'06 Peavey Cirrus CS (custom shop)

This is, without question, the most badass Cirrus I've ever played/owned. It's a HUGE shame that these aren't made anymore...not in the US/custom shop, anyway. This one looked to be in perfect shape, and indeed, that's how it came to me.

My bass is one of the most unusual Cirruses I've seen aside from two other delinquents on here somwhere. The body is alder, with a figured California redwood top, joined to a 5-piece walnut/maple neck. The fretboard is a very rosewood-ish piece of Macassar Ebony. It doesn't have the usual, lone "C" inlay, but m-o-p dots, which I actually like better. The VFL pickups are wired to an 18-volt preamp that has that awesome mid freq sweep knob. The tuners are Hipshot Ultralites (confirmed with Hipshot), straplocks are Schaller, and bridge is a brass ABM. I have since replaced one bridge screw with a chrome one, as I swapped this bridge out a bit ago (one screw was lost in that time), and that bridge has now been put back on.

I can basically get whatever tone I want, and I think the dominant walnut, along with the alder sides, really give this this a nice and growly mid-range. I have had numerous experiences with different wood combos, even with neck-thrus, and the different kinds definitely have different tonal qualities. This also depends on the make and model, of course, but just saying that I've compared same makes, with only different woods, and very noticeable attributes of each. What I love about this Peavey, is how snarly the thing's growl is. It honestly can go from it's "signature" flat and crisp sound of a Ken Smith, to a roaring Spector, just by altering the mid frequency...'tis a thing of beauty. Again, I'm pretty sure that the walnut contributes to this growl. I can then get every other popular tone, like a P, a very burpy and harmonic J, and everything in between. The slap tones are all there, and they're all killer.

The feel of the neck and pickups are really decent. I get the playing-ramp feel of the arched pickups (matching the fretboard's radius) and even string volume, too...WOOT. The neck is assymetrical, I'd say between an MTD flatness and P-Bass bulk, if that makes sense. I guess you could say it feels similar to Carvin/Kiesel's assym neck, too. The satin urethane is super-fast, and is transitioned nicely at the heel, to gloss (on the body). The Hipshot tuners are smooth and sleek-looking...love the chrome/black color scheme, like Peavey also put on the Milleniums. I think the nut is Graphtech, and no problems there. The ebony board is wonderful, also because it's the most stable ebony board that I've ever experienced, considering this is an 11-year-old piece, with zero protruding fret ends, and no cracks or splits of any kind. The fret job is one of the best I've ever seen and played, too. The truss rod works perfectly, and responds to the slightest turn. That's a good sign.

The really good thing about this bass, is that the neck doesn't seem to move. My action has stayed put, and how I like it, that's saying a lot. It's laminated from 5 pieces of wood, with a dual-action rod (Peavey switched to a dual type later on), with "very large bars of graphite" that run the entire length of the neck. I got that quote from the old Peavey brochure, btw. If they're that large, well then I'm convinced that this helps the stability, because I've never had to touch the neck (since the first adjustment), and Pittsburgh's weather is insane.

The only reason I gave this bass 4 out of 5 stars, is because I'm not a fan of the ABM bridge, even though many are. It's solid, and I just like Hipshot ones better...personal preference.

People have said that if Peavey brought back the US production, they'd easily charge double what the Indo-made ones are. Ya know what? It'd be time to up my credit limit!