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.
Rock Master!
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.
Your rig sounds awesome and I'm envious.
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.