Peavey T-40 Twins of Evil 1979 and 1984. What's the diff?

[Rat Blitz]

Just picked up a new bass today. 1979 Peavey T-40 in amazing shape (with amp and all the accessory fixings to boot). I originally thought I would flip it since I already have one (1984) but now I'm having second thoughts.
The selector switches are different and I noticed the pickups are different as well. The strings are so bad (probably from 1979) that I haven't been able to play it very much yet to compare (plus it was late when I dragged it back into the house).
Anyone know how the pickups are different (1979 vs 1984)?
Any reason to keep both?
1984 is on the left and 1979 on the right.
I'm including the rest of the happy Peavey family in the group shot. I'm still looking for my T-20 but the only one I can find at the moment is in Regina and he won't ship it. Ebay is not the place to buy guitars (for the most part). Way too overpriced for the questionable quality junk that is there.

By the way what does everybody do with all the crap that comes with basses that you buy? So many includes tuners, straps, cables, amps, tuners and instruction books. I have about 7 tuners and 5 small practice amps and way too many crappy cables. If folks want to throw stuff in I'm happy to take it. Probably the best throw in for me was when I picked up a Traynor Mono Block II amp. When I got there the guy said I hope you have a large vehicle. I asked why? He replied it comes with original Traynor 2X15 included. I was glad I brought the van that day (that amp is in the background).

[dangnewt]

That is an amazing collection of Peaveys. Thanks for posting.

My '83 T-40 is similar to the one on the right - blade pickups and wild wild grain on the wing. Your '79 has the straightest grain I've seen on a T-40. I didn't realize there was any difference in pickup selector - could it be a mod?

[dedpool1052]

there's a thread floating around the explains the history of the t-40 and it shows both of those pickups.


edit
found it
The Peavey T-60 and T-40 story, as told by Chip Todd.

[Rat Blitz]

Interesting article ... as for the differences ...
"The last of the Forty's and Sixty's had slight differences - the bodies had
been contoured for some time, the Blade pick-ups had replaced the Toasters
and the selector switches, had been changed to what are referred to as the
"Bat style" switch."

Unfortunately doesn't go into much detail about the difference between the Blade and Toaster pickups ...

[smcd]

The newer "blade" pickups are somewhat hotter sounding than the older "toaster" style pickups. Other than that and a few minor things like body contouring, the basses are pretty much identical. I'd keep them both just for kicks, as they're not expensive and they're fun to own.

[dangnewt]

It looks like the nuts are different. My '83 has a metal nut I wonder if they changed that in '84 or if that was a mod on that bass.

[kellyrojo]

Roadstar 650 in the background?

[johnson79]

I stumbled across this blog the other day. Really great T40 information, and some good comparison between the early and later basses. My first bass was a later black/maple T40.

http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.com/

Sorry, not sure how to link to it on an iPad. May have to copy and paste.

[Flat Eric]

Hi.

I am Flat Eric!

Spotted this and thought I would let you know where my T-40 - T-60 feature will be going.

I have a large collection of basses, as you will see if you vist my blog but as a single make/model, the Forty's and Sixty's beat the rest.
http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/

I will be putting lots more info up, with the help of Chip Todd - so if you have a Forty and want to know anything, that hasn't already been documented - ping it on here and I'll ask Chipp.

With regard to the initial post, I will come back to you later and explain the subtle differences.

Cheers.

[xaxxat]

The Blades are wound hotter than the Toasters. Blades are around 10k ohms, toasters around 6k ohms.