Peavey - Quality and Sound????

[Ryan L.]

Originally posted by dgce




I think Peavey's true innovation isn't necessarily the original concepts (like ported cabs or hybrid amps, etc.) but rather bringing these great designs to the masses within a working-person’s price range.

Ron [/B]

Pretty good point you brought up there. And from what I have seen, and more importantly, heard, they do a pretty good job when they do come out with this stuff. I have played through a lot of Peavey stuff, and with the exception of their lower end combos, have been extremely impressed with all of it, especially when comparing it with gear that costs upwards of twice as much.

 

[Speedbird]

I bought a Peavy Combo 115 5 or 6 years ago for the bang-for-the-buck. And there was no comparison. I wish I had the option of the Combo 210 but the 115 cuts it. Hovever the tone is just OK and I'm never satisfied with the EQ settings, something in the midrange is just weird.

Hint: The best thing I ever did was plug straight into the Power-amp in patch (by-passing the whole peavy pre-amp and using only the power amp & speaker) The tone is far superior and so much more open and un-squashed. The only down-side is the volume is not there mabye I get 1/3 and that is with the 18v bartolini pre-amp on my Modulus. I guess a pedal could get full volume with a pedal?

RGDS

 

[dgce]

Originally posted by Speedbird
I bought a Peavy Combo 115 5 or 6 years ago for the bang-for-the-buck. And there was no comparison. I wish I had the option of the Combo 210 but the 115 cuts it. Hovever the tone is just OK and I'm never satisfied with the EQ settings, something in the midrange is just weird.

Hint: The best thing I ever did was plug straight into the Power-amp in patch (by-passing the whole peavy pre-amp and using only the power amp & speaker) The tone is far superior and so much more open and un-squashed. The only down-side is the volume is not there mabye I get 1/3 and that is with the 18v bartolini pre-amp on my Modulus. I guess a pedal could get full volume with a pedal?

RGDS

I had a Peavey TNT 130 ages ago. Pretty good power and bang for the buck, but tone wasn't exactly much to write about. The higher-end Peaveys are far more happening in regards to tone and output. However, if yr sticking with the TNT 115, have you considered using a tube or tube-like preamp in front of the amp? You'll still be passing yr signal through the combo's preamp and Eq, however, what if you just left everything flat on yr combo and baring the amp's volume, do all yr tweeking via the additional preamp?

There is the effects loop, of course, but as you mentioned, there is a power loss which, btw, baffles me.

In addition to what I just mentioned, I reckon that combo isn't giving you the full 115 watt rating (or whatever that puppy kicks out). Have you considered adding an addition cab, say a 2x10 to get the full power potiential out of yr amp? Between that and the preamp, I'd think you'd get some pretty good tone and decent volume. Then again...you could just step up to a higher end Peavey amp (eBay's got plenty of 'em on the cheap!).

Ron

 

[Tyler Dupont]

What about peavey basses ? I tried one at Tom Lee music the other day and the thing played awesomely ... loved the feel .. I played it through this effect pod thingie with headphones ... how do they sound ?

 

[merrell]

im a beginner and i got the peavy tnt comb amp but im not sure where to set the equilizer to get the metallica pantera type sound. im using an ibanze sr800 bass. should i use the compression?

 

[Floridabwoy]

I use Peavey PA Cab's and a Peavey TX410. I love them. I debadged my cab, actually i just made a cloth grill for it. I want to try an Avatar cab, but the TX sounds so damb good. I beat the crap out of the thing and it keeps on going.

 

[theduke1]

I ran a Peavey Combo 300 for almost 10 years without out a missed beat. One time my wife's keyboard amp went down during a show and we jacked her cab int othe ext speaker, ran her keyboard in the second in on it and played 2 one hour sets to finish the gig. as far as eq goes, I ran it flat and patched a 15band eq in the effects loop so for an extra $100 it was sweet

 

[mustbampeg]

Love my Peavey rig. Simply love it. And I've owned Ampeg, Eden, and Epifani. With my pbass, it sounds every bit as good as my old 2pro and 8x10.


Randy

 

[jeff7bass]

Peavey bass amps have always been more suited toward rock-style players, IMO. When the Tour heads came out, there was more to them then just rock, definitely more versatile in nature.
The VB-3 head is just a top of the line machine and proves Peavey can make a great head. It's like a Chevy Corvette ZR1. Pair it up with a NV610 and look out!!

 

[lfbassguy]

funny this just came up. just got home from the gig to post about this... i have been a long time swr user. i decided to take a peavey tour 700 amp out tonight and try it out. (through my swr 4x10 cab). i cant say it sounded special or spectacular, but it did sound right in the mix. punchy, full, thick and authoritative. i am a peavey endorser but, have never really used there amps. i can say now. i will be using there amps too. i did like it better in the mix than my swr.... i am really impressed.

 

[hentor]

It's pretty shi**y that so many musicians automatically write your sound off when they see a name badge on a product.CL

This reminds me of a gig I had last year where I was visited by a number of bassists including a Talkbass user.

I used my Warmoth/Moses build that I put together. The Warmoth body was one of their "Showcase/Sales" items...

Most of my bassist friends commented on the tone of the bass and how my playing supported and carried the music. The bass, with an EMG P pickup and Hipshot A bridge DOES cut through a mix nicely...

The Talkbass user commented on how it was too bad that Warmoth wasn't able to bookmatch the maple top of my bass properly...I mentioned that it was in, fact from two separate flamed offcuts and they rolled their eyes.

Listen with your eyes much?

 

[Turlu]

I believe over 90% of all bass players ( who have played bass for the last 25 years !!! ) have used Peavey gear at some point. We all say the same thing: great gear, tough as hell and reasonably priced. I used the monster TNT 115, the highly underrated T-MAX head Classic 400 and combination of the 210, 115 and 410 cabs for years. Honestly, Peavey sounds great !!!

 

[JTE]

There's something in almost every Peavey bass amp's midrange that has always bothered me, and I was a Peavey dealer from about 198 until I quit retail in '88. If you're used to the SWR mid-scoop sound, it's going to be really hard to like what Peavey's generally sound like with their midrange honk. But that's not about sound quality, that's about subjective preferences. It's great stuff if you like how it sounds. Me, I've never played an SWR that sounded good to me, and I don't like Ampegs either. But that doesn't give me grounds to say they're low quality in any way.

I do respect Hartley Peavey for driving changes in the music biz. He was the first US manufacturer (and the first major MI manufacturer) to go to automatic insertion of components on circuit boards. While Fender, Tapco, et. al. were having people sit with needle-nose pliers and a soldering iron to insert parts into the board, Peavey invested in machinery to do that and paid his people to do a 100% pre-test of components BEFORE they went into a board. That gave him higher production at reduced cost AND it gave him less re-work and less waste- all which allowed him to drive the price down. Also, he always had the same mark-up on his products. Instead of charging what the market would bear, everything they made had the same mark-up relative to production/development/marketing costs. That also kept his prices down.

The stuff has always been well made, and if you agree with the design choices they make it's wonderful gear. If you don't agree, then it's just not for you. I loved the original EQ centers on the old TKO-65, the Centurion head, and the Pro-Bass 1000 pre-amp. The TNT-130, the Mk IV, and the Max pre-amp had different EQ centers and never sounded as good to me. But they were just as well made and very useful and laudable gear.

John

 

[jjk2007]

Why do you call Peavey's cab a "knock-off to the real thing". Can only Eden make a ported 4x10, and if anyone else does it's a knock-off.

Again, primo Peavey stuff will compare nicely with any brand of gear. Their cheap stuff on the other hand, isn't so good. But I bet it's still better than Crate and Rogue or Squire.

Again, Peavey's a good value, I'm starting to really like and respect their company.....

I've always been a fan of Peavey. Don't own any amps or cabs anymore but do love my Cirrus 5! I bought a pair of the TX 410's when they first came out (the ones in the Bass Player 410 shootout back in the day). IIRC, they were an identical build (externally) to the SWR Goliath II's/Eden D410T and I actually talked to a couple different dealers who felt that Peavey may have "borrowed" some ideas from those two companies to design that cab. I don't know that I would brand Peavey a "knockoff" company, as they have made some cool, original products at a great price, making them a major player in the music industry. But, back to these cabs I remember my local store had just got the Eden 410T in, had a Goliath II and I wanted to try them. I took one of my Peaveys in and did a 3 way comparison. Myself, another bass playing friend and the store manager (who was a monster player) took turns for about 45 min. The Peavey and SWR sounded nearly identical to all 3 sets of ears, with the Eden having a voice of it's own. Within the next few days I traded my Peaveys toward the Eden, but we were amazed at how close the Peavey was to the SWR. I think the only difference was that the SWR could handle more power before breaking up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!