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Hartley PEAVEY about chinese quality

#61
I've never owned a peavey bass amp, but I've had peavey PA gear which was excellent.

Years ago I picked up a dead VT-60 guitar amp for $20, gutted it, reused the power amp section and built a dual channel tube preamp. That amp is amazing, more power than I'll even need and total reliability. People will say you need to replace filter caps after 20 years, but not the quality stuff peavey used, going on 35 years strong.

Since then I've found 2 more, sold the first, built one with reverb that's my main gigging amp, built one with a tube driven effect loop and sold that one. All 3 are going strong.
 
#62
I had a Peavey MaxBass tube/ss rack style pre. A cult item for sure. And you can usually find them for less than $150. Only pre I've had that was better was JGR's original Rock Bass Tube pre. I am longer into separates, but if I still were, those two are tops in my book.
 
#64
BazzTard said:
THIS.

So what if I can drop a Peavey down a flight of stairs and it still works (I did, it did) if it sounds like crap, and it does.
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There certainly are people who agree with you. I heard the following proverb a long time ago:

"Never buy a Peavey, the damned thing will last forever."

I've never owned any Peavey electronics, but I've used some and it sounded just fine to me. It probably depends heavily on the specific product (and of course on one's preferences). They used to make a killer 4x10. I hope they still do.

Reid
 
#65
Haji said:
Carvin does a full range of products in a similar manner, but they're marketed factory direct only. I spent a while thinking about it, and I can't think of another company besides those two that cover all the bases. Even Fender doesn't offer all those segments. Ya gotta be impressed by that.
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I also have a Carvin BX 500 Combo and its great amp I use 4x10 Cabinet and I think a good amount of amps today are overrated as far as power. My Markbass I would use the same set up as the current head I'am using I would dial both volume and gain at 4 at full 500 watts the Carvin I would put at 2 on volume and gain. The Peavey Mark IV is rated at 300 max and i leave both at 1 its really loud compared to newer stuff The Markbass sounds great and the BX 500 has a nice sound also. If you go back to Mark series thats when they were in the were at there best. I 'am not a fan of Mark III I tried one for a couple days and I could not get the sounds I would get out of IV. I see there are a lot of fans of the Mark VIII and I never tried one.
 
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#66
Kirk Bryant said:
This is somewhat analogous to the Carvin image. I have had my run ins with their gear, the first three BX 500s I got all failed. After I did the research on the problems here on TB the problem was sorted. And although I thought the tone was awesome when I bought it 5-6 yrs ago I had already moved on to Genz Benz. Recently a female bassist played the BX with a Aguilar GS 112 and asked me Kirk come turn some knobs cause it sounds fuzzy, resisting the temptation to tell her to "turn her own knobs" and dialed back the gain a bit and bliss was at hand. One mans trash truly is another mans treasure. I toured with a Peavy bass amp in the 70s, no shame, the Carvin BX is my jam gig amp. The SM 12 gets the real gigs. I would have no problem gigging my Carvin or a PV and I have had my eyes on the Peavey bass amps soon to come out with great interest. And I use Genz Bergantino and Glockenklang with some high end basses. Just for perspective as I am a bit of a tone geek.
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i own BX 500 Combo and I have never had any problems with it. I use 4x10 cab to get the full 500 watts I think they have a lot on tone control with the EQ section it DI you can unscrew the head and use it with different cabinets. I like there cabinets I played a couple different heads through 1 x 18 Cab and it sounded great.
 
#67
I have followed Peavey's evolution from the mid 1970's and there is a lot of truth and wisdom in what Hartley says about experience. I have great appreciation and admiration for what his company has brought to the industry, and anybody who discounts or trivializes this has missed one of the biggest impacts on the MI industry as a whole. They brought much more value to the average musician than many give the company credit for.

Over an extended period of time, studying what works and what doesn't is a time tested and well proven way to develop reliable product. Institutional memory is essential IMO to making this work, and I will add that it's a lot less expensive (and embarrassing) to learn from other company's mistakes and poor choices than to make those same mistakes yourself. Peavey has (and had) over the years many good and loyal designers who represented the core of institutional memory. Designing by capitalizing on these strengths, and insuring that thess principles are followed through, makes maunfacturing location less important in general (though there are some glaring exceptions, for those who study such things).

Just some random thoughts by one of the 'ol guys.
 
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#68
Coolhandjjl said:
This is a joke, right?


Bull crap.

Peavey is the most underrated brand put there. Never as sexy as JBL, CV, Fender, Crest, Altec, Mesa, Ampeg, etc,. etc. More like the Chevrolet of band gear. But their gear keeps running and running. Rental houses have gobs of Peavey stuff that has the crap beat out of it as it has been in service so long. They are a huge company, worldwide. They recently bought Crest. You don't get to be a privately held company with such longevity and reach like that unless you know what you are doing.
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No it's not a joke.I paid almost a grand which was a lot of money in the late 70's for a 8channel powered Peavy board that failed in less than a year.In 80-81 I was in a road band with one of the supposedly 800watt Peavy power amps driving the lows in the PA.It lasted about 6 months and failed,We switched my Crown DC300 for it and even tho it was rated for about 1/2 the power it sounded louder and much much better....and I've still got the Crown and it's never had a problem.
You've got your opinion,I've got mine.That's what forums are about,as for your point about them becoming a huge company by knowing what they're doing,what do you think about Walmart quality? Some of the largest corporations in the world make crappy products with good profit margins
Hopefully they're much better quality now and it seems like they are,I'll never spend my money to find out
 
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#71
cjj said:
After all, China is one of only 3 nations on the planet that have successfully launched humans into space, and it takes extremely high quality technology to accomplish that...
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Well, high quality equipment or REALLY brave astronauts.
You point about Chinese being able to make high quality products is valid - it the intent of the product more than the origin that determines quality - but since we're talking aobutt stuff for export by offshore companies, we're talking almost exclusively about the schlock.
 
#72
buldog5151bass said:
The Peavey look may be dated, but that is not what is keeping down sales.
1 middle of the road sound
2 weight
3 perception of quality
In that order. That's why the majority of what it sells is beginner.
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I'd say:
perception of quality (false), middle of the road sound, perception of weight (false).
The current Peavey stuff is no more heavy than any other equivalent stuff. As for the old stuff, part of the weight was because Peavey didn't use the cheapest lightest stuff - that's what made it tough. Also, guys who wanted a bullet proof and LOUD speaker like the BW had to deal with the weight - that's how you make a speaker like that.
Unfortunately, you actually have highlighted the problems for Peavey in that musicians are very conservative - read the number of guys "I bought a Peavey in 1976 and..." Peavey has updated its look regularly since the 80s. Their sound has improved (and is quite popular for high gain types of music) and the equipment is considerably lighter than it was.
If car buyers were buying based on their experience in 1976 there would be no Ford (Pinto), no Toyota (early rust-buckets)...
As for the majority being beginner - so is Fender's sales, so is Ibanez, Yamaha, even Gibson's main market is the under $1000 - and they make most of their money these days from the Epiphone line of which the best seller is (last I read an industry mag) the $200 bolt on les paul special.
The majority of sales to beginners comes from the fact that the majority of music equipment sales are to beginners. Add in that Peavey was indeed never a "boutique" brand and didn't court that market for the first 25-30 years of its existence it only follows that most of its sales would be low end.
But the Bandit is still one of the top 4 or 5 amps sales-wise of all time and wouldn't really qualify as a beginner's amp - they're loud, they're reliable and they're too expensive new for the vast majority of kids - they are working musicians' amps and they serve the purpose well. Their clean tone isn't as well regarded as Fender's and their distorition not as much as Marshall's but they do clean better than Marshall and distorition better than Fender (as a general rule) so, don't be too hard.
Again - I don't personally play or own ANY Peavey, but I recognize that that is a matter of preference (not bad tone, just not my tone) and I am, having been raised by a Fender-guy and worked in a Music store for much of my youth a gear snob and prefer the "prestige" brands of Ampeg and Fender. The only difference is that I know I'm a snob and that most of the audience (including the musicians) cannot hear the difference.
 
#73
I played the crap out of TNT 150 I got in the 80's for over 15 years. But, got tired of hauling that block of granite up and down stairs. It was still clean and cared for and sold it to someone who needed it. Always reliable.
 
#75
I have been using a Peavey Decca 700 power amp since the mid 80's. The thing sits in the corner and just keeps on working, day after day, year after year. Never had an issue with it.

Peavey led the way with innovation when this amp was introduced. They called it a digital energy conversion amp, today the industry calls it a class D amp. It took a lot of time for other companies to get onto the Class D bandwagon.
 
#76
beans-on-toast said:
I have been using a Peavey Decca 700 power amp since the mid 80's. The thing sits in the corner and just keeps on working, day after day, year after year. Never had an issue with it.

Peavey led the way with innovation when this amp was introduced. They called it a digital energy conversion amp, today the industry calls it a class D amp. It took a lot of time for other companies to get onto the Class D bandwagon.
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I had a pair of Deca 528s. Lightweight for the time and only one rack space. Problem was if you didn't run an external fan on them they would momentarily shutdown. My roommate had the 700 and it was trouble free.
 
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#78
I've played, and play, Peavey gear from the 70's through to my new Tour 450 and TVX cab. I'm the guy that puts the Peavey logo BACK ON THE FRONT! Everyone is entitled to an opinion and mine is that Peavey gear is exactly what I want. I've tried others in the same price range and above, and always come back to Peavey. It's my favorite plain and simple.
 
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#79
My first amp was a Peavey as well- 300 combo (still have it and it still works but sounds pretty terrible in comparison to my other gear- it's stacked in my garage as it's worth pretty much nothing and emotionally I can't bring myself to give it away).
A ton of stages I play still have peavey wedges and or PAs. Never impressed with the tone of the speakers, but they're loud and reliable (always get the job done).
I look at Peavey as a blue collar, working mans brand. Awesome gear for what it is.
That said, when I'm in the market for new BASS gear Peavey doesn't make the short list.
If I wanted a reliable, affordable PA though? It would be on the short list for sure....
Nice thread though!!
 

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