Halfway to Winnipeg from Sacramento, haha!
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U.S. Peavey Club
- Thread starter Soundchaser11460
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I grew up in rural Colorado. My exposure was right around 1981, which was long before the DUI virtually killed the live music venue in those parts. Even in my small town of 15K residents, there were 4 bars that did live music Thurs-Sat and the Holiday Inn off the interstate did Tues-Saturday bookings for a circuit band. Venture out of town 80 miles in any direction and you would find dozens of other bars that booked bands all weekend. Because of this, there were a lot of hard working players around. The nearest Peavey dealers were 100 and 125 miles away, but you would think there was one in my town, given how many players used Peaveys, especially the amps and PA systems. All of them talked of the value vs reliability, which was the mantra for Peavey.
Pretty much all the country guys traded in their Twins for Renowns, many bassists had MKIII or MK IV heads on the 1x15", 2x15", 1820 cabs. 80% of the PA systems were Peavey.
My first Peavey was a Mace VT head and 412s cab that I bought off a friend that toured the circuit in 1981. The next year I got a Deuce VT combo. Then came a large succession of amps over the next 15 years. The Peavey amps all were displaced with the bigger, more 'popular' brands by the mid 90s as I had that 20-something view that they were categorically "better."
For the instruments, I was never a big T fan, but did like the 2nd wave of instruments when I saw them in Monitor mag and when I played them in the stores in Denver. I jumped deep into Peavey amps and instruments earlier this Century as I found them for such great deals and they were fantastic, even better than I remembered.
Excellent Peavey discovery commentary similar to my usage of Peavey gear here in Australia in the 80's. My MKIV head 1820 cab and '91 Dyna bass toured through many gigs here during the 80's, 90's and 2000's..as mentioned in your article...for value and reliability Peavey gear had no equal and even today my old Peavey gear still works as it did back then.
Buying a Mark VI head and 1x15 cab in the mid 80s. Put 1500+ gigs on it before I went DI. When my wife died she left all her guitars and keyboards to a friend (who was in our band) and the guys who came and moved all her stuff also took my rig by mistake. They put it all in her store and she didn't realise it was there, thinking it was her guitar rig. About 4ya, she turns up on my doorstep and delivers it back to me, 20y after I thought it was stolen.
Since then I've had 3 T40s (still have 2), a T60 a Koa Dynabass Unity (still have). I also got the front panel of a Peavey Authorised Dealer sign off ebay in about 2001. After the move, I'll build a new box for it and backlight it with LEDS. It's about 4' x 2'.
For the beginning of my music life, I played trumpet and keys, and did some bg vocals. In 1999 I started working in the warehouse of a local independent music store in Iowa, where I was living at the time. I got to know some of the guys who worked in the combo department (Guitars, drums, PA) and after about a year in the warehouse, I managed to get a job with them out on the sales floor. I also started playing bass around that time, mostly because bands in town needed bassists. I think coming at the bass from keyboards rather than guitar set me apart. We sold a ton of Peavey PA gear and amps, with a sprinkling of their guitars and basses. This was right around the time the Cirrus basses came along, and we had a few Wolfgang guitars as well. I owned a nice American Standard Jazz Bass, but I really dug those Cirrus basses, especially the fives and sixes! I was saving up to buy one, and my boss went to the NAMM show in LA. He came back and said, "If you're thinking about a Cirrus bass, you should check out the Cort Artisan line, they're amazing and you'll save a bunch of money." I took his advice and bought a Cort A6, which was (and is) really nice. But dang, I wish I would have saved a little longer and gotten a Cirrus 6! I could have gotten a deal with my employee discount, and now that thing would be worth a bunch! As I said, the Cort is very nice, but will probably never appreciate in value.
Fast forward, and now I'm the proud owner of a purple Millennium Standard (passive P/J 34" scale) and a pink B-Ninety, both of which I scored for less than $200. The active pickups in the B-Ninety started acting up, and I replaced them with the EMG GZR P/J set.
A Cirrus 5 or 6 is still on my bucket list!
P.S. My Peavey sales rep back then famously told us that "Hartley Peavey's genius was finding a third-world country within the United States borders to build his factory." Tongue-in-cheek to be sure, but it made us laugh.
As I mentioned before the town I grew up in back in the 80's, in North Wales had one guitar shop & was a big Peavey dealer. Everything from picks to PA's was Peavey even the magazines were Peavey (Monitor), the shops long gone now though but many happy memories & hours spent there.
Speaking of the Monitor.....there was also a very brief Monitor podcast....just a few episodes....
https://anchor.fm/peavey
Some good stuff here if you haven't listened
https://anchor.fm/peavey
Some good stuff here if you haven't listened
Just FYI, I have TWO Millennium MusicMan (MM) pickups for sale. I will get some photos and post them in the classified soon, within 24 hours.
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It is 3 actually, not two.
For Sale - THREE (3) USA Peavey Millennium VFL 4 string MM pickups active microchip 9v
For Sale - THREE (3) USA Peavey Millennium VFL 4 string MM pickups active microchip 9v
I contacted the previous owner of this bass earlier this week when he had it advertised on craigslist. He described it accurately as being defaced by a previous owner, and was asking $225. I was going to check it out and offer $150 if it played good and the truss rod worked, but the bass sold before I had the chance. Now, instead of defaced, it's "one of a kind" and "art deco."
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[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I should expand on my earlier post. I needed to upgrade my old rig which was a Marshall 100 Super Bass head pumped through 2 homemade cabs loaded with 2x2 12" Etone speakers using a Gibson EB-3 short scale bass.
I cruised through a large music shop in Adelaide after work one day in 1986 and saw the MKIV head sitting atop the 1820 cab and asked the manager about traded ins. He would accept the Marshall head and 2 cabs and gave me a week to think about it, then sent me home with a Monitor Magazine. I musta read that magazine forwards and backwards for days while I was working out my finances. I figured I could put the rig on a 3 month lay-by as was called here in Australia. A small deposit to secure the rig to my name, then the balance had to be paid off every 2 weeks till finished and then I collected the rig from the shop's storage. After the 12 payments the $2800 rig was mine. The MKIV head was $1500AU at the time in 1986 and the cab from memory was $1300AU.
I made the manager work for his money by helping me lug the 1820 cab up a narrow set of stairs and onto the pavement to load into the back of my vehicle. I dont think he realised it was 122lbs in weight loll.
I started collecting Monitor magazines late 80's after buying the rig and that lead me to buying the 1991 Peavey Dyna Bass 5 string which I had my heart set on from a pic in the magazine. I had to order it through the same large Adelaide music shop as they were Peavey dealers. $1595AU in 1991.
I ordered the Metallic Charcoal 5 string Dyna Bass as shown in the pic below (4+1 tuner config) which is a 1st model with Super Ferrite pups and waited approx 2 months for delivery from Peavey in the USA. Upon arrival I raced into town and fronted up to the store manager who said you may be a bit disappointed. I opened the beautiful case and saw that they had sent a Sunfire Red colour instead..it didnt matter..I had it in my hands and colour was secondary. The tuners were also different from the order..3+2 configuration. The model they had sent me was the 2nd model with the Flat Top Humbucker pups which have always sounded great. Because she turned out to be a redhead..I called her Lucy.
I took to the 5 string like nobody's business...in other words it was such a natural progression going from 4 strings to the 5'ver..I had no problems at all adjusting to the extra neck width and the B 5th string.
I still use the Dyna Bass and the Peavey rig for large gigs (smaller gigs I use a Fender Rumble 500 + ext cab with the Dyna) and believe me the sound that I get from the Peavey rig and Dyna Bass is thunderous and beautiful. I have never regretted 1 minute of the purchase of the amp and bass. Not once has the amp or bass let me down. Reliable, great looking, beautifully sounding, professional gear for the working bass player.
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I love the subtle logos in the pickup covers. It's a very nice looking bass and has stood the test of time styling wise very well.
Loll..took me hours using a razor blade on that book covering stuff to get those logos.
ps. May as well chuck a pic of the ol 1979 T-40 in for good measure loll
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Nice. I should take some pics of mine. One is a closet queen with a 2 piece body that almost looks bookmatched, and the other, according to the original owner's widow, was played every day for 30y and is showing some signs of wear, but not much.
Apparently the seller doesn't realize the mirrored finish accentuates his bright green panties
That's not so bad. In the early days of ebay, a guy took a pick of his shiny kettle to list it. Pity he was buck naked and reflected in all his glory. The pic is easily found, but out of a sense of decorum, I resisted linking it.
