Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone could give me any info/opinions on the Peavey Mark IV Head. The guys in the local music store have a second hand one in there for AU$990 and it's looking pretty good to me at the moment. What i know so far is: ?2x300 watts @ 2ohms/2x210 watts @ 4ohms? 2 channels Low/Mid/High Eq w/6 Band Graphic Eq Bi Ampable, I think That's about all I know. If anyone can tell me any thing about it it would be much appreciated. Later Lexy
Yikes! That seems expensive for a Mk IV head. Those things are a dime a dozen here in the US, you can't give them away. I've got an old Mk IV gathering dust somewhere in the attic. It doesn't have two power amps, I think the ratings you list relate to speakers rather than power amps, i.e. 2x300 watts @ 2ohms means you can plug two 4 ohm cabs into the back of the amp for a total load of 2 ohms and 300 watts of power. Remember that an 8 ohm cab hooked up to this amp will probably only give you about 120 or so watts. I can't remember if it's bi-ampable or not, but if it does have a crossover knob you'll need a separate power amp to power the low (or high) speaker. The eq is pretty flexible, though it can be hard to find the proper footswitch to switch between the channels. It is a solid state Peavey though, don't expect to get the tube grunt of an SVT out of it, but the thing is also built like a tank.
I wonder what the currency exchange is for the US and Australia because that sounds like a lot more money than what I would pay here in the US. I bought a Mark IV brand new back in the eighties for under $400. It's a pretty good head for the money. I ended up selling it to my brother-inlaw for about half that a few years later. It did a good job but I never spent any sleepless nights wondering, "why did I ever sell that??"
I have the slightly older Mark III head, I saw a Mark IV at a pawn shop recently, and the only real difference was that it had a bright switch on each channel, but no limiter defeat switch. I bought my head for $150 US, and the Mark IV at the shop was also $150. I like the sound, of course most of my tone comes from my Bass Pod, but I like using some slight eq tweaking, and the crossover to put just lows to my 15.
The Mark IV is rated for 130W at 8 ohms, 210 at 5 ohms, and 300w at 2 ohms. It's output are single-channel, although it has two jacks for hooking up multiple cabs. Go to www.peavey.com for details. It does have a crossover built-in, but you will need a second amp to bi-amp. I run the highs to a powered 2x10 cab and use the on-board amp to drive the 1x15 cab. The nice feature is two channel input - I leave one channel set for the active fretted bass and the other for the passive fretless. The EQ is cool and centered more for bass use. I paid $150 for mine also. Even with the exchange rate, the price you got price is way too high. I could ship you one from here for less! Summary: cheap, built like a tank, sounds good.
Thanks for all the info, guys. I know the price is a bit high, but seeing as I'm a 'V.I.P Customer', the guy in the shop said he would 'throw in' a quad box for another $200 if i bought it at that price. That was, mind you, after a fair bit of haggling on my behalf. As for the bi-amping, I don't think I'd use it too much anyway, even if it has it, because I'm planning on buying another Quad to go with it and then i'd only have 10-inch speakers, and no 'low-end' drivers. Thanks again for the info, keep up the good work and keep it comming! Later Lexy P.S. Acepiloto, what is a limiter defeat switch, and do i really need it?