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U.S. Peavey Club

#20,042
Hi everyone. I thought I would throw my name into the club.

I had been looking for a T-40 for awhile, but wasn't going to buy one until I was able to play one. About 2 years ago a friend of mine was in town recording a record. I was telling him about the versatility of the t-40. the next day we walk into sam ash and low and behold a t-40 is on the wall. He looked at me and I looked at him. He said, "is that?" my response was, "it is, and if it plays good im getting it."

So here is my T-40. Roadworn, but still in good shape and original. plays amazing and everything works well on it. Built like a tank and weighs a ton, a real backbreaker. Amazing its 40 years old at this point. I had it setup to sound like a pbass, however I bought an ultra pbass about 5 months ago and now have it setup to sound like a Rick.

I doubt I will ever let this one go.

Cheers fellow US Peavey owners.
20210202_122829.jpg
 
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#20,046
bigtone23 said:
Welcome!
What does that mean, 'set up to sound like a P bass vs a Ric?' Was it just pickup selection?
I never really felt the T40 has a workable P tone, but it does get a usable Ric tone.
Click to expand...
Hi Bigtone. Someone made a sheet to show different settings you can use to make the t-40 emulate different basses. its not perfect by any means, but pretty close.

Its detailed in this post:
T-40 infosheet
 
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#20,047
Corigan said:
Hi Bigtone. Someone made a sheet to show different settings you can use to make the t-40 emulate different basses. its not perfect by any means, but pretty close.

Its detailed in this post:
T-40 infosheet
Click to expand...
OK, that's what I figured. Thought maybe there was some sorcery going on. We're a pretty old group of fanatics here, always looking for a new insight. :)
For example: The T40 is considered one of the closest non-Ric Ric emulators out there. If you want to make a T40 get an even closer Ric emulation, you have to physically rotate the pickups 180 degrees in the pickguard (or reverse the white and black wires on the pickups to the volume pots-if they reach-and you feel like soldering). This way they split to the neck side coils, which are closer to the actual Ric pickup placement spots.
The math:
Ric 4001/4003 pickup locations, adjusted to 34" scale, measured from the nut to center of the pickup coil.
Neck- 24 7/8" Bridge- 29 7/8" (these are located at where the harmonic 24th and 36th frets are located)
T40 active single coil (neck side coil, when rotated 180 degrees) also measured from nut to center of active coil
Neck- 25 3/8" Bridge- 30 9/16"
compared to the stock bridge-side split coils' location...
Neck- 26 3/8" Bridge- 31 9/16" (this split tone is a touch closer to a J bass vs a Ric, IMHO.

The 1/2" difference in location on the neck side coil vs a Ric neck PU is pretty minimal for tonal differences, but the bridge PU location is a huge improvement. The bridge side coil of a T40 is pretty much in the 60s J bass spot, whereas the neck side coil is right where the Stingray pickup is centered (30.5")-which is very similar to the location of the Ric bridge PU. This results in a much more punchy and full sounding bridge pickup tone. You lose a lot of low end with every 1/4-1/2" that pickup moves towards the bridge. You can hear this when using the phase switch on the soloed bridge pickup in split mode as it selects between the active coils.

Also, another favorite T40 mod I like to do is to repurpose the phase switch as a master coil split. I find it a more useful tonal modifier vs phase and you get full tone control sweep in single coil mode.
 
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#20,049
bigtone23 said:
OK, that's what I figured. Thought maybe there was some sorcery going on. We're a pretty old group of fanatics here, always looking for a new insight. :)
For example: The T40 is considered one of the closest non-Ric Ric emulators out there. If you want to make a T40 get an even closer Ric emulation, you have to physically rotate the pickups 180 degrees in the pickguard (or reverse the white and black wires on the pickups to the volume pots-if they reach-and you feel like soldering). This way they split to the neck side coils, which are closer to the actual Ric pickup placement spots.
The math:
Ric 4001/4003 pickup locations, adjusted to 34" scale, measured from the nut to center of the pickup coil.
Neck- 24 7/8" Bridge- 29 7/8" (these are located at where the harmonic 24th and 36th frets are located)
T40 active single coil (neck side coil, when rotated 180 degrees) also measured from nut to center of active coil
Neck- 25 3/8" Bridge- 30 9/16"
compared to the stock bridge-side split coils' location...
Neck- 26 3/8" Bridge- 31 9/16" (this split tone is a touch closer to a J bass vs a Ric, IMHO.

The 1/2" difference in location on the neck side coil vs a Ric neck PU is pretty minimal for tonal differences, but the bridge PU location is a huge improvement. The bridge side coil of a T40 is pretty much in the 60s J bass spot, whereas the neck side coil is right where the Stingray pickup is centered (30.5")-which is very similar to the location of the Ric bridge PU. This results in a much more punchy and full sounding bridge pickup tone. You lose a lot of low end with every 1/4-1/2" that pickup moves towards the bridge. You can hear this when using the phase switch on the soloed bridge pickup in split mode as it selects between the active coils.

Also, another favorite T40 mod I like to do is to repurpose the phase switch as a master coil split. I find it a more useful tonal modifier vs phase and you get full tone control sweep in single coil mode.
Click to expand...
This is so informative. I had no idea about all the technical stuff. Then again, I was never into T-40's enough to dive into the rabbit hole. I find if I just play my foundation it's easier :)
 
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#20,051
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#20,052
Corigan said:
WOW, thank you very much. Im going to so have to try this and see what I think. thank you for the info.
Click to expand...
For sure!

mb94952 said:
This is so informative. I had no idea about all the technical stuff. Then again, I was never into T-40's enough to dive into the rabbit hole. I find if I just play my foundation it's easier :)
Click to expand...
I have never owned a T40, but am a full-on pickup placement nerd! Luckily, I have 3 friends with T40s and a couple were more than happy to let me do my thing to them. One got the repurposed master coil split, the other let me rotate the pickups 180 degrees for more Ric-ness!
FWIW, I also just love my Foundations, Dynabasses and Patriot. The nutty, modded ones are pretty darn fun and sound great! My modded Patriot is now a Ric Killer (and in my opinion-THE MOST Ric sounding Peavey bass) and my Toaster equipped Foundation is a really cool sounding bass for something a little more thick and smooth. The inside coils/split tone on it also really great and usable.
enhance.jpg
enhance.jpg
 
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#20,053
How do you folks think a single T-40 pickup would sound if installed closer to the neck heel than the P-Bass or T-45 spot, or the Foundation's front pickup spot?
Maybe not slammed right against the heel but maybe and inch or inch and a half away.
My guess is that it might not sound just like my Squier VM '72 Tele bass with the big Fender humbucker slammed up agains the heel.
Thoughts?
 
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#20,054
58kites said:
How do you folks think a single T-40 pickup would sound if installed closer to the neck heel than the P-Bass or T-45 spot, or the Foundation's front pickup spot?
Maybe not slammed right against the heel but maybe and inch or inch and a half away.
My guess is that it might not sound just like my Squier VM '72 Tele bass with the big Fender humbucker slammed up agains the heel.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I would consider putting the coil, that is used for single coil operation, exactly where the ‘51 P pickup is oriented. This is a bit more forward than the E/A coil of the later split P pickup. If you put the other coil in front of it, you’d be getting close to where the 24th fret harmonic is (I’m guessing- being at work with no bass to look at). Those are two sweet spots, in my opinion. So, I’d go for it!
 
#20,056
58kites said:
How do you folks think a single T-40 pickup would sound if installed closer to the neck heel than the P-Bass or T-45 spot, or the Foundation's front pickup spot?
Maybe not slammed right against the heel but maybe and inch or inch and a half away.
My guess is that it might not sound just like my Squier VM '72 Tele bass with the big Fender humbucker slammed up agains the heel.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I would bet it would sound great! The T40 pickups are not wound as hot and thumpy as the Fender WRHB. When I had a Squier 72, I redid the pickup wiring with a push/pull for series/parallel. Ran it in parallel all the time since it sounded much better (to me) and the volume level then matched up to my other basses when switching out on the fly.
P bass (and Fury, Forum) split coils are centered at 28.5" from the nut (roughly 28 & 29"). J bass neck pickups are at 27.75", and the single coil P bass pickup is at 27 5/16" or pretty much 27.25". The 72 Tele bass pickup is centered at 25". For comparison, the Foundation neck PU is at 28".

Putting the rear (split active) coil of the T40 pickup in the 51 P bass spot would result in the pickup being centered roughly at 27" vs roughly 25" on the 72 Tele. Interestingly, this is exactly where Ernie Ball puts the neck pickups on their HH Stingrays. This location would be a different sound from the Tele bass for sure-a little less fundamental, more punch. Plus, with single coil mode, you would have a pretty darn good 51 P bass type tone on tap!
 
#20,057
bassbrad said:
@bigtone23 those basses are badass. Both are basses on my dream list, I'm almost tempted to do coil switching on my Verdine White (Sarzo) bass after seeing that Foundation with T40 pups.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I rotated the bridge pickup to split to the inside coil. When both pickups are split and up 100% (inside coils), they are very close to the Stingray sweet spot. Being that the split coils are in parallel, it gets a really good faux Stingray tone, passive of course.
 

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