U.S. Peavey Club

[AudioTaper]

Nice Millennium tiger stripe
Peavey Millennium USA Tiger Stripe | Meadow Music | Reverb
And a nice blue one
Peavey Millennium USA | Mr. Dalton | Reverb

No affiliation with either

 

[jpmcbride]

Only had her a few hours, but here are my initial thoughts ...

Cosmetically its in great shape. The neck, fretboard and headstock are excellent. Actually the frets were pretty green when I got it, but the cleaned up well. And there was a lot of gunk on the bridge to clean up. The finish has more wear than I like, but its fine. I polished it and it looks good. The neck has some nice figuring in it!

All the hardware works, no issues. The truss rod turns with no problem using a regular Gibson wrench. Tuners work fine.

The setup is higher than I like. I'm, replacing the strings, but the new ones haven't arrived, so I only gave it a quick setup. It needed a half turn on the truss rod. The neck tilt was tightened by the previous owner causing a bit of a hump in the fretboard at the bottom. Fortunately that is mostly gone after backing off on the tilt adjustment.

This is one of the most comfortable basses I've ever strapped on. The body is small like a Foundation and its heavy enough to feel solid, but not too heavy. The bridge is a good inch further back on the body than my Foundation or T-20, which has the effect of making the neck feel shorter. Its a snap reaching out to the first fret. The nut width is thin like my Foundation, which I usually don't like, but the neck is thicker front-to-back which makes it feel better in the hand. Overall it just feels really good on a strap. It hangs and feels comfortable.

The sound ... wow ... different. Its a very aggressive sound. This thing is going to have no trouble cutting through any mix. It was really a bit too aggressive for me, but a little tweak of the EQ on the amp, more bottom and less mids, and it sounds good. Its got low end and an aggressive bite on top. Its not the sound I normally play, but I might just work for me. We'll see.

I'm happy with it. I love these old USA Peavey's. They look and sound great, and each one has a personality of of its own. And I can own 3 of these for the price of a MIA Fender.

 

[bigtone23]

The Patriot arrived today. Here she is ...

Only had her a few hours, but here are my initial thoughts ...

Cosmetically its in great shape. The neck, fretboard and headstock are excellent. Actually the frets were pretty green when I got it, but the cleaned up well. And there was a lot of gunk on the bridge to clean up. The finish has more wear than I like, but its fine. I polished it and it looks good. The neck has some nice figuring in it!

All the hardware works, no issues. The truss rod turns with no problem using a regular Gibson wrench. Tuners work fine.

The setup is higher than I like. I'm, replacing the strings, but the new ones haven't arrived, so I only gave it a quick setup. It needed a half turn on the truss rod. The neck tilt was tightened by the previous owner causing a bit of a hump in the fretboard at the bottom. Fortunately that is mostly gone after backing off on the tilt adjustment.

This is one of the most comfortable basses I've ever strapped on. The body is small like a Foundation and its heavy enough to feel solid, but not too heavy. The bridge is a good inch further back on the body than my Foundation or T-20, which has the effect of making the neck feel shorter. Its a snap reaching out to the first fret. The nut width is thin like my Foundation, which I usually don't like, but the neck is thicker front-to-back which makes it feel better in the hand. Overall it just feels really good on a strap. It hangs and feels comfortable.

The sound ... wow ... different. Its a very aggressive sound. This thing is going to have no trouble cutting through any mix. It was really a bit too aggressive for me, but a little tweak of the EQ on the amp, more bottom and less mids, and it sounds good. Its got low end and an aggressive bite on top. Its not the sound I normally play, but I might just work for me. We'll see.

I'm happy with it. I love these old USA Peavey's. They look and sound great, and each one has a personality of of its own. And I can own 3 of these for the price of a MIA Fender.

Congrats on the bass! Glad it passes muster. Can't go wrong with 3 basses for the price of one. That alone was a big driver in my Peavey problem!
Patriots are really cool basses. They are seemingly the budget/student model of the time, given the single pickup and all the electronics mounted on a pickguard. However, it has a really nice feel (I also noticed the neck is a little different from my Foundation, particularly in the depth) and the tone is aggressive, thanks to the SF pickup in a slightly more agro location. My Patriot was 9 pounds originally, and 9 pounds, 5 oz after adding another pickup and switch. That's a pretty light to average weight bass in my book.
After adding the neck pickup to mine, I can get that original, aggressive bridge tone, which still has more body than the bridge PU of a Foundation, the really big and thick fundamental tone of the neck pickup, and a cool, scooped tone of both pickups--kind of like a Foundation with both pickups on, but with a touch more low end push. It's amazingly Ric-ish.

 

[58kites]

The Patriot arrived today. Here she is ...
View attachment 4084979
View attachment 4084980

Looks fantastic!....congrats.

 

[wild4oldcars]

Only had her a few hours, but here are my initial thoughts ...

Cosmetically its in great shape. The neck, fretboard and headstock are excellent. Actually the frets were pretty green when I got it, but the cleaned up well. And there was a lot of gunk on the bridge to clean up. The finish has more wear than I like, but its fine. I polished it and it looks good. The neck has some nice figuring in it!

All the hardware works, no issues. The truss rod turns with no problem using a regular Gibson wrench. Tuners work fine.

The setup is higher than I like. I'm, replacing the strings, but the new ones haven't arrived, so I only gave it a quick setup. It needed a half turn on the truss rod. The neck tilt was tightened by the previous owner causing a bit of a hump in the fretboard at the bottom. Fortunately that is mostly gone after backing off on the tilt adjustment.

This is one of the most comfortable basses I've ever strapped on. The body is small like a Foundation and its heavy enough to feel solid, but not too heavy. The bridge is a good inch further back on the body than my Foundation or T-20, which has the effect of making the neck feel shorter. Its a snap reaching out to the first fret. The nut width is thin like my Foundation, which I usually don't like, but the neck is thicker front-to-back which makes it feel better in the hand. Overall it just feels really good on a strap. It hangs and feels comfortable.

The sound ... wow ... different. Its a very aggressive sound. This thing is going to have no trouble cutting through any mix. It was really a bit too aggressive for me, but a little tweak of the EQ on the amp, more bottom and less mids, and it sounds good. Its got low end and an aggressive bite on top. Its not the sound I normally play, but I might just work for me. We'll see.

I'm happy with it. I love these old USA Peavey's. They look and sound great, and each one has a personality of of its own. And I can own 3 of these for the price of a MIA Fender.

Glad you got a winner! Hopefully that neck tilt won’t be an issue, if it needs adjustment, just use a veneer shim like any other bolt on.
I’m a big fan of my patriot, as that punchy tone is in my dream zone, especially after I went to 500k pots and brass bridge saddles. It’s really just a simple, open sounding bass that really cuts. Maybe a bit of a one trick pony, but man what a spectacle.

 

[TinIndian]

Glad you got a winner! Hopefully that neck tilt won’t be an issue, if it needs adjustment, just use a veneer shim like any other bolt on.
I’m a big fan of my patriot, as that punchy tone is in my dream zone, especially after I went to 500k pots and brass bridge saddles. It’s really just a simple, open sounding bass that really cuts. Maybe a bit of a one trick pony, but man what a spectacle.

On that thought. It sounds like what you are describing is a slight Ski Slope in the neck. If it becomes a problem you can send the neck to the guy in Texas at Warpedneck.com. He fixed an old G&L neck for me that was pretty much toast and for only about 100 bucks. If it comes down to it I highly recommend him. Cheaper than trying to find and replace it with another one.

 

[Bleecker]

On that thought. It sounds like what you are describing is a slight Ski Slope in the neck. If it becomes a problem you can send the neck to the guy in Texas at Warpedneck.com. He fixed an old G&L neck for me that was pretty much toast and for only about 100 bucks. If it comes down to it I highly recommend him. Cheaper than trying to find and replace it with another one.

Curious, did you send just the neck in, or the whole bass?

 

[TinIndian]

Curious, did you send just the neck in, or the whole bass?

Just the neck. It's a heat treat process. Most luthiers don't think it works but mine has been holding for 4 years at this point. My neck was in awful shape, a bad twist and a bad Ski Slope. After he was done with it mine was not perfect but I was able to get a good action on it nearly as low as I like.

 

[bigtone23]

Curious, did you send just the neck in, or the whole bass?

I know of three necks that were sent to him and all are still stable after about 3-4 years.

 

[jpmcbride]

So, those of you that do your own setups, what's your feeling about using the micro-tilt on your Peaveys?

My general feeling is that I want to avoid it, and use a shim if needed. My thinking is that the shim spreads the pressure more evenly across the neck than the tilt adjust which is in a single spot. Also, the tilt is easier to abuse and over-stress the neck. Having said that, I used the tilt on my T-20, ever so slightly, to dial in the setup.

My just acquired Patriot had somewhat of a hump at the bottom of the fret board. Once I backed off the tilt, and tightened the truss rod, the hump is almost completely gone.

I've setup my three Peaveys (T-20, Foundation, Patriot), along with a couple other Foundations, and in every case it seems that the they setup best with very flat necks. On Peaveys I generally start with the neck relief set just like on a Fender, but then end up tightening the truss rod more, to reduce the relief, to get low action without buzzing. It appears to me that the Peavey necks tend to hump up a bit at the bottom of the fretboard, requiring less relief on the neck to get the action low without buzzing on the highest frets. The good news is that every Peavy I've seen has a rock solid neck that stays put after adjustment.

 

[58kites]

So, those of you that do your own setups, what's your feeling about using the micro-tilt on your Peaveys?

My general feeling is that I want to avoid it, and use a shim if needed. My thinking is that the shim spreads the pressure more evenly across the neck than the tilt adjust which is in a single spot. Also, the tilt is easier to abuse and over-stress the neck. Having said that, I used the tilt on my T-20, ever so slightly, to dial in the setup.

My just acquired Patriot had somewhat of a hump at the bottom of the fret board. Once I backed off the tilt, and tightened the truss rod, the hump is almost completely gone.

I've setup my three Peaveys (T-20, Foundation, Patriot), along with a couple other Foundations, and in every case it seems that the they setup best with very flat necks. On Peaveys I generally start with the neck relief set just like on a Fender, but then end up tightening the truss rod more, to reduce the relief, to get low action without buzzing. It appears to me that the Peavey necks tend to hump up a bit at the bottom of the fretboard, requiring less relief on the neck to get the action low without buzzing on the highest frets. The good news is that every Peavy I've seen has a rock solid neck that stays put after adjustment.

I hate micro-tilt systems.
Let me say it again....I hate micro-tilt systems.

 

[Chuck M]

I hate micro-tilt systems.
Let me say it again....I hate micro-tilt systems.

I have come to the place where I agree with you. One of the basses I bought from GC used had the neck ruined by someone cranking on the tilt when what was needed was a truss rod adjustment. A wedge shaped shim is the best way to correct a neck angle problem.

 

[TinIndian]

I think they can work ok. The biggest problem to seems to be people tighten the neck bolts too much and that seems to pull the neck out of shape. I also don't like that I am loosing surface area contact from the body of the bass to the neck, it becomes just a screw tip rather than the neck pocket.

Nah, it was a good idea that I don't think worked out all that well. Fender dropped the thing after the 70's and I'm not even sure what manufacturer still does use them. I'm sure there must be, but I don't know who. A proper shim is far superior. Even an improper shim is better.

 

[TinIndian]

So, those of you that do your own setups, what's your feeling about using the micro-tilt on your Peaveys?

My general feeling is that I want to avoid it, and use a shim if needed. My thinking is that the shim spreads the pressure more evenly across the neck than the tilt adjust which is in a single spot. Also, the tilt is easier to abuse and over-stress the neck. Having said that, I used the tilt on my T-20, ever so slightly, to dial in the setup.

My just acquired Patriot had somewhat of a hump at the bottom of the fret board. Once I backed off the tilt, and tightened the truss rod, the hump is almost completely gone.

I've setup my three Peaveys (T-20, Foundation, Patriot), along with a couple other Foundations, and in every case it seems that the they setup best with very flat necks. On Peaveys I generally start with the neck relief set just like on a Fender, but then end up tightening the truss rod more, to reduce the relief, to get low action without buzzing. It appears to me that the Peavey necks tend to hump up a bit at the bottom of the fretboard, requiring less relief on the neck to get the action low without buzzing on the highest frets. The good news is that every Peavy I've seen has a rock solid neck that stays put after adjustment.

I set up all my basses with as little relief as possible. I prefer the fretboard as flat as I can get it.

 

[raal]

I run all my tilt basses (70's fenders, music men and peaveys) in retract position. Greater contact surface = improved tonal transfer neck to body.

 

[haggardPHUNK]

Here are pics of the g-bass neck that I’ll be listing tonight. I wanted to post pics here to the peavey owners club first.

$175 shipped.

 

[jpmcbride]

Greater contact surface = improved tonal transfer neck to body.

In theory this makes sense. But in my experience I can't hear any difference. I've shimmed myself, or had basses with shims of all types: wood shims, blue painters tape, business cards, micro-tilt, flat shims, wedged shims, shims that cover the width of the pocket, small shims that have only a small surface contact, etc... In each case that I checked, I can't hear any difference with or without the shim.

 

[raal]

sure, shim might be less penalizing for tone than tilt bolt which couples the neck to body via into a line + single point joint.

 

[ATLbassist]

The Patriot arrived today. Here she is ...

Looks good! Interesting that it has a pickup ring. What year is it? Mine's an '87 and doesn't have one.

If the sound is too aggressive, definitely try dropping the pickup. I first set mine at my preferred setup height and it snarled and pulled the string out of tune. Now it's only barely peeking out above the pickguard. These things are HOT. (Also true of my Patriot guitar.)

Also agreed on the micro-tilt. I backed mine out completely and used a trimmed business card for a shim. The barrels on my Fury and Foundation are so large that I needed to make a full-pocket shim out of maple.

 

[58kites]

Looks good! Interesting that it has a pickup ring. What year is it? Mine's an '87 and doesn't have one.

If the sound is too aggressive, definitely try dropping the pickup. I first set mine at my preferred setup height and it snarled and pulled the string out of tune. Now it's only barely peeking out above the pickguard. These things are HOT. (Also true of my Patriot guitar.)

Also agreed on the micro-tilt. I backed mine out completely and used a trimmed business card for a shim. The barrels on my Fury and Foundation are so large that I needed to make a full-pocket shim out of maple.

My Patriot is also an '87 but it has a trim ring...I'm not sure when they did what with them.

If you want barrels that may eliminate the need for a shim, the Wilkinson bridge has brass barrels that go on a trapezoidal Peavey bridge-plate correctly but allow for much lower action.