Peavey Firebass 700

I've been playing through this amp since it came out in 2000. The versatility is simply incredible. This amp does just about anything you could ask of it. Lots of features, lots of options and easy to use with third party gear to fill out your sound.

I've played about a dozen basses through this and I think it has represented all of them well. It is an honest amp - a crappy bass still sounds crappy but a nice bass sounds great. Right now I'm playing a six string fretless Brice and a 6 string fretted Ibanez btb. I play through a vintage acoustic cab with and 18 and two 10s, and a straight up peavey black widow 15 with a tweeter. The amp doesn't crap out on the lower end needed for that low B string (like so many others do), but it still has the sensitivity to give me a good sound all they way to the twelfth fret on my high C string.

I've recorded with this amp in pro studios and got fantastic sounds. The best sound I've got in the studio was with a three track set up, one track with an avalon DI, one line out from the head and one mic (sennheiser 421) on an ampeg cab. The mix of the three signals gave a great sound, but the line out from the head kept up with the avalon - Now that's impressive!!

The only criticism I can think of for the sound is the preamp. It's not bad, but it's not the best. It doesn't give you the kind of warmth you'll get out of a top-of-the-line ampeg. But I bought a 3rd party tube preamp (not even name brand and I only spent 150 bucks) and now it sounds great. The combo I have now is simply unbeatable.

If you're willing to get a couple of extras (like a nice preamp and maybe a compressor unit) you'll never find a better bass sound.

7 years and I've never had a problem with it. Plug in and play - works every time.

This thing is build like a tank, very heavy but very strong. You could throw it down a flight of stairs and not even worry about it. Although this amp is temperature sensitive. Store it in a heated room when not in use! Keep it in a smoke free environment and generally don't do anything stupid and it should go the distance.

never needed

If someone stole this amp I would probably cry.

all the goodies.......simple to dial in

just dial it in....i play blues and classic rock and southern rock on mainly Fenders....clean and bright or muddy...which ever you like...havent noticed any distortion

its a peavey....no need for backup

only peavey i ever had repaired was one i bought broke.........repair was simple and cheap...wish they made cars.

been playing on and off since the 60's....have fender,crate,ampeg,gk,peavey,kustom,etc....compared the reviews and then made up my mind....i like that it goes down to 2 ohms so i can play two 4 ohm cabs....it is heavy so bring along a strong roadie.....has way way enough power...is quiet....bought mine on ebay.....watch out for the shipping cost

Stacked with features, i like the versitility of the line out features giving the best chance of getting a good clean signal to the mixing desk in both live and recording situations, i like to run my amps with as flat an EQ as possible but with the flexability of the controls it is easy to lose those nasty frequencies that can easily blight a sound

I run acouple of old Precisions and a Jazz bass through the Firebass into two Peavey 1x15 BW cabs, whilst i love the 2x15 sound i find that the firebass lacks the magic of my previous Trace amps, the sound is not lacking in any way but it just does not excite me in the way previous amps have

100% reliable, no issues, no crackles, i just hoist it up on top of my cabs plug it in and away we go

As above 100% reliable so far so i have not needed customer support

Its loaded with features, it does everything it promises to do and it does it reliably, would i buy another? probably not, i miss the warm, coloured sound of my previous amps, given the chance i would keep the Firebass as my reliable back up and go for something with a warmer sound that breaks down every other week!

Got everything you need. See all the other reviews.
Unbelievably heavy - take care of your back with this.

Clean good sound. Doesn't add or take anything away. Great if you have a good bass and a good cab. but does make a cheap bass sound even cheaper than normal. Very easy to dial in pretty much whatever you need.

Now here I have to beg to differ with all of the other reviewers. I've had my Firebass for 5 years - and then this year, all of a sudden it ups and just dies on me. I've had it looked at and I've been told the main board needs replacing. No idea why yet - but Peavey (UK) won't supply parts to an engineer who isn't a peavey authorised dealer (apparently). Up until now- it worked fine!

Awkward (so far). I'll see how it turns out.

Great amp this - It's the older white face version, but it's still going well. It's a pretty simple amp to use. The FX loop seems a bit redundant, seeing as how there's a pre-out and power amp in loop, as well as seperate hi & lo outputs from the crossover. The crossover itself is pretty good, sweepable from 100Hz to 1kHz, with a hi-lo balance control. It's only 12dB/Octave though, whereas 24 would be more useful, but these are really the only criticisms I have. It's got tons of power, easy to use EQ (including the contour control, which is like a whole EQ in itself) and it's solid.

This amp is about the loudest I've ever played through. I put it through either 1 or 2 2x10s, or a 2x10 and a 1x15 (all rated 400w @ 4Ohms each)and it shifts a LOT of air. On one occasion I was playing with 2 half stacks and a LOUD drummer, and the Peavey kept up easily, gain & volume both on about half. The EQ is really simple but pretty flexible. Bass and treble controls, swept mid (200Hz-2kHz), contour control and a bright switch, and can do everything from funk to punk. My final aim is to use the amp in a biamped stereo arrangement. By coming out of the lo out into the power amp in, the internal amp can feed my 1x15 and deal with the bass end, while the high out goes through my AX300B into a stereo power amp and out into the 2x10s. I could even use the preamp out to feed my Laney combo, so the drummer could have a full range monitor. This should give me about 1300 watts to play with - more than enough even for me!

It's a Peavey, therefore it's built like a tank and never goes wrong. I don't know anyone that's had any trouble with Peavey stuff.

Never goes wrong, so I've never had to deal with them.

This is a great amp - good sounds, easy to use and power to spare. A few criticisms aside (see above), I'd recommend it to anyone - just make sure your speakers are up to the job, or this amp will EAT them!

Not sure what year it was made it has a speaker protection circuit and Push button for active electronics.It has a bright switch, tuner send jack,line out with pre and post eq and ground lift. it also has a crossover with frequency cutoff controls and gain and master volume with jacks for Bi Amping, But with 700 watts of power who wouls really need to?

I am using this amp with a Fender American Jazz Bass with an s-1 switch And a Line 6 bass pod. I play mostly classic rock and funk with a swr workingMan's 4-10 And a peavey 2-15 and it kicks serious butt. It can do just about anything from growly funk to popping and slapping it just sounds good and clean. If you crank up the gain you can get some good distortion for rock and turn it down and the volume up for the clean sound.

I bought this amp used and it has been very reliable so far. I have had no issues with it yet and do not see any need to really push it hard so I don't think there will be any reliability issues.

Have not had to deal with them.

If it were stolen I would definately replace it. With bass you can never have too much power and this thing has tons of power. So it is simple lots of power lots of clean bass if you want it clean or the ability to run the gain up and get some serious distortion and not have to worry about clipping the amp.

Not6 sure what year it was made. I have heard several amps like this one and they sound great. It can make a lot of different tones with the limited controls it has. I use a bass pod also .

Using it with a 2004 Fender Jazz bass with the s1 switch fender noisless pickups(not true unless they are both at the same level). I just bought it and got it home and it makes this god awful hum like it was being driven full gain and full voulme with no signal and I shut it off it made a very loud pop and that was it dead in the water.

Only had it for about 3 hours and it was dead.

Don't know yet will update later.

I'm not sure when this head was made because it's one of the white face models, but I've had it about two years. This amp is the most veratile amp I've ever used, and believe me, I've been playing music for 35 years and I've had them all from SVT's to Fender's to Acoustic's, etc. I won't go into the feature because everyone below has pretty much told you what all this amp has, but I will tell you that it blows the doors (litterally) off of everything else I've tried. I play mainly jazz and rock, and with 700 watts, you'll go deaf if you have the right speakers, and you'd better if you plan on turning it up past 4. I use this head with a Hartke 2.5 (2-10" and a horn) and a Hartke 215 (2-15" aluminum cone) sub. Like they say: "it doesn't rock the house, it levels the house!!!".

My main basses are MusicMan Stingrays (2) with the fat humbuckers. With these basses, even if one of them is just sitting there in the stand and the amp is on, the amp quiet as a mouse. I use this amp in my home studio because of how quiet it is. Different tones? Oh my God, you can get about anything except distortion. At least I've never been able to get it to a volume level where it distorts. If you like clean powerful bass, this is your baby!!

reliable? This thing is bullet-proof!!! It's as solid as a rock. I've ran it down to 2-ohms and it never whimpered the first time. No need for servicing, just plug-n-play.

Nover had to deal with Peavey, but I'm sure they take care of their customers. Mine is probably out of warranty, and it's never needed it anyway.

Like I said, I've been playing for 35 years (old fart). I own way too much gear to list, but the gear I'll always keep is my Marshall full stand, my Ampeg V4B head and 8-10 Ampeg cabinet. If it were stolen, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat. No other wishes. This amp has it all. One note: check eBay for these things. They are a real deal on that site, normally around $300.00. And it'll be the best three hundred dollar head you'll ever buy!!!

Ive had this amp for about ayear now and i love it part of it. It has a pretty plain paint job but it actually works for it. I love the DDT speaker prtection on it Itwould saveme bg money in thelong run lol. I can get any kind ofsoundthat i want ot of this baby by just tweaking the countour on it. No dstortion what so ever.

Ive been playing for almost 4 years and must say that this amp is the best sounding amp ive ever come across. I use my Ibanez SRX 300 on it and my Dean 5-string with EMG's on it and i cant complain at all

the reliability of this amp is remarkable. its builtlike a freaking tank as well as heavy as one but i think its worth it. ive never had any problems with it at all.

i really wouldent know ever used it i dont even know the number. this amp from what i can see it would never fail me

This amp is like my best friend i would talke it to all my gigs and never replace it ever. if it were stolen ateri got done crying lol i would get another one if i had the money of course. its a great value for 7oo watts backing you and you can get it for around $1200 i think thats pretty impressive the only thing is the weight but i can live with that i got detachable caster for it right when i bought it.

No need to repeat what others have already covered.

Using it with a Peavey 810TX cab and a Peavey Cirrus 4. Great sound overall. All the volume I'll ever need. It shakes the ground and everything else around.

Built like a tank.

Never had any problems.

This is my second Firebass head. I bought the white-face model and a Peavey 412TXF cab when they came out and sold it for an Ampeg SVT-4PR0 amp, SVT-810EN cab, and SVT-215 cab. The 4-Pro blew up once and once the fan quit. I wish I had never "upgraded" to the Ampeg sh...tuff. I love this amp and will never stray again! :-)

This is a pretty basic amp. The preamp is simple with a pregain, contour, low(at 40hz makes a huge low end fundamental!), a sweepable mid(200 to 2k hz), and a high control. The power amp is rated @ 700 watts into 2 ohms, 475 at 4 ohms, and 275 at 8 ohms. it also has a built in 12db/octave x-over BUT ITA NOT A BIAMP! And I really wish it was because i run a 4x10 along with some 15's and i end up pushing the 4x10 too much. I'll give a 9 because I think they should have made it a biamp. It also has an automatic limiter, it sounds good but is ALWAYS on when i play at higher volumes, it almost makes me wonder about the headroom that this amp really has.

My set up with this head is a washburn rb4000 (actually really nice), an Avatar Speaker 4x10 and i have a few home built 15's (using Carvin's ps15, unbelievably rated at 600w rms!). Anyway, I play in two bands, one requires that i cut through the mix (i have lots of fills and things) and the other band requires that i have a huge sound to fill in a lot. If you ask me this head puts out a little too much low end for my speakers, so i have to cut the lows using the crossover (@100hz). If i dont use it the amp seems rather inefficient especially for the power. Im not big on distortion so I won't get into that. I have used this head with a peavey 410tx and it sounded awesome. I guess the way to go with this head is to get a peavey cab to go with. I'll give an 8 because i think the potential of this amp is only good with a peavey cab as well. Also this amp is very, very quiet, and is awesome for recording(lots of different tones that are easy to get).

So far so good. Been using it for about 1 1/2 years and have not had a problem. And I have never had to contact peavey about anything.

Never needed costumer support

I've been playing about 5 years and i have to have an awesome, clean tone thats loud. Unfortunately this amp is missing a bit, unless I had a peavey 4x10 or 4x12, then I'd be completely satisfied. I dont know that i would buy another one if this was stolen. I've played through a Yorkville that costed less and I thought had better control over the speakers(less distortion, more bass at high volumes). Don't get me wrong, this amp is incredible with a PEAVEY cab, just not as good with my cabs.

This head is amazing. The pre-amp is great. You can leave everything in the middle, and get the straight sound of your bass, or tweek the knobs and get any sound you want. It has contour, a 3-band EQ with a semi-parametric mid. It has a crossover with point and balance controls, XLR-out, FX loop, tuner out(have to have), DDT and more. It's a 1 channel solid state amp, but I really don't miss any tubes. There are outs and ins at ever point in the chain.
The power amp section is insane. 700W@2 ohms, 475W@4 ohms, and 275@8 ohms. It has 2 full range output jacks, and speaker protection.

I use a run of the mill Singray, with the single fat humbucker. This amp handles it lovingly. I play anything really, from heavy to classic rock, funk to jazz, to the occasional country pickin'.
With the contour you can get that deep jazz, or a funk, or a bighting edge metal. The other EQ's, and bright switch allow for a wide range of tonal options. Using the contour you can scoop the mid's, then boost up which ever one you want with the parametric EQ.
The amp is extremely silent. Hardly any noise(except for the fan, which is also very quiet). The amp stays clean until the walls are shaking.
You can get some interesting distortion to. By cranking the pre-gain, leaving the contour off, and boosting the mids ~340, you can get some outrageous distortion. It can be crunchy or saturated. If the pre-gain is cranked, then you can deafen yourself with the post on 4.
I run it into a 210TXF, which is quite punchy, and a 118Black Widow cab I made myself, which shakes EVERYthing.

I got mine from a wharehouse sale. I've never had any troubles with it. It runs down to a 2ohm load, and doesn't really heat up much. I've hade mine for a year(it is the white faced one), and it still sounds as great as the day I got it. It's a Peavey...aka indestructible. I've run it for hours apon hours and it doesn't complain.
Although I've never used it, this amp has a breaker and reset switch, not fuses. So if it ever goes, you don't have to replace a little glass thingy.

Never had to deal with them for this, but I have for other things(a Mark III XP with a fried pre-amp right off the line). They also have help forums too.

I've been playing for 2 years off and on. I also have an Ampeg BA-112 may starter. I'll never get rid of that. The Firebass pre-amp can produce damn near any tone you'll ever want. The big drawback is the weight! It weighs a tenth of a lb. less than my 210 cab....ouch.
I don't really wish it had anything else. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
If it was stolen, I don't know if I'd go out and buy it again. I think I'd go with a rack pre-amp/power amp. Just something I think would work better for me. BUT I would definitely try and get this pre-amp.
One last thought. The power cord that it came with, it's the detachable kind, is frankly, pathetic. It is reallly thin. I know nothing about what size it SHOULD be, but it has always aroused my suspition that my BA-112(75W from the wall) has a thicker power cord than the 1200W-from-the wall amp *shrug*.

Made in 2001 I guess as I just bought it.
Versatile? Hell, you can get any sound you want just by using the contour control.
1 channel, solid state, big SOB, FX loop, X-Over, balanced XLR DI out with ground lift and Pre/Post EQ selection, tuner out, too much to remember, could be here till Christmas..........
With this amp I don't want for anything: it has all I need and then some. I use this amp for practising in my garage, with my four piece punk band, wenchface. My drummer plays very enthusiastically =), and our guitarist has a Boogie DC-5 slaved into a Marshall 200w stereo power amp, so I needed an amp with enough power to be heard. And boy does this amp make me heard! I have the power on just over a quarter and im comin through loud and clear, in fact probably a bit TOO loud.
Oh yeah, three band ACTIVE EQ with semi-parametric mids, and I thibk twin fans and huge heatsinks at the back)

I use it with a Fender Japanese 60s reissue P-Bass and it gives me a sound as solid as anything, with the classic Precision sound which is completely uncoloured by the amp- very clean and neutral sounding, like a GK to a certain extent.
It suits me to the ground, people. Very quiet, turn it to half and i can just hear some hum when not playing (but thats SCARILY loud)

Very wide variety of sounds, like I said, very true to the natural bass character, like you would expect if you DI'd it, but the EQ can produce a wide range of usable tones, and the countour especially can drastically alter your basses timbre.

No way Jose, no distortion could be found.

Well, I only got it today. But its a Peavey for crying out loud. Is it physically possible to break these things? Never mind Sink the Bismark, try Break the Firebass. I can guarantee you will fail........
My experiences with Peavey equipment in the past has been exemplary.

N/A, I expect they rock as much as their products do though...........

Ive played for 5 years, got a P-Bass like i said, a D'armond Jetstar for backup, a Peavey 1820 cab (1*18, 2*10), and an Audio-Technica wireless system.
I wont lose this baby, so big I can see it for miles. If it was nicked id feel sorry for the thief, and maybe give him an asprin (it weighs 50lbs) and then kick his head in. And then buy a new one without hesitation. I tried a Trace Elliot GP7- 300 (too pub sounding), an Ampeg SVT3PRO (overrated and not very loud) and Ashdown ABM and MAG heads which made me feel sick for some reason. This little tiger kicks ass, plus, first time I tried one, was at a Battle of the Bands and it was coping in a HUGE venue against two loud Marshall Half- Stacks and saying 'Bring it on, brother, let me have some more of these two wimps........'

My website adress for my band is:

www.wenchface.20m.com

hi everybody!
I've just bought this powerful amplifier so I can't tell everything about it, but I can saY something about my happyness as a new owner.
This is a very high power amp and I don't think you will never want more power than this. It has 1 channel, equalization; bass, mid (with midshift), and high controls (very sensitive actually). It has the gain and the master volume, i like to use it with low gain and high volume trying to obtain the most clear sound possible. It has active/passive control and bright control (about this one I think is very useful if you like funky, ska, rock n roll...). a great amp indeed.

I use the amp with a peavey CIRRUS 4 string bass.
I usually keep the bass controls flat and so I can obtain a very clear sound (thanks to the bright control of the amp).
It suit perfectly my style and my music which is ska, punk rock, rock n roll, funky rock and italian classics. Anyway I think this amp can suit every style of playing and music because it's very versatile and never goes on distortion if you don't want because of its high power.

I use this amp with 210 txf which is a good configuration for little pubs a little stages, because the sound is clear but the dimension is little. Anyway I'm waiting from America the 410 txf for bigger concerts. This amp it's quiet heavy (hey Mr.Peavey isn't possible to make something lighter with this power?)but the price is the lowest i could find for amps of this power. I'd like it to have a pedal remote switch as optional like the guitar amps has always had, but I think it would be the first...
Anyway for this price it's a very good amp with unlimited power and a wonderful bright sound, I would buy it again! Alfo

One channel, easy to use, solid state bass amp. Pregain and Master Vol. controls. Active/passive switch. Bright switch. Bass, Mid, Mid-Shift, and Treble controls. DI with ground lift. Effects loop. Internal crossover for going to separate external poweramps. Defeatable built in limiter (DDT compression). Can handle a 2 ohm load.
The only thing I would like would be another mid with mid shift control and a blendable effects loop.
Also, the amp is heavy (50 pounds).

I use this amp with four and five string jazz bass style basses. I play rock with it.
This amp is great! It's very loud and very quiet. Sounds very nice for your typical clean bass sound. It does not sound good when you crank the gain. If you want distortion on your bass you probably need to get a pedal for that.
The only thing I don't like is that the limited light will kick on if I play really hard (even at lower volume settings). But I think this is more due to my inconsistency in playing levels than to any fault of the amp.
I use it with peavey 410 TXF and 115 BX-BW cabs and this is a really nice setup. It's just a pain to drag around all this stuff but I think it's worth it for the sound.
I'm going to give it a 9 because it just doesn't have a good bass distortion sound.

I've used this amp for a year so far and have had no problems. Peavey is pretty reliable.

I think the warranty is 3 or 5 years. But I've never had to use it.

This amp offers the most watts per dollar that I've found. If you are doing quieter gigs it's probably overkill. But if you're in a loud rock band, it's hard to beat this amp.
But shop around, you shouldn't have to pay the $700 list price like I did. I've seen them for $550 to $600 new. The amp is a great value even at $700 but you can do better.