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U.S. Peavey Club

#10,681
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#10,682
kodiakblair said:
@Ronnie Nine

Just played my T40 with nylon tapes and the G-bass with nylon tapes, that T40 is active and wired humbucker only.
I wouldn't say the carbon wrap neck made a massive difference. Now I'll grant my appreciation of carbon fibre neck is limited, apart from the G-bass only my B-Quad and Vigier have carbon fibre necks.

The main benefit I get from the carbon necks is stability. The G-bass was upstairs in an unheated room but only needed a minor fine tune to play, the T40 is keep in the heated living room yet it was well out of tune.

Instead of buying another bass have you looked at just buying a carbon neck ? I don't know where the "Kingdom of Salvation" is but a neck from Status Graphite for your Stingray is about £360, $365USD, 400 euro. I've added the VAT to £ and euro prices but USA customers pay no VAT nor import tax so just the shipping would need added.

Status Graphite. The finest hand-made graphite basses and guitars. Made in England.
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Right before I checked on Talkbass I was looking at the very same site for the same reason.

It would probably be a great in the middle option that I could use for the RHCP tribute project along with my Jazz Bass.

I guess I should save up for a real modulus if I wanted that exact tone, and honestly, for a single band I don't see myself spending 4k on a new bass (there's no way I would find a used one under 2-3k in my area)

I live in Europe. Thank you everyone who helped me out! Cheers.
 
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#10,683
58kites said:
Also, the G4's Pau Ferro fretboard warms up the sound from a typical graphite neck.
I think Flea's Modulus basses don't have wood fretboards.
I think Flea has Lane Poor MM pickup and a Bartolini preamp in his Modulus basses.
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Yes between the two, a gv is a warmer sound

Flea played phenolic modulus boards

If you like your j bass, have you considered tiring exposed core stainless strings... This may get you close with a compressor
 
#10,684
No I haven't.

I usually use round nickels and play them hard for 1 week so they can break in and sound a bit dull. Then I get rid of them when they lose too much of the zing.

I wish rotosound steels would last longer, I particularly enjoy those. I'm going to try out your suggestion, love trying new things.

I guess I'll skip on the G4 unless a soundclip proves me otherwise. But.. if I ever want a fiver, I know what I should get.
 
#10,686
I stumbled across this thread some time ago after I bought a Foundation fretless 4. Since then my Peavey collection has increased by a bunch.

I presently own the fretless Foundation, a Cirrus 6, Axcelerator 6, Axcelerator 4, Forum 4 and I just bought a Millennium+ 5 off Ebay.

A very sweet Cirrus 5 also passed through the collection recently and only left because I am actually trying to reduce my collection of basses. I did sell two fairly expensive Fender 4 strings and my Roscoe Beck V is also probably going to leave.

Hanging with this crowd and trying to not buy basses is like hanging out with friends in a bar and trying not to drink.

By the way, the biggest Peavey bass surprise for me is still the Axcelerator 6. I think I paid about $350 for that bass and it is a fantastic instrument. Yes, the Cirrus is a better and better looking bass but I paid $875 for it and that was still a bargain. If you need a great sounding and playing bass for less than a Mexican Fender, keep watch for an Axcelerator. The boys in Mississippi really outdid themselves when they built the Axcelerator.
 
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#10,687
Ronnie Nine said:
No I haven't.

I usually use round nickels and play them hard for 1 week so they can break in and sound a bit dull. Then I get rid of them when they lose too much of the zing.

I wish rotosound steels would last longer, I particularly enjoy those. I'm going to try out your suggestion, love trying new things.

I guess I'll skip on the G4 unless a sound clip proves me otherwise. But.. if I ever want a fiver, I know what I should get.
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I can send a clip of a GV if needed -- there may be one on my website.

The strings that "could" get you close (with EQ and a compressor) are GHS Stainless Progressives OR a close equivalent.

Much of the characteristic of the carbon fiber is articulate punch and sustain.. with your current bass, you could be close enough to get the job done.

Not busting on your bubble on getting a G - we Peavey folks tend to be pragmatic and fiscally conservative.

A G is a great 4 string carbon fiber --- if you stumbled across one at a great deal... I'd suggest one before my modulu$.... like a smarter person noted, "they're warmer".... without dumping in some cash finding out of production unicorn Millenium preamps, you may not be as close as the legend infers.

To correct for the lurkers... a BQuad is closer to a Modulus.. I'd never gig one as the transducer wires are fragile.
 
#10,688
Chuck M said:
By the way, the biggest Peavey bass surprise for me is still the Axcelerator 6. I think I paid about $350 for that bass and it is a fantastic instrument. Yes, the Cirrus is a better and better looking bass but I paid $875 for it and that was still a bargain. If you need a great sounding and playing bass for less than a Mexican Fender, keep watch for an Axcelerator. The boys in Mississippi really outdid themselves when they built the Axcelerator.
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totally agree...

I finally found a 5er black one about a year ago... about $220 shipped. It's about 90% of what some of my insanely expensive stuff costs. I leave it at a church gig on the stand. Since I'm there every week, it makes sense not to schlep gear after a 3 a.m. load out.

In the mix (pro sound crew and IEM)... it sounds half way between a Pbass and Jbass.



AXCELERATOR BRIDGE QUESTION
I normally play an arrow straight neck with 1.5 mm action.

BRIDGE -- has anyone found a solution for the bridge? The string ball retainer is almost inline with the bridge saddle. This doesn't give enough break (tension).

Before working on it... was wondering if anyone had created a simple hack workaround for this issue.

Thank you for the coaching.
 
#10,690
Thank you... my apologies for not being clearer...

I found this image on the net -- this is not my bass -- the contrast will help ID the installed Wilkerson bridge.
 

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#10,691
I know of no practical way to increase the break angle on that bridge. I have owned only one bass with that bridge and did not care for it. Some Axcelerator 5's were made with Schaller bridges. You can retrofit one without too much trouble but will have to drill mounting holes. I would probably choose the ABM bridge but you will have to consider the cost. Those bridges are in the $140 range.
 
#10,692
Chuck M said:
I know of no practical way to increase the break angle on that bridge. I have owned only one bass with that bridge and did not care for it. Some Axcelerator 5's were made with Schaller bridges. You can retrofit one without too much trouble but will have to drill mounting holes. I would probably choose the ABM bridge but you will have to consider the cost. Those bridges are in the $140 range.
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thank you,

It's interesting... as setting up Bquads, I can commonly get less than 1mm action.. I have considered shimming up the entire neck as a test...

Was hoping someone had figured out a way to "jam" something in the string retainer to "force it down"

You're right about the bridge replacement... for my use... a few shims (somewhere) is about as much as I'd spend on it.
 
#10,696
On the G bass/Modulus Flea comparison, I gotta say that all things being equal, they harmonically won't sound the same due to pickup placement. The G has the pickup in the Precision spot and the Flea's pickup is in the Stingray spot. The center point on each of those pickups is about 2" apart (on a 34" scale, the P pickup is centered about 28.5" from the nut, a SR is about 30.5" {for what it's worth, the Ric bridge PU is right between both of these-just slightly skewed to the SR side}). That alone is the difference between the thicker, low mid P sound and the punchy, not-as-much-low mid SR sound. I have other basses with various pickups in those locations, and the initial tone created by those pickup locations is nearly impossible to replicate with a pickup in the other location. A half inch or so for placement doesn't make a ton of difference in the tone, but 2" does.

In terms of Peavey, the T-40 is generally regarded as the most Ric-ish sounding non Ric out there. If you adjust a 1973 4001 Ric (what I have right in front of me) to 34" scale, it's pickups are centered at 24 7/8" and 29 7/8". The 1980 T40 is centered at 25 7/16" & 31 1/16". IIRC, the center coils are active when tapped, which are at 26 3/8" and 30 9/16" centers. The neck coil is pretty far fro the Ric spot, but the bridge coil is close. Overall, this gives a close approximation of the Ric sound just from the harmonic placement.
Looking at a T45, it's PU is centered at about 28 5/8", which is right in the P zone, and sounds like it!
 
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#10,698
bigtone23 said:
On the G bass/Modulus Flea comparison, I gotta say that all things being equal, they harmonically won't sound the same due to pickup placement. The G has the pickup in the Precision spot and the Flea's pickup is in the Stingray spot. The center point on each of those pickups is about 2" apart (on a 34" scale, the P pickup is centered about 28.5" from the nut, a SR is about 30.5" {for what it's worth, the Ric bridge PU is right between both of these-just slightly skewed to the SR side}). That alone is the difference between the thicker, low mid P sound and the punchy, not-as-much-low mid SR sound. I have other basses with various pickups in those locations, and the initial tone created by those pickup locations is nearly impossible to replicate with a pickup in the other location. A half inch or so for placement doesn't make a ton of difference in the tone, but 2" does.
In terms of Peavey,
Looking at a T45, it's PU is centered at about 28 5/8", which is right in the P zone, and sounds like it!
Click to expand...
I think this is spot on, the G4 and the Forum are in that P spot, I think starting with a Stingray type bass would get closer to Flea than the G Bass.

On another note...I've often wondered why the Stingray pickup placement was put at 30.5".
I've read comments about how Leo tended to make his basses more treble-y as time went on because of hearing loss, the Stingray follows that theory and a number of the G&L pickups do as well.
Or the Stingray position could have been a "let's put it between the P spot and the bridge spot" idea to cover both with the one MM pickup design.
I think the Stingray pickup would sound great in the 28.5" spot.

I'm thinking of converting one of my 3 split P Fury basses to a big humbucker in the P spot.
Been wondering which is the right pickup for that job.. a MM pickup, a Bi-sonic, a T40 pickup, one of the Fender wide range humbuckers, a Dimarzio Will Power or the Dimarzio X2N-B humbucker...or something else I've not thought of.

Thoughts anybody?
 
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#10,699
Chuck M said:
Well, this just popped up on Ebay and I bought it although it will have to come from Canada. Kinda crazy. I paid just over what a Sire would cost for this mint USA Millennium 5. Maple fingerboards are not my favorite but at this price I could not pass it up.

Peavey Millennium 5 Electric Bass Guitar in Green with Hard Shell Case | eBay
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Very nice, Congrats!
Cool strap too, did you get that in the deal as well?
When you get it post some pics that better show the finish, I bet it looks awesome but it's a bit too dark to see well in the seller's pics.
 
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#10,700
58kites said:
I think this is spot on, the G4 and the Forum are in that P spot, I think starting with a Stingray type bass would get closer to Flea than the G Bass.

On another note...I've often wondered why the Stingray pickup placement was put at 30.5".
I've read comments about how Leo tended to make his basses more treble-y as time went on because of hearing loss, the Stingray follows that theory and a number of the G&L pickups do as well.
Or the Stingray position could have been a "let's put it between the P spot and the bridge spot" idea to cover both with the one MM pickup design.
I think the Stingray pickup would sound great in the 28.5" spot.

I'm thinking of converting one of my 3 split P Fury basses to a big humbucker in the P spot.

Been wondering which is the right pickup for that job.. a MM pickup, a Bi-sonic, a T40 pickup, one of the Fender wide range humbuckers, a Dimarzio Will Power or the Dimarzio X2N-B humbucker...or something else I've not thought of.

Thoughts anybody?
Click to expand...

TVJones Thunderblade?
 

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