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Peavey TNT 100
- Thread starter s8ramius
- Start date
What is a good price? I had one of these 30 years ago and it served me well even though I abused the HELL out of it. Not real loud, but rugged as hell. Not sure about gigging with it, but it would be an excellent practice amp. I have seen people trying to sell these for $200 even though I don't think it cost more than $225 in 1979 brand new...
No experience with the newer model, but I played tons of shows with a TNT130 from about 1986 until sometime in the 1990s. It's not a clean or pretty amp but distorts well for rock and can get reasonably loud for the wattage (and 15" speaker). There were tons of shows where someone had a fancy tube head and wound up using my "crappier" amp because of some blown tube or other problem.
Also, totally reliable. I abused the hell out of it. Then I loaned it to a friend who abused it even more. Then I got it back and it still worked fine.
Mine was like 75# though, and eventually I conceded to my back and moved on to other amps.
Also, totally reliable. I abused the hell out of it. Then I loaned it to a friend who abused it even more. Then I got it back and it still worked fine.
Mine was like 75# though, and eventually I conceded to my back and moved on to other amps.
Like 125. It seems pretty well kept. It is cheaper than most 15watt amps. It seems good for a small gig.
Not bad at 125, it is pretty amazing how the Peavey stuff holds its value relatively well. For all the bashing, they build some damn good equipment!!!
I dragged one all over the southeast back in the late '70's playing CCM and it never let me down. I had to replace, I believe, two capacitors but this was always during the rehearsal stages and it never gave a problem during gigs. I also used it up until about four years ago when I sold it, intent on gettting out of playing. Right, you see where I'm at. A very reliable amp for the most part and very stout, mine was dropped several times by roadies but always came through.
I recently acquired my second one! I had sold the first one I had, that my father-in-law gave me years ago, just to keep from moving it from Houston to Austin. But I recently saw one on Austin Craigslist for $150. I worked a trade out with the guy and brought it home. Ths one is one of the first ones built, without the preamp output on it. And the speaker is also different from the one I had before. In this one, the speaker has a treated-cloth suspension and lighter cone, and seems far quicker than the other one. I typically don't like 15" (alone) for bass because of their slow transient response...but this one's really quite fast-responding...for a 15".
I figure this is a '78 model, thus it's about 33 years old. Yet it still sounds (to my ears) pretty darned good.
No, these aren't the latest/greatest, and don't have the 'hi-fi' tone that bass amps tend to nowadays. I have one of those, too. But for many 'old school' genres, such as classic rock and blues, this ol' thang gives me that lovely thick midbassy tone that I want in those styles. Works beautifully with my Epiphone EB-0, and also gives me a very punchy 'Jaco-tone' with my fretless P/J.
These amps generally run about $150 on the used market for one in good condition, so for $125, you're getting a decent deal, I think.
I figure this is a '78 model, thus it's about 33 years old. Yet it still sounds (to my ears) pretty darned good.
No, these aren't the latest/greatest, and don't have the 'hi-fi' tone that bass amps tend to nowadays. I have one of those, too. But for many 'old school' genres, such as classic rock and blues, this ol' thang gives me that lovely thick midbassy tone that I want in those styles. Works beautifully with my Epiphone EB-0, and also gives me a very punchy 'Jaco-tone' with my fretless P/J.
These amps generally run about $150 on the used market for one in good condition, so for $125, you're getting a decent deal, I think.
old TNT = great little amp. Even better if it has the black widow speaker. Those are easy to "recone" as the entire "speaker" portion can be bought and screwed onto the magnet. AFAIK they still make those, but I could be wrong.
Pretty much almost all of the older late 70s to mid 80s Bass amps from them are great rugged meat and potatoes - no frills but sounds "good enough" amps. Most of their keyboard amps and PA gear from the same time were built out of the same modular components. I've used the keyboard amp version of the TNT that a buddy has many times. Kind of an odd duck as it has a tweeter, but it sounds darned close to the TNT. The TKO amp wasn't as great - not one I'd buy if i could find a TNT. I regret selling my Mark IV head and 2x15 cab. I'm sure they are still out there to this day playing many gigs.
Yes, I was a fat bastard then, but I had hair!
Pretty much almost all of the older late 70s to mid 80s Bass amps from them are great rugged meat and potatoes - no frills but sounds "good enough" amps. Most of their keyboard amps and PA gear from the same time were built out of the same modular components. I've used the keyboard amp version of the TNT that a buddy has many times. Kind of an odd duck as it has a tweeter, but it sounds darned close to the TNT. The TKO amp wasn't as great - not one I'd buy if i could find a TNT. I regret selling my Mark IV head and 2x15 cab. I'm sure they are still out there to this day playing many gigs.
Yes, I was a fat bastard then, but I had hair!
I have just repaired a 1979 Peavey TNT 100, that a buddy found on the side of the road out for the garbage.
I tested the circuits on the PCB all of the components checked out fine, discovered a couple of dry solder joints and one for the coupling transformer that was completely disconnected, couple of wipes with some clean solder and the Amp is back to full working order.
The cab is a bit grubby, and will need a bit of a clean up, but the speaker looks mint.
So to hear it can go for $150 is very good news.
I played it last night, and the tones are great especially for blues and Rock, so all in all a great roadside find.
I tested the circuits on the PCB all of the components checked out fine, discovered a couple of dry solder joints and one for the coupling transformer that was completely disconnected, couple of wipes with some clean solder and the Amp is back to full working order.
The cab is a bit grubby, and will need a bit of a clean up, but the speaker looks mint.
So to hear it can go for $150 is very good news.
I played it last night, and the tones are great especially for blues and Rock, so all in all a great roadside find.
Resurrection time. I'm picking a functioning TNT-100 up for $50 this weekend, and for a lot of the older-style stuff I've been doing, like surf n' drag, punky 80s rock, and that kind of thing I think it'll be great. And it was my first amp ever- I actually pulled it out of the box, brand-new, back in 1979... I knew it wasn't high-end, but man was it cool! I beat it up pretty good over the next two years, and left it a a friend's garage-jam one night after it started making some horrible WAAAAAH-WAAAAAH-WAAAAAH noise and wouldn't stop. Probably could've been fixed! This one's missing a few knobs, I'll write Peavey and see if they might have any laying around. Otherwise I'll just stick some old radio chicken-head knobs on it...
Anyway, nice to read all the comments here, reminding me what a functional, dependably adequate amp it was for its abilities. Perfect for my minimalist side.
Note: anybody remember seeing Elvis Costello and the Attractions on SNL? Mr Costello stopped the beginning of a tune and instead the lurched into "Radio Radio", and were subsequently never asked back by Lorne Michaels, the show's producer. But Bruce Thomas had a TNT-100 set atop a road case with an SM-58 pointed at the speaker. P-Bass. Rock n' roll, kiddies...
Anyway, nice to read all the comments here, reminding me what a functional, dependably adequate amp it was for its abilities. Perfect for my minimalist side.
Note: anybody remember seeing Elvis Costello and the Attractions on SNL? Mr Costello stopped the beginning of a tune and instead the lurched into "Radio Radio", and were subsequently never asked back by Lorne Michaels, the show's producer. But Bruce Thomas had a TNT-100 set atop a road case with an SM-58 pointed at the speaker. P-Bass. Rock n' roll, kiddies...
Rock n' roll indeed! I love this Pixies video where Joey S smacks a Bandit or Special around to get the reverb crashing sound
The amp itself sounds pretty darn good. If it has the old style speaker in it with the square magnet, it has a fairly early fartout threshold, the amps 80-ish watts can distort it, which might find you falling short for some gigs, but played within its limits, that is also a very nice sounding speaker. Quite a wide range and very responsive, just can't handle the pounding bass of the later black widows.
I got my TNT 100 for Christmas in 1978. I still have it. I replaced the speaker with a 15" Black Widow in 1982 when I used to bi amp with a Peavey Mark IV. I recently removed the amp from the cabinet and sent it back to Peavey and for $50 they reconditioned it. Sounds like it did back in the day. Very reliable and HEAVY. I really like this amp and now that I'm in a lower volume playing style it's all I need. Add a few pedals to your signal chain and you can get almost any sound you want.
People give me s@#t about using Peavey gear but I got the most compliments on my tone when I used all Peavey gear than I did when I switched to Mesa Boogie. Go figure. If the time comes that I have to have more volume I'll buy another Peavey.
People give me s@#t about using Peavey gear but I got the most compliments on my tone when I used all Peavey gear than I did when I switched to Mesa Boogie. Go figure. If the time comes that I have to have more volume I'll buy another Peavey.
- Oct 22, 2015
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A far summation. Yet in 1979 the TNT was a giggable amp and there were a lot out there doing hard duty in that time. Someone here at TB said when someone showed up with a Peavey, everyone knew tonight would rock.
