Sweetwater's relationship with Peavey runs exceptionally deep, which makes sense, considering the incredible breadth of the products they have to offer. We also have to respect both Peavey's inspiring spirit of innovation and dedication to providing customers with solid gear, no matter what kind of music gear they need. Together, these have made Peavey one of the easiest brands to recommend to gigging musicians, live sound engineers, and many other regular Sweetwater customers.
In the course of over half a century, Peavey has managed to earn more than 180 US patents, making them one of the most prolific innovators in the music gear industry. In fact, a year before Hartley Peavey established his brand, he'd already patented his first amplifier design, which he quickly followed with a design for the first truly affordable small-stage PA system. But that was only the beginning. In 1977, Peavey pioneered CNC guitar manufacturing (a process used by virtually every guitar maker today), followed by clipping prevention on full-scale sound-reinforcement amplifiers.
In addition to guitar breakthroughs such as the 10-channel Programax-10, Peavey also pioneered developments in Class D amplifier technology, ultimately allowing them to create powerful, lightweight, and low-heat PA amps well ahead of other live sound gear producers, with the introduction of the IPR line. In 1993, Peavey introduced MediaMatrix, the first computer-based audio processing and control interface on the market. This technology is still found in thousands of installations in the US alone. Other amazing contributions to live sound technology range from Peavey's popular Black Widow speakers to their Versarray ribbon line-array systems, which have provided sound reinforcement for some of the largest tours in the country.
On the guitar technology front, Peavey broke a lot of new ground over the years that changed the guitar gear manufacturing industry and filled many important niches. By the '80s, Peavey took their already popular guitar amplifiers to the next level with a tube-emulation technology that led to their TransTube system — one of the first truly realistic modeling engines. In the early '90s, Peavey created the forerunner to the 6505 guitar amplifier, a perennial favorite with hard rock and metal guitarists. A partnership with Trace Elliot brought world-class bass amp design to a broader range of players than ever.
Peavey plunged into the future of guitar technology with ReValver in 2008, opening up extremely detailed tube amp simulation to DAW software platforms. Their Vypyr guitar amps put them on top of the modeling amplifier market as well, earning the Gold Award for Overall Value from Guitar World. And among the many cool innovations Peavey introduced in the 2010s is the AT-200 self-tuning guitar with Antares Auto-Tune technology onboard. With their forward-thinking originality and a devotion to delivering "quality gear at a fair price" for over 50 years, Sweetwater is happy to recommend Peavey products.
