Peavey Mark VIII 1982 Bass Head

Somewhere in the 80's this amp was born and I am now the blessed owner of this tank. Matched to a Peavey PRO410 and an Ampeg BSE115 I play a 4 string MIM Fender Jazz with Bass Burners and I also play a Squier P-Bass with LaBella Flatwounds for that Motown sound. Both sound incredible through this amp. Incredibly versatile. Bi-Amp capabilities give even more choices. There is also a chorus-effect out that I ran into another amp and cab and played with for awhile, the moody feeling of the chorus makes me want to compose melodic metal ballads. Pre and Post Gain along with a Sustain Gain. When the Sustain button is engaged the Sustain Gain then becomes your Pre Gain. Sort of a two band EQ for overall LOW and HIGH adjustments along with a graphic EQ is very nice. Effects loop, Preamp OUT and IN, Balanced XLR out make this probably one of the most versatile amps out there for the money. I can't imagine being in a situation where I needed an amp to do something and this thing wouldn't be able to accomodate.

I play Fender Jazz and P-Bass in a three piece doing what I call Heavy Blues. SRV, BB King, CCR, Van Halen and some Motown. The Pickups are stock and this amp kicks some serious butt. Noisy, Nah. Compared to my last amp, a Behringer BX3000T. My band mates would cringe when I would start to step in front of the Behringer to adjust it, the Peavey is just silent, like the previous poster, I have to look behind me sometimes to reassure myself that the amp is still on. It really is that quiet. What kind of sounds can the amp make? Put it this way it doesn't make any sounds that I am not expecting it to and that is important and it makes all the sounds that I love. Deep, punchy, boomy-free, bass.

It is a Peavey. Rock solid. 54lbs of rock solid. As someone said somewhere: If you see a piece of gear on a stage that is 20+ years old, it probably says Peavey on it somewhere.

I love these guys. They always are there and willing to answer questions about gear they know I didn't buy new. I love their website. Download manuals for older equipment. Hec, they even sent me a schematic for another piece of older Peavey gear that I have and they did it for no charge. Even helped me build an add on circuit for a piece of gear. If this Bass amp gives me any trouble I know Peavey will be right on the other end of the phone to help me out.

Been playing stringed things for about 30 years. I could give the obligatory gear list, but suffice to say I have a bunch of guitars, a bunch of amps, a bunch of PA gear. If this amp were lost or stolen I would get another MarkVIII within week, if not sooner. If I had the money I would probably look at a Peavey PRO500 or a new SVT, but then I would buy another MarkVIII, because I know I can trust it. Anything I wish it had would be simple. A mute switch. I played on another bassists rig once a Trace Elliot head into an Ampeg 8x10, loved that sound but I loved the mute switch more I think. The only thing I dislike is the weight, 54lbs, but that's what roadies/drummers are for, right.

This amp has 1978 screen printed on it. My foot switch has obviously been gone for years, but I don't need it. It has done anything I want it to do and I've only had it two months. I even hooked up my guitar and RP-10 processor to it to see what would happen. I wouldn't be ashamed to play my ax through this thing much less my bass. Some one has taken pretty good care of it and the Peavey 215 cab I have has Carven's in it because somewhere someone had put Kicker car subs in it. Which would have been cool to me, but this thing rocks!

My Fender P-bass has no active pickups and has sounded anemic on other amps. This things last owner was in the band I'm in now. When he quit I took his place, but I didn't know all of the songs on the list yet so he played his Washburn 5 string with an active on one channel while I played my p-bass through the other channel. We were matched. Oh, and our band has two 215 Sunn subs that we do outdoor gigs with.... we didn't need them....

I have found that I hit the compressor rather easy while practicing but, with the classic rock/country/blues band I'm playing in doesn't push it like the metal/alternative stuff I'm used to. I'm very happy with it!

<shakes head> Former owners have nothing but good things to say about it! In fact, many of them are kicking themselves because they know that I will never sell it. Consider it off the market!

It IS a Peavey, but I'm a guitar tech myself so I do all of my own refurbs and repairs, all in all very esay machine to work with, and I haven't had any problems... So I don't know

Having only played bass a few short years I have only played mostly 112s and 115s like the Peavey TKO so something this versatile hadn't even crossed my mind. I'm glad I crossed paths with this monster! And I'm getting ready to add a Carvin 4X8 with tweeter for smaller gigs...(and I can stack the whole thing!)

Not alot of bells and whistles, but for 90% of bass players out there, this would be a very fine amp. I bought it used about a 1 1/2 yrs ago and its been my main head ever since. Expect enough tonal control, but other than tweaking your eq, there arent really any other onboard effects. Come to think of it, this amp has just about everything I need, so that doesn't matter much. A compressor might be necessary, though depending on your bass.

I've played several different basses through it... with an ibanez soundgear 4 string (all my basses are 4's) i get tremendous high end clarity for punk styles, a '78 fender p with the mids at 3, bass at 3 and treble at 8 gave me a very nice, full sound - but the best use of this amp is a stingray style axe I built myself. the richest, purest tone ive heard out of any amp costing less than $1200. I play it with the gain all the way up and i've never had to take the volume past 3... even with 2 near-deaf guitarists and a drummer. with a well grounded and shielded bass, without using any gate or compression, this amp is perfectly silent between notes. i mean, even at concert volume, between songs ive had to look back at my rig to make sure it was even on, and i WASNT USING A GATE!!! if all you need is tonal control without alot of flashy effects, this is a perfect amp for you. flea style punch and clarity, claypool... back the treble off for the smoothest jazz or blues tones.

This bitch is like a bavarian bar wench- she's heavy and ugly, but pulls her own weight in grand fashion. this thing has been dropped, kicked, you name it and it always comes back for more. before a show, a drunken drummer dropped it on its face, bending all the eq sliders and breaking a knob, but i bent the sliders back, glued the knob back on and she played like a dream. its never quit, never blared, and ive never been able to push it to its limits just because i value my hearing. its been ridden hard and hung up wet, but the cosmetic damage doesnt affect the sound at all... just adds to its visual character.

Never had a problem with it... just went online and printed out a manual

Note that the $300 dollar price tag came with a handmade cab with 2 jbl 15"'s in it, so basically, the amp was stupid cheap. its only negatives would be a lack of onboard effects (unnecessary with the great tonal control, though) and the likely need for a compressor. other than that, if i were to put a pricetag on this amp based on sound, headroom, stubborn reliability, and ease of use, i would happily pay 1200 for it. even for the players who have the flashy rack amps, digital effects and whatnot, i would strongly reccommend this as a backup because it sounds wonderful and just will not quit