Fender Vibrasonic or Peavey Nashville 1000??

Zach Chastain · Post by **Zach Chastain** » 24 Oct 2014 10:56 am

I have the opportunity to purchase a fender vibrasonic or a peavey nashville 1000. There is a price difference but I wanted to know what everyone thought of these 2 amps. I am mostly curious about the Fender. I haven't been able to find much on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 24 Oct 2014 12:22 pm

If you mean Vibrosonic, that's a Twin with a 15.
If your prospective amp says 135W instead of 85 or 100W, I'd recommend the Fender hands-down.
If loud clean is a major consideration, my 85W crunches a bit when pushed hard. If you either don't go LOUD, or you mic the amp, you'll never regret the Fender.

Paul Sutherland · Post by **Paul Sutherland** » 24 Oct 2014 12:41 pm

I've played various Peavey amps for decades; mostly Session 400s. I haven't used the Nashville 1000.

Just recently I bought a 1971 Twin Reverb with a single 15 JBL. Basically the same amp as the Vibrosonic.

I strongly prefer the Fender over the Peaveys.

Zach Chastain · Post by **Zach Chastain** » 24 Oct 2014 1:17 pm

This is it. It's custom vibrasonic I think.

Paul Sutherland · Post by **Paul Sutherland** » 24 Oct 2014 1:47 pm

I're read about the Custom Vibrasonic, but not used one. It's an amp from the 90s that has printed circuit boards. It's not a point to point wired amp. Most people prefer point to point wired amps because they are easier to service and repair.

The Custom Vibrosonic is well set up for anyone playing both a pedal steel and an electric guitar. It has an all tube signal path so should sound great. I would buy that over the Peavey if I had to choose without playing through both first.

Hamilton Barnard · Post by **Hamilton Barnard** » 24 Oct 2014 8:20 pm

I had a Custom Vibrasonic and it was a fine amp. It was another amp I stupidly sold.

My only gripe would be wanting a speaker that was fatter in the mids than the factory Eminence.

Harry Johansen · Post by **Harry Johansen** » 24 Oct 2014 11:08 pm

I would go for that Fender

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 25 Oct 2014 5:22 am

A no brainer. Go for the Fender. It is heavy, but you can help that by installing a neo speaker. If it were mine, I would put in a Telonics or Eminence EPS 15c in it. The Vibrosonic is heavy and as others have said, it is a Twin with a 15 inch speaker. This was the killer sounding amp that Dicky Overbey used. I don't see how you can go wrong. You can always sell it and get a 1000 later if you don't like it. 1000's are on the forum all the time. Vibrosonics are hard to find in good condition and at a good price. The big plus, IMHO, is you are going to a tube amp instead of a solid state. Tubes just sound better (subjective statement)

Zach Chastain · Post by **Zach Chastain** » 25 Oct 2014 7:50 am

Well I've been playing through a peavey artist series tube with a black widow. It sounds good just cracks at high volume and I really like the sound of a 15 inch speaker. I've not played through a solid state amp yet that's why I'm curious about the Nashville.

Les Cargill · Post by **Les Cargill** » 25 Oct 2014 10:00 am

Getting an 85 watt amp to crunch is pretty loud. You only have one set of ears

Our Tele player has a reissue Twin - sounds great, but we kinda had to get him to take it off 5 in favor of 3 or 4. He's miced, so we don't lose him.

I'm using a Blues Deluxe with a microphone stuck in it. It's also plenty loud, IMO. But sometimes the sound guy has to add quite a bit of gain.

I'd love to pop for a Twin, but I fear an arms race. And the BD is pretty nice; the EQ is in good places for steel & Telecaster.

So far, I'm able to make do with one earplug.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 25 Oct 2014 10:56 am

I would go with the 1000.
One amp is a bonafide steel amp with a solid rep. The other... basically never heard of it.
fwiw, I own a 70's Vibrosonic.

Zach Chastain · Post by **Zach Chastain** » 25 Oct 2014 11:53 am

It's not maxed out the speaker is just going bad I think. It starts cracking around 4. But I'm going to go play through the fender and see how I like it.

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 25 Oct 2014 5:47 pm

I've owned both. Both were excellent steel amps.

The Custom Vibrasonic, while being a printed circuit board amp, was made in the US, and I never had any issues with the amp. Great amp for double duty as well. Reverb on both channels. I played baritone , and with the vibrato, it sounded really cool. I just had too many amps, so I sold it. I suspect Dickey had a Silverface Vibrosonic with a JBL, which is a bit different . Regardless, the Custom Vibrasonic was a solid amp for me.

I also liked my NV 1000. Like most peavey gear, problem free, and I thought it had a good sound. The effects loop would be a big plus. I traded it for a WEBB , but if you could find one for the right price, a good steel amp. I'm guessing a chip mod, and the same reverb mod ("Mod" tank) that folks are using on the 112s would warm things up on the 1000 as well.

Both amps have their merits. Do you want the tube vibe ? Tubes are cool, but they need to be replaced and biased occasionally. That's an expense. Some amp techs don't like to work on circuit board amps. The peavey will likely never need service , but if it does , it's fast and dirt cheap to send to peavey. The fender has vibrato, the peavey has the effects loop.

I wish I had them both back, but you can't keep them all.

Marty Holmes · Post by **Marty Holmes** » 26 Oct 2014 2:50 pm

I have owned every amp peavey made but always felt they sound a little sterile for my taste I actually have the silver and black faced vitro sonics both are phenomenal amps for guitar or steel.Chet Atkins cousin or nephew one played through my black face vitro sonicand tthe sound coming out of that amp was amazing for an 85 year old man play in a Gretchen country gentleman guitar just my 2 cents

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 27 Oct 2014 4:01 am

Ahh..I would use the Fender...I used a NV1000 for a while, not really liking the strong mids... way too strong for my taste...

Jim O. Underwood · Post by **Jim O. Underwood** » 27 Oct 2014 6:35 am

I have a 69 Fender twin with 15" JBL D 130F. Speaker has been reconed and amp heavily serviced. Sounds great and while it is heavy, I play steel and lead through it and don't have to carry two amps. I haven't been able to find a better amp within my price range yet.....haven't tried milkman, quilter, or telonics.....

Zach Chastain · Post by **Zach Chastain** » 27 Oct 2014 11:55 am

I played through it today and sounded great. I noticed it had the eminence speaker which is pretty good I believe. I'm probably going to go with the fender after playing it. I actually liked the guitar channel better than the steel.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 27 Oct 2014 1:39 pm

Get the Fender and put a JBL in it.

Justin Griffith · Post by **Justin Griffith** » 27 Oct 2014 6:31 pm

Dave Grafe wrote:Get the Fender and put a JBL in it.

+1

Lee Dassow · Post by **Lee Dassow** » 27 Oct 2014 7:04 pm

Fender is the best. Peavey is next. Just my opinion. Tennessee Lee

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 20 Dec 2014 2:24 pm

There's a 1960 brown Tolex Vibrosonic in my local droolgear shop. He wants $2000. If someone says they'll kick B0b some money if they buy it, I'll give more info. I haven't played thru it.

Tom Cooper · Post by **Tom Cooper** » 21 Dec 2014 12:41 pm

If it was vibro vs session 400 then would be different story for me. I would go with Session 400. Vibro and Twins just too heavy. I don't care much about tubes anymore. Just need clean power. Don't care how I get it.

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 30 Dec 2014 9:44 pm

I've owned both as well as All the NV series amps .. i play through a Vibrasonic with the Eminance neo 15 .. I like it a lot ... I do have it Modded a bit to make it cleaner and less noisy .. shielded Resistors on the input and a bunch of other mods that cut Emf .. I also have it Profiled in my kemper which is what i will be using more and more these days because of its flexibility .. Love My Vibrasonic over just about any other amp ..

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