The South Rises Again
It was just about seven years ago that the pride of Meridian, Mississippi struck its first blows for Rock 'n' Roll against inflation. Seemingly overnight, Peavey Electronics Corp. entered the picture with a line of professional amplifiers and sound systems to give the fat-cat competition a round of ulcers.
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The South Rises Again
EXTENSION CHORDS
by Bill Paisley
It was just about seven years ago that the pride of Meridian, Mississippi struck its first blows for Rock 'n' Roll against inflation. Seemingly overnight, Peavey Electronics Corp. entered the picture with a line of professional amplifiers and sound systems to give the fat-cat competition a round of ulcers. Not only was the equipment reasonably priced, but it had the power and sound that previously had been only an extravagant pipe-dream in some 16-year-oldhead.
So it was that Peavey rose from the deep South as the Volkswagen of amplifiers, to win its spurs under the endorsement of many big name pickers, as well as the Joe Schmoes in every bar and Holiday Inn across the country.
Perhaps the more admirable and attractive units are the self-contained guitar amps. These babies are lightweight, rugged, and have power to spare. The Peavey Deuce is available with four 10" or two. 12" speakers. Powered by four 6L6 tubes, it is rated at 120 watts RMS. It features two channels, one with tremolo, and reverb functional in both channels. A footswitch enables you to switch from one channel to the other, via remote control. A master-volume control is standard on all models. This is a must to achieve sustain and over-drive at all levels of volume. The powerhouse model is called the Mace. It is rated conservatively at 160 watts RMS and comes with either two or four 12" speakers. The new Automix circuitry is standard. This feature includes two separate master-volumes which are footswitch selectable. In this way, one channel can be set for distortion for
solos, while the other remains clear for chording. Each channel also has its own set of tone controls.
For those who frequently do sessions, or who mike their amps, there is the Artist model. It looks like your average 20 watt practice amp, when in fact, it's rated 120 RMS. The Automix feature on this model switches the channels parallel or in series for more tonal variance. The Classic is a smaller 50 watt model, complete with Automix. It comes with two 12" or four 10" speakers and is extremely light-weight.
For the nostalgic at heart, there is the Peavey Vintage series. These amps are covered in brown tweed material with old fashion handle straps, '50s looking control knobs and dark brown grill cloth. The Vintage is 120 watts of tube power, in two 12", four 10" or six 10" speaker set-ups.
