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U.S. Peavey Club

#14,241
Chuck M said:
I've spent some time playing the Forum and have some observations. First it plays and feels great. The neck feels very comfortable and is carved in a shape similar to a Fender Jazz. The nice part about it is that it is very easy to play and it feels NATURAL....and comfortable..and no dead spots.

The bass weighs 8 pounds, 10 ounces and is the lightest bass I own. Remarkably the second lightest at 8 pounds, 14.5 ounces is my G. Gould ggi6 6 string. The Forum body shape is very natural feeling and pleasing to the eye.

Now...the electronics. I've played and owned quite a few passive P/J basses through the years including two of Fender's Hot Rod Precision basses that were part of the American Standard line at one time. The Fenders were nice basses and, as you might expect, played well and sounded nice. It sounded similar to a P and similar to a J and I sold them both. The second best sounding passive P/J that passed through my collection was a Squier Jaguar. Yeah, a Squier. It had Duncan designed PU's and stacked tone/volume controls. It sounded great and I only bought it because it was in a Fender tolex case and the case was worth what I paid for the bass and case. I sold the bass for more than I paid for the pair so I made money and got a free case.

Then there is the Forum. Turn down the volume on the J PU and it sounds exactly like a Precision. Not close....exactly. Blend in the J PU and you get a little more bite and more volume. Turn up the J and turn down the P PU and now this rascal sounds like a J bass with only the bridge PU on. Yeah, that Jaco tone. How did Peavey do this? I have no idea but I do know it must not be easy because other manufacturers fail to get this tone out of their passive P/J bases.

I am almost embarrassed to admit I bought this bass in a ratty gig bag and a Peavey Backstage Plus amp (it works just fine) for $100. This is as good a deal as the TL5 I bought for $415 delivered.
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Such a great score!!! The Backstage Plus (the Peavey Princeton) is a really cool amp, perfect for home or small gigs, especially with a Jensen P10R or Celestion G10S-50 speaker upgrade. Or, if you sell it, you have a $50 Forum!
Forums are really great basses. Mine also feels and plays superbly and weighs in the low 9s. The J feel is home for me.
Funny thing, since mine is a Forum Plus, it has a high mass bridge and Peavey's version of EMG pickups. It sounded good, but the P pickup was a little hot relative to my other active basses, the bridge PU output was fine. The odd thing was when blending the pickups. Every now and again, I find P/J basses have this odd honk to them. I suspect it's just the phasing distance/difference between the two split coils and a regular, straight pickup. I wanted a passive P/J, a set of Wilde P46/J45 were installed with a 500K linear master volume, 250K M/N ungrounded blend and 500K audio tone (push/pull to put the P46 in parallel to emulate a J neck PU). With the new set up, no weird honk and the output is right on par with the rest of my instruments.
 
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#14,242
bigtone23 said:
With the new set up, no weird honk and the output is right on par with the rest of my instruments.
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Yeah, most P/J basses and especially the active ones have that strange honk to the tone. I know exactly what you mean. My Forum is a very punchy sounding bass...it has balls...and terrific sounding electronics.

The Backstage Plus is a cool little amp but I have no need for it so I will sell it and figured to get about $50 for it. Hey, I paid more for the TI flats than I will have in the bass after I sell the amp and....and...I just happen to have the proper Peavey hard case that fits it. Some days God really smiles down on me. Most days really.
 
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#14,246
MNAirHead said:
The neck on the RJ (fretboard) is VERY low and it’s neck through

to get the bridge saddles low, we have to take out a machinist’s file and file down the saddles (string guide area)

With the right tension strings, the RJ may be one of the best of the USA 4
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Strange you found the need for files.

My Vigier Passion is through neck with a very low fretboard,Kahler bridge too. Taken at the 17th fret I read 0.75mm on G and just teasing 1mm on E. Plenty exposed threads left on the posts and never saw a file.

No reason for me trying a Kahler on my RJ-IV. With the stock Peavey bridge, the action reads 0.5mm on both G & E at the 17th.
 
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#14,247
I suppose it could be that the PU's have been changed in my bass. Someone changed the volume control for the J PU and did a lousy job of it. I corrected that and the bass just sounds amazing. Yeah, we use that too much..."amazing" but, honestly this is one of the best sounding basses I've played and I've played thousands....I am 75 and have been playing since 1958. Yeah, I am old.

The PU's look like originals and were certainly dirty enough. I believe they are originals and maybe I just got.."the one" special bass where everything is just right. Seems to me all my Peavey basses are "the one" where everything seems just right. Some, like this one, needed some TLC. I had a Foundation 5 that came to me with everything maladjusted. The neck was even crooked on the body. I set everything right and it played great and sounded better.

I sure wish I had been smarter about this when the basses were being produced. Thank goodness I jumped on the bandwagon while bargains can still be had. Prices are creeping up though.
 
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#14,248
kodiakblair said:
Strange you found the need for files.

My Vigier Passion is through neck with a very low fretboard,Kahler bridge too. Taken at the 17th fret I read 0.75mm on G and just teasing 1mm on E. Plenty exposed threads left on the posts and never saw a file.

No reason for me trying a Kahler on my RJ-IV. With the stock Peavey bridge, the action reads 0.5mm on both G & E at the 17th.
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I have a set of cobalts on my RJ
And I have no problems with getting it low enough
 
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#14,251
I will say this: I have two Dyna Unity Koa basses. You would think they would be identical. With one, the bridge saddles are on the deck, and the action is just acceptable. With the other, they are in the middle of their travel, and the action is stoopid low, like I like.
 
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#14,256
Some new basses this week.

A 1984 Patriot, and a 2002 Millennium Plus J Bass in Royal Blue.
IMG_20190830_085548.jpg


IMG_20190829_175239.jpg
 
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#14,259
Madhouse27 said:
Almost three years ago, I joined Talkbass and somehow attached myself to this US Peavey Club thread. Despite not really participating (or owning anything Peavey) I’ve received constant notifications of the activity here. Well, I am now one day away from officially joining the club. Finally scored a lefty Foundation Bass and it’s coming tomorrow!

View attachment 3524922
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Welcome! Great bass for dropping into our Peavey pool!!
P.S. Super Ferrites: best pickup ever!
 
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