Peavey Amp Club

[KaraQ]

Hello

I bought an old Peavey 300 bass amp from the 70's - it needs work, and I knew that when I bought it. But it was bought because it was the first amp I bought in the 70's.

Anyway, it did not have the rubber feet on it or the screws - so it does not fasten into the box. Would anyone happen to know what screws to use to attach the feet and screw into the chassis.

thanks

I got new rubber feet for my Mark IV here:

https://a.co/d/bXEE1T5

....but I had the screws already, so won't be any help there, sorry.

 

[LennyJ]

I got new rubber feet for my Mark IV here:

https://a.co/d/bXEE1T5

....but I had the screws already, so won't be any help there, sorry.

Thanks - just got back from a speaker rebuild company and the guy is a big Peavey freak - he had the feet and the screws.

Thanks

 

[ATLbassist]

I've been wanting to check out a Mark III series head. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many on Craigslist or FB Marketplace near Atlanta. On a whim, I looked at Guitar Center online and found this at a good price (and the tryout period). It's a later model with the 400BH power unit and big heat sink that went in the Mark IV.

The paramid pot is noisy and the cable is a little frayed coming out the back, but otherwise it's great! This will be perfect for gigs where the opening band borrows my rig. I can EQ one channel to my tastes, and the other bassist can do the same on the other channel. No extra fiddling during the show! I almost went for a Mark IV, but it didn't have separate inputs for the channels and I wasn't sure you could select them individually without the footswitch.

The hard part is waiting until the next band practice so I can try it out through my own cabs (410 in one place, 215 in another).

 

[shirojiro]

I've been wanting to check out a Mark III series head. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many on Craigslist or FB Marketplace near Atlanta. On a whim, I looked at Guitar Center online and found this at a good price (and the tryout period). It's a later model with the 400BH power unit and big heat sink that went in the Mark IV.

The paramid pot is noisy and the cable is a little frayed coming out the back, but otherwise it's great! This will be perfect for gigs where the opening band borrows my rig. I can EQ one channel to my tastes, and the other bassist can do the same on the other channel. No extra fiddling during the show! I almost went for a Mark IV, but it didn't have separate inputs for the channels and I wasn't sure you could select them individually without the footswitch.

The hard part is waiting until the next band practice so I can try it out through my own cabs (410 in one place, 215 in another).

These amps were literally everywhere in the 80s in Boston. Just looking at your phots brings on a wave of nostalgia for those days. (Those were great days for live music.)

I think a lot of Peavy bashing has to do with the speakers back then. Or maybe we were listening with our eyes because these old Peavy amps sound great to me now.

Congratulations on your new amp!

 

[Riff Ranger]

I've been wanting to check out a Mark III series head. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many on Craigslist or FB Marketplace near Atlanta. On a whim, I looked at Guitar Center online and found this at a good price (and the tryout period). It's a later model with the 400BH power unit and big heat sink that went in the Mark IV.

The paramid pot is noisy and the cable is a little frayed coming out the back, but otherwise it's great! This will be perfect for gigs where the opening band borrows my rig. I can EQ one channel to my tastes, and the other bassist can do the same on the other channel. No extra fiddling during the show! I almost went for a Mark IV, but it didn't have separate inputs for the channels and I wasn't sure you could select them individually without the footswitch.

The hard part is waiting until the next band practice so I can try it out through my own cabs (410 in one place, 215 in another).

These amps were literally everywhere in the 80s in Boston. Just looking at your phots brings on a wave of nostalgia for those days. (Those were great days for live music.)

I think a lot of Peavy bashing has to do with the speakers back then. Or maybe we were listening with our eyes because these old Peavy amps sound great to me now.

Congratulations on your new amp!

I had the Mark III in high school (late 1990s) and loved it until I got it in my head that Peavey wasn't "pro" I got a GK 800RB so at least wasn't a bad move, just an unnecessary one. I got a Mark IV a few years ago and got that sound back I will wrap up a months-long fill-in stint with a bonkers loud band soon, so this is mostly just me wanting to know rather than needing to make a change, but I wonder: does the Mark III get louder with the compression switched off than a Mark IV can get? It feels like the always-on DDT circuit limits the usable volume (and probably saves a lot of speakers and eardrums as a result, but still ).

 

[bigtone23]

I've been wanting to check out a Mark III series head. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many on Craigslist or FB Marketplace near Atlanta. On a whim, I looked at Guitar Center online and found this at a good price (and the tryout period). It's a later model with the 400BH power unit and big heat sink that went in the Mark IV.

The paramid pot is noisy and the cable is a little frayed coming out the back, but otherwise it's great! This will be perfect for gigs where the opening band borrows my rig. I can EQ one channel to my tastes, and the other bassist can do the same on the other channel. No extra fiddling during the show! I almost went for a Mark IV, but it didn't have separate inputs for the channels and I wasn't sure you could select them individually without the footswitch.

The hard part is waiting until the next band practice so I can try it out through my own cabs (410 in one place, 215 in another).

Nice!
The later MKIII with the 400BH amp module has been high on the wish list for years. I like the individual inputs on the channels.

 

[definenredefine]

I'm late to the party but I wanna join!

I have a 400 series bass head, a Heritage VTX 2x12" combo, a 1x15" cab (scorpion) and a 4x12" cab (eminence.)

Also I has questions - how do the newer black widow speakers compare to the old ones? And how do the 12" black widows and/or scorpions sound with bass???

 

[Hnz]

Got me a cover for my eighties Peavey Mace head.
Just a little too wide, but further a perfect fit.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

I got to use one of those in the backline at a small church 25 years ago. Along with my amp on the opposite side of the stage. We were dad gum loud back then.

I've been wanting to check out a Mark III series head. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many on Craigslist or FB Marketplace near Atlanta. On a whim, I looked at Guitar Center online and found this at a good price (and the tryout period). It's a later model with the 400BH power unit and big heat sink that went in the Mark IV.

The paramid pot is noisy and the cable is a little frayed coming out the back, but otherwise it's great! This will be perfect for gigs where the opening band borrows my rig. I can EQ one channel to my tastes, and the other bassist can do the same on the other channel. No extra fiddling during the show! I almost went for a Mark IV, but it didn't have separate inputs for the channels and I wasn't sure you could select them individually without the footswitch.

The hard part is waiting until the next band practice so I can try it out through my own cabs (410 in one place, 215 in another).

 

[lowendblues]

I cut my teeth on those old Mark III's. Great tone, solidly built, ahead of their time.

 

[bassguitarist85]

Did an updated video on the VB-2 sound demo. I mixed the XLR Post EQ DI with an SM57 mic blended 50/50. Messed around with a Fender Precision Ultra, Jazz Ultra, and RAY35 Sterling by MusicMan basses. My older videos it was just the DI which sounded good but not the best take on the tone this monster amp puts out. Hope everyone enjoys! Headphones recommended!!!!

EHX 6CA7 Sextet Power Valves, two 12AX7 for the preamp, and 12AT7 for the phase inverter.

 

[Count Bassie]

My apologies, I've been out a while but we'll catch up, hand out a number or two...
Back at you guys tonight!

 

[BassBeginer64]

What is the difference between the peavey max 450 and the tour 450 heads

 

[Black_In_Mind]

What is the difference between the peavey max 450 and the tour 450 heads

This post from 2015 may help answer your question.

Here's a little bit of Tour 450/700 history for the club...

Lots of people are familiar with the Peavey Firebass and Nitrobass. Those amps were updated slightly in the early 2000's, mostly cosmetically, and were called Max 700 and Max 450, respectively. The Tour 450/700 were the replacements in the bass lineup. Wood sleeve heads had fallen out of favor, and there was a push for lighter weight. We started working on these around 2005, right before Hurricane Katrina. The feature set of the Tour's was defined by Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, who was head of Peavey artist relations at the time. One of the unique features of the Tour was Dave's idea--the failsafe DI, which allowed the DI to work (with phantom power) in case of amp or power failure on stage.

The power amplifier used in these was unique. It was a class AB amplifier with a patented design featuring an efficiency boosting system called "Smart rail". We've never used that system since because we went back to doing class D power amplifiers almost exclusively. The power amp was designed by Lee Santillano, who had his name on many Peavey power amp patents. The Smart rail system allowed the amp to achieve higher power with less heatsinking and power transistors, which served as a weight reduction. The official minimum impedance limit on these heads is 4 ohms, however, these amps will power 2 ohm loads safely (do it at your own risk). Bobby Dall from Poison did a whole tour with a Tour 700 driving two 4 ohm 810 cabs.

I designed the preamp section and was the project lead, so I was responsible for stuff like assembling prototypes, testing, and writing the manual. This was the first bass product I worked on. I had graduated a few months before, and started in engineering as an embedded programmer, but I sucked at that! I noticed there was nobody in engineering handling bass gear exclusively, so I kind of snuck in and it became my job.

The industrial design was done by my good friend Matt Copley. He works for Kustom now. If you look at some of the Kustom amps, you may see some similarities in overall cosmetic design style. Hartley Peavey likes to put in his 2 cents on products from time to time--his contribution was the grey "horizon" background graphic on the faceplate.

The chassis design was done by Ronnie Goss. He designed the packaging for literally hundreds of Peavey products. He even worked on some Peavey basses like the Dynabass and the original Sarzo if I'm not mistaken. He retired around 2007, unfortunately. He is a TBer and hangs out in the bass guitar forum--he is an excellent luthier and a hell of a bass player.

We unveiled these at WNAMM 2006.

There are 4 generations of Tour heads that mark design updates.

Gen 1: 1st 100 each of 450/700 made. These can be identified by looking into the side grills towards the front. There will be mods glued to the rear of the preamp board. These mods were to reduce the noise of the octaver and muting circuits. These were the amps that required the "triac mod". A triac "crowbar" circuit was used as a redundant protection scheme. It caused the amps to go into protect mode. It was removed as a service update, and was immediately eliminated from the design.

Gen 2: I estimate there were a few hundred of these made The preamp mod and triac will not be there. These can be identified by looking at the faceplate. The octaver is called "Octaver".

Gen 3: The octaver is called "Kosmos B". That was a marketing decision that I didn't like. If you want to be sure you've found a Tour without the triac problem, look for this one.

Gen 4: Tour 700 only...450 was discontinued earlier due to release of the Headliner head. You can't tell these without really knowing what to look for. These were the last ones made. The original power transistors were discontinued. The replacement transistors were updated, newer technology parts.

Rare Tour heads: I added a line drive circuit to several artist heads. Some artists used power amplfiers with low input sensitivity, so I had to add a circuit that would drive them to full power. There will be an extra 1/4" jack on the left rear. If you happen to find one of these, it was an artist amp. Because of having to do this, I always make sure my bass amps can drive these types of power amps since then!

Here is a picture of me and the first Tour 700 proto in 2005. The first live test was in front of Peavey for a big after school program fundraiser event. Yes, I am a huge nerd! There were a lot of changes between then and production...notice, no mute button, not octave defeat button, etc...

View attachment 567899

 

[Count Bassie]

Okay!! Sorry that you new guys have been waiting such a long time for a number. Sincere apologies, I've been spending time in a rabbit hole and am finally surfacing.

The MK-III references are stirring my pot over here, miss mine now... Anyway here's our updated list!
@Lucca , @OldBlue61 , @definenredefine , welcome to the garage!!

Count Bassie #1
Haji #2
G On Bass #3
Nighttrain1127 #4
John Swartz #5
johnnyz1227 #6
KaraQ #7
bigtone23 #8
Heavy blue #9
Salicete #10
discochris #11
BC Blackmur #12
robd #13
Loretta #14
bassguitarist85 #15
Giffro #16
Seth Dustith #17
*deathsdj #18
*Andy Westwood #19
*Marko1 #20
*groovaholic #21
*ATZbassist #22
*rojo 412 #23
*AudioTaper #24
*Shirojo #25
*JCbass91 #26
*Tpi #27 (First KB combo)
*ryco #28
*BassBeginer64 #29
*Black_In_Mind #30
*Lucca #31
*OldBlue61 #32
*defineredefine #33

Rock on everybody!

 

[Lowendchamp]

Got a max 100 combo on a business trip because it is rugged and fit in my tool box. Super impressed by the sound quality and volume! Not to mention a built in tuner. I remember how much I liked Peavey stuff in the 90's and it seems they haven't lost their touch building over seas. Maybe I'll redo my '87 Patriot now.

 

[Black_In_Mind]

I have another Peavey Mace VT head arriving tomorrow. It cost me $59 more than the one I currently have but it is in better cosmetic condition and it apparently comes with an amp cover that looks like something Peavey would've supplied so the extra bucks work out because getting a 3rd party amp cover would put me in the low $500's anyway.

If everything works it'll be used solely as a bass amp connected to my Peavey 215D-BW (bonus points for it matching the tolex of the Mace) while my other one will be for guitar. I'm just crossing my fingers that my luck continues with amps being shipped with tubes via UPS because if my luck runs out with this one my options are using the tubes from my current Mace which is a mix of different 6L6 power tube brands or cough up close to $200 for a matched sextet of JJ's.

 

[LennyJ]

Yeah - can I get a number please.

Here is mine. Got the original Peavey and my 71 P bass in 71.
I kept the 71 but sold the Peavey and recently bult another Peavey amp like my original one. Bought the amp here on TB and the cabinet on Facebook.

 

[Count Bassie]

Yeah - can I get a number please.

Here is mine. Been playing with the Peavey and my 71 P bass since 71.View attachment 5427194

@LennyJ say no more! Testimony *and* a picture... You're #34 in our proud little enclave- welcome to the club! Bring what you got, from epic gear/gig stories to Dad jokes, and expertise you might have to throw into the pot.
Updated list:

Count Bassie #1
Haji #2
G On Bass #3
Nighttrain1127 #4
John Swartz #5
johnnyz1227 #6
KaraQ #7
bigtone23 #8
Heavy blue #9
Salicete #10
discochris #11
BC Blackmur #12
robd #13
Loretta #14
bassguitarist85 #15
Giffro #16
Seth Dustith #17
*deathsdj #18
*Andy Westwood #19
*Marko1 #20
*groovaholic #21
*ATZbassist #22
*rojo 412 #23
*AudioTaper #24
*Shirojo #25
*JCbass91 #26
*Tpi #27 (First KB combo)
*ryco #28
*BassBeginer64 #29
*Black_In_Mind #30
*Lucca #31
*OldBlue61 #32
*defineredefine #33
*LennyJ #34

 

[LennyJ]

@LennyJ say no more! Testimony *and* a picture... You're #34 in our proud little enclave- welcome to the club! Bring what you got, from epic gear/gig stories to Dad jokes, and expertise you might have to throw into the pot.
Updated list:

Count Bassie #1
Haji #2
G On Bass #3
Nighttrain1127 #4
John Swartz #5
johnnyz1227 #6
KaraQ #7
bigtone23 #8
Heavy blue #9
Salicete #10
discochris #11
BC Blackmur #12
robd #13
Loretta #14
bassguitarist85 #15
Giffro #16
Seth Dustith #17
*deathsdj #18
*Andy Westwood #19
*Marko1 #20
*groovaholic #21
*ATZbassist #22
*rojo 412 #23
*AudioTaper #24
*Shirojo #25
*JCbass91 #26
*Tpi #27 (First KB combo)
*ryco #28
*BassBeginer64 #29
*Black_In_Mind #30
*Lucca #31
*OldBlue61 #32
*defineredefine #33
*LennyJ #34

Thank you Sir