Lil help! Peavey Cirrus BPX 4

[The Ancient One]

So I bought this on a whim ) because I'm too cheap to buy a USA.???) Paid $250 USA. Made in Indonesia Cirrus BPX 4

I've been told their hard to set up and it's best to replace the bridge ( Peavey ABM on ebay) and tuners. Your thoughts? Suggestions? ( I know leave it and play it.)

I'm new to this active bass thing.

I'm kinda of stuck on string selection for this. Pretty much all my basses have La Bella DT flats or nylons so I'm open to suggestions. TIA

 

[rok51]

Along with two U.S.A. Cirruses, I also have a “dark wood” BXP Cirrus that was made in Indonesia. Fantastic bass. I was not as impressed with the stock preamp when compared with its U.S. brethren, so I dropped a U.S. spec Millenium preamp in it. To my ear, there is no longer any difference in sound quality between the BXP and my U.S.A. Cirrus basses. I like the necks on the U.S. models much more, but the BXP still has a comfortable neck even for my small hands. I, too, like TI flats and have tried them on my Cirrus models, but, to me, they seem to limit the amount of tonal variation possible with the Cirrus, so I took them off.
Many here on Talkbass hate the Peavey Cirrus strings, likening them to suspension bridge cables. I have used them for years and found them to be a decent string that is long lasting. I haven’t noticed them being any more stiff than most. That said, I have since changed over to DR Pure Blues strings for the basses where I prefer round wound strings and discovered that they do very well on my Cirrus basses.
I haven’t had any problems whatsoever with the OEM finger style bridge on my BXP and over many years, it has proven to be one of my most stable basses with regard to setup.
I hope you enjoy your new Cirrus!

Kim

 

[bassaholic5]

Don't know much about them, but a neck-thru for $250 ain't bad!

For strings, they mainly need to work for a 35" scale. Going thru body might make it challenging, but the bridge looks like it also top loads.

The bridge adjustment looks pretty standard, so I wouldn't bother changing it.

I have a g-bass and I'm not real impressed with the electronics. As already mentioned, you might consider upgrading those.

Enjoy the bass! It looks like a solid buy.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

So I bought this on a whim ) because I'm too cheap to buy a USA.???) Paid $250 USA. Made in Indonesia Cirrus BPX 4

I've been told their hard to set up and it's best to replace the bridge ( Peavey ABM on ebay) and tuners. Your thoughts? Suggestions? ( I know leave it and play it.)

I'm new to this active bass thing.

I'm kinda of stuck on string selection for this. Pretty much all my basses have La Bella DT flats or nylons so I'm open to suggestions. TIA

That is a super awesome bass for detuning. I love four Cirrus tuned DGCF. I hope you get it set up like you want it!

 

[J Wilson]

Often, internet wisdom (!?!) and 'what they say is . . ' often are not in line with reality

If it were me, I'd string it with my favorite or intended strings for this bass, set it up or have it set up to suit you and play it for a while.

This is the only real yardstick to see what's right for you, not the collective 'they' out there.

Until I gained some knowledge and experience, 'they' cost me a fortune.

 

[singlemalt]

My Cirrus seems to like light gauge strings. For round wound nickels, I liked DR Pure Blues VW .040, and DAddario XL’s .035.

If I was going to put flats on it, it would be TI JF.

Mine came with the stock Peavey strings. I was nowhere near getting the setup I wanted with those strings, and scared for the neck and truss rod. The tension was unreal. Into the trash they went.

A set of DR PB VW, and the neck went right into a backbow. I eased the truss rod tension off as me and the Cirrus sighed in relief. It set up perfectly.

FWIW I don’t use stainless strings, and prefer less tension.

 

[J Wilson]

On the other hand, even for cheap, WHY would I buy a bass (except in the rarest of occasions) knowing from jump street it's going to need a new bridge and keys, plus possible spend even more money to have that stuff installed properly.

That isn't cheap to me. That's way too much sugar for a quarter.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

On the other hand, even for cheap, WHY would I buy a bass (except in the rarest of occasions) knowing from jump street it's going to need a new bridge and keys, plus possible spend even more money to have that stuff installed properly.

That isn't cheap to me. That's way too much sugar for a quarter.

I know some folks love project basses. I don’t, but everyone is different.

 

[J Wilson]

I know some folks love project basses. I don’t everyone is different.

I will if I had a definite look or something was really wrong and I stole it.

But you know Dr. C., I always wondered why guys will throw real money at replacement pickups when in most cases they have NO idea what they're really going to sound like in their bass and their world. I've been at this a long time like you, and except for the difference in single coil narrow pickups like Jazz pickups vs. a wide humbucker like big soapbars or Music Man pickups, I know sort of what that difference will be like. But Brand A or Brand B or Brand C of a common replacement pickup, how on Earth do you REALLY know THAT's the one?

Beats me.

 

[The Ancient One]

Along with two U.S.A. Cirruses, I also have a “dark wood” BXP Cirrus that was made in Indonesia. Fantastic bass. I was not as impressed with the stock preamp when compared with its U.S. brethren, so I dropped a U.S. spec Millenium preamp in it. To my ear, there is no longer any difference in sound quality between the BXP and my U.S.A. Cirrus basses. I like the necks on the U.S. models much more, but the BXP still has a comfortable neck even for my small hands. I, too, like TI flats and have tried them on my Cirrus models, but, to me, they seem to limit the amount of tonal variation possible with the Cirrus, so I took them off.
Many here on Talkbass hate the Peavey Cirrus strings, likening them to suspension bridge cables. I have used them for years and found them to be a decent string that is long lasting. I haven’t noticed them being any more stiff than most. That said, I have since changed over to DR Pure Blues strings for the basses where I prefer round wound strings and discovered that they do very well on my Cirrus basses.
I haven’t had any problems whatsoever with the OEM finger style bridge on my BXP and over many years, it has proven to be one of my most stable basses with regard to setup.
I hope you enjoy your new Cirrus!

Kim

THANKS!

 

[GTHintz]

I'd actually really look into Ken Smith Rockmasters or burners. They are absolutely going to fit up with the 35" scale and compliment the bass well. Peavey cirrus is known as the poor man's Smith so might as well treat it to the right strings.

 

[ardgedee]

I've been told their hard to set up and it's best to replace the bridge ( Peavey ABM on ebay) and tuners. Your thoughts? Suggestions?

Are the bridge and tuners actually faulty? If not, leave them be until you've spent enough time doing setup to have a good sense of how well they're doing their jobs.

Usually people who suggest immediate parts swaps are either people who compulsively fiddle with things whether or not it's necessary or are people who sell the parts.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I used one of these for years stock, strung with hybrid slinky strings.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

I gigged a Cirrus BXP 5 extensively for about 18 months. Great neck. Awful preamp.
Never dawned on me to switch out the preamp, traded it a million years ago and I can't even remember what for.
Would probably have been a good platform for mods.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

I've been told their hard to set up and it's best to replace the bridge ( Peavey ABM on ebay) and tuners. Your thoughts? Suggestions? ( I know leave it and play it.)

Only if something is broke. For me, set-up at the bridge is done rarely. (If I change string gauges.) Does it tune and stay there? No need to mess with the keys. The modding rabbit hole goes deep and yields minimal results.

 

[rickdog]

That's a nice-looking bass at a really nice price. If you haven't yet learned to do your own setup, this would be a good instrument to learn on. It really shouldn't be particularly hard; except read on for my experience....

I bought an Indonesian Cirrus BXP 5 NOS quite a while back. It had a different bridge (1-piece plate) and I couldn't get the action low enough even with the saddles completely bottomed out. I had to take the saddles off and carefully file the bottom of them to set it up the way I wanted.

It's a well-made instrument, looks gorgeous, light, balances decently. Neck is a little deep, but I'm not terribly fussy, and stable beats thin in my opinion. Unfortunately, it's been sitting in the closet. I found that my left hand can count to five, but my right gets confused beyond four . I'd have to spend a lot more time with it, and with several nice fretted basses to play and no real need for the B string, it hasn't been a priority.

I agree with the comments about the preamp. I've been musing about replacing it with some Underhill Bass electronics, but that would be A Project, and I have a lot of other Projects in line ahead of it.