Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Reaper of Doom

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Been sat under the bed for a little while and thought I'd bust her out. Forgot how sick she sounds and plays. Subconsciously all my other guitars are measured against this HP Special. My main Custom Shop Charvel San Dimas has had a million different pickup changes, it's got a copper big block in the floyd, titanium saddles, inserts, screws and clamps but the HP is still nicer to play. I wouldn't even dream of changing a thing.

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Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Ha! Thanks man. Peavey only made 2 in this black pearl finish and the other one had a maple board.

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Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Peavey makes great gear - surprised one of these found it to your side of the pond.
 
Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Peavey makes great gear - surprised one of these found it to your side of the pond.

I imported it from Geoff Knapp at Rocknrollweekend in 2007. I've had a couple of Wolfgangs and saw he was selling a load of custom shop HP's at really good prices so I thought I'd give one a go and it's by far my best guitar, I just don't play it as much as I should for some reason.

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I've been disappointed that Peavey has stopped producing these high end guitars. They definitely made some of the nicest guitars I've ever owned (Wolfgangs, HP Specials, and a sorely missed Vandenberg Custom). The other thing I love about the HP is that they sound remarkable, and those pickups are marvelous things! Sweet axe, thanks for sharing it!
 
Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

I've been disappointed that Peavey has stopped producing these high end guitars. They definitely made some of the nicest guitars I've ever owned (Wolfgangs, HP Specials, and a sorely missed Vandenberg Custom). The other thing I love about the HP is that they sound remarkable, and those pickups are marvelous things! Sweet axe, thanks for sharing it!

Exactly! Over here we get what I call Peavey snobs. People just assume they're a cheap rip off of an EBMM. I personally feel this HP pisses all over any EBMM I've played. I totally agree about the pickups. I love how thick and chewy the bridge is. The floyd is the smoothest and most solid I've ever played. Think I paid $1275 all in, at the time that was about £600!

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Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

That's a sweet deal! Custom Shop HPs ran from around US $3,000 and up. Likwise, I've owned several EBMMs and they were great guitars, but the Peaveys were even better. At one time I had simultaneously an Axis, two HPs, a Peavey Wolfgang(production models, but all US made Peaveys were built in their CS) and two EVH Wolfgangs (in my formerly better financial situation!), all great guitars and the Peaveys were the equal of any of them, I mean Ed played the Peaveys for eight or nine years when he can afford to play anything he wants, they must have been doing something right! I much preferred the HP pickups to any of them (yes even the fantastic Axis pups, and the EVH pups, as much lauded as they were by the producer, were underwhelming), the HP had the best of the necks for me, of course you can't go wrong with any of them. Many believe all of these guitars to have the same neck profile/spec but they are indeed all four different from one another. I loved the trem lock option on the HP where you can set it for "down only" or fully floating, how I wished the others had floating Floyds but never wanted to defile them by routing! The individual coil splits were great on the HP as well as the pickups were specifically designed to sound great in split mode, and of course, in humbucking mode breathe fire! So yeah, these are definitely a fuller featured and equal or better quality instrument to any. One more thing on the EVHs that I just couldn't grow to love was the skinny frets, which my Dominions have as well, I will remedy that as soon as I am able!
 
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Yeah I've had 2 Peavey Wolfgang's, one of them I miss and regret selling and I always felt the EBMM were a little more exclusive. I have a small bit of gas for an EBMM that keeps rearing its ugly head every now and again. These HP's are really high end. Part of me is annoyed because nobody gives them the respect they deserve but the other part of me is **** those guys. Just means I can pick up awesome guitars on the cheap!

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Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

what did the copper floyd rose block do to your guitar?
 
Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

what did the copper floyd rose block do to your guitar?

The copper block is in a mahogany charvel with a maple board. I wouldn't say it's particularly 'warm' sounding. The maple gives it some spank. Put it this way, a custom custom sounded nice and chewy but wasn't rude enough. The distortion was rude but a little brittle. Hope that gives you an idea of how un-mahogany it is.
I instantly noticed the copper block made it louder unplugged. Like when you put a fresh set of strings on and they zing. You could feel the guitar resonate more and if you really dug in you could make the floyd flutter which is cool. I've always had a problem with the brittle treble on the Charvel, that's why I went with a copper block because of the claims of more lows and a warmer feel. I can't compare it to brass because I've only ever used a copper block but it definitely made the guitar breath more and was an improvement.
With my Peavey HP Special, I wouldn't even dream of messing with it because to my ears I don't feel like it needs anything else. It's kind of the tone in my head.

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Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Exactly! Over here we get what I call Peavey snobs. People just assume they're a cheap rip off of an EBMM. I personally feel this HP pisses all over any EBMM I've played. I totally agree about the pickups. I love how thick and chewy the bridge is. The floyd is the smoothest and most solid I've ever played. Think I paid $1275 all in, at the time that was about £600!

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There are plenty of Peavey snobs in the US also. Growing up in the '80s, Peavey was definitely a "working man's" company. Tons of their gear in the lower price brackets in mom and pop shops, but nothing to keep up with the big boys at Guitar Center, etc. They didn't really start getting widely accepted at the top levels in my observation until they cranked out the EVH sig guitar and 5150 amp. They've still made some very popular high gain amps since then, but seem to have fallen off in the guitar dept...
 
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I've had a 5150 for a years and I went through a stage of flipping amps. I had a Soldano HR50 that I kept for a little. Let me get this straight it was a really nice amp but I can see the link between Soldano and the 5150. The HR50 didn't have the chunk the 5150 had and it wouldn't shake the room like I was used to so I decided to move it on.
This dude travelled a million miles to try out the HR50 and we went to my rehearsal room to crank the amp. He asked me why I was selling and I explained that it was no better than the 5150 for what I wanted from an amp. He was really impressed with the HR50 and when I asked him if he'd ever played a 5150 he told me hadn't. I said to him he could fire it up and he said "No it's cool, it's a Peavey". What a ****in ass clown! This dude had a Machine Head shirt on too!

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Playing through a 5150 is a rite of passage, every rock and/or metal guitarist simply must experience it. Like playing a Marshall Super Lead or JCM cranked to the nuts...you can never be the same!
 
Re: Just thought you guys might wanna see this......

Playing through a 5150 is a rite of passage, every rock and/or metal guitarist simply must experience it. Like playing a Marshall Super Lead or JCM cranked to the nuts...you can never be the same!

Never a truer word spoken man.

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Awesome axe!!! yeah, I kinda feel sorry for Hartley.. Maybe I shouldnt, cuz he's rich.. But he doesnt get respect. Everyone always assumes PV gear is subpar. Yeah, they cover the entrylevel market well and all, but just cuz the gear has a fair price, doesnt mean its poo. It makes me sad when they stop making decent things and focus on some of the junk, like the entry level Jack daniels guitars and stuff.. But historically, they have made some killer gear. 5150s-current version, my Ultra plus kills, the wolfgangs, the guitar like yours, the Vandys. I had an old PV nitro guitar that was neck thru, US made that was a KILLER guitar. in spite of the MONSTEROUS Kahler trem it had on it..
 
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Yeah I've seen those Nitros. Are they the ones with the big ugly Kahler Headcrasher? Also seem a few Tracers too that look pretty sweet and well made.
When EVH left Peavey I think they were banking on the deal with Satriani and the JSX (another great amp). I seem to remember George Lynch had a an amp in the pipeline just after EVH but it never surfaced for one reason or another.

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Lynch has actually had two sigs with Peavey and for whatever reasons he split both times. The Triple X was originally the George Lynch Triple XXX, designed by James Brown with George. I've heard GL left that one because the XXX was designed as a 60w head and Hartley insisted it be released as a 120w and some changes to the circuit which altered the character of the amp had to be made which George didn't agree with. XXXs are killer amps! The second amp was the Brahma, and again George left (could have been the fact that Peavey had taken too long to get the amp into production?) the Penta is the Brahma, same amp, and of course the XXX is still available as the 3120. To get the original GL xxx you need to find the earlier 60w combo. It was later replaced by 40, 75, and 120w combos, but the 60 is THE one. I was quite surprised when Joe left, he had nothing but praise for Peavey in an interview literally days before he switched to Marshall, and was gushing over the new JSX 50 (released in 100/50w form as the new Butcher) which he recorded the first Chickenfoot album with along with the 120. Marshall though, how can a rocker argue with that! Those Peaveys are still marvelous amps though, can't argue with that either!
 
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Of course, Satch has been very open about his continued use of his original modified 5150 for recording parts of every album he's done since switching to Marshall...
 
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