I quote here one really interesting post from TDPRi forum about Peavey amps serial #, as I hava lot of love (LOL) for them. Thanks Larry.

Serial Numbers For Peavey Guitars. Serial Numbers For Peavey Guitars Rating: 5,6/10 8613 votes. Destiny (made in USA 1989-1994). Destiny. Most guitar manufacturers put a serial number on each instrument they produce. This number can be used to date a guitar and in some cases tell where it was made. Roger Crimm Member Posts: 724 Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 pm Location: Meridian, MS USA Postby Roger Crimm Fri Jun 26, 2009 am Peavey Electronics is very proud of its long tradition of.

Peavey Electric Guitar Models

Years ago, Roger Crimm of Peavey Customer Service posted to the Peavey forum about serial numbers that Peavey had used. In the decade of the '80s, serial numbers were made up of a 2 digit prefix and an 8 digit serial # following that. The prefix indicated the year of manufacture, followed by 8 digits in the rest of the serial number, which was the pattern.

The first digit of the prefix was a number, indicating what year in the decade the piece was manufactured. That was followed by a letter, which IIRC ('If I Recall Correctly,' in case you were wondering) indicated the type of gear in question. And in the lower right hand corner there was a number and a letter corresponding to the year the prefix indicated.
So, for example, my Bandit 65's serial # is 4A-01900152, so my Bandit 65 was an amp manufactured in year 4 of the 1980s, i.e., 1984. And in the lower right hand corner of the nameplate is the designation 84C, which corresponds to the year indicated in the serial number.
IIRC, some time in the early 1990s, that serialization system changed. My Peavey Studio Pro 112 TransTube (1995 or 1996, I believe) has an 8 digit serial number without a prefix. But then again I have an old Peavey Envoy 110 teal stripe that is a 1990, and uses the serialization system of the 1980s.
The Solo Series Bandit 112 was manufactured after the Bandit 75, beginning in 1988, continuing to 1995. In my limited experience, a teal stripe such as yours would date from 1990 on. Your serial # 1A-05016114 still follows the system used throughout the 80s, and apparently into the early 90s. So that prefix indicates an amplifier manufactured in year 1 of the decade. Also, that number in the lower right hand corner, '91B,' corresponds with a 1991 date.

__________________
Larry G
The soon to be famous musician/Cranks out Top 40 tunes in a bar/While his mind is somewhere on vacation/Far away from his voice and guitar
Bob Bennett

Following this review, my old Bandit 112 was a 1989 product !

When Peavey initially began producing the Wolfgang guitar in late 1996 (most were produced in 1997) it only came in the Standard model (the Special had not been introduced) and it was available in six colors. It came in Black, Ivory and 4 curly maple (quilt top) options. These were red, amber, purple and sunburst (shown above). People often refer to the Sunburst as 'Tobacco Burst', but to the best of my knowledge Peavey did not make a color with this name. There is just the one sunburst color that can look very different in photographs based on the lighting. The Gold top was added later in the year and was used to primarily to paint guitars a color other than black when a top was rejected for one reason or another. Also, only the tremolo model was produced, other than a few prototypes (see #1542). The 'stop tail' or fixed bridge model was not introduced until the 2nd year and never came in a quilt top. There were no 'Specials' the first year. EVH played a Sunburst original year quilt throughout the VH3 tour and the 2004 tour. Unfortunately he smashed it the last show in Tucson along with another guitar in an unfortunate display of anger about who knows what.

As everyone likely knows EVH had been with Music Man (Ernie Ball) from 1990 through most of 1995. During that time they produced approximately 6000 Music Man EVH guitars, or 1,200 per year. This is a number directly from the company. Most of the tops on the MM guitar were (are) exceptional. However, by the time the Wolfgang came along, getting good quality curly maple at a reasonable price was becoming difficult. Peavey and EVH had a price point they wanted to meet and the quilted maple they were getting was not to either of their satisfaction. So after only 1000 to 2000 (I have new information as of April 2006 suggesting the real number is closer to 1,000) quilt tops were produced, Peavey switched to flame maple from curly maple. They made a lot of Black and Ivory guitars (especially black) during the first year, and later Gold as well. They had roughly 8,000 orders in year one for the Wolfgang and didn't begin to fill them all. The rumor was that Ed was very unhappy with the overall quality of the tops, and rightfully so if he was judging them against his Music Man. So rather than raise the price of the guitars to get the more highly figured materials they switched to flame maple. This is how the story has been told to me by several people at Peavey. Also, 1,000 to 2,000 may still sound like a lot but it is not that many for a production guitar like this and probably less than half are still in collectable condition. That is only an average 250 to 500 per color.

I can tell you from first hand experience that the tops on the first year quilt tops vary greatly. In a sheer judging contest of the quilting qualities of curly maple they would perform rather poorly. However, the great deal of variation in the wood is quite unique and I personally believe this is their charm. They are not the standard run of the mill quilts. If you go out looking for the ultimate quilted top you will be disappointed with almost all of them. It is rare to find a super nice one. In fact, I have never seen the ultimate quilt top on a production Wolfgang. Even the red quilt in their original brochure is not a great example. If you go out looking for the beauty in the variation of the tops and their unique qualities you will be quite pleased.

I have had several amber original year quilt tops. By chance I ended up with 2 consecutive serial numbers. They are very different. The pair (consecutive serial numbers) are shown below. Click on the thumbnail picture to see the larger picture. Notice the difference in the quilts. So while there were only four colors produced, they varied greatly within each color. One reason is that the method they used to stain the tops did not provide for consistent results. They later solved this 'problem' so that the staining process could be repeated with consistent results. However, I think the fact the original year guitars did turn out different is part of their unique quality. The guitars do not fade as much as the Music Man because Peavey had a better UV block on the first year models than Music Man, but it wasn't until about the 2nd year that Peavey developed a unique UV blocker they put in the paint that prevents the fading almost entirely. Music Man had all kinds of problems with serious fading (see the Music Man section). It is too bad Peavey didn't develop the advance UV block in time for the First Year models. I have not noticed any real color change from fading though, except in the Purple as they might turn a little darker. I also saw a red on eBay that looked faded. However, it is so hard to tell because the color staining was not consistent.

When you consider that on average that 250 to 500 per color were likely produced, this is a much rarer guitar than almost anyone realized. Just getting the number produced from Peavey has been very difficult. The number I am using is the best guess from someone who was involved in production and has been there quite awhile. They originally said probably 'n