Peavey MegaBass Head

MESANOMAD45 - OK - so I bought ANOTHER MEGABASS head! 150.00 bucks - everything I said before and DITTO! See previous review...

Funk, blues, POP band - still extremely quiet - Nice controls - 5 string or 4 string Ibanez Active basses - works all night long...

Although I have two, only take out one - I do take one Megabass as a backup when using an Alphabass or the Classic 400 Tube heads just in case I have any issues?

HAVENT HAD ANY ISSUES

SEE PREVIOUS REVIEW - I BOUGHT 2 - WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I think this amp was put out around '91, but I just picked mine up used (for 100 bones!) in '07. I play in 2 cover bands with tunes ranging from classic rock to newer hard rock and this amp kicks all sorts of butt. I am not a giant fan of the effects loop built on the front of the amp, I would prefer it with separate send and returns in the back, and I also would like more level control on the line out. I find myself using the chorus circuit (barely on) every now and then to beef up the sound. I have an Eden WT400 as a main amp, but I find the Peavey has even more power and use it just as often as my Eden since getting it.

I use a couple of Spector basses and a Warwick 5-string which all have active pickups, and run either a pair of Eden 2x10 cabs or a SWR Triad cab. The amp is usually dialed in flat, with the punch and bright pressed in and I use the on-board EQ on my basses to get various tones for tunes and the amp responds beautifully. Loads of clean power at my disposal.

I have owned many Peavey products over the years, and find that they are priced great for the quality and workmanship that they feature. These units are pretty much bulletproof.

I haven't ever had to call about any problems, but you can still download the user manual from the website after many years of it being discontinued, so that is killer, but I can't give a good review about the service.

I have been playing professionally for 22 years, and have always thought Peavey makes great, indestructible, inexpensive amps for bass. This is my 3rd Peavey rig and would buy this same head again in a heartbeat, especially at the price I paid : )

I owned a Mega-Bass amp for the last 7 years - it has served me well. One of the best features is the dual amp, xover and volume control for both channels. This enables you to control the volume of two cabs or split high-range/low- range. An other option I liked is that it doesn't have the typical peavey compression built-in... i simply find that to be a pain!? I think this was one of the best built amps back 10+ years ago but there is some way better sounding amps available now.

It's has a pretty flat sounding quality which can be good or bad depending on your cab and your style. I find the digital pre-amp to be kinda harsh and bland. I play acoustic based alternative rock and use a Lakland Darryl Jones jazz and a spector NSII. It is surely loud enough for gig's but quite a heavy one to lug around!?

It's a workhorse and built like a tank! I've pushed it allot and it always ready to take the abuse. The only down side is that I have two broken volume pots which is typical of these amps and the 1k slider for died a year after the warranty was out. I was able to find the schematics for it and was able to do my own maintenance which is nice. Mind you, it's quite a complex amp with multi-layer circuit boards but fixable.

no opinion here.

I've been playing bass for about 10 years now and has the years when on, my taste and style has evolved. I still have the Mega-Bass but as backup - I now play an Eden WT400 which is night and day put 6 times the price of the MB. It's been good to me and I wouldn't get rid of it.

Grabbed this amp from the used section at Guitar Center. Took it home and plugged it into my Fender 410H and Yamaha 1-18 cabs bi-amp style. Then I ran my reissue '68 P-Bass with active BassLine pu's through it. Rawk! Deep and full sounding with that roundness that Ampeg is generally known for. Then I ran my Brice 5-string through it and loved the clean punch to the chest of the low B. Yeah, a compressor would be nice on the unit itself but set correctly I don't really need it. I'll never have to turn this thing up to the point of damage lest the whole band go deaf. It is nice to know I can drown out the drummer ;o)

I like the options of punch, brightness and pad buttons as well as the graphic EQ. The FX loop and built in chorus is nice as well.

I play in an original heavy metal band and a classic rock cover band as well so this amp is a dream. I get that sharp round tone for the metal and then I can dial in whatever is needed for the cover stuff as well without worrying about hearing myself cleanly and loud enough.

As I said I used my '68 Reissue P-Bass and Brice 5-String through it. Both have active pickup sets. I can go from that moaning Geezer Butler sound to the early White Zombie sound to a poundingly sharp nu-metal sound with just some tweaks of the graphic eq.

The nice thing is that the amp gives you a lot of flexibility in the setup with cabinet line-ups. I can just use my 410 and set the amp for full range and still get a nice lowend dump out of it. Bi-amp it and use a 118 cab on the bottom and it rattles your fillings but doesn't mush out at all. Schweeet.

It's Peavey. I bet I could throw it off my roof onto concrete with 4 inches of water on it, dry it out and it'll be just fine. I have some other Peavey gear that is ancient, been on the road for years and never had a breakdown.

Peavey rules. If there ever is a problem I know this AMERICAN company will help me out just fine.

I've been playing for almost 30 years. I own Marshalls, Crates, a full tri-amp PA system with sidefills and monitors, Dean, Fender, Cort (Yorktown jazzbox), and Brice guitars and basses (8!), and enough outboard and stompbox FX to open my own store.

This amp is a very welcome addition to the stable. If it were stolen, I don't "lose" things, I would be pretty bummed. If I found another, of course I'd grab it.

I bought my MegaBass the first couple of months that they were released. I definitely have one of the first ones that came out. I don't recall the year, but it was a LONG time ago.
It's loaded with features, some of them rather dated here in 2006/2007 era. The chorus is not used much anymore by recording musicians, but was cool for it's time. Also, the biamped feature is a nice touch.

I'm using Fender Jazz basses with EMG active pickups. I play rock/dance and some country fill-in gigs. The amp is fairly clean for an amp from that era. Some people have complained that the MegaBass is a tone sucker, taking the tone out of their bass. But I think that maybe they didn't know how to use the amp to it's potential. You can get a tremendous amount of equalization out of this amp using the graphic EQ. It's pretty upfront about little changes in the EQ settings make BIG changes in the sound.

This amp has become my back-up amp. I've never had any problems with it. When I first got it, 'Hair Bands' were my thing, and I toured the U.S. twice with this amp as my only amp. As time went on, I moved toward playing every weekend in the clubs and gave this amp a real pounding, and it never had any problems at all.
I give it a 10 in reliability, because unlike most other amps I've owned, this one has NEVER quit.

I've not had a problem with this amp. I have had to call Peavey before about purchasing some parts, and although they couldn't help me, they were friendly and responsive to me. They did steer me to an aftermarket parts company that supplied me with the parts I was looking for (for a Peavey foundation bass--I needed a new tuning key).

I've been playing since 1974, and I use the MegaBass as my backup amp. I now use a rack system with an Ampeg CLSVP preamp and a separate power amp. But I carry the MegaBass just in case something happens to my main system.
If you are looking at buying an MegaBass, I'd recommend it highly. If I needed to replace it, I'd probably look at something more modern, but for a couple hundred bucks I would buy another one. They are just a straight up workhorse bass amp.
Oh, by the way, this isn't the lightest weight amp you'll ever buy. It's one heavy piece of gear. But that's the only negative I've got to say about it.

I play funk and blues. This amp is perfecto for those. Is a single channel but has a pad for high power input active basses. It has chorus - and is a BI AMP unit - 200 watts per channel at 4 ohms. Graphic EQ. Biamp or fullrange selector - full complement of ins and outs for preamp etc. Fully solid state - in an SKB 2U rack.

PJ Active PJ passive. Perfect funk machine - awesome for blues bass. Quiet as a baby's whisper even with the fan full on. Clean or dirty depending on your settings - LOUD!

Solid as it is heavy. Have peeked inside and it is very well constructed.

Never had to call Peavey. Have a major local dealer just down the street from where I sleep.

Been playing bass two years. Own a Peavey Alphabass head as well. Play this through a Mesa 15 EV and an SWR Goliath JR II with 2 10 inch Peavey Scorpions (SWRs are out for reconing). My Mesa lovin' buddy calls this one PEAVEY SCHMEAVEY. Compared to used GK, Mesa, and SWRs - nothing could touch it for the bucks I had. I would replace it in a hearbeat with another Megabass.

made in the early 90's. The Eq and low and high boosts are great, haven't used the effects loop, but it would look better on the back. The chorus is kind of weird and would have been better replaced with an onboard compressor. The bi-amping is cool but substantially decreases the volume

I have played through several other heads, unlike the Hartke models i have played through, the megabass had just that- a deep solid low end, it is very similar to some of the older fender amps as well, like the bxr 400 and such. i play mostly at church and a few gigs with my hard rock band. through a 1x15 cab, and a 4x10, it sounds amazing, the low end boost is great through the 1x15. plugging in a compressor like a boss lmb 3 really improves this excellent head as well

Never had any problems, i occasionally get a series of taps from it at church, but my sound guy says that its the lighting system because the whole PA taps right along with my amp.

I e-mailed peavey about the bi-amping setup, and got a quick, precise reply.

I have been playing for about 8 years, i own two fender bassman cabs(the ones mentioned above), i mostly play a spector 5 string, but sometimes a fender deluxe p-bass. i would probably get an ampeg or eden if this amp was lost or stolen, but i have no complaints with it for the price.

I think my Mega Bass is from late 80'es but im not absolutey sure. As a bass head the amp has everything that i need seperate high and low end is wery nice and the eq is also wery usefull. Although i'm occasinally wanted to turn on tubes i have still allways returned to this solid state. The power of 2x200W has been more than enough for me(I think i have never turned the volume over 5). The Chorus i pretty neat but i haven't really ever used it altough i noticed that it can create a really nice 70'es-80'es doom metal bass sound when turned on only a little.

I use a Zon Legacy Elite bass with bartolini actives and a 70'es Fender Bassman 4x12 plus a old Shure 1x15(actually a voice cab but wihitout a horn works suprisingly well). I play progressive Rock/Metal/Jazz and more easy 70'es rock and the sound is great. I've tried many effect and preamps but the head works best on its own. The 80hz hiss is the only small complain cause when not playing the amp it quite noizy but everything dissappears when playing.

Used about five yars and always 100% reliable

Never contacted so i can't comment

I think i don't have much more to say. Great amp, quite cheap, one of the most reliable things in the world(not only talkin bout amps), eq great chorus worthless, lot's of power, acutually quite variable, bit noizy but usually quitarist have even more noise, rack mountable so it's easy to move(although bit heavy but so is every amp in this calibre). My first head and i'm never selling it off (the guy who sold it to me tried to buy it back).

I don't what year this amplifier was manufactured...however, like good wine...it also, got better with time. It's bi-amp ability used in conjuction with its chorus feature is really neat. I use this amp with a 6 string Ibanez Bass w/RotoSound Strings, running through an Ampeg Isovent Cabinet. I have'nt yet but I will use this rig with my church choir

By using the chrous on the high end and it 7 band EQ to manipulate the
low end, I am able to get a really nice punchy, brassy piano type sound while playing slap bass. It does have a little be more extraneous hiss sound while not playing. I haven't been able to determine if this is mostly the amp or my Isovent Cabinet. However, I intend to deal with this by adding a Rocktron Super C Hush to my rig.

I bought this amp used, through Ebay, from Ideal Music Store in Atlanta, Ga. I've only owned it for a month. So I don't know its history.

See reliability

I've been playing for 35 years. With my current setup Peavey Megabass Head w/Anvil case, Ampeg 2x10 w/2x15 Isovent Cabinet, and Ibanez SR405
6 String Bass, Digitech RP12...I don't see ever having to upgrade my setup, other than a larger rack rig to support, perhaps, the purchasing of a few effects, i.e., noise reducer, tuner, etc.

This head was actually a great idea by Peavey: They took a proven PA amplifier, stuck a multi-featured bass pre-amp on the front, and you have a bulletproof solid state bass head that stands the test of time! The amp is a 2 channel and offers 200w x 2 @ 4 ohms. It's got a neat feature that lets you choose to deliver the power full range to the two channels in Parellel, or engage a crossover and have 1 high, 1 low output for a 4x10 1x15 type cabinet or the like. I used two of these heads connected to an ART SGX Nightbass and FOUR yes you heard right, FOUR Ampeg SVT-810E cabinets. Thats 200w x 4 (cabinets)!! Wasit loud? It could be but what it really did was make the richest most solid bass sound I have ever heard. I still play 2 SVT-810 cabs, (let's face it 4 was too much to move!!) but the cool thing was how well the MegaBass easily drove the 32 10 inch speakers. The unit rack mounts and only takes 2 spaces which is nice. The chorusing unit built in sounds great for playing a song with chorus like "Pearl Jam - Alive". The Pad, Punch, Bright, 7 band EQ & old school pre/post gains give you the flexibility to build any sound you could want.

I used the amps in an original hard rock band playing driving melodic lines. The head never faltered or sounded tapped out or thin. It seemed to have loads of headroom and just slapped the cabinets around with solid state power. Run a reasonably HOT pre gain and input signal and look forward to a REAL HOT, clean and powerful signal at the speaker jacks. The one area I could complain about Right Now, is the signal to noise ratio. If you don't route your cables just so you may get some 60 hertz AC hum. This doesn't mean the head isn't good, it is simply a factor of it's age. The amps out there now are incredibly Loud and Quiet (have cake and eat it too). I guess I would say use it for live shows, but grab the pre-amp out signal for recording to avoid the noise.

Drove it way hard for 10 years, not a single problem, glitch, NOTHING! Makes the Energizer Bunny look like a slacker. I dusted the inside once when I smelled "warm dust" smell, that's it! The pots have not even shown any signs of getting noisy/sloppy.

Never broke down or failed, I have no clue how they treat you. If they build all their stuff like this maybe they don't have a repair dept!!

I have been playing for 15 years, and played alot of other Bass rigs of friends/other bands/etc. Still like the "don't have to crank it" raw power of the MegaBass. If I had to replace it I would buy solid state just because of the experience with MegaBass. Can't say if I would search for one now or buy something new, that's a tough one. Loved the "Loyalty" of the units, didn't hate anything, hmm, 'cept 60 hertz hum, but come on, that was with post gains up HIGH!! Play one note and all that is gone. Maybe run a noise gate or DBX comp/gate unit, that might be the perfect ticket!! If you are looking for a worryfree roadable head, Find One Of These!!

I purcahsed this amp brand new probably back in 1990. At the time, it had a lot of power and the ability to bi-amp without using two sepearte amps. The amp had several good reviews in music industry magazines. I use the amp for loud rock music. I sometimes get a few laughs when people see the Peavey head (it seems Peavey is a low end product to some people), but then I turn it on. I run it through an Ampeg SVT 1540HE which has 4-10's and 1-15. The sound is great. The head has a built in 7 band EQ and a high and low end boost that when used with the EQ can give you about any sound you want. It does have a built in chorus but I really have never had a need for it. I do wish that it had a direct out with a level control, but a DI works well with it. I typically now use a Shure Beta 52 and have it miked up. Lots of sound guys don't like using a mic on bass so I have to compromise sometimes, hence the desire for the direct out with level control. It does have a direct out, just not powerful enough. It has a lot of power (200 watts x 2 at 4 ohms) to fill any club or large stage/hall. It is a solid state amp and I like the overall tone of it. The tube amp thing, in my opinion, is better left to the guitar guys. For bass, a good solid state amp can delver everything you need. It also has a built in fan for cooling if used at high levels for extended time. A feature that I really like is that it is rack mountable. I have mine in a SKB case so I can put my cords and associated gear in and not have an extra item to lug around.

Nice clear sound at all levels. When combined with my Ampeg cabinet there is no other sound I would want. I use a Fender Precision bass with active EMG pickups. I always say that with this setup you can hear a fly fart on the strings. Very responsive and true to the Fender sound. The amp reproduces this sound at low and high volume.

I have had it for over 10 years and all I have ever done is take off the cover and clean out the dust that accumulates over time. It has never been in the repair shop. I have used this head for so many shows without a backup, that the idea of a backup amp seems to be a waste of money.

I have never dealt with them so I can not honestly say.

I have been playing for over 20 years. I have had this amp for over 10 years. Would I buy another Peavey head if this one was stolen or lost? That is hard to say. I am extremely happy with it as I have not had one problem with it over the entire time I have owned it. If my head got run over or fell off the back of the van tommorow I would probably look at some old(used) or new ampeg and probably some of the new Peavey products. I think you get a lot of value with the Peavey, but you don't pay for name as with an Ampeg, Eden, or Trace Elliot. I guess I will cross that bridge when it comes along, but for now my Megabass will continue to do the job. If you come across one used, I'd say give it a try. I'm not sure what they go for used, but more than $300 should be passed by. Overall a good amp for the money I origianlly spent.

200wX2 'digital' head, chorus circut (cheesy as hell), 7 band eq...
it was made in the very early 90's, and still works great. Its a shame you can't run the dual power amps in series, as i only have 1 cab and would like to run the full wattage through it. It has 4 outputs on the back, 2 for each power amp. It will run 200w@4ohms per side. also has an xlr in on the front, and 2 xlr out on the back.

I use a fender Jazz and a homemade fretless p-bass through it, into my gk4x10. it has good clarity, and just a little buzz, but my guitars are part of the problem. On occasion i will also run my strat through it for a really cool jazzy tone. If you want an amp with a built in chorus, this is NOT the amp for you... the chorus makes me feel dizzy. it has a high and low scoop switches, but the amp sounds flat with out them pushed in... an excellent deal, if you can find one.

It is over ten years old and going strong... Like any other peavey amp.

Only used their message board on their site... question answered in less that 24h

I've been playing for the last 6 years, and this is my first head. I have a had a few combos, and although they were newer, they didn't have the same feel as this setup. Not a high end amp, but if you don't wanna lay down the big bucks, this could be the way to go.