Peavey Mark IV Bass Head

Man, did I luck out when I bought this amp.
Solid state 2 channel bass amp with lots and lots and lots of smooth, warm power.

Got it as my first bass amp and I believe won't ever need another.

Running it through original Peavy twin 15" speaker cab. Simply amazing tone. Havn't gotten to even half volume and rig can be heard a block away.

Got it for $300 with the cab. Like I said, I lucked out getting this amp.

Bulletproof.

The manual is available at http://www.peavy.com

Might as well be brand new.

I had no idea what to look for when I was shopping for a bass amp and just happened to get one with everything you could want by sheer luck.

Get one and it will serve you well for probably ever.

Amp is from the 1980's. I play all styles and this amp rocks. What most people never really get into is, this amp has two separate channels. If your like me and have two basses ( 1967 Hofner and Fender Jazz), you can set bass 1 up on channel A and lock in your sound volume and eq, then set bass 2 up on channel B. Both channels are independent of each other. So during certain songs you just change basses and your sound is there. As if that wasn't enough, you could at any point combine both channels via the foot switch to give you an unbelievable boost and sound. There is no other head out there that I could find that offers separate independent channels. Not to mention combining them. Has a built in compressor. 6 band EQ. Line out so there's no need for a direct box. Built in crossover. Two seprarte effects loop. This amp kicks volume wise. Foot switches can be ordered or I found mine on ebay. I feel it's a must when owning this amp. I can't believe these amps don't sell for way more. If it was put out today with all these features it would coast allot.

Very dependable. I have owned a couple. I always seem to come back to the Peavey Mark IV Or Mark III. I have owned Hartke 3500, SWR, this thing just rocks.

Repairs are easliy found. There are many Peavey repair shops around who still deal with the head.

15 years I use it now with a Peavey B115bx 350w Black widow.

Made in 1982... I was'nt alive in 1982 but i also have a 1971 ampeg bt15... and the features on the ampeg include treble and bass.. so 11 years later you have a 6 band eq and alot of other stuff that i cant think of off the top oof my head... It fits my style of music i play.. which is new-metal.. not really hard not really soft.. the mark 4 has no problem with thati havent really found my sound of it.. ive had it for about 2 weeks and havent found time... 1 gig and 4 practices... its done nothin but wonders..

Ok i have the great peavey t-40 running in to this powerhouse thats all im gonna say.

ive had it for 2 weeks...

i have it running trough a peavey 1810 cab... its great...
www.clutteredband.com

The Mark IV 400 BH is a great head in my opinion. It is 210 watts at 4 ohms, and 300 at 2. Right now I am using it with a 410 cab that I built, and it's plenty loud, soon I hope to add a 115! Mine was made in 1982, but works just like new. I got it off of E-bay for 177 bucks, what a steal. It has 2 channels, you can choose either or, or you can mix them. I don't have the foot pedal so I have them mixed. Between the two channels and the 6 band EQ, you can get any, and I mean any sound you want. You can make it deep and thick like Black Sabbath, or punchy and bright like New Found Glory.

Like I said before, you can get pretty much any sound out of this head. I use a Peavey Milestone III through it, and it sounds very good. It suits my style of music very well, which for a while was old punk, like the Misfits, but I am now in a thrash metal band (big change), and it suits either style just fine.

I haven't really used this on any gigs, but it seems like it is pretty sturdy, and it has already been around for years, and seems like it has years to go.

Never dealt with them, and don't think I will ever need to.

Overall, I would give this head a 10. It is versatile, has a lot of volume, and is built to take a beating. If it were lost, or stolen, I would definately try and find another Peavey head.

See other listings for this. All you need to know is that if you really want a trouble free bass head, that will last you the rest of your life, this is it.

I've been playing bass for 25 years. I do everything from new age to hard rock and metal. This amp is there. Super low end. I use it with the 2 15 Peavey cab that came with it, and I've always been impressed. With the bright switch and EQ, you can get any sound. I've used it with Steinbergers, aluminum neck Kramers, Hamer fretless jazz bass copies, etc. It really shines with active pickups. It is very articulate and you will never be out-gunned by a guitar player again. This amp doesn't even flintch (?) against my latest guitar player, who insists on using 2 full 5150 stacks for practice. This amp keeps him well in cheque.

I've owned it for 10 years and I played in bars every weekend with it for 5 of those years. It never complained. It sounds as good today as the day I bought it. I've left it in Vans for days, spilled drinks on it, dropped it, and left it on overnight a few times. It has never failed and I believe it never will. Even if it said "Honda" on it, I wouldn't have expected this kind of reliability.

Never needed them. This amp will not fail.

I've been playing bass for 25 years. If it were stolen or broken, I would be lost. I don't think there is anything out there that could touch it. I would get it fixed or replace it no matter what the cost.

This is a late 80's Peavey Mark IV Bass head. Features include; passive and active inputs, two distinct channels (foot switchable and blendable) both channel A and B offer pre-EQ effects loop, and both offer pre and post gain controls. Channel A has a low, mid, and high rotary EQ and can be sent to the 6 band graphic equalizer with a push switch. There is also a variable crossover for use in biamp modes. In addition, Channel B gives you low, paramid, shift, and high rotary EQ as well as push button access to the 6 band graphic EQ. The combination of the shift and paramid gives almost unlimited variety of sound. If you can't find a combination you like with this head, you are never going to find it. 1/4 inch jacks include; preamp out/in, line out, crossover high and low out, and power amp input for use with other preamps. On the front of the amp there is also a multiple pin jack for the footswitch. The foot switch can turn on or off either channel A or B, and it can blend the two channels together. Two 1/4 jacks go out to the speakers on the back of the head. Unfortunately, there is no balanced xlr out, but the line out can go to boards with 1/4 inch inputs for recording or going through a PA! There is also a ground reverse switch as part of the power on/off on the back of the amp. The amp is rated at 210 watts iinto 4 ohms, and 300 into 2 ohms. I have run it at 2 ohms before and the heatsink is VERY not at the end of the night. Not enough that it tried to melt the power cord when I was packing up for the night. (poswer cord wraps around the heat shield for storage)

I play mostly Christian pop with the church now, but was playing blues, 60's rock, and some jazz using a Fender Jazz bass, a J.B. Player original bass, and a Peavey foundation koa bass with Duncan quarter pounders replacing the useless Peavey pickups. With the quarter pounders, it sounds a lot like a P-bass. Tha amp has the ability to adapt to any bass, and pretty much any situation, soft and mellow, to blowing the walls out liver stomping loud. I have been using it with a Peavey 1810 cabinet with the 18 inch black widow and two 10 inch scorpians. An okay cabinet, but very loose on the bottom end. When pushed, the big 18 just starts to rumble and gets muddy. I think it is the cabiinet though, not the amp, I have run the amp through a couple of other guy's 4 10's cabinets and the sound is tight and punchy, just like it should be. Last played with a large show band, two guitars, two keyboards, 4 horns, and drums and the amp had no problem keeping up with all that sound. (the 1810 cabinet almost made it, but like I said, it starts to break up and distort at higher levels of sound) With a little time and some fine adjusting, you can get pretty much any sound you need or want from this head. But if you like to plug and play, this is not the head for you, it does take time to dial in.

I have been using this head on and off for over 10 years. It has been dropped once or twice, been thrown around by various roadies, even had a coke spilled in it once and it just keeps on going. I don't think it will ever quit and I don't think one would ever need a backup using this amp. It is a bullet proof as they come.

Can't comment, have never talked to Peavey customer support

I bought the amp and 1810 speaker cabinet used from a music store. It was on consignment and looked brand new. I have been playing bass since 1965 and have had Fender Bassmen (two different black face amps) an old gibson of unknown origin but it was old enough to use an amp driven magnet on the speaker, and i've played with a couple of different Fender 2x12 cabinets, a 1x15 with two d-140 JBL's that I wish I still had, but none of those other amps had the versatility or sound choices of this Peavey. I do miss the tube sound sometimes, but I don't miss the tube distortion at higher volumes. I think bass should be warm, but clean so solid state is fine with me.

2 channel with each EQ's, a built in Xover filter for line out HI and LOW. 6 band equalizer and the 320 Watts on 2 ohms just what you need.

I use it with an active Washburn XB400 4 string. Connected it with a Laney BS215L4 cabinet. The amp pushes really hard, it's unbeleavable that I can fill a room with only 1 at the 10 scale of volume. I am afraid that the only thing I miss is a horn in the speaker to get a pickin' sound. No negative remarks on the Peavey for this.

The amp is really undistructable the wooden case and the rubber finish on it can take a rough handling. Only the jack-sockets have to be made more 'tide' after a while (10 years), by opening it and bend them a bit so the connection with jacks cables doesn't give any disturbance anymore. Also it's advisable to use the pots more often then I do so that dust doesn't get a grip on them (just move the a couple of times from 0 - 10 and they run like new)

Good service in the Netherlands with their own center called AHK. Only parts (like optional switches) take a while.

Web sites hold most of their user manuals!

Most punchy amp for the price in the buzz I think. Power for the people with great specs.

This is an 80's model amp head. It's got high/low gain inputs, two channel switching (with foot pedal), an effects loop for each channel, bright button per channel and an eq in/out button per channel. Channel A has a three band eq and Channel B has a three band eq with a parametric mid channel. Both channels have an input gain and an output gain. 6 band equalizer and a built in variable crossover. All the in/out connections are on the front of the amp for ease of access. Plus, there's an 1/4" in/out jack for added flexibility (I think it's located in the post-eq position) and a 1/4" line out jack. The back side has two 1/4" speaker outputs (mono). Rated 210 watts @ 4 ohms and 300 watts @ 2 ohms.

Currently, I have this amp plugged into a SWR Henry the 8X8 speaker. I use it for gigging and practice. The speaker can take more than twice the rated power of the amp, but it moves that speaker nicely! It would be best to have a speaker that matches the amp output closer, but it's doing the job and then some! I still can fill a room with bass without going through the PA.

My primary bass is a '75 Gibson EB0 with a '97 Fender Amer. Std. 5 string Jazz bass. Both are stock instruments. The Gibson has a fat humbucker on it and the Fender has the standard soap bars. Occasionally I use a Zoom 506 processor pedal in the mix.
Because of the equalizer in the channels and the 6 band equalizer the sounds this amp can produce quite a wide range of sounds. I usually only use Channel B because of the parametric mid eq. I tune it in to the bass I'm playing.

This amp provides a good clean sound even after years of use and abuse!

I've owned this amp for about 6 or 7 years now and have never had a problem with it whatsoever. I originally used it with a Peavey 3620 speaker (that's 2-18's and 2-10's). Everything works after all this time! Two of the eq sliders need some cleaning but other than that no problems! After an evening of use, the heat sink on the back can get pretty hot, but at least it won't burn you!

If you own something with the Peavey name, you can get the manual for it ONLINE for FREE! I got the manual for it and learned a few more things about the amp!

I've never had to take it in for repair and service centers are plentiful in my area (Chicago).

I've been playing for about 10 years and I couldn't have asked for a better amp to be my first real amp. It's kept up with me throughout the years and has produced enough power to move the speakers I own with ease. If it were stolen, I'd seriously consider trying to find another because of how versatile this amp is. I know I'll be upgrading to a more powerful amp in the near future, but I just might purchase a dedicated power amp and use the preamp features of the amp instead. The only thing I wish this amp had was more power because of the speaker I play out of. Pushing 210 watts into a speaker that can handle 450 watts rms isn't the best idea, but I haven't blown either speaker yet! If you're looking for an inexpensive and reliable amp, this is definitely the one to look for.