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U.S. Peavey Club

#17,761
58kites said:
... the neck looks in great shape too!
Body looks really good.
Nice job!
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The neck is the best part of this bass. Not a mark or ding on it. And it setup perfectly. And all the frets are finished smooth on the ends. I have to give Peavey credit for some great fretwork compared to what I see from the other guys. The frets were GREEN, and I mean actually green, when I got it. But 30 minutes with a set of fret erasures and they look shiny and new.

My favorite design feature on these Foundations is the pointy headstock, with black outline, the old-style tuners, and the triangle string tree.

20200718_115209.jpg
 
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#17,762
jmlee said:
View attachment 3909408

New addition yesterday: Axcelerator 5 from 1994. Not finished setting it up yet, but it's very light (poplar apparently) and nice under the hands. The pickguard is thin and would bear replacing. Lovely pickups and electronics with a decidedly middy humbucker sound. The treble control is more high-mid than treble and is right in the "bite" area: nice! The so-called "Wilkinson low-mass bridge" is a very strange duck with some interesting locking set-screws that seem to bite down on the intonation screws after they're set. 35" scale but B-string is just OK. Got it for a nice price with a terrific SKB case, so I'm a happy camper. :smug:
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Sweet. That's my favorite color for the Axcelerator bass - mine are 4 strings but not in that awesome color ! Enjoy it -The pickguards on those basses are very thin but I've never broken through one "yet" ! And they ten to bend in a bit because of the giant cavity Peavey routes out of the bodies --LOve it
 
#17,763
58kites said:
I don't know if it's a mahogany body thing, but the neck pocket on my mahogany Patriot is the tightest neck pocket of the bunch here, yours looks the same way in the pics.
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Yes, its super tight. I hadn't paid attention to that, thanks for pointing it out.

I'm very impressed with the quality of Peavey USA basses. Everything about this one, and the other two I had, is well put together. One thing I forgot to mention is the electronics. I've never seen a factory original bass with such clean wiring. I'm always surprised at how badly other companies wire them. I know it doesn't affect the sound or playability, but its no harder to wire neatly than sloppy, and its a whole lot easier to work on later if you ever need to.
 
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#17,764
jpmcbride said:
I sold the '89 so I can't compare side by side. But I didn't like the sound of the 89, but I love this one. Maybe its the mahogany body, or the maple vs rosewood fret board, or maybe the Super Ferrites changed from 97 to 89. I don't know.

Or maybe my ears changed over time :)
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I spent some time on pickup adjustment on my 85 black on maple Foundation...the rounds that came on it were extremely clanky (may have been Peavey rounds not sure)...i put on Fender 9050 flats and never looked back....i have learned to adjust to different neck sizes which seems to give my fingers some exercise (plus i work my 61 YO fingers with rubber bands or i couldnt play).
 
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#17,766
DavidEdenAria said:
I spent some time on pickup adjustment on my 85 black on maple Foundation...the rounds that came on it were extremely clanky (may have been Peavey rounds not sure)...i put on Fender 9050 flats and never looked back....i have learned to adjust to different neck sizes which seems to give my fingers some exercise (plus i work my 61 YO fingers with rubber bands or i couldnt play).
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Like you, I had flats on my 91 maple and black Foundation and loved the sound. But since those days I've started playing rounds and my favorites are D'Addatio Nickel, Super light (.040 to .095), balanced tension (EXL220BT). I tried them on this new Foundation and its turns out they sound great. Not clanky or zingy at all.
 
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#17,768
jpmcbride said:
Like you, I had flats on my 91 maple and black Foundation and loved the sound. But since those days I've started playing rounds and my favorites are D'Addatio Nickel, Super light (.040 to .095), balanced tension (EXL220BT). I tried them on this new Foundation and its turns out they sound great. Not clanky or zingy at all.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...i was thinking of moving the 9050 flats to my 1st gen Fury (slant SF pickup)...i will check those out!
 
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#17,772
jpmcbride said:
Yes, its super tight. I hadn't paid attention to that, thanks for pointing it out.

I'm very impressed with the quality of Peavey USA basses. Everything about this one, and the other two I had, is well put together. One thing I forgot to mention is the electronics. I've never seen a factory original bass with such clean wiring. I'm always surprised at how badly other companies wire them. I know it doesn't affect the sound or playability, but its no harder to wire neatly than sloppy, and its a whole lot easier to work on later if you ever need to.
Click to expand...
I suspect when a customer ordered a mahogany bodied bass, the whole process got kicked up a notch.
I've had a dozen Peavey basses here, and the cleanest wiring job is in my mahogany Patriot....by a lot.
The neck pocket is also really nice like I would expect from a custom made bass or a new Warwick, not something from 1987.
 
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#17,773
BassikLee said:
I saw that one. I'd be tempted to try a modern preamp in that. Is that jazz pickup active, or just a convered pole piece passive.
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I don't know yet, curious about that pickup myself.
mb94952 said:
I saw that bass, too on FB. I love the oval inlays on that ebony board. I've always called that bass the Peavey-Alembic. Personally, I think the Seymour Duncans would outperform any Fender pups, but that's just me. I bet it would sound amazing with a modern preamp like BassikLee said, like a matching Seymour Duncan, or a Bartolini NTMB.
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I am looking to get a vintage tone for recording to please a particular producer while still having a great playing bass. That is why I did not mind that the original DynaBass and Pups were gone didn't feel bad making further mods. I do dig the look of the bass and it will be a nice add to my Peavey bunch.
 
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#17,774
MNAirHead said:

I put on tung oil - mistake (didn’t wear well)
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It's all good.
Tung oil basically gives a "wet" look and protectant to the wood,
you use Tru-Oil to SEAL in all the good stuff it does for wood.

I'm a big fan of multiple fat coats of Tung to really soak in and give long life...
then multiple THIN coats of Tru-Oil to seal everything up nicely.
It's a time consuming process as fat coats take longer to dry,
depending on relative humidity in the room and whatnot...
but the payoff is in Decades of serviceable use out of whatever wood you've treated in this way.

Almost forgot...if you use Primary colored stains (red/blue/etc), Tru-Oil does have an odd side effect...
it adds just a wee bit of yellow to whatever you are staining,
so be aware of that, as it can change the final appearance about a shade to the yellow spectrum.
If it's brown stain, it's of no consequence.
 
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#17,775
I was reading a little article by Fodera. Yeah, we love Peavey here and for good reason - They are GOOD basses.
I never liked Fenders or Gibsons and now I have PROOF !!!

"If you were to ask people that know me -- I am not a "name brand" kinda guy. If the Gibson or Fender guitar company stopped making guitars today, I would have a smile from ear to ear for about a month. Not just because I care about the independent luthier, but I think it is BS that you are paying just for the name and the brand and not the brand's quality. I believe that a guitar company or luthier is only as good as their last build. So in my opinion the Gibson guitar company stopped producing great guitars in the 70's, and Fender in the early 90's. Today you are buying an instrument that should be selling for much less than it does when it bears either of their company names." Reviewed By: Jac Harrison
 
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#17,777
mb94952 said:
I was reading a little article by Fodera. Yeah, we love Peavey here and for good reason - They are GOOD basses.
I never liked Fenders or Gibsons and now I have PROOF !!!

"If you were to ask people that know me -- I am not a "name brand" kinda guy. If the Gibson or Fender guitar company stopped making guitars today, I would have a smile from ear to ear for about a month. Not just because I care about the independent luthier, but I think it is BS that you are paying just for the name and the brand and not the brand's quality. I believe that a guitar company or luthier is only as good as their last build. So in my opinion the Gibson guitar company stopped producing great guitars in the 70's, and Fender in the early 90's. Today you are buying an instrument that should be selling for much less than it does when it bears either of their company names." Reviewed By: Jac Harrison
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Marshall should be under that bus also.
I really wish Peavey still made USA speaker cabinets. All I really want is a 4-Ohm USA made PVH212. I have an Eden 1x12 and really want 2x12. I'm torn on getting another Eden or selling it to get a better brand that matches (DNA, Mesa, Bergantino....)
I would save a ton of cash with a Peavey....
 
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