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Peavey Amps Club

#741
Hey guys. I was told to post in here in hopes of getting some info on what seems to be a bit of a rare gem.
Anyone have any experience with one of these peavey roadmaster super festival amps?
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#746
This is my newest acquisition. I originally went shopping for a practice amp and found a Max 115 75 watt amp instead. Considering how good it sounded in the pawn shop, playing a cheap 5-string bass that snapped and crackled every time I turned its knobs, it may very well become my main amp at church. It isn't as powerful as most bass rigs, but it should serve my purpose just fine. I have a feeling my old TKO 75 will be coming home for practice.

Is there a way to determine the date of manufacture from the serial number?
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#750
Hey guys. I was told to post in here in hopes of getting some info on what seems to be a bit of a rare gem.
Anyone have any experience with one of these peavey roadmaster super festival amps?
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I'm more familiar with the Roadmaster from the early 80's used by the likes of .38 Special. The information I found in the archive says these were designed in 1974. The power amp should be running 4-6550's. The preamp is all solid state. One thing that's interesting is that the archive file contains a Marshall master volume super lead schematic and test curves comparing the Roadmaster English channel with the Marshall. They were attempting to model the super lead preamp with transistors. Don't know how the Roadmaster actually sounds, but according to the test data, they had the Marshall nailed.

The owner's manual is entertaining to read. Judging by the excessive use of exclamation points, I'd say Hartley wrote it. There's even some kind of tip in there about using it for "acid rock".
 
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#751
I have recently/finally entered the world of Peavey! I had liked many things from them for a while, and due to a trade, now find myself the owner of a Mark VIII XP bass head. Well, that and an 18" Black Widow that I'm deciding what to do with. Mostly, I made the trade for the amp itself and the speaker was an add-on. In fact, it's been put in (more like on) to some old cabinet that was designed for a 15" speaker! I haven't yet decided if I'll just sell the speaker outright, or design/build some cabinet that will suit it well.

In either case for the speaker, I find myself wondering how I can get a number in the Peavey Amps group/club? I'll find myself looking through this group/club/thread no matter what. My fan seems a little rattly, and I'm checking about replacing that for a wholly new amp experience. On the other hand, if they can be rattly but still reliable, I'll just play loud enough that the fan isn't heard!
 
#753
Rob22315 said:
The folks at peavey.com/forum are very helpful with old peavey year - history, repairs, tips for using. There's a separate forum for bass amps.
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Not sure that's as true as it once was. The activity there has been pretty sparse. In the past I've always been able to get answers quite promptly from just emailing their customer service department. I sent two email messages recently with a simple question trying to track down an owners manual that doesn't appear to be accessible from the website any longer. Never got a reply....
 
#754
ebozzz said:
Not sure that's as true as it once was. The activity there has been pretty sparse. In the past I've always been able to get answers quite promptly from just emailing their customer service department. I sent two email messages recently with a simple question trying to track down an owners manual that doesn't appear to be accessible from the website any longer. Never got a reply....
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Yes, the sparsity of response is recognized on the forum but there's still a lot of very good help to be had there. That said, manuals can easily be found elsewhere on the website so those requests might not get a response, older ones at this link:

Invalid Link Removed

I needed some help with an early 2000's guitar amp - I was able to get in touch with the amp designer via that website although admittedly I had to PM him rather than just post.
 
#756
Rob22315 said:
Yes, the sparsity of response is recognized on the forum but there's still a lot of very good help to be had there. That said, manuals can easily be found elsewhere on the website so those requests might not get a response, older ones at this link:

Invalid Link Removed

I needed some help with an early 2000's guitar amp - I was able to get in touch with the amp designer via that website although admittedly I had to PM him rather than just post.
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Not saying that help can't be found there. What I meant was that it's not as easy as it once was to get help. It was never a hotspot but there were some good people on the board. I just think their focus changed. Social media is the thing now.

By the way, I had checked the website archives before I even tried contacting Peavey. Nothing. There may not be a document for what I am looking for. It's that sparse an item. In the past I have at least gotten some type of response even if that was the case. Just my experience ....

EDIT: Sent thos from my phone earlier. I also tried contacting one of the Moderators on the board via private message. No response. Not bashing them. Just the facts....
 
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#757
ebozzz said:
Not saying that help can't be found there. What I meant was that it's not as easy as it once was to get help. It was never a hotspot but there were some good people on the board. I just think their focus changed. Social media is the thing now.

By the way, I had checked the website archives before I even tried contacting Peavey. Nothing. There may not be a document for what I am looking for. It's that sparse an item. In the past I have at least gotten some type of response even if that was the case. Just my experience ....

EDIT: Sent thos from my phone earlier. I also tried contacting one of the Moderators on the board via private message. No response. Not bashing them. Just the facts....
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Well then, just the facts - I need help troubleshooting and fixing some static-y LEDs on a Peavey BAM - got lots of good tips from casual users and some good starting points from the handful of remaining experts. I eventually isolated it to a dirty volume pot, problem solved.

I needed help eliminating the hum from reverb on a KB-300 and got some excellent tips and starting points. I found dirty connections at the reverb tank, cleaned - problem solved.

I am restoring two Peavey Transformer amps and got in touch with the designer, aka MidiMan, who helped me understand what was wrong with the one amp that wouldn't boot properly. His tips allowed me to use the amp in a stereo setup until I could find one that would boot properly. The non-boot amp is on it's way back to Peavey for factory repair.

I bought a used Generation with ACM guitar and found a couple of threads explaining the history of the guitar (various features, configurations, factories), ideas for mods (I added a body piezo sensor to the ACM circuit), and posted my mods - I was able to rewire the guitar so I could power the onboard preamp externally.

I've never had to ask for a manual because the manuals for every piece of Peavey gear I've owned (bass amp, guitar amp, bass cab, guitar) or considered owning were available from the website.

The postings there generally divide into two main camps - "I just got an old Peavey XXX", and "XXX doesn't work, please help". I've never seen a posting get ignored and many times the experts offer well grounded advice or insights into the history of the item.
 
#758
Rob22315 said:
Well then, just the facts - I need help troubleshooting and fixing some static-y LEDs on a Peavey BAM - got lots of good tips from casual users and some good starting points from the handful of remaining experts. I eventually isolated it to a dirty volume pot, problem solved.

I needed help eliminating the hum from reverb on a KB-300 and got some excellent tips and starting points. I found dirty connections at the reverb tank, cleaned - problem solved.

I am restoring two Peavey Transformer amps and got in touch with the designer, aka MidiMan, who helped me understand what was wrong with the one amp that wouldn't boot properly. His tips allowed me to use the amp in a stereo setup until I could find one that would boot properly. The non-boot amp is on it's way back to Peavey for factory repair.

I bought a used Generation with ACM guitar and found a couple of threads explaining the history of the guitar (various features, configurations, factories), ideas for mods (I added a body piezo sensor to the ACM circuit), and posted my mods - I was able to rewire the guitar so I could power the onboard preamp externally.

I've never had to ask for a manual because the manuals for every piece of Peavey gear I've owned (bass amp, guitar amp, bass cab, guitar) or considered owning were available from the website.

The postings there generally divide into two main camps - "I just got an old Peavey XXX", and "XXX doesn't work, please help". I've never seen a posting get ignored and many times the experts offer well grounded advice or insights into the history of the item.
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Hey, I've already said that the Peavey representatives, as well as the forum, have been valuable resources to me in the past. I could probably run off a list of positives at least just as long, if not longer, of instances where I have gotten great help. For me, those occurrences happened a few years ago. The events that I described earlier took place with in the past couple of months and is really atypical of the type of experiences that I have had in the past.

The item that I had inquired about had a very limited run so there doesn't appear to be much information on it via Peavey's site or on the net itself. That email that I mentioned I sent, for which the reply never got to me, took place on 05/24/2014. As far as I can recall, that has been the only time dealing with Peavey where I have been less than satisfied. I asked, didn't get the response I was seeking and I moved on. My concerns were not that critical. Just more of an informational thing. Something that would have been nice to know. Am I ready to write Peavey off based on that minor situation? Absolutely not. Ultimately, all I said & meant by my initial comment that started our dialog is that I wasn't sure if relying on the Peavey forum was as good an option as it once was. I think that is a fair statement. Now if that list you provided all happened within the past few months and I am mistaken, my apologies.....
 
#760
ebozzz said:
Hey, I've already said that the Peavey representatives, as well as the forum, have been valuable resources to me in the past. I could probably run off a list of positives at least just as long, if not longer, of instances where I have gotten great help. For me, those occurrences happened a few years ago. The events that I described earlier took place with in the past couple of months and is really atypical of the type of experiences that I have had in the past.

The item that I had inquired about had a very limited run so there doesn't appear to be much information on it via Peavey's site or on the net itself. That email that I mentioned I sent, for which the reply never got to me, took place on 05/24/2014. As far as I can recall, that has been the only time dealing with Peavey where I have been less than satisfied. I asked, didn't get the response I was seeking and I moved on. My concerns were not that critical. Just more of an informational thing. Something that would have been nice to know. Am I ready to write Peavey off based on that minor situation? Absolutely not. Ultimately, all I said & meant by my initial comment that started our dialog is that I wasn't sure if relying on the Peavey forum was as good an option as it once was. I think that is a fair statement. Now if that list you provided all happened within the past few months and I am mistaken, my apologies.....
Click to expand...

I figured this is a good opportunity for me to chime in, since I'm just recently a Peavey owner (having just completed a gear trade). So far, I've been very happy with the customer service. I got a handful of responses within 36 hours of sending my first e-mail, getting a schematic, part numbers, etc. as requested. Now, unfortunately, I'm hoping to find the same sort of response from the Peavey forum and/or right here at TalkBass. Essentially, the Peavey Mark VIII XP bass head that I got in trade has a somewhat noisy fan. I took it all out of the case the other day, in hopes of a general cleaning, etc. Well, I must have missed something as now I get nothing. It powers up, the fan is working, etc., but I get nothing from the output. So, I have some troubleshooting ahead of me. I may have pulled something loose, no matter how careful I was... but here's where the forum and all y'all come in. If anyone else has done something similar, do you have any suggestions about what it might be? With my work schedule, it may be another day or so before I start digging in to this beast to start my troubleshooting.
 

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