So I played a Peavey Cirrus, and...

[tazthewonderdog]

...I don't know if I can play anything different. That thing played like a dream... if I had $1,000, I'd pick one up. but I don't. Such an amazing player right there. Anyway, my question is... what do the peavey budget basses play/sound like? I don't expect them to be anything like this, but I want to get something cheap to mod out (I.E. de-fret, add EMG's, maybe even... tiger-stripe finish? ), and seeing as they have basses for like $150, this should be a pretty inexpensive project.

Thoughts?

 

[madbassplaya]

...I don't know if I can play anything different. That thing played like a dream... if I had $1,000, I'd pick one up. but I don't. Such an amazing player right there. Anyway, my question is... what do the peavey budget basses play/sound like? I don't expect them to be anything like this, but I want to get something cheap to mod out (I.E. de-fret, add EMG's, maybe even... tiger-stripe finish? ), and seeing as they have basses for like $150, this should be a pretty inexpensive project.

Thoughts?

The Cirrus is a great bass.

All USA Peavey's are incredible values.

 

[nortonrider]

The BXP's are pretty nice playing.

 

[oldrookie]

You can pick up the older ones fairly inexpensively, but you should spend some time with whatever you pick up before modding it. You may find that they are pretty fine basses without modding.

I have two from the '80's, a Fury and a Foundation. Love the bite and bark of the super ferrite pickups in the Foundation.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

You can get a Cirrus for under $1,000 if you take your time and keep looking.

 

[RobJ]

The Cirrus is a great bass.

All USA Peavey's are incredible values.

+1

I've never owned one but have played many, I'd like a Cirrus one day.

 

[Tunaman]

Whats the spacing on those 4 strings? skinny Jazz\Sterling\ASAT or phat P\Stingray\L-2000 ?

 

[kenfxj]

The BXP's are pretty nice playing.

+1

See if you can try something like Invalid Link Removed.

35" scale
Neck-through-body construction
2 VFL active pickups
Active 3-band EQ with +/- 10dB boost/cut
Gold hardware
String-through-finger style bridge
Pau ferro fingerboard
Dual expanding truss rod

 

[sricks3]

I've got two old Peavey Milestone IIs (P-bass copies). They're not even American Peavey's, but I love them. The first one was the first bass I ever owned, and it still gets as much or more play time as my Spector CRFM 5. I got the second one about a year ago for the purpose of defretting and possibly modding. Together they were less than $250.

You mentioned modding and defretting. My defret experience went pretty well, very clean results. If you want details and lessons learned, PM me. I'm actually thinking about dropping another pickup in at the bridge to add a little brightness for solo-y fretless stuff (and just for the fun of it ), but the fretless P sound is pretty sweet as is.

 

[scootron]

I bought my son one of original model Cirrus fivers, and it is amazing. He'll get it for Christmas, which for us will be Saturday the 17th. Not only does it play better than anything else I've ever played, it is absolutely beautiful. His is the one with the redwood top.

I looked at the BXP before searching out one of the old ones. I did not like the BXP nearly as well. It looked nice, but it has a bolt-on neck, whereas the old ones have neck-thru construction.

I have a USA T-40 and a USA Fury as well. Every one of them is a great value.

 

[tazthewonderdog]

Whats the spacing on those 4 strings? skinny Jazz\Sterling\ASAT or phat P\Stingray\L-2000 ?

I didn't even notice, really, and because of that I'm going to assume they were pretty close to my main player, an Ibanez GSR200's strings. GSR's are known to have thin necks though, if that's any help!

If you can, play one of these. So nice :')

 

[tazthewonderdog]

I bought my son one of original model Cirrus fivers, and it is amazing. He'll get it for Christmas, which for us will be Saturday the 17th. Not only does it play better than anything else I've ever played, it is absolutely beautiful. His is the one with the redwood top.

I'm adopting you as my dad.

 

[StuartV]

my question is... what do the peavey budget basses play/sound like?

The Cirrus is the only one with that particular neck profile. So, if you particularly love that, you won't find it anywhere else.

The Millennium (not the BXP) is not a "budget bass", but they normally do sell (used) for quite a bit less than a used Cirrus. And, personally, I had a Cirrus 5 and Millennium 5 Plus and I sold the Cirrus. I do still have a Cirrus 6, though, which made selling the 5 easier to swallow.

I have had just about every high end model of Peavey bass that I know of (Cirrus 5 & 6 (neckthru, not bolt-on), B Quad 4 & 5, Millennium 4 & 5, TL-Five, G-Bass and G-V). Of them all, I like playing the Millennium 5 the best.

My thought is: Get a US Millennium and leave it stock. If you REALLY want to go cheap and do mods, then get a US Fury (Peavey version of a Fender Precision) and mod away (though they are perfectly fine, stock).

 

[MNAirHead]

^^^^^truth^^^^^^^

 

[Razman]

Save up and go for the Cirrus. When you buy the best, you'll always be satisfied with it.

I looked into the China made ones and my conclusion was that I could probably make one better out of balsa wood myself (and I know nothing about bass building). I now play a custom fiver which, at only 34", plays well enough for me to be very satisfied with it - and I've played a bubinga/walnut Cirrus 4 for years.

The Cirrus is my benchmark for playability and tone for almost all other basses I've owned or tried out.

$0.02...

 

[Righteous Thunderer]

I had a lot of high quality basses over the course of about a year, and of all of them the one I regret getting rid of the most was the 99 Cirrus USA 5. That thing was simply amazing.

 

[nortonrider]

I looked at the BXP before searching out one of the old ones. I did not like the BXP nearly as well. It looked nice, but it has a bolt-on neck, whereas the old ones have neck-thru construction.

The BXP Cirrus does not have a bolt on neck,
the Millennium does.

 

[scootron]

The BXP Cirrus does not have a bolt on neck,
the Millennium does.

I know the older Cirrus models had neck-thru. I picked up a Cirrus 5 BXP in a pawn shop the other day that had a bolt-on. And I just went to the Peavey site. They list both a Cirrus 4 BXP bolt-on and a Cirrus 4 BXP neck-thru. The bolt-on is considerably more expensive. Here's what it says about the 4:

The Cirrus™ series achieved mythic status among professional bassists soon after the first models hit the streets. With its exotic body woods, expert USA craftsmanship, active electronics and smooth, natural design, this is one of the most coveted bass guitars ever made. These new bolt-on models were designed to make the Cirrus sound and feel accessible to conventional players.

 

[kenfxj]

Ever since the T-40 Peavey basses, USA or otherwise, have been and remain remarkable value.

 

[mb94952]

I agree with everything said before me.

I own many USA Cirrus' and I have yet to find another bass that plays like they do. I have literally owned over 60 basses ( not uncommon for TB'ers. It's fun to collect, then becomes a problem ) and none of them come close to the Cirrus.

It IS the Unicorn.

As the other guys said, I agree that any USA Peavey is better than most basses out there. They just feel and sound sooo good.

Whenever I pick up a Peavey, it just feels like home.

BUT, as Dr. Cheese said, just keep looking. The Cirrus' go through price changes. I collected a gangload of them when they were around $500 then the Fabled "Fekwood" Cirrus sold for about a grand and the price has stayed high ever since.

My "advice" is save your cash and buy a USA CIRRUS and NOT a BXP Cirrus.

It will be the only bass you'll ever need. I ALWAYS come back to the Cirrus. It is the most amazing feeling bass ever made. (in my opinion)