How is everyone this Thanksgiving? I have a question, I have a Peavey Fury V with active VFL pickups and stock pre amp. I want to upgrade the pre amp to a Gregory GBP3 pre amp. I already own the pre amp and after doing to research I am a little concerned about wiring this up since the pickups are active. Has anyone installed a different pre amp with the active VFL pickups and if so how hard was it?
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Installing Gregory GBP3 pre amp in Peavey Fury V
- Thread starter autostick73
- Start date
GBP3 is not designed to work with active pickups. You need the GBP3A.
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Preamps - GregoryPreAmps
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Ok so I am going to either have to replace the pickups with passive ones or get the different pre amp?
Correct. You will not find a good drop in pickup replacement for the VFL size, so I recommend a different pre amp.
Are you 100% certain they are VFL pickups ?
Fury IV, V & VI were specc'd with active pickups but they were not the VFL variety.
Stock Fury active pickups.
They are flat tops whereas VFL have a radius. I have one of each in the photos below.
Peavey advertised this version of the Fury as having VFL pickups. You are correct that they were flat instead of radiused (radius was on US Cirrus and GV basses). They also had a 9V system instead of 18V.
A friend of mine had one of these Fury V basses when they were new. I played it against my Peavey GV. They sound very similar. Build quality on the GV was definitely better, but the Fury is a great bass for the price.
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One thing owning Peavey basses (68 of them covering every model from 1978 to 2010, both US and overseas) has taught me is Peavey advertising said a lot of things
I'm also suspect if they are VFL's or not
Check the back of the pickup. VFL's should have a sticker identifying it as VFL
Check the back of the pickup. VFL's should have a sticker identifying it as VFL
I will have to check it out and see. I did remove one when I first got it and i don't recall them saying VFL.
Gretsch sold their G220 as having " mini dual-coil bass humbucking pickups". Stores the world over had that info on the spec blurb/price tag, adverts in magazines did the same, reviews in magazines mentioned mini humbuckers. None of it was true, the G220 actually had single coils in mini humbucker shells.
A lot can change between writing copy and production.
Peavey literature had the 4 string bolt on Cirrus as having a 34" scale length yet it was 34"; I know as I measured mine. The 4 string Cirrus BXP also had a claimed 35" scale length, my Bubinga BXP is 34". There were similar reports on TB regarding Grind models.
I was not trying to say it was correct. I was trying to provide OP the original advertised specs. As you point out there are several misprinted/misleading/incorrect specs for musical instruments.
My prior post said "Peavey advertised them as VFL." I recognize that means very little. I recall them having flat tops. I have not seen any other flat pickup advertised as VFL until the new Cirrus basses launched. The new Cirrus pickups appear to be redesigned to fit a more traditional soapbar shape (no ears, only two mounting screws per pickup). Probably some production cost savings there.
Oh I'm on the same page with you friend, it's just best to drop the term 'VFL' to avoid muddying the waters.
Peavey used those radius shells on the mid 90's Foundation, nearly 30 years later I still see folks saying "passive VFL"; they're not, just the same shells
Gotta love Peavey. Late 2000's they had flat top VFLs put in the Tragic & Void basses, Different shape from the active Fury pickups, no wings.
Easy to spot on my white Void, not so with the black Tragic.
