I never thought that I would ask such a question. Always used tube amps and considered ss as crappy sounding. Until yesterday ! I met with a guy who played his Sho~Bud Pro II through a Vegas 400 and the sound totally blew me away.
So I think I'll have to buy one sooner or later
but could someone tell me the difference in the various models? I found out there's a Session, Vegas, Nashville, Ltd. 400...and then 500, 1000, 2000 ....
They are all good. Taste is in the ear of the beholder. they all sound different. When I was with Johnny Paycheck,The only amps that would work for me and fit on the bus,and gave me the nessesary power was 3 nashville 400s,of course that was in 1985. Now I would use 2 nashville 1000s .A lighter easier way to get 600 watts and better ,clearer tone. Around Nashville now,I use a LTD 400 (1977).My favorite of all for tone is the late model session 400 LTD. Power and tone!! The new 1000 is starting to melt my heart though,You really have to know how to set it! Remember,Iv'e had all these amps for many years and had to use them daily. I care about tone as much as anyone could. No other brand of amp has ever matched Peavey for service,power,weight,lack of hum and noise. Tone is allways as good as your guitar is capable of producing.What goes in is what comes out! Most other amps cant say that! (most other amps cant talk)
Bobbe Seymour
Tele,My dear friend,
The Vegas,you asked about is basicly the same amp as the Nashville with the eception of two channels instead of one. Larger cabnet too. The session 500,Nashville 400,Vegas 400,Reno,L.A.400 All have active E.Q. all the others have passive E.Q.pre amps. I like the clairty of passive E.Q. Session 400,and 400 LTD and the LTD 400. Confusing model names to a german I know! Let me know and I'm always here to help. Anyone!! If you dont get good tone ,It doesn't matter what or how well you play!
Bobbe
Becareful not to get one of the earley 1000s .The first 100 or so weren't very clear sounding. You can buy new ones as inexpensivly as used ones and buy the time you figure warrentys etc, why not go new?(unless you can get it for 450.00 or so).
thanks for your information. The problem is you can get those Peavey amps very cheap over there. The 400s are about $300-350 which is what I'd pay right away. The real problem is the s/h plus all the extra duties. So it could become a $600 amp very easily. The 1000 that is f/s in Germany( thanks Martin for the lnk, I already emailed WB about it...) is about $700 but that would be ~$450 without the add. costs.
I think I'd be happy with an older amp so what should I look for ? the Session, Nashv. Ltd, Vegas???
I Have Had Nashville 400's Vagas. Ltd. 1000. The Old Session 400 Is The Best All Around Sound I Have ever Had. I Have Two Of Them Now + I Still Have A 100. Just My 2 cents. SONNY.
Bobbe pretty well answered your question about the different models.
I've had a Session 500, Session 400 and a Nashville 400 with the factory mod. The Session 500 is a great amp but it's weight is about the same as a Twin Reverb with JBL's. The Nashville 400, with the factory mod, comes very close to the old Session 500 in tone and is about 65 pounds.
I bought the Session 400LTD as a back up amp but never liked the passive EQ in it and had a lot of problems selling it and had to take a big loss to finally get rid of it, and it was basically like new.
If I were buying a new amp, I'd go for the Nashville 1000. If I were going to buy a used amp, I'd go for the Nashville 400 and if it didn't have the Peavey tone mod, installed that is the first thing I would do.
According to Mike Brown there were apparently two different speakers used in the Nashville 400's. The newer ones have the 1501-4 Black Widow speaker. Apparently the older ones have a different Black Widow speaker, possibly the 1502-4.
Nashville 400's with serial number 08575482 and above have the tone mod incorporated as part of the production.
According to the Peavey BW spec sheet I have the 1505 is primarily a PA system speaker and the spec sheet says it is "excellent for use as a woofer" (low freq) and it's frequency response extends to mid range.
Going by that I would say it is not the original speaker. Also, most Peavey steel amps, I've seen, use a 4 ohm model.
I just recently bought Gary Walker's Peavey LTD 400 with 15 inch JBL D130 speaker and it has that sweet tone that I used to get from my old twin reverb, and showman. I like the sound of it, and it is lighter weight than the Nashville 400 pressboard models....al
Hi Al, glad to hear the little LTD is doing fine. They are neat little package and I still have one with the Black Widow and a super wonderful Session 500 with the LeMay mod and a new Session 2000, PX300 and RC2000 and Peavey is the only show in town. Gary
I am using a Session 400 Wedge. The only one I have ever seen. I sit next to a guitar player with stacked Peaveys (Marshal look alikes)in a very, very loud band. I am seriously thinking about getting a JBL or a Lansing to replace the Blackwidow.
"I already emailed WB about it...) is about $700 but that would be ~$450 without the add. costs."
Andy, if you can buy a NV1000 over there for $700, do it. That is about the going price here. The amp lists for $1000.00 in the states.
You will not be sorry. It is the finest amp I've ever used.
I put 2 of them on stage for the Choo Choo show, and made some believers out of some unsure folks.
Bill Ferguson
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"Stop worrying about what makes a steel work and concentrate on how YOU make it sound"
