Peavey DataBass 115 Combo

1991 I believe, purchased used from a reputable dealer in South-West UK.
Great power to weight ratio, but do buy some locking casters if yours doesn't already have some to save on the cost of a hernia repair.

Two FX loops, one 'regular' and sending frequencies above about 120 Hz. I have driven a 1x10 & horn combo from this output for a primitive 'bi-amp' set up, although of course the low remains full range.

Used with 73 Precision (with PJ EMGs) or 91 Warwick Thumb V through neck. Occasionally use an EBS Octabass too. Used for all styles from acoustic to rock, jazz, country, folk. Most stuff except opera...

Great variety of sounds and very versatile. My Yamaha NE-1 preamp is also ever-present, so EQ tweaks are not always necessary. I only use the graphic occasionally if I can't work up a sound using the guitar EQ, NE-1 and the Bass/Treble shelving filters on the amp itself.

I've never run it above 3 on the master, and the input will take whatever you can throw at it. Its always on 10 and has never complained.

All went well until it just stopped working at an outdoor gig for Her Majesty's Navy. A couple of trips to different repair guys found nothing wrong until I started to looking on Harmony Central and bassworld.co.uk to see if there were any idiosyncracies that I wasn't aware of...

The amp is rated at 450w into 4 ohms. So why, oh why, oh why did Peavey ship them with a 300w 4 ohm BW speaker?!?!?!? It's bound to go wrong at some point with a dumb feature like that, so why did they bother??? This idiocy alone gets it a minimum score, which is a shame because it doesn't otherwise deserve it.

After 18 months of having it sit around injured and sulking at home, I fitted a 500w 8 ohm Celestion speaker for lots of headroom, and now we're friends again.

Never tried, the amp was 10 years old when I got it and long discontinued. I'd like to meet 'Mr 450 watts of rock into 300w of paper' and shake him warmly by the throat, though.

Great apart from the WTF!?!?! stuff described above. If you see one, buy it and replace the speaker.

As with some other posts here, I'm very satisfied with my DataBass. Bought it new around 1991 and it's been a workhorse, never giving me any trouble. Would've liked a polarity switch.

I've been playing this amp with an 85 Ric since I bought it. The amp has a weird start up sound. My guitarist used to say it sounded like a jet warming up when you switch it on. But that doesn't transmit through the xlr output. As others have said, it's LOUD. Not good for a home studio/practice amp. Great for small venue gigs.

Absolutely 100% dependable everytime. Nothing left to say.

Never needed repair. Though the owner's manual and schematics are readily available if you need 'em.

At the time (and still today) you could pay a lot more for an amp. This one sure has been cheap to own on pennies/hour basis. The compact size and huge sound make it a great little combo.

I bought my Peavey Databass amp when it first came out. There is a sticker on the back that says "91" and thats about right. I added a speaker out jack and have been using an 18" ampeg bottom for years with no problems. I play in a top40 band and have been since I bought it new. As all the others say this amp is LOUD. I recently bought another one and I use them stacked. My sound didn't just double but Quadrupled in quality and low end. I have noticed that they each have a little different sound. One has more treble and my original is deeper. I have since put a hartke aluminum speaker in my original and what a nice difference.

I use a peavey Dynabass 5 stringand I have a jackson 5 string. I like the jackson for tone and it's even volume on any string. Dyna bass has a weak g string pickup. I have never distorted the amp no matter what volume I play at. First of all that is the quickest way to blow speakers is DC on the output during amp over-output.

I too had the cutting out problem. Sometimes to get through a gig I would turn the amp upside down and it helped at first. I had found that the vibration wore the fet insulators through and caused them to short to ground. Also (and this was the hardest thing to find) I found that my power supply diodes had a cold solder joint. Soldered it up and have never had any problem in over 10 years.
I think any bass amp that is in the same enclosure as the speaker is going to vibrate solder joints and cause problems.

Peavey is a great company. I happen to be an Electronic Technician so finding repair was easy. It was tough finding the diode problem though. You would have to be playing about an hour at high volumes to make it cut out. I think the warrany was a year. I have dealt with Peavey on other amps and they are very helpfull.

I have been playing bass for thirty eight years. If my databass amps were stolen or destroyed I would definetly get two more somehow. They are getting very rare and anyone I talk to that had or has one raves about it so it would be difficult to replace them. I used to have a bassman 100 with 2 15" JBL's and it was a nice sounding amp but no power. I have played through a Galen Kruger with 2 Hartke 4-10" bottoms. It was nice but BIG and I still like my amps better. The only complaint I have against my Databass is it is too damn heavey. I think it weighs 70lbs.

Portability!!!! 450 watt amp, eff send/rtn, DI, 15"BW speaker, 9 band eq, pre/post, high/low input. The first thing I put on this thing was heavy duty casters and moved the rubber feet to the side so that I can sit it sideways. It also gladly accepts a tower of luggage or gear to be rolled in and out of a gig. The ports I felt could have been smoothed out to elimatate their "whistle", but I sealed them and have never had any problems and thought that the bass response was much tighter. I've been considering adding a tweeter to the set-up to get more balanced high end, however I've been waiting for the speaker to go to change the impediance. In that case, I'd also consider a Coaxial.

I typically use a hamer cruisebass 5 string, occaisionally a Lakland Skyline 5. Various styles. In playing gigs where I shared my amp with other bass players, all of them have had nothing but praise for it's rock solidness. EQ works very well. Although I have always noticed the sonic limitations of the single 15" I could always hear it and cleanly with respect to itself. It sounded the most spectacular outside!! In certain rare instances, I implemented a BBE crossover and biamped my bass with wonderful results. It had a tun of punch at 250HZ.

I purchased this new in 1989 and it has never pouted about any situation I put it in. I consider it to be a fabulous monitor for on stage and fire it back at the band. If the DI is noisy, I typically will use a direct box. At certain jam sessions, it has also put at bay the most abnoxious guitars when necessary .. lol
This amp has even taken a few 3 foot hits from either falling out of a van or just fell over due to my stupidity at that given time. You'd never know it.

Never talked to them.

18 years. Ampeg series III 150W with Eden 2x10. (my practice rig)
I'd totally get another one (peavey). I haven't found anything that compares to it's versatility and I have looked. The SWR 2x10 Combo was the closest thing for me to consider and I liked that because it had an open rack space. However, it's not as powerful and figured I could just make a new cabinet with 2 rack spaces and keep the guts of this workhorse. I've never been fond of bringing a big rig everywhere because the House PA is responsible for the big bass.
I've brought it to rehearsal spaces with other tnt combos and the the like and end up plugging in mine because the others make me laugh.
I wish the fan was quieter, but maybe that is something I can upgrade should it ever go bad.

my amp was made in 94. i play mostly rock and country. i play almost every weekend and this amp although heavy is a quick setup once i get to the job.man this amp wails. unbelievable power!!!!.my ampeg head and 2 cabs will not be needed anymore.

i have a fender jazz bass,and this amp can make it sound very powerful.no distotion just clean and plain loud. period.

i owned it for 3 yrs and so far the input jack needed replacement.i'm very careful about loading it in my truck taking care not to have it fall over and get damaged.

never dealt with peavey. although i heard that they are very helpful.a local tech at a music store fixed the input jack.

i have been playing since 1976. i love this amp. too bad they dont make anything like this at peavey anymore.nothing to hate about it. only wish it was about 25 pounds lighter.i compared this amp to at least 4 others when i bought it.they were sunn,ampeg,swr[yes even them]and gk. they were good but didnt have the balls that this amp has taking into consideration that they were all within 50 watts of each other. this amp just had the best in my opinion volume and sound

Made in the mid 90's. Solid state power, Couple of different effect loops, DI out, Hi and Low inputs, pre and post volumes, graphic eq, bloody loud! Give it 8 for features as it would have been nice to have a graphic higher than 5k and a ground lift for the DI.

Wanted a combo that had loads of head room so I could stop lugging the rack and heavy 210 around. Boy, this thing puts out. I keep having to turn it DOWN! Plugged into the low input, pre on 3 post on 2-3 is more than enough for even medium to larger venues, especially if you are using the DI. Tried putting it on a beer crate to get it off the ground but found that it sounds much better on the ground as the ports are on the bottom of the thing. I wired in a 150w peizo tweeter that just sits on top to get a bit more crispness when using my custom 5 string Warmoth. Don't get me wrong, this thing sounds really good without the tweeter, but I'm used to the newer cabs with the crispy high end. What sounds best through this thing is my 70's jazz through my outboard Sadowsky preamp. Nice raw, organic, thick sound...even better with the tweeter. Give it a 9 for sound.

I've never had problems with Peavey. Ran a 150w TNT in the eighties...lugged it all around the world on cruise ships. Always worked. I have a Peavey stereo power amp a year or two old and a TX 210 cabinet. The rack and speaker fell off my cart when loading in and rolled down a hill in a field about 20 feet. Cleaned it off and fired it up with no problems. That is tough! No doubt this thing will live on and on with only a speaker here and there.

Never had to deal with them. Always bought used gear and sorted manuals and such on line. Judging from the other reviews, they even help you with old gear that is no longer made! Nice one.

Nice rig. Portable, enough features to use as a main amp, a little heavy but I'd rather lug one amp, a bag and a bass than the rack, speaker etc... I can setup in two minutes again, which is the part I love. The amp, couple of cables and my bass and I'm off. Got this thing on ebay for a good price and it will be my main rig now for gigging. I might look for a different 15 for it but I'm not in any hurry. Sounds great as it is. Find one of these things, if you can.

92-95 production;very small, face-ripping volume.

All solid-state, switching-type power supply, single channel

Chorus/Effects loop is a buffered low-level loop (good for pedals, etc.); the preamp loop is at about 1 vrms@600 ohms. and is suitable for use with most pro outboard gear.

Amp has built-in compression, but is still capable of producing enough output to waffle the speaker, especially if you boost the lows.

Blues, rock, funk, country...this amp can do 'em all.

Very clean output.

Fan is a little noisy, but is inaudible once you start playing. If you DI in the studio, no problem...but it can be a problem if you mic.

It is almost impossible to distort this amp...even my Steinberger XL25 couldn't swamp the input

Excellent gig rig!

Word to the wise: this amp will need some preventative maintenance!

You should 'turn' the speaker every few months. Simply remove the screws, rotate the basket about a third of the way around, and tighten it back down. The 4-ohm Black Widow is a heavy beast, and gravity will cause some sag. I'm willing to wager that many of the failed voice coils were burned at the bottom! Rotating the speaker helps to balance out the wear.

Keep the fan clean! The power supply depends on a supply of cool air for its very survival. If the fan slows or gets excessively noisy, replace it.

MODS: If you waffle the speaker and want to stick with the Peavey brand, get an 8-ohm BW (they are now rated at 400 watts) and wire a 1/4" jack in parallel with it. The amp will still make about 300 watts at 8 ohms, and you can then plug another 8-ohm cabinet into it for the full output.

The amp will also look at a 4-ohm in parallel with the 8 ohm coil as long as you keep the output within reason.

Also, it is a simple job to add a ground lift to the DI out on back of the amp.

Way out of warranty, but the manual and scematics are free online from Peavey, and PartsExpress has all of the parts, if your local dealer doesn't

I've been playing since the mid 70's (bell bottoms, anyone?)

I've bagged all of my other gear for this thing, from my Ampeg roadie revolt device (SVT with two cabs), to my GK head and amps with bi-amped JBLs. I can pick this amp up, drop it on the floor of the car, pop the bass into the back seat, and be ready to go three minutes after hitting the gig.

I wouldn't trade it for anything else, and would certainly find another if this one walked away!

first of all i submitted a review and didnt see it posted. here goes again. bought it used over internet, paid 300 for it. i love it for the size and volume. i use it in a 5 pc. band plenty loud!!!!

i use a peavey dyna bass with active pickups. fine for any job big or small.

i owned 2 others back in the 90's and they both cut out in the middle of a set!both times tech couldnt figure out any problem. got fed up and got rid of them. come to find out it was the speaker not the amp. just bought this one in april 2005 cause i missed the power and size. same thing happend!!it cut out on me.this time i took bw speaker out , had no voice coil rub sound . took it apart and voice coil had a burn mark on it. replaced with a eminence kappa 4 ohm, played the hell out of it never cut out. bw speakers are crappy.to be fair speaker was probably on its way out.

its used long past warrenty

it it was stolen i try to find another.love power and sound, but its heavy. fan is noisey but no big dealafter getting rid of the other 2 i bought a gk 800rb never let me down and is plenty loud but carring speaker cabs is getting to be to much. but i wont get rid of it. im happy with this databass now that it dont cut out. it's a keeper!

i owned 2 other databass's in 92 and 93. both of them cut out during songs. i had them looked at by the techs at the music store and they couldnt find anything wrong. they never cut out on them.got po'd and bought gk 800 and had no trouble. but still missed the databass.i found one on the internet and bought it. wouldnt you know the 2nd week i used it cut out!!!any way it was the lousy speaker. i put am eminence kappa 4 ohm in it and it rocks. i bet the other 2 amps i owned were the speaker not the amp!!

now that the cut out issue is corrected i use this amp every weekend.it will do anything i ask it. deep and fat to piercing midrange.wish it had more top end for treble.

now that the piece of junk bw speaker is gone its reliable.its funny the bw didnt have any voice coil rub but when i took it apart the voice coil had burn marks on it.she runs good!

never dealt with peavey.

i have been playing since 1976. i own a gk 800rb with 2 genz benz cabs. that amp really sounds good and never had any problem with it since 1997 when i bought it new.i love the power and sound from the databass. a lot louder than gk biamped(really).i am happy i have the databass back.anyone else out there who owns one and it cuts out on you check the speaker first.its not the amp.wish it was lighter though.

Two Volumes, nice graphic eq, couple other nice features.

This is where this little monster really shines. I have NEVER heard something so loud from something so small. This thing keeps up easily with a Marshall 100 watt half stack and drums, all in a little jam room. I have yet to see the volumes get over 3-4 on each knob. I have heard they are 450 watts! Geez, I did not believe this until I got into the same room with it. It can really tickle the ear if you get to close. Hairs on your arm will also be moving. One AWESOME amp!

No problems yet.

Don't know but I hear they are the best.

This is one of the most versitle amps I have ever seen. Small, compact yet can hold its own in most applications. It can get brutally loud if you let it. The tone is clean and defined. No distortion or mud here. Ports on bottom allow the ground to work for it. If stolen I would surely buy another one if I could find one. These are hard to find as they only made them for a while and the buzz has been picking up. I have played newer (Over the 1k price range) combos lately and the ol' Peavey can hang right there with them. The Peavey's tone is deeper and cleaner, not so tinny like the newer combos.