Peavey Predator

1992 Peavey Preadator, made in USA, 22.5 Frets, standard SSS with 5-way selector, stock pickups, red with white pickguard.

I got this guitar for my 9th birthday in 1992. After 13 years with this guitar I can say it's held up really well, the only thing is the hum in the pickups has gotten a lot worse over time. but other than that for a learner guitar the features are really nice! The electronics are also going to crap and I've had to re-solder the input jack connections several times.

I play pretty much everything, I guess most of what I play sounds like blues. I run it nowadays through a Crate 80watt amp and a Boss ME-50 multieffects unit. The variance of sounds is not that amazing, but it goes from warm to thin with no problem. A little crackling here and there but that's about it. The decay is also really fast, what I mean by that is the sustain is pretty crappy.

Okay here is where this guitar excels, I have 7 guitars and this one has the best feeling neck of all of them. It's so fast and easy to play. No flaws from the factory. Seriously it plays so well, better than my les paul.

As has been said... it's a tank. 13 years and nothing but normal wear, never had to have it serviced... that's pretty good if you ask me.

Never had to deal with customer support.

I've been playing for about 13 years now and I have 7 guitars to choose from. When I want to shred I always pick this one up. If it was stolen I'd be pretty upset because it's the guitar I learned on, and also I'm having a lot of trouble finding a really high quality guitar that's this easy to play (I'm in the process of getting a Jackson RR3 which should be pretty quick). I love the feel, and the durability, and i'm not a big fan of the tone or the tremolo which sucks, the entire thing goes out of tune after a bit of whammy fun.

Overall it's a great guitar for learners but I wouldn't recommend it for show use (cause the tone sucks), and the feel is just perfect. Great guitar for the money though.

This guiar was made in the early 90's in the U.S. . Mine was purchased new by a friend of mine in about '92 and it went through a couple of hands before it was traded to me, but its been around me since it was bought.
22 frets imperfect frets
1 volume 2 tone
5 way selector
3 single coils a la '76 strat
I think the neck is maple
cheap old chrome plated fixed bridge
no locking mechanisms for these bargain basement tuners
the neck is a rather fat one

If you want a nice bassy sound it will give it.
Do not expect to pinch off any squealing harmonics.
No matter what you do with the selector switch, you get no screaming metal sounds.

The playability was crappy upon purchase, strings were begging to be set up.

Mine has gone through the roughs, but I expect could have held up better. I wouldn't depend on it for live playing. I would call this a practice guitar.

I've been playing over 10 years and am the proud owner of a Jackson Fusion EX Professional.
This strat-wannabe is perfect for keeping out on a stand for liquid access. My Jackson stays in the hardcase if I'm not using it.
I've even decorated my Predator with stickers to make its appearance fit its function as a take-all-abuse practice guitar.
I will admit sometimes I enjoy throwing down a few blues licks with her. It definitely has a sound and feel that I don't expect from my Jackson.
I plan on keeping this guitar (it is currently in need of a selector switch) but if anything happened to it I wouldn't kill myself finding a match. Just another practice axe.

My Predator is Black body with Maple neck. Basically a Fender Strat copy. Handcrafted in the USA. SSS with one volume and two tone. This is a solid body guitar but not sure if Maple or Poplar. I hear they are made from poplar. Cheap tuners, cheap 4 screw typical vintage style bridge and cheap one ply pickguard. 5 way switch. Three staggered pole single coil pickups. Standard strat features.

I play all kinds of music but mainly hard rock,metal. (Disturbed,Incubus,Metallica type stuff) I picked this up at a local pawn shop for $50! I have no idea what they sold for new. Although the body was beat up, i thought it was a steal for only $50. It was 100% stock and other than the scuffed up body, the rest was in great shape. I didnt know what i was getting sound wise when i bought it but i figured if it has a sold wood body and a decent neck it couldnt sound too bad, right?

I kinda expected it to sound like a $50 guitar and to be honest thats what i was looking for, a practice guitar, a beater but when i plugged it in i was really surprised! The first thing i said was WOW, not bad! It didnt sound as good as my USA Fender but it was pretty darn close to my Mexican fenders. All i was going to do with this guitar was change the strings, set it up and go but of course i wondered what it would sound like if i did some upgrading to it.

So there i went, typical me. I basically gutted it and started over. I put in a Duncan Hot rail in the bridge and a couple Fender singles in the neck/middle. New bridge (the old one was not bad but this one was better so i decided to upgrade it) New Fender pickguard and installed some Ibanez smooth tuners. All new electronics. 1meg volume and 2 500k tone pots with a new Fender 5 way switch. New Earnie ball strings, set it up, tuned it up and plugged it in. HOLLY Smokes! This thing came alive. It sounded like a whole new guitar and absolutely killed my Mexican Fender, pretty darn close to my US Fender maybe just as good.

Could it be i spent $50 on a beater, spent a few bucks on new electronics (the pickups i had laying around) and it could sound better than the Fenders i had? WELL BELIEVE IT! Peavey is not paying me for this nor are they paying for my time spent typing this so this must be true and it is. My friends agree. I have gone as far as blindfolding them and playing all four of my strat guitars for them (call me crazy, my friends do :). Three out of 4 picked the Peavey and the 4th picked the USA Fender but said it was very very close.

I have since sold my Two Mexicans and pocketed akmost $600 in the process. Not bad for a $50 investment.

If you find one of these somewhere and can pick it up under $100, grab it, upgrade it and ROCK cause it will flat out get it done for ya! Make sure its the USA made Predator. Dont waste your money on a Fender just because of the name. Dont get me wrong Fender makes a great rig but for the money the US Predators cant be beat.

Whoever had this before me, either didnt play it much or just didnt care. This thing was not really playable. After some neck,saddle adjustments it played out just find. Stayed in tune really well. Upgraded the bridge and tuners which made it that much better.

Since this was picked up as a beater and meant for more beatings, I have been needless to say, beating on this thing hard for six months now and its still kicking ass.

I have no clue since i have never dealt with Peavey. The only thing i can say is that they respond very fast to all the emails i have ever sent them. My guess is that they are pretty good to deal with.

I did most of my review in the sound catagory so ill be brief here.

Bottom line this was a 7 stock (not bad at all) but easily a 9-9.5 after upgrades. Ill rate it a 9 for this review. I expected a Big Mac and ended up with a T-Bone steak. LOVE IT!

I would not hesitate to gig with this rig and as a matter a fact prefer it over my other guitar for the heavier gigs. I still prefer my US start for clean tone but once i upgrade the middle and and neck pickup to Seymours ill more than likely use this for both and sell the US Fen as well. Why keep the $1500 guitar if your not going to use it. I got better things to do with my money.

Like i said above, If you find one of these somewhere and can pick it up under $100, grab it, upgrade it and ROCK cause it will flat out get it done for ya! Make sure its the USA made Predator. Dont waste your money on a Fender just because of the name. Dont get me wrong Fender makes a great rig but for the money the US Predators cant be beat. Before you spend $1500 give one of these USA Peavey a shot. Great deal fo the money. IM NOW LOOKING FOR A COUPLE MORE of them!

Mine is what I BELIEVE to be an early 90's Peavey Predator.... "crafted in the U.S.A". It is red (I love this red color) with a white pickguard. Its an obvious strat copy with 3 single coils and features that are much like a strat.

I bought it used so I don't know if the pickups on it are original stock or not. 2 tone knobs and one volume. 5-way selector switch.

Took me a while to realize that the bridge pickup isn't hooked to either tone knob. Since this is my first strat style guitar I'm not sure if that's normal or not. But it struck me as odd.
I'm going to give it an 8 for features since it has all the features I need to make music. I would give it a 10 except I have an issue with that "tone knob" not affecting bridge pickup... the pickup I use most.

To be honest... I HATE single coils but I am trying to make a break from the "heavy metal" mentality I've had for so long.
I have had nothing but high output humbucking guitars and thought it was time to try a single coil'er.
How do they sound? They hum (as expected). I don't know how you strat heads stand it! huuummm. For some reason... these pickups sound hotter than other single coils i've heard. You can do metal with these pickups (if you must)..... whatever they are.
I will likely trade the pickups out as I search for a personalized tone.
Overall a very average sound. What number value do you give "average"?
Fortunately.. this is a non-issue. Its just a matter of finding pickups I like. I must say so though this guitar was VERY resonant when I compared it to other guitars on the wall. Its unamplified sound stood out better. That's why I bought it.

This guitar is in great condition considering its apparent age. Just one big chunk of missing paint which was painted over with matching red ink.
Firstly: I HATE THE BRIDGE. Getting broken strings out of it has proven to be a nose hair pulling experience. Not what I'm used to. I will likely upgrade in this area.

Overall I'm very happy with the finish/fit/and action of this guitar.
In fact... of all the guitars I've ever played .. this one has THE BEST FEELING NECK I HAVE EVER TOUCHED IN MY LIFE. 20yrs of playing.
I don't know who invented the cliche "fits like a glove"...but they were obviously talking about this neck!!!!! That plus this low action I set it up for and the feel of the frets....... wooooo.

Its because of this neck that this guitar has become my main axe. It is because of this neck I will be holding on to this guitar... forever. (or until its demise). Whatever comes first.
I'm giving this guitar a 10 in this area. Thank you peavey for this neck. do your other guitars have this neck? If not... what fools you are.

reliability? Well this guitar is a decade old or so (I think) and it is in great shape. Just one paint chip. A few rusty screws. Easily remedied.
The volume knob needs tightening. Its wobbly. But hey! its used.
Stays in tune VERY well... not a typical trait of guitars this cheap.


I have to give it a 9 In this area. This guitar has already lived a lifetime and is working on its second and is holding on nicely.
I would give it a 10 except I keep picturing myself trying to get a stuck string ball end out of it after an onstage string break. Pee pants.

I was happy I was able to download a manual for this discontinued guitar (not that I needed it). Thanks peavey! I have never had to deal with them personally so I will not give a score in this area. This is the first peavey product I have owned.

Overall I HAVE to give this guitar a 10. The neck!!!! It is now my main axe. Yes... I plan to upgrade parts of it and get some custom wiring done....but Yes I LOVE this guitar. It will be a 15 after I've worked on some things. Plus it was cheap. I have not regretted this purchase like I thought I would as I was paying for it.

Typical strat style guitar, done better by Peavey. Real American hardwood body with a 22 fret 4 bolt maple neck with maple fretboard. Vintage trem style tailpiece with 6 adjustable bridge saddles. 3 medium output single coil pickups with a 5 position pickup selector switch, master volume and 2 tone controls. Chrome hardware with white body.

Typical expected strat sounds, but not as uninspiring as many of the American and foreign made originals with the low output pickups. No hum either like the originals. Not too high output like many of the shredder specials. Just right. After fooling with this guitar in the pawnshop for a few minutes, I knew I found a good one. Unplugged it sang, plugged in it cried and howled.

This one was treated like a door prop for most of it?s life, but it held up structurally with absolutely no breaks or cracks in the wood anywhere. Lots of dings and dents in the paint, with a few minor nicks in the back of the neck. The original assembly / construction looked good. Tight neck to body fit. The neck is very user friendly and the guitar balances well.

Reliability, Durability:
See above - solid guitar. Still sounded/played well after years of apparent abuse. No rust on any of the hardware. The original tuners seem cheap and too easy to turn, but they hold!!!! Actually stays in tune reasonably after using the trem bar. Of course, I did a total tear-down/reassembly/set-up and intonation. It is still 100% stock.

Customer Support:
Have never had to contact the manufacturer for anything, but they are there on the internet or direct by phone.

Overall Rating:
After flip-flopping for many years on my guitar of choice, I finally settled on a strat style with a 22 fret maple neck. I have always been a big fan of the Yamaha Pacifica guitars. Now I can say the same for Peavey Predators. GREAT value for the $$$$ spent. I like the Pacifica for the SSH pickup configuration, and I like the Predator for the SSS configuration.

See above - solid guitar. Still sounded/played well after years of apparent abuse. No rust on any of the hardware. The original tuners seem cheap and too easy to turn, but they hold!!!! Actually stays in tune reasonably after using the trem bar. Of course, I did a total tear-down/reassembly/set-up and intonation. It is still 100% stock.

Have never had to contact the manufacturer for anything, but they are there on the internet or direct by phone.

After flip-flopping for many years (39) on my guitar of choice, I finally settled on a strat style with a 22 fret maple neck. I have always been a big fan of the Yamaha Pacifica guitars. Now I can say the same for Peavey Predators. GREAT value for the $$$$ spent. I like the Pacifica for the SSH pickup configuration, and I like the Predator for the SSS configuration.

This is, apparently, one of the earlier "rarer" 84/85 models, "Handcrafted in the USA by Peavey", with 23 frets, (no typo), twin humbuckers, Kahler Flyer bridge, locking nut, 1 vol, 1 tone, and a 3-way selector. Came with a great custom molded hardshell case, that includes little trap doors to store stuff.

Unlike the other reviewers of this particular model, I thought the output was a bit anemic. The sound was very mellow and subdued, not hot at all. This may have been partly due to the factory 250k vol/tone pots. I replaced the pots with 500k units, and the pickups with Seymour Duncan '59 neck/Custom 5 bridge, and the guitar came alive. Its a whole new instrument, and a "keeper".

(My rating is for the "factory" sound.)

Even though I bought the guitar used, the action and playability are near perfect. The finish is nice, but nothing particularly noteworthy. Basic red with a black, 3-ply pickguard.
The locking nut and Kahler Flyer bridge work perfectly. I don't know why Kahler gets a bad rap sometimes. This one is perfect.

Built like a tank - solid as a rock. Holds tune better than my two Strats, although, in all fairness, they're a cheap Squire, and a no-name knock-off.

Haven't needed it, but the ability to download the owners manual from the website - some 20 years later is a nice touch.

I think Peavey may be the great secret in guitar value. Its not the name that comes up in axe-talk, but those that have them, seem to swear by them. I just "discovered" a cool old T-60 in a music shop, that is about to become my next "real" guitar.

American made circa early 90's, 3 single coils,22 frets,maple neck,tremolo--your midrange strat copy.

I play blues and rock and was originally going to put humbuckers on this guitar ala Allen Holdsworth, but when I got the guitar home and started playing it, I decided to leave it mostly stock--at least for now. I had come into some extra money and picked this up along with a Digitech Rp-100 for $150.00, branching out into the low end of direct recording.

The guitar wasn't in bad shape for 10yrs old,but needed some fretwork and a little upgrading. I leveled the frets and filed out a couple of notches and installed a set of mini Grovers in place of the stamped factory tuners,then cleaned the pots--apparently the guitar had never been apart since new. I was able to get the action down pretty low for a Fender style instrument--mostly because of the flatter fingerboard.

I've been playing this guitar every day for the last couple of months,and it's pretty solid--a lot better than I thought it would be when I bought it. Usually the cheaper pickups don't sound very focused,but these are decent--it actually sounds like a strat and acts like a strat. The tremolo isn't the best, but I'm working on it. This has become my base stratocaster--mostly stock, my other guitars are more heavily modded, but I could take this guitar and play a job covering all my bases.

Haven't dealt with Peavey other than looking around their website--I work on my own guitars.

I've been playing 35+ yrs. I own several guitars, but almost no vintage ones, I'd rather fix up a servicable newer guitar than spend a bunch of money on one. This Peavey really surprised me, as I was planning to completely redo the electronics but ended up leaving it stock. If it got stolen, I could probably get another one cheap, which is something you can't say for a Fender (Which is also why I don't own any Fenders). These are really good instruments for the money and definately deserve some consideration

This guitar is great. It was made in '95 in the U.S. in california I believe. I need to replace the wiring and thats the only problem I have with it. It's my first guitar and its my favorite out of the 3 that I own. I'v owned since I was 11 and I can garrantee that its one of the best guitars you could ever learn on. My mom bought it almost new in '96 for me and I've been playin for 5 years now and playing is a passion for me. I would never get rid of this guitar. I had to put new pickups in it because whoever was the previous owner had replaced the stock pickups with some really bad ones. It now has two really nice humbuckers in it. I still have the original bridge in it and the original tuners. I will need to replace the frets soon because i played the guitar so much that the frets are worn down. It has a Strat style body. It has a maple neck and the body is a really bright red.

Increadable. I own a JMF Spectra 125 and a yamaha 4x12 cab. I Use the Spectra for a head. My peavey is awesome through it. Its so heavy I won't dare turn the volume above 4. The guitar will do pretty much whatever you want. It's perfect for harmonics too. I play anything from Steve Vai to good old Van Halen to heavy modern like Godsmack to legendary Jimi Hendrix. This guitar works for it all. The guitar will feed back when you want it to but rarley when you don't. It's overall playability is about as good as it gets.

I have the action extreemly low but level with the neck so theres no fret buzz. I put 5 new springs in back so its almost like having a stop bridge instead. The sustain is good that way. this guitar has the best action, and the strings feel loose but not too loose so I can bend really far and the strings dont break. i usually use Ernie Ball Super Slinkys for strings.

Its a tank.

Its easy and inexpensive to repair but the old usa predators like these are hard to come by nowadays. All they have now are the newer international ones anthose are a joke.

I will treasure this guitar.

It's a black strat copy with a white pickgaurd and a maple neck. The rest of the stuff is the same as everyone else's guitar in here, except i put in a Bill Lawrence L-500 humbucker in the bridge spot. I also added two springs to the back of the bridge (5 total now) to give it some more sustain and all that good stuff. Everything seems to work like its supposed to and it definately stays in tune longer than a lot of guitars I've played.

I play rock/punk type music, a lot of Thrice specifically. So the stock pickups were kinda annoying. They had a decent amount of tone and sound for single coils, but as with all inexpensive single coils it had a lot of feedback too. The L-500 humbucker has definately made it sound quite a bit better. My friend has an Ibanez RG-750, which most people would agree is a pretty nice guitar, and in my opinion mine sounds better. It now has lots of harmonics, tapping works great, and great tone. I play out of a cheap-o fender frontman 25R and it still sounds pretty good. Sometimes I use my friends tube powered Marshall and that's just a lot of fun.

I got it when it was about 5 years old, and it hadn't been played much (It was my dad's). It looked like new, and probably played really well, but I can't really say because I taught myself how to play on this guitar. I didn't know what was good or what was bad back then. Another 5 years later, I have a decent idea of what to look for and I love this thing. I've never had anything fixed on it or adjusted and it plays really well. Its neck feels faster than all the Mexi-strats and "wizard necked" Ibanezes that my friends have. It also feels more solid too.

Nothing ever goes wrong with this guitar. It has cheapo tuners, but they stay in tune for quite a long time. The guitar has taken some big hits and drops and looks fine, the finish is still shiny and the pickgaurd looks good. The strap buttons kinda suck though, some straplocks would definately be a good move, but I can't dock the guitar for the straplocks because every other guitar i've ever played came with ones just as crappy. I would use this without a backup anyday, mostly because i only have this guitar, but also because I've never had a problem with it

Peavy's website is pretty damn good

The guitar diserves such high ratings because its an inexpensive guitar that is way better than all the rest of the inexpensive guitars. For about 200 bucks at the most you could find one and expect it to play as well or better than a lot of 5-600 dollar guitars. If it cost that much i wouldnt give it such high ratings, because the stock pickups aren't that great, but since its cheap (i think my dad got it with a Rage 158 amp and a case and cable for $300) it gets the ratings. Everything I've ever used that said peavy on it has been great. I would get anything from peavy and be confident it was a good buy

Peavey Predator, "Crafted in the USA" on headstock. The Predator is a Strat-copy design with a solid Poplar body (no plywood) and 22 fret bi-laminate Maple neck, 12" fingerboard radius, 25.5 scale. Comfortable feel. Mine also has a Maple fingerboard. Three single coil pickups, volume and two tone knobs, 5-way selector switch, just like a Strat. "Blonde" polyester/urethane finish and white pickguard (reminds me of Yngwie's), a four-screw Power Bend vibrato/tremolo bridge, and "generic" Peavey tuning pegs round out this Stratoclone. Mine came with a hardshell case.
Also features Peavey's neck-tilt adjustment system to refine the action.
The tuners seem on the cheap side, but they do work fine. The tuning peg ring on my high E broke and is missing. The guitar had 3 springs in the trem cavity, and I added 2 more to make it feel more solid and add stability. Everything functions as it should and the guitar playes well.

I bought the guitar used, and the bridge pickup is from a Mexican Stratocaster. The neck and middle pickups are original Peavey, which are shielded and wax-dipped. I play mostly "rock"- from 1960's and 70's classic rock to 80's glam and 90's grunge. Everything from "American Band" to "Crazy Train." I also like to play thrashy stuff like Slayer and the Dead Kennedys. I like "Strat" type guitars because they can cover just about any sound. I play through Fender solid state amps for the most part. I typically run through a Boss TU2 (tuner)> Boss FL2 (flanger)> Boss HM2 (distortion)> Ibanez TS10 (tubescreamer).
The Predator sounded suprisingly good in all positions. I didn't know what to expect from the Fender MIM pickup- but it was fine. The stock Peavey pickups are acceptable, but if this was my main axe I would probably put in something else. I do plan on putting a single-size humbucker in the bridge, so the guitar is even more versatile.
Overall the sound is very Strat-like.

I bought the guitar used, so I can not comment on the factory set up. There are no construction flaws, everything fits and works as it should. The action is a little high for my tastes, and I have not tried using the neck-tilt adjustment yet to try and make it lower.

The Peavey Predator is a quality USA instrument. The Poplar body is very lightweight (though the guitar is not neck-heavy when playing) and comfortable. Deeper body contours than my 1979 Fender Stratocaster. I replaced the strap buttons with a DiMarzio locking strap system. Finish has dings but seems durable. I think this guitar will last a lifetime and more with minimal maitence. I will use this guitar plenty in rehersal and on stage.

www.peavey.com provided me with a PDF of the owner's manual. I also e-mailed them a question and got a response in about a week.

I have been playing guitar for over 17 years, been in numerous bands, and have owned several guitars from just about every brand. I bought the Peavey Predator as a backup to have on stage when I break a string. (My main axe is a 1979 Fender Strat, and I also use a 1991 Hamer Chaparral). I liked the Peavey because it is USA made and it was so inexpensive. I can't believe I got a USA Strat-clone for only $70; VERY good deal. If it were stolen, I would try to replace it ASAP with another of the same. Peavey guitars are very under rated and can be found used for extremely low prices. I also have a Peavey Patriot bass, and I think Peavey makes a good instrument. If you are seeking a Peavey, be aware that they now have imports as well. Look for "USA" on the headstock. The Peavey USA Predator is comparable (not quite as nice, but comparable) to G&L and Fender guitars at a fraction of the price.