Peavey Electronics

Infobox Company
company_name = Peavey Electronics
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1965
founder = Hartley Peavey
location = Meridian, Mississippi, USA
key_people = Hartley Peavey (CEO)
industry = Audio equipment
products =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income = $271 Million
num_employees = 2400
parent =
subsid = Peavey Electronics Europe, Ltd.
homepage = [http://www.peavey.com/ www.peavey.com]
footnotes =

Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States.

History

Hartley Peavey founded Peavey Electronics in 1965 after building his first amplifier in 1957. Since its foundation, Peavey Electronics has been privately owned, and has grown massively from their humble beginnings in Hartley's basement in 1950s.

The company maintains a museum featuring memorabilia related to Peavey Electronics and its notable users, which is open to the public.

Company information

Peavey currently owns 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m²) of manufacturing/assembly area over 33 facilities across North America, Europe and Asia, 18 of which are located in their home state of Mississippi. Products are manufactured mainly in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Far East, and are distributed to 136 different countries across the globe. They also hold 130 patents, and have a product range of around 2000 designs, with between 80 to 100 being added each year.

Peavey Electronics also owns 5 major electronics brands, namely MediaMatrix, Architectural Acoustics, PVDJ, Crest Audio, and Trace Elliot. while working with a number of famous musicians on signature instruments, amplifiers and other equipment.

Noteworthy products

Although Peavey Electronics produces a wide variety of equipment, a few notable designs stand out through their popularity and/or use by major professional musicians.

5150/6505 guitar amplifier series

These amplifiers and speaker cabinets were the result of a collaboration with Eddie Van Halen. Originally designed as specialist amplifier for Eddie, the 5150 has gained massive popularity with modern hard rock, hardcore punk and metal bands and guitarists due to its large amount of distortion - notably Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains (who, after touring with Van Halen asked "if I could maybe buy one off him. When I came back home after the tour, there were three stacks waiting for me in the garage... he gave me a couple of his guitars, too". Fact|date=April 2008) The 5150 is considered by some to be one of the best amps available for heavier styles of music, rivaling other top brands. Fact|date=February 2007. In 2004 Peavey and Eddie Van Halen parted ways, with Eddie taking the 5150 brand name with him. This resulted in the renaming of the amplifier as the 'Peavey 6505', with slightly updated styling but original circuitry. The 5150 II, which contains an extra preamp tube for more headroom and gain on the Rhythm channel, is the old equivalent to the new 6505+.

Wolfgang series electric guitars

Again, these were a result of a cooperation with Eddie Van Halen to produce his 'ideal' guitar. The design has been relatively successful, but has not gained the reputation or popularity of similarly priced guitars such as the Fender Stratocaster or the Gibson Les Paul. The Peavey Wolfgang is now discontinued. (See also: Peavey Guitars)

CS series power amplifiers

The CS series amplifiers (mainly the CS800) are some of the most used amplifiers in the world, and among Peavey's best selling products.

JSX guitar amplifier series

Like the 5150/6505 series, the JSX series was designed for a major recording artist: Joe Satriani. Satriani was looking for an amplifier that was custom to him, that had every feature he could possibly want, and would work in both live and studio applications. The JSX is also beginning to gain popularity with the general guitar playing public as well.

Classic amplifier series

Their line of amps for blues, jazz, and some rock players. These often use EL84 power tubes which is described to have a "Warmer" or "Fuller" tone to them that many guitarists seek to replicate through solid state amps.

ValveKing series

All-tube amps for rock musicians.Higher gain than the Classic series. A notable member of this lineup is the Royal 8 5 watt combo, similar to a Fender Champ.

Radial Pro Series of Drum kits

The Radial Pro Series were Peavey's high end drum line. In production from 1994 until 2002, it consisted of the RBS-1 prototypes, radial pro 1000, 750/751, and 500/501 models. The flagship 1000 model consisted of a radial bridge that took all the mounting stresses, and a 3-ply thin shell to enhance the resonance. The 750/751 series had composite bridges and stained shells. The 500/501 series had composite pvc wrapped shells.

Notable users of Peavey equipment

* Jeff Berlin
* Buckethead
* Steve Cropper - (Booker T & the MG's, The Blues Brothers, signature endorser)
* George Cummings - (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show)
* Greg Ginn - (Black Flag)
* Stuart Hamm
* Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity)
* Tak Matsumoto
* Tom Morello - (Rage Against the Machine)
* Ted Nugent
* Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore - (Sonic Youth)
* Gary Rossington - (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
* Jordan Rudess - (Dream Theater/Liquid Tension Experiment/David Bowie)
* Rudy Sarzo - (Whitesnake)
* Joe Satriani
* Andy Taylor - (Duran Duran)
* John Taylor - (Duran Duran)
* Kim Thayil - Soundgarden, former user, VTM 120 amplifiers
* Eddie Van Halen - (Van Halen, former signature endorser)
* Jerry Cantrell
* Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gelotte of In Flames

References

External links

* [http://www.peavey.com/ Peavey Electronics Corp. Official Website]
* [http://www.peavey-eu.com/ Peavey Electronics UK Ltd. Official Website]
* [http://peaveydrums.moonfruit.com/ Peavey Radial Pro Drums Owners Club site.]