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Peavey T-40 Basses


FlatEric
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Aha - so going by that you and I have pretty much the same measurement, and I think we have roughly the same gauge strings.

The reason I asked is that sometimes I've heard differing accounts of what is meant by the action's height.

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Played the t-40 through an amp for the first time this evening at a rehearsal.

All i can say is that i am absolutely blown away! This thing has so many brilliant tones! I especially like the rear pickup in humbucker mode and having both pups on with one in single coil and one in humbucker. Brilliant!!!

Can't say i found much use for the phase switch though! just seems to cut most of the bass out of the sound. Bit pointless!!!

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[quote name='allighatt0r' post='849908' date='May 27 2010, 10:47 PM']Played the t-40 through an amp for the first time this evening at a rehearsal.

All i can say is that i am absolutely blown away! This thing has so many brilliant tones! I especially like the rear pickup in humbucker mode and having both pups on with one in single coil and one in humbucker. Brilliant!!!

Can't say i found much use for the phase switch though! just seems to cut most of the bass out of the sound. Bit pointless!!![/quote]

Welcome to the Club. :rolleyes:

There are SO MANY combinations.
Best way to explore is on a practice amp or turn you usual amp right down, that way you can here all the subtle differences.
Try out of phase, both humbuckers on and back the volume of the front or the back a bit.
Now you have a different sound - you can check by putting it in and out of phase. now try bleeding in a single coil, then another.
The other thing is, when you have the back one on single coil, the phase swith lets you choose which coil - the one nearer the
bridge or the one nearer the neck.

I will post up on this thread, something I have had in another one, which explains all about it.

Glad you like it.
Any questions, come back to me. :lol:


One another note. What the ****!!!!

A fellow Peavey nut sent me this today.

What on earth posesed the owner to do this!!! :)

[attachment=50698:peavey__1_.JPG][attachment=50699:peavey__2_.JPG][attachment=50700:peavey__4_.JPG]
[attachment=50701:peavey__13_.JPG]


:lol: :lol: :lol:

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[quote name='cocco' post='846366' date='May 24 2010, 11:30 AM']Anyone spotted T-40 s being used anywhere in the mainstream? Friendly Fires had one in a video not so long ago.[/quote]


This the man?? :rolleyes:

[attachment=50941:friendly..._house_1.jpg] [attachment=50942:friendlyfires.jpg]



and........ while I was looking for that, saw this.

Someone rockin' it out in the garage!!!


[attachment=50943:garageband.jpg]

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='850011' date='May 28 2010, 07:05 AM']I have a '79 natural toaster edition also, and I'm considering setting it up with BEAD tuning. Anyone else tried this?[/quote]

Not yet!
I have one five string and still can't quite get the hand of it. :)
A friend converted an old Aria into a five - made adjustments to the nut,
strung it up and bingo.

I did think of doing it on one of my 40's and if I do, I will slip out the nut
and make another one, as the originals, unique to the T-40, are difficult
to get hold of.

You go first and let me know how you get on. :lol:

Cheers. :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm taking my T-40 apart today to give it a bit of a clean and an overhaul. This is the first time I've done this and I've found a feature which I'm not sure about. Do the pics show evidence of bodging, or are these details standard? The brownish-red strip seems to be made of fine sandpaper.

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Quick question, what are everyone's pots like on their T40s? mine are really easy to turn, and I'm not sure I like it. I'm not bad with a soldering iron, so I'm considering changing the wires for cloth covered fender style and getting some brand new pots in it too. My switches are on their way to me from vintagegitaar.nl (thanks Jerry) so I'll be taking the pick guard off to get at them!

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Jerry, that just looks like someone's tried to shim the neck (badly). Folk usuall just shove piece of card in the neck pocket, not staple on a piece of sandpaper?! I haven't taken the neck off mine though so maybe they're all like it!

Regarding the pots, mine are easy to turn and I like it that way. Probably still the originals from 79 as far as I can tell and scratch free. If you're going to re-wire the thing, I would take out the entire wiring assembly in one piece so you can put it back in if you ever come to sell it. These instruments are approaching vintage status so don't chuck out the original pots and wiring!

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[quote name='Jerry_B' post='871638' date='Jun 19 2010, 12:18 PM']I'm taking my T-40 apart today to give it a bit of a clean and an overhaul. This is the first time I've done this and I've found a feature which I'm not sure about. Do the pics show evidence of bodging, or are these details standard? The brownish-red strip seems to be made of fine sandpaper.[/quote]

Jerry, Hi - don't panic, that is standard Peavey - I have come across this several times - always the same material.

The pots do turn easily - if anyone is pulling them out and they are good. . . . . . I'll 'ave em! :)

Cheers. :rolleyes:

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[quote name='Jerry_B' post='872298' date='Jun 19 2010, 11:43 PM']Aha! Any ideas what it's there for?[/quote]

Errrrm, No! :rolleyes:

As you know, I have quite a few of these and first discovered it when I took a neck of one of my
earlier ones - around the same year as yours.
I had a bit of an accident with some Guiness - hit my glass on the head and a dark brown trickle
ran all the way down the neck. Managed to stop it going over the body but some went into the
neck socket - Euch :lol:
I think the fact that it was stapled on made me think it was a factory thing.
Over the years I have come across the same thing at least three times.

I'll ask someone who may know. :)

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Here we have another happy T-40 owner!

Mine's a white 81 with toaster pickups. A lot of useful tones, but most of the time i use the bridge pickup in single coil mode.
The only problem is that the in/out of phase switch has been replaced (i put her in a gigbag not so long ago and the Philips Philicorda from the organplayer from my band was on it, so that's how it happened) and that the replaced one only works in 1 position when the the bridge pickup is used.

Does anybody know where to get the good switch? 'cause the switch from Allparts is too short.

Well, here's a picture of mine.



(I do not own the left bass anymore.)

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[quote name='Jerry_B' post='873896' date='Jun 21 2010, 09:15 PM']Nice! You can get switches [url="http://www.vintagegitaar.nl./index.html?row2col2=parts.html"]here[/url] - that's if yours doesn't use the baseball bat type.[/quote]

I haven't received my switches yet, but will let you guys know when I do. Rene (the guy at this site) is a pretty good guy to deal with so far!

P.S. I love the white one. Lovely.

Edited by allighatt0r
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[quote name='Jerry_B' post='872298' date='Jun 19 2010, 11:43 PM']Aha! Any ideas what it's there for?[/quote]

This is the reply from "a man in the know"

"It is common to find that on T-40s and T-60s.
Chip said it was placed there to keep the neck heel from slipping".

Cheers. :)

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[quote name='dr1' post='875217' date='Jun 23 2010, 11:22 AM']hi chaps! i got a chance to get one T 45 from '82. what would you say what is it worth?[/quote]

Difficult one! :)

They are a rarity anyway.

If it was in the UK, cheapest around £225-£250 ish and at the high end of cost around £400.
I got one for less than the the figures above but perhaps wished I had gone a little further,
as mine is . . . . . Well Worn!!
Ah well, nothing that two whole days of work can't sort out!!
Won't do that again, I hope!! :rolleyes:

Different to the T-40 - did post something somewhere that described the T-45 but can't remember where. :lol:

There is a Volume, a coil select/tone (as per T-40) and a second tone.
Genuinely, some good sounds can be had out of it.

When these were made as a single pup T-40, they were roughly the same price, not cheaper, as you would think.

Cheers. :lol:

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='875328' date='Jun 23 2010, 12:02 PM']Difficult one! :)

They are a rarity anyway.

If it was in the UK, cheapest around £225-£250 ish and at the high end of cost around £400.
I got one for less than the the figures above but perhaps wished I had gone a little further,
as mine is . . . . . Well Worn!!
Ah well, nothing that two whole days of work can't sort out!!
Won't do that again, I hope!! :rolleyes:

Different to the T-40 - did post something somewhere that described the T-45 but can't remember where. :lol:

There is a Volume, a coil select/tone (as per T-40) and a second tone.
Genuinely, some good sounds can be had out of it.

When these were made as a single pup T-40, they were roughly the same price, not cheaper, as you would think.

Cheers. :lol:[/quote]

thanx mate!

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[i][b]Allighatt0r Top Tip:

Don't buy a Payless soldering iron from Focus. They are about as effective as an asthmatic mouse breathing on the solder.[/b][/i]

I spent a good hour cursing at the sodding thing. Took the pickup selector switch out first as it seemed the easier one, managed to get the white wire back on then just couldn't get the red back on. Ended up taking it to my local guitar tech (the guitarist in my band. Handy!). So, it should be all good as new tonight at rehearsal.

Also, I bathed the pickguard screws and pickup surround screws in some Fairy bathroom/kitchen cleaner (as well as the knobs) for about 15 minutes. They are shiny like new! Brilliant.

Lost one of the pickup surround screws down the drain when rinsing them off though :) Very stupid of me. I haven't checked the pickguard screws yet so might be missing one of them too. How easy is it to open up a u bend? :rolleyes:

If not, I may just get another replacement, there are already 3 different types of them (some longer, some thicker than others).

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi. As one of our resident Japanese experts has ventured into T-40 land,
I thought I would give this slot a bit of a bump and post up a couple of
things I had filed away.

First off is an interview with Hartley Peavey, which I have cut and pasted - some odd places to
put question marks. . . . and below that is a link, which shows a T-60 prototype - bit slow to start
but well worth a look.

With guitars it's very frustrating because we seem to be stuck in a time warp.
A lot of people think that the best guitars that will ever be were invented back in the early-'50s.
And they actually believe that the guitars made back then were better than the ones that are made today,
and that's not true. I remember asking Mr. Fender one time - I always called him Mr. Fender, out of respect
- and I said, ?Mr. Fender, do you really believe that the guitars that you made back in the '50s are better
than the guitars you're making today?' And he said, ?No Peavey, but I'm not gonna tell anybody any different.'
He said, ?Our problem was consistency, or more correctly, the lack thereof. We made some great guitars,
but we also made some dogs.'
And that's true. If were just having a general discussion and I told you I had a '57 Strat, you'd probably say,
?Wow!' But you know what? There were some great '57 Strats, but there were a lot of them that were far
from great. And the reason for it is the way that they used to make things. It was all a hand-made process.
As a matter of fact about the only thing that I can claim that I invented, is I invented the way to make
guitars by computer. Nobody had ever done that in the music industry before.

Guitar.com: How did you do it?

Peavey: I went out and did a little research. I've always been a gun collector. And I've always been impressed
that you could mass produce rifles - and if you know anything about firearms, a good rifle, which is mass-produced,
you can't stick a piece of paper between the metal and the wood. And I said, ?Boy, you know, whatever machine
they use to make these rifle stocks, I could use to make guitar necks and I could just mass produce them.'
And I came to find out they mass-produce these things using what's kind of a rotary pentagraph called a copy-lathe.
So I went out and bought one. And they're not made in the United States, they're made in Europe.
So I started doing that, and as far as routers, the furniture industry had been using a thing called a computer
controlled routers to cut out furniture.
So I said, ?Why is everybody using hand tools? Why don't we just go out and, instead of putting the guitar up on
a band saw or pin router, you just put this thing up. And if I had multiple stations, I could be cutting three at one
time, and off-loading three. I had six stations; three under the cutter at any one time. And I could make 300 or
400 bodies with one man in one eight-hour shift. And everybody said, ?You can't do that.
Oh, you can't do that, there's no way.' In fact, Mr. Fender went in one of the magazines and said,
?You can't make guitars with computers.'
Well, to a degree, he was right. But you know what? I wasn't making guitars with computers, I was making
guitar parts. And they make diesel engines, by the way, on computer controlled machines, with tolerances
of plus or minus ten-thousandths of an inch.
So guess what everybody is using today to make guitars?

Guitar.com: It's all computer controlled at the big manufacturers.

Peavey: And when I did it back in '75 or '76 everybody said, ?It cannot be done!' Well, you know what? I did it.
At that time a Stratocaster was selling for about $800, and a Les Paul was selling for $1,000.
And I was selling an American-made guitar, in a case, for $350. And I ran one of the most controversial ads
I've ever run. I took a Stratocaster and Les Paul, with prices under them. The Les Paul was like $999, and the
Stratocaster was like $795, and mine was $350. And the ad had one word: Why?


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7oCiMnvXUE&feature=channel"]Peavey T Prototype - Number One[/url]


And finally. . . . .
Chip Todd, the father of the T Series, is once again taking an active part in Peavey Forums, so if you want to
ask the man himself a question. . . . go here. [url="http://peaveyt40.forumotion.com/forum.htm"]T-40 Forum[/url]
There are a few of us on here who are already members and it's easy to join but if you don't fancy signing up,
ask me the question and I will forward it on.

Cheers. :)

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='892718' date='Jul 12 2010, 12:48 PM']Hi. As one of our resident Japanese experts has ventured into T-40 land,
I thought I would give this slot a bit of a bump and post up a couple of
things I had filed away.[/quote]
Only right & proper that I should contribute to the thread, then. :)

It's a T-40, alright:

[attachment=54029:t40front.jpg] [attachment=54030:t40head.jpg]

Did a swap with Dougie for my 1990 Ibanez SR800LE, plus a few bob his way. I realised I hadn't played the Ibby in probably more than 5 years, and have fancied getting my mitts on a T-40 for a while. The phase switch was broken & the neck pup wasn't working when I got it, although Dougie assure me it all worked before the switch was damaged. Sure enough once I swapped out the switch, everything works the way the manual says it should, and with a bit of fiddling it's dead easy to find a variety of very useable tones.

Anyway this is in very good original condition for a 31-year old bass, the only replaced parts being that switch & the output jack. Frets are, I think, original (if not then it's an excellent job) and showing very little wear for the age, neck is good & straight with about 1.5mm relief. It's got a bit of light buckle rash & the usual knocks & scrapes but everything's generally in very good order.

It does need a bit of setting up - at the moment it's strung with a selection of strings of varying parentage, and the A & D aren't long enough for a string-through-body bass, hence the tapered parts are in front of the nut, leading to a bit of open-string buzzing. Any recommendations for suitably long strings? I haven't had a string-through only bass since about 1982! Despite that it's very pleasant to play - I really like the wide but shallow neck profile, & the flat board seems to encourage me to be a bit less lazy with my fingering. Matron.

It's a hefty bugger, though. I'll have to wait until the band gets together to find out how well my back/shoulder can take it. It occurs to me that oddly, this is the first Merkin bass I've owned, and it's now even more strange that I'm currently using a Peavey MkIII head & 1x15 BW cab - both from the same era as this bass.

Jon.

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Jon, welcome on board.

Liked what you said - the neck is wide ish but the profile makes it very comfortable.

I take almost all the relief out of mine and with 40 - 100 strings, the action when
measured flat on it's back is 2 to 2.5mm. I'm sure one of us can get a TR tool to you.
Almost all strings will do - depends what you want out of it.
My prefered sound is brightish with an attacking "BOWW" the other extreme is a
deep thud or "Wump". My favourite at the moment are Picato but I have had them
with flats on, when they came to me and these give a really smooth sound, if you
like that sort of thing.
If you trawl through T-40, in Gear Porn, started by kingforaday, there is a full detail,
direct from Chip Todd, about how the electrics work.

Get it soted out, clean up, new strings and I think you'll find that you have found
a new friend.

Cheers. :)

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