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Peavey Mark III Combo

S

Simo98

Jun 18, 2009
805
9
34
QLD, Australia
#1
Anyone have any experience with these?

I have the opportunity to buy one off of a local guy i know, and was wondering what it is worth.

Peavey gear tends to last an age, so i have no worries about the condition (im going to try it out today) i just want to hear what your opinions are on this perticular amp, and also what you think i should offer him for it.

Thanks :D
 
#3
It looks like Peavey no longer have the manual to the Mark III Combo amps on their website, the only thing i could find is dead links to it.

after some digging it looks like its a 4ohm 15" speaker, will any speaker do? or does it have to be rated to a certain wattage?

Im new to this stuff :)
 
#4
the speaker when removed should tell you the model name and #. If it is a black widow you may be able to buy a new basket for it, but i bet that the combo (if it is like a TNT) doesn't have a cab section optimized for that speaker so others may do if you match the internal dimensions for what a certain speaker wants.

Are you sure it's a bad speaker and not a bad amp? Take it no matter what. older PV stuff is usually an easy fix and hardly ever breaks anyhow.
 
#5
Its a black widow, not sure what the wattage is for the actual speaker.

It is sposed to be a 400w at 4ohms, with 130w into 4ohms through the output jack at the back, though im not sure. The model says BW (black widow) 135, which could be the wattage of the speaker in the combo part.

Im 95% sure that its the speaker, as its been in his shed for ages, and it sounds alot like it has just deterioated with age which speakers tend do when they are not used from what i know (it sounds alot like a set of old stereo speakers i had which did the same thing).

If i EQ the lows right out, which reduces the movment on the speaker, there is nearly no cracking, especially at low/medium volumes, it just has trouble with loud low frequencys.. which is kind of the point of a bass amp :P
 
#6
I bought this exact model used in 1982 and just traded it away a couple of months ago. 130 watts rms into 4 ohms. It actually seems fairly rare. Parametric mid EQ works very well and is easy to control. The speaker is indeed a Black Widow. When mine went out I put in a 1502-4 basket and it sounded as good as new. A very strange thing, the air gap in the magnet had some sort of gooey debris in it when I took it apart, almost like melted foam. No worries, cleaned the mag, replaced the basket and it was off to the races!
I think after all those years the power supply caps were starting to dry out, it just didn't have the oomph it once had.
 
#8
I'd throw an Eminence Beta 15 in there. Cheap enough, should get you at least 200w free and clear. Haven't WinISD'd it for that cab but it should probably work fine.
 
#10
It'll cut the wattage in half if it's 8 ohms. Not a good idea. I thought you could get all those speakers in 4 ohm models. I just saw a site in England that sells them in 4 ohm but not in the US. Maybe if you email Eminence they'll let you know. They're very good about returning emails.

Or maybe you could contact Peavey about what they would recommend.
 
#11
roschmbo said:
...A very strange thing, the air gap in the magnet had some sort of gooey debris in it when I took it apart, almost like melted foam...
Click to expand...
That's exactly what it was. There is a foam filter in the rear of the magnet assembly behind the screen for voice coil cooling. Sure, it may keep out the finer debris...but the foam breaks down, becoming a gooey mess in the voice coil gap. I, too, have spent more than a few minutes de-glopping the magnet assembly before fitting a new basket. The TNT's were a decent, reliable amp. Found many in small club backlines over the years. Always seemed to get 'er done.

Kim
 

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