Peavey Millennium 5 AC BXP

I bought the bass new so I assume it was made in 2007, I'm not sure where. Bass has active 18 volt electronics, die-cast tuners, single string bridges, 3-band EQ, dual active pickups, bolt on maple neck w/ rosewood fretboard, quilt maple veneer. This bass is well equipped and at the 350.00 price point any more features would have to cut into quality somewhere else. The separate battery compartment is nice, on some basses and guitars it's in the same cavity with the other stuff. In the main control cavity there is part of the electronics glued to the back of the cover preventing me from opening it fully. The pots feel nice and smooth with a nice resistance to turning and easily found center detents on the pickup blend, bass, middle and treble pickups.

I play Funk/R&B/Hip-Hop with a little Reggae and Latin thrown in. In the store (I played at least 15 basses) this bass seemed to lack the "spank" when slapping but had a fingered tone a good as any, like Sting's bass on "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". I replaces the stock strings (D'Addario, I don't know how old they were, but the bass is new) with DR high beams and now I have spank aplenty. I haven't really gotten into the EQ yet but it seems very useful for shaping the tone. The bass still has its signature sound but it can be shaped to fit whatever I would use it for. The tonal difference between the pickups is somewhat limited and the bridge pickup especially has the humbucker accented mids that I don't care for but the combination sounds good. There is no hum unless the high EQ is cranked. Previously I had been playing a low end Yamaha (still a decent axe) with PJ pickups that had a wider range of tones but I think the sound quality is a little richer with this bass. For my sound I don't think any other bass has much on this bass. Once you get a satisfactory sounding bass you're better off spending your money on an amp!

The neck is moderately slim and feels great with a satin finish. The action was slightly high but this seems to be a preference thing. Playing the different basses, I noticed a wide range of playability regardless of price. Lowering the action got me the spank I needed when slapping. A couple of the nut slots were a bit tight and the spacing between the individual bridges is uneven by an extremely small amount and a couple are slightly further back but these quibbles don't affect playability in the least. The pickups seem to have been adjusted well.

The neck pocket is pretty tight (visible, but can't get a matchbook cover in it) but has one corner that is cut a little irregularly. The light color of the neck and top make the neck joint visible. The battery cover, a foil lined plastic plate was cut irregularly and was very difficult to remove, a few minutes with some sandpaper fixed this. The main electronics cavity is also somewhat too tight but you don't go in there regularly.

The finish has a small chip mostly concealed by the tuning machines and the Tiger Eye quilt maple is not impressive (except that it has it at this price) but it still looks cool just not as "deep" or vivid. The woodgrain is barely visible in th middle of the back and looks awesome. While I'm nit-picking, the channel in one of the bridges has a small drip of something in it.

The quality of construction in this bass is excellent and is competitive with much more expensive basses.

I've only had it a few hours so I can't say much about the reliability yet but everything feels solid enough. At his price point I have to think the pots are probably the weak link but they feel solid and if they do fail, cheap and easy to replace. The bridges are a pain to adjust. The strap buttons are oversized so I have no worries about my strap falling off.

I've never had an issue with any Peavey equipment (2 guitars, amp, Valverb reverb/tremolo, and this bass) but their customer service is legendary.

I have been playing guitar 19 years and bass for 8 months and I gig several times each month, this is the first bass I own. After comparing many basses in the store, including a couple of high dollar ones, I walked out with this one. Price was a factor but I don't feel like any of the other basses were clearly superior. I know that $1500 dollars will buy a better bass but I don't see any particular shortcomings with this one. There are actually a couple of other basses near this price point I would have liked to try but they weren't in the store so I got this and am extremely happy with my purchase. If price didn't count I'd give this bass an 8 (a more expensive bass has to be better right?) but it does so I give it a 10. Unless you are SUPER picky or just need something that this isn't I'd be surprised if someone wasn't happy with this bass.

My bass was made in Indonesia 2005, 21 frets, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, 34" scale, agathis body, quilted maple veneer top, black-violet finish, black chrome hardware, 18 volt active electronics (dual soap bar pickups, volume, pickup blend, bass, mid, and treble boost/cut controls (all except volume have center detent), string through or traditional bridge pieces(Hipshot).
Gave it a 7 because of 34" scale and el cheapo hardware...34 " scale makes for a "floppy" low B string that requires a VERY subtle touch. Tuning heads seem cheaply made. I BOUGHT MINE USED in March 2006 and had to replace the tuners almost immediately (that low B again!) Bought a set of Gotoh mini tuners...problem solved. Not sure if it was really cheap hardware or poor maintenance by previous owner, but thought it was worth mentioning for review purposes.

I give it a 7 for sound. I expected more diversity from active electronics.Not much tonal difference between neck and bridge pickups when used individually. Both have a mid-heavy "quackiness" by themselves. I prefer blending them together and playing finger style for a thicker sound. I use a BOSS GT6-B effects processor mostly for compression and EQ and a Behringer BX-1200 112 combo for a stage monitor. Line out on the combo goes to house PA which includes a pair of 18" subs. Guitar EQ controls usually stay set to flat.

Action on my bass was high and required truss rod and bridge adjustment before I could play it. Neck pickup was losing higher notes on the D and G strings and had to be raised to balance the volume between strings. Intonation was far enough out that you could hear it without the aid of a tuner. The finish had several small dings on front and back upon arrival, but nothing I couldn't live with. The tuner for the low B was almost totally stripped and wouldn't hold tuning if played too hard.
Since I BOUGHT IT USED, I cannot say if these were factory issues or if the previous owner was just an ignorant moron that didn't know how to properly care for an instrument. After giving it some badly needed TLC, it has been a good piece overall. My guess is it was "rode hard and put up wet!"

I play this bass live on a weekly basis with no backup and no problems, except once, when the batteries died near the end of a set (which was my fault). General rule of thumb number 1: When in doubt, swap 'em out!
After replacing the tuning machines and making necessary adjustments, there's no doubt I'll be playing this bass until I save enough to build my own custom piece.

P.S. I always replace factory strap buttons with mechanical strap locks. I wish manufacturers would do likewise!

Since I do all my own repairs and adjustments, I can't give an opinion on this.

Ive only been playing bass for about a year, but have played guitar and worked on instruments for over 10 years. I use this bass every week for live gigs and haven't had any problems. Overall sound quality is GOOD but not VERY GOOD for an instrument in this price range. I bought this bass out of the "Scratch & Dent" section at musicians friend.com sight unseen and got a little less than I paid for. Not really an issue for me since I know how to fix them, but definitely worth a "buyer beware" if you are considering a purchase. If lost or stolen I would get another model 5 string bass with a 35" scale, but this is a pretty good starter 5 string if you are looking to branch out a little.

See specs in review above or on Peavey website.
My favorite features include the quilted maple top, the transparent black finish, the flatter, thinner "U-shaped" neck, active EQ, string-through-body bridge, and individual bridge saddles.

I often get comments on how great it looks. Looks are important to me. I like the shape of the body and the headstock.

For the price, you can't beat the features, so I give it a high score in this category.

The pick-ups are purported to be the same as those on the Cirrus basses. I have trouble believing that a bass as expensive as the Cirrus would have these pups.

They don't sound bad, but they are not as meaty as they could be. There is very little variation between the bridge and the neck pups. I like a wide tonal variety, and they just don't give it.

Using the 3-band active eq, I can coax out an acceptable range of sounds from slap to dub. I have played it through a variety of amps and cabs from Crate to SWR and Fender and direct to PA. It passes for gigs.

Again, could be more meaty when played direct. It'll never have the Jazz bass sound you want, but--for the price--it is pretty good.

Great low action. Smooth, flat neck. Great workmanship. Either the store I bought it from got a good one, or they do good work.

I am unable to detect any finish mistakes. I have looked over all of the seams multiple times and can't find a single mistake. The fretboard edges are smooth and even. There are a couple of MINOR fret irregularities, but I only found these upon close inspection.

The finish looks beautiful. I am not usually into black basses or black hardware, but this on with the quilted maple top and transparent black--I must admit--is sexy. I have considered changing to gold hardware eventually.

Needed work on intonation, but the bridge (with individual bridge saddles) in infinitely adjustable.

I have already had to replace one tuner (nut was stripped from factory) and the output jack (broken prong).

The hardware is low-cost, but doesn't seem cheap. If I keep this bass for a long time, I will probably replace the tuners first.

Otherwise, it is solid. Not too heavy and not too light. It STAYS IN TUNE like a mother.

I admit, I have dropped it several times (by leaning it on things like an idiot) and it has not had any noticeable after-affects. It even stayed in tune when it fell off the arm of our couch and hit the wall. The wall now has a dent, but the bass was fine.

Peavey gets their highest score here.

When I had problems with the tuner, I called Steve the Guitar Tech, and he immediately sent me a new one. I got it within 3 days. WOW!

Thank you PEAVEY!

I am a gigging musician. I use this bass every week for gigs. It is my only bass at this time. I have bought and sold many basses--some much more expensive than this one.

I bought it at a local music store, so I had time to play it before buying. I actually bought it BECAUSE I was able to play it first. It is not something I would have picked up normally.

After playing it, however, I was impressed by the balance, the features and the look. My purchasing decision at the time was restricted to a specific price range. In that range, this bass blew me away!

Please note that my overall rating takes into account that this is NOT a $1,500 bass. For $329 you can't go wrong with the Peavey Millenium AC BXP 5.

These are the newest addition to the Peavey bass lineup, new this year from Indonesia. It's a 34" scale 5 string, with 21 frets on a rosewood fingerboard, on a hard rock maple bolt-on (5 bolt) neck, complete with Hipshot? Y-style machine heads (tuners). The body is basswood w/ a quilt maple top, available in four finishes, mine being in the transparent black violet. It looks so good, everyone not in the know, refuses to believe the actual price I paid! The pickups are Peavey active VFL soapbars, probably a cheaper version of the infamous Cirrus pickups, although various internet pages site them as being the Cirrus pickups, can't say for sure. Either way, MONSTROUS improvement on the crap passive jazz's on the old BXP series. The electronics are active as well, and +18 volts, instead of just 9. The knob configuration for the bass is volume, pu balance, bass, mid, treble, with center detent on all but the volume. The bridge is a finger style string thru w/ string thru ferrules and the truss rod is of the wheel type, located on the bottom of the neck. Finally, the whole package is medium to light weight, reported by Peavey to weigh about 9 lbs. on the dot. Well, now that I have the positives out, let me go to the negatives, though I honestly don't see many, especially at the price! Anyway, here are my minor gripes. Number one, it's 34" scale as opposed to 35", but that wouldn't be a problem on the AC BXP 4, and really doesn't seem to be MUCH of a problem on the five, because of the string thru bridge. Gripe two, the battery cover isn't accessible without a screwdriver, many of today's basses have pop off compartments, money saver number one. Gripe three, honestely my biggest gripe, minus the tuners, the rest of the hardware has a cheap look to it, especially the knobs, but, money must be saved somewhere, and I'd rather sacrifice here than in tone! So, it has features out the ass for a bass of it's price, (+18 volt electronics, string thru bridge, active soaps) but there is some noticeable money saving in the hardware dept., so it's get's a SOLID 8.

I've not been playing bass long, nor have I played this beauty long, let me state that up front. Let me also remind you, I'm comparing this to just the basses in THIS PRICE RANGE that I've tried. It's not a Warwick, Fodera, or Alembic or something, and I hate reading reviews of budget basses, where the reviewer acts as if he expects a $300 dollar bass to equal a $1000+ bass in sound! That's ludicrous! If they did that, you'd never see a +$1000 bass again. Anyway, all that aside, I knew what I wanted in a bass. Something to fit my tight budget that didn't sound like a toy. Well, this bass goes far beyond expectation! It actually sounds like a giggable, even recordable, bass! I give credit to the bass as a whole for it's unbelievably warm tone. I'm talking, front of the fireplace cuddled up with hot cocoa, warm. Basswood is known for it's warmth and maple for it's defined highs, so they set the base shape of the tone. The string thru bridge delivers excellent sustain, for a bolt-on neck, and that piano ringing and growl that I'm crazy about. The VFL soaps deliver LOUD and quality output to the amp, instead of muddy, tinny, or fake sounding crap that just about any other pu's in this range deliver (such as those found on my Ibanez EDB400 or Squier P-Bass 5). Meanwhile, the +18 volt electronics assure the sound is clear and whisper quiet. As for any downsides, I'm really searching here to find ANYTHING to the sound that I don't like, but I can't really find anything. Again, only comparing it to it's BRAND NEW counterparts in this price range ($350 U.S. and down). The volume seems perfectly even across all five strings, which isn't usually true of five string basses in this price range (like my Squier P fiver), which tend to have four string pu's as part of their price cuts, causing you to have to thumb attack the B to get any noticeable output from it. The string thru bridge is another rarity in this range, and it really makes a VERY noticeable difference in the sustain and the piano like ring and growl and in compensating for the typical floppiness of the B in this scale length. Still, can't give anything a ten, nothing is perfect right? The B isn't bad at all for this scale or price, still, it isn't QUITE perfect (but damn close :P), so deduct a point here. The output of the soaps differ very little, if at all from each other, though no other basses with pu's of the same type I played in this price range, sounded noticeably different either, still, deduct a point here. Finally though, while I love the sound unique to it, let it be noted this bass can get close enough to hint at a Fender Jazz or P-bass and with some tweaking, I can ever hear a TOUCH of my beloved, drooled over, dream Warwick in there. What do you expect though, not even Warwick's Rockbass line gets credit for sounding like a "real" Warwick. So, I bring back one of the points, because I truely am in love with the sound of this bass and it is pretty flexible. Solid 9 and I'd put it against new basses costing as much as twice it's price.

My take on action is that everyone is unique in how they want it, and unless I'm getting a custom made bass, I don't expect a bass to be setup how I want it. Therefore, no points will be deducted or given by me in the action category. As for fit and finish, this is where I will judge this score. Keep in mind, this is a budget bass, a.k.a. import, and if it didn't have a few finish flaws, it wouldn't be either of those. Anyway, here's a list of flaws I found being INSANELY picky (looking at the bass from under an inch away!); area immediately under head stock has black paint on very tip of fingerboard, area on fingerboard where nut is set in is frayed around the edges and a slight hole the size of a pin head can be found just above this area as well, small amount of black paint looking liquid splattered on bottom of neck (could have happened at store), one or two frets stick out minutely (as in I have to GRIND my finger along the neck to tell), bolts on neck might be set in at different depths (don't know if they are or if it's that I'm holding the bass at an odd angle), some edges of the body around screws and cavities look knicked or somehow unfinished, and some screws look knicked as well, body has one tiny piece that should have been cut better around the heel of the neck. Ok, that's about it for things I had to DIG to find wrong, and to be honest, I chaulk that all up to the "handcrafted" thing, and kinda dig it. Besides, dig through your bass and see if you don't find one or two things like these wrong with it. ;) As for easily noticed things (things that cost points); frets, inlays, input jack, and knobs look cheap, because the hardware finish sucks (black paint?) as it is already tarnishing in various places, and the neck pickup needs to be tightened to the body better. Now, I've heard a lot of these budget basses need major setup work that some newer guys wouldn't be able to do or sometimes even have to be replaced because of crap electronics, so only needing a couple of screws tightened around the pickup isn't going to take many points away. Chaulk it up to a solid 7, and I'm happy with that, because I'll give up perfection in looks for that perfection in tone I sight above!

Being that the strap buttons at least appear cheap because of the tarnishing ordeal, I might check out a pair of strap locks, but it hasn't fallen off me yet while playing. As for whether it would withstand such a fall, it feels solid enough to make it, though I don't hope to ever find out. Still not sure whether the hardware is extremely cheap or just looks it, but I'd bet it is cheap, this IS a budget bass after all. No big deal, all that is easily replaceable. Probably keep the tuners though, they are Hipshot's, and they hold in tune great for me. I haven't needed the truss rod yet, so no comment there. Easily accessible though, and it looks solid. Don't go without backup (I was told to NEVER do this), get some straplocks, and check the batteries. For that little extra required effort/time/money, I give it a 6.

Can't give an opinion here, haven't needed them yet.

I've been playing for a short time and at the moment all I own is budget gear. An Ibanez EDB400 and Squier P-bass Standard 5 (though misnamed because it actually has two jazz pu's and no P pu, but oh well). I play through a 135 watt (roughly) Ibanez amp and two 1x10 cabs. As for this bass, I didn't ask the sales guys anything about it, but I researched it independently as thoroughly as possible, and though I feel in love with it the first time I played it, I put off on buying it for near a month to reasearch it and other basses. In the end though, I had to go back to it! If it were stolen, I'd be heartbroken and S.O.L. until I could get another $300 after which I'd promptly head out and buy another one, with the only possible difference being getting a Tiger's Eye 4 string. I love this bass that much, and this is the one area where it may get a ten, because I feel this part should be all opinion, and your space to completely brag or rant about the instrument. Well, I'm completely bragging today! :D I really feel like this is my first REAL bass. My Squier and my Ibanez EDB400 have NOTHING on this bass and sound like complete trash next to it! The neck seems to be made specifically to my hand, not too wide (Squier), not too narrow (Ibanez). It plays like absolute butter, silky smoothe neck, very easy to fret, just a joy to play, and the sound....it's exactly what I was after and more than I hoped for in it's price range. If I had gone used, I might have been able to beat it, as I saw a USA made millenium go unbid on at $399 on ebay, but you take your chance used and buying from an individual stranger, I learned that the hard way! Oh well, I love this bass so much, it assured for me I will pursue a USA made original Millenium or a USA made Cirrus for Christmas. The only things I really hate about this bass are the damned knobs. They drive me crazy, and they will be gone VERY soon. As for any other changes, I think this bass would make a great upgrade project! I might forego purchasing the actual Cirrus, because the soaps on the Cirrus look very close in size to these, and when I can confirm my suspicions that these aren't actually the same soapbars as in the Cirrus, though certain websites claim so, I'll look into getting the soaps out of a Cirrus and sticking them in here with with an Aguilar OBP-3 and have a near pro-level bass for under $800. If it's ever confirmed somehow that these are the same pu's used in the Cirrus series, I'll go out and buy two more of these before they sell out!