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Peavey T-40


kingforaday
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[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='650115' date='Nov 9 2009, 09:19 PM']What is the neck width like on these? also what do the switches do?[/quote]

The necks are not small, mine average around 43mm at the nut.
As per the previous post, they were all machine made, so any slight
variation is down to sanding and finishing.
The neck, however, is not very deep, at around 19mm at the first fret
and because of this, although it looks like a handful, it is very easy to
get on with. I have small hands and have no trouble at all.
I have a Jazz that is 37mm at the nut, which feels tiny, compared to
the T-40 but the T-40's have been out a lot more times than the Jazzes!! :lol:

For anyone who doesn't know, the humbuckers can be turned into single coil,
with what would normally be the tone control.
On 10 it is pure single coil and as it is backed off, it starts to feed in the other
coil, fattening up the sound. This can be done on both pickups, to any degree.
So, you can alter the sound and tone a great deal.
On top of that there is an in/out phase switch, which if used with the volume
equal gives a very empty sound (not much use at all) but if you feed in one more
than the other, or bring in/take out coils, the permutations are endless.
This all sounds very complicated but I guess if most bass player are like
me, you have 2 or 3 favourite signature sounds and stick with them. :)

The other thing is, the early "Toaster" pick-ups have a slightly warmer sound,
with the later "Blade" pups being slightly brighter. Both are powerful!! :lol:

Cheers.
Flat Eric. :rolleyes:

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Turns out mine is a 79 build. I gave it an outing today and it's damn near broke my back, but I still love it :) Flat Eric you are a mind of information about these fair play. What else do you know about them? I'm tempted to get a railed one now just to hear the contrast between them :rolleyes: I found out from the previous owner that it set him back a mere 25 notes. I still think I came out on top though :lol:

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quote name='cocco' date='Nov 11 2009, 10:46 PM' post='652084']
Turns out mine is a 79 build. I gave it an outing today and it's damn near broke my back, but I still love it :rolleyes: Flat Eric you are a mind of information about these fair play. What else do you know about them? I'm tempted to get a railed one now just to hear the contrast between them :lol: I found out from the previous owner that it set him back a mere 25 notes. I still think I came out on top though :lol:
[/quote]

Well, out of my enthusiasm for the beasts, T-40's and T-60's,
I have learned quite a bit.
The very early ones had a line around the truss rod cover, an 8M serial
number and square cases.
The line was deleted after they discovered it was too difficult to apply.
These are very rare!
There were some rare ones with six digit numbers - I have one with pots
dated '77 and apparently these were issued to the reps to promote Peavey's
new venture into guitars.
Each set of numbers were issued to different reps, so if one went missing
or the rep forgot to go back and collect, they would know who lost it. :)

The early ones, same as yours, would be slab bodied, Toaster pups, blade type
switches, pots dated on the sides on the very early ones - on the top later on,
metal nut and "Patent Applied For" decal.
[attachment=36162:IMGP0349.JPG]

Most were natural/maple but you could get Black, White, Red, Tobaco Burst
and like a Tan/Orange burst. Rosewood board was also an option.
The intermediate ones - early 80's, went to a more sculptured body, blade pups,
which were built in a moulded unit, (the Toasters were on a brass chasis)
blade switches and metal nut were retained, PAF detail went.
The later ones went to BAT switches (larger) and a nylon nut but were pretty
much the same and the previous model.
[attachment=36163:BATSwitch.jpg]

Diferent colour options were available - Dark Sunburst and a Wine Red, again
with Rosewood as an option but rose boards are rare.
They came (after the early square case) with a dedicated moulded case, that
was build to withstand a fall down several flights of stairs, complete with a
manual, thumb rest, key for the case and I believe, a truss rod key.
I know lots of other stuff about Peavey T's, most of it useless - so if anyone
is interested, shout MORE!!! :lol:

Cheers.
Flat Eric. :lol:

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I've recently found out a something else: the schematics of the T-40 you can download from the net refer to the post-1983 models, and show no resistors in the tone circuitry. My bass is from 1980, and if you open it, you can see a resistor staring back at you, right where the tone circuit connects to the volume pots. At first I thought it was some kind of modification, because I didn't seem to get much variation in tone, only a drop in volume. Further inspection revealed that it is infact part of a treble bleed, a high pass filter that helps retain high frequencies when lowering the volume. Expert opinion is that it is original wiring, and not a later mod.
So it seems that pre-1983 models have an extra bit of circuitry to help with high frequencies. Could this be because earlier pickups are supposed to be a little darker-sounding?

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[quote name='razze06' post='652398' date='Nov 12 2009, 10:54 AM']I've recently found out a something else: the schematics of the T-40 you can download from the net refer to the post-1983 models, and show no resistors in the tone circuitry. My bass is from 1980, and if you open it, you can see a resistor staring back at you, right where the tone circuit connects to the volume pots. At first I thought it was some kind of modification, because I didn't seem to get much variation in tone, only a drop in volume. Further inspection revealed that it is infact part of a treble bleed, a high pass filter that helps retain high frequencies when lowering the volume. Expert opinion is that it is original wiring, and not a later mod.
So it seems that pre-1983 models have an extra bit of circuitry to help with high frequencies. Could this be because earlier pickups are supposed to be a little darker-sounding?[/quote]

Here's something I didn't know. :)
I will check this out - as you say, the Toasters are warmer,
so maybe the Blades didn't have the same curcuit.
I'll get back to you. :rolleyes:
What colour is yours?
Pic?

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[quote name='cocco' post='652382' date='Nov 12 2009, 10:42 AM']MORE!!!![/quote]

Sorry about the delay!!! :lol:

One of the things that is often said about the T-40 is how powerful
the pups are and how you can dial in a lot of different subtle tone
differences.
Although they were all machine made and feel pretty much the same,
they all have slight differences in sound. Two of the same year, side
by side, have a difference. Pretty much in line with other makes, I guess.
In reality, this would only make a difference in a studio, live - you would
not be able to tell.

The other thing is the weight. :)

Well, compared to a Steinberger, yes!
Compared to a Jazz or Precision, Yes.
I do have heavier, though - an Ibanez Studio that you could knock posts
into the ground with!! :rolleyes: :lol:
I was thinking about this, earlier this year, when I opened up my '79 to
sort out an annoying crackle, I decided to strip it down, clean it up and
give it a good service.
I weighed the parts on a very accurate industrial scale.
The body was 2.15Kg - 4.73 lbs, neck 1.16KG - 2.55 lbs and all the remaining
parts were 1.45KG - 3.19 lbs. Total 4.76KG - 10.49 lbs.
When you consider that each bridge saddle weighs about one ounce and the whole
bridge, assembled, is just under 1 lb, at 15 ounces, I think that's what tipped it over
the edge! Does anyone know of a heavier bridge?? :lol:
Having weighed some of the others, 10.5 lbs is about on the mark.
Does this add to the sound? Well, all things considered, I suppose it does.
What are they like to gig with?
Well, our sets are about 45 to 50 minutes and it doesn't bother me, in fact
after a while you get used to it and then going back to something lighter/smaller,
feels a bit odd.
The last two weekends I used a Jazz and an Ibanez Roadster - loved it but this
weekend I've got to whip out a couple of T-40's! :lol:

The bodies are Ash, with the natural ones having more figuring on the upper bout.
The odd thing is that most are five piece but every now and again, they are three
pieces - central core and two wings.

Think that'll do for now. :lol:

Cheers.
Flat Eric :lol:

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[quote name='cocco' post='652382' date='Nov 12 2009, 10:42 AM']MORE!!!![/quote]

And another thing. . . . .

Definative details on the controls, by Chip Todd, the "T" in T-40, and
all the other "T" Series instruments.
This explains it far better than I can. :lol:

This was written to detail the T-60 but as far as I can make out, the T-40
works in the same way. :lol:

"It has been said many times that the Peavey T-60 guitar is capable of many sounds and tones from the pickup and wiring design. The only problem is most people that own one of these instruments are not aware how it works or how to adjust anything to get those wonderous tones.

The basic layout of the instrument is two splitable humbucker style pickups. One located at the bridge, the other located at the end of the neck.

The controls consist of two sets of volume and tone controls, one for each pickup.

The pickups are split into single coil pickups by applying a ground connection to the middle of the two humbucker magnetic coils. This bypasses one of the pickup coils and the remaining coil becomes a single coil pickup.

The tone control darkens (makes the sound more bass) the pickup sound by slowly grounding out the pickup through a tone capacitor.

The genius of the Peavey wiring design is that when the tone control is turned clockwise it applies ground to the pickup center and splits it into a single coil pickup. When turned counter-clockwise the tone control removes the ground from the pickup center (returning it to a regular humbucker pickup) and then slowly applies ground to the capacitor, which darkens the tone.

Therefore using the volume and tone controls with the three position selector switch, many various pickup combinations can be achieved. The volume controls have a .001uf capacitor bridging the input and output terminals. This they call volume compensation. It allows the sound of the pickups to remain constant as the volume is reduced.

There is also a phase switch, which reverses the positive and negative connections of the bridge pickup. Pickups connected out of phase have a hollow, tinny, mouth harp kind of sound. When the phase is used, this is where the real genius of the wiring design comes into play.

First of all, when the bridge pickup is selected and set at single coil setting on the tone control, the phase switch can be used to select either coil of the pickup.

Second, when the middle pickup switch position is selected and the phase switch set out of phase, those volume controls have volume compensation. This means that as the volume control is rotated counter-clockwise, the volume is slowly reduced and the output of the pickup is passed through the .001uf compensation capacitor. The capacitor counteracts the out of phase sound characteristics and creates a rich mellow refined pickup sound. Now with the pickup selector switch in the middle position and the pickups out of phase, the volume and tone pots can be used to create many new sounds from the pickups, in addition to the many already achievable from the in phase setting".

Got that?? :)

Cheers.
Flat Eric. :rolleyes:

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='658011' date='Nov 18 2009, 12:42 PM']First of all, when the bridge pickup is selected and set at single coil setting on the tone control, the phase switch can be used to select either coil of the pickup.[/quote]

That solves a mystery - I was sure the phase switch was doing [i]something[/i] when I only had one pickup on. Never quite fathomed what it was!!

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  • 1 month later...

[quote name='kingforaday' post='715765' date='Jan 17 2010, 04:25 PM']New One!


got a bit of a yin-yang thing going on now!
[/quote]

Aha, you got there before I did. GREAT Pics.
Absolutely amazing - Very lucky.
Gone to whip one of mine out, in tribute to the two "minters" that you have. :)

All the best.
Flat Eric. :rolleyes:

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I have got to try one of these out sometime soon... I'm intrigued!

BTW, I noticed that the bassist from Friendly Fires was/is rocking out on a T-40 (you could see/hear it in action in last year's Glastonbury coverage on the Beeb... Great sound! :)

Not one of you lot by any chance, is it?!

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Hi all, I see many T-40 experts and I have a problem with my T-40.

Bridge pickup tone pot is working as a volume pot. It's like all the way in humbucker mode, when I turn it up over seven there is no change to single coil. Neck one is working ok, bridge pickup does not. Another symptom is when pickup selector switch is in bridge possition and out of fase switch "on", the bass does not sound.

I have check the wiring several times, comparing with my other T-40 wiring and checking PEAVEY's T-40 wiring diagram and I have only observed that Bridge Tone Pot Capacitator installed on is .044MFD and PEAVEY's T-40 wiring diagram states .033MFD.

Could be this capacitaor the source of my problem?

Many thanks,

Oh! by the way, this is my baby:

[url="http://img17.imageshack.us/i/peaveyt40.jpg/"][/url]

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[quote name='markinson' post='728315' date='Jan 29 2010, 12:48 AM']Hi all, I see many T-40 experts and I have a problem with my T-40.

Bridge pickup tone pot is working as a volume pot. It's like all the way in humbucker mode, when I turn it up over seven there is no change to single coil. Neck one is working ok, bridge pickup does not. Another symptom is when pickup selector switch is in bridge possition and out of fase switch "on", the bass does not sound.

I have check the wiring several times, comparing with my other T-40 wiring and checking PEAVEY's T-40 wiring diagram and I have only observed that Bridge Tone Pot Capacitator installed on is .044MFD and PEAVEY's T-40 wiring diagram states .033MFD.

Could be this capacitaor the source of my problem?

Many thanks,

Oh! by the way, this is my baby:

[url="http://img17.imageshack.us/i/peaveyt40.jpg/"][/url][/quote]

Hi. Nice one! :lol:

Two things to bear in mind, I LOVE these basses and . . . . . . . I'm elctronically blind!!! :)
So, from experience only - some electrical issues can be down to the phase switch.
You didn't say if it was like this or it has become like it.
I would do a bit of simple elimination. A new phase switch is not to many £$£$ and easy to fit.
The phase switch is also a coil selector, on the back PUP only, so may have something to do with it. I will forward this on to someone who may have the answer.

Cheers.
Flat Eric. :rolleyes:

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[quote name='kingforaday' post='728503' date='Jan 29 2010, 11:56 AM']ah the one that got away! i bid on that one on ebay![/quote]

The pictured one is in perfect working order, the one with the the pot problem is a different one. I guess the problem is going to be at the pot itself.

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='728631' date='Jan 29 2010, 02:03 PM']Two things to bear in mind, I LOVE these basses and . . . . . . . I'm elctronically blind!!! :)
So, from experience only - some electrical issues can be down to the phase switch.
You didn't say if it was like this or it has become like it.
I would do a bit of simple elimination. A new phase switch is not to many £$£$ and easy to fit.
The phase switch is also a coil selector, on the back PUP only, so may have something to do with it. I will forward this on to someone who may have the answer.[/quote]

The bass arrived to home from USA with a non-original three possition black switch in the phase position and the same problem I have now.

My first try was to replace the phase switch for a DPDT on-on switch just like the originals ones.

It did not solve the problem. Anyway to replace that switch was a must.

As I said before I am goin to try with the pot. Your explication about the way double-single coil system works (grounding coil, the pot and so), makes me think the tone pot is not working properly and as a result is not grounding the coil.

Many thanks FlaEric.

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  • 3 weeks later...

[quote name='cocco' post='752128' date='Feb 20 2010, 08:52 PM']To those who own multiple T-40s. I have an early non rail one, is the difference in tone that massive between it and the railed one? I kinda wish mine had more bite.[/quote]

I don't think so, for me, they sound quite similar. The main difference (in my opinion) is in construcction...

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