Hey Zach,
I bought this Peavey amp back in the 1990s as a more affordable version of a Fender. (Let’s face it, I was broke.) Doing some quick internet research tells me Peavey still makes amplifiers, specifically the Classic Series, but I can’t really find anything about my Blues Classic. Can you tell me anything about it and what it’s worth today?
Thanks,
Chad in South Carolina
Hey Chad,
Thanks for the question! I remember those days and the always difficult choice of trying to afford decent equipment or pay the bills. The good news is you happened to find an amp that was a relatively good bargain then, and still is today. Yes, you are correct that Peavey still produces the Classic Series, but let’s go back a bit to explore Peavey’s history and how your amp came about.
Hartley Peavey grew up in Meridian, Mississippi, and after spending time in his father’s music store, he began building his own guitar amplifiers while in high school. In 1965, Peavey decided to go into business himself and founded Peavey Electronics in his parents’ basement. He initially only built PA systems, but after rapid company growth, Peavey began building guitar and bass amplifiers in the 1970s.
Circa 1973, Peavey developed a line of Fender narrow-panel tweed-inspired amps, appropriately called the Vintage Series. These amps utilized 6L6 power tubes and relatively obscure 6C10 preamp tubes. The Vintage Series eventually evolved into what we now know as the Classic Series, with most of the amps utilizing traditional 12AX7 preamp tubes and EL84 power tubes. This is somewhat of an unusual combination, however, since it uses both American (12AX7) and British (EL84) tubes to make a unique sound. Think Fender meeting Vox.
Your Blues Classic has 50 watts output, a single 15"speaker, and the American/British tube combination of three 12AX7s and four EL84s. Italso has two channels, spring reverb, a master volume control, and an effects loop. While there is no directrelative of this amp in Fender’s lineup, it is somewhat similar to an early Bandmaster, Bassman, or a mid-’50s Pro, which all utilized a 15"speaker. Keep in mind that many blues/jazz players choose 15"speakers as they tend to not lose the treble/high-end tones, so it makes sense this amp was coined the Blues Classic.
You don’t see these amps very often, mainly because the Blues Classic was only produced in 1994 and 1995. That said, there are a lot of different Classic Series models out there. The most common/popular model is probably the Classic 30, which has 30 watts output and a 12"speaker, and is similar to a Fender Deluxe. Other models in the series include the Classic 20, Classic 50, Classic 100, and Delta Blues, and all are wrapped with tweed-style covering to project that 1950s look and music style.
When Peavey discontinued the Blues Classic in 1995, it retailed for $800, but you could probably have bought it brand new for about $650 with standard discounts. It’s worth between $325 and $400 in excellent condition today. It may seemlike the amp hasn’t held its value very well, but the reality is that the value hasn’t changed much in nearly 25 years. (The used value of this amp in the mid-1990s was probably between $325 and $400, too.) Most Peavey Classic Series amps are still very affordable today, including the models that were discontinued many years ago. And from what I’ve heard and read, these amps are generally favorably reviewed. Maybe that means it’s a hidden gem? I’m not sure, but it’s reassuring to me that there are still some legitimate deals out there.
Hartley Peavey continues as the CEO at Peavey, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015. The company still offers a full line of guitars, amplifiers, and PA equipment, and continues to innovate within the industry. Like many other guitar and amp manufacturers, Peavey now outsources most of their production overseas, but their headquarters remain in Mississippi.
Zach,
I received this guitar in 1989 as a birthday present from my dad, who traded his Honda motorcycle for the guitar and a Marshall amplifier. I have had it ever since, and play it regularly. I know there were not many of these made, so they have at least some limited collectors’ appeal, but I wonder if it is actually worth anything? The guitar is all-original, with typical scuffs and scratches that a teenager would inflict. It has a date stamp on the neck, of June 21, 1984, and on the body, of March 1, 1984. It’s small, light, and easy to play, which is why I have kept it around. What do you think?
Thanks,
Robert in Apex, North Carolina
Nice guitar and great story. Dads can be the coolest, right? In reference to the guitar being “small, light, and easy to play,” that doesn’t surprise me since Leo Fender was a pioneer in the electric guitar industry and he obviously knew what he was doing. That said, legend has it that Leo never learned how to play guitar.
In 1965, Fender sold his enormously successful company to CBS due to health concerns, and signed a 10-year non-compete clause as part of the deal. Leo’s health improved and he consulted for Fender after the company’s sale, but he largely remained out of the guitar business until the mid 1970s, when his non-compete clause concluded.
Along with longtime friend and associate George Fullerton, Leo started CLF Research in 1975 and began building instruments for Music Man (another company started by ex-Fender employees). The relationship between CLF and Music Man eventually went south, however, and CLF stopped building guitars for them in late 1979.
In 1979, Fender, Fullerton, and Dale Hyatt (another longtime Fender associate) started a new guitar company called G&L. G&L stands for George and Leo. Fender served as president and provided the designs and technical insight, Fullerton ran production, and Hyatt oversaw management and sales. Until Fender’s passing in 1991, G&L produced approximately 27,000 guitars with monthly production not reaching more than 800 instruments. It was during this time that Fender took his guitar innovation to another level and patented several new designs. As Fender was famously quoted in G&L literature, “G&L guitars and basses are the best instruments I have ever made.”
The HG series consisted of the HG-1 (one pickup) and the HG-2 (two pickups), and were only produced in 1983 and 1984. So, the date stamps on your guitar coincide with production dates. It’s estimated that just over 100 total HG models were ever produced, with less than five of them being single-pickup HG-1s. The HG series guitars were similar to the more common SC series guitars, but featured G&L’s Magnetic Field Design (MFD) humbucker pickups. The MFDs utilized a ceramic bar magnet with soft iron poles, rather than the more traditional alnico magnet.
Only about 100 of G&L’s short-lived HG-2 were made. The model features an offset maple body, a bolt-on maple neck, and the company’s Saddle-Lock bridge and MFD humbuckers.
The HG-2 features an offset maple body with double cutaways, a bolt-on maple neck, a 22-fret maple fretboard, six-on-one-side tuners, and G&L’s Saddle-Lock bridge (vibrato optional). The two MFD humbuckers are governed by a volume knob, a tone knob, and a pickup switch mounted on a half-moon shaped panel. The HG-2 was available in various colors, though it’s unknown how many different colors exist.
Based on G&L’s 11-year production of around 27,000 instruments, the HG series guitars made up about a 1/3 of a percent of all G&Ls built during Fender’s tenure. In other words, it’s a rare instrument, and G&L guitars from this era are quite collectible overall. Today your HG-2 is worth between $1,750 and $2,000, in very good condition as described. This value is also based on your guitar being all-original. Hopefully you’ll keep it that way no matter how much you play it!
After Fender’s death, his wife passed G&L on to John C. McLaren of BBE Sound, and they continue to build G&L guitars in the U.S. and overseas for their Tribute Series import line. I don’t know enough about motorcycle values to determine if your dad got a good deal or got swindled, but, in my opinion, you got a piece of history and a great guitar to play for years to come. Hopefully your dad never regretted his decision!
Sources for this article include researcher/historian H.L. Garrett and G&L: Leo’s Legacy by Paul Bechtoldt.
Hey Zach,
Back in the early 2000s, I bought this Eko sparkle-top guitar as a quasi-investment (’50s Strats were too expensive for my blood), thinking it fell into that cool 1960s guitar movement, with an awesome finish. I really don’t know much about Eko guitars, except a web search says they are still around, but how has my investment done over the past 15 years?
Hey Jim,
No doubt this is a cool-looking guitar (and a great color), but coolness rarely translates into desirability and collectability. That’s such a rare combination to find on vintage guitars. You are also correct that Eko is still around today, nearly 60 years after they began building guitars. So, let’s talk a little about the company’s history and how your investment is doing.
Eko’s history as a guitar maker started in 1959, but the company’s founder, Oliviero Pigini, was involved in the Italian music industry for many years before that—most notably with accordions. When World War II came to a close, many of the accordions Pigini was making were sent to America for distribution. One of those distributors was Lo Duca Brothers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which sold accordions, sheet music, and other musical items, but had also expanded into guitars and amplifiers by distributing the Magnatone line by the late 1950s.
When Pigini sensed the guitar boom coming, he started out by building traditional acoustics and small archtop guitars in Italy. As the electric-guitar market began to grow, the company looked to produce solidbodies as well. So, Pigini traveled to the U.S. and teamed up with the Lo Ducas to develop a line of electric guitars. The Lo Ducas acted as technical designers and provided input on Eko designs, and Eko continued to build the guitars in Italy with Lo Duca Brothers serving as the exclusive dealer in the U.S.
Your guitar, the 500/3V, comes from Eko’s popular 500 series produced in the early 1960s. There were quite a few variations of the 500 series, including different pickup configurations and the option of vibrato or non-vibrato. Because model names were based on their configuration, we know by name that your 500/3V has three pickups and a vibrato tailpiece. And with sparkle finishes, mother-of-pearl backs, and an abundance of switches, I think there’s little doubt that an accordion-making background influenced the design!
As the 1960s progressed, Eko moved towards more traditional finishes on their guitars, and they also built guitars for other companies, including Vox and Goya. By 1967, Eko had established dealers in nearly 60 countries, but it was also the same year Oliviero Pigini died from a heart attack.
When the guitar market began to soften in the late 1960s, and competition increased from Japan and other countries, Eko (along with many others) felt the pinch. Some companies went out of business or moved production overseas, but Eko instead scaled down and cut back on the number of models they offered. They were able to stay in business and focused more on keyboards and organs.
A mother-of-pearl back isn’t something one sees often, or ever, but it certainly hints at the accordion-design roots behind Eko.
The company’s popular line of Ranger acoustics came out in the 1970s, and artists such as Gerry Rafferty, Jimmy Page, and Mike Rutherford were all seen playing Eko guitars. Eko continued to produce guitars until 1985, and, remarkably, all in Italy up to that point. Oliviero’s brother, Lamberto, later took over the company and, with plans to revive the Eko brand, he released a line of Czech Republic-built guitars called “Eko’s Back” in 2000. Since then they have slowly increased production and reintroduced the Eko brand to consumers and artists alike.
I’m guessing (and hoping) you paid $500 or less for this guitar in the early 2000s. Today this guitar is worth between $700 and $850 in excellent condition. Looking back at historical pricing, it really hasn’t changed much in 15 years. Investing in guitars—or practically anything else—is more luck than science at times. Collectible guitars need a combination of desirability, originality, and uniqueness. (Think of ’58 to ’60 Les Paul ’bursts, which have all three.) Eko built a lot of guitars and your model certainly looks a lot like another brand’s guitar. And while the finish is cool and the pickup configurations are innovative, it hasn’t reached collector status today. Still, you have an interesting piece of history that at least is holding its value!
Hey Zach,
I acquired this Epiphone from a friend in the mid 2000s (serial number S93050042), when I thought I was going to become a rock star, but it has sat in my spare bedroom for well over a decade now, mostly collecting dust. My 4-year-old son is showing some interest in it and I’m wondering if I could let him mess around on it or if it is worth enough to keep it from getting beat up too bad. What is this worth today and do you think it is a good beginner guitar for my son?
Hey Jerry,
There is that old proverb “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” but don’t let that stop you from finding your inner rock star again and learning to play yourself! Your Epiphone is a PR7E and comes from their long-running Presentation series of acoustic instruments—first introduced in the late 1970s. Let’s talk some Epiphone history.
In 1957, Chicago Musical Instrument Co. (CMI), who, at the time, owned Gibson, bought Epiphone and merged operations with Gibson at their Kalamazoo factory. Both Gibson and Epiphone produced U.S.-built instruments throughout the rest of the 1950s and 1960s—some very similar and some unique to each brand.
As instrument manufacturers overseas became more prevalent, Gibson and Epiphone’s then-new owner ECL (later renamed Norlin) decided to outsource production of Epiphone instruments to Japan in the 1970s. This drew a distinct line in the sand for the two brands, between beginner/intermediate (Epiphone) and advanced/professional (Gibson).
Norlin then began moving production from Japan to Korea in the late 1970s, and by the mid-1980s, all Epiphones were built in Korea. (Today, instruments from Japan and Korea are generally regarded as some of the higher-quality imports, but that wasn’t necessarily the case back in the 1970s.) Beginning in 1997, Epiphone moved all its production to China and Indonesia. While some special Epiphone runs have been produced in the U.S., most of their instruments are still either budget variations of their Gibson cousins or beginner/intermediate guitars that Gibson doesn’t produce.
Epiphone’s line of guitars varied greatly through the ’70s, but the Presentation series of acoustics quickly became established in their catalog. Early PR models (PR 725, PR 735, PR 745, etc.) featured traditional-dreadnought body shapes with varying levels of wood and trim.
After the acoustic-electric trend gained momentum in the ’80s, thinner-bodied acoustics designed to be amplified flourished.
As acoustic-electric guitars became more popular in the 1980s, several manufacturers, such as Washburn and Epiphone, began producing thinner acoustics that were specifically designed to be amplified. The PR7E (along with its cousin, the PR-5E) falls into this camp. It’s a thin-body acoustic with onboard electronics and a sharp Venetian cutaway for upper-fretboard access. Introduced in the early 1990s, it featured a bird’s-eye-maple body, a mahogany neck, a 20-fret rosewood fretboard with diamond-shaped inlays, a rosewood bridge, gold hardware, a piezo bridge pickup, and an onboard 3-band EQ with mid sweep. It was available in natural, transparent black, orange sunburst, or heritage cherry sunburst, which is what your guitar is finished in. The PR-5E was very similar, but it had a mahogany back and sides, and a less elaborate, figured-maple top. The PR7E was produced through 2002 and the PR-5E is still offered today with a street price of $350.
There are quite a few of these guitars floating around in the used marketplace today, and a PR7E in excellent condition is worth between $275 and $325. The serial number tells us your guitar was built in 1993, which tells us it was built in Korea and helps with the value.
You can certainly buy a beginner guitar for much less than that today, but the important thing to consider is that this guitar has a full 25 1/2" scale, so your son likely wouldn’t be able to wrap his arms around it. For now, I’d suggest you find him a 3/4- or even a 1/2-sized guitar to play around with, and when it’s time for him to graduate to a bigger/better model, your PR7E will fit the bill perfectly. This isn’t a treasure in terms of monetary value, but it’s a well-built beginner guitar and we all have to start somewhere. Who knows? Maybe you could give it another shot and learn to play while your son does!