Peavey Predator USA

The Peavey Predator is a USA made strat-styled guitar with all the traditional strat hardware, like two tone knobs, one volume, a 5 way switch, 22 frets, a vintage style trem, and three single coils. The body is alder , and the neck was maple.

UTILIZATION

The neck was a big draw of this guitar, it's a very comfortable, C shaped neck. Meaty, but not fat. Pickups sounded surprisingly good. On par with a USA Fender strats pickups. Very clear and singing, and with a little of that hollow chunk you expect from a strat. I never had any trouble with the pots or pickup selector switch.



SOUNDS

I go for a very big, round strat tone ala Gary Moore, John Norum, Doug Aldrich, and this guitar delivered! I felt that the tone, playability, and overall construction was on par or better than Fender's MIM guitars, and at half (or less) of the price, it's a great deal for budding rockstars, or those who want a nice strat on a shoestring budget.

OVERALL OPINION

The Peavey Predator is incredible value for money, and I'd make the same choice again in buying it. I'm really amazed that the quality and craftsmanship of this guitar can be had at such a low price. It's the first guitar I recommend to other guitarist on a budget for a guitar, or that are looking for a modding platform for pickups and the like. The one thing I didn't like about the Predator was the finish on the neck, because I like a raw wood feel. that's just a personal preference, but I sanded my neck down anyways.

I actually stripped the finish on my Predator, and found that it sounded even better than before. The wood underneath has a surprisingly nice grain, and it's real wood under there! Mine had a 3 piece body.

Aaah - my first guitar! I bought this instrument way back in 1991 when I was an exchange student in the US. I really didn't know much about guitars back then and chose it for its classic look and solid feel. They are built very well and the neck feels nice and smooth. My model was black and had a white pickguard - but besides that it is what you see in the picture. I think I paid around $500 at the time...maybe less.
It did not come with a gig bag or any other accessories - so I was carrying it around just like this for a while...hey - I didn't know!

UTILIZATION

As I said the neck was probably the best part of this guitar. It is a maple neck without additional fretboard and gave the guitar a nice twang. Getting a good sound was at times a little more difficult as the electronics really weren't very good. The volume knob cut off the high frequencies very quickly and the tone knobs really didn't do a whole lot.
On the other hand it nicely stayed in tune and the intonation was always quite good.

SOUNDS

At the time I didn't really have a 'stlye of music'. Looking back I probably would have been more happy with a Gibson Style guitar (these days I would go with a Godin entry level) but that is what I bought next anyway. I used it mainly with an old beat up Peavey amp - the name eludes me right now. It was solidstate though and you had to get the distortion by actually overloading the preamp - no switch or anything like that.
I liked the neck pickup the most. The other two were often very bright and had no punch in the mids - this happens a lot with similar guitars in this price range.
I think this guitar is great for getting started but once you want to play with a drummer and need to cut through without blowing out your ears this becomes obsolete.

OVERALL OPINION

As I said - this guitar was great to get started. After I bought my Gibson Nighthawk (s. my other User Reviews) this guitar was barely used anymore - even though the sound is of rather different character. It is built very well and these days you get equivalent models from China, Taiwan, Korea or Mexico for a lot less (even Raptor exists as such a model). If your budget to get started is below $500 (with amp) then this is one of the better choices. Make sure your guitar store does a setup on the guitar though (ask for it before you buy it)! Often they get sold out of the box and quite often they play like dirt...this is not a Peavey problem but more an issue of such mass production.

Manufactures in the United States is an instrument of good quality.
Imitation intgrale of Strato, is team of three single-coil.
The vibrato is traditional, the nut also.
The body is alder, the neck on mine is rosewood.
3 pots, 5 slecteur positions, ultra-classic.

UTILIZATION

21 frets of the neck is a real rgal, comfortable and solid (no rglage in 10 years)
CHAC is the acute stratode, ergonomics is excellent gnrale: is there a better strat?

The sounds are just as stratodes. From scratch more sophisticated than I have tried and t bluffs.

Black spot for guitar heroes: the vibrato does not agree it is abused.

SOUNDS

Sound as a little too feeble I got, I replaced the bridge pickup with a humbucker PRQWKV a fling dfunte V. It took me resize the plate and the body, but I made a good!

Dornava, I get a sound much more incisive and heavy, although a second by Marshall Guv'nor. The slecteur can always recover with a good clear sound simple.

It gives me a perfect guitar, trs versatile. I do not grant him that because without the humbucker 8, unlikely to return to the big sound.

NB: this is the configuration of Janick Gers and Dave Murray (up the go!)

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for more than 10 years but I am bass player so it is not me, just to beef or guitar hero (I am not!).

I love his grip, comfortable trs, his violin irrprochable. I dplore the absence of a true vibrato that can keep the agreement properly. (Not for me, I do not use it and I even gar stem)

Like all Peavey, this guitar plays the card of the solids containing recipes that have been proven.

The blues will turn to a "tlquot; the mtalleux to a BC Rich but the one you will accder for one low price a versatile scraper amricaine trs.