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Peavey Cirrus- "Same Ole Song and Dance"

#21
39F3FB02-FC69-4E14-A635-EE3AF6A5041E.jpeg
This is my BTB1205E.

Bought January, 2006.

The best neck I have ever played, wide across the nut, but not too deep front to back.

Holding/playing it feels very much like a Cirrus.

Sound-wise, the Cirrus is very modern-sounding, while the BTB is more vintage-sounding.

Sound and feel-wise, this bass is perfect to me.

Mike
 
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#22
I had an email exchange with Peavey sales.
The Cirrus bass release has been delayed at least 60-90 days.
Apparently, they weren’t satisfied with the initial production pieces, sent them back and are taking corrective action.

In my experience, 60-90 days means at least 6 months.
Just my $.02 as usual.
 
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#23
So the ones they were showing at NAMM were fine but the production run is bad? Hmmm...

I hope they get there and 3 (or 6) months is pretty minimal in the grand scheme of it all but yeesh.
 
#27
Not to de-rail but I'm more interested in the re-issue guitar combos...here's the back story:

Our guitarist lives and breathes via Telecasters & Peavey combos long discontinued. Every time we see one in the wild (yard sales, thrift stores), we snatch it up so he always has spares. Pots may get scratchy but I don't ever recall one actually failing.

Riis
 
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#29
Geri O said:
Oh, that came up, but the discussion didn’t go anywhere. I wasn’t gonna ask.
Click to expand...
No tariff talk in this thread .

If the threatened 25% goes ahead then the, guessed at, $3k retail jumps to $3750. Now it could be argued that would impact the similarly priced Spector Euros but only on US sales, the European prices will remain unaffected. Pretty important given the very healthy position Spector holds in the European marketplace.

Harsh fact.

All the major European/UK retailers stock Spector Euro basses, none of them now sell Peavey .

I see history repeating itself. Peavey's previous Cirrus reissue was back in 2017, then it was priced higher than US used models but the difference was a few $100 not a couple of $1000. They were also limited to just the US market as, same as now, none of their overseas distributors/dealers ordered any.

Within 12 months the Cirrus had been dropped and US retailers were blowing them out NOS.

Guess somebody forgot Hartley's 1983 revelation

"Not many people realize that only 5% of the world's population lives in the Untied States. Ninety-five percent of our customers are 'over there'. Trick is you have to go 'over there' to sell to them"
 
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#30
Bumping this because I just found out about these.

As alluded to above, the "sale" price on these on Peavey's website is now $3,700 with an MSRP of $5,000: Invalid Link Removed

I'm going to say the same thing here as I did about the Super Festival: I love Peavey's gear, but I don't know who they've got running the show in their bass department who thinks bassists are going to pay this much for Peavey gear. They don't have the brand cachet or presence with bassists that they do with guitarists, and part of the appeal of the original Cirrus was that it punched way above its class, offering great playability, construction, and tone with a lot of custom options for a lot less than other USA instruments. They were competing with Carvin in that regard. $3,700-$5,000 is approaching the real big dog boutique pricing.

Anyway, excited to pick one up at a deep discount this time around since I missed my chance the last two times.
 
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#31
I can’t but think about the pushback that so many have expressed at the reintroduction of Tobias basses by Gibson. A lot of people sounded like they wanted American basses made just they were back in the day with the same prices as back in the day.

A new Cirrus that is made in Czechia and costing the same as a Euro Spector (why wouldn’t it cost the same) is going to face blowback by people pointing to used Mississippi Cirri that are half the price.
 
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#32
Dr. Cheese said:
A new Cirrus that is made in Czechia and costing the same as a Euro Spector (why wouldn't it cost the same) is going to face blowback by people pointing to used Mississippi Cirri that are half the price.
Click to expand...
Well you can take solace the number doing any blowback will be small.

As I suspected none of Peavey's overseas distributors are carrying these so 9.7 billion folk are blissfully unaware there is a Cirrus reissue :D I must admit this domestic market only strategy did puzzle me for a time. Let's face it, launching a foreign made version of a US bass to a market of quite patriotic people and hoping they will both accept and embrace it is a big ask. Add in the fact original US models can be had for 1/3rd the price and 'big ask' is verging on 'doomed to fail'.

From a sales POV it's a terrible decision.

From a business POV, it's a gift-wrapped gold plated tax write off 👍
 
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#33
kodiakblair said:
Well you can take solace the number doing any blowback will be small.

As I suspected none of Peavey's overseas distributors are carrying these so 9.7 billion folk are blissfully unaware there is a Cirrus reissue :D I must admit this domestic market only strategy did puzzle me for a time. Let's face it, launching a foreign made version of a US bass to a market of quite patriotic people and hoping they will both accept and embrace it is a big ask. Add in the fact original US models can be had for 1/3rd the price and 'big ask' is verging on 'doomed to fail'.

From a sales POV it's a terrible decision.

From a business POV, it's a gift-wrapped gold plated tax write off 👍
Click to expand...
The tax write off angle makes it make sense to me.
 
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#34
Dr. Cheese said:
I can't but think about the pushback that so many have expressed at the reintroduction of Tobias basses by Gibson. A lot of people sounded like they wanted American basses made just they were back in the day with the same prices as back in the day.

A new Cirrus that is made in Czechia and costing the same as a Euro Spector (why wouldn't it cost the same) is going to face blowback by people pointing to used Mississippi Cirri that are half the price.
Click to expand...
Are these new ones made in Czechia or Mississippi?

To be clear, I don't expect them to be the exact same price as back in the day, I just think that $5,000 MSRP is a tough sell.

However, I also concede that $3,700 is much closer to where comparable offerings are now than I anticipated! I cited Carvin as an example in my previous post. In Kiesel's "Builder" on their website, I just optioned out an Icon bass to be as close to the Cirrus as I could get it - translucent blue flame maple top on an alder body with a paint-matched seven-piece maple neck and headstock, rosewood board with a 12th fret MOP inlay, 24 medium jumbo frets, black hardware and it was...

uh... let's see... carry the one... uhhhh...

$3,700.

So, I could just be out of touch with the market!

I do think, however, that Peavey does this weird thing with bass players where they don't release much of anything for bass gear for many years and then absolutely blitz with a bunch of high-end gear in what I consider an attempt to re-energize the market, only to be met with "man, I'm not paying that much for a Peavey" and leave the market once more. Kiesel/Carvin, in contrast, has been making the same instruments in the same way for decades.

And, to be clear, I am emphatically not a Peavey hater - I have several of their amps which I absolutely love and plan to keep for recording duty if nothing else, and I still lust after a Cirrus I played at a used guitar store when I was in high school. I just wonder who their new bass gear is for at the prices they're asking.
 
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#38
Obese Chess said:
Still, I think a lot of people are gonna say "Man, $3,700 for a Peavey?"
Click to expand...

They would likely be able to get away with that price IF it were made in the U.S.

Cirrus has somewhat of a cult following, but I doubt that Peavey will see too many sales with an imported instrument at $3.7K. From a sheer market perspective they don't have the clout of Dingwall or Spector.

I'm certain that it's a fine instrument - the Czechs have proven themselves beyond capable of making excellent gear - but it will definitely be a very tough sell. That's presuming that there are no additional tariffs in effect at the time when the order is placed...ugh.

My $0.02 only...
 
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#39
ajkula66 said:
They would likely be able to get away with that price IF it were made in the U.S.

Cirrus has somewhat of a cult following, but I doubt that Peavey will see too many sales with an imported instrument at $3.7K. From a sheer market perspective they don't have the clout of Dingwall or Spector.

I'm certain that it's a fine instrument - the Czechs have proven themselves beyond capable of making excellent gear - but it will definitely be a very tough sell. That's presuming that there are no additional tariffs in effect at the time when the order is placed...ugh.

My $0.02 only...
Click to expand...
I must agree with ajkula66 here.

As a former owner of a Cirrus around 2004, I can't stress enough what an excellent instrument they are.

But $3,700?

I would say no.

Everything went up in price during the pandemic, but I think we all should use common sense.

I wouldn't pay more than about $2,500, the price of a new Musicman Stingray, but that's just my opinion.

To each their own, and if you have the money and really want a Cirrus, go for it.

Mike :thumbsup:
 
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