That is pretty awesome! I would love that with five strings.
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Peavey US basses...PLEASE COME BACK.
- Thread starter songwriter21
- Start date
That is pretty awesome! I would love that with five strings.
Considering I play dingwalls, that sounds cheap, and I would snatch a T-40 five string up.
IMO, another problem is that they shot themselves in the foot with the imports. Called them very similar names and the looks were also a lot alike. I think it caused a lot of confusion about what was what. I can remember people thinking that my bubinga/walnut Cirrus was the import because they had never heard of the American made version. The confusion was even worse with the Millennium.....
I have had:
B Quad 5
B Quad 4
Cirrus 6
Cirrus 5
Millennium J/MM 5
Millennium J/MM 4
TL-Five
G Bass
G-V
Fury
After selling most, what I still have are: Cirrus 6, Mill 5, Fury. And I may sell the Cirrus and Mill at some point. I have realized that I don't care for 35" scale and now I'm just giving it some time to see if that changes.
If Peavey starting offering all of those again, as MIA instruments, would I pay the 2015 price to buy a new one of any of them? Nope. There are too many really nice used, MIA basses (Peaveys and others) out there for half the cost of a new one. I bought 2 brand new basses in my time. My Cirrus 5 was one of them. I don't see myself ever buying another brand new bass. It's just not worth it to me.
And I think the same logic is common enough with other people that I can't see it ever again making financial sense for Peavey to go back to mass producing MIA basses. Peavey does not have the reputation to support charging profitable prices for their basses, when they're made in America. And it's kind of a Catch-22, too. If they make them in big enough quantities, economies of scale would let them charge less for them. But, even then they'll be too expensive to sell THAT many of them at the price they'd have to charge. And if they make them in smaller quantities (because, after all, they'll never be Fender when it comes to basses), then the prices have to be even higher, which means even less people will buy them.
OTOH, if they re-opened the Custom Shop just for custom orders, I can imagine that it would stay busy enough to at least be somewhat profitable. But, how many of you would really pay, say, $3000 for a custom made Cirrus? Not many, I expect.
And I would definitely like it if they would do that, though. I would look forward to someday in the future buying another used Peavey for half price that was custom ordered from the "new" Custom Shop.
B Quad 5
B Quad 4
Cirrus 6
Cirrus 5
Millennium J/MM 5
Millennium J/MM 4
TL-Five
G Bass
G-V
Fury
After selling most, what I still have are: Cirrus 6, Mill 5, Fury. And I may sell the Cirrus and Mill at some point. I have realized that I don't care for 35" scale and now I'm just giving it some time to see if that changes.
If Peavey starting offering all of those again, as MIA instruments, would I pay the 2015 price to buy a new one of any of them? Nope. There are too many really nice used, MIA basses (Peaveys and others) out there for half the cost of a new one. I bought 2 brand new basses in my time. My Cirrus 5 was one of them. I don't see myself ever buying another brand new bass. It's just not worth it to me.
And I think the same logic is common enough with other people that I can't see it ever again making financial sense for Peavey to go back to mass producing MIA basses. Peavey does not have the reputation to support charging profitable prices for their basses, when they're made in America. And it's kind of a Catch-22, too. If they make them in big enough quantities, economies of scale would let them charge less for them. But, even then they'll be too expensive to sell THAT many of them at the price they'd have to charge. And if they make them in smaller quantities (because, after all, they'll never be Fender when it comes to basses), then the prices have to be even higher, which means even less people will buy them.
OTOH, if they re-opened the Custom Shop just for custom orders, I can imagine that it would stay busy enough to at least be somewhat profitable. But, how many of you would really pay, say, $3000 for a custom made Cirrus? Not many, I expect.
And I would definitely like it if they would do that, though. I would look forward to someday in the future buying another used Peavey for half price that was custom ordered from the "new" Custom Shop.
I have had:
B Quad 5
B Quad 4
Cirrus 6
Cirrus 5
Millennium J/MM 5
Millennium J/MM 4
TL-Five
G Bass
G-V
Fury
After selling most, what I still have are: Cirrus 6, Mill 5, Fury. And I may sell the Cirrus and Mill at some point. I have realized that I don't care for 35" scale and now I'm just giving it some time to see if that changes.
If Peavey starting offering all of those again, as MIA instruments, would I pay the 2015 price to buy a new one of any of them? Nope. There are too many really nice used, MIA basses (Peaveys and others) out there for half the cost of a new one. I bought 2 brand new basses in my time. My Cirrus 5 was one of them. I don't see myself ever buying another brand new bass. It's just not worth it to me.
And I think the same logic is common enough with other people that I can't see it ever again making financial sense for Peavey to go back to mass producing MIA basses. Peavey does not have the reputation to support charging profitable prices for their basses, when they're made in America. And it's kind of a Catch-22, too. If they make them in big enough quantities, economies of scale would let them charge less for them. But, even then they'll be too expensive to sell THAT many of them at the price they'd have to charge. And if they make them in smaller quantities (because, after all, they'll never be Fender when it comes to basses), then the prices have to be even higher, which means even less people will buy them.
OTOH, if they re-opened the Custom Shop just for custom orders, I can imagine that it would stay busy enough to at least be somewhat profitable. But, how many of you would really pay, say, $3000 for a custom made Cirrus? Not many, I expect.
And I would definitely like it if they would do that, though. I would look forward to someday in the future buying another used Peavey for half price that was custom ordered from the "new" Custom Shop.
They would have had the reputation with a different & more focused marketing strategy. Shoulda, woulda, coulda though....
Here's another bass for your list......
Link Removed
Peavey Grind USA 4
They also made a a five string that had a J/J pickup configuration. They started selling the import Grind around the same time as they were advertising this bass. Good luck finding one and that especially true for the 5 string version. 18v elctronics, can be operated in active or passive mode, passive pickups, Hipshot hardware, alder body, maple neck, pau ferro fretboard, 34" scale on the four string and 35" on the five. Scored this one for a little more than Squire prices. Shame....
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Some Peaveys are like unicorns, they are so rare. I would love a Forum V. I understand it has a sound and feel somewhat like a Music Man.
Doc,
Thing is I was GASing hard for one of the 5s of that model. New they would have sold for over $1000.00 and I was willing to pay it. Never saw one hit a store but I have seen the import versions which look almost identical. The only way thatt I can tell without a doubt is to check the neck joint. The Americans have a joint like mine in the picture. Here's an import....
Here's an import 5....
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Maybe they coulda... I think it would have taken a HUGE amount more effort than just employing a different marketing strategy for their basses and guitars, but who knows.
The MIA Grind looks cool. But, when I play a P bass, I want 34" scale, passive, and my Fury is pretty much the perfect P bass, to me. There is nothing about it that I would change.
I ain't mad at ya! That bass works quite well in passive mode but some don't want the J pickup near the bridge.
Glad I snagged a couple of USA Cirrus basses when I had the chance. I couldn't touch a similar bass by any other brand for that price.
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Something I was wondering about the other day: How can you tell the difference between a US Cirrus and an import? I mean, assuming you can't just look at the headstock. Any differentiating factors that stand out visually?
I gave up on the idea of them coming out with a 5 string t40, so I made my own
Being fairly new to bass, I'm wondering what the time period is you're talking about - when Peavey was in their prime.
Huh. I have 3 US Peaveys: a T-40, a Dyna Unity, and a Sarzo. Great basses to be sure, and it sure would be nice if they were still around. I have to say, though, that the import basses are not junk. There may be some lemons out there, but the ones I have played have been just fine. They don't capture the US Peavey magic, but they aren't junk.
I gave up on the idea of them coming out with a 5 string t40, so I made my own
As Keanu Reeves would say, Woah! How'd you hack the bridge to get 5 saddles in there? I take it that's "5 in the space of 4" string spacing?
Edit: If I squint real hard, I think I can make it out - you removed the innards and fit 5 monorails in there, didn't you? Almost the only thing that could go narrow enough. Kewl idea!
Hmmmm, you know... I do have 3 T-40s, I may have to do this to one of them! I always have preferred tighter string spacing (not much downside for me, since I can't slap anyway).
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IMO, Peavey really hit their stride when they launched the Sarzo and the TL series in the early 90's (the TL might have been late 80's). This gave rise to the Cirrus and all the others, and I believe it all ended in the early 2000's. It wasn't a long run, considering they pioneered CNC technology with the T-40 right at the end of the 70's.
I really that Peavey suffered from being the first to pioneer CNC because I think many consumers felt their guitars and basses were cheap because of their relatively low prices.
I wish they would bring back US made basses, at least the custom shop.
They gave it up about the time people were realizing they had great basses.
They gave it up about the time people were realizing they had great basses.
here's a close up for you, no need to squint. there's more info in this thread
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/modding-my-t-40.838400/
I'm not really convinced that, in the late 70's, the market was ready to accept that there were better basses than Fenders out there unless they said Alembic on the headstock. Not knocking Fenders - I'm a fan of them too.
I also think Peavey suffered a little bit by ongoing changes to its existing lineup. I don't know if it was driven by creativity, innovation, sales or all of the above, but I really believe the Foundation would have the next Precision if they hadn't abandoned the line. For a while, Peavey was really making inroads and being highly visible in the country genre with the Foundation and later with the TL5.
And I STILL don't know who Tim Landers is. Great basses, though.
