Peavey HP Signature EXP

I purchased the exp in transparent black. Absolutely stunning w the gold hardware. The body has a modified strat, or PRS, look to it, but the excellent headstock absolutely makes this a personal statement - beautiful! The patented string-thru-body, using metal ferrules, allows maximum sustain. Grover tuners and a thin neck w wide rosewood fretboard is, for me, a perfect match. 24 3/4 inch scale, which I prefer. Don't be put off by the Korean manufacture - this is a marvelous instrument! Mahogany body w maple laminate top and mahogany neck. Two Peavey-made humbuckers w two volume pots, one tone pot, 3-way blade switch - nice and simple. I'll give it a 9, only b/c two tone pots would be my prference.

My exp is not quite as chunky as a Les Paul, nor as bright as a strat (and I own both). The best way to describe it is that it's right in the middle between the two...a near perfect balance. An EXCELLENT guitar for blues, rock, indie, country - just about any style. Depending on the amp and effects pedals, of course. There is NOTHING I don't like about this guitar. Period.

Here's my story: I own 9 guitars, 7 electric, two acoustic. The electrics are the standard guitars owned by most everyone. Various Epis, Gibsons, Fenders (and a Rickenbacker 360 12 string). I set out to make a personal statement...to own a guitar that is not owned by everyone else. To that end, I was considering a PRS, at $2000 +. It just so happened that I called one of two local music stores to see if they carried PRS (I knew the other one didn't). While talking to the guitar tech, I let him know about my desire for a PRS. They don't carry PRS, but he suggested that if he could just get the Peavey HP Signature EXP in my hands, I would want it. It is, he said, so very close to a PRS, and for 1/4 the price. Hell, I have a Peavey amp from 1982 (still going strong!) as well as a Vox and Behringer modeling/effects amp. I wasn't aware that Peavey made guitars! (I've been playing for some 40 years now, off and on, pro, studio and hobby.) Having played (but not owned) PRS Custom guitars, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I went and checked out the Peavey HP EXP, and I'll be darned! This guitar IS so close to a PRS, in every way. Action, fit, finish, electronics - I was truly amazed (and it takes ALOT to amaze me these days)! The Peavey had already been set up by the guitar tech, and a damn good tech he is! The action on this guitar is the best I've ever played, bar none! There is barely a gnat's hair between the top of the frets and the strings, with no buzz whatsoever! I laid out my money and bought it right then and there!

I don't play professionally any more, except for a gig here and there, but I've played pro, on stage, in studio, for many years, so I know guitars and gear. I love everything about this Peavey, especially the slight resistance in rolling the pots - firm and solid!. And I love that headstock! The finish is mirror smooth and seems "thick", as though a slight ding wouldn't harm it at all. I'd gladly play this guitar live w/o a backup. Everything about it is top quality and will last for more years than I will!

Haven't had to deal w Peavey at all, so no comment. And that goes back to 1982, when I bought a Peavey Bandit 65 combo amp! That amp is still like brand new to this day!

I've been playing since 1964. Since then I've owned more guitars than I can remember. I now own 9 guitars (seven electric, two acoustic), all cherry-picked over the years. Of the Gibsons, Fenders and Epis I own (as well as a Rick 360 12 string), the Peavey HP Signature EXP is now my favorite guitar. It's just perfect in every way! The action, as good as the others are, is the best! This is my dream guitar - a PRS without spending 5 times the price! Check one out. I bet you'll agree with me! This guitar should be right up there with the very best, no matter the price!

This guitar features a quilted maple top, my personal guitar has the Tigereye finish. It looks like a strat in shape, but is also kinda carved, not flat like a regular Strat. It has a dual-compression bridge, and Grover tuners. The neck is thin, which allows for easy barre-chords, and fast playing. It has 2 covered humbucking pickups, not really specified except they are custom-wound Peavey pickups. One volume control is given for each pickup, with a 3-way switch, and a master tone control. The pickups are passive. It has 24 frets which to me are pretty easy to access. As far as I know, these are made in Korea, and these are a fairly new line of guitar.

My personal musical style requires a lot of distortion, a lot of clean, and a lot of whatever else I feel I need. When used with my Boss ME-50, I can get awesome blues tones. I can turn up the distortion, and get some good heavy-metal sound, and a Van Halen-ish tone, which as a Van Halen fan is very important. The cleans, when used with a decent amp (or in my case, processor) are excellent. I get good lead tones out of the bridge pickup, and I generally use the neck pickup for cleans. I can get good squeals; nothing like Zakk Wylde, but they'll suit me.

With the neck pickup, you can expect a full sound with some bass, and on the bridge, you get a lot more treble. Personally, I don't like using the bridge pickups on most guitars unless I have a lot of distortion, and the neck allows for a nice bluesy sound.

I bought this guitar off the shelf at a local music store, and they had it all set up and everything. Not much to say about that.

I've looked for flaws everywhere, and have noticed only minute ones. There are a few spots where it looks like they messed up on the lacquer or whatever that clear coating is. The wood is good quality, and looks proplerly matched to my unprofessional eye.

I does have a noisy pickup selector. If I'm not careful, I can get this metallic sound. And sometimes my pickups don't get full volume even with the volume at max.

I have played this guitar in small gig situations and many band practices, and there are no reliability issues. The hardware does seem that it will last a long time, but some of the gold coloring has worn off in the 15 months I have owned this (or I haven't done a good cleaning job in a long while). The strap buttons are no problem for me, though I don't play real wildly. It is another quality product from Peavey, and seeing as I have no backup, I would use it without backup. Still, it's always good to have backup either way.

Sometimes, the electronics malfunction. I'll switch to the bridge pickup, and I'll get a metallic click, or sometimes the pickup doesn't seem to work. It seems like it's only working at half-power for some reason, and the volume knobs give off a fuzzy sound when I do a volume swell.

I've taken it to the shop a few times, mostly for the action and truss rod. I haven't dealt with customer support, and it came with no literature. I don't know if that's because I bought it at a store, or if they just don't come with it.

I've been a guitarist for three years. This is the only working guitar that I have. If it were lost or stolen, I think I would upgrade. I would still consider getting it again, but I think that at this point, it's just best to upgrade. I would definitely be upset, however. I compared it to a Peavey Jack Daniels' guitar. I thought the Jack Daniel's would be cool because it had the Jack Daniel's logo on it, but the sound didn't impress me as much as the HP. I have also played the HP Signature USA series guitar, and honestly, I would rather stay with this one. It's less expensive, and gets the job done. I like to play a lot of music that requires a whammy bar. I like this guitar, but in the future, I can see myself playing a nice Stratocaster. There's just a sound quality you can get with single-coils that humbuckers just can't duplicate.

My is a "Tiger Eye" Quilt Top. Two Humbuckers, Grover Tuners, definitely has a rosewood fretboard - this one is not ebony (unfortunately). Most other features stated in other reviews.

I play classic rock and was looking for something cheap to turn into a Les Paul clone. I already own Gibson and Epiphone Les Paul's. I was looking for a "project guitar" to see if I could build up an LP tone on a cheap foundation. When I found this guitar made by Peavey - I knew I was on to something. I bought this off Ebay without ever having played the thing. My plan? Put a 57 Classic in the neck and a 500T in the bridge and rework the electrics. Maybe I'll get around to it but I'm in no hurry at the moment as I'm enjoying this stock guitar awesomely! Seriously - I think this is the best value guitar on the market. It SOUNDS incredible. Very warm and creamy tones - it's already in LP territory easily and this is a very gigable guitar right out of the box. Distorts extremely well and cleans up very nice. You can get distorted tones or smooth jazz tones out of this box. Plays beautiful Blues. I play it through a Marshall Half Stack, a Fender Champ, and a PODXT and it's all wonderful!

Action was low and buzzy when I got it - but I adjusted it and it's great now.

Thing's a tank. Never gig without a backup unless you have a hot girlfriend in the audience with whom you can spend time with after your axe has fried itself and you are no longer in the band!!

Never tried them - although I'm a little miffed that Peavey doesn't have a manual for this on their website.

Awesome axe - buy it for a fun axe that is also cool. Incredible tones dude.

Finish: I chose the sunburst model. It's very good quality for such an affordable guitar.
Body Style: I believe it's based off of a PRS Custom 22. Doublecut, solidbody, basswood with maple veneer.
Bridge: All hardware is gold, including the Tune-O-Matic bridge.
Tuners: The tuners are also gold, and i believe they are Grovers. They work very well and don't slip much at all for non-locking.
Neck/Scale: The neck is one piece maple, with a rosewood fretboard that has rectangle pearl inlays, like on a Gibson Les Paul Custom. The neck is thin and easy to play, with easy access to the upper frets. My only complaint is that since the back of the neck has a paint finish on it, if your hands aren't very clean, it can be slightly sticky...but your hands should be clean when you play anyways. Oh yeah, 22 frets.
Accessories: None.

Miscellaneous: This guitar is a solid top, has two volume and one tone knob, a 3-way selector switch, and two humbuckers. I believe they are alnico's, but i'm not sure. Passive electronics.

I suppose it is pretty basic, but when you take the price into account, it's a steal.

I play classic rock, blues rock, some hard rock/metal, and some newer stuff as well like Franz Ferdinand and Rage Against the Machine. This guitar can really cover it all. With the neck pickup set right, i can get a perfect Eric Clapton tone, and a Jimi Hendrix clean tone. It really can play just about anything, except for heavily distorted stuff, i don't have any pedals yet.
The guitar is really quiet-there's a little bit of hum, but it's barely noticeable even if the sound is cranked (on my 100-watt amp)
It gives a very bright yet mellow sound and even sounds great unplugged. No complaints really, except that the switch makes a click noise whenever you change it, so i can't just jiggle it to use it as a killswitch, but that's ok.

There were no flaws in the basic guitar body, ie, nut, frets, hardware, tuners, etc. I don't how it was set up at the factory, i bought it from a local store and i know they do good setups, so it might have been them.

No complaints at all, very solid, high quality, wouldn't have any problem not having a backup.

Haven't had to deal, although i registered it at peavey.com, and it has a 2-year warranty.

I completely love this guitar. I couldn't ask for anything better for the price paid. A few minor (VERY minor) flaws, but the good immensely outweighs the bad. A good guitar for nearly any level of playing.

Mahogany Body with quilted top, mine being the sunburst finish. The machine heads are Grover (always been my faverourite machines). Two humbuckers of unknown origin I suppose they must be peavey. They sound good but not great, certainly not on par with a pair of Semour Duncans or EMG's but then again you get what ya pays for. It has a slim neck with massive fretsand an extremely low action, topped off with an ebony fretboard which is something very unusual for a Korean made guitar.

The sound is quite bright and through my marshall JCM 800 does a passable impression of a les Paul. once you get it wound up with some distortion this guitar is capable of what any guitar with pretty decent pickups is capable of. It won't send your senses into overdrive but then again it won't let you down either

This was where this guitar came into its own, the finish is what can only be described as gorgeous, the attention to detail and the overall appearance are fantastic. The neck plays better than any Les Paul I have ever owned and I have owned a few. The playability is superb. I can't see myself ever getting rid of this guitar. My Strat hardly ever gets touched since I bought it. I have been trying to think back to a guitar which was better to play and I can't think of a single one I have played in over 30 years of playing that plays better than this one, thats how good it is

I am gigging this guitar regularly and it stays in tune and hasn't let me down so far. The strap buttons have been changed for a locking set, the gold plate is starting to show signs of wear but otherwise its in perfect condition, not even buckle rash.

Don't know really, their gear has been that reliable over the years I have never needed to contact them

I have been playing Pro for over 25 years, I own several guitars including Strats, Teles and others. I play through a Marshall JCM 800 2201 Head through a George Denis Blue 4x12, I also have two back up amps, a Crate 2x12 combo and a Marshall VS100 combo. I use boss pedals for virtually everything. I can't believe how lucky I was getting this guitar for the price I did, God Bless E-bay. If it was stolen/lost etc I would run out and buy another one straight away

24 fret 24 3/4" scale, mahogany set neck and 3 piece mahogany body with laminated top.
2 humbucker pickups with individual volume controls and shared tone, 3 way pickup selector switch.
Tunamatic bridge and Grover tuners.
Gold plated hardware.
Could have done with coil-tap on pickups for versatility but otherwise features suit me fine.

Sound is superb - very good imitation of a Les Paul or PRS Singlecut although the former has a little more low-end grunt.
Sound is rather on the dull side but this can be dealt with by EQ settings on amp. In comparison with a Les Paul played by another member of my band, the Peavey offers a slightly clearer sound with pretty much the same "grunt", so much so that my bandmember colleague has decided to invest in one himself.

The action is very low with no buzzing and seems to be set up well from stock. Intonation is fairly good but needed some very slight tweaking which was a piece of cake owing to the tunamatic bridge. The woodwork and finish seem flawless. I don't go much on the tiger eye finish but this was the only model in my local shop and was so good in other respects I dare not mail order one of the other (nicer) colours.

The guitar seems robustly constructed and I have had no problems at all in the six months I have had it. At this stage there are no obvious signs of wear at all. The hardware is all gold-plated and as such has totally resisted staining or corrosion so far, unlike the chrome hardware on my previous Ibanez.

Overall opinion has to be 10 owing to the fact that this guitar cost me ??360(GBP). As mentioned above, I spent several long visits to guitar shops and ended up with three favourites; this guitar, a Gibson Les Paul and a PRS Singlecut. The sound was barely better on either the Gibsons or PRSs which really is a miracle when you consider the price. Prior to going to several guitar shops and trying more or less every guitar out, getting a Peavey would never have crossed my troubled mind. After whittling away the competition - and nothing else in this price bracket vaguely competes - I was left with the choice of this guitar, a Les Paul which sounded great but was awfully "clunky" to play, or a PRS which was great to play but sounded no better at over five times the price. The only thing that gave me pause for thought was the image - what would people think about me playing a Peavey? But then with the obvious quality and huge difference in price, if people are going to be snobbish about the fact it's a Peavey, then that's their problem. Opinions change very quickly once they either hear the sound or get to play it themselves.

I think its worth mentioning before continuing that jacob jest and Bubbagump's reviews were about the cheaper peavey EX model NOT the EXP. Anyway, the features have been covered already but the features you get for the money are superb.

Straight out the box, a quick tune up and i plugged into my amp. From the first chord to when i eventually put it down four and a bit hours later i was blown away by the sheer quality of this axe. With the stock 9 gauge strings on, this guitar sounds so warm and tasty. Les Paul? to me it sounds far more consistent, no muddy chug chug as you hit the strings, but a full bodied roar. This puppy does the job, and it does it well. The neck pickup although for me does not do sweet child of mine with as much punch as the Les it still is in the right ball park. clean is a pleasure on the neck pickup too very warm and round, and any doubts as to the sound due to the 24 fret neck are quickly whisked away when you hear the thing. The bridge pickup was played with a bit of gain at first, and the first few chords of VH's dance the night away again blew me away. Nearly spot on tone. Vintage sound with a bit of modern punch is the best way to describe it. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a 300 quid guitar- the same amount i had to spend on my 62 reissue strat to make it sound better. Yes this one would probably sound the dogs bollocks with 160 pounds worth of pickups in it, but it really isn't necessary whereas the strat needed the upgrade in my view. For Rock and Blues its as sweet as they come.

The action was very low, without string buzz and was pretty playable straight from the box. I like my action quite high and the neck was a little too bowed and so required a truss adjustment, but to be honest it doesn't take two mintutes to do those, and it was what i expected. As for the finish- flawless. It looks like a guitar that should cost three times as much. The cherryburst maple top, although a veneer looks very good with a 3D quality to it so it doesn't look like a cheap shitty photograph finish. Very impressive. Neck was not flawed at all,the three piece structure is obvious from the back, but the joints are very neat and tidy, frets perfectly installed and the ebony fretboard although dirty (i put this down to it sitting in a storeroom for a long time)looked very cool with a dose of lemon oil. Gold hardware- very cool and sturdy looking addition, grover tuners, new dual compression bridge adding some more cool flexability to this instrument (you can string through the tailpiece or through the body) and again only for three hundred quid. The matched headstock may be up for scrutiny from people, but i like it for its different look and think it's very nice. Only Gripe with the overall setup is that the stock strings supplied are pussy 9's and the nut slots don't offer any flexibility for a heavier set so nut filing is required to pop in beefier strings, but i bought mine off an internet site and got it set up at a local music store, so no real life threatening problem. I'm sure if you buy from a music store they will be more than happy to set the axe up with heavier strings. Another thing about the neck, compared to my strat after an hour or two on the strat my hand is a little achy and i do have to put it down after a while, but after half the evening on the peavey non-stop (even forgetting to have some dinner)i still felt i could go on into the small hours of the morning. Benefits of a shorter scale, more comfortable neck i suppose...

This beast is a keeper, i'm very confident that it will outlast me in terms of reliability, in a years time i may decide to swap out the pots, switch and pickups but as i said before it ain't necessary i'm just a perfectionist. Everything is far more solid than my "ooh made in the USA" shit bucket strat.

I've heard good things about peavey along the lines of they do care what you say and have a good customer service, but as i am not yet acquainted with them i won't rate this one yet...

I've been teaching myself for about four years now, and feel i can progress further into the relms of guitar skill thanks to this guitar. It is so refreshing to play its fantastic. My 1200 dollar strat has taken a back seat- i never thought i'd say that. For the price i cannot think of a better playing, better sounding, better value for money guitar. The made in the USA benchmark is bullshit as far as i'm concerned. I have an expensive made in California guitar, and that came with dents and an unworkable trem not to mention the below average stock sound. So what if the Peavey is made in Korea? The work ethic there is like China and Japan and is far more hard working than most other countries and i'm sure that a few if not many lessons can be learned from these countries. The most important thing when buying this guiitar is not to expect the polished platinum $5000 vintage custom made wonder guitar. It isn't that. It comes damn close. This is a guitar that is up there with the best of them, surpassing many, and with a few adjustments and maby some more electronics (in my opinion)you'll be kicking yourself for not getting it sooner. If vintage vibe is your thing, and you like the merged wolfgang/strat/les paul influences, buy this guitar- it really is as good as people say it is! I'm gonna be ordering another in the new year.

Hmmm...the last reviewer must work for the competition and is mad at Peavey, because this is actually a GREAT guitar! I even heard a Gibson rep comment one time on what a great design it is. The guitar blends a strat and LP into a design all its own. I was just amazed at the wonderful design where the neck meets the body. Great job Peavey! It allows perfect access to the upper frets. Why hasn't another manufacture come with this? Gibson could learn a lesson or two from the design.

The sound, as others have said, is like an LP, but the EXP still keeps its own character. You will just have to listen to it to know if you like it.

It's made in Korea and they, IMO, have become the new, "made in Japan", now that alot of guitars are made in China; like the China made, Epiphone LP, that is just as much $$ as the HP EXP. I have always loved Korean made guitars and the HP doesn't disappoint. I could not a find a single flaw in my EXP. I own a Gibson LP (older one) and it honestly is not as well made as my HP EXP. (My LP is great, but the fret job could have been smoother) I do my own set up, so that part was not an issue with me.

I will find out, but judging by past reviews, on all Peavey products, it will last a long, long time.

I have been playing for 15 years and have owned many (expensive) guitars. This HP EXP is just about as good as it gets, folks. I love the design, sound and quality. I am very impressed with this Peavey product. I suggest you check one out if you are in the market for an excellent guitar. I might have to get the USA made HP, too!

Korean made set-neck guitar with a one-piece maple neck
Rosewood fretboard, mine is tiger eye color 3 piece maple veneer top - Grover tuning keys with 18:1 ratio, tune-o-matic dual compensation bridge which means you can string through body or not,two humbucking pickups with 1 tone and 2 volume pots for each pickup

the machine heads are complete crap. They are difficult to tune, skipping positions, cannot fine tune with any sense of granularity, the guitar will not stay in tune, the intonation appears ok when setup but not true, as many notes up on the fretboard sound out of tune, neck is not comfortable as compared to a fender strat or my gibson nighthawk. The guitar is low quality in my opinion, something to be avoided.

sound through a marshall is tolerable, through a fender amp or just about anything else is absolute crap, perhaps the worst sounding guitar I have ever heard in my life. I must have been on heavy downers to have bought this junker, cause that is what it is, complete junky sounding guitar with $2 pickups. Garbage in, garbage out. Peavey is not exactly known as a quality shop, and this guitar serves as evidence of that.

action is ok but who cares when the neck is awkward to hold, good if you want to get tendonitis, cannot be tuned easily, will not stay in tune, sounds like something that should be banned from existence. If you are tone deaf then ok I forgive you. I don't forgive myself for buying this horrendous instrument. I traded it in for $250 CAD, probably $249 more than it is worth. I got my old Gibson Nighthawk back whew!, which is a 1000 times better sounding, better playing guitar. Acoustically the guitar sounds better then when plugged in. I tried rolling the tone completely off, using it as a cheap acoustic guitar, but even for that it is completely useless.

I played it live for a couple of gigs, shame on me! I probably lost a bunch of fans: "Who is that moron playing that crap guitar? Let's shoot him" I will never even look at another Peavey again. Their amps sound flat, their guitars sound like crap.

who cares

junk junk junk. For beginners, deaf and dumb humans, tasteless boobs.
something your mother buys you when she wants to cure you of guitar love. This guitar will end the romance toute suite. I can't say enough negative things about the sound, feel, for this sorry excuse of a musical instrument. There is nothing musical about it in the least. It might make good firewood, I cannot understand Peavey's reasoning in using such an awkward neck shape, and putting the cheapest pickups on the planet in this guitar. Dumb and dumber.

This is what the Peavey web site says:
- Korean made, metallic gold body, comfortable to handle.
- 24 3/4 inch scale, set-neck guitar with a one-piece maple neck
- Rosewood fretboard with white synthetic binding on neck
- Flame maple veneer top on a three-piece agathis body
- 22 frets
- Grover?? die-cast machine heads with 18:1 ratio, dual torsion rod
- Tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece
- Two humbucking pickups
- One master tone and two master volume controls with three-way switch
Gold-plated hardware
Case not included

I feel that the straight sound may be just a little inferior, somewhat cloudy. However I use Boss pedals to enhance the sound and it is acceptable for gigs. When distortion is used, it delivers very well. Not a major issue.

Action: This is why I bought this guitar. The action is incredible for the price and sets new pricing standards for all the rest. Though I had never laid my hands on a Peavey, after feeling out several guitars at the guitar shop, such as Fender, Gibson, etc (for almost 1$k more), I came across this Peavey and was totally blown away. The neck felt like it was custom made for my hand. Months later at a gig, a member of the audience was asking about this guitar and how great it looked. As a courtesy to a fellow guitar player, I let him try the guitar out. After telling him that I paid $320.00 for it, he expressed that all the other guitar manufacturers were in trouble. He begged to buy it for that price, and I declined.
Fit: The Fit is excellent.
Finish: The finish is excellent.

I have owned the guitar for about 6 months with no problems. I read one review about issues with maintaining tuning. This is not a guitar issue, it is a knowledge issue. To help in preventing the strings from going out of tune, especially new strings, do this. After installing new strings, or prior to tuning, grab the string with your fingers and stretch the string and let go. This will pull any slack out of the string along the neck. Then check and adjust the sting tuning. Repeat this process one more time. The string will remain in tune much longer this way. One more hint to maintain the strings from rusting is to use the ???quick??? car wax after playing the instrument. This will prevent rust build-up from the sweat of your hand. It also helps the slide action.

I give this a ten. I emailed Peavey Support one time and received a timely response.

TEN. I have been playing for 35 years. I have owned quality guitars such as a Gibson Les Paul Custom and Fender Stratocaster (American). Since I have owned this Peavey Signature, I don???t even bring the Stratocaster to gigs any more. In my opinion, the action quality of this guitar is one heck of a deal that you cannot legally buy through another manufacturer. If you???re a working person, before you spend $1200 or more on another guitar, at least try this guitar out. You won???t be disappointed. I was disappointed that Peavey did not provide a guitar case with this, but I got over it.