Peavey Grind

[Last in Line]

I've played Peavey Grinds and Peavey Cirrus's in my guitar shop, and I've been more impressed with the sound I get out of the Grind series. The Grind series is priced waaaay cheaper than the Cirrus basses, and I was wondering what the crap was going on with that--I mean, I'm not complaining, but I would like to know what's up. Any Peavey vendors or artists out there wanna shed some light?

[bassman1956]

A/B'd them one day at a local shop. I liked the feel of the Grind better. Just fit my hands and body better. That said, I much preferred the sound of the Cirrus.

[J.]

I love the Peavey Grind NTB basses, but quality control is spotty. They've also made some running changes in the basses (particularly the Grind NTB 5 String) so the bass you get might be different depending on when it was made. For instance, the first ones had a scalloped lower horn, which the newer ones don't have. On the five string, they started with a standard generic cast bridge. Before long they went to monorails, and just recently I saw a pic of a new one with a different bridge that looked like monorail style saddles on a regular base plate. I've also heard that the pickup dimensions have changed as well, but I can't confirm this. I do know that the first Grind 5 I played had a really nice slim neck, similar to the one on the 4 string. The two I've played recently had much fatter, rounder profiles that I didn't like nearly as much. All of the 5 strings I've held in my hands had sharp fret ends and generally sloppy work, and one of them had a setup so bad you couldn't even play it. Strange enough, the one four string and the one six string I played were very nice. It sucks, 'cause I want the fiver!

 

The biggest complaint I hear is the pickups. They're low output, mediocre sounding humbuckers. That would be the first thing I'd replace if and when I get a Grind. It's too bad that DiMarzio doesn't make the DP128 Alchemy Soapbars anymore, because those would look incredible in a Grind. As it is, if you're looking for a cheap soapbar replacement, I suggest the Mighty Mite pickups. I had a custom bass with passive Mighty Mite soapbars in it and they sounded pretty darn good for the price.

[T. Alan Smith]

The Grinds are tremendous bang for buck axes. I love the feel and look. The fit-n-finish is a bit rough. The pups? Meh...I'd want to pop my own anyway. I always wondered what Barts would sound like in the ones we had for sale here.

[Cliff Fiscal]

I really like them too!

[burdizzos]

I own a USA Cirrus, and Cirrus BXP and I previously owned a Grind NTB.

 

There is no comparison. The pickups and preamp on the USA are brilliant. The preamp on the BXP kind of sucks, but it's still a better bass than the NTB.

 

I swapped out the pups in my NTB with a set of Mighty Mite actives and it was on par with the BXP, but the BXP clearly has better QC.

 

If I could get the USA preamp for my BXP for cheap, I'd do it in a second. That is the only real weakness of the BXP. Better still, I'd like to get a set of passives that would drop in.

 

The grind's stock electronics are crap.

[J.]

 

The grind's stock electronics are crap.

 

 

Yep, that's where they obviously cut corners to keep costs down. I wonder if you just wired the two stock soapbars in series and hooked them up to a single 500k volume pot if you'd get something usable. I was surprised at how weak they were. The sound wasn't horrible (just mediocre), but the output was much lower than most other passive pickups.

[Last in Line]

So the Grind has bad quality contol, eh? I really enjoyed the tone I got out of the 6 string Grind that's in the shop around here, but the frets did need some more work.

[Davedblyoo]

Are the Mighty Mites a direct replacement for the Grind, or is there some surgery involved?

[J.]

I think it depends on the particular Grind basses you get. I was playing a very nice Grind NTB six string at Geetar Center and the salesman came up to me to chat. We talked about replacing the lame stock pickups, and he informed me that Peavey had changed the pickup dimensions to match the common EMG soapbars (whatever they're called - I'm not an EMG guy). Let me do some web research...

[J.]

It looks like the Mighty Mite soapbars are roughly the same size as the EMG 40 series soapbars are, give or take a few millimeters.

[burdizzos]

Mine dropped right in. No mods needed, except that I had to replace the input jack with a stereo plug to route the power connection for the active pups.

 

The Mighty Mites sounded far better than the stock setup and the result was a very similar sound to the Cirrus BXP.

[xOriginalNinjax]

 

I own a USA Cirrus, and Cirrus BXP and I previously owned a Grind NTB. There is no comparison. The pickups and preamp on the USA are brilliant. The preamp on the BXP kind of sucks, but it's still a better bass than the NTB. I swapped out the pups in my NTB with a set of Mighty Mite actives and it was on par with the BXP, but the BXP clearly has better QC. If I could get the USA preamp for my BXP for cheap, I'd do it in a second. That is the only real weakness of the BXP. Better still, I'd like to get a set of passives that would drop in. The grind's stock electronics are crap.

 

 

I ended up dropping EMG's in my BXP (the P/J model) before I dropped the bass entirely. The EMG's really helped the bass out alot...but I found active EMG's are NOT my thing.

[canoecaper]

Three Peavey Grind V issues. (Mine is probably the last to be imported into the UK)

 

1. My bridge has been miss-placed by about 1/3". Can't properly intonate the B string, inadequate adjustment.

It also seems to be made of monkey metal. (British engineering term).

Suggestions please.

 

2. The Mighty Mites are not split coil humbuckers. (Also, no dimensions given on their site!) My Peavey tone pots first blend each pup from single coil to full humbucker. The last part then rolls off the treble. This is an excellent Peavey unique feature. I agree, the o/p (plus mains hum) is disappointing. Also, the G string is far too prominent, even with the pups tilted.

When I replace my pups, it will be a change worth the effort. Probably Nordstrand dual blade neo 5s. Do it properly or what is the point.

The bass is physically worth it. The cavities do seem to be EMG 40 size.

 

3. Anyone have a source of carbon neck stiffeners that could be run from above the nut, right through to the neck pup route?

Generally, those readily available are 4" too short!

The neck could usefully be stiffened a little more. This is noticeable when using a good strobe tuner.

 

Rgds.