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Peavey Amp Club

Do I qualify for the Peavey amp club?

Here's a list, not counting my cabs...I hope I meet the criteria:

  • Peavey MiniMega x 2
  • Peavey MiniMax x 2
  • Peavey VB-2 x 2
  • Peavey VB-3 x 4
  • Peavey VB-MA x 3
  • Peavey Classic 400 Tweed
  • Peavey Classic 100 Tweed x 2
  • Peavey AlphaBASS head x 6
  • Peavey Classic 100/100 tube power amp x 4
  • Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp
  • Peavey Mark III X 3
  • Peavey Mark IV
  • Peavey Bass Series 400 x 4
  • Peavey Alpha preamp x 5
  • Peavey TB Raxx preamp x 3
  • Peavey TG Raxx preamp
  • Peavey CS-800 4sp "old school" power amp x 4
  • Peavey CS-800 3sp power amp
  • Peavey CS-1200H power amp
  • Peavet CS-800S power amp
  • Peavey CS-4000 power amp x 2
  • Peavey CS-4080HZ power amp
  • Peavey CS-800x4 power amp
  • Peavey CS-400 "old school" power amp
  • Peavey CS-1200 power amp x 2
  • Peavey CS-1200X power amp
  • Peavey DPC-1400X power amp x 3
  • Peavey PVDJ DPC-1400X power amp
  • Peavey CS-800X Gold 20th Anniversary Edition NOS power amp


This is an impressive list.

I was wondering why so many of certain amps?

After obtaining a chrome knob Standard amp, I have to admit that I kinda want the Bass 400.
 
Congratulations! How do you like? What tubes you got in there? Which cab you got?

I haven't had a good run through will it yet. I always liked every peavey I have plugged into. They are a real sleeper brand but this is the first piece I have owned.

I set it to their Rock setting from the manual and it sounded great. Nice and clear. Played all my basses through it and they all sounded exactly like how I had envisioned them when I built them.

The cab is a Low Down Sound 2x15 with Eminence Deltalite 2515.

20240610_161123.jpg


I really like 15s. I am wanting either a 210 or 212 to gig with. My SWR head has been giving me issues lately and I don't have time to take it to a tech because i have a gig Thursday. A guy one facebook market place delivered the head to me yesterday for a $450. I couldn't pass that up even if I ended up hating it.

For tubes it has 6 EHX EL34.
 
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I think it was later in 76 or 77 when Peavey started using the larger, square badge with the 711 A St address and the ink printed characters; which included the model, serial (and later the manufacturing plant/building location). My earliest Peavey is a 77, and it has this type of badge. What's on your 78 2x15"?

I apologize for the long delay. My Peavey 215 has the same badge as your 77' Peavey 215. It's tattered but I was able to read enough of the serial to get a date from Peavey's serial number search page.

20240611_110555.jpg

As it would turn out this cab is not 100% original as I first believed. When I had to remove the bottom speaker to install 4" casters I discovered that the previous owner installed two late 80's 4 Ohm 15" Kicker Competition Separates C-15 speakers wired in parallel (they looked close enough to BW speakers from the front that I never gave it much thought). How I didn't blow my tube amps using the cab might be largely due to the cab never leaving my room hence never getting louder than bedroom volume and how infrequently I play.

I'm currently deciding whether to swap these Kicker C-15's out for a pair of used 8 Ohm 15" Black Widows closer to what this would have come installed with or rewire the current speakers in series for 8 Ohms. There isn't much I can find on these 15" speakers thats useful to me but if I go the route of wiring the speakers in series I could sooner measure the inside and someone might be able to chime in about them being ok for use in this cab.
 
I haven't had a good run through will it yet. I always liked every peavey I have plugged into. They are a real sleeper brand but this is the first piece I have owned.

I set it to their Rock setting from the manual and it sounded great. Nice and clear. Played all my basses through it and they all sounded exactly like how I had envisioned them when I built them.

The cab is a Low Down Sound 2x15 with Eminence Deltalite 2515.

View attachment 5475942

I really like 15s. I am wanting either a 210 or 212 to gig with. My SWR head has been giving me issues lately and I don't have time to take it to a tech because i have a gig Thursday. A guy one facebook market place delivered the head to me yesterday for a $450. I couldn't pass that up even if I ended up hating it.

For tubes it has 6 EHX EL34.
That looks like a just-right rig :thumbsup:
 
I haven't had a good run through will it yet. I always liked every peavey I have plugged into. They are a real sleeper brand but this is the first piece I have owned.

I set it to their Rock setting from the manual and it sounded great. Nice and clear. Played all my basses through it and they all sounded exactly like how I had envisioned them when I built them.

The cab is a Low Down Sound 2x15 with Eminence Deltalite 2515.

View attachment 5475942

I really like 15s. I am wanting either a 210 or 212 to gig with. My SWR head has been giving me issues lately and I don't have time to take it to a tech because i have a gig Thursday. A guy one facebook market place delivered the head to me yesterday for a $450. I couldn't pass that up even if I ended up hating it.

For tubes it has 6 EHX EL34.

Wow $450?! That's cheap! Great deal! It likely has the original caps in there. They are getting to that age where they will need changing out SRTL but hey if it sounds good play on!

Cool cab!! Yeah I took a Peavey Basic 112 and just put in an Eminence DeltaLite 2512. Thanks to a contact who has speaker cab design software it was a good match, albeit at reduced wattage due to the small box size. I needed a more capable practice/rehearsal cab and the experiment turned out great!

Like you I'm thinking of building/buying a 2x12. Even if the 112.loses it's utility, I can transplant the deltalite 2512 to that cab. Something about 12s have so much more midrange clarity and boom.

Cheers!
 
After obtaining a chrome knob Standard amp, I have to admit that I kinda want the Bass 400.
The aluminum knob Peaveys are really cool. I have a 78 aluminum knob Century 200 head that I got over 10 years ago when they were selling for $70. It worked and sounded great, and the distortion is the coolest, but I had it fully gone through to make sure it was up to being played loud and hard since that was to be it's destiny with me. Plus, it was nearly 40 years old and stock. Also did a simple mod where the preamp connects to the power amp, which just expanded the bandwidth a touch, it's subtle, but the lows do go a bit deeper and the highs have a little more air. It's my favorite bass amp, so much so I picked up a stock 77 Century 200 a few months ago to leave at the practice space and as a backup to the 78 at gigs. The 77 is working great and doesn't get ridden hard at practice. It will get the go through in the next year or so. Playing both heads side by side does reveal the tighter, slightly bigger and more solid feel of the 78, but the 77 is still 80-85% as good.

After falling in love with the Century 200, I played through a 77 Bass 400 around 2017 and loved it. I knew I wanted one, it's like a bigger, louder, two channel Century. I immediately found an original footswitch for one on Reverb so I would be set when I found the head. I found a decent deal on a head a couple months later, but when it arrived, it was pretty dodgy and weak. My go-to tech figured it would be about $300-350 in repairs and upkeep. I wasn't ready to plunge that deep after dropping $350 on the head. The urgency to get a Bass 400 (or maybe a 400BH Mark III or Mark IV with the footswitch) has subsided, but if one fell into my lap, I would be more than happy!

I really like 15s. I am wanting either a 210 or 212 to gig with.

Cool cab!! Yeah I took a Peavey Basic 112 and just put in an Eminence DeltaLite 2512. Thanks to a contact who has speaker cab design software it was a good match, albeit at reduced wattage due to the small box size. I needed a more capable practice/rehearsal cab and the experiment turned out great!

Like you I'm thinking of building/buying a 2x12. Even if the 112.loses it's utility, I can transplant the deltalite 2512 to that cab. Something about 12s have so much more midrange clarity and boom.

Cheers!
I also like 15s, I have a Peavey 1x15" Scorpion Plus cab. It's killer, but I almost exclusively play 12s now. They are more similar to the midrange quality of 15s, much more so than 10s. The low end from a cab doesn't care whether it's from 10s, 12s or 15s, the design is what makes that happen. However, the midrange quality does shift. 15s have a punchy low-mid character, 12s do too, but it's a little higher in the mid-mid zone, and 10s seem to have their mid character more into the upper mids, which adds a sheen to the tone. I would certainly suggest going with a 2x12".
My three main cabs have 12s.
--A '68 Kustom TnR 2x12" loaded with a Scorpion and Hydrive (my favorite cab). It's also one of those cabs that luckily worked great with those speakers, and the bonus is that it's now really light-under 35 pounds. The original square back CTS speakers were dead and really, really heavy. Each CTS was about 12 pounds, which is more than the total weight of the reloaded pair! Plus, the Century 200 is not only a perfect sounding head for this cab, it's also a perfect fit on top of it. It's 4 ohms and handles 300W, no problem.
--A homemade Thiele-ish 1x12" with a Delta Pro 12A. When I got it, it had an older, OEM labeled EVM12L, but it was a little tired sounding. The cab met the requirements for the DP12A, just needing a little tuning of the port for the Eminence. It's actually much better with that speaker. This is a great cab for practices and gigs with PA support since it's low end isn't as big as the 2x12" cabs. It's 400W/8 ohm, so it pairs great with bass and guitar combos.
--A GK NEO II 2x12". Bought this new several years ago. It's my 'modern' cab, as it has a tweeter and is tuned for pretty deep and modern low end. It's light, fits bigger, wider heads and handles a lot of power.
 
The aluminum knob Peaveys are really cool. I have a 78 aluminum knob Century 200 head that I got over 10 years ago when they were selling for $70. It worked and sounded great, and the distortion is the coolest, but I had it fully gone through to make sure it was up to being played loud and hard since that was to be it's destiny with me. Plus, it was nearly 40 years old and stock. Also did a simple mod where the preamp connects to the power amp, which just expanded the bandwidth a touch, it's subtle, but the lows do go a bit deeper and the highs have a little more air. It's my favorite bass amp, so much so I picked up a stock 77 Century 200 a few months ago to leave at the practice space and as a backup to the 78 at gigs. The 77 is working great and doesn't get ridden hard at practice. It will get the go through in the next year or so. Playing both heads side by side does reveal the tighter, slightly bigger and more solid feel of the 78, but the 77 is still 80-85% as good.

After falling in love with the Century 200, I played through a 77 Bass 400 around 2017 and loved it. I knew I wanted one, it's like a bigger, louder, two channel Century. I immediately found an original footswitch for one on Reverb so I would be set when I found the head. I found a decent deal on a head a couple months later, but when it arrived, it was pretty dodgy and weak. My go-to tech figured it would be about $300-350 in repairs and upkeep. I wasn't ready to plunge that deep after dropping $350 on the head. The urgency to get a Bass 400 (or maybe a 400BH Mark III or Mark IV with the footswitch) has subsided, but if one fell into my lap, I would be more than happy!

Those footswitches are hard to find.
I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket one but it would cost more than the amp did.

what was your preamp modification?
 
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who is he? Just curious.
Why does he get serially booted from TalkBass?
He's just some guy that enjoys trolling people. Eventually he gets carried away or gets angry with someone and goes too far for the mods, and everyone else. In a few weeks he'll be back with a new name and start all over again.
 
Well this was a fun read.

The required road crew for vintage Peavey amp users:
I look like a mix of the far right (I love his shirt) and the one second left.

It is so easy to be pulled around by trends and marketing, and the opinions of our peers... But left to yourself, finally, if you can do it, you do best going with where your ears are most happy, and undistracted.
If I listened to everyone else I'd be stuck with a P, not multiple 5s and 6s.

All this Peavey love and no Mark VI amps?
I love mine, and I've had it since 88 or so. It played maybe 1k gigs with the 115BW I have that I think is even older. It certainly looks it, but the serial number plate is so scratched I can't read it.

I'm setting up a new music space that's going to take most of the living room and I think I'll put the 115BW and Mark VI in the corner as my practice rig. But, I also have a single Mackie Thump 15A, and the VI has a crossover, so I'm tempted to run the VI from sub 300Hz or so and the 15A above it, just because I can.

View attachment 5231946
A crop of a better shot of my rig and me in action last week, by Al from Ashland.
I've not tried my NOS ATK305 through the old Peaveys, but I might just tomorrow - I've been busy with another (bass) acquisition in the mean time (quelle horreur, not an Ibanez)...

Do I need actual pics for a number? If so, give me 24hrs.