Bass Amp Opinions--Peavey TKO 115 S

[stormsedge]

I made the second hand/pawn store circuit today and ran across a Peavey TKO 115 S that can probably be had for less than a Ben Franklin. I didn't pursue checking it out today...thought I'd ask some of y'all about it first...what is your opinion of it, what to beware of?

It is likely I would only use it to mess around at my house, or at the most a small venue <200. Thanks in advance.

 

[mkdaws32]

80 watts - decently quiet and clean sounding bass amps, as I recall. The version with the Black Widow speaker was supposed to be an upgrade, but I like the Scorpion bass speakers at least as well. Try it out and see what you think - it’s been a long while since I’ve played one.

 

[Preacher]

Best sounding bass amp that I played just starting out. If it has the BW speaker ( I prefer that speaker over the scorpion) and you can get it for less than $100 do it!

 

[tah1962]

80 watts - decently quiet and clean sounding bass amps, as I recall. The version with the Black Widow speaker was supposed to be an upgrade, but I like the Scorpion bass speakers at least as well. Try it out and see what you think - it’s been a long while since I’ve played one.

A bass player in a band I used to play in had the TKO w/Scorpion speaker and I thought it sounded really good.

I was looking for a bass amp for home use and scored an Ampeg BA115-T in like new condition for $160. I couldn’t be happier with it.

 

[mexicanyella]

I have a TKO 115 with the Scorpion; mine’s the teal-stripe cosmetics variety from the early 90s (?).

It was supposed to be a cheap tough amp to get me rolling when I took up bass, but I have come to appreciate it quite a bit. The preamp and EQ controls are pretty flexible. There’s enough control to get some bad, or at least underwhelming, sounds...but if you keep at it you’ll come away with a better understanding of your instrument’s frequency spectrum and where you want to boost or cut.

The preamp stays clean waaaay up the pre-gain range and finally starts to get a little crunchy around 9 (driven by a passive split P-bass pickup).

At high volume some combination of pushed speaker, DDT speaker protection (onboard but not adjustable or defeatable) and maybe power supply capacity begins to introduce a limiting effect that feels to me like gentle tubes power stage compression. It gives a little bounce and fatness and I really like that. With my bass this really gets noticeable with both gains up around 7.

Between the Scorpion speaker, the amp’s EQ and the bright switch, The TKO has the EQ range to do a decent job as a guitar amp too.

But it is heavy, talk and awkward. It sucks to move around, but at least it sucks to move around and while you are moving it around, it is really sucking.

 

[mexicanyella]

Also, my band is a trio of loud knuckleheads. Against a loud basher of a drummer and a 100-watt Marshall, an 80-watt TKO is marginal even in basement practices. Dropping some lows and pushing the mids to maximize headroom helps, as does raising or tipping the amp so it’s aimed at your head.

in a more restrained musical environment it might cut it...drum less, or with a percussionist, or mostly acoustic instruments...but for me it’s my emergency backup amp for the band now, and the rest Of the time it’s my utility home jamming amp for guitar, bass or lap steel.

 

[W.L.Weller]

It's almost impossible to do better for the money than old Peavey gear. I bought a KB-300 for $50 and put an Eminence Beta 15 in it, we play loud and it keeps up without breaking a sweat.

The bass amp I have is an Acoustic B200 head and the 810 and 115 cabinets (that amp can't run both of those cabs at once) Even though all 3 of the Acoustic items were bought used, the cheapest configuration (head + 115) was $200. Is it twice as good as a TKO? No way.

 

[matmosphere]

A friend had one back in the day. Sounded pretty good. For that money I’d say it’s definitely worth it if you are in need of a bass amp.

heavy though. Not one I’d want to carry around everywhere.

 

[stormsedge]

Excellent input, thanks...I'll pop back over there Fri/Sat and give it a quick thrash.

 

[schmee]

They are pretty good. I've played with a couple of bassists that used one.
-Heavy as a tank to move though!
-Be sure the controls work well and the sliders on the EQ work and aren't noisy.
-Be sure the speaker is good especially if it's the big Scorpion ... can be expensive to rebuild!

 

[mkdaws32]

I can’t remember for sure, but I “think” the Scorpion equipped model is noticeably lighter than the BW equipped model. The 115 S would be the Scorpion equipped model. I always hated Scorpion guitar speakers, but loved them for bass!

 

[Whatizitman]

I made the second hand/pawn store circuit today and ran across a Peavey TKO 115 S that can probably be had for less than a Ben Franklin. I didn't pursue checking it out today...thought I'd ask some of y'all about it first...what is your opinion of it, what to beware of?

It is likely I would only use it to mess around at my house, or at the most a small venue <200. Thanks in advance.

Tour? HEAVY and awkwardly bulky. Not bad if you're at home. But no way would I lug one around for gigs. There are so many cheap and lightweight options nowadays.

EDIT: Not a Tour? Still heavy, but not as awkward. Still not my first choice. I'd shop around a bit for something newer and lighter. That's just me.

 

[beyer160]

It's almost impossible to do better for the money than old Peavey gear.

I totally agree.

It's not sexy, but old Peavy gear is cheap, practically bulletproof, and even sounds pretty good.

 

[Tele-beeb]

It's almost impossible to do better for the money than old Peavey gear. I bought a KB-300 for $50 and put an Eminence Beta 15 in it, we play loud and it keeps up without breaking a sweat.

The bass amp I have is an Acoustic B200 head and the 810 and 115 cabinets (that amp can't run both of those cabs at once) Even though all 3 of the Acoustic items were bought used, the cheapest configuration (head + 115) was $200. Is it twice as good as a TKO? No way.

Are you saying you use the Peavey Keyboard amp as a Bass amp? Does it ever get a bit dirty?

 

[W.L.Weller]

No, the KB-300 gets used for keyboards, but the Elka string synth has the same 42 Hz low E as a regular bass, and it can totally hang.

My positive comments regarding old Peavey gear were meant more generally.

That being said, if you needed to play electric bass through something, you could definitely do a lot worse than a KB-300, especially if you have a "character" preamp.