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
My whammyy trick guitar is plywood, it was my sacrifice guitar when learning to install and set up Floyd Rose tremolos, Floyd thought it was hilarious. But it lays and sounds pfantastic and super mean. One of my FrankenFakeFender P's is plywood, it sounds okay.
My Modulus Flea, Emerald Flow and Pre-Peavey Composite Acoustics all disagree
I think tone-wood might be some kind of factor, but when buying a bass I concern myself with a number of other things.
Leo Fender didn't care about tone-wood and since old Precisions, Jazzes, StingRays are most often what are the recording standards, then I follow suit about body wood.
I don't buy expensive basses so my criteria are probably different than those that do.
The neck, how if feels to play and how stable it is season to season are the two big factors for me.
That's one of several reasons I like buying old basses, if they are easy to set up, it tells me they are going to be stable and were better than average to begin with.
I keep the ones with necks that feel the best and don't move much.
That's why I end up with 30 year old Peavey, Yamaha, Guild and some other undervalued used brands.
If it has one of the old standard pickups like Precision, Jazz, Musicman, Thunderbird, there are lots of after-market choices so it's not a big concern.
If it's an oddball like Peavey's various pickups, then the pickup is a big deal because after market is not really a thing.
Balance and weight matter next.
Then I think about body wood (hard or soft) then how it might effect sound.
Leo Fender didn't care about tone-wood and since old Precisions, Jazzes, StingRays are most often what are the recording standards, then I follow suit about body wood.
I don't buy expensive basses so my criteria are probably different than those that do.
The neck, how if feels to play and how stable it is season to season are the two big factors for me.
That's one of several reasons I like buying old basses, if they are easy to set up, it tells me they are going to be stable and were better than average to begin with.
I keep the ones with necks that feel the best and don't move much.
That's why I end up with 30 year old Peavey, Yamaha, Guild and some other undervalued used brands.
If it has one of the old standard pickups like Precision, Jazz, Musicman, Thunderbird, there are lots of after-market choices so it's not a big concern.
If it's an oddball like Peavey's various pickups, then the pickup is a big deal because after market is not really a thing.
Balance and weight matter next.
Then I think about body wood (hard or soft) then how it might effect sound.
It’s ALIVE!
Milly 5 parts-ish bass. Body, neck, bridge, tuners from Amber Harbor.
Audere Classic pre
Nordstrand pickups
Tru-oil finish on body and neck.
Sounds BEASTLY
Milly 5 parts-ish bass. Body, neck, bridge, tuners from Amber Harbor.
Audere Classic pre
Nordstrand pickups
Tru-oil finish on body and neck.
Sounds BEASTLY
No - it had a brown base tint that I sanded off. The blue is a General Finishes water based stain. Tru oil finish on top. At first I wasn’t sure, but it’s growing on me.
thank you!! Can't wait to gig it next weekend!
I have an Ibanez SR655 with Nordstrand P/Single coil pickups and the Ibanez preamp. It is a really good sounding bass and the pickups play a big part in that tone.
I owned several of the USA Millennium basses and loved a lot of things about them but the pickups just sounded nice to me rather than great. I'll bet your Millennium sounds fantastic with the electronics you installed.
I also don't care for the design of the headstock that requires a string tree to provide good break angle at the nut. Those are, of course, personal preferences and I did still enjoy the Millenniums that passed through my collection of basses. For me, the best of the Peavey basses were the USA Cirrus and the GV. Quite possibly because they share the same electronics. The GV is a superb bass IMO and the Cirrus is just wonderful.
What ever happened to the reintroduction of the Cirrus? I saw some mention of it some time back.
I do prefer the stock electronics of the Cirrus to the Millennium. The stock Millennium electronics seem to impart a bit of 'bleah-mud' kind of response. The output is hot - but not in a great way. The sweepable mids are a cool feature, but I honestly don't use them much on my stock Millennium. Suffice to say - the Nordstrands are head and shoulders above the stock Peavey electronics of both the Millennium and Cirrus - as you would expect them to be. The Audere pre is very nice - I'm impressed. The bass just barks, in a good way. I got the Audere Classic model that has volume/balance/bass/treble/low mid/high mid. The pre has a lot of cut and boost available - and the mid controls are voiced really well. The low mid adds a grunt that is just in the sweet spot for me, and the hi mid adds in that shimmer without being too zingy (for lack of better terms lol).
For me - the beauty of the Millennium has always been the ergonomics. That bass just FITS me so well. I had issues with the Cirrus - it really was difficult for me to gig with, because of how the bass sat on my body. I ended up making my carpal tunnel issues worse because of that bass. It was a shame, because it's an EXCELLENT instrument. It just didn't fit me. The Millennium sits on me differently and causes me zero issues - I can play it for 4hr gigs with no problem.
My other Millennium (the one I bought from you!) is being stared at VERY hard today - I have a feeling those electronics are getting swapped out for another set of Nordstrands, and either another Audere, or a John East preamp.....
They missed the October launch, pushed back to November. Being Peavey, they won't say which year. With the previous Cirrus reissue something like 18 months passed between fanfare and stock for sale.
What amp/signal chain are you using?
Every studio and pro live engineer I've met, always picks the stock millenium over my snob or fender stuff.
Back in mid-2021 there was the thread about a multi-scale 5-string from Peavey that never materialized. The way things are going I suspect that Peavey is selling exactly the amount of gear they want to, otherwise they would be following up harder on these announcements.
Signal chain is bass - Shure GLXD - Tech21 GED - Ampeg SCR-DI - Amp. Amp/cab has been either the Carvin BX-500 or the Peavey MiniMax. I've gone into the effects return, or just the front of the amp with no difference. I know the SCR-DI can be overdriven at the input - the stock Milly pre can definitely cause some front-end issues with the SCR-DI. The Audere had no issues there. Even running direct Bass-cord-amp - I'd put the Milly third in line in terms of just pure clarity to the Audere and Cirrus pre amps. I like the Milly pre just fine - but there are certainly better options from what I've seen. I used to own another stock Milly 5, and it's pre was the same tonality - so I'm pretty sure it wasn't an individual issue. One thing I've found is that many engineers just like a hot signal better - and the Milly does deliver on that end of things.
My gut feeling on that thread was an employee testing the water.
Throw an idea out, see the reaction then, if there's an overwhelmingly positive response, approach the bosses.
Possible foot up the ladder if they run with it but more likely just a small bonus.
New products are difficult thing for Peavey to judge. In the past they had designers but could also rely on feedback from dealers to gauge what the public wanted.
A thread ,loaded with sycophantic responses, on TB carries almost no weight, you have folks saying "multi scale Cirrus. Great idea."; most of those folks have never held a multi scale let alone have any inkling towards buying one. They answer what they think the poster wants to hear.
The seller was about 70 miles away, but met me halfway. Great deal for $100. She described herself as a 59 year old granny who gave up on her dream of being a rock star about 15 years ago.
I've got three P pickups that need basses to go in, but this bass already sounds great, even with the dead rounds that are on it.
If I didn't like the neck so much, I'd consider the Warmoth short scale conversion that @XsoGol has described. Maybe in the future.
This bass is killer. The white Foundation that's been tempting me for months is still on cl. This one makes that even more difficult to resist. I'd really like black & white set.
Last edited:
Sh#t...that reminds me. I need to answer @F-Clef-Jef's question about Warmoth Warhead neck mounting holes and how they line up with the Peaveys...I haven't forgotten about you Jef!
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Have one just like it except mine has a MM bridge PU. Great bass!
Have one just like it except mine has a MM bridge PU. Great bass!
