Peavey T-60

This is the one category I thought I could add something to that hasn't been covered by other reviewers. I use this guitar exclusively for slide work, and it really is one of the best electrics around for this. The single/hum blade pickups are perfect for slide work, and the out of phase switch can give you an unbelievable, raw, old AM radio sound. With the clever switching you can put a little muddy humbucker on the bridge and have a clear soaring lead tone on the neck. Incredible what you can do with the sounds here with just a turn of the knob. It's a huge slab of guitar and it gives you a huge sound. Put on the heaviest strings you can find and a slap on a heavy brass slide and you'll be able to peel the paint off walls.

This thing was built to be a slide guitar. The neck has a great feature with an easy to use tilt screw to adjust the tilt of the neck. It has a relatively flat fretboard and the bridge is a great fully adjustable big chunk of metal. Two allen wrenches and 10 minutes and you will have the perfect set up for slide. Give it a 10 for the tilt screw if nothing else.

You could use this guitar to drive fence posts, put a strap back on and you probably wouldn't even need to tune it. I defy anyone to find a guitar that was built more solidly than this. If a guitar was ever needed for some industrial use, this would be the one. The T-60 I have has a deep dent in the back, like it was hit with a hatchet, but it didn't even scratch the finish, just put a big dent in it. 50 years from now you'll still be able to find these monsters in almost perfect shape.

Peavey has one of the best guitar web sites out there. You can download manuals to just about all their products past and present. A class act all around and though never dealt with them one-to-one, they have an excellent reputation.

I'd give this an 8 for playing standard and a 10 for slide. Looks-wise, somehow, you'll feel like a Hee Haw cast-off playing standard, but with a chunk of brass on your finger is seems just perfect.

1979 model. Natural ash finish (this is the most common finish). Two humbuckers, which can be set to single coil mode. Phase switch. Three way pickup selector. Hardtail bridge, through body stringing. Non-locking tuners. Looks like a slightly distorted Strat. Looks like a five piece body. Maple neck. Two volume and two tone controls. Quite heavy. Chipboard case included.

Great variety of sound. With the tone knobs set at 10, you are in single coil mode. At 7, the second coil kicks in to give you a humbucker sound. Below 7, the tone control acts as a conventional tone control. There is also a phase switch which gives you a more hollow sound. This is a quiet guitar - very little noise even in single coil mode. Very full, rich sound with the humuckers. Not super high gain pickups, but that's not my style anyway.

Some problems here, but nothing unusual for a twenty year old guitar. The knobs and switches are a little noisy. The bridge pickup by itself is very low volume with the phase switch off, but normal volume with the phase switch on. This shouldn't happen - the phase switch should only make a difference with both pickups active. A little contact cleaner should fix this. Outside of that, there are only a few dings - this is in great shape for an old guitar. Very nice looking wood (natural is one of my favorite finishes), with lots of grain showing. No real attempt at bookmatching the pieces.

For this guitar to have lasted 20 years in this condition, it must be an absolute tank. I would always use a backup, but this is about as sturdy as it gets.

Excllent. Peavey answers questions by phone, has user forums at their Web site, and has downloadable copies of the manual for this guitar.

I started playing in 1965, but took a long time off (playing primarily keyboard). I've been playing guitar seriously the last few years. My other main guitars are Fenders (Strat plus Deluxe, Am. Std. Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Tex Mex Tele Special, Deluxe Super Strat), Route 101 (Solimar, Rincon), Parker (NiteFly, P-38), and Gibson, Taylor, Fernandes, etc. I like the sound of this guitar a lot - my only issue is the weight.

First, let me say that I hate vintage guitars. You are typically paying thousands of dollars for a guitar that cost a few hundred new and has accumulated years of problems. However, I made an exception in the case of the Peavey T-60. Even new, how do you find a US-built guitar with very flexible controls,innovative electronics, and great customer support for under $200? You would typically get a cheap plywood guitar of dubious construction. These guitars deserve the great reviews they've gotten. If you can find one at anywhere near this price, run out and grab it.

1982 T-60. Wonderful piece! Rock maple neck. Sunburst body. Stunning! What sound do you wanna hear? Low is regular- up to 7 is humbucker- all the way up is single coil!! No one should ever replace these! (1 quality built to last forever , 2 you can achieve so many sounds) 2 pickups. The case is plastic, but very sturdy!! Ash bodys on these babys (the sustain goes on and on and on...)2 volume-2 tone-a switch (up is neck pickup-middle is both-down is bridge pickup). Other switch is out of phase (haven't found a good use for it, but it's there if you like that).

I use a studio chorus 70 (Peavey amp....bought the amp first). Effects are built in. THIS IS THE BEST GUITAR IN VALUE THAT THERE IS. No big names promote it (It's not made anymore, so you pay $0.00 advertizing to anyone). My friend has a VERY valuable Strat, and he likes my Peavey. My other friend is an engineer, He just loves my T-60. Quality parts. Sounds any way you want! Just play with the variables built into it! Strat to a Les Paul to its own unique sound, you adjust it (ex. I like the bridge pickup by itself with the humbucker sound..........with just a tich of single coil thrown in.......they recommend the neck pickup for rhythm.......and the bridge pickup for lead............I like it just the opposite of that!! I play in a house band at a jam nite and get great compliments for the sound!)

Well, you have to buy these used, but they are much better than a new guitar. (buy the best condition you can afford.........I did and people actually thought mine was brand new!!) Intonation is EASY to set up , if you find the need to. (you probably won't unless you switch gauge of strings or someone messed with it). Quality.....

I play it live almost every day (come see me at paltalk live music rooms- on the net). No need for a backup, unless 3 semi's run it over. I gig at clubs with no backup! Alice Cooper "18". Allman Bros. "Stormy Monday". Etc.

Hey, you can still go to their web site and get manuals!! And even call them. How many other companies wanna talk to you about a piece thats 19 years old, and you bought used, and didn't buy it from them???

LOST OR STOLEN?.......First I'd shoot the guy..........But really ,you can, should, and would wanna replace it.......(lots available at places like ebay, and lots in excellent condition, and it is virtually a lifetime guitar that you will to your 1st born son.) I've owned good old Ovations......12 string Alvarez's........all quality pieces. And I will own other guitars. But I will NEVER , repeat NEVER be without at least one T-60!!!

just like the others...natural finish.

Got this guitar for christmas and it was my first guitar, and it may just be my last guitar. I can play anything from blues to metallica to eruption(just no dive bombs which sound silly anyway)Only problem is i got it from a pawnshop and it is old and abused and not set up well so it has some intonation problems, of course that shouldn't be held against it...10 it is.

I've played a few Pauls and strats and it seems wierd but this guitar is just so much nicer, it feels so real.

its a tank nuff said

never needed it

I play 4 hours a day and it stays in tune for 2 whole days.

I rate this T-60 with a 10.

I use seymour duncan pick ups (jb,59)it suonds great for the grungey metal tone i like . I tune to (C G C F# A D) AND THE NECK has never had to be adjusted .Its a very luod and agrresive axe. Its a little on the heavy side and is often strainous at gigs but its lighter then a las paul.

Well i re finished it with a walnut satin finish on a poplur body. It has the small flat wide frets (I LIKE) but cuold difficult on action for people with large hands. and its missing a tone nob .I lost it at a gig in San Diego.

this guitar is a F#@king tank MAN!!!! Its been thruogh rigorous trials and is still rocken.

I thouroly support peavey My whole rig is peavey exept my strings ernie ball hybrids.

10

I wish I knew how to find out what year it was made. Natural Ash, I know cause my dad does wood work.

I'm not a real guitar person. But it does the job. I've had pro guitarists look at it and bitch about how its too heavy for stage and to hard to play. But I like it. I got it for $40 in a pawn shop Uptown New Orleans around 1988/89. It's still missing a knob. But it all works pretty well. I use it straight prosessing only via onboard FX on a Roland VS-1680. Not muc sustain, though.

How would I know. I'm not a pro, and the only other guitar I've owed was a Gibson SG from the 60's. And I was stupid enough at the time to sell it so I could take a vacation. Stupid me...

Well, it'll stop a tank. That's for sure!

Fixing to find out. I need to contact Peavy about getting someone qualified to go over and pretty this thing up like it diserves. I need intonation set, pickups checked, etc. I haven't a clue. I'm not a guitar god. I'm just an ameture composer.

I've been pretty happy with it. But it seems hard to get the clean, accustic like and the hard rock extreams that I need. But, I may be using it wrong. But it does the job! Check it out at www.mp3.com/benbalser and at www.mp3.com/wahya. All the guitar is the T-60. "Carry On" I blended a Q6 keyboard guitar sound with the T-60 to enhnace the accoustic guitar into and ending.

Most specs covered elsewhere already

Tiny thin neck (maybe shortscale - feels like my old T-15 which was 23.75")

Mine seems to be the most common oak with maple neck combination - black scratchplate and gunmetal knobs

No trem (but what would you want one for............)

Just about any sound I want I can get

Mainly play in UK Garage punk rock band, but also write funk samples for dance / breakbeat artists and write Vini Reilly type guitar instrumentals.

I don't record with any other guitar.

Build quality is.........quality!

Ha-ha

Haven't bust it yet.

N/A

The first great guitar I had was a Peavey T-15 fifteen years ago.

Always wanted another, but we don't get too many over here in the UK.

Was playing a Hofner Verifin in my garage band (great for permanent feedback!), but it just wasn't strong enough to gig regularly.

Wanted a guitar that looked equally as cool that I could gig with.

Bought guitar.
Band split up.
Still happy.

I'm the original owner of my T-60, bought it new in 1979 or 1980, I can't remember the exact year. It is a US made guitar and previous people have given the basic specs. Mine is natural finish with a maple neck, seemingly the most common edition, although they did come in other colors and with rosewood fingerboards. I still have the original case, it has held up well. My guitar still has the original electronics. I did have a middle strat pickup installed for a while, but I bought a replacement pickguard and had it returned to original recently. The strat pickup was an older Bill Lawrence L-250 hum cancelling model, and it did not have the output to blend with the Peavey humbuckers. They have a fair amount of output. Unlike an earlier reviewer, I know my guitar is made of ash. It is fairly heavy, but not as heavy as most Les Pauls I have owned/played.

Let's face it, most musicians are brand snobs. We think we have to have brand name stuff, and until the Van Halen Wolfgangs and Steve Cropper models, not many pros played Peavey guitars. That said, this is a fine instrument. Roy Nichols, Merle Haggards former lead guitarist used one on the road in the 80's, and I have emailed him and he said he liked the T-60. The guitar can get a wide variety of sounds, and it is very quiet, even in the single coil mode. The ability to roll the coils off gradually gives greater tonal potential than just an switch. One feature that one reviewer touched on is the phase switch. Yes, you can use it with both pickups as most people are accustomed to, although to maximize the dual pickup out of phase sound, you have to tweak the volume controls. Both controls set equally cuts out too much low end, and really doesn't even come close to approximating a Strat's out of phase sound. But, use the bridge pickup only, and throw the phase switch and you get a gentle, but very usable out of phase sound, that has slightly less high end, but does have tons of character. The maple fingerboard and low wide frets are a little harder to bend strings on than my rosewood fingerboard Strat with jumbo frets, so I use a 9-46 set of strings and that works out nicely. The capacitor that rolls off low end when you decrease volume is also very useable, and even with the pickups in humbucking mode, they stay very well defined when the volume is reduced. I play this guitar through a Peavey Heritage amp (see my review for that too), an original black face 65 Fender Twin and an original black face Fender Vibrolux and it sounds great. I use mainly Boss effects, with a TS-9 Tubescreamer. This guitar sounds fine. It rivals my main axe, a 1982 Fender Strat with EMGs and the David Gilmour electronics.

The guitar was set up well at the factory, and my repairman keeps it in great shape. I did install a smaller hardtail bridge some years ago to accomodate a Hipshot string bender, but the original bridge was fine. I've just kept the replacement bridge on there cause it's more compact and in case I ever want to put the Hipshot back on there. The pots have gotten scratchy, but they clean up nicely.

This guitar is an iron horse. It will be here when many others are gone. The finish is excellent. It does have a tacky, funky vibe, but it looks like a working man's guitar. I have Dunlop straplocks, they are the best and I have some on other guitars that have been in use for close to 20 years! I would and have play this guitar without a backup..sure it's always wise to have one, but I trust this guitar.

Peavey customer support is top-notch.

I've been playing for over 28 years, and I don't plan to get rid of this guitar. I'd like to pick up another one and use the pickups and electronics in a Strat kit type guitar, that's how much I like the sound of the guitar. It is unique.

Its ash, I have know idea where that one reviewer came up with oak. the grain has been accented and its not swamp ash (which is why its heavey). I have owned three of these. one was a tobacco sunburst with a rosewood fretboard and the blade style pickups with the contoured body and the oval case, beuatiful guitar, id eighties (still had the metal nut and the small switches, the later ones had bone nuts and heavey duty toggles). I also owned a 78-79 PAF in the rectangular case, I remember stripping it with electrical tape to look like Van Halen's Kramer (i was young okay) I bought that new in 79. Aftre I had sold both of these I figured out I was an idiot and started lookig for another . I fond a new in the case 79 PAF a guy had got for his birthdayand promptly stored in his closet for 10 years, it still had the the little manila envelope with the allen stocks in it. dead mint. but I fired from my job and sold it to one of my guitar students for $225, 7 years later he called my up and as a poor college student sold it to me for $100, he swithed to bass and never played it. so now i have a dead mint PAF natural finish t-60 in the rectangular case. I'm going to be buried with it.

As everybody says it is very versatile. It is not a metal guitar. the output of the pickups is not hot but then neiher is the output of a Les Paul with PAF pickups. the strongpoint of this guitar is its clean sound. Chorus was made for the sounds in this guitar. the single coil/ out of phase position is eeriely thin but that can be very cool clean , distorted no, but hey thats why the guitar has other pickup options. here's an little known trick, go to single coil bridge pickup and switch on he phase switch, it acts as a slight coil tap (it can only be heard in a clean setting)

this was a very ugly guitar when it came out kinda looks like what the Russians would have made out of a strat, kinda guitar by commitee, you know like a camel is a horse made by commitee. well the early natural finish block cut one's look like a camel version of a strat. other the years though it has taken on a retro kinda look and the natural finish is very rustic. the bass version the t-40 (which is a better bass than the t-60 is a guitar) looks exactly the same but some how in a bass format looks cool in a punk bass sorta way, they are killer basses.

you know the scene in the movies were the hero is trapped in a room with walls that are slowly closing in on him until he finds something to wedge between them and stop the walls to make his escape. well if there was a guitar available for the task he should pray its a t-60

its peavey

every one should own one, they are still cheap well under $300, made in USA excellent materials and sound good. I keep hearing that they are the next collectible american guitar, but tons of these were made over 12 years so it might take awhile for it to get ridiculous, plus only two or three pro's use them and that is what starts the frenzy but don't wait. for around $200 ( the price of a indonesion fender squire II) you can still find plenty.

I have two, one black with maple neck 82', the other an 80' brownburst with rosewood fretboard. I've read, can't confirm as I'm not a wood expert, that they are ash bodied in the early years, Maple in the later years. Dual humbuckers/Single Coils sound nice and love to feedback. Very versatile.

As in all of the above, its' sound is excellent for the price. Now that I have two they can continue to appreciate in collectable status!
These guitars have ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE Sustain! If you don't have one, but know of someone who does you have got to try one. Leave it unplugged and strum a cord. I swear it would last 10 minutes if your fingers didn't get tired! At LEAST three times the sustain of my Strat and Tele hands down. The neck to body joint must be fused!

Bought both used and can't comment on the factory setup. But, both have very low action with fairly thin necks when compared to a strat and tele which fits my small hands nicely.

What can I say that hasn't already been said. These things are build like tanks and given how they've worn for the last 20 years will wear nicely for the next 20.

Peavey has dated both units and I've downloaded the PDF manual from their website. One was missing a trussrod cover and Peavey is sending me a replacement for nothing!

I've been playing on and off for 10 years and these guitars are truly a bargain. I play through a Crate DX212 which sounds great when combined with this guiatar.