Product: Peavey Milestone III Price Paid: US $159
Submitted 10/18/2000
at 03:43am
by Anonymous
Email: draybb<at>yahoo dot com
Features
:9
Koean made during '95-'99, twenty fret, four-string, excellent plywood laminate, laminated maple top, and vintage sunburst finish. This Jazz Bass clone has a typical pair of high output, passive J pickups, with a volume control for each, and a master tone control. Body style is P-Bass with a Jazz neck made of one-piece maple and an 8" radius fretboard. Stamped chrome, surface mount bridge, and open gear tuners with large butterfly winders. The neck is as thin as I've ever seen or felt. It has everything a Jazz Bass is supposed to have.
Sound
:10
The sounds available on this instrument are quite numerous. It has a tone and sustain my more expensive (?) basses don't have. This is the classic bass sound of the '60s and '70s, plus everything since! Warm, bright, rich and full...it's all there!!!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:10
One of the absolute best setups I've ever played. It was purchesed used, but I found it almost impossible to misadjust this instrument. I had to clean a noisy volume control, because of its age. A strange-looking nut resembling bone that is a perfect fit...like the rest of the bass. When I disassembled and cleaned the instrument I noticed the body was made of plywood, and that bothered me a bit. But I learned this is not the plywood with which one builds a doghouse. This is high-pressure laminate, hard, solid and produces an unbelievably good tone and sustain for this price. Besides, musical instruments are rain-forest eaters. This bass is a bit more ethical in its use of woods.
Reliability/Durability
:10
How paranoid are you? If it can happen, it eventually will. I've played no-pay gigs with this bass alone. For pay, I should never encounter any problems if I inspect the instrument before going to a gig. It has nice big fat strap buttons that actually stay on. The finish is easily as good as any Fender and has attracted numerous compliments. Finish is VERY tough. Truss rod adjustment takes place at the base of the neck, requiring no special tools...rather convenient.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
I have had no problems with this instrument.
Overall Rating
:10
I've played upright since 1973. This is my fourth electric bass. I also have three Deans: 4 string fretless, (Q5) 5 string fretted, and a 6 string fretless.
If this were lost or stolen I'd definitely get another one....probably new, since they're still being made ("for the working musician"). Besides, I'd rather have someone steal a $200 bass than a $500, $1000, $2000 and up bass.
When I purchased this instrument I was actually intent upon acquiring a Fender (Mexican) Jazz Bass. The Peavy Milestone III cost me half as much, weighed half as much, had a better tone and less pickup noise than the Fender. I picked this one out because it's beautiful to behold, the neck is great, and the tone is terrific. At $200 - $250 or so new, this is one of the best buys out there.
Product: Peavey Milestone III Price Paid: US $240
Submitted 09/12/2000
at 11:20am
by Tom Speight
Email: ajax1453 at hotmail<dot>com
Features
:9
Korean, maybe last year's model, bought off the shelf. Fretted 4-string, 20 frets. Laminated top, so far as I can tell. Body is a modified strat-shape, very comfortable and light, got lucky and got what I'm told is a red/black sunburst one but I'm color-blind so this doesn't matter much. Bridge is stamped with four saddles, thank GOD I don't have to deal with a string-thru-body. Maple neck, very thin and fast, small radius, unsure of body composition but it sounds nice. Tuners are non-locking open standard ones, kind of cheap-looking but they do a good job. Pickups are two of this models standard passive J-styles. Two volume, one tone. The tone control doesn't seem to do much good beyond picking up finger noise, so if I want to change sounds I usually play with the volume controls and shut off one or another. I like the two-pickup thing rather than a P-bass's one, one reason I picked this axe. No Db boost or anything.
Sound
:10
Sounds good; You can get a bunch of nice sounds out of it, but most of it has to do with playing with amp controls. The bass itself has about three distinct good tones: fat, midway, treble, and then the dreadful dead-man's rattle of full treble. GOTTA keep one of the pickups on full if you want to use treble. I've only played it live-at-home so far, so I don't know about studio stuff. If you use a right-hand mute and lean on one pickup for sound it sounds AMAZINGLY like a stand-up. Nice and warm, a bit of a twang sometimes depending on tone. I like that, though. Pickups are DEAD quiet, very little noise even for standard ones.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:9
Well, like I said I bought this off the shelf. It was in pretty good shape, all told, but I had to adjust the heck out of the action and the trussrod. It even sounded decent before I adjusted it, though! Other than that, the thing was BEAUTIFUL. No scratches, no nothing, and the finish is tough as nails. I wish the frets were a little heavier, though,a nd I went to heavier strings because the factory ones seemed kinda lightweight.
Reliability/Durability
:10
I forsee NO problems with this bass; it seems very well made, everything's very tight. Only had to twiddle the truss rod the one time. VERY nice and solid instrument.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Haven't had to deal with them yet, hope I never have to unless they decide to give me free stuff or a job.
Overall Rating
:No Opinion
I have a pretty basic setup, just this Milestone and a Peavey 112 amp. The two sound GOOD together, I can get a NASTY fat sound out of it, but I'll need a compressor if I want to do much slapping. I can also get some good treble out of it for those John Entwistle pseudo-guitar speed-runs. If you put the tone and volume things a certain way, you get the nice treble without much of a rattly sound. Neck is VERY fast, a lot like an expensive Jazz bass that I could NOT afford. I play a lot of classic and modern rock and blues, it sounds good clean for that so I don't bother with effects or anything but I'm thinking of plunking on a Zoom so I can more thoroughly piss off the neighbors. I borrowed a friend's rack once and ran through a few things with it and the sound COOKED, it held Neil Young distortion like a MOFO and then I threw on a wah and it was REALLY good, nice and bright and sustained. The only thing is that someone told me these things SUCK if you put them in BEAD tuning. I'd sure as hell replace this if lost or stolen, unless the insurance company decided to spot for a Fender 5-string Jazz bass or something....:) Tried this off against a Yamaha, and Ibanez, and a few fenders and Squiers, and this was DEFINITELY the best of the lot. It was a good bit better quality and the feel was a lot better. I'd say buy it; it's a really good bass at a good bargain.
Product: Peavey Milestone III Price Paid: US $340
Submitted 08/19/2000
at 11:42am
by Joe Strobaugh
Email: Hazard4084 at aol<dot>com
Features
:7
Hey Ya'll! I own a Peavey Milestone III. It is a 1998 I believe. It was made in Mexico.
<p>
It has 20 frets. And it has 4 strings.
<p>
It is a Laminate top bass.
<p>
There is a Volume control, Tone, and One Selector.
<p>
No Info on Pick-ups (SORRY!)
<p>
Is the "Passive or Active" question REALLY needed?! (I'm only 13!)
<p>
No Info on neck, body is Graphite, I believe.
<p>
Transparent Finish
<p>
Precision style
<p>
HUH? BRIDGE STYLE!??!?!?!?! NO IDEA!!!!!!!
<p>
Drop-tune, I'm pretty sure...
<p>
Scale and Neck are NORMAL!
<p>
I got a case, tools, cables, and strap.
Sound
:10
It fits my band's music PERFECT! We play Alternative/Shock/Rapcore Rock.
<p>
Peavey "LOUD" amp (99' Model I Think). I use a Distortion and Whammy pedal with it and on accasions a Wa-Wa.
<p>
ABSOLUTLY PERFECT SOUND!!!!!!
<p>
Lots of sounds. I can get it to follow a guitar on some notes (tone-wise) and it can play like a bass AND a guitar on accasion.
<p>
Well, my band is forming, so, no gigs yet, but, I'll say in studio, for the sake of having no other comparison.
<p>
Likes: Good tone, GREAT strings, great "travel" (sliding-hand technique), good play, and GREAT pedal/amp coherance.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:7
I don't know about how it was set-up.
<p>
The pick-ups were VERY well adjusted.
<p>
Only 2 nicks in the pick-guard, no biggy.
Reliability/Durability
:10
ABSOLUTLY!!!!! It'll fight back if it has too! (::chuckle::)
<p>
The hardware LOOKS like it'll last, FEELS like it, and it is GUARUNTEED!!
<p>
The finish is going to last.
<p>
The strap buttons haven't failed me yet...
<p>
I'll depend on it in a war! I have had it for about a month and NOTHING has seen a shop yet!
<p>
ABSOLUTLY!!!!! It is it's own back-up!!!
Customer Support
:10
The company has never spoken to me (my bass doesn't need it!!!).
<p>
No repair!
<p>
Don't need Warranty yet!
Overall Rating
:10
I have only this bass. And I've been playing about 2 years.
<p>
NOPE! This bass is a dream-come-true!
<p>
If it were stolen, I'd kill the man responsible, then get my bass, get it fixed, and KEEP ON PLAYING!!!
<p>
I LOVE EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!
<p>
I ONLY comparison I had was to a Fender P-Bass, and Peavey won in the end.
<p>
Nope, it has ALL I want!
<p>
BUY PEAVEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Product: Peavey Milestone III Price Paid: US $Somewhere around $215-250 I think
Submitted 06/13/2000
at 03:19pm
by Billy Daniel
Email: BillyD at funcow<dot>com
Features
:8
It was made in either 1999 or 2000 in Korea. It is a four string with 20 frets. There are three controls: 2 individual volume controls for the two passive single coil J-style pickups and a master tone. The body is made out of multi-lam hardwood and has a three layer pickguard on it. The neck is 34" scale made out of maple. It's pretty thin, especially at the top.
Sound
:7
I play almost anything I listen to which includes many styles from jazz to metal, it does a pretty decent job. I've downtuned the E string a couple of times and does ok. In my opionion this bass only has one tone, turning the tone knob one direction just has more extra noise from your fingers and the other just has tone without the extra noise.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:No Opinion
I'm not sure how it was set up at the factory since the store set up it once they got it. Everything seemed fine though.
Reliability/Durability
:7
This bass seems solid enough to survive live playing, but I wouldn't play live without a backup. The finish must be pretty thick because I've banged this around on stuff before by accident and never chipped off any of the finish (but the neck plate is scratched up some).
One of the strap buttons started coming loose two weeks after I got this bass, but I tightened the screw on it and haven't had a problem with it since. Now the jack will come loose every now and then and I have to screw it back in with my hands and it'll stay in there solid.
Customer Support
:10
Never had to deal with them. They have a good website.
Overall Rating
:8
I've been playing for a couple of months now. This bass is really good for the price.
Product: Peavey Milestone III Price Paid: US $250.00
Submitted 06/09/2000
at 04:11am
by Scott Higdon
Email: s<dot>higdon at mindspring<dot>com
Features
:8
Made in Korea 20 Frets 4 Strings Two passive single coil pickups with individual volume knobs, and one master tone knob Maple neck Hardwood body Metallic dark red finish 1 1/2" nut width, 34" scale length
Sound
:10
I play rock, with some jazz and funk influence. This bass runs the gamut of sounds. I can go from the fattest slap sound to a more delicate jazzy sound. I've never heard quieter single coil pickups. On my Ibanez 5-string, which has an identical pickup and knob configuration, I never use one pickup by itself, but I can with this bass because they're so quiet. It's got great lows, mids, and highs. It's very responsive and the neck is very thin all around.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:8
The action was perfect when I got it. The only flaw was that one of the bridge saddles is slightly out of line, but that's easily fixed.
Reliability/Durability
:9
I haven't had it that long, but the construction seems quite solid so far. The strap buttons are great, nice and big.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Haven't dealt with.
Overall Rating
:10
I've been playing guitar for a couple years, trumpet for 10. My brother(also a guitar player) has an Ibanez 5-string bass which, while nice, doesn't begin to compare to my Peavey. If it was stolen, I would buy it again unless I could afford something top of the line. I played a Fender Squire Precision bass before this one, and didn't like it at all. It sounded like garbage. But I was instantly struck by the fatness of the sound of the Peavey. I also like the narrowness of the neck, which seems to be extreme even for basses. I play it through a Fender BXR 100 and the sound is remarkable.