Peavey Generation EX Vintage

Bought it used, but it is just like new. Pretty well described here already, but the quality of the fit, finish and components bear repeating, as this is a wondeful guitar. Tele style, but way better than any Telly I have ever played. Single coil bridge and humbucking tele. Five screw bolt-on neck, solid neck feels like an instrument in itself, maple fretboard on maple neck, beautiful fretwork, white body, solid controls, beautiful bridge (string thru or top load) with brass saddle pieces, vintage style tuners that stay in tune. The only thing missing, really, is a brass nut. It even has little rollers on the tree that keeps the strings in place on the headstock.

This has a wonderful jazzy tone with its neck humbucker soloes, and that is how I play it. I was going to get a Les Paul or good copy, but see no real reason to. I am getting all the tone I want with this one. When I sue both pickups, I do get a nice funky sound, kind of like a strat "oingy-oingy" sound in switch position #4. It is just wonderful. I think the maple neck, which feel so solid, is a part of the sound, as is the overall resonance of the guitar as a whole. If you breath on it, it responds to you. It is just enchanted.

As noted above, everything is perfect. Mine could maybe use a slight set-up tweek, but other than that, nothing.

Feels like a tank. Stays in tune. I bought it used and for a second the humbucking position of the switch did not work, but a little moving it back and forth got it in fine condition.

No idea, but this is my second Peavey and past experience was good.

I love this guitar. It is like the guitar I have been looking for in all my 30 plus years of training. I don't care how inexpensive it is or where it is made, it is the best guitar I have ever played, and I've owned Fenders and Gibsons (the last guitar I felt this way about was a Peavey Nitro I that I bought back in the 80s - still sorry I sold it). I call this my magic guitar and hope we never part. If you find one used, don't even think about it. Just buy it, especially if you like to play jazz.

2008 model, tobacco burst beautiful finish, chunky neck with non-vintage radius and frets (great for playability and tone).
What you don't see on pictures is the neck heel, profiled like the jeff beck strat, and the 5 screw fixation without plate (?? la Ibanez, way better for sustain and solid feel).
Vintage style bridge, but with brass saddles (the middle one being compensated for better intonation, great) and you can load your strings top or rear so it's up to you, great. The bridge stays flat on the corners, unlike my baja tele which scrape my left palm...
Good working vintage tuners, output jack way better than on the baja and better located too (allows couch playing with a straight cable).

Very interesting, the humbucker is smooth and jazzy while the single coil is very trebly and snappy, with both you get a delicious funk sound. The humbucker is splittable, giving you two precious options for the same price (since I use no tone pot I assigned it to split the humbucker).
So you can do a lot with this guitar. I replaced the single coil for hum reasons with a similar sounding noiseless from shadow so I still have the same guitar.
The sustain is awesome, as the overall tone, I can't find any weak spot (especially comparing it to my baja), any style pass.

In 25 years of guitar playing-testing-buying this is the very best, coming out of its box, out of factory. Everything was best set, action, intonation, fret dressing and finish, paint job, NO FLAWS AT ALL.
Very very impressive, and the 2 others in the shop were as well. That speaks for quality.

It feels more solid than my supposedly tough fender baja tele, the neck in particular. There is not much that can go wrong, if you did your check-up with a solder iron (so you're really sure it's okay, otherwise you never know).
No tremolo to give you trouble!

This is my very first peavey guitar, and based on it I am on the point to buy a rotor mahogany ex and a hp signature ex too.
This is to tell you how impressed I am.
Invest in a noiseless bridge pup and half an hour checking out everything and you're set for a long long time.
That's the beauty of the simplicity, the telecaster appeal.
Comparing this to my blonde baja, the neck profile is very alike and the overall feeling too. The tones are way different, not better or worse but the peavey has more capabilities to play most styles of music.

I didn't understand at first the fat telecaster concept, now I do, and I think it's way better than a strat pup in the neck position.
So peavey enlightened me...
200 euros for this amazing axe (plus 40 for the noiseless bridge pup) is like a present peavey offered me.

25 1/2"scale
Alder body
Three-ply pickguard
Vintage-wound bridge single coil and humbucking neck pickups
Maple neck
21 vintage frets
Single volume and tone controls
Three-way pickup selector
Ashtray-style bridge
Vintage tuners
6-in-line headstock
Case not included
(taken from Peavey website)

mine is black with a high gloss laquer on the neck
passive electronics
very simple design, I picked it up as a project guitar but have found it very usable in it's current condition.

I play a mix of metal, hardcore, trashy rock, blues, southern rock, and some experimental stuff. I wanted a Tele with a maple neck and this actually worked well with my aplifier.

My guitar rig works as follows: guitar, APEX AB/Y, MXR Phase 90 (modded), EH Holy Grail Reverb (sometimes run in FX Loop of amp), Samson S-Mix (line A from AB/Y is dry and line B is wet), Boss NS-2, and finally a Peavey 6505 plus head with an older Peavey 4x12 stereo cabinet with Sheffield's re-wired to run only at 4 Ohms.

The bridge pickup is noisy only because it is a single coil.

The sound is pretty versatile. Bridge setting is thin and bright but well defined (I was using this just the other night for a hardcore breakdown and it delivered a pretty fat sound and also found that I could reproduce the heavy pick-rake tone similar to the one in Creep by Radiohead). Middle position is interesting. Thicker but producing nice bell like tones. The neck pickup is heavenly with a rich thick tone. I was also pulling off some nice pitch harmoincs.

Likes:
-High gloss finish on the neck with a more comfortable feel than most Fender and Squier Tele's
-The neck pickup...killer tone
-Large routed pocket under the bridge (big enough for a humbucker)
-Simplicity
-Overall appearance...classic and should wear well looking cooler the more I play it

Dislikes:
-The tuning machines (not very reliable for holding tune)
-Vintage bridge saddles (I can't seem to get this thing properly intonated)
-Bridge pickup (I'm not fond of single coils to begin with)
-Volume and tone knobs (they just looked cheap so I replaced them with witch hat knobs like those on the Muddy Waters Tele)

This guitar was purchased with the intent of modifying it so the overall sound will improve with a few changes the rating is for the as-is condition.

The guitar was set up horribly from the Chinese factory. I spent about an hour setting it up and like I said, you can't get the intonation set properly with the vintage bridge saddles. Action was higher than I perfer and I put a set of Everly B-52 Rockers 10-46 on it which required some neck adjustment. I raised the picups to improve output. Everything else looked ok. No flaws.

I don't see myself having any problems with using this live and it will age nicely. I already replaced the knobs with witch-hat knobs as the stock ones looked cheap. I don't mind the finish wearing down over the years (it's actually what I'm hoping for) but I think it will take quite a while for this to happen. I replaced the strap buttons with schaller locking buttons but the original ones worked well for a gig I played with my co-workers. I would use this without a backup.

I think this will become my favorite all around guitar in years to come (especially after the modifications are made). It's simple and easy to use while remaining very responsive to playing style.

Peavey is great to deal with. As a technician I've talked with them several times and they get things done quickly and efficiently.

I have been playing for 15 years and have owned a number of guitars; Squier Japanese strat, Epiphone Les Paul 100, Jagmaster (vista series), Gibson Les Paul Studio, and currently, Ltd EC300, Ltd KH203, and a Taylor Big Baby.

I work at the music store I purchased this from and knew what I was getting into. If something happened to this guitar I would want to replace it although I wouldn't get another for the price I paid working for the store again.

I love the feel of the guitar but hate some of the stock parts.

I did play some Squier Tele's as well as Fender Mexi's and American's...they just felt horrible and I wasn't overly impressed with the sound quality in respect to the ridiculous price on the American Tele's. I did find one Squier Tele, the Classic Vibe 50's, to be as nice if not nicer.

Anything I wish it had I will take care of. I'm actually planning on tearing out the ash tray bridge and replacing it with one spaced for a humbucker with individual bridge saddles. I'm also installing a Seymour Duncan P-Rails in the bridge as well as a three way switch to control the pickup. The tuning machines will also be replaced and I will probably be filing down the nut pretty directly.

I paid next to nothing because we happened to get these in on a killer deal and I receive a huge discount as an employee.

This review is of the latest (2008) model. The Peavey Generation EX Vintage is a tele style guitar. The Vintage has an ashstray style bridge packing a single coil while the neck pickup is a humbucker. Both are said by Peavey to be "vintage voiced" which really means "low output"; so it's not for those who want to play death metal. The strings anchor through the body for better resonance and sustain. The pickups are selected by a three way switch. There is no coil tapping. The electronics are passive. This is a simple guitar.

I like to play anything and everything and have a couple of guitars. This tele style Peavey is great for Rolling Stones bluesy rock, country and western, punk, reggae. It's a simple guitar but o so versatile. The bridge pickup delivers brutal bite. I'm learning to play Ravel's Bolero using the neck pickup. The tone is lovely. Really cool.

Fantastic. Played beautifully straight out of the box. Lovely shiny black gloss body with matt black pickguard. Maple neck has a dark gloss varnish coating which you'll either love or hate visually, but which is lovely to play. Hardware is good quality. Pickup selector has a good positive movement.

This is a well built and simple solid body guitar with quality fittings. It is very robust and will last for many years. It is very giggable. The shiny varnished neck will mellow with playing. The guitar will look cooler and cooler as it ages.

I had my Peavey Classic amp repaired by Peavey a couple of years ago. They did a good job and the cost was reasonable. The repair was arranged through a guitar shop, so I had no direct contact with the company.

I have an American Series Strat in Aquamarine, an Aria TA50 semi, a Korean Shine Deluxe SG, a Crafter bowlback acoustic and an Ibanez nylon string electro classical guitar. I've been playing since 1972. I've had a few tele style guitars over the years, but traded them. My favourite feature is how versatile this style of guitar is. This Peavey is great. It's the guitar I'd take with me to that desert island.