Peavey DataBass 115 Combo

Basic volume controls, graphic eq, hi/low switch etc.. Don't remember much as I don't see it that often.

First off, I am a guitar player and not a bass player. I am only submitting a review from a listeners point of view. This little combo amp amazed me so much, I feel that I had to comment on it. Not sure when it was made. Early 90's I believe. I think one could play many different types of music with this amp. Solid State, single speaker, and gets VERY LOUD. This thing keeps up with a Marshall 100w JCM 900 half stack easily. Looking at this amp, you would never think that it could get so freakin' loud! I can feel the pressure clear across the room. I am a guitar player that plays very loud. The Data Bass in our room has never been over 4 on the volume. At 4, the inner part of your ear starts hurting. No Kidding! We have nicknamed this amp "the little amp that could"

Been pumping out the jams for a while and NO PROBLEM Yet!

Don't know...

If I was a bass player, this would be my main amp. It is small enough for any show yet loud enough for most. I'm not kidding. This little guy is a marvel to the ears. Clean, clear tone, that has the ability to make the hair stand on your neck when the volume gets going. If stolen, I would surely buy another one.

Ca. '93. All solid state, no tubes. These were made between '92 and '95. This is an exteremely compact VERY high powered unit! 450 watts RMS in a package barely big enough to hold it's 15" Black Widow speaker. High and low gain inputs, bright switch, pre and post volumes, low and high rotary controls, 7-band graphic EQ, (120 Hz. 180 Hz. 340 Hz.660 Hz. 1.3K 2.6K 5K freq. centers) FX send & return, preamp out, power amp in. XLR direct out (no ground lift) on rear panel. Internal cooling fan. I never use the FX loop or the power amp in jack, but they may be useful to some players. The ports shoot down at the floor on the bottom of the cabinet, the amp's small size means that there's simply no other place to put them, other than the rear... I've owned 4 of these over the last 12 years, (never used more than 1 at a time) they were always more than enough power, even on BIG stages. People were constantly in a state of disbelief about it's small size/huge sound. They NEVER let me down. I can't belive Peavey discontinued these in '95! They by far surpass the Combo 115 or Combo 410 and are much smaller. It was their best product! The Data Bass is not without it's flaws, however. No extension speaker jack is provided in a 450 watt combo that comes supplied w. a 300 watt speaker. This is no doubt because the amp can't go into less than 4 ohms, so Peavey didn't want any problems w. consumers hooking up extension cabinets and blowing up amps. It's not a really bright amp, so if you need a super trebly sound or plat a lot of slap bass, this amp might not be for you. They tend to eat speakers too, for the aforementioned reason. The tone? VERY solid, tight, CLEAN rock, jazz, or blues sound with NO distortion. In fact, if you turn down the post volume and turn up the pre volume to try and deliberately get overdrive, it STILL won't disort! I tried other bass rigs over the last 12 years when I was playing a lot in a loud rock/ blues band, but I kept coming back to the old Data Bass. It gave me everything I needed and then some! Plus it was tiny. This particular one I got on ebay for $350.00 + freight. I can't believe the word isn't out about these SUPER bass amps. Peavey should consider an updated version, perhaps w. a tube preamp, extension spkr. jack...Find one and buy it now! You wonder why you've been hauling that monster rig around!

I played mostly vintage Fender Jazz Basses and Gibson Thunderbirds with original pickups through it. It's a great sound for the heavy blues rock and hard rock styles I play. I imagine it would sound superb with just about any bass, active or passive, due to it's high headroom and big bottom. The amp is very quiet, but some hight find the fan a bit noisy, never bothered me. Fan noise does NOT come through the amp.

One of the Data Basses I owned cut out on me the during the third set once. The next day it worked fine, but the problem resurfaced a few times after that. I was informed by a local tech that he's seen a lot of DataBasseswith intermittent speakers, the Black Widow speakers get damaged and cut out intermittently due to the 450 watt amp on a 300 watt speaker problem, so it might not have been the amp itself...overall, I found them to be quite reliable with heavy use.

Since it's no longer made, I don't know what Peavey's repair policy would be. There are techs in this area (central NJ) who can service them. I never had to put one in the shop, though.

I've been playing for 29 years. I own a '68 Ampeg B-15. If I had to replace it, I'd be forced to find another one. There's nothing else like it in today's market!