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U.S. Peavey Club
- Thread starter Soundchaser11460
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Is that one of those Wish basses? I’ve got the app on my phone, just never gotten up the nerve to pull the trigger on a fake Ric yet.
So my beautiful Millennium 4 arrived. I tuned it up and was disappointed with the tone. I played a lot with the preamp controls and could improve it some but I thought "this is not for me".
The bass had some strings on it that I did not recognize...they feel like stainless and have black silk on both ends. I dug around in my used string collection and found a set of TI flats and put them on the bass. Wow! What an amazing transformation. The bass sounds great and responds nicely to changes in right hand position.
I believe that is the most dramatic change I have ever experienced with different strings. This bass was supposed to be a new old stock bass that the guy I bought it from got from the store that originally got it new from Peavey. Well, if it had those strings on it in the store I see why it didn't sell.
I'll have to remove the strings again because the frets need polishing and I will want to do a really nice wax job to get the accumulation of fingerprints off it. I'll post photos after I get it polished up.
The bass had some strings on it that I did not recognize...they feel like stainless and have black silk on both ends. I dug around in my used string collection and found a set of TI flats and put them on the bass. Wow! What an amazing transformation. The bass sounds great and responds nicely to changes in right hand position.
I believe that is the most dramatic change I have ever experienced with different strings. This bass was supposed to be a new old stock bass that the guy I bought it from got from the store that originally got it new from Peavey. Well, if it had those strings on it in the store I see why it didn't sell.
I'll have to remove the strings again because the frets need polishing and I will want to do a really nice wax job to get the accumulation of fingerprints off it. I'll post photos after I get it polished up.
It’s amazing how common a TI flats story like this occurs.
Looking forward to your pics!
It is a dark day here so photos are not really bright enough but you get the idea of how pretty it is. I photographed the fingerboard while I had the strings off. Crazy figure in the fingerboard.
Beautiful new bass, no strings attached!
Love the fingerboard and that elegant upper horn.
NBD. Picked it up in a North Carolina pawn shop for $105 .Kinda getting used to the cross already. Neck is perfect and really slim. Very light. A little best up but not abused.
Nice deal. Yeah, I'd keep it just like that and rock the heck out of it.
NicJimBass
Flossin'? I thought your name was Munson!
Got the Mill 5+ yesterday! It's absolutely stunning, and play beautifully!
It's been a while since I've owned one, and I've fallen in love with another bass, pretty hard, so I'm not sure if the tone on this one is the same as my old ones, or if I've been spoiled to the point that my tastes have changed. This one seems very aggressive, absolutely suited for rock, and the preamp seems to take large adjustments to get noticeable changes. Case in point, even with fresh strings (DR Fat Beams) I have to crank the treble to get something similar to my other basses (EMG's and either EMG, Audere or SNC preamp) set at flat. I put in fresh batteries, but wondering if there may be an issue with the pre? Even with the bass control, I have to turn it up halfway between the detente and max in order to get a decent boost. Any expert opinions?
Either way, here are some pics to drool over!! Lots and lots of birdseye all over the neck!
It's been a while since I've owned one, and I've fallen in love with another bass, pretty hard, so I'm not sure if the tone on this one is the same as my old ones, or if I've been spoiled to the point that my tastes have changed. This one seems very aggressive, absolutely suited for rock, and the preamp seems to take large adjustments to get noticeable changes. Case in point, even with fresh strings (DR Fat Beams) I have to crank the treble to get something similar to my other basses (EMG's and either EMG, Audere or SNC preamp) set at flat. I put in fresh batteries, but wondering if there may be an issue with the pre? Even with the bass control, I have to turn it up halfway between the detente and max in order to get a decent boost. Any expert opinions?
Either way, here are some pics to drool over!! Lots and lots of birdseye all over the neck!
NicJimBass
Flossin'? I thought your name was Munson!
I'm not planning on giving up. I am considering swapping electronics at some point, just to see what it does. Wondering if a simple preamp swap would get me closer to the tone I want. I may throw on some flats and see what it does. When I was playing Mills, GV's and Cirri, several years ago, I would use Chromes, almost exclusively, just to make the tone not so incredibly bright, but as of late, I'm embracing treble much more.
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I'll bet Chromes would sound great on it and I love the feel of them. I have recently been using LaBella flats and like them a lot for the same reasons I like Chromes.
Stunning for sure. That is a beauty! I had no idea Peavey even made basses that had such fantastic birdseye. When I built my Kiesel dream bass last year I ordered the birdseye fretboard and dyed it to add some contrast:
I have a Millennium 5 AC BXP and now you are making me GAS over the USA version. While the quilted maple top is pretty enough it is just a veneer whereas yours looks like a solid slab. Of course the BXP is just a standard maple/rosewood neck:
Also, mine has a set of Seymour Duncan Blackouts so I can't help you with your tone questions. I am surprised to hear it isn't really bright though.
Anyway, Congratulations!
You might look into a simple resistor or cap swap or addition to tame the preamp. I have a '83 G&L El Toro and they are known for being rather bright sounding basses, much like the Stingrays and active Fenders of the same era. I was on the Basses By Leo/G&L bass forum and the man who designed the preamps for G&L is a regular poster and fountain of info there. He told me of a simple mod by placing an additional resistor in series with the hot signal wire right at the input of the preamp to tame the brightness. I played with resistor values and landed on one that mimics the treble content of the bass in passive mode. It didn't have any effect on other frequencies except the treble. Cheap, simple and effective.
Another mod is adding a loading cap across the hot and ground of the pickup(s). These lower the resonant frequency and can quickly and cheaply revoice a pickup to be less bright.
