Remember when Peavey made alot of pretty good quality basses?

ya know...Peavey always fell short on really making anything that stood out as.."wow, this is incredible, on all levels" except for maybe the highend wolfgangs. They are one ground breaking idea away from being back to where they were. It needs to be solid. maybe license, leo quan,hipshot, nordstrand, and wilkens and Aguilar...and build something spectacular. 34" 5 string.

 

but they fell short on tone

 

Isn't that pretty much a matter of opinion?

 

I disagree when you say "all" - I would say "very good", or "great for the money" - but not "top shelf"...


- georgestrings

 

I dunno - I've played some MIA Cirrus basses that were pretty impressive...


- georgestrings

 

Well, the good news is that there are still some excellent used instruments on the market. The Cirrus and TL basses are incredible bargains, IMHO. There's a TL-5 on eBay right now for $500. USA made, neck through body construction, near-boutique quality at a near entry-level price.

 

That is incorrect. The Sarzo Signature, Palaedium, TL-5, TL-6, US Millennium, Cirrus, B-Quad, G-bass, and even the Dyna models - all those basses were incredible on all levels. In fact, most of those basses are better than anything Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker ever made. In fact, the title of this thread "remember when Peavey made a lot of pretty good quality basses?" is misleading. Peavey made many brilliant, groundbreaking, boutique-level quality basses.

I don't know why Peavey has shifted all their bass production to Asia. But many of those Asian Peavey basses are very decent instruments. I have an Indonesian-made Cirrus that I think is incredible. I'm not going to second guess Hartley Peavey. I consider him an innovator on the level of Leo Fender, and a great businessman. If I were to guess, I'd say Peavey is on better financial ground than most of it's major competitors.

 

Your memory is better than mine. I had problems with the two I once owned.

 

I know you bought a Fury that you were underwhelmed with, but I've never owned a Peavey bass that I didn't think was "top shelf" in every aspect. Even my Fury, a Pbass clone - I can't find a single complaint with it. Tight neck pocket, light, nice fretwork, stays in tune, keeps a setup under all weather conditions, sounds great, plays great. And that's just a basic Peavey. The TL-5 - Fender never made a bass that nice. Ever.

I never had a quality complaint with a Peavey. Now Fender, on the other hand - hahaha! I'd say I could find a quality complaint on fully HALF the Fender basses I've owned. Pickups failing, crappy paint, sloppy woodwork - the list goes on. And don't even get me started about Gibson. And I like Fender and Gibson. I still own several of them. But Peavey smokes them when it comes to quality.

 

I would describe the workmanship of the Peaveys I tried in the 1990's as very good for a factory-made bass. Those designs were also a leap forward from my first bass- an early 1980's T-40 (AKA boat anchor). If the workmanship has fallen off, for whatever reason, that is too bad. It is a tough business to be in at this time with so many competitors making decent basses for under $2k.

 

You're certainly entitled to your own opinion, but not your own reality - and the market has clearly supported my opinion, not yours... FWIW, my Fury isn't the only Peavey bass I've ever checked out...


- georgestrings

 

Fender has never made a bass as good as the Peavey TL 5 is a 100% accurate statement.

 

Remember when Peavey made a lot of pretty good quality basses?

Yup. I can't see the point of getting involved in the pissing match but to answer the original question, Yes. That's why I have five of them.

 

I'm not entirely sure what your opinion is that the market has supported.

Regardless, Peavey instruments being "top shelf" is not my opinion. It's a fact. And Fender products from days of yore being rife with quality problems is not an opinion either, it's a fact.

What the market has determined is that buyers want Fender basses more than Peavey basses. But that doesn't mean anything, really. Players prefer Fender to Fodera - does that mean that Fender basses are superior to Fodera basses? Look at the top grossing movies of 2013. Fast And Furious 6 has grossed 1/4 BILLION dollars to date. That's a lot more than The Grand Illusion will gross in a hundred lifetimes. Does that make Fast And Furious 6 the superior movie?

Sales figures are not the final word when it comes to quality and especially innovation. If you want to cheer Fender's dominance of the bass guitar market, that's ok. But that's sales reality, not quality reality.

 

I, too, lament the lack of Milli USA and Cirrus-level Peaveys being produced right now. I imagine that this is strictly a business decision on Peavey's part. I would put any of Peavey's past high-end basses against any production instrument. Period. Back when the Wolfgang came out, for example, it was of a far higher quality than any standard production guitar of the time. And the shop I worked for sold Gibson, Fender, PRS, etc. Better finish, better wood, infinitely better setup and QC. Same for the Cirrus line. But I believe that sooner or later, they will build another US made bass that will be incredible. But until that bass comes along, Peavey seems content to leave that hole in their lineup. Unlike some other companies that try to fill every niche with a slightly different version of one or two models without actually ever producing something "new".

 

I'll put a USA Millennium up against anything Fender can make and run circles around it. I would imagine a Cirrus or B-Quad would do the same.

 

C'mon man, we all know Beiber is a master-level artist. He's made a bazillion dollars.

 

Ya ... I have never been happy with peavey products.

 

+1 on the US Millennium. My Millennium Jazz is built better and sounds better than any Fender Jazz I've ever played. And my Millennium Plus smokes any Fender I've ever touched.