I've owned both a Mark IV and still own a Mark VIII Peavey head as my backup/rental head. As bulletproof as anything you can get. I sold mine (Mark IV) to my bass teacher and he abused the crap out of it and the 2x15 PV cab that went with it for years. Was still playing it last time I saw him (bad scene, but that's another story).
Two things I'd watch out for. One, since it's several years old, don't know if Peavey will still repair it if it needs to get fixed. Should -- it's a classic and thousands still out there. Second, and more importantly: there's a footswicth used to combine the graphic channel and the parametric channel. Without it, it defaults to both EQs combined, and you can't seperate them that I know of. I personally don't like the sound of the parametric AT ALL, but the graphic channel sounds okay. It's a lot harder to adjust the sound with both channels going.
Other than that, it's a very decent head. Plenty of power, relatively light, and sounds fair. It's solid state all the way, so don't expect tube warmth. But it's loud, dependable, and cheap.
A friend of mine had one that rolled over and down a hill in his Jeep. The cab suffered some dings and a stick went thru the grill and speaker cone. The head got a few dents and dings as well, but still functioned. I bought it from him (see above).
And as far as Avatar cabs go, I'm using two in my day-to-day rig as opposed to my Eden cabs. Sound almost as good and cost 1/3 - 1/4 the price. Avatar cabs rock pretty darn good!
dcr
