The luxury of having a “tech guy”
I’m my own tech guy with everything - basses, amplifiers, bikes, cars, central heating......
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NBD Peavey Palaedium
- Thread starter woodyng2
- Start date
I’m my own tech guy with everything - basses, amplifiers, bikes, cars, central heating......
And I am my own worst enemy when it comes to doing anything technical or mechanical.The luxury of having a “tech guy”
I’ve already destroyed the tone pot on this guitar trying to put on the new 1/4” knob.
(The knobs fit fine on the volume and pan pot shafts,so I don’t know what the deal is with that.)
Since I also do not solder, the tech guy will be replacing the tone pot,too.
I have two...one I bought new and one I bought used and had converted to fretless by a pro. These are the only two basses I can see myself never, ever selling. This said, though, I also own a Dean Euro JB (BTW, I’m not a Jeff Berlin fan...at all) which seems a wee bit more playable. Don’t ask me why, but there’s something about that Dean that just sings. Still would not sell the Palaediums, but would be quicker to pick up another Dean Euro.
for whatever it may be worth...
for whatever it may be worth...
The neck shape/dimensions on the Palaedium do take a little getting used to,but I’m liking it a lot.
Is the neck on the Dean a bit different?
I’m very impressed with the fantastic pickups in the Palaedium. I bet it makes a brilliant sounding fretless.
Please post a pic of your 2 if you like.
They're dean and palaedium are very similar in profile and feel. I did buy the honey one new 27...28 years ago, or whenever it was hanging in Sam Ash, so I've had some time to get used to it...here's a pic (purple is fretless)
Gorgeous basses!
As far as i know, the Palaedium was only ever produced in the amber and red colors.
I’ve seen quite a lot of color variations on the amber ones, but your “red” one is the darkest hue I’ve seen. Love it! Thanks for sharing!
I also had looked at the Cort Rhythmic but just a bit leary of paying that much for Indonesian wood.
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So, not looking to be a jerk about things, but I was doubting myself about the available colors of the Palaedium. I was not busy yesterday, so I emailed Peavey, and a guy that got back to me saying that the bass was available in “amber, transparent red, and transparent violet.” He also confirmed that there are no plans to make it again (I knew the answer, but I figured it was worth an ask)
You’re Not being a jerk at all!
I was genuinely interested, and I gotta say yours is the first one in that color I’ve ever seen.
Rickenbackers from that period are known to have finish colors that changed radically over time from their original hue,so I thought maybe that was what was happening with yours.
That is really cool that they made it in purple!
Wow-That is one gorgeous bass! Thanks for sharing!
That’s a pretty subtle purple-I’d call it Burgandy.
The Dean looks really nice,too.
I can’t seem to leave the Palaedium alone. I messed up my tone pot 
and need to replace it, and had found a few Palaedium bass videos on Youtube by Dave Turner.(He’s fantastic). One of the videos outlined his endorsement of the Tone Monster PTE ,a varitone type control for replacing the tone pot.
When i found out the company makes a MV/Panpot/varitone wiring harness which he had installed (and demonstrated) on his Palaedium, I decided to give that a try.
It should be here next week, and then hopefully I will get all the new stuff installed sometime over Labor Day weekend.
and need to replace it, and had found a few Palaedium bass videos on Youtube by Dave Turner.(He’s fantastic). One of the videos outlined his endorsement of the Tone Monster PTE ,a varitone type control for replacing the tone pot.When i found out the company makes a MV/Panpot/varitone wiring harness which he had installed (and demonstrated) on his Palaedium, I decided to give that a try.
It should be here next week, and then hopefully I will get all the new stuff installed sometime over Labor Day weekend.
I can’t seem to leave the Palaedium alone. I messed up my tone pot
When i found out the company makes a MV/Panpot/varitone wiring harness which he had installed (and demonstrated) on his Palaedium, I decided to give that a try.
I’m very tempted to try that with my Palaedium, to be honest. The pre-set tone positions are easier to replicate than a normal tone pot and I usually have the top rolled off at least a little.
*Edit* Or rather it seems that I won’t, as although they “ship worldwide” it seems pretty much everywhere in the world is excluded, including Britain.
Unless anyone knows of any way of getting one, other than via Ebay....
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- Jul 3, 2004
- 1,300
- 641
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Ernie Ball MusicMan Guitars
This bass and the TL series to me were the high point of Peavey Bass manufacturing. Tho they were not really popular, the quality was stellar.
I only had the pleasure of playing a Palaedium once 25+ years ago, but it was definitely a badass bass, and I kick myself for not buying that one when I had the chance.
I often lament the dearth of basses with wider spacing between pickups like the Palaedium (...although I'm aware of the potential pitfalls*). Rickenbacker 4005 and Travis Bean TB-2000 are the only other basses I can think of off the top of my head that have that much space between pickups. Sometimes I wonder if Jeff Berlin spec'd it that way just to get the neck pickup out of the way of his plucking hand, as its affect on the sound wouldn't matter since he didn't actually use it?
Interesting! What I was going to say re: pitfalls was *I wonder if there's a "variable phase" modification that could be retrofitted into a Palaedium...instead of the (slightly more common) 180° phase switch that some two-pickup instruments have, imagine a continuously variable pot to sweep from 0° to 180°. That way you could dial out some of the undesirable notches that sometimes plague basses with wide pickup spacing. But I don't know how you'd achieve that and still have passive electronics. So I wonder if this Tone Monster PTE thing involves any variable phase shift between pickups? But even if it's just a switch selecting various different LC combinations for preset treble rolloff it sounds like it could be a useful addition to a passive bass.
I often lament the dearth of basses with wider spacing between pickups like the Palaedium (...although I'm aware of the potential pitfalls*). Rickenbacker 4005 and Travis Bean TB-2000 are the only other basses I can think of off the top of my head that have that much space between pickups. Sometimes I wonder if Jeff Berlin spec'd it that way just to get the neck pickup out of the way of his plucking hand, as its affect on the sound wouldn't matter since he didn't actually use it?
Interesting! What I was going to say re: pitfalls was *I wonder if there's a "variable phase" modification that could be retrofitted into a Palaedium...instead of the (slightly more common) 180° phase switch that some two-pickup instruments have, imagine a continuously variable pot to sweep from 0° to 180°. That way you could dial out some of the undesirable notches that sometimes plague basses with wide pickup spacing. But I don't know how you'd achieve that and still have passive electronics. So I wonder if this Tone Monster PTE thing involves any variable phase shift between pickups? But even if it's just a switch selecting various different LC combinations for preset treble rolloff it sounds like it could be a useful addition to a passive bass.
I Believe the pickup placement design was to get the most sound out of the bridge space,since it seems like that’s where Jeff mostly plays to get the articulation. And the neck pickup placed further back than the typical mid body placement so more bassy tones could be dialed in. (This is where the pan pot seems to work better than 2 volume controls.) Having the neck pickup further away from the neck is a good thing, as those basses that have them right up by the end of the fretboard tend to be woofy sounding.
I haven’t seen phase shift addressed in the PTE literature,i think it is as you said, just a 5 position switch with different LC combinations.
Here’s the video I got the idea from.
I have an ‘04 Cheyenne ii fretless and a ‘00 Laredo with that combination.
Also, my ‘83 Vielllete-Citron has some non traditional pickup spacing/positions.
In ‘99 he switched to Dean signature and played it for 13 years before going with his Cort Signature.
I’d love to own the Palaedium and the Cort since I have the Dean.
Similar pup placement and gold hardwareGot this ‘90s PV from a great TB member this past Thursday. (Thanks,Chuck!)
I’ve been curious about this model for decades, always loved the no frills, yet classic, look of this bass. They rarely come available, so I pounced on this one.
A bit quirky and unusual design,which after an initial getting used to,feels just great to me. I love the contours front and rear on the body,super comfortable.
The bass is pretty light at 8 1/2 pounds, but feels like all the weight is concentrated in the bridge, a standard Badass II. Once it’s strapped on, feels perfectly balanced and planted.
The pickups on this bass sound monstrous, like a very clear active system, but it’s 2 passive quad coil pickups, supposedly Bartolini design. It does of course get the classic pseudo fretless Jeff Berlin sound, but i am definitely not a fusion player. I’ve found that favoring the neck pickup slightly with the tone opened up gives up a huge grindy rock bass sound,and there’s a lot of tonal variation available with the simple master vol, pan, tone setup.
I immediately like this sound better than my Spector’s. The neck is very thin,shallow,and flat, which i thought might be a problem for me,but thankfully isn’t. Nut barely is 1.5”.
I played the bass at rehearsal Saturday,and love the sound of it in a pop G/B/D trio band.
I had a couple of black knobs lying around, i slapped them on when i took this pic.
Now I’m considering replacing all the worn gold hardware with black,but everything works well, so maybe just the knobs for now.
I’m really happy with this, it’s a Great bass!View attachment 3928909View attachment 3928910
