Peavey Innovations Timeline

Late '50s – Early '60s: Hartley Peavey works in his father's music store, Peavey’s Melody Music in Meridian, Mississippi, which is frequented by rock 'n' roll, country and R&B pioneers including Elvis Presley

1957: Inspired by a Bo Diddley gig in Laurel, Mississippi, Hartley decides to become a rock & roll guitar player and begins building his own amplifiers

1964: U.S. Patent Office issues Hartley’s first patent (No. 3,151,699) for an early Peavey amplifier design; as of 2007, Peavey has earned more than 180 patents in the way we hear and play music

1965: Hartley establishes Peavey Electronics Corporation in the loft above Peavey’s Melody Music

1965: Production begins on the Peavey Musician™ amplifier, hand-built at a rate of one unit per week

1968: Peavey diversifies into P.A. systems with the extremely successful PA-3™, the first affordable sound system of its kind, which allows countless musicians to take their talents from the garage to the world’s stage

Early ‘70s: Rapid growth follows the success of the Peavey PA™ Series and new instrument amplifiers, as the company begins expanding from a single-plant shop to eventually 33 facilities

1976: Peavey Model 22™ compression horn driver and the new SP "Spider System" debut field-replaceable speaker technology, allowing users to replace blown cones on the fly instead of costly re-coning or replacing speakers

1976: Peavey introduces CS® 800 power amplifier, which offers 400W per channel and electronic-crossover modules that allows easy bi-amping; due to its innovative design and relentless reliability, the CS-800 becomes an industry standard

1977: Peavey revolutionizes loudspeakers with the Black Widow®, which features field-replaceable cone assemblies that remain a popular feature of Peavey loudspeakers today

Late '70s: Exclusive DDT™ (Distortion Detection Technique) circuitry senses the onset of power-amp clipping, then uses slight compression to prevent distortion while retaining maximum headroom and dynamics; originally issued as a CS-800 upgrade, this major breakthrough becomes standard issue on powered mixers, steel-guitar amps, bass amps and more

1977: With the T-60™ guitar, Peavey bridges the vintage and modern eras in instrument making by introducing CNC machinery to the production process, enabling Peavey to build consistently flawless instruments

1981: Peavey engineers employ new Focused Field Geometry™ (FFG) magnet technology to create more efficient high-performance loudspeakers

Early-mid '80s: Sound reinforcement line continues to expand with more specialized equipment, including large-format Mark™ Series mixing consoles and the further refinement of the CS® power amp and SP™ loudspeaker lines

1987: AMR™ (Audio Media Research) division launches and brings Peavey into the studio market with multi-track recorders, processing equipment, specialized studio microphones and monitor speakers

1987: Peavey introduces PVM™ Series microphones with exclusive diamond-coated diaphragms that add strength and produce a smooth audio response, combining the durability of a dynamic mic and the response of a condenser mic

1988: Peavey partners with Motorola® to incorporate its new DSP chip into the DPM® keyboard line—the first affordable synthesizers to feature upgradeable software—allowing keyboardists to simply update their software rather than buy new hardware

1989: Peavey establishes the Architectural Acoustics® division to provide sound solutions for the demanding commercial sound installation industry; Architectural Acoustics products are now found everywhere from supermarkets to theme parks to major transportation facilities

1990: Hartley Peavey inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California

1993: MediaMatrix®, the world’s first computer-based audio processing and control interface, revolutionizes the audio industry; now the world standard in configurable audio systems, MediaMatrix is the heart of audio systems in more than 4,000 airports, government buildings, stadiums, theme parks, event halls and more—including the U.S. Congress, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Las Vegas Strip

1996: CinemAcoustics® division introduces THX-approved Peavey power amps, digital processing and specialty loudspeakers for cinema use

1998: Peavey acquires Crest Audio®, a global leader in designing and manufacturing power amplifiers, live-performance mixing consoles and more for the pro audio, MI, touring and fixed-installation markets

1998: PageMatrix™, a landmark MediaMatrix product, is quickly adopted as the standard paging system for airports, sports arenas and performance theaters around the world

2000: Turbo-V™ Cooling is a patented power amp design that speeds up the air as it passes over the heat sinks, allowing the amp to cool faster and more evenly

2001: Patented KOSMOS® dynamic phasing technology debuts and is praised by top studio producers such as Kevin Shirley, who uses it to recreate the live sound of Jimmy Page's guitars on the hugely successful live Led Zeppelin DVD and Led Zeppelin: How the West Was Won releases

2001: Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame inducts Hartley Peavey

2002: Peavey launches its first web-based musical instrument Custom Shop

2004: Peavey introduces the Sanctuary Series™, the only audio product line designed to help houses of worship achieve stellar sound while solving common church-audio issues, including ease of use, feedback and aesthetic considerations; uses exclusive technologies such as Automix™, Synchrosonic™ Auto Delay, Mid-Morph™ EQ and Feedback Ferret®

2004: Guitar legend Joe Satriani collaborates with Peavey on his signature JSX® amplifier line

2004: Peavey acquires the exclusive license to craft Jack Daniel’s® musical instruments, amplifiers and accessories; the line launches with a pair of guitars that incorporate real Jack Daniel’s® barrel wood into their designs

2004: NION®, the next-generation MediaMatrix processing node, greatly increases the scope of possibilities for audio networks

2005: Guitar Player magazine honors Hartley Peavey with its first manufacturer Lifetime Achievement Award

2005: Hartley Peavey named to Vintage Guitar Hall of Fame and declared Man of the Year by The Music Trades

2005: Peavey announces a North American distribution arrangement with U.K.-based specialty bass amplifier manufacturer Trace Elliot®

2007: Peavey Custom Shop launches with an innovative web application that allows users to design their dream guitars with more than 16 million colors and hardware options at www.PeaveyCustomShop.com

2007: Orange County Choppers and Peavey collaborate on a Peavey-themed OCC chopper and a Peavey Custom Shop OCC guitar, which are unveiled worldwide during two episodes of “American Chopper” (TLC), “The Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) and the Fox News Channel