Peavey inovation.

Hot or not?

There is no doubting Peavey is an innovative company who have made some revolutionary and main-stay products over the years such as the Valve King amplifier series and the Classic 30 which has been around for yonks and still remains a huge seller. Peavey however do have rather a captured market in the massive Worship followers of the faith in the US and I think this is what keeps them at the forefront. Not that this is a bad thing and never over look such a tappable market, just ask George Bush. For me, the gear dag, if only Peavey would get with it in their design department and make their (all their) product, well.. modern. Mixers with rows of red knobs and rows of blue knobs days are well and truly over. The Batman influenced cowling on the front of their Viper modelling amp series which BTW-- is probably the best of the modeling amps designed by the original Line6 software developers, are all but totally destroyed by the 'look' of the things.
So here they are again. This time teaming up with the Antares software company, makers of the world renowned Auto-Tune to produce a perfectly in-tune guitar. There are no Gibson acquired motorised tuning heads or any other string tightening mechanical devices, the magic is all in the software in a little internal black lozenger alongside the four AA batteries. The only visual clue that there is something up with this basic looking guitar is that it has a midi socket next to the output jack socket. There is no out board breakout box, the midi socket is there only for the downloadable updates from Antares we know as 'fixes'. So what have Peavey done with this whizzbangery? Well, they have put it in a generic, two humbucker, hardtail bridged, basewood bodied, 24 fret slab available in only black or candy red. The technology may be brilliant but is anyone other than the church goers going to want such a bland looking instrument.
I have to say that I can't wait to wave my wand over this magic even if it is only to check on it's stability and if it comes with a case. If it works and sounds good and the A2D's and D2A's are quick enough then unless Peavey have an exclusive on the tech I'd be expecting to see it in the big two before long.
Check out the propaganda and the video clips here..