First night gigging with my T-40.

ben12390 · #1 03-29-2011, 12:05 PM

Last night my band, Vincible, opened for Remedy Drive. not a week earlier i got a Peavey T40. its a 1979, and was in impeccable shape. until a day before the show, i hit it on a wall and broke the phase switch. (no worries, i fixed it by bypassing the switch with bits of old string and duct tape) im gonna get it fixed soon, no worries.

I usually play on my FSR MIM Jazz with Nordstrands and a custom neck, so it was an interesting change to the Peavey.
I was going through a SWR 750x head and a Megoliah 8x10 from the band after us, and my pedal board with the VT.

but enough of that stuff.

our set is pretty simple, but i have a tapping intro, a pretty intricate part that is easy to do on the jazz, and i wasnt used to the peavey's neck quite yet, but it ended up going alright. I usually play with a pick, but i use fingers on two of our songs in the set, and i found it easy to do both. the picking was defined, and the fingerstyle was punchy.

but... this thing. man. it was clipping the amp because it was lower than the thunderbird the other guy was using. it was so boomy and deep. it was so powerful. i used the bridge pup with single coils on the tapping intro, then when the drop came in, i hit the switch to the neck pup on humbucker mode, and it just brought the thunder.

throughout the show, i loved the tone of the Peavey. but the slab body, and unsmoothed edges, and the large bridge made it interesting to play. i could just faff around like on my Jazz, but i think thats mostly because im not used to it.

but the bands, even remedy drive, commented on the bass. they were loving it. one guy commented on the finish, and the look of it even.

for an all original, never been serviced, 30 year old bass, it could still rock. congrats to Peavey for making a phenomenal instrument.

/rant.

ben12390 · #2 03-29-2011, 12:08 PM

here are some pics. you cant see most of the bass, or its blurry. but its all ive got.

Rickengeezer · #3 03-30-2011, 02:45 PM

It isn't broken in until you smack an obnoxious drunk off the stage with it.

T-40's have to be registered as lethal weapons in 12 states.

icks · #4 03-30-2011, 04:00 PM

the whole gig with this bass? Is your back ok now ?
This bass weight much more than your usual JB.

parsons · #5 03-30-2011, 04:04 PM

That bass weighs more than some peoples speaker cabinets...

ben12390 · #6 03-30-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icks

the whole gig with this bass? Is your back ok now ?
This bass weight much more than your usual JB.

i played the entire show with it, and it wasnt a problem. i had a decent strap, but smaller than what was recommended.
i jumped around, did some different guitar flips and such, and played like i usually do, and didnt feel a huge difference.
i almost preferred it. i always knew where it was, it seemed to fall back into the right position like its weighted to do that.
i loved playing it.

StevenB · #7 03-31-2011, 02:33 PM

My first post here. I use a T40s myself and know the challenge it can be playing. I have also noticed how HOT or strong the signal this thing puts out. I have to most always use the pad on the input to tame it. But boy how I love the tone. Just remember the roll off of the tone knobs from single to double coil.

ben12390 · #8 03-31-2011, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenB

My first post here. I use a T40s myself and know the challenge it can be playing. I have also noticed how HOT or strong the signal this thing puts out. I have to most always use the pad on the input to tame it. But boy how I love the tone. Just remember the roll off of the tone knobs from single to double coil.

i think i needed to use the active pad too. this bass is way hotter than my jazz.

swspiers · #9 04-02-2011, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben12390

i think i needed to use the active pad too. this bass is way hotter than my jazz.

Amen to that! I recently got a T-40 project bass, and even though it's not 100% functional, it's still way hotter than my Ibanex SR500- which is an active bass!

There's just nothing like a T-40. I had one back in the late 70's, and alway regretted getting rid of it.

I'm really glad to see that they're getting some respect after all these years

Billnc · #10 04-03-2011, 08:18 PM

I loved the old adds, Hartley Peavey had a picture of a few instruments, their prices and him holding this or a T60 asking why? He probably should have developed the designs, a problem with Peavey (unlike Fender) is constantly discontinuing successful designs.