Peavey T-40 Club Part 2

[Justyn Brando]

Nice! Never seen a blue one.

From what I can tell, it was refinished in the 80s. More than likely was a natural body prior, as there's no other indication of color in the cavities. The only real giveaway that it's not original is the shielding tape was not original and the previous owner said he did not redo it. He kept everything as is from when he bought it in the early 90s.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Are both coils in each humbucker working? That would reduce output and those pickups are known for wire breaks.

Surely measuring the DCR of the 4 coils than confirming the values are roughly correct would be first step to determining if there is some internal fault in the coils.

Good questions and ideas, and unfortunately I’m under-qualified and under-equipped to look into them on my own. I forget why I even brought it to him, but for what it’s worth, my trusted tech didn’t report any problems when he had it for whatever I brought it to him to check or fix

My 1st year T40 was the exact opposite to what you describe. I fitted tape strings to tame it a little bit.

As popular as these have become with doomsters, I figured they were all like yours, but I suppose anything will sound huge with enough dirt and speaker area.

The first version of the pickups (toasters) are lower output compared to the rails that came after. No way to know if your's are "normal" without A/Bing them. The only thing that sounds off to me is they being very "midrange-y". That's not how I would describe mine. Make sure the phase switch is opperating correctly.here is a Lobster vid you can try to compare to...

Another option is to get a set of these Stonewall pickups,


Hmm, some of this sounds normal and some doesn't.

Regarding the output volume: I've had three T-40's, two of which were the toaster pickups like yours and one which had the blades. The blades are definitely louder, probably about on par with my loudest passive instruments. The toasters are lower resistance, and they're actually fairly quiet - I don't think they're wound with a high resistance. I do know that they're noticeably quieter than my JMJ Mustang, but not enough that it would seem like a problem. Overall, if your other instruments are mostly high output, I think you will perceive the T-40 as somewhat quieter, but it shouldn't feel weak.

It does seem a bit weird to me that you'd describe the toaster pickups as being excessively midrangey. The toaster pickups are IME very broad sounding, fairly mellow and bassy, and with a somewhat compressed attack and decay profile. I felt that the blade style are definitely midrangey (which tracks because IIRC the higher resistance a pickup, the more midrange emphasis it tends to have), and the attack profile is noticeably more sharp due to the exposed blade.

I'd suggest playing around with your pickup height(s), which do play a big role in the tonal profile. The coils in T-40 pickups aren't wound extremely hot but these are some very large magnets. If your bridge pickup is too high relative to the neck, or both pickups are too close to the strings, that would definitely shift your tone in a midrangey direction.

If you do all that and it still doesn't work, Stonewall makes some T-40 pickups which seem to be excellent quality, although a bit on the spendy side:

Store

Stonewall Pickups - innovative, boutique, handwound guitar and bass pickups. Humbuckers, P90s, Strat, Tele, offset guitar pickups, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, bass humbuckers, P-bass, Jazz Bass, bass P90s

www.stonewallpickups.com

I think I need to retract, or at least rethink, my “midrange-y” description. I think what I meant by that was that I hear some sort of … burp-y? character to the notes, regardless of how I set the onboard electronics. In any event, mine sounds much like @LowEndLobster ’s does in the video, though it sounds like I have darker strings (extra long nickel-plated steel Stringjoy roundwounds, .130/.105/.080/.060, tuned BEAD) and/or less sizzle dialed in.

I felt like mine was like that, too. I thought it was normal. Mine was polite, dark, and slightly lower output compared to other basses. Bright steel strings helped.

This sounds much like what I’m experiencing, so I suspect my electronics are probably fine after all, just not as burly and rude as I expected for some reason. I asked my guitarist to bring over his jazz bass this Thursday to compare output, since all my other basses apparently breathe fire I haven’t found steel roundwounds I’ve liked, but I do have some Curt Mangan NPS rounds on the way, which I find brighter and more flexible than Stringjoys, so we’ll see how I like those.

Fortunately, I got my T-40 mostly to scratch my birth year and old Peavey itches, and if it sounds different from my go-to instruments (Yamaha BB734A and Ibanez ATK300), that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Riff Ranger]

In other news: any idea why my T-40 gets SO MUCH LOUDER with a distortion pedal engaged? I generally set my distortion pedals to add distortion only, not additional output; and with my other instruments (active or passive), that’s all I get; but with the T-40, the output jumps way up.

 

[lug]

Good questions and ideas, and unfortunately I’m under-qualified and under-equipped to look into them on my own. I forget why I even brought it to him, but for what it’s worth, my trusted tech didn’t report any problems when he had it for whatever I brought it to him to check or fix



As popular as these have become with doomsters, I figured they were all like yours, but I suppose anything will sound huge with enough dirt and speaker area.





I think I need to retract, or at least rethink, my “midrange-y” description. I think what I meant by that was that I hear some sort of … burp-y? character to the notes, regardless of how I set the onboard electronics. In any event, mine sounds much like @LowEndLobster ’s does in the video, though it sounds like I have darker strings (extra long nickel-plated steel Stringjoy roundwounds, .130/.105/.080/.060, tuned BEAD) and/or less sizzle dialed in.



This sounds much like what I’m experiencing, so I suspect my electronics are probably fine after all, just not as burly and rude as I expected for some reason. I asked my guitarist to bring over his jazz bass this Thursday to compare output, since all my other basses apparently breathe fire I haven’t found steel roundwounds I’ve liked, but I do have some Curt Mangan NPS rounds on the way, which I find brighter and more flexible than Stringjoys, so we’ll see how I like those.

Fortunately, I got my T-40 mostly to scratch my birth year and old Peavey itches, and if it sounds different from my go-to instruments (Yamaha BB734A and Ibanez ATK300), that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I typically used D'Addario Pro Steels on mine. Lot's-o-Bite.

 

[ZachM]

I think I need to retract, or at least rethink, my “midrange-y” description. I think what I meant by that was that I hear some sort of … burp-y? character to the notes, regardless of how I set the onboard electronics. In any event, mine sounds much like @LowEndLobster ’s does in the video, though it sounds like I have darker strings (extra long nickel-plated steel Stringjoy roundwounds, .130/.105/.080/.060, tuned BEAD) and/or less sizzle dialed in.

Thinking back on it, I tried a set of Stringjoys on the T-40a while back on the and didn't really like the midrange character they had - great quality strings, but not for me. I do think you can alter this though, by playing with the pickup heights a little bit... Pair that up with a nice low setup that gets you a tiny bit of fret clank and you should be able to get a very aggro sound if you want it.

A good example of this tone I've found is "Why", by Chat Pile, that's a great example of what mine sounds like when set up like this.

 

[Riff Ranger]

I definitely like the Stringjoy NPS roundwounds better on some instruments than others. Hopefully the Mangans will be a better fit for my T-40.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Thank you all for weighing in, especially @lug for the audio and video clips. At this point I think my T-40 performs as designed, and that I just had very different ideas of how a T-40 would sound before I got mine based on the many doomsters using them these days. The output seems closer to that of my friend’s jazz bass than my various precision-ish and stingray-ish mainstays, but not problematically low; and for all the versatility in the electronics, the T-40 has a distinct character that I hear in @lug’s clips, and in the lobster video, and in the one I have. Please consider my expectations adjusted

 

[Riff Ranger]

In other news: any idea why my T-40 gets SO MUCH LOUDER with a distortion pedal engaged? I generally set my distortion pedals to add distortion only, not additional output; and with my other instruments (active or passive), that’s all I get; but with the T-40, the output jumps way up.

What about this, though?

 

[Justyn Brando]

What about this, though?

This is where T-40s shine IMO. They take fuzz/gain so damn well.

Listen to the song
Complicated End Times - o'brother

He uses a T-40 exclusively. So gnarly
He also runs a Peavey Standard 260 for a head through an 810.

A live session from audio tree, you can see his rig
Your Move

 

[Justyn Brando]

Lay down
A better track to hear it solo in verses

 

[Riff Ranger]

This is where T-40s shine IMO. They take fuzz/gain so damn well.

Listen to the song
Complicated End Times - o'brother

He uses a T-40 exclusively. So gnarly
He also runs a Peavey Standard 260 for a head through an 810.

A live session from audio tree, you can see his rig
Your Move

Lay down
A better track to hear it solo in verses

Oh, that’s tasty, and not just the bass!

 

[Justyn Brando]

Oh, that’s tasty, and not just the bass!

They were a huge influence on me through the 2010s. Main reason I stumbled into the T-40s.

The album endless light is top tier front to back

 

[UNICORN BASS]

This is where T-40s shine IMO. They take fuzz/gain so damn well.

No s$%#! I hooked my T40 into a Ibanez guitar Tube Screamer once, look out! Run!

 

[filler83]

I could get some great fuzz/overdrive tones with my T-40 with just a MXR 77 (similar to Boss Super Overdrive). Here is me butchering Cliff Burton

 

[lug]

My heavily distorted T40 (song was a joke to a friend who moved to England many years ago and loved T40's)

https://app.box.com/shared/static/51r0e3bb78.mp3

I actually slightly prefer my Ric for distortion stuff, but the T40 works well for this.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Filler83, that's it but very polite compared to the screamer!

 

[Riff Ranger]

No s$%#! I hooked my T40 into a Ibanez guitar Tube Screamer once, look out! Run!

I wondered what this precise combination would sound like. Now I’ve got to try something like that.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Still, the question remains: why does the modest output of my toaster-equipped T-40 suddenly start peeling paint with distortion?

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Great question, no idea.

 

[urkel3000]

You guys are probably sick of seeing my bass but I'll drop it here: