There is definitly not alot of love for the Peavey name.
Actually, depending on who you ask, you can find a lot of love for Peavey stuff. I for one think it's great. If you see enough live music in the Georgia and Nashville markets, you'll see a lot of guys (guitarists and bassists alike) using old school Peavey amps.
Why is that? There are three main reasons that I've noticed:
1) Peavey stuff is darn near indestructable. I've got an original model TNT 115 that's been dropped more times than I care to remember and banged around for years, and that's only since I bought the thing used. It still sounds brand new (though the grill could use some new velcro to hold it on).
2) Peavey stuff is LOUD! My TNT 115 puts out a surprisingly loud ~160 watts. I once shook a considerable quantity of snow off my roof at only about 1/2 power. I also have a Classic 30 guitar amp that I've never turned up past 4 (out of 12). The old blue and black guitar and bass amps are all pretty loud, and a lot of the more experienced guys on the circuit carry them around just in case there's no PA support wherever they're playing.
3) Peavey stuff generally has a very nice, transparent clean tone. This is often more important to guitarists that'll want lots of different sounds during a single gig. Still, Peaveys usually incorporate a pretty powerful EQ section; stick a couple of your favorite pedals (or a preamp) in front of that, and you have a pretty limitless tonal palette, vintage to modern to wild and crazy noise.
Of course, nothing Peavey makes is going to be very light weight, but as long as you're not aiming for an ultralight rig, I don't think you can go entirely wrong with a Peavey.
I'm also a big fan of their basses
All that being said, are you unhappy with your B2R? If not, why make the switch?
