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Peavey Cirrus USA vs BXP VFL pickups
- Thread starter Kinetic Bass
- Start date
My U.S. and dark wood BXP have the same pickups. The preamp on the BXP was significantly different than my U.S. Cirrus basses, although I have heard from a forum member that they are basically the same, electronically…but certainly not to my ears. I swapped the BXP preamp out for the U.S. Millenium preamp as I had done with all of my Cirrus basses as well as a G-Bass that I had owned. With the U.S. (actually made in Korea, as are the pickups) preamp the BXP sounds identical to my U.S. Cirruses.
Kim
Kim
Only the method of construction differs between the preamps, both boost/cut the same amount at the same frequencies. It's as @rok51 says both the SMT module and the PCB used by Peavey were Korean production.
As for the pickups VFL pickups. They were designed by Mike Powers, along with the jig to wind them, and production was then done by G&B over in Korea.
With a Canadian nut, German bridge and all the Korean hardware and electronics there is very little 'USA' about the US Cirrus.
Likely not even the machinery, Peavey's original CNC system came from Germany.
I've got an Indonesian-built Cirrus 5. Likely some sort of very early Indonesian production run. It's got the Cirrus inlay, the graphite headstock, and all the other goodies (VFL pups, 18 V pre, neck-thru, etc.), but is tagged with a "Made in Indonesia" label on the back of the headstock. Plays and sounds great!
The VFLs themselves are basically the same, USA-designed and Korean-made for both lines. The real tonal difference between BXP and USA Cirrus comes from the preamp and build, not different pickup winding.
Figured as you'd already said " I mean they still need 9V to run then without pre-amp" it didn't need repeating.
VFLs have an internal circuit with an op-amp, hence the need for power.
It was the same deal as the earlier active pickups in the B-90A and the Forum Plus. Pickups go to passive circuits, Vol/Vol/Tone on the B-90 and Forum Plus, Vol/Blend/Tone on the RSB.
How small is that op-amp and circuit that they squeezed it inside the pick ups, are these single coil type design or split / humbucker design pickups?
Ok, but do we still know if it's single coil, split coil or humbucker inside, is it 4 wires or 2 wires
Yes we do know. They published a document: https://assets.peavey.com/literature/manuals/vfl_pickups.pdf
It's 3 wires. Hot, ground, power.
I'm a peavey nerd.
I "just" bought an early BXP AC Millenium. After doing homework all indications are the pickups are the same as USA - on the example I found.... not on my other import turd..
Peavey did have a pattern where the very very early imports versions of previous usa models were similar quality. I own a few USA higher end milleniums. The body vibe is the same... the color finish is cartoony compared to the "real thing).
The pickups appear to be the same as my prior usa cirrus. The preamps are most definitely different. Hardware seems to be similar quality.
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If out shopping, I'd be a bit cautious as peavey recycled names. Some of the reuse is kind of misleading. Often the guitars were kind of hated and abused.
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@kodiakblair is much smarter than me on nuance details... trust what he says.
I focus more on "can I set one up to demonstrate how dumb I am for owning $$$$$ botiques"
I "just" bought an early BXP AC Millenium. After doing homework all indications are the pickups are the same as USA - on the example I found.... not on my other import turd..
Peavey did have a pattern where the very very early imports versions of previous usa models were similar quality. I own a few USA higher end milleniums. The body vibe is the same... the color finish is cartoony compared to the "real thing).
The pickups appear to be the same as my prior usa cirrus. The preamps are most definitely different. Hardware seems to be similar quality.
----
If out shopping, I'd be a bit cautious as peavey recycled names. Some of the reuse is kind of misleading. Often the guitars were kind of hated and abused.
----
@kodiakblair is much smarter than me on nuance details... trust what he says.
I focus more on "can I set one up to demonstrate how dumb I am for owning $$$$$ botiques"
Follow the link @Murivan posted.
They are humbuckers, internally wired in series. Red is the power feed.
Pickups are epoxy potted, DIY modding will almost certainly result in a destroyed pickup.
If you fancy trying a single coil head over to Ali Ex, empty VFL shells sometimes appear there. I bought several, shells are the same dimensions.
