# NBD: 1983 Peavy T-40



## josh pelican (Aug 20, 2010)

I finally got what I've been looking for!

Body:











Back:





Neck:





Bridge:





Head:





Electronics:





Neck Plate:





I'll have four more pictures and some things to say after I eat!


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## josh pelican (Aug 20, 2010)

Pictures with Roxy! She's actually not that light in color, it was just really bright out. She has a perfect color and is quite beautiful!











There are two small areas of wear at the bottom (by the strap pin), but are hardly noticeable. There's another area of wear where the bass would sit on my thigh when playing (sitting down, of course). Again, nothing too bad. All in all, it's in amazing shape considering it's age.

I played it acoustically a bit upon tuning it and it was sounding pretty sweet. The action is nice and low. I plugged it into my Ampeg full stack and played around for a while and got familiar with the electronics. There's a bit of buzz on the E string in places, probably from shipping.

I decided to turn on the Catalinbread SFT that I have been fighting with. I've wanted to get that doom tone seen in the videos. I've tried playing three different basses and could not get it. With this bass, the settings I had it on were a little gritty, but not over the top. I turned the bass and gain up it and pushed the treble up a bit.

Holy mother of... talk about a heavy sound. I have matched that doom sound in the video, but have surpassed it in terms of absolutely menacing tone. To quote myself in another thread:

"Holy s**t. Hoooollllyyyy s**************t. I played it in standard tuning and in drop D. Even in these tunings this thing creates astounding low end with ridiculous bonecrushing tone. 10/10."

I can't even begin to explain how this bass sounds. Like most people who own/owned one have said, this thing has a good range of tones. The bass is just beastly. I am so glad I jumped this without even seeing one in person before.

I think I'll be using this for a lot of doom/sludge because not only is it built like a tank, but the tone that comes out of it with my stack and pedal engaged causes destruction like one.

Earth rattling.


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## The Somberlain (Aug 20, 2010)

Looks like a Hofner, which is a big plus. Any info on the p-ups?


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## josh pelican (Aug 20, 2010)

All Peavey T-40's have chrome rimmed ferrite (iron) humbuckers with a wide frequecy range and the ability to operate in humbucking and single coil modes.

The original pickups had two magnets; one through each of the coil's bobbins. These magnets were ferrite material and were rectangular in cross-section and were stood on edge. There was a magnetic return strip of iron laid flat across the bottom of the pickup and magnetically attached to the bottom edges of the pickups. This iron kept the magnetic field from forming on the bottom of the pickup identical to the top field, so the field on the topside was greater than of that of the pickups like Gibson, (without magnetic returns). We used iron, as opposed to steel, as iron is more compatible with magnetism than steel. Steel won't remain magnetized as long as iron.

The blade type pickup had two thin strips of plated iron arranged on edge through the bobbins, (which had to be redesigned with a thinner slot through the centers). The magnet was quite like the magnets of the early pickups and was held between the two blades. The magnet was laid flat, (not on edge), and took the position of the earlier magnetic return. We found the position of the magnet was more efficient, so only one magnet was used, with the overall result a stronger and better-shaped magnetic field around the strings.

Toaster pickups were anything up until about 1983. Everything after that are blades.


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## jymellis (Aug 20, 2010)

man i love those old peavey guitar \m/


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## Kstring (Aug 20, 2010)

Very nice dog you have there, oh and the bass in those pics looks good too . That bass has that "vintage'" look but i like it. This makes me want my new noise maker even more.


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## MaKo´s Tethan (Aug 20, 2010)

really nice, I love the ridge, looks massive. the back of the body looks awesome, I mean, the grain of the wood!!


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## Skyblue (Aug 21, 2010)

Not a fan of big pickguards, but that bass is still awesome 
grain of the wood in the back is indeed fantastic~


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## Spinedriver (Aug 27, 2010)

I seem to recall 5-6 years ago on the Harmony Central bass forum, the T-40 was quite the sought after bass. Lots of people touted Sadowsky, G&L, Spector, etc.. but for the more budget restricted people, getting a T-40 was like getting a Lamborghini. Built like a rock, great tone and at the time could be bought used for less than $200.

In the Big Black live concert video PigPile, bassist Dave Riley rocks a T-40 through an Ampeg rig for the performance.


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## Prydogga (Aug 27, 2010)

I'm not usually into vintage style things, but man that looks great! The marks on the neck really add to the character too, good stuff dude!


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## josh pelican (Aug 28, 2010)

It sounds quite lovely. If I get my Ampeg SVT-VR fixed, I'll be running it through TWO Ampeg heads.


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## eventhetrees (Sep 16, 2010)

So...when am I stealing this from you 

Such a beautiful bass! Perfect wear'n'tear ... Mmmmhhhmmm


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## Lasik124 (Sep 16, 2010)

This thing looks classy, congrats!


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## josh pelican (Sep 16, 2010)

Nick, you cute bastard. You can touch it, but this will always be mine. I can't see myself selling this.

I should get one of those glass display cases for guitars/basses and chuck it in there.


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