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Peavey t40 from the 70's....

T

The_Ryst

Feb 21, 2005
979
5
36
Goldsboro / Raleigh NC
www.nedboards.com
#1
I see this:
1970s peavey t40 bass. big, heavey american made, great-sounding bass. two blade humbuckers. has some wiring "issues" (only the front pickup comes through - i'm positive the bridge pu works, it's just not soldered right. i'm tired of fooling with it). 50 bucks!

Should I jump? It looks like a cool bass. Anyone ever played one? I want a bass for motown/funky sounding stuff with thud and flatwound probably. I also want to mess with it a bit since it's so cheap and this is my price range that I wanted for a mess with bass.

Help! Pics! Thanks.
 
#2
I would. I want one really bad, but they're rare as rocking horse poo in Australia. Nice ones seem to average $150-200 on US ebay. Personally, i wouldn't make any irreversible mods, but that's me.

Parts, wiring diagrams and support are available from Peavey, but it's not really that complex.
 
#5
These are cool old basses, with a ton of sounds lurking in the electronics.

For $50, as long as the neck is in good shape, you can't go wrong.

My first bass that I bought with my own money was a T-40, and I traded it for an Electra-Westone, and regretted it ever since.

I finally picked up another one last year. It's a keeper. I have mine strung up with brite flats. It is great for fingerfunk, rock, country, motown, oldies, whatever. I just wish it wasn't so darned heavy.
 
#11
I've said this before but can't avoid to say it again: After I sold my T-40 and tried other stuff, I kept yelling for a long time that the T-40 was a horrible bass, but that was because it wasn't properly intonated and the neck relief wasn't OK. I was a complete ignorant at the time and a good setup would make it play fine. I'm not interested on another of these, frankly because I prefer the active basses' sound. But I'd really love to have one for some days and play it, just to change my judgement now that I have more knowledge. After reading opinions about this bass, I realize that I was very unfair with it.
 
#13
Buy it. Use the money you save to hire a good chiropractor, 'cause you'll need one.

The T40 was my first bass. I didn't think it was possible to make a guitar that heavy, but somehow they managed it. I had an original, with the Tolex (not plastic) case, and even the CASE was heavy.

Just so you know what you're getting into.
 
#16
Was the Tolex case a peavy item?

My '79 came with a tolex case, and peavy told me that t-40's came with plastic cases. I assumed that my case was of another brand, but It seems to be made for the T-40's exact width and lenght. It would be cool to find out that it is an origional case.
 

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