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Peavey T-40 Club Part 2
- Thread starter Bryan R. Tyler
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- club
Aren't there some geologic fault lines that run through your part of Texas?
You may want to check with the scientists at TAMU before unleashing something like that!
@Deaky
Good solid basses,affordable and quite readily available (even in the UK where I am ).
The one thing is weight ! This has to be the single most over-stated thing about T-40s, folks forget that plenty basses in the 70's were heavy.
Both Hartley and Chip Todd have said they thought the need for heavy basses was bunk but as newcomers on the bass & guitar scene they
didn't feel confident enough to re-educate the masses so went with the flow. Chip later had a sideline routering out the back of T-60's to
lighten them.
T-40's balance well so get yourself a decent strap and you'll be good to go
Good solid basses,affordable and quite readily available (even in the UK where I am ).
The one thing is weight ! This has to be the single most over-stated thing about T-40s, folks forget that plenty basses in the 70's were heavy.
Both Hartley and Chip Todd have said they thought the need for heavy basses was bunk but as newcomers on the bass & guitar scene they
didn't feel confident enough to re-educate the masses so went with the flow. Chip later had a sideline routering out the back of T-60's to
lighten them.
T-40's balance well so get yourself a decent strap and you'll be good to go
It looks real close to the locations on my 1st model TL-5 with T-40 PUs..... 11 1/4" to the neck PU center and 15" to the bridge PU center from the 12th fret. The neck PU works really well in this location. Just out of curiosity would you measure and post your pickup locations from the 12th fret to PU center?
That bass is so cool. You'd never guess it didn't come from the factory that way.
On my P-40, the pickup measurements are really close to yours: 11 9/16" to the center of the neck pickup and 14 7/8" to the center of the bridge pup; which puts my pickups about 1/2" closer together. Just for comparison, the pickups on my T-40 are centered at 8 13/16" and 14 1/2", so the T-40's neck pickup is way farther up than either of ours.
BTW, Mech, your post about modifying your TL-5 in this thread is one of the things that started me thinking about the possibility of putting T-40 pickups in a different body, so thanks!
This isn't a T-40 but it belongs to RT Lowe, the guy that developed the T-40 and T-60 pickups. He put the T-40 and T-60 pickups in it during that time frame. Also did the diamond fret markers and mother-of-toilet-seat peghead overlay. It's a bass he played in the early 1960s.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
I got a new scale recently and weighed my T-40. It turns out I was way off on the weight. It is just over 11 pounds. I could've sworn it weighed a metric poop-ton.
May I join too ???
I will take delivery of that beauty this week !!!
Can't wait ! She is in absolute pristine condition, absolutely so rare in that condition!!!
I will take delivery of that beauty this week !!!
Can't wait ! She is in absolute pristine condition, absolutely so rare in that condition!!!
I got a new scale recently and weighed my T-40. It turns out I was way off on the weight. It is just over 11 pounds. I could've sworn it weighed a metric poop-ton.
I've been able to calculate the mass of mine by the amount that light bends when passing by it. Thanks, Einstein!
Hello from rainy London,
I am new to this forum, and It's really nice to see so many bass players who know a classic when they see one. Mine is serial 00464545 (1979) I bought it new in Edinburgh, Scotland in (thinks) '79. Toaster pickups - Black finish ash body maple neck. In my other hand I was holding a precision, but it just didn't seem serious enough for the job compared to the Peavey. Never entered my mind to keep it mint condition (this machine has worked hard for a living).... but It was always set-up well and maintained / cleaned properly by our then backline tech. In those days it was new strings (Rotosound round lights) every month or so, and it slept in a flight case with plenty of silicone to draw any humidity off. A touch fret wear (but no fault in intonation ... and no buzz) and still a working instrument after all these years.
You can keep your Fenders etc. My T-40 is the best bass I ever played, bar none. It has toured the world, and cut tracks in some of Europe's finest recording studios. I always got good comments from studio engineers about the versatility and range of tone you can get out of it. most bizzarre electrics ever in a passive bass- but to good effect when it comes to breadth of tone.
Indestructable? .... absolutely! AND a sustain to die for. That's the weight. (I can't believe people moan so much about the weight of these instruments.) Mine has few chips & scratches, but that's okay I think - for a working bass. I have sold a few instruments over the years but I could could never ever sell the T-40. It would just be wrong.
It was originally shipped in an oblong hard case with brown lining - but I always hankered after one of the bullet cases.
Just recently I got a second hand bullet case shipped all the way from Denver USA via ebay, with no lining in it. I cleaned it up & relined it with blue faux fur. You could run a truck over this thing. It is very, very tough. I have a stingray too ... I found that this doesn't fit in the case ..... only the Peavey. Kind of right that it can only hold the Peavey really.
Interesting peice here .... Producer Warren Huart's comments on the Peavey T-40 in the studio
Producer Warren Huart on Working with Ace Frehley, Aerosmith, Slash, John 5 and Lita Ford
I am new to this forum, and It's really nice to see so many bass players who know a classic when they see one. Mine is serial 00464545 (1979) I bought it new in Edinburgh, Scotland in (thinks) '79. Toaster pickups - Black finish ash body maple neck. In my other hand I was holding a precision, but it just didn't seem serious enough for the job compared to the Peavey. Never entered my mind to keep it mint condition (this machine has worked hard for a living).... but It was always set-up well and maintained / cleaned properly by our then backline tech. In those days it was new strings (Rotosound round lights) every month or so, and it slept in a flight case with plenty of silicone to draw any humidity off. A touch fret wear (but no fault in intonation ... and no buzz) and still a working instrument after all these years.
You can keep your Fenders etc. My T-40 is the best bass I ever played, bar none. It has toured the world, and cut tracks in some of Europe's finest recording studios. I always got good comments from studio engineers about the versatility and range of tone you can get out of it. most bizzarre electrics ever in a passive bass- but to good effect when it comes to breadth of tone.
Indestructable? .... absolutely! AND a sustain to die for. That's the weight. (I can't believe people moan so much about the weight of these instruments.) Mine has few chips & scratches, but that's okay I think - for a working bass. I have sold a few instruments over the years but I could could never ever sell the T-40. It would just be wrong.
It was originally shipped in an oblong hard case with brown lining - but I always hankered after one of the bullet cases.
Just recently I got a second hand bullet case shipped all the way from Denver USA via ebay, with no lining in it. I cleaned it up & relined it with blue faux fur. You could run a truck over this thing. It is very, very tough. I have a stingray too ... I found that this doesn't fit in the case ..... only the Peavey. Kind of right that it can only hold the Peavey really.
Interesting peice here .... Producer Warren Huart's comments on the Peavey T-40 in the studio
Producer Warren Huart on Working with Ace Frehley, Aerosmith, Slash, John 5 and Lita Ford
@scoorieboy
Where in Edinburgh did it come from ? Grants' in Tollcross maybe or Mev Taylors' in Haymarket ?
edit
I agree with you about the weight,you'd think the T-40 was the only bass to have some heft.
Did folk forget about some of the 70s Fenders ?
Where in Edinburgh did it come from ? Grants' in Tollcross maybe or Mev Taylors' in Haymarket ?
edit
I agree with you about the weight,you'd think the T-40 was the only bass to have some heft.
Did folk forget about some of the 70s Fenders ?
I seem to recall buying it from the guys at Piledriver - such a long time ago now..... we hired rigs from them all the time, and I recall they were stocking instruments too for a while.
Here are a few pics of my T-40 out & about through the years……
I had a chance to play the new beauty this week and I tell you she simply ROCKS !!!
So many tones you can get from her, it is unbelievable, the neck is fast and straight, the design has been well thought out too!! The Bass bridge is sturdy with through-body strings and the pickups are hot and do the job perfectly! Well done Peavey in the late 70's, 80's !
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