Peavey Impact II Set Neck

This guitar is a 1988 of which less than 100 were made according to the people at Peavey. It is an Impact 1, Unity Series, Koa wood, neck thru [similar to a Gibson Firebird neck] The guitar is shaped like a strat with longer arms, has 2 single coils and a humbucker at the bridge, 3 togle switches for a vast array of sound combos, ebony fretboard, Kahler locking tremelo, an increadibly thin and wide fast playing neck, 22 frets and did I mention the koa wood was flamed!

it has awesome single coil tones and the bridge humbucker screams. It is all stock. I have an aversion to butchering fine crafted american products by deleting stock items for aftermarket crap..If you don't like the sound of the guitar then get a different amp.

This particular guitar is purrrrrfect like it is even if I can't stand Kahler tremelos.

hey, it's a Peavey, what else is there to say!

Peavey guys are the best.

I have never seen another guitar like this and welcome any correspondence from someone who has one.

I was unsure of the age when I purchased this guitar but a below reviewer dated it to the 93/94 period. I will assume it is USA made-it has 22 medium frets. This is a 'neck through the body' Hawaiian koa wood guitar with four purpleheart wood stripes laminated in the bodies center. S/S/H, V&T w/3 toggles. Peavey passive pickups. Strat style with a very old Kahler 2700 vibrato. Wish I could find out more about it. The dot inlays are abalone and the board is ebony. Tuners are generics. I replaced everything with EMG controls and pickups. This is the nicest guitar I've ever owned-beveled back and thin neck...think alembic.

From chordal jazz to country-it screams. Much of that due to the koa wood body...I usually play it acoustically because it projects so well.

Action is perfect. Frets were not all seated evenly, but the level was true.

Best deal I have come across. One piece guitars really sound great.

Previous post says alot except that I would add that the tone control on this guitar is rather unique. I really like this tone filter circuitry combined with the unique switching employed on these pickups. The cicuits aren't active but are very flexible. I think th e features are certainly worthy of a fine built instrument. This guitar reminds me of my 64 Gibson SG with the exception that my old SG isn't nearly as flexible tonewise. This guitars mahogany body and construction is very much like my SG except the Impacts finish is much deeper and richer than the wine finish of the SG.

I play blues and rock and this guitar does it well. The front pickup in single coil mode produces nice blues sound. The front and rear single coil selection produces a chiming "out of phase" strat sound that is pleasing to the ear. The front humbucker selection sounds bluesy and strong, in fact I had to lower the front pickup because it is a powerful pickup. The two humbucker selection is not overpowering but clear and nice sounding. The rear humbucker selection is clear and strong. You can play with the pickup height alot since the pickups are powerful.

I have quite a stable of classic axes to compare this guitar to and I am impressed with this Peavy. I perceive it to be an under-rated guitar of high quality sound and construction.

I would compare this guitar that I own to a PRS. This guitar is very well made and the finish is admirable. When I fist saw it I was suprised that it was made by Peavy. The last Peavey guitars I looked at seriously weren't like this guitar. This guitars construction is very high.

I did do a fret leveling job on the neck, reset the pickup height and wow! I like my action low so the frets had to go lower like my Gibsons. In its original form, the neck was very much like my Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat. The rosewood fingerboard is rather unusual in a pleasing way. The grain of the wood is great and the transparent red finish is one of my favorites.

The guitar has been reliable and dependable. Everything is solid and strong. Built well like my other vintage axes. I would also be interested in purchasing another of these guitars if anyone doesn't need theirs anymore.

Never dealt with them outside of one e-mail to them for a users manual for this guitar. They replied the next day and sent a PDF format manual which was great.

Comparisons:

Guitars: I have some Gibsons(SG, Firebird, Moderne), a Fender Am. Dlx Strat, Kramers(Superstrat Shredders)and some other misc. stuff.

Amps: Vintage Club 6112, Vintage Gibsons, Sano160, Crate, Danelectro, Behringer V-amp II.

I will be on the lookout for more of these guitars in the future.

The Impact I and Impact II were made in our USA by the Peavey Corp of Meridian, Miss., in 1993-94. The Impact I has the hard tail, the Impact II had the Powerbend III Trem. The guitars have solid mahogany necks and bodys, comfy 15 inch fingerboards, twin passive stock Peavey alnico magnetic humbuckers, heel-less set in necks (not neck thru), 24 medium jumbo frets on a 25 inch scale, 3left/3 right tuners, creme bound necks with forearm and rib contoured strat style bodies. Mine is the Impact II which has the snap-in-arm tremolo system, color is a dark sunburst, chrome plated metal parts, one master volume/tone control and 5 way selector switch. The 5 way switch in the toward neck position is the neck pickup single coil, hum reducing. On click back is both pickups in the single coil mode, hum canceling. Center click (3rd) is neck pickup, humbucking. 4th click is both pickups in dual coil humbucking and 5th is bridge pick up in dual coil mode. Couple these selections with good strings and a good amp and you can make all kinds of serious music. The tones are what you'd expect from an all mahagony body guitar, sweet and mellow with nice sustain. Tuners are locking (Shaller) type, which hold great tune. This gem came with a Peavey form fit case.

What a great variety of sounds this guitar gives out, especially when coupled with my Peavey Ranger 2x12 or Traynor 4x10 tube amps. Zero noise even when standing directly in front of either amp. Tones go from a throaty Les Paul to almost strat single coil clearness. Each click gives a much different and welcomed sound. I salute the Peavey Engineers on a nice sounding and well made guitar. I play all kinds of oldies, country, rock-n-roll and blues that this Impact II handles with ease. Every note is crystal clear yet mellow for single note music. Higher volume does not change it's tone, only makes it louder.

I bought this guitar used, it was well set up from the previous owner. No flaws to be found, all woods used seems premium grade, color is a nice sunburst so no flame or quilt top here. It appears excellent all the way thru. Especially quiet during 5 way switching. Peavey bound the necks on the Impact I and II's, I would have liked to have seen Peavey make these models with bound necks, peg heads and bodies. Even if we, the buyers had to pay more, it would've made a more beautiful looking guitar.

Built like a tank, this guitar belts out a nice tone all nite long with no problems from the Powerbend III Trem which I don't use much, only a ripple here-n-there on a few songs. I dived bombed it a couple of times and the Tremolo system stayed in tune half-way decent. My main reason for not using a tremolo much is to get away from tuning problems. I have a hard tail version of this model guitar coming in 5 days. The hard tail is the model that I wanted originally but finding one in decent condtion is a big task in itself. I gladly settled for my Impact II after seeing it's exceptionally near mint condition and hearing it's tremendous sounds Everything on this guitar is rock solid, Peavey makes them this way. As long as Peavey guitars aren't abused, they'll stay play-able for a long, long time. I'd risk playing a gig with no backup, I have this much faith in the Impacts.

Peavey is one of finest companies to deal with ever. They opened theirs doors with this reputation and have maintained this reputation thru the years. If anything major goes wrong with it, I'll be on the phone to Peavey to ask if they can repair it, whether in or out of warranty. I have this much faith in Peavey. Original warranty was for one year.

I've been a player since the late 40's. Finding a great playing and sounding guitar for this kind of money is quite a rare find. I wish it had full binding and gold plating to dress it's appearance up but other than this, I cannot find any other reason not to like this guitar. Try one if you can find one, but they are getting hard to find. This gem will compare with and possibly outdo the best of any guitar made here at home in our great USA or abroad. That is quite a broad statement but thanks to the people at Peavey, mine is living proof. I proudly say that I only play Peavey guitars and own 9 of their older top of the line models. These Impacts deserve a try, believe me. If you aren't interested, give me a call.