Peavey bass usage?

[dclaassen]

I’ve been gigging a 5 string DynaBass from 1986. Except for a bit of neck dive, it’s an excellent instrument. I used to see quite a few Peaveys in the States, rarely here. Anybody own and/or gig with one?
 

[Cornwall Steve]

I'm too old and decrepit to gig anymore but always fancied getting my hands on an Indonesian 5 string Cirrus (Yep, still looking - anyone got one they don't want anymore ?).

The Dyna bass has always intrigued me. Are they a bit under rated ?

[dclaassen]

Just now, Cornwall Steve said:

I'm too old and decrepit to gig anymore but always fancied getting my hands on an Indonesian 5 string Cirrus (Yep, still looking - anyone got one they don't want anymore ?).

The Dyna bass has always intrigued me. Are they a bit under rated ?

I think so, and have used a fair number of boutique and production basses.Decent if old-school preamp, lovely thin neck, lightweight, and those amazing super ferrite pickups.

[Burns-bass]

I see them like Yamaha basses. But particularly fashionable or desirable but rock solid build quality, great sound and quite quirky looking.

[dclaassen]

27 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I see them like Yamaha basses. But particularly fashionable or desirable but rock solid build quality, great sound and quite quirky looking.

Agree, but a plus for my Dyna is that it is a fso.

[Misdee]

A USA-made Peavey bass is going to be a quality instrument.

 

I've played the Palladium Bass they made for Jeff Berlin back in the early '90's and that was excellent. I wish I had bought one. They've  become a bit of a cult classic on the used market and get snapped up very quickly. The same shop had a Rudy Sarzo signature model too, and that was also a very nice pro-level bass.

 

Peavy basses have got a decent pedigree. I remember seeing Roger Glover playing a Peavey DynaBass four string with Deep Purple back in the '80's. John Taylor used Peavey Cirrus basses for a long time, and he's a good judge of a bass.

 

Also, I don't know if anyone remembers a top London-based session player called Kevin Powell, used to play with Chris Rea, Midge Ure ect. Superb player. He used a Peavey TL 5 from the early '90's onwards as his main bass. Last time I saw him on some TV show or other about ten or fifteen years ago he was still using one.

[Cornwall Steve]

1 hour ago, dclaassen said:

I think so, and have used a fair number of boutique and production basses.Decent if old-school preamp, lovely thin neck, lightweight, and those amazing super ferrite pickups.

Mmmm....Me thinks I might need to check one out 🤔

Thanks for that 👍

[kodiakblair]

59 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

Anybody own and/or gig with one?

Owned 72 Peavey basses, from all models released between 1978 and 2010.

 

My 5 string DynaBass was  some gunmetal grey finish.

 

Can't say I was too impressed by Peavey's decision to stick a pickup designed for 4 string basses into a 5'er. Was the early 90's before they got around to having an actual 5 string pickup. 2nd gen DynaBass and 2nd gen TL-5 were improvements IMHO.

 

Look how tight 5 strings are on the Ferrites compared to my 2nd Gen TL-5

 

 

[dclaassen]

If you can find one…you can’t have mine…..but very happy to let you try it when in my neck of the woods.

[Cornwall Steve]

1 minute ago, dclaassen said:

If you can find one…you can’t have mine…..but very happy to let you try it when in my neck of the woods.

That's a very generous offer, Sir. Thank you 👍

[dclaassen]

3 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Owned 72 Peavey basses, from all models released between 1978 and 2010.

 

My 5 string DynaBass was  some gunmetal grey finish.

 

Can't say I was too impressed by Peavey's decision to stick a pickup designed for 4 string basses into a 5'er. Was the early 90's before they got around to having an actual 5 string pickup. 2nd gen DynaBass and 2nd gen TL-5 were improvements IMHO.

 

Look how tight 5 strings are on the Ferrites compared to my 2nd Gen TL-5

 

 

I’ve actually grown to love the tight string spacing…horses for courses

[neepheid]

There's a Peavey T-40 pickup in my DeArmond Jet Star, if that counts?  I didn't do the clever tone control thing though, just a simple switch for series/single.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by neepheid

[dclaassen]

How’s it sound?

[neepheid]

2 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

How’s it sound?

 

Thick and chunky.  I was careful to put it in the same place with regard to scale length as it would be on a T-40.

[dclaassen]

Probably a bit lighter?

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, dclaassen said:

Probably a bit lighter?

 

Yes, I would imagine so.  It's not in danger of turning into a singularity any time soon...

[kodiakblair]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

I didn't do the clever tone control thing

It was never clever.

 

You have some tonal variation with the humbucker through positions 1 - 7.

8 - 10 is your single coil, with little variation.

 

Dan Armstrong used the same method on his London guitar/basses around 1972, he quickly saw the folly in it so added another pot, 1 did the coil to ground and the other was the tone pot.

 

I always snipped the red wires on mine, gave the humbuckers a slight boost plus you have more control over tone.

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, kodiakblair said:

It was never clever.

 

I think I was referring to the electrically clever nature of it.  Obviously too clever for me to implement

 

(I hear you, I think it's (functionally) daft too)

[kodiakblair]

@neepheid

 

It's nothing taxing Matt. Instead of pairing white/red as hot on the Vol pot you stick red on Tone pot lug 3.

 

Just minded, I gutted one and stuck a preamp in it 🤣

[neepheid]

4 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

It's nothing taxing Matt. Instead of pairing white/red as hot on the Vol pot you stick red on Tone pot lug 3.

 

Seems more complex according to this diagram:

 

[dclaassen]

30 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Seems more complex according to this diagram:

 

Of course it is….it’s in German….:)

[kodiakblair]

59 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Seems more complex according to this diagram:

Take the pickup selector switch out of the equation, then ditch the completely stupid 'phase' switch.

 

You have 4 wires. White is hot, black/blue+ bare are grounds. Red goes to the Tone Pot.

[Gizmo]

I've had a few Peavy basses over the last 35 or so years, all have been solid even the budget lowend stuff held it's ground and played/sounded good

 

I bought this Peavey Bromberg B-Quad (from this very forum) many moons ago....here it is after i made a ramp for it a while back..

 

 

the PCB had a fault when i got it (seller was upfront about the issue) where it would drain the battery even without the jack in, It took a while (like 8 months) but Peavey spares UK managed to find me a PCB from somewhere...(USA department didn't have any) after that i took it to many places to try to get someone to change it out but after they took a look a the wiring/soldering job they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!.....so it went back in the case for a good 5 years un-played......Till i meet a guy on a training course who claimed to have been a PCB design engineer for various companies inc Laney...i told him about the bass/PCB issue and he said well bring it down and i'll do it for you no problem....next day at lunch, 20 mins later he'd swapped it all out and it was totally fixed! he then took the Old PCB home and fixed that too ! (it's in the case pocket as a backup) & he wouldn't even take any payment, so i bought him a bottle of brandy and some cigs...he's admitted vices.

 

Lets just say the B Quad is not a very Polite bass   but you can get pretty much any "modern" tone out of and the slap/tap it bell clear unlike any other bass i've ever played/owned (after all brian bromberg designed it to be this way as he's a bit of a slapper/tapper (even if it all feel apart with peavey after they released it)

 

I've come close to selling it a few times as i mainly play 5's now but as soon as i pick it up i quickly reconsider, also if it went i doubt id find a 2nd to replace it as they are rockhorseshit rare atm it seems, it's been years since i saw another up for sale and I've never seen a 5 this side of the pond.