PEAVEY Innovations from Mississippi

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you'd ..... rr,h,..,hlu .I CitieS Lv\...aL".u. COrnlnle: up Names way up the state , Loar, Beauchamp, almost on the and Floyd Rose would bama border, to the tip of the tongue readily, no about a hundred miles east of the capital, Jackson. into your head was That Peavey has Peavey? The amp company? Well, such a low profile right. Peavey, the amp and among guitar players and collec- . . . tors IS an IronIc to Right) 1978 Patent Applied For T-60, an early One of America's largest situation because, ofthe guitar which revolutionized modern sotl:db,odv 1JroaU<~tton. 1982 T-25 Special, with a ufacturers since 1 the real':?st!l,nea by Todd he the company. aware company guiding vi- pumping out , many of excep­ a pleasantly lilting Southern drawl sion of its founder and owner Hardey tional quality, beauty and often quite paced like a salesman) who's by no - essentially invented the way innovative design. Proudly made in the means shy about telling you what he '~f,d/H~M solidbody guitars are made! But U.S. of A. All, new or used, are a re­ thinks language peppered with Peavey. One the largest markable value, which has been Hardey plenty salt), "but it's not so strange idea from the very De~~ml[1me:. And which may and slOn. in this parr the countrf. mixed with the 'white soul' of the opened a music shop. He married my country. Irish and Scottish people who also lived mother in 1939, and I here and created country music. Jimmy was born in 1941. I lit- Rodgers, the Blue Yodeler, was born, erally grew up in a mu­ "If I L~W~n ~Io~, I Jtill Wo~[~~ W~o~~ raised, died and buried in 1tleridian. All SIC store. this came together to make rock and "'W'hen I was about Wi[~ m~JI[iO~J. ~~ f I ~L[I~L~ [~ ~Wl~ roll, right here. [Memphis, TN, sits 14 years old I began plumb on the northern border of Mis­ working full time in the ~~W~m~~L ~m~J i~ ~orUWlor." sissippi.] !vlaking guitars and amps store. We sold instru­ American music was born makes ments, radios, TVs, records. I handled the country Djs that came in perfect sense." the records, ordering them for the kids. rock. I was going to quit and of Hartley person- Then around and '55, rock and roll farewell speech all me'm()m~ea moment I was 15. I lived through the the owner shove 'happy times.' I was physically music when I realized to be a musician. He'd practice, build UJUlLUIH:tC the money. When he an- came home and told his amps and for He llV'J.H\~"'U to his that he he wanted to learn guitar. That played in five or six fine store had a teacher bands, building Hardey could use one of the rental equipment as they fr~m [~L ~Lui~m~u fLO~LU ~~LW W~O[ ~L WO~[L~ needed it. "A funny thing about that," re­ [~ ~~ ... ~~II~ ~L[L~[ L~~i~mL~[ mr 0fair o~~ members Peavey with a sense of ironic rLoJ~~o~IL ~ri[L. amusement. "Every time I finished building the band's to use the $8,000 in the trust fund to equipment, I was out and they'd find a start an amp company, his father told In some ways, you new guitar player. I'd show up for prac­ him he could "piss it away" any way he was the true start tice and there'd be this new guy who'd wanted to. In 1965, Peavey Electron­ Since no one told blow me away with guitar ics was born. ing!" In 1964, a junior in college, In those days, there were a ton of amplifiers, tone circuit invented by including the wood steel guitarist and amp amps on , now Vintage (circa guru, Orville "Red" Rhoads. Kustom, Fender, Gibson, Standel. and Classic amps, however, this The first public notice of this recalls an early incident at a is a vast subject which is beyond our appeared in a small, mc:onsPlcw::ms NA~1M show telling Bob of scope near the back of the February 1978 Standel that he made amps down in Mississippi. Crook gave him some fa- Guitar revenge fLO~L~'J ~rJ( ~W(Or WOJ (~L IL~L~~Or~ I-o~, think en- As we try Into ~rn[idll~ ~L~~[L~ i~ l~l~, J~~rti~~ 0JILW ~r ~LW his own strongly held opinions, so the wisdom was sort of a ~O(L~(J O~~ ~~L ~r (~L m~J( i~(LrLJti~~ (~~L fell on cantankerous retaliation. As Peavey tells it, by the The Peavey credo and Gibson were 10s­ At that guitars were better than his modern answered some thought paraphrase paraphrase), "We made some great guitars, but we also made some pretty bad ones. Our problem was con­ sistency. We're much more consistent nowadays." Even in the mid­ Peavey maintains, not that much progress had been made. Gibson was, at the time, the most automated, con­ sistent manufacturer then. For

...... "aF.',uJ'F. a guitar could be pro­ duced with consistent quality was his goal, and the way he could "a cent product at a fair Chip Todd gets the nod solution was Ins;pllreQ~,_I.~~ic;;}0'~'i;~

LLL".aLLUJ, a subject that's mterested (and not coincidentally Chip Hardey, who was looking for a hired assistants, Gerald Pew, who'd a long rime. He had always man, and Todd was brought to 1v1erid­ worked on amp cabinets for at how gun ian for an interview and subsequently Bobby Low from Hattiesburg, MS, and were able to meet such tight toliera.nce.~>~i:,~~i hired. He went back to Houston, sold Charley Gressett. This was the team and get such a snug fit his shop and moved to Meridian. By that brought out the first Peavey gui­ metal and the wooden the way, the equipment Todd couldn't tars and basses. gating this, he went to wOlod.wc,rkl:n. sell bought and used. When shows, and discovered the Todd left the company later, Inventing modern guitar machine made in Germany, gave it back to him. production ger copy lathe. These IJa.C'~'-'dLU At tlrst Todd worked drawing The idea from the beginning was to on some commercial art training, as well use machines for efficiency and con­ as his and guitar ex~)en.en(::e Initially, Peavey thought they -on ing three or four times a day with Hardey. wanted a fairly that was contoured. one

en-

and put this on a pickup and tell me what you " Peavey did, and, of course, it worked just like Rhoads said it would. Thus, on the T-60 (and quite a few by the way. Otherwise the wood other early Peavey guitars), when you at a time. Instead of one person wouldn't properly compensate for the have the tone control at 10, the pick­ shaping one neck at a time, he stress. The solution for this was ups are humbucking with treble full now had one machine operating pro­ worked out on napkins by Todd and out. Roll it back to around 8 and they ducing four at a time with much Peavey one day, and then patented. are single coils. At around 6 or so, the '<::'L'~UL''-L efficiency and consistency. This was another Peavey innovation. treble rolloffbegins as on a normal tone For the T-60 bodies, Peavey purchased Also by the way, Peavey suggests with pot. an American-made numerical control carv­ pride that his necks "inspired" Leo Regarding wiring, Todd likes to point machine, or profiler, a device which Fender to immitate his technique on the out that, at the time, Gibson was wir­ becoming available at that time. Un­ early G&L guitars, a compliment of the ing pickups into the side post on pots, a router, which only carves in an XY highest order. The the profiler carves in an XYZ do­ Peavey patent was or in three dimensions, so it can do based on loading a contoured guitar body. According to the rod right down were made by t'~Ksrrorrl­ the center of ~Lh''-'''I in Rockford, IL, which is a con- bilaminate maple, sure en()up'h which meant that when you were us­ was satisfactory. Naming the babies ing both pickups and turned one pot chose Amron airplane paint, a three guitars which down, it affected the other pickup. and was one of the first COmr)arlleS to NAMM were ptototypes Peavey wired to the center post, which use this durable finish. Todd, T-30 and T-40, meant one pot didn't affect the other, As an aside, Todd an amusmg yet and dubbed ofTering more tonal flexibility. anecdote regarding finishes. At one 1, CT-2 and CT-B Chip point they looked at a Swedish finish Considerable time was spent A new way to fret necks which set in less than a minute. You a name, but every time Another Peavey innovation was in could finish and buff a guitar in would come up with way it fretted At 10 minutes worked out! The were HLO',-,UUL"" one at a was it was and the humidity in !v1eridian was so high that m the finish began to set before the spray ~~~I~Lr rLOVL~ i~~~VoIi~~ WOJ hit the guitar, so it wouldn't take!

I~L WO~ II rrLIIL~ ~~i[orJ. Under the covers One final story about

Classic stack endorsed T-25 T-27 Limited and

The case for cases heavy and lopsided but keep the guitar dve, assigned by an aUlcornat:ed sta:tUD;~i~~%~/;iiS' Cases, by the way, were at first well protected. Also available later was ing machine. vacuum-formed and made in Florida, a more common rectangular shape as were those for Martins and Ovations. made of a softer plastic with fabric in­ Goodbye, Mr. Chip However, Peavey wasn't satisfied with teriors, which is now the principal case. Chip Todd left Peavey to bec:olfl.~~~~·. quality, and changed over to blow­ Fender's head of R&D in molded cases. Martin was already do- Early numbers though with the understanding some of that at time, but Peavey Initially, the T-60 came with an wouldn't was quick to use new l'-,-llH'UIU'l;:. v. body a with black dot Over the years, at two styles of markers. It had a Fender-style adjust­ case can be found. One was the horsy able bridge unit, with back-loaded but injection molded brown strings. Pickups were chrome covered coffin with foam rubber 'buckers with two black plastic ovals poles. It had a black "",,..,,n,...,"" for workers ... Peavey is equally reissue series at the time, and found that reissues weren't faithful to the complimentary about Todd's abilities. every old Strat got had different originals, a part that is bec:aw;e Todd arrived at Fender just prior to neck profiles and widths. Todd was told originals weren't faithful to themselves!] advent of and a new that Fender never did intend to make m;:magelme:nt, and he felt he never got the V neck shape. That was the result A Gibson man to make the contribution he'd wanted, of employee problems. V necks were When tracing the subsequent devel­ although he remembers with fondness almost all made on 1v1ondays. It seems opment ofPeavey guitars, there are two Freddy Tavares, who sang that many employees working on necks main distinguishing characteristics at Todd's wedding. and his one lunch­ would come in to work on Monday a which mark the evolutionary stages: time meeting with Leo Fender and bit hung over, and, being tired, would body styles and pickups. Throughout Fullerton, who were involved lean against the sanding machines, and most of Peavey's existence, the G&L then. At the time the V shaped neck! bilaminated neck design has been used. Todd and Bolt-neck models also feature a tilt-neck more rounded profiles were made for rest of For

innovative (and patented) way. IVfost other pICkUIJS ?viL

tars are the most endearing of Peaveys, but you i~If~~~[L~ 0 have to admit a certain charm to )~O~L~ LIL[[fi[J. a guitar as as the Razer, and, of Stratmania. 1983 also saw the entry indeed, it does of even more Strat-like shapes into the have a lot of stage line with the Patriot/Horizon/Mile­ presence! stone guitars. These still featured the typical Peavey electronics. The ever­ cutaways of the T-60 shape were deep­ The Wham of the popular Fury and Foundation basses ened and rounded a tad for better ac­ Meridian 1\1an were also introduced at this time, the cess, but otherwise most of the T basses The first whammies appeared circa former being essentially a version of and guitars were similar. There were 1983 and were traditional fulcrum vi­ Fender's P-Bass and the latter of the Jazz some changes in materials, finishes and bratos called the Octave Plus. bass. but the main new develop­ ment was the high-output Super Fer­ rite pickup which now appeared. The Super Ferrite is visibly different from previous humbucking pickup in tealcun:d a blade of plas- MOSFET

Flight of the Falcon

nitely more lIn'cr'llp are parncu- Predator. These came in for fIrst active pickup veI'SlO'tU. ~j~,?,,'" Falcons are serious pf()tesSll)n:;tl~iz;,~':i?j3~"" and a good quality guitars, with a solid feel shot of static pable of delivering all the electricity tones one could desire. Peavey's three single-coil Strat copy, which anyone might pick up just walk­ the Predator (another rumor to be put ing across a room, can zap them and Nitro-power to in 1985, along with destroy the part. Therefore, just as in The very popular Nitro guitar the first ceramic pickups. any other high tech manufacturing set­ buted in 1987, as did the no'w-i:arrlll1~ttt~ {' also saw the introduction of ting, people working with computer triangular headstock. This first doubleneck, the Hydra. parts wear a coiled chord which con- in various pickup configuration nects their to a grounding system sentially went head-to-head Peavey Rumor to equipment. Undoubt- tars like Kramer's Beretta. edly someone came on a factory tour, saw the grounding wires and concluded that employees were chained to their benches! Nfy guess IS rumor things like materials, pickups, tion, including, for example, a Falcon ous products over the years in­ whammies (or not), headstocks, with internal sound chambers and a cludes Steve Wariner, Joe Walsh, l\1ario radiuses, and subtleties like one flamed maple top. Cipollina or two scallops on cutawavs. contemporary balanced Back to the roots

Peavey players d Fighting the good fight I~Wtimil~ [r~oV~~ ommin~r)l. are fighting the good fight," concludes Leonard (Ricky Van Shelton), Will Lee Hardey Peavey, "instead of going to Randy Coven, Kip Winger, Mexico or India or wherever you get Don Was, Larry Junstrom Special), the lowest price, we keep making all of Leland Sklar, Albert Mark Farner, our guitars right her in the United Lanny Cordola, Jody Davis, Rex States. We only sell to 1300 music deal­ Carrol!. and Eddie Van Halen. ers across the country. We don't sell Not a shoddy of stars if you mail-order, because we're into customer me! satisfaction. That means you have to guitars, especially in the Peavey basses have always been more see the guitar, try it out with a sales­ the line, speak for tn(~m,sel'V'es popular than the guitars, although the man at a dealer. We're trying to do right spectacular woods, fancy guitars the older musicians. Most are mu- cendy, especially on the shown considerable popularity among sicians, or wanna-bes. trying to country players. make playing affordable, building on guitars represent renaaI'KalLJIC Peavey amps have enjoyed even more our own expertise. Other companies variety and quality for the \-UjLLI,..;".U.l~~.~10;i~,*,X popularity as well, even though think I'm crazy, but I'm enjoying what and Hardey Peavey's cOlrItrlDllt1(mS Marshalls and Boogies are more fash­ I'm doing. Happiness is never having the music industry can

Van He rAr'p'\f,"r Cl:larlgea 5150 amp has done h'f'rh,~r H,,;;''''UU~'-''' that \