Peavey MegaBass Club

[cflbass]

I bought another MegaBass for $90. Gonna put it in the closet in case something bad happens to my other 2. I have a problem, don't I?

--Steve

Nah....one can never have too many Megabasses. For 90 bucks the DI alone is worth that. I recently did a gig alongside another bassist that had 3k invested in his Markbass rig. He asked me what I was using.....I told him about my 150 dollar Megabass score at GC. He couldn't believe something that cheap sounded so good.

Since this thread was started Ive aquired a Hartke 5210c and Roland Dbass amp.

The Roland listed for 1300 when it first came out...they go used for around 600.

I paid 299 for it....compared to the Hartke the Roland sounded better. I wanted a 2x10 combo so I kept the Roland.

I compared it to the Peavey Megabass thru my old SWR 4x10...the Peavey STILL sounded better. 25 year old technology vs a state of the art Roland D-bass and my "old" Peavey blows it away.

I too am getting a third Mega....you never know when these things will be gone.

I can't say enough good things about this amp.

 

[Anemic_SluG]

Ive got that ad too somewhere...and from memory those bass cabs in the background of the Tony Montana ad are 1516.. the full range cabs designed for the Megabass amp

Leslie

Yes they are still have 1 if the 2 I bought brand new when they were released. The megabass just screams through those cabs.

 

[Stev187]

Hey Mega fans: I just checked the GC used gear page and there are five (5) Megabass heads on there in the $150 price point. [August 22, 2012] A couple of them look rough, but a couple of them are super clean.

--Steve

P.S. Locations are: NJ, LA, WA, MA, and IN (but this unit ships pretty well).

 

[Five String]

I saw that too. Started salivating. If you have them ship it to a local store, they don't charge for shipping, do they?

 

[LowEZ]

I've recently upgraded seven opamps in my ProBass 1000 which has made a very nice yet subtle improvement in tone and noise. Well worth the $10 for parts and the 5 minutes it took to replace them. They're all socketed, no soldering required. If someone has a MegaBass schematic, I'd be happy to translate what I had done and explain why (non-tech). A simple, inexpensive and easily reversible improvement.

 

[videomagician]

LowEZ- start a new thread on your mods / parts list for your Probass 1000. I've got one I'd like to try it on. It has always sounded rather flat to me. I bought mine new back in 80 something. I do need to replace my power switch since it is stuck in the on position.

 

[Stev187]

I saw that too. Started salivating. If you have them ship it to a local store, they don't charge for shipping, do they?

Nah, I think you have to pay shipping for that, believe it or not. Last time I bought used from a far-away GC I coordinated with a business trip to Chicago. I've shipped a few Megas, and it usually costs about $25. It's only 2 rack spaces, but them buggers are heavy!

--Steve

 

[LowEZ]

LowEZ- start a new thread on your mods / parts list for your Probass 1000. I've got one I'd like to try it on. It has always sounded rather flat to me. I bought mine new back in 80 something. I do need to replace my power switch since it is stuck in the on position.

No need for a new thread it's simple enough. OP275 for U6 and U7 (preamp stages), and 5532 for U1 through U5 (tone stack). My power switch did that last year but it was stuck off! I put in a Radio Shack mini toggle just above it.

 

[videomagician]

Where did you pick the chips up? Somewhere like DigiKey?

 

[LowEZ]

Where did you pick the chips up? Somewhere like DigiKey?

I find them stupid cheap on eBay.

 

[moon-bass]

I had one of these for years back in the 80's. I still remember it as a loud, punchy, bassy amp that was very flexible.

My band at the time had a semi-endorsement from a local music store that sold a ton of Peavey stuff - we had Peavey PA, Peavey Mics, and i had Peavey bass gear. I was playing through a combo then through one of their older two-channel bass amps, then bought the Megabass. I played it through a dual 4x10 stack, and it kicked. it was easy to get a nice sound out o it and it was solid. It was kind of funny - we had Peavey digital power amps for our PA and they blew out all the time, but never had a bit of trouble with the Megabass. It was actually stolen from me by the band when I quit the band (another story altogether).

I didn't realize these were so cheap. I may pick one up for posterity's sake ...

 

[Stev187]

I didn't realize these were so cheap. I may pick one up for posterity's sake ...

That's why I got one again; and I needed a backup head. I had sold mine in the early days of eBay a million years ago and quit playing out for a long time. Now my newer amp is the backup and the Mega gets used every night.

This is kinda funny, but one good use of this head on stage is to keep my neo cabs from scooting around! We haven't weighed it, but it's HEAVY and keeps everything anchored down. Here's a shot from last weekend's gigs (note the pair of Peavey IPR 3000s in our PA rack, too).

--Steve

 

[fatdoggie]

I love my long-suffering MegaBass head.

I think I picked it up used and abused for about $200 back in the 90's sometime. It looks like crap - scratched up, missing screws, EQ sliders missing covers and bent. Thanks to this thread, I'm fighting the urge to pick up another head cheap while I can...

It guess it would probably be a better candidate for the "Janky Rigs of Doom" thread, but I love the my MegaBass sounds bi-amping my Hartke 2x10 and and ancient Carvin 1x18 cabinet.

 

[LowEZ]

I'm sub'd here, but the truth is I owned a MegaBass for only a week in 1986. I worked as a guitar tech for a mom and pop music store through the 80's and 90's. We were a Peavey dealer and I bought a good deal of Peavey bass gear at dealer cost (50% off list) plus a small hassle fee to the shop owner during that time. When we finally got the MegaBass in stock they were already in demand. I bought one and the other 3 or 4 sold out within a week. Then one of our best customers came in requesting one. My boss pleaded with me to pack mine up to sell to this customer and instead to take the ProBass 1000 and DECA 424 components (very similar to the MegaBass in preamp/power amp form) which no one would even look at. He threw in a rack case and I ended up using that pseudo-MegaBass for many years and hundreds of gigs never once being let down.

Peavey gets no love around here. I've heard the MegaBass in particular get trashed several times. I've heard members call my DECA series amp the worst sounding power amps ever. But the best was my cab of this era, the 410S (big, ported 4x10 Scorpion, no tweeter). Search it and know what you'll find? A TB member stating that it was a guitar cab, not a bass cab and the esteemed Bill Fitzmaurice maintaining that the drivers were unsuitable for a bass cab. There goes science out the window. Okay, being their first stab at a 4x10 with only Scorpions available it wasn't Peavey's best effort, but it was by no means a horrible sounding cab and my rig got nothing but compliments by sound men and other players for the decade I gigged that cab - with a Stingray 5 mind you. It's handled a low B just fine with drivers that have a nearly unmeasurable 0.06mm of xmax. Outstanding box design by Peavey engineers.

Tone snobs keep a snobbin', it results in $150 MegaBasses and other cheap 80's/90's Peavey gear for the rest of us. Very sorry for the rant. Bad old pic of above mentioned rig:

 

[Stev187]

Tone snobs keep a snobbin', it results in $150 MegaBasses and other cheap 80's/90's Peavey gear for the rest of us. Very sorry for the rant. Bad old pic of above mentioned rig:

Great shot, LowEZ! The anti-Pevey bias cracks me up. I could be really snarky about it and start a fight, but I won't. In fact, I had to get over my own anti-Peavey bias (learned from other players) in order to start using this thing back when it was new. I matured enough to judge gear with my ears and not by what other people thought of it.

Still, I'd be interested in the criticism of the Mega. All amps are different, so I can honestly see people not liking the sound. I wonder what it is about the amp that people don't like.

The fact that it was such a big seller means that there are plenty of units out there. So, yeah... we can pick them up for $150 and let others buy the spendy botique gear that's out there today (I'm sure it's all great--not dumping on it at all).

Here's my first MegaBass with a rig of custom cabs I built myself: the 1x15 is a TL606 clone and the top is a 2x8 of my own design. Pretty nice rig.

You're right: let the snobs do their thing: more Megas for us.

--Steve

 

[LowEZ]

Sweet! I bet it weighs a lot less than a Peavey 1516 too! Bi-amping @200Hz?

I've heard the Mega described as too clean, and too dirty. Hahaha, whatever. I get the Peavey hate, I'm just getting too old to care. I think once my left arm has completely healed from last month's tendon re-attachment surgery, I'm going to pick up a pair of 410TX cabs. Peavey bass amps are like comfort food to me. Thirty years of brand loyalty will do that to ya.

 

[lsimy]

I have had 2 in my past and been considering getting another sometime since my rig is biamp. They are indeed excellent heads.

I had a friend who used to wind up the preamp gain and run an SVT cab and he said it sounded really cool. I never got to try that. I would imagine those 2 post gains will get really sensitive with the pre up that high. Super powerful for a 2x200w head.

Cool thread !!

 

[Stev187]

Sweet! I bet it weighs a lot less than a Peavey 1516 too! Bi-amping @200Hz?

I sold those cabs a while ago; they were actually really heavy. I over built them with marine-grade plywood. The drivers were all Eminence. The 1x15 was nice; I liked it as much as my old Mesa/Boogie Diesel, the cab that inspired it (and, again, is basically a TL606). Yes, I've always set the crossover at 200Hz on the Mega. I have one at the rehearsal space with an old Peavey 1810; talk about overkill for practice! We've taken it to a couple of gigs, but my neo cabs are light and fit in the trunk so they make the trip easy.

I would imagine those 2 post gains will get really sensitive with the pre up that high.

Um... yeah! I can't imagine the fine motor skills you'd need to work with the POST if the PRE was up very high. On medium-sized bar gigs, I have the PRE at 2 or 3 with the input pad engaged. I've never come close to running out of juice with this amp, and I gig with 8 ohm cabs, so they are not even getting the full 200w.

Right now I am gigging my MegaBass with a pair of GK MBE-series cabs. The 2x10 is actually my son's combo amp modified to be used as a stand-alone cab if needed. The 1x15 is identical in size to the 2x10. They weigh 33lbs each and the whole thing fits in the trunk of my Chevy Impala.

It's the happiest I've ever been with a stage rig. Still, I've been thinking it might be cool to build some cabs again; maybe a pair of fEARful cabs designed for bi-amping? With the GK boxes working so well, I might not get around to that. I got those things used for a great price. This rig doesn't owe me anything!

--Steve

 

[Stev187]

Ok, since this thread has gotten some additional traffic lately, I wonder if anybody wants a number. You don't have to currently own a Mega: just holler if you've owned one in the past and want a number. Here's the current list:

1 - Stev187
2 - Ayce
3 - jpknox
4 - MNAirHead
5 - cflbass
6 - uhdinator
7 - Five String

Again, we're a small group.

--Steve

 

[Ayce]

When we moved to Ontario in '97, I took my rig with me. MB head in SBK case, and 1516 cab, on the bus. They weighed the cab @ 75lbs. I was concerned about the cabs arrival, as, while the local carrier (SMT) had a 80lb limit, I was told the national carrier (Greyhound) had a 50lb limit. Everything made it to Trenton,ON at the same time. That cab came in real handy as a table/chair in the first few days after getting there.