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Peavey T-40 Club
- Thread starter kingpin2512
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I have to wonder, just how many female players here have a T40? I know theres me and I think there were a couple others who had one at one point but I wonder how many of us female low end holders have them now???
Starscream your the only female I know on who has one. There is probally others that I don't know about though.
StarscreamG1, Thank you for the response. What really matters is being happy with your instrument, and you all seem to be happy.
I guess a T-40 is worth checking out one more time. I still don't think I'll buy one, but my opinion of them might change.
I guess a T-40 is worth checking out one more time. I still don't think I'll buy one, but my opinion of them might change.
Something important to understand about the T-40 is the vast array of tones you can get from these pickups, particularly due to the way they're wired. With the tone set to "10" on either pup, the humbuckers get switched to single coil mode. Turn it down around 7 and it switches back to full output humbucker mode. Add in a series/parallel switch (that most of us don't bother with), and you get a ton of possibilities.
With the pups in humbucker mode you can come close to Gibson-style mudbucker territory if you like (though less extreme), and a lot of people like to run them Precision style (neck pup solo'd, in humbucker mode). But to me what makes these basses such a steal is the "rickenbacker" mode. Both tones wide open in single coil mode, run either both pups together, or favor the bridge pup a bit, and due to the pickup placement, you can get closer to a Ric tone than pretty much anything out there, besides an actual Ric, of course. This is how I run mine 99% of the time, and to me it's what really sets this bass apart from the Fender pack.
Oh, and I realized i DO have some pics of Betty (the 1980 natural ash model, or my "blonde")... taken of me on stage. Action shots, if you will.
Live at Safari Sam's for a KROQ showcase:
Live at the Scene:
Live at Safari Sam's for a KROQ showcase:
Live at the Scene:
I rate this post a 94 out of 100.
It's a phase switch, not a series/parallel switch (which would be about 10X more useful than the phase switch, IMNSHO)
A few things:
I agree, that versatility is definately one of best sonic advantages of these basses.
However, the switch is not a series/paralell, it's an in/out of phase switch. It is less than usefull. Replacing it with a series/paralell switch that selected on coil from each pickup and put them in series would be a super usefull function, that would probably get very close to a p-bass sound.
The bridge bucker sound is cool, but I don't think it's at all like a p-bass. As you say, the Rickenbacker sound is one of the more unique things that the t-40 can do.
If the t-40 had achieved the classic status of certain other instruments, I wonder if we would feel the need to compare it to other basses. How would you all describe the tone of a t-40 without comparing to other basses?
Ah. I appreciate the correction, somewhere along the way I think I must have assumed they were the same thing and concocted some kind of misinformation-stew in my brain. But yeah, agreed, that switch is pretty useless. Any idea what the point or original intention was? Or has anyone found a useful application for it? As far as I can tell it just makes the bass sound less good.
And apologies if I confused matters worse, but I meant that the solo'd neck pickup on humbucker mode is the way to approximate the Precision tone. It's not all that close IMO, and I'd definitely reach for my P if i wanted that sound, but it is a usable tone for sure.
If i had to describe the tone of a T-40 without referencing other basses, I'd say that first and foremost it's versatile. Capable of fat humbucking tones, cutting single coil bridge tones, and best of all, round vintage tones with a snarling punch AND just enough sparkling clarity.
^_^ I was thinking I was making no sense when I gave my opinion of a T40. Thanks ^_^ Thats great you wanna give one another chance.
You may not like the second try either but thats ok too. Just give it a shot. Play it sitting down 
and just listen to what it can do. As for how they look? It grows on you after a while. 
and I can't imagine a T40 looking any other way. And yes I think I can say that all of us are very happy with our T40s. I screwed my back up between owning my first one and my second one and my BF couldn't understand why I wanted the 'tree trunk' back and I just said that it had to be a bass player thing. The way they are to me makes it worth the weight and I was glad I was able to get another one and save face from my mistake years ago (though since finding out about its b@stard neck I guess it was for the best in the long run
)I know someone here a few months back posted a picture of a girl he knew that was in a studio or something standing there with hers strapped on and she was fine with it. So there are a few of us females that own T40s but I do think we are a limited number. I know it still gets looks and jokes when I pull out the T40 for practice and my guitarist guy has this tiny whatever and Im the only chick there and wearing the Tree Trunk.
my guitarist guy has this tiny whatever and Im the only chick there and wearing the Tree Trunk.
Supports my theory that all guitardists are compensating for something.
I think the phase switch is a feature that was simply brought over from the t-60 guitar (the t-40's nearly identical guitar counterpart) For a guitar, the nasaly out-of-phase switch can sometimes be an interesting effect. On a bass however, it has little use.
The only people I've ever heard of useing it, use it as a special effect in rare songs where it might aproximate a certain synthesizer sound. However, those in experimental bands, could probably come up with good uses for that tone.
In my Rock and Country context, it's nearly useless.
My T-40 was my main gig bass until I recently purchased a new Landing. Somehow it manages to make it to a lot of gigs, even if just as a backup.
Whats my # ?
- Jul 30, 2006
- 2,315
- 453
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist:Regenerate Guitar Works Carvin, Micheal Kelly Guitars
If anybody's interested I know the guy who initially made all those basses. His name is Chip Todd & he worked for PV for 20 years+ & then worked for Fender.He now lives in Leander, Tx. near Austin. I believe if you Google him, you can get in touch. He runs a shop fixing & making guitars & basses & just recently had a sale of old PV bodies & hardware on Craigslist. His current specialty is short scale basses. He brings them out to my gigs & I play them. They sound killer & have the scale length of a Strat. He's making me a 5'er right now.
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