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U.S. Peavey Club

#2,641
Templar said:
Good score, looks to be in pretty nice shape. Those things are definitely not short in the "mids" department.

The neck on yours looks like the "jazz-like" version, as opposed to the standard beefier P-type. I've had a couple of each.

I *think* the ones with jazz neck, painted headstock, and black hardware were called Patriot "Specials", or maybe Patriot "Customs". (??) Perhaps someone else knows the right designation?

One thing I noticed about the black Titan tuners...the gears are easily stripped. Whatever that black finish is, it's not as durable as chrome or nickel. If you can see any brass showing thru, try to fix it before it becomes unusable.
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I am pretty sure that they were called Patriot Custom. They can be identified by the matching painted headstock. All the ones that I have seen also have the Grover Titan tuners and the Jazz (1 1/2 inch) width neck, but some of the standard Patriots have those features too.

The Dyna Bass neck is very similar to the Jazz width Patriot neck. It seems to be a little bit thinnner front to back. The most notable difference is that the Dyna Bass neck is painted on the back rather than varnished.
 
#2,642
Nice Patriot, love the red.
Yes the black tuners will strip, luckily, the neck is stable enuff that once tuned, stays tuned.

I just have one question tho ..... what the devil did you play that makes you consider the Patriot "lightweight" ?
The only thing In have thats heavier is an 80,s Washburn B10 boatanchor.


Matt
 
#2,643
These tuners on this era of peavey basses are by far the best in my experience, stays tuned for days. Its one of the big reasons I wanted one again, after selling my T-40 (weighed about twice what this patriot does!) It is possible this bass is made of a lighter wood than yours, because while I have played some heavy basses, it is still pretty light in general. It's maybe a little bit heavier than my Ibanez SR, which is the lightest I've played.

In comparison I've had non-fender P-basses, an SX jazz, peavey BXP 5, some oddball imports from the 70s, and a few i've pieced together myself which had a decent bit of maple on them to attribute to their weight.
 
#2,644
Lizooki said:
Nice Patriot, love the red.
Yes the black tuners will strip, luckily, the neck is stable enuff that once tuned, stays tuned.

I just have one question tho ..... what the devil did you play that makes you consider the Patriot "lightweight" ?
The only thing In have thats heavier is an 80,s Washburn B10 boatanchor.


Matt
Click to expand...

I have a "normal" weight Patriot with the wide neck that weighs in 9.5 to 10 pounds. I also have an incredibly light Patriot Custom (like this red one) that only weighs about 7 pounds. It tends to have some neck dive (cured completely by a wide strap) but it sounds great. Peavey must have had a batch of lightweight wood that they used to build some of them.
 
#2,645
the tuners are Grover Titans.. commonly used ones go for $80 set on ebay

Basstovsky said:
These tuners on this era of peavey basses are by far the best in my experience, stays tuned for days. Its one of the big reasons I wanted one again, after selling my T-40 (weighed about twice what this patriot does!) It is possible this bass is made of a lighter wood than yours, because while I have played some heavy basses, it is still pretty light in general. It's maybe a little bit heavier than my Ibanez SR, which is the lightest I've played.

In comparison I've had non-fender P-basses, an SX jazz, peavey BXP 5, some oddball imports from the 70s, and a few i've pieced together myself which had a decent bit of maple on them to attribute to their weight.
Click to expand...
 
#2,646
Wow, what a resource!

I'm so happy to find such a vibrant and knowledgeable group of Peavey fans on the web.

It's been nearly 20 years since I quit playing and over the years I've nearly jumped back in a handful of times... but for various reasons, never did.

In high school I plugged away on the ultra-cheap Cruise bass my parents bought me but I pined hard for the Foundation owned by the school system. It just felt "right" in my hands and those super ferrite pickups had tone and growl my el-cheapo just couldn't touch.

I could never save enough money to afford that bass back in the 80's but now I'm poised to pick up the instrument again (mostly for fun) and I'm excited about the possibility of fulfilling my childhood dream.

I've shamelessly gobbled up a lot of the information you folks have offered here and done a bit of my own research... as well as keeping an eye on the auction sites and local music stores.

There are currently two Foundations for sale in my area (well, two that I've found) and if the snow ever lets up enough for me to hit the road, I intend to give them a spin and see if the magic is still there (and if they're in decent shape).

Anyway, sorry for the unsolicited trip down memory lane. I'm cautiously optimistic I'll be able to find one worth buying and I'm looking forward to finding the love of playing bass once again. If all goes well I'll return here to take part in this great community (and post some pictures!).
 
#2,648
So, how do you tell a custom?
The only difference I see in mine from the red one of Basstovsky is the string tree. I have a triangle shaped tree.
And I have yet to see a Patriot with the original truss rod cover ... if they had one.

As near as i can tell , mine is a mid to late 70's ... I think.


Matt
 
#2,650
Deep Rich Tones said:
Wow, what a resource!

I'm so happy to find such a vibrant and knowledgeable group of Peavey fans on the web.

It's been nearly 20 years since I quit playing and over the years I've nearly jumped back in a handful of times... but for various reasons, never did.

In high school I plugged away on the ultra-cheap Cruise bass my parents bought me but I pined hard for the Foundation owned by the school system. It just felt "right" in my hands and those super ferrite pickups had tone and growl my el-cheapo just couldn't touch.


There are currently two Foundations for sale in my area (well, two that I've found) and if the snow ever lets up enough for me to hit the road, I intend to give them a spin and see if the magic is still there (and if they're in decent shape).

Anyway, sorry for the unsolicited trip down memory lane. I'm cautiously optimistic I'll be able to find one worth buying and I'm looking forward to finding the love of playing bass once again. If all goes well I'll return here to take part in this great community (and post some pictures!).
Click to expand...

Good luck on the search. My Foundy is 27 years old and it fits your description. Currently trying to fix an issue with one pickup, but it is worth the effort. The early ones have the Super Ferrite pickups and the plastic covers on the pickups will say "super ferrite" on them.
 
#2,651
@deep rich tones: I actually snagged my Patriot from around your area, must be a big peavey presence there i guess!


Lizooki said:
So, how do you tell a custom?
The only difference I see in mine from the red one of Basstovsky is the string tree. I have a triangle shaped tree.
And I have yet to see a Patriot with the original truss rod cover ... if they had one.

As near as i can tell , mine is a mid to late 70's ... I think.
Matt
Click to expand...

I believe the matching headstock is the only way to tell from pictures, if you're holding one you can tell by the smaller neck profile. On my Patriot the nut is about the same width as my jazz and the neck is noticeably thinner than the jazz.

The string tree on mine was changed by a previous owner from the triangle tree so this bar is not original.
I like the function of it, but if I ever see a triangle string tree in black I may have to snag one just to get it back to stock. Although then I would have 2 empty holes in the headstock as opposed to one.
 
#2,653
Basstovsky said:
@deep rich tones: I actually snagged my Patriot from around your area, must be a big peavey presence there i guess!
Click to expand...

Interesting... I've only lived here since '03 so I don't know how saturated the market is with Peavey gear. But I thought it was encouraging that my initial search turned up two Foundations... although the results were mixed as I'll explain below.

I actually grew up outside Charleston, WV and there was a ton of Peavey gear in use at that time (late 80's, early 90's).

So... I made it out to test drive the two Foundations I found locally. The first was at Music Go Round and man was it disappointing. That bass had been rode hard and put away cracked! Some previous owner had stripped the original finish and attempted a natural refinish... the result was underwhelming. It was blotchy and uneven and the headstock wiped of all logos and trademarks. The serial number is still etched into the back... 023-something.

The body was in ok shape until I turned it over and saw two cracks coming from the neck bolts. I don't know what to make of the frets. It looks to me like they were filed down in an attempt to make it fretless... the frets were still there but they were completely flush with the fretboard.

The electronics were a mixed bag. The pickups were functional and sounded decent but the volume and tone pots were dirty.

So I put that one back quickly and drive to Guitar Center for the second demo.

Much better results. As you'll see from the attached pictures... I though enough of the bass to buy it!

This one has some cosmetic issues, chipped paint mostly and there's a gouge on the fretboard but it plays great and I'm really looking forward to getting familiar with it.

IMG_1129.jpg


Also visible in this picture is my old DOD EQ pedal that I bought in high school for... well really no good reason. I wanted a pedal and that's all I could afford, haha! Oh and a box I had labled "picks" and my first college room mate added a "r"
IMG_1130.jpg


IMG_1136.jpg


IMG_1137.jpg


So thanks for the warm welcome so far... I'm off to practice some scales!
 
#2,656
Where is the gouge in the fretboard and how deep is it? You might be able to lay a wet wash cloth over it and steam it out--or at least reduce its appearance.

Looks like she's due for a new set of strings (Think DR LoRiders--Imho) and a good cleaning.

Think nothing of the nicks and dings...that's just life experience.
 
#2,657
Hey No Neck Shrek,

Thanks... this bass is THE instrument I wanted as a kid. Oh sure I lusted after Ric's and Alembics and Zon's and whatever... but this is one I actually got my hands on and could have afforded if I'd been disciplined enough. It's nice that I was able to realize that dream and get back into playing with a pretty low investment to boot.

Funny thing though... I thought I remembered the Foundation being really heavy and this one is pretty light... either my memory is faulty (very possible) or these things get lighter with age.

I live in Galloway... it was slightly annoying to drive all the way to Music Go Round in Gahanna today and see that sad-sack bass hanging on the wall! But all's well that ends well.
 
#2,658
@Stacotto - Thanks, Coral Pink you say? She looks fire engine red in real life but if that's the official color, so be it. Truthfully, I was hoping the natural finish would turn out to be the better instrument... I'm not really a red kind of guy but I'm happy just the same. I'd REALLY like to get my hands on a sunburst... that's typically my favorite finish. There was one for sale on ebay a few days ago but $60 shipping and my general distrust of ebay kept me away from that one.

@oldrookie - The gouge is between the 9th and 10th fret and between the A and D strings. It's not terribly deep... I can feel it with my finger but it doesn't get in the way of fretting in that area. She's totally ready for some new strings and a good cleaning... you're on the money there.

I bought a set of D'Addario XL Nickel Wounds along with her as that's what I used to use back in the day (well I don't think they were nickel) but I'm going to take those back. This Guitar Center didn't have a huge string selection so I'll swing through Sam Ash and see what they have or maybe just order some online. I'll give the LoRiders a spin for sure... I plan on trying a lot of different stirings now... I wasn't very adventurous as a kid.
 

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