FEATURE
An Interview
with Hartley
PEAvEY
Peavey Steve Cropper Classic
Hartley Peavey inspects the latest prototype for the
Steve Cropper Classic, which salutes Cropper’s history of coaxing soulful doublestops out of Tele-style
guitars. Production models of the Cropper Classic are
available with a mahogany back and flame maple top,
a mahogany neck, a 25 1/2” scale length, Seymour
Duncan pickups and Wilkinson machine heads.
BY JOE COFFEY
If there were an electric guitar/amp-manu-facturing version of Mount Rushmore,
would it feature the steely gaze of a fellow named Hartley? Many would agree
that Leo, Les and Jim would be the
Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln for
their work as namesake developers for
Fender, the Gibson Les Paul and Marshall
Amplification—three cornerstones of
modern music that can easily take credit
for creating and recreating the founding
tones that other manufacturers make a
business of emulating today. What would
a worthy fourth profile have to possess?
Someone with a pioneering, progressive
spirit (a la T.R. Roosevelt), who built upon
foundational ideals and modernized them
for new generations. One could argue
that the fourth face to be carved in stone
on the Mount Rushmore of modern gear
may well be that of the bearded man from
Mississippi—the man whose last name is
among the strongest brands in the music
industry: Hartley Peavey.
That seems a pretty lofty honor for a man
so often thought of in conjunction with
the memory of a “first” amp by so many
players under a certain age, but when you
consider all of his accomplishments, it’s easy
to see that Hartley Peavey is a worthy contender. He has done much more than most
people can recall, or may even be aware
of. Whether your measurement is longevity
(only Hartley and Jim Marshall have been
producing amps and running their own
companies for more than 40 years), innovation (Peavey has earned more than 180 patents) or sheer production volume (only a few
other companies are even in the same league
when it comes to worldwide distribution and
sales), Peavey emerges as a candidate to be
memorialized in rock.
In terms of professionals, some famous names
have certainly been on the Peavey endorser
and user lists: Carl Perkins, Merle Haggard,
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen,
Nickelback, Steve Cropper and Joe Satriani
immediately come to mind. As far as relevance
goes, one only has to go to Nashville (where
some of the most refined ears in the industry
reside) to see well-worn ValveKings and Classic
30s on Lower Broadway backlines and in
Music Row isolation booths.
