As far as I can tell, ALL Peavey gear is good, any perception otherwise is a myth perpetuated by certain boutique people...
The THD in many Peaveys was noticeable. At hush volumes my TNT sounded exactly like a Tan tolex Fender. Turn it up to play with others Oh My! Distortion. Their PA would add distortion upon distortion from each component to the next to the speakers and it was not good.
One of the best bass sounds I've heard was a Peavey 1x18 folded horn with a 2x12 Fender Bassman cab the small one on top with JBL D120s and the Century Bass head. Really fine.
They don't need defending. Boutique people, whoever they are, aren't thinking about Peavey.
If it's about cost most manufacturers design for a price point. Some make stuff for several price points. Peavey's existence allowed a lot of folks to play music on the cheap. There is no defending SWR's working man series as being as good as the Pro because it isn't. You get what you can afford. Perhaps you buy less expensive gear because you are working your way through Harvard law school. Then when you make the big bucks you buy what you want. Who cares. Priorities trump what others think. I don't cotton though to someone saying unit A is just as good as unit B when the quality of the components in unit B is significantly higher, built to better specs, greater tolerances etc. If you can't hear the difference that's one thing yet it may sound much better to someone else.
I've played a large Peavey combo that's about 5 years old. Half the notes I played never came out and I'm still waiting.
It was not capable of reproducing all the notes coming from my bass.
You err when you say ALL because that's the beginning of the end for your argument. All men do this, All women do that.
I know about those riders. Peavey has some great gear now.
