longevity says something.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by hsech

I played a Peavey Combo 300 bass amp with a 1x15 extension for loud gigs or just the Combo 300 by itself in the early late 80's. It was built like a tank, could take abuse and weighed a ton. Oh did I mention it sounded great. Really good EQ section for the day. We played through a Peavey PA and the guitar player played through a Peavey guitar amp. Yeah, I know, it was solid state but it was good sounding gear and hot stuff back in the day. I haven't played anything Peavey for a lot of years now, but you still see a lot of the old ones around. Brand longevity says something.

I had one in the early '80s and I thought it sucked. In fact, that's probably what started my deeply-ingrained bias against 15s. The EQ was the worst, and the Black Widow speaker could produce no frequencies above low mids. Oh, it was durable and never broke, but it just sounded bad.

Then, after a hiatus from bands of about a decade, I started a new band and I thought, "You know, that Peavey stuff sure is reliable, and I'll bet they've improved the Bass 300 Combo by now ... maybe I'll get me one of those." So I did. WRONG! Now I really hate 15s. So I tried a bunch of amps, and I ended up with my Eden WT-300 in 1996 (under the "buy once, cry once" philosophy - even though I had already bought and cried before). I found my sound.

We played through Peavey PA systems in the late '70s and early '80s, and they were adequate and reliable. Over the years, Peavey equipment has gotten to be very good and is seeing widespread use in the industry. Old timers like me sometimes have trouble letting go of biases developed many years ago, but I try to acknowledge when companies like Peavey and Ibanez make an effort to bring their product to top quality.

Anyway, there is a glimmer of hope that I could gain faith in 15-inch drivers. After hearing ubone's Bergantino HT-322s, I came to believe that Jim Bergantino could be the path to my salvation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Freekmagnet]

I'll tell you the one thing that kills Peavey: terrible design aesthetics. I work in the ad business, and as a professional art director, I can quantifiably say this: the Peavey logo screams cheap and looks like it was designed by a high school kid who carved it into his formica desktop during study hall.

Everybody, myself included, likes to believe that the look of the equipment doesn't matter, but that's simply not true. If an instrument looks cheap, then it is perceived as being cheap no matter how good it is. Leo Fender, for instance, created an iconic brand with iconic instruments and he placed an iconic logo on the headstock. So now lots of people buy Fender. Steve Jobs makes an iconic product like the iPad, now everyone goes ape over the tablet with the glowing fruit.

Hartley Peavey on the other hand, has built his brand on "a good value for the money". And his products are a good value, and he's made some high quality stuff for a good price. But a good value isn't all that inspiring to the consumer. The Peavey logo has come to represent just that: A fairly bland but affordable instrument that has all the features but none of the excitement associated with the more iconic brands.

[James Simonson]

I just picked up a Peavey ProBass 1000 preamp for $80.00 It's really quiet. Doesn't hiss or buzz. I've been going out of that into a Reddi. The mid solid state 80's punch from the PV with the tube bottom and top from the Reddi make a great combination. Very well built solid state inside.

... and who doesn't love the "punch" button?

Peavey is what it is but there's some gems if you dig a little.

I used that combination on 20 jingles for "The American Bible Challenge Gameshow". The music producers really liked it so we used it on everything. So yeah... Peavey's alright with me.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

We played through Peavey PA systems in the late '70s and early '80s, and they were adequate and reliable.

My '70s garage band rented a Peavey PA once...it blew. Gig money was barely enough to have it repaired (it was rental equipment...probably mistreated by previous bands). Another time, the self-proclaimed Clapton down the street let us borrow his Peavy guitar amp (w/ a beautiful ). That amp smoked mid-gig...
That said, I recall Oteil Burbridge playing around here (mid '80s) with a Peavey cab (1x15 + 2x10) & G-K 800RB head...sounded great!

Anyway, there is a glimmer of hope that I could gain faith in 15-inch drivers. After hearing ubone's Bergantino HT-322s, I came to believe that Jim Bergantino could be the path to my salvation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I have a 322 & love it...the 322 has 1x12 + 2x10. I loved my old Bassman 100 (4x12)...then I went off into 4x10-ville for a long while...always, though, something was missing. I also had an Eden 2x10...eventually paied a 1x15 with it. The something was back...but I do not carry two(2) cabinets out. Stumbled onto a 322 awhile ago...one(1) cabinet with something.

[thunderstation]

Originally Posted by Direct Box Rox

I heard someone at the music store tell a beginner to stay away from Peavey basses, amps & cabinets because they are "garbage". Is this the overwhelming perception?

Absolutely not - My experience with Peavey products has been that they're one of the most reliable - durable products on the market.
a real workhorse and I've never had a bad experience with them.

[bluesbassbkf]

Love my peavy amp,, bought minx 110 as just a prac amp and it sounds better than others I have tried, and love the USA peavy basses ,, and you can pick one up on eBay at a good price, nothing wrong with them I love em!

[millsbass5]

I still have some old Peavey P.A. gear that I was gigging thru in the early-mid 80's that's still used at our practices. A CS800 Powr Amp, and 2 SP-1 P.A. Cabs (along with some old Klipsch P.A. Cabs). And, everything sounds just as good as they did back then. You can't break that stuff, even if you try.

[Wookieonbass]

I'm currently using the same old Peavey megabass amp head I bought used 20 some odd years ago and it still rocks the house! Garbage, I think not. At least the amps aren't.

Admittedly I'm not a big fan of the speaker cabs though. At least the old models. The newer stuff is better.

[Floyd Eye]

CS800 is rock solid.

I have a pile of Peavey amp heads from the 80s. All in working condition. I will never use any of them for anything other than a practice rig at home, because they lack power and don't sound all that great, but they are reliable.

[mcblahflooper94]

Peavey- as far as basses go, are amazing. Peavey T-40, Cirrus, Milleniums, TLs, Rudy Sarzo, all amazing basses. Some of the unamerican ones aren't "great", but overall a reliable company for bass

[MoeGJBeener]

I played an old 80's (according to the soundguy) peavey 115 combo as a Backline at a gig and I was very impressed. Not junk, just maybe not for everyone's taste.