Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
U.S. Peavey Club
- Thread starter Soundchaser11460
- Start date
-
- Tags
- club
I know some stuff about the guitars. Lots of the guitars follow the same parallels the basses do. They started with the original designs (T60, T15, T27, T30...) but switched over to more typical designs that were influenced by the Big Makers and found great success. For example, my bandmate has an early Peavey Falcon, and it's one of the nicest "Strats" I have played.
I remember buying a black 1995 Fury when I was 15 for 100 bucks in 2009. It was a really nice bass. I remember putting it down on a part trade for something else. I really should have kept that bass. The price to quality ratio was unbeatable. I recently sold my expensive (and only) bass and have been thinking of replacing it with a cheaper old USA Peavey or two.
My wife's cousin used to write for the Monitor. Her husband worked there, too, and developed and designed speakers. He worked one on one with Eddie with the 5150. I need to talk with them more about this.
News from the UK.
Fella behind Retrovibe guitars , and Top Man, David Konig has decide to start building T-40 inspired 4 & 5 strings.
Retrovibe TT40 TT50 Bass 34″ scale – 3-tone burst – Maple Neck – Peavey T40 style | Retrovibe
Fella behind Retrovibe guitars , and Top Man, David Konig has decide to start building T-40 inspired 4 & 5 strings.
Retrovibe TT40 TT50 Bass 34″ scale – 3-tone burst – Maple Neck – Peavey T40 style | Retrovibe
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,019
- 1
- 31,733
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Interesting! Basswood should help keep the weight down. I wonder how similar those pickups sound to the originals?
Seems interesting, definitely not for me though. Pricing seems fairly reasonable but I’m not sure I see the value proposition compared to an original, unless weight is your main concern.
12k will be a lot hotter than the originals. He has a thing for high output MMs, the one in my Evo was frightening
David's intent here is not an exact replica; just a bass with similar features.I know he likes the idea of 'spin-a-split', before shipping me the Super-P he altered the wiring to give me series/parallel/tapped. I didn't ask for that, David knew I owned several T-40s so thought I'd appreciate the options.
Retrovibe website is set up for international sales. He estimates £85 shipping to the USA. Total cost inc shipping will be well under your import threshold so US customers shouldn't have any extra taxes
Full Disclourse.
While I've owned 7 or 8 Retrovibe basses, all were purchased as a everyday customer; I'm not connected to David's business in any way. I did get a freebie beanie hat once, when I asked if an endorsement deal was in the offing, David's reply was crushing.
"Not a chance. You're bald as a coot and it gets cold in Scotland so cover up Egghead."
Some folks are so cruel
I'm wondering who/what the intended target niche is. Original T-40's are still plentiful. To hear about it, in UK no one can seem to get squat for their original Peavey's, and practically have to give them away. The target has to be the States, where originals are practically falling out of trees.
So what then?...someone comes along with T-40 knockoff-ish basses that bear a partial resemblance to the originals. In USA dollars these are priced at $561 + $107 shipping...$668. Disregarding some of the more recent crazy covid-inspired asking prices ("disregarding" because wacky prices will be forced back down by reality soon), I'm pretty sure I could get a nice original for $668 (max) without much trouble.
This disclaimer ought to chase away a few potentially interested parties...
"Please note: I am not a factory, I am one man making and assembling unique parts and basses in my small workshop in Somerset. As such, some of my parts and guitars may have minor construction/tooling marks or scratches as well as the odd fingerprint etc. These are all a result of my artisan processes and although I try to keep such things to a minimum, they can sometimes creep in. If you are not happy with that then you may want to look elsewhere for alternatives. Also, I do my best to use recycled packaging whenever possible so sometimes the packaging may look “unconventional”. Please be assured that it will be completely up to the job of protecting your purchase and that it goes some way to reducing the cost and carbon footprint of my products. Thank you!"
Which itself is a copy of some Kawai and Teisco pegheads from 60's Japan
The target is a very small one as it has to be.
David's a gigging musician, Retrovibe is a side line not his breadwinner. Shipping 3 basses in one week would be a busy one. In the past he would do production runs on designs which interested him, they would number 8 sometimes 12 instruments.
If TT40 sales top 10 units in total, he'll chalk that up as a success.
Changed the strings on my Grind 6 NTB. Modded with EMG 45DCs, BQS System at 18V, grind/polish on the frets for ultra low action, custom cut bone nut, and full copper tape shield job
Can we talk about amps on here too?
Can we talk about amps on here too?
I really like it. It is definitely T-40 inspired but has a cool G&L and Music Man vibe going for it, too. It isn't supposed to be a straight up T-40 replica, anyway. Would be awesome to have one in addition to a T-40, not instead of one.
I don't mind talking about US made Peavey amps here. Most of us have one or more Peavey amps, too. They hold a certain heart flutter just as their instruments do.
I have a '78 Century 200 head, '90 X115 cab (with a Scorpion Plus) and '82 Special 130 with a Scorpion. Those two amps and cab can cover a lot of ground in terms of cool, happy-mid 20th Century bass tones and Bass VI amplification. FWIW, the Century 200 might be my favorite bass head I have ever owned. It not only sounds cool, but it's really fun to play. I can't say that any of my other amps are as fun. A close 2nd was a '71 Standel C30-B 1x15" combo. It was also fun to play, but not nearly as able to handle being pushed hard and continuing to operate. It became a home amp and sold off when the Century 200 came around.
To be fair and particular, this club does fall under the 'basses' section of the forum...
There is a Peavey amp club that started fairly recently. It's a good place to geek out on amps.
Peavey Amp Club
That's fair! Oh yes I am all over that thread. Only found it recently myself.
Yes the Grind 6 is basically an overseas Cirrus bass. The neck through design is very stable. The sonic dead spot is in a weird place, 8th fret on the D string. All instruments have them. Fenders have it at the 5th through 7th frets on the G string. I've used a Fat Finger clamp on weight but it only moves the dead spot up the neck to a lower note. Still the tone is very good for this bass despite some lack of sustain at the notes mentioned.
Not really.
The Grind started life as an active US assembled bolt on neck design. The 4 strings were P/Js with 5's being a J/J set up, they were quickly followed by BXP versions. None were great sellers so the design changed to an overseas passive neck through, very similar to the Zephyr/C-series sold only to the European market and which had been a very strong seller.
