NOBAD

ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
edited March 2015 in Bass
New Old Bass Amp Day

;)

Bought this yesterday -


Early-80s Peavey Century amp - 100W, but sounds like more. Totally old-school solid-state, built like the proverbial brick outhouse and remarkably loud for such a "low" power by bass standards. It sounds fantastic overdriven as well - either with the onboard 'saturation' or just cranked right up. Easily giggable if you don't want a clean modern bass sound.

I paid a bit too much for it really, as a favour to the original owner… £100 :). They usually go for less.

It's sitting on top of my 'free' (almost) bass cab, which used to be an Ampeg BA115 combo - the cabinet and speaker are good, the amp is a piece of junk. It was a refused repair estimate - the owner wanted £50 for it, the rest of the parts in the amp section are worth close to that - so rather than fix it I just took the chassis out and fitted a speaker jack to the back.

It's so much louder and better-sounding with the Peavey going through it it's quite funny...

"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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Comments

  • albanovalbanov Frets: 55
    Looks great, I love a bit of brutish 80s solid state bass gear. 
    Mine's a GK 800RB. Looks like it was ripped out of the dashboard of a Mk1 Golf.
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  • dogloaddogload Frets: 1495
    I don't know what they made those old Peaveys from. They are mad-loud and almost indestructible. Yet almost totally overlooked and very under-rated (I'm tempted to shamelessly plug the one I'm selling, but won't ;)

    There was one of these for sale locally for peanuts recently and I was very tempted- except I have no space or justification, other than just wanting it!

    Good call that man!
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  • jpfampsjpfamps Frets: 2723
    Cool.

    Those old Peavey's are great.

    And easy to repair in the unlikely event of them going wrong.

    A lot of amp for the money.

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    jpfamps said:
    Those old Peavey's are great.

    And easy to repair in the unlikely event of them going wrong.
    Even down to the sensible way that they fitted the preamp ICs in sockets instead of soldering them direct to the PCB. Considering that they were never 'expensive' amps, that's something more upmarket brands could benefit from...

    I have another amp from this series incoming next week too - new thread to follow when it gets here :).

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    Nice :D
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    So cool, peaveys are so cool, especially old ones! I bet it's heavy!
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    timmysoft said:
    So cool, peaveys are so cool, especially old ones! I bet it's heavy!
    No, not really - most of the box is empty. It probably qualifies for the 'wasted space' award...

    27lbs. I would think at least half is the box - the usual heavy chipboard covered with military-grade vinyl (you can tell this one's had a hard life because there *are* a few nicks in it!) - and most of the rest is the transformer.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
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