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 PEAVEY |
| Instruments currently built in Asia, Meridian, MS and Leaksville, MS. Distributed by Peavey Electronics Corporation of Meridian, MS since 1965. Peavey also has a factory and distribution center in Corby, England to help serve and service the overseas market. |
| Peavey Electronics is one of the very few major American musical instrument manufacturers still run by the original founding member and owner. Hartley Peavey grew up in Meridian, Mississippi and spent some time working in his father's music store repairing record players. He gained some recognition locally for the guitar amplifiers he built by hand while he was still in school, and decided months prior to college graduation to go into business for himself. In 1965, Peavey Electronics was started out of the basement of Peavey's parents home. Due to the saturated guitar amp market of the late 1960s, Peavey switched to building P.A. systems and components. By 1968, the product demand was great enough to warrant building a small cement block factory on rented land and hire another staff member. The demand for Peavey products continued to grow, and by the early 1970s the company's roster had expanded to 150 employees. Emphasis was still placed on P.A. construction, although both guitar and bass amps were doing well. The Peavey company continued to diversify and produce all the components needed to build the finished product. After twelve years of manufacturing, the first series of Peavey guitars was begun in 1977, and introduced at the 1978 NAMM show. An advertising circular used by Peavey in the late '70s compared the price of an American built T-60 (plus case) for $350 versus the Fender Stratocaster's list price of $790 or a Gibson Les Paul for $998.50 (list). In light of those list prices, it's also easy to see where the Japanese guitar makers had plenty of maneuvering room during their "copy" era. The "T-Series" guitars were introduced in 1978, and the line expanded from three models up to a total of seven in five years. In 1983, the product line changed, and introduced both the mildly wacky Mystic and Razer original designs (the Mantis was added in 1984) and the more conservative Patriot, Horizon, and Milestone guitars. The Fury and Foundation basses were also added at this time. After five years of stop tailpieces, the first Peavey "Octave Plus" vibratos were offered (later superseded by the Power bend model). Pickup designs also shifted from the humbuckers to single or double "blade" pickups. Models that debuted in 1985 included the vaguely stratish Predator, and the first doubleneck (!), the Hydra. In response to the guitar industry shifting to "superstrat" models, the Impact was introduced in 1986. Guitars also had the option of a Kahler locking tremolo, and two offsprings of the '84 Mantis were released: The Vortex I or Vortex II. The Nitro series of guitars were available in 1987, as well as the Falcon, Unity, and Dyna-Bass. Finally, to answer companies like Kramer or Charvel, the Tracer series and the Vandenberg model(s) debuted in 1988. As the U.S. guitar market grew more conservative, models like the Generation S-1 and Destiny guitars showed up in guitar shops. Peavey basses continued to evolve into sleeker and more solid instruments like the Palaedium, TL series or B Ninety. 1994 saw the release of the Midibase (later the Cyberbass) that combined magnetic pickups with a MIDI-controller section. One of Peavey's biggest breakthroughs in recent years was the development of the Peavey EVH amplifier, developed in conjunction with Edward Van Halen. Due to the success and acceptance of the EVH 5150 amplifier, Van Halen withdrew his connection with his signature Ernie Ball model (which is still in production as the Axis model), and designed a "new" Wolfgang model with Peavey. This new model had a one year "waiting period" from when it was announced at the NAMM industry trade show to actual production. Many Peavey dealers who did receive early models generally sold them at new retail (no discount) for a number of months due to slow supply and re-supply. Rather than stay stuck in a design "holding pattern," Peavey continues to change and revise guitar and bass designs, and they continue the almost twenty year tradition of American built electric guitars and basses, (Model History, nomenclature, and description courtesy Grant Brown, Peavey Repair section). Information on virtually any Peavey product, or a product's schematic is available through Peavey Repair. Grant Brown, the head of the Repair section, has been with Peavey Electronics for over eighteen years. In 1994, a series of Peavey acoustic guitars was announced. Although some models were shipped in quantity, the acoustic line was not as wide spread as other guitar models that were introduced. Another acoustic series was introduced circa 1999 and were produced until 2002. In 2003, a new line of acoustic guitars was introduced called the Briarwood Series. In 2005, Jack Daniel's acoustic guitars were introduced. |
| ACOUSTIC: BRIARWOOD SERIES |
| ACOUSTIC: COMPACT CUTAWAY, DREADNOUGHT & JUMBO SERIES |
| ACOUSTIC: DELTA SERIES |
| ACOUSTIC: MISC. MODELS |
| ACOUSTIC ELECTRIC |