I've never understood why Peavey guitars and basses don't get more respect.
I think many well-informed players (and techs) have resented much of their heavy-handed advertising BS, with most of their high-profile endorsers using only a Peavey chassis for many years. Peavey established themselves as a 'southern rock/country brand,' an image they still cultivate, and it limits their appeal to rockers outside the South. Sponsoring Black Stone Cherry and Orange County Choppers isn't going to garner them any appeal outside of folks who are most likely their customers already. Even their good-selling "metal" amp, the 6505, is just the leftover 5150 after EVH took his endorsement to FMIC.
Their most innovative (and best sounding) instruments and amps have been very poorly received by the market because few of them ever got much promotion or sales support because they were more expensive than their generic brand-mates. Their best sellers are budget knockoffs of other brands, which further degrades their image; for every T-40 bass or VB-2 they made, Peavey sold literally thousands of times more Fenderannabes and firmly held to the brand identity they planted in the 70's, churning out TNT and TKO amps, Black Widow speakers, and CS400 power amps virtually unchanged from their introduction 30+ years ago.
I had a very nice Peavey (made in Vietnam) bass that I got in a bulk lot off eBay about ten years ago with two other basses, a fretless MIM Jazz and a budget-model Jackson. I only kept the Jazz. While the Peavey was nice and very playable, even with active pickups and three band EQ, the sound was generic and had no identity. To contrast, even though I've played countless fretless Jazz Basses, and even briefly owned another that was "identical": same strings, same year, same color- the Jazz I kept has a tone and feel that matches my 70's Ibanez Musician and I love it dearly. The Jackson was traded for $200 worth of strings at Guitar Satan. I gave the Peavey to a friend who uses it in his studio.
