Peavey Reactor

Everything you'd want in a Telecaster, but mad ein the USA and at a better price.

This guitar sounds good. I have a 1986 G&L ASAT and it is close to replicating it.

It had a two spare drill holes showing, but a little paint did the trick. The body has a thick black poly coating which when polished shines really nice. The maple neck is fit nicely and is almost a birdseye maple. Everything else feels great.

This guitar is bullet-proof. I have knocked it over a dozen times, banged it into things, dropped it and it still works with no problems.

I downloaded the manual from the website no problem. Other wise I haven't had to deal with Peavey.

I have three guitars, and this is the one I practice with and play for recordings. It beats out my Fender Squire Stratocaster, though the Strat is much louder, in many ways. My Peavy is a close second to my G&L ASAT, but is a much better value, since I only paid $100 for the Peavey Reactor. Can't beat that. I was just visiting a used music store for effects pedals for my G&L, and they handed me the Peavey Reactor to try out the effects pedals, and as soon as I started playing, a smile came across my face and I bought it there and then.

Just basic Tele features

This guitar sounds great in any style. I play a lot of Nirvana and Mudhoney, but the sound is so great I can go from that to Pink Floyd and Modest Mouse. Just amazing!

It sounded good stock

This guitar is as reliable as they come. It withstands all kinds of torture and still plays perfectly. The hardware will last. I would gig with this guitar without a backup. Only one complaint: the strap buttons aren't that great.

Never needed it

I love this guitar! I will play till one of us dies.

I bought this guitar as a project after reading here that the Reactor is a well built tele copy with cheap hardware. And now that I have one, I agree - that's exactly what it is. I bought it second hand, as a project, for NZ$290 (US$180), including hard case, and I put another NZ$220 (US$140) worth of parts into it (not including labor costs - I did the work).


Features when I bought it:
Mine was fire engine red, has a 2-piece solid poplar body, has 1 replacement tuner, and had a malfunctioning pickup selector switch (easy fix). Everything else was stock, as described by others, below.

I really like the 2-piece maple neck, which seems a bit wider and flatter than a MIM Fender standard tele neck. It also has nice medium jumbo frets with clean fretwork and a nice light gloss finish. The maple has aged to a nice, honey colour.

Other features I was after for my project tele included through-body stringing, six saddle bridge, solid wood body, and a headstock that looked OK (there are some strange headstocks out there on some tele copies!). The Reactor headstock looks OK - like a tastefully modernised tele headstock design. I'll agree with a reviewer below - it looks sportier than the trad tele headstock.

I didn't like the cheesy red body colour (probably why I got it so cheap!). I also didn't like the stock overwound pickups - hot and lacking in character and musicality.

I had read here that Reactors have cheap tuners. The high E tuner had been replaced when I bought it. I haven't had any problems with it staying in tune.


My upgrades:
1. I installed a 2nd-hand pair of Fender samarium cobalt noiseless (SCN) pickups (designed by Bill Lawrence). These pickups are so much better sounding and more versatile than the stock pickups, which were only suitable for twangy, agressive, or overdriven playing. The SCNs really opened up the sound of the guitar.

2. I installed a 5-way pickup selector switch and wired it like this: 1. neck, 2. both, 3. bridge, 4. both half out of phase, 5. both off.

3. I stripped off the red paint and sanded off the wood sealer. Then I stained the body dark walnut brown (transparent) and finished it with Danish oil, buffing it out with a 50-50 mix of oil and beeswax. The white pickguard now looks great on the walnut stain. The gat now smells real nice, too!

4. I cleaned up the neck pocket. The woodwork and finishing in there was very rough. I sanded it down to bare wood to improve the transfer of string vibrations at the neck joint.

5. I slightly bevelled the heel of the neck to change the angle of the neck joint. I did this because, in the guitar's original condition, the saddles needed to be set quite high for the strings to clear the frets. I didn't like that, so when refinishing the body I sanded a slight bevel at the base of the neck. Now the neck joint is bare maple onto bare poplar, and the saddles can be set to a normal height for the action that I like.

My upgraded Reactor gets a 10 for tele features.

The Reactor has a definite tele vibe. However, when a/b-ed against a MIM standard tele, the stock Reactor has a more open, brighter tone. The MIM tele sounds mellower with a very characteristic alder, fenderesque tone. Along with a greater apparent frequency response, the Reactor also has more sustain than the MIM tele. I think that, except for the MIM neck pup, the stock pups in both of these guitars are not great.

Stock, the Reactor sounds a bit better than a cheap tele. It has a typical tele tendency to be muddy on the neck and harsh and brittle on the bridge. IMO the stock Reactor tone is hotter than a standard tele, lacking in character and OK only for twangy, agressive, or overdriven playing. It does not do nice glassy, chimey or jazzy tones.

With the mods I have done, the Reactor really shines. The SCN pups make this gat sound like a professional instrument. They provide great tones for many different applications from classic rock to blues, from jazz to country, and I can even get some metal-esque tones on the bridge. Somehow these pups can produce both modern and vintage tele tones - convincingly! No wonder Fender are supplying their top-of-the-line AmDx teles with these pups!

Somewhat surprisingly to me, the refinishing of the body and neck pocket opened the tone of this guitar up even further. I am astonished at the sounds that this guitar now makes. The typical single-coil attack is still there but underneath it is some serious depth, clarity, power, and sustain. The guitar now responds really well to a variety of different EQ settings, picking styles and picking dynamics.

I suggest that, after swapping the stock pickups for something better, cleaning up the neck pocket and removing the thick enamel finish will deliver noticable improvements to the tone of your Reactor!

After my modifications, the sound and verstility of this guitar are amazing. I couldn't ask for more out of any tele.

I bought this guitar 2nd-hand so I can't comment on the factory set up. However I can make a few comments about the guitar's construction.

The neck on this guitar is the best thing about it. Very nicely designed and finished and fully adjustable, with a truss rod that does its job and a micro-tilt neck angle adjuster. You can set this baby up any way you like.

The paint is thick and durable. It was sloppily applied around the string ferrules on the back of the guitar. The worst aspect of the fit and finish was the woodwork and finishing inside the neck pocket. I had to redo the pocket with some agressive paint stripping and sanding.

Note: my Reactor was not routed for a neck humbucker.

Note: if you plan to refinish your Reactor, plan on using a dark stain as the two, or three, pieces of poplar wood that make up the body of your guitar can be quite variable in colour.

With the single replaced tuner (high E string), I have no problems keeping the guitar in tune.

Otherwise, it is a solid tele copy. It should put up with lots of (ab)use.

I've never dealth with Peavey.

As others here have said, the Reactor is a solidly built tele copy fitted with some cheap hardware. As such, Reactors are great value for the prices that most people pay for them.

As many here have also complained, Fenders are over priced. Lets face it, a tele is a couple of slabs of wood bolted together with some old style hardware attached. They were being produced 50 years ago. Building these things is not rocket science. The genius of the Telecaster is in Leo Fender's design, which allowed a great sounding instrument to be mass produced cheaply and reliably. So kudos to Peavey for bringing telecaster ownership back down to earth with the Reactor.

I have been playing for around 25 years and I have a few nice electric guitars including a Yamaha SG2000, a Steinberger GM5T, and a Gibson L6-S. My modified Reactor is up with the likes of these guitars in terms of playability, versatility, tone, and looks - at a freaction of the price of those instruments.

As a stock guitar, the Reactor is very good value. With a bit of imagination and elbow grease, it can be upgraded into a great player at a fraction of the price of big name telecaster guitars.

Made in USA
My favorite feature of tele-type guitar is 1 volume and 1 tone so simple! Thanks Leo, and Hartley!
22 Frets which is nice.
Three piece basswood(I think) body
Standard 2 tele type pickups
Maple neck separate fingerboard also made of hard maple
glossy finish
Tele body
Six individual saddles string through body
Cheap tuners
Thinish neck long scale

Twangy and lots of sustain. I had a 300 dollar early 90's MIM tele with bridge that did not go through the body, and I think it makes a huge difference, this guitar sounds great! Of course as a telecaster type guitar it has major treble. The neck pickup is a little muddy, but the combo of the two is really nice.
I use a peavey classic from the 70's with tremelo, you can get country, western, and the sort of classic Les Paul sustain/distortion sound, it also sounds pretty good through my volume only Gibson Skylark.
Pickups are really hot, hence the possible les paul sounds.
Volume and tone pots are pretty dynamic and smooth sounding swells and finger wah.

I bought this off ebay from a guy (dogsdoom who I would recommend as a seller) who had replaced the nut and saddles, and the action is low. I am used to high action arch tops with 13s. Heavy strings feel light on this guitar.
Frets are nice, smooth, and intonation is right on. Tuners are the only weak link (although I never played it with original saddles and bridge.)

It is reliable, hardware is sturdy w/ exception of the mediocre tuners. Finish is thick. Strap buttons I must say are pretty bad. It is very dependable, very solid guitar. I would gig with just this guitar, except it does break stings (what Fender style guitar doesn't?)

The web sight has any manual that peavey ever made, but I have never tried to contact company.

I have been playing 17 years, I own an old gretsch orchestra model acoustic w/dearmond pickup, and a Dearmond Starfire Special, I hjad a 92 or 93 MIM tele with a non string through body bridge(the reactor is a way better guitar pickup/pot/neck everything especially sustain.) I would get another. IT is definately better and usually cheaper than G&L tribute teles, have not tried string through bridge Fender MIM teles but I think that the reactor has much better craftsmenship/quality control than MIM Fenders.
I have decided that some peavey products from the 70's and 80's are kind of like the Fender products from the 50's and 60's.
If you want a tele for less than 500 bucks this is it.

This is a standard telecaster copy, which is pretty slim on features. However, Peavey does a good job of copying Fender, although there isn't a lot to copy. $300 for an AMERICAN made solid body is a steal.

For $300 new, this has unbelieveable sound. I give it an 8 only because it isn't a PRS, Les Paul, or Strat Reissue, for which you will be paying $2000. I've played for 25 years, owned 10+ solid body electrics, and this is by far the best bang for your buck I've seen or played. If you want a 9 or a 10, pay another $1500.

I've played with the factory set up for 4 years, and its fine. It probably can't be set up like high end guitars, but I didn't buy it with those expectations. The pickups are set properly and there are no dead spots on the board.

I've used this live, haven't abused it, but haven't given it any special care. The pick guard warped after about 3 years. When I took it off, I discovered the neck pickup was attached to it. I then taped the pickup back in the hole, with minor adjustments, and it works fine.

I've played 25 years, semi-pro, in church worship bands, jazz, rock, and blues. I play it through a Mesa Boogie Formula, a Mesa 50/50, and a 4x12 Marshall cab. The guitar amazingly does not bring down my high end amps. Its not like the PRS I used to own (before it was stolen) but hey, it WAS $300.

I bought this guitar new back in the early 90's. It's a solid body, Tele style ax, made in the U.S.A. This guitar has a maple neck with black dot fret markers. They were offered in three colors, white, black and red. I got mine in red. Everything is pretty much standard tele style out of the box. I originally bought this guitar after reading an excellent review of it in Guitar Player Magazine when the Reactor was first released. The review said that it was a well crafted instrument that only lacked top notch hardware. I have to concur with that appraisal. I bought it because I wanted a guitar that I could modify without sacrificing it's value. It has served its purpose well.

Although it sounded fine right out of the box, I bought this ax to modify it, and that definitely has altered its sound. Originally, it was equipped with Tele style pickups. I've since routed the body to install a Gibson PAF in the bridge position, and a tapped Seymour Duncan Hot Tele Lead in the bridge position. To go with the new pickups, I replaced the stock three position switch with a Strat style five position switch. I now have either the tapped or full lead pickup, the same along with the PAF, or the PAF alone. This thing is now a tone monster!

The factory setup was really good right out of the box. The black finish on the body was flawless, and everything fit right, especially the neck/body joint. The stock tuners were on the cheesy side, about what you'd expect at this price point. I've since replaced them with sealed Grovers. I've replaced the pickups and selector swithc, as described in another section. I installed a pearlized red pickguard in place of the stock, single-ply white one, and the bridge saddles have been swapped out for a set made by GraphTech. This ax would have gotten a ten except for the upgradable hardware. Don't let that stop you from buying one of these if you can find one used.

This baby's held up for over ten years so far! It's built like a tank. If nothing else, Peavey builds a solid ax, at least the U.S.A. built guitars. I haven't owned one of their newer imports, os I can't judge that.

I can't say much about customer support because I've never had an occasion to use it. A friend who also has a Peavey said that the one time he had to deal with them, the service was good.

I truly feel that this guitar was worth more than I paid for it new, and that it is highly underrated. It had a better fit than comparable Fender Teles (both foreign and domestic) that I checked out at the time, and it was much cheaper to buy. This guitar was an excellent value, without a doubt.

As I said in the other sections, I've modified mine extensively since I bought it, and I'm not done yet. I just read in a forum on Peavey's site, how to install a piezo transducer under the bridge, and that will be my next mod.

This baby's definitely a keeper, and yes, if it were lost/stolen I would search the Earth for another.

I also own an early G&L S-500 which is a beautiful guitar, but this Peavey, with the changes I've made, is still my hands down favorite.

'96(I think), 22 fret, Standard Tele

I play country, southern rock, new age, heavy metal, etc. This guitar keeps up with it all. I play thru an Ibanez Virtual Amp so this guitar can do it all. The sound is awesome especialy when using a brass pick. I love the sound of this thing!

The guitar was setup fairly well, although it had to be sent back to be re-adjusted. I recently had to install another 3-way switch. But other than these issues, it was great. Everything seems to be of high quality considering it is 8 years old and still glossy, besides the neck.

This thing has been thru hell and back. I've dropped it, (then bought straplocks) drunks have kicked it off the stand, swung the neck around and hit mic stands, mixer boards, you name it. It has some dings in the body, but the paint is still there. Excellent finish!! The buttons are solid, and the guitar is very dependable. Seriously, don't ever go to a gig without a spare. Although i never use my spare, you never know.....

Peavey was easy to work with. Fairly fast ship-back. Warranty repaired.

I've been playing for 10 years now, 8 of it with this guitar. I'll eventually buy another one, but this one will never leave me, she's my baby! I've compared it with several others, and the only thing I wish it had was at least a dual-humbucker, which i might install.

USA made tele copy with gig bag standard tele stock features

i play everything from blues to thrash metal this one fits all.
when i went to the local music store i had no intention of buing a peavy, i tried every other guitar in the store ,but as soon as i picked this one up i bought it no questions asked

this guitar fits my playing style like a glove the action was perfect but the intonation needed some minor tweaks (only because i play in drop C)

ive been playing this guitar for 3 years now the hardware is indestructible the finish is very durable but ive dropped it on the gararge floor a few times (oops)ive even droped it on the neck .
this guitar is very dependable i wold definatly use it without a backup

N/A

for the price ive not found anything better ive been playing for about 14 years and have owned many guitars. i play the reactor through a behinger v-ampire 100 watt amp the only thing i wish it had was a bridge humbukker (coming soon) i added a other pickup close to the bridge for more sound variety. i am currently shopping for a new guitar and ime considering getting a peavy evh wolfgang but if anyone is selling a reactor drop me a line

I think this guitar was made sometime in the 90's, Its your standard tele setup. The body is made of 3 pieces glued together on mine. The neck is so playable and comfortable, it once had a glassy finish on the neck but it's hardly glossy anymore , i bought it second hand so they might have sanded it off of just worn it out. The hardware is pretty solid and so our the electronics, though when i bought I had to repair the pickup seletor. I bought this guitar second hand, so of course it came with a few dings and scratches, and i also never dealt with the original tuners mine came with a set of gold textured tuners that have "gibson" stamped on the back, they hold up well. all the features of a tele.

It sounded almost dreamlike when i played it. I played it through a peavey triple x head, a vintage marshall 100 watt plexi and a vint boogie, i dont remember the model but it had blonde tolex with a matching cab. The pickups are single coils so they have some noise to them but hardly any. And no hum! It has a pretty bright sound very rockish at times. I use it through a marshall avt 50 head with an old crate slanted cab from the 80's, and for the most part a digitech whammy pedal, boss digital delay, dod death metal, a few fuzz boxes 3big muffs and a modified flanger, oh envelope and a crybaby. Not at the same time of course. I used to use a metal zone at full distortion levels but it sounded too much like a humbucker, and i didnt like the metal zone so i sold it. it sounds great with my amps overdrive alone but when i want to play something down right nasty i use the dod. it holds up well when i use my whammy pedal surprisingly well for single coils. I wasnt looking for a particulr tone or sound when i got this guitar i knew it sounded great and had possibilities. it has a nice blues tone for instance. but i dont play the likes. i mainly try to get different odd sounds out of it and ive been able to do so. I mainly listen to the melvins, and ween so you get the idea.

i dont know about factory setup, i cant really comment, it's great now though. second hand..yadda yadda yadda. Beautiful neck!

Of course it will withstand live playing. ive bumped it around a few times around the house when i turn around quickly for instance and i was surprised that ive made no marks on it myself. the strap buttons are pretty solid im a little paranoid about fiddling with straps so instead of getting straplocks i just duct taped a strap securely to it. I wouldnt rely on this guitar alone for i have different sounds i can conjure up from different guitars. it's my only tele though,,, so maybe if i wanted just a tele sound yeah i wouldnt worry about it.

peavey..? i dunno

i like this guitar i guess you can say its almost as good as a high priced fender or a fender standard, whatever doesnt really matter i like it.

Peavey Reactor (Fender Tele-style guitar). "Crafted in the U.S.A." Year unknown (serial number: 07208913).

I got this thing as a project (found it on eBay). The body was trashed and most of the parts were missing. The only thing that remained relatively unmolested was to neck, so I decided to comment on that...

Mine came with a maple neck. It is made of two pieces; a separate maple fingerboard glued onto a maple back and headstock. There is no "skunk stripe" on the back, so I assume that it was done this way to attach the truss rod.

Before I even bought this thing I already knew it was going to end up being a "Frankenstein" guitar, due to missing several parts, but since I have tons of guitar parts laying around that wasn't a problem. I wasn't quite ready for the condition of the body though!

There were holes drilled all over it, some for no apparent reason (?) and the neck pickup cavity had a huge ugly hole routed into it. The body size was also a factor, being of a non-standard size overall; For instance, my standard Fender pickguard would not work on this body (the pickguard was too big for it).

At this point I was feeling fairly stupid for buying such a piece of crap, until I took a good look at the neck...

The first thing I noticed was the quality of the wood. The maple they used is very hard and nicely figured. Not "highly" figured, but still very pleasant to look at. "This is one serious chunk of wood!" I thought. I soon regained my enthusiasm.

Other attractive features include smoothly finished 22 medium jumbo frets, nice and fat. The fretboard is also wide, which I like (better than a scrawny, narrow neck anyway). I even like the shape of the headstock - and I'm extremely picky in this area. It has a handsome "sporty" look to it.

The rest is fairly straight forward; black dot inlays and side markers, black plastic "bone style" nut, truss rod adjustment on headstock and a single string tree - although someone drilled a hole for a second one, which appears to be an add-on. I'm not sure if the tuners are stock, but - if they are - they're pretty crappy (easily replaced though).

I was so sure this neck would make a great player I bought a nice solid alder Tele-style body (transparent blue), slapped on the extra parts I had from various other guitars (most came off my standard Fender Tele) and soon had a fully functional axe. After a little fine tuning, the guitar now plays like a charm! The neck in particular is fast and straight, a real joy.

I originally built this thing to give to one of my nephews or something, but it's now actually too nice for a beginner (it'd be a shame for it to be trashed AGAIN by some smartass punk)!

Anyway, I feel like I saved this poor thing from a life of torment and misery and it is now safe in the loving arms of someone who can appreciated it!

If asked to comment on the quality of Peavey guitar necks based solely on this one example, I would honestly have nothing but good things to say about them.

I am certainly not suggesting that you buy a Peavey Reactor just for the neck, but I'm sure most people would agree (if you happen to get one as good as mine anyway) that the level of quality is definitely above average.

I own several high quality guitars, including a bunch of Fenders (Standard Tele, 50's reissue Strat, Toronado, Lead-I and a DG22CE acoustic) a Gibson Les Paul Studio, a PRS Custom 24, an Epiphone Casino, a vintage 1965 Epiphone Century archtop and a Carvin DC200.

I've been playing for over 23 years but have only recently gotten into building my own guitars (mostly due to the fact that I have so many parts lying around). I first started tinkering with guitars by replacing pickups and hardware, etc. So far it's been a lot of fun.

My latest Peavey/Frankenstein project was the most ambitious yet and a real success as far as I'm concerned. I'm very happy with the results.

I have no doubt that the quality of the Peavey Reactor neck is a crucial factor in making this guitar such a pleasure to play, so I have to give them ample credit for doing such an exceptional job in this area.

Thanks Peavey!