USA Peavey Guitars

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devilflanders

New member
Are the old tracers, patriots, predators etc pretty good? My friend used to have a tracer and i remember liking the feel yet I don't remember enough about stability and tone etc. I know it had the spider trem that i hated, but some have a strat type trem
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

I owned a late '80s Horizon II, ABSOLUTELY one of the best made guitars I have ever owned. Weakness was the pickups. I did not care for the spin and split tone control. But quality was top-notch.

I am currently selling an import version Peavey HP Signature for a friend, and it is also very high quality.

Bill
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

I have a Nitro Active 1, though now I guess I'd call it a passive 1. I don't care much for active pups. Bought it in pieces a couple months ago, and wasn't too sure what to expect. Well, I'm impressed. It's a very nice guitar, and plays great. It's been in my hands a lot since I finished putting it back together just a few days ago. It has the Kahler 2710, not the Spyder.
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

My first two real guitars were Peavey Tracers. Number one had a fender style trem with a single humbucker. 3 months later I traded it for a "Custom". Everyone else who played it like it better than me. As the years of ownership (88-93) progressed I
-repainted the body (3x)
-put new pickups in (2x)
-replaced Spyder trem with a real, German Floyd Rose

It wasn't a bad guitar, but the moment I owned my first RG-550 it was no longer played.

One of my friends had a 24-fret model with a slimmer neck. Even that one felt and sounded better with the stock pickups.
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

I'm intrigued by them, the pawn shop down the street from me has two US T-60s. A buddy of mine had a US Mantis and other than needing a fret job and set up it would have been really good.
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

Eons ago I had a "Reactor" (Tele clone) I had saved up my $ and decided I wanted a "real" Strat instead of the cheap copies I had had up to then. I went and played them all, and was kinda underwhelmed by them (mostly MIM's, this was rural WI in the early 90s) They had a Reactor in the amp demo room, so I tried that. I ended up taking it home! It was fantastic, felt better-built than the plasticky guitars I had played that day, I thought it sounded fine (coming from a string of Epi Strat copies anyway) and it cost less than the "real" guitars I had wanted, and weren't even USA made...
I only sold it because I lost my job, and ended up moving out of state and needed $. I still toy with the idea of getting another one, but all the ones I see are beat up beyond recognition...
(next to my last Epi strat, also sold to cover my move)
I also had a T-20 bass for years, it was a totally dead-nuts reliable, solid instrument. The pup on it was SO good, just with changing the pick attack, it would go from snarly aggressive bark to soft, jazz-like tones. Really a high quality bass. If I needed a bass to just work, this one was it. The neck was kinda skinny, though... it sounded so good I did my best to live with it but when a guy offered me twice what I paid for it, it got sold. I've had other basses, but nothing I've owned before or since was as easy to live with. It stayed in tune, I had it set up/intonated right after I got it, and years later it was still fine (unlike my other bass, I have to have it worked on by a pro just about every season change)

I've played T40's that felt twice as heavy as my 20, too... Can you tell I miss it? If it just didn't have such a pencil-neck...
Peaveys are usually great instruments, but get NO respect. Anything else with "Made in USA" on it costs 2X (or more).
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

The T-60 is one of the least-appreciated guitars ever made, mostly because of the look and the pickups, but for playability, you can't beat them. They're not clones of other brands/models, so you're not getting "Strat/Tele/LP tone for cheap", but they're not so unique that you sound out of place with other instruments (not like, say, trying to pay Metallica on a sax).

The top USA Peavey guitars you can get are the T-60, Vandenberg, Nitro, Mantis, Mystic, Razor, Reactor, and the 6/12 double-neck Hydra. I'm not sure if the Wolfgang was ever made in USA by Peavey.

The Foundation bass is also one to look at. This was the evolution of the T-series basses built with input from real-world players at the time, which evolved further into the Cirrus bass, which basically became Rudy Sarzo's signature bass for years (even moreso than the Washburn "Star" he had with Quiet Riot). Recent photos show Rudy still playing a Cirrus on stage.
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

I used to be the "Peaveyologist" before they turned me into a slut.

My first "real" guitar was a Predator. Still have it. But it's not the usual one you see if you Google it. It looks like this:

Predator01.jpg

Then I put Duncans in it and it looks like this:

Predator02.jpg

(I really need to hone my photography skills.)

I still have several Patriots. (Same body as the Predator.)

Patriot.jpgPatriot_hybrids01.jpgPatriot_new.jpg

And there's yet another one around here somewhere. I also have a T-30:

Peavey_T-30.jpg

Sweet axe. And those are all MIA.

Then I have one import. My Genny EXP:

Peaveys.jpg

Which I converted to HH a long time ago, with a Jazz/JB combo. One of my sweetest sounding axe's.

I think that's all for now, but I do want a T-60. ;)
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

usa pvs ARE awesome! I had an amazing Nitro. had that GINORMOUS Kahler trem deal on it tho.. I have a bud that used to buy tons of old top line Vandys. Amazing axes!!
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

I recently (reluctantly) sold my Peavey USA Limited. This was an amazing guitar.
Peavey 3.jpg
I still own the white Forum in this pic. I just got that one in December 2015.
P1010076.jpg
Reluctantly, I sold the red Fury too. That one has classic P bass tone but a really slim neck.
The Fury went because I got this Acelerator 2T a few weeks ago.
P1010089.jpg
The necks and the fret work on these instruments is top notch. Some of them are no-frills, but they didn't skimp on tone and playability.
 
Re: USA Peavey Guitars

Another nice one is the Destiny model. A friend owned the top-of-the-line version in clear red. Gibson-scale Super-Strat with a Kahler. Very nice.

Bill
 
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