PEAVEY

Now celebrating six decades in the music business, Peavey offers something for every kind of player. CEO Courtland Gray looks back on the company’s most beloved products, including gear designed with Eddie Van Halen

- By Amit Sharma

WHEN WE THINK of the earliest electric guitar amps, names like Rickenbacker, Gibson, Vox, Marshall and Fender will often be the first that come to mind. Peavey came into the picture not too long after, with the company dating way back to 1965. Founder Hartley Peavey the son of a music store owner in Meridian, Mississippi - was a guitar player who dreamed of becoming a rock star, but quickly found out he was better suited to building the equipment being used by working musicians. This led to him acquiring his first patent in 1964 and starting the company from the upstairs room of his father's shop a year later.

Today the company is known for producing amps, guitars, basses, acoustics and ukuleles, as well as all kinds of pro audio systems and accessories. As current CEO (and Hartley's son-in-law) Courtland Gray explains, there is no singular Peavey sound; the company has manufactured equipment that's been used in all kinds of genres over the years. A lot of rock and metal players will be familiar with the Eddie Van Halen connection and the collaboration that gave birth to the original 5150 signature amps from 1992 to 2004, which continued as the 6505 after the partnership had come to an end. Then there are other big sellers like the Classic series tweed-covered combos and heads capable of delivering American-style Class A tones as well as a throaty British crunch - or the famously affordable and solid Bandit series that have graced stages of every size the world over. With the company celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Gray talks GW through the legacy and gives us a look into Peavey's future.

What can you tell us about the first Peavey amps?