New Peavey Amp in 2015??

[Malcolm]

I have heard that Peavey will introduce a new steel amp in 2015. Will be interesting to see what road they go down, will it be a top of range model to compete with Telonics ,Little Walter etc , middle of road model to replace 112 or likes of MB200?Be interesting to see what is built in to amp in way of features like power,weight, effects and of course price.I would love a Telonics but unless a lottery win is coming, it is totally out of my price range, so will continue with my ultra low weight but powerful MB200, with my 112 as a back up which both are good amps.

[Ken Byng]

Looks as though it might be a Robert Randolph model. On the other hand, it may well not materialise.

[Malcolm]

Jeff Surratt was told by Hartley Peavey, no less ,that new model was coming out.Jeff posted this on Facebook some months back.

[Ken Byng]

Mike Brown from Peavey asked on the US steel forum for suggestions of what features people would like to see on a new amp. This was about 3 years ago. As you can imagine, there was no commonality of response with virtually all permutations being suggested. Therein lies the problem. Do you make an amp based on your own thoughts of what makes a great steel amp - à la Dave Beaty - or based on what the consensus have indicated that they want?

I like the idea of an amp or guitar designed and manufactured by a steel player, as they have first hand thoughts on what they would like to see/hear. The majority of modern steel guitar companies are headed by a player, rather than a non playing engineer. This has resulted in very playable and nice sounding guitars being the norm.

As a commercial activity, making steel guitar amps is not a viable and sustainable business. Peavey must have realised this fact many times over in the past decades. It is this fact alone that makes me wonder why on earth they would want to set up and build a new steel amp for the kind of numbers that are likely to sell in the hundreds at best. 6 string guitar amps can sell in thousands world-wide, and that market is very sustainable.