Peerless Appreciation Thread

[Grahambythesea]

Peerless have made great guitars and basses for other companies, Epiphone, Gretchen etc.  They have made some great basses under their own name so show us what you have - Retromatic, Smoke, Bassmaster Player, anything else?,

Edited April 27, 2022 by Grahambythesea
Correction to text

[Newfoundfreedom]

Never heard of them, but that looks quite nice. 

[Grahambythesea]

You should check them out early Jack Casady’s made by them, all Epi semis. Martin Taylor had a signature model made by them and he’s pretty discerning.

[Grahambythesea]

Looks like I’m the only person with one, it feels kinda lonely.

[Richard R]

I've never heard of them either, but it's a very nice bass.

 

Is the chicken-head switch a frequency selection or tone switch? What are the units? Ohms?

 

I play a Brawley, and I've only ever come across another one in the UK, which I now also own. Maybe we should start a club/self help group for brand-lonely bassists?

[Richard R]

https://www.premierguitar.com/peerless-guitars-retromatic-b2-bass-review

 

Found this. Not quite the same, but great sounding.

[EssentialTension]

 

43 minutes ago, Richard R said:

https://www.premierguitar.com/peerless-guitars-retromatic-b2-bass-review

 

Found this. Not quite the same, but great sounding.

 

I used to have a Peerless Retromatic B2 bass in ivory finish. The guitarist in the band where I used it had the guitar version. We looked good. If it had been 30" scale I would still have it.

 

On the left here ...

 

 

 

[EssentialTension]

Also, my son has a 2004 Epiphone Casino which was made in the Peerless factory.

[EssentialTension]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 

Is the chicken-head switch a frequency selection or tone switch? What are the units? Ohms?

 

 

It changes the tone. I don't know if it's resistance or capacitance. I aways used it in position one.

Edited October 1, 2022 by EssentialTension
... or do I mean impedence?

[EssentialTension]

On 27/09/2022 at 18:51, Grahambythesea said:

Looks like I’m the only person with one.

I had mine from about 2015 to 2018. Did we overlap?

[EssentialTension]

... and if I recall correctly, Peerless also made parts for Duesenberg - there being some similarities between the Retromatics and the Duesenbergs.

 

Spot the similarities ...

 

 

Quote

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by EssentialTension
added pics

[TheGreek]

When I was at school my Art teacher was called Ms Peerless....just saying

[Old Horse Murphy]

.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Old Horse Murphy

[6feet7]

I used to have a Retromatic B2. Stupidly sold it. If anyone hears of one going for sale do let me know

Edited January 20, 2024 by 6feet7

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 01/10/2022 at 18:54, Richard R said:

I've never heard of them either, but it's a very nice bass.

 

Is the chicken-head switch a frequency selection or tone switch? What are the units? Ohms?

 

I play a Brawley, and I've only ever come across another one in the UK, which I now also own. Maybe we should start a club/self help group for brand-lonely bassists?

On 01/10/2022 at 19:52, EssentialTension said:

 

It changes the tone. I don't know if it's resistance or capacitance. I aways used it in position one.

There's a passive transformer in there, the chickenhead switch changes output impedance, so yes Ohm, and with that tone of the passive low impedance pickup, pretty unique approach to passive bass circuitry.

 

Edited January 20, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[Grahambythesea]

On 20/01/2024 at 19:00, Baloney Balderdash said:

There's a passive transformer in there, the chickenhead switch changes output impedance, so yes Ohm, and with that tone of the passive low impedance pickup, pretty unique approach to passive bass circuitry.

 

Thanks for the technical info. Never really understood that. It was of course created by none other than Les Paul as this was originally the Gibson Les Paul Signature bass from the seventies and was a low impedance pickup. Jack Casady rediscovered them and the Epiphone made by Peerless was the result.

Edited March 17, 2024 by Grahambythesea
Correction