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Peavey = garbage?

#41
Love the second-gen USA Foundations and Furies, and have always been happy that everyone else seems to be looking for Fender in a 20-21 fret MIA bolt neck bass-saves me money. Love the Super-Ferrite single coils. I've owned three USA Fenders and two USA Fender parts basses, and paid more for each of them than I've paid for any three Peaveys. I sold the Fenders every time and haven't looked back.

Peavey amps and cabs? Not really interested.
 
#43
El-Bob said:
This is bizarre. Peavey gets lots of love on these forums. The Cirrus bass is widely regarded as a top quality instrument, with an incredible B-string, and their mark bass, firebass, and VB heads, to name a few, are also well regarded. The old TKO and TNT combos are rugged and loud, and a great value used. I get that the tone can be pretty bland, and often a bit harsh sounding, but the fact is that they have a lot of reliable stuff for good prices.

I should also add that I don't own a single piece of Peavey equipment. But if I needed a decent amp in a pinch for some reason, the first thing I would do is pick up a used TKO or TNT.
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+1 to all of this.

And just to share a little story: I went to Musician's Institute in 1995, and there was a big Peavey bass amp in one of the classrooms. I think it had an 18 and two 10s in the cabinet, and a big solid state head. One of the teachers said it had been there at least since he was a student, in 1986. So ten years of daily use and abuse by people who didn't own it or care about it, and it still worked. I wouldn't be surprised if it still works now. Any MI grads know what I'm talking about?
 
#45
When the salesman tells you that Peavey is junk, it is usually because they don't sell Peavey.

BTW - I had a very nice meeting with Hartley Peavey yesterday morning, and after we talked business, I mentioned that a lot of bass players would be VERY happy if they brought back the Foundation and Fury lines. It never hurts to plant the seed.
 
#46
While I never purchased any Peavey gear new, when I was working in a rock band in the 80's I (and my bandmates) bought a lot of used Peavey gear- power amps, mixing boards, speaker cabinets (PA , monitor, bass cabs), mics, and combo amps. Back then it was entry level gear.

I agree that it was never high end stuff, but it all worked well, as well or better than other brands of gear, and then continued to work in bands through the 80's and 90's, much of which was beat to hell through regular gigging, roadies, etc. That old Peavey gear was quite roadworthy.

The surprise? I still have lots of the gear- some beat to hell, some in good shape- but it all works. (One of the stereo power amps only works on one side; but that one was under water for 24 hours in a flood)

I have nothing to say about current Peavey gear, but in my experience the "garbage" characterization is not deserved.
 
#50
Edward G. said:
Peavey is the brand for when limited funds need to be allotted smartly. I've played quite a number of Peavey rigs and combos, and I never found one that I couldn't get a useful sound out of. In fact, I find that Peavey bass cabinets as a group are GREATLY underestimated.
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Same here. I've used plenty of them and gotten serviceable tones from them... I dig my SWR stuff a LOT better, but for the time and the place the Peavey gear did the trick.
 
#51
US Peavey basses are great. I have a Fury bass (split coil 2nd generation) and a Patriot guitar (with 2 super ferrites), both really good intruments and I have 2 pedals from the 80s that are great...the old US made heads like the Mark III and IV are solid workhorses for bass amps. I have a Mark IV Bass amp head, too. I wouldn't buy anything they made in the last 15 years though. They might be good but not worth the price to me. I messed around with one of their import tele copies, maybe a Generation EXP or something...wasn't impressed.
 
#52
My first amp was a Peavey Basic 40 bought in 1985 or so. I have used and abused it ever since. It is currently sitting next to me in my living room. It has a clean, sterile solid state sound so if you want some overdrive you're not gonna get it without a pedal, but it can get pretty loud for a 40 W amp, loud enough to keep up at band practice with two guitards back in the 80s. And it's built like a tank. After a nuclear war the remaining survivors will be using Peavey gear.

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So Peavey is not high-end gear. But it's certainly not garbage. It is solid, reasonably priced, and dependable. I use Ampeg now with my band because I love the sound, but I don't trust it as much as I trust my old Peavey.

ETA: Although country of manufacture isn't very important to me, I should point out that my 80s Peavey gear was all made in USA. I don't know about current Peavey stuff.
 
#59
I'm 52 and have never cared for Peavy products as a teenager or currently. Just never cared for the sound. Durability,reliability and cost ratio is commendable.

That said, who I think is the best ever rhythm guitarist, Steve Cropper, plays a sig guitar and Jerry Donahue used to play their guitars and amps and sounded great.
 

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