Rock Master!

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Seems like I'm always chasing tone -- but this is a remarkable combo. The Peavy Rock Master was an unpopular guitar amp made only from '83-86. 120 watts, but loud as shit for a 120 watts. 2 gain stages. The "pump" knob provides more distortion.

I use a 1 in, 2 out splitter to send my bass to both amps - I use the TC 450 (which is an amazing 7-pound 450 watt transistor amp, by itself, btw) through an 18" speaker to cover the low end I can't get out of the guitar amp, & the Rock Master through a 15" EV speaker gives me the mid range & the gritty grind I've been trying to find for years.

Tried a couple different Marshalls that belonged to friends, & the low end on them gets farty, so I had to roll off too much of the low on them. Great, but not perfect. My Mesa Boogie D 180 is a great tube amp, but gets buzzy instead of gritty/Grindy when it distorts. Better for a clean tone, but not what I want for what I'm doing now, & the bastard weighs 80 lbs. On this thing, I can turn the bass knob all the way UP & it doesn't fart out, it just bites when I hit the strings hard, & is smooth when I play soft. Warm & unexpectedly deep for a guitar amp, & I'm relying on the TC less, except for some volume on the very low end - it moves air.
The pull-bright switch on the pre-gain knob is instant Rick-o-sound, & pushed in, it's perfect for the Precision, so swapping basses mid-set is a snap.

$250.00 on eBay. I know you take your chances on eBay, but this thing showed up a little dusty & with a couple loose screws & in 45 minutes, we were up and going.

It's nice after 40 years of playing, to listen to your instrument & not be able to imagine it sounding any better. It's been a long quest.

6 years ago

ardgedee

6 years ago

Peavy's always existed under the shadow of Fender, Gibson, Marshall, etc. I think it's partly because they were happy to go after the less-glamorous segments of performance audio and so they never got cool enough for the rockistas, combined with them being guilty of being a little too try-hard with inadequate products at times.

But yeah, I've never liked Marshall, Mesa, Ampeg, etc. amps for bass when I've tried them. They always seemed overpriced and overrated to me.

devilsrancher

6 years ago

To be fair, the Peavey transistor amps from the 70's really did suck. This one's an odd duck in that bassists seem to like them better than guitarists. It does pretty well all by itself, put the TC pushes it over the edge to perfection.

The high mid knob has a "pull thick" switch, which also moves that EQ point down to the sweet spot, like 800-1000 hz or so. It's really versatile. And loud. Did I mention loud?

The high gain input really screams, but my friend who turned me on to these avoids the high gain input because it tends to overheat the thing.

ardgedee

6 years ago

The people I know who are most into Peavey transistor amps like the 70s-80s models specifically because of the unnatural metallic-sounding distortion (as in, grinding on sheet metal, not as in heavy metal music) when they were overdriven. Albini championed them so I guess that's where that came from.

Your rig sounds awesome and I'm envious.

devilsrancher

6 years ago

This may be heresy, but while I've always liked what Albini's had to say a whole lot, I really can't stand his production. He's a smart, cool guy who hurts my ears.

Rock Master!

Chris Vreeland

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