best mod for PV amp

Jeff Hogsten · Post by **Jeff Hogsten** » 16 Mar 2004 3:57 pm

Ive heard about a couple of people doing mods for pv amps and i think even PV themselves what do they do and is there much difference from one to another

Jeff

SCOTT TYLER · Post by **SCOTT TYLER** » 17 Mar 2004 7:00 am

Hello Jeff-
I can't comment on the LeMay Mod (which I don't have), but I had Mike Brown at Peavey do their mod on 2 Nashville 400's that I own ... Wow, what a difference!! Nice big lows, smoother midrange, and it doesn't cut glass on the high notes anymore. Call Mike at Peavey and you won't be sorry.

Jimmie Misenheimer · Post by **Jimmie Misenheimer** » 21 Mar 2004 7:40 am

This has been asked before, but why do you buy a brand new amp, and then have to have it MODIFIED to make it sound like something? Furthermore, have it re-done by the people that built it in the first place?? Jimmie

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 21 Mar 2004 8:28 am

The Peavey mod kit includes all the right stuff. What's great is that they use the burr-brown opamps which are truly high quality and great sounding components. You'll like the sound. Even if you want to keep the original voicing in the amp's EQ, you can just replace the opamps and leave the cap's alone.

Brad Sarno

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 21 Mar 2004 8:32 am

The New peavey amps already have the "mod" built into them. The mod is only for older models. Over the years people had decided that the frequencies that are set to the tone controls should move a bit. Also, technology has created better sounding opamps so that's part of the mod kit. I think it's great keeping these older workhorse amps up to modern tastes and spec's.

Brad Sarno

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 21 Mar 2004 9:18 am

I've never had a 400 that has the Peavey mod, so I can't speak to that. I do have a 400 that John Lemay did for me in '94.
The cost at that time $250 including shipping to and from John. Worth every dime. I don't see how anything could sound any better. Don't know or care what parts were involved in the service, all I know is that it is warmer, sweeter and all around more responsive than any amp I've ever had. I wouldn't take $1000 for this amp. Just for the record I have a Stereo Steel and a Tubeworks rig. The sound of steel in stereo is "bigger" but the tone of the 400 has them both beat.

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 21 Mar 2004 9:34 am

Brad,

Mega dittos,

carl

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 21 Mar 2004 9:59 am

The LeMay mod took my Peavey amp from "thin and honky" to "fat and solid"! Best money I ever spent. I appreciate Peavey's finally getting on the bandwagon and offering the mod, and then later making it a part of their circuitry. From what I've heard, the LeMay mod sounds just a little fuller than the Peavey one (and costs significantly more), but either is a vast improvement over the old stock sound.

Most of all, I thank John LeMay. If it weren't for his little "mod kit" hitting the market, Peavey would still be selling everyone those "honkers".

David Martin · Post by **David Martin** » 22 Mar 2004 9:11 am

I just got my Session 500 back from Peavey after having some work done and the Peavey Mod installed. They took what I thought was already a great sounding amp and BAM!- kicked it up another notch. I used it this weekend and it blew my socks off. Thanks Peavey and Mike Brown for the good job and service.

Ernie Pollock · Post by **Ernie Pollock** » 26 Mar 2004 6:16 am

I have to agree with Jerry above on those LeMay 400's. I just got one back that was very ill, I am still in shock as to the improvement of the Nashville 400 with John LeMays parts, I have never owned any amp that was anywhere near as nice for steel guitar as this Nashville is now, I probably wouldn't take $1000 for this one either. Hats off to John LeMay at Miracle Audio

Ernie Pollock

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Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 26 Mar 2004 8:54 am

Thanks for the support of our mod kits. Be sure that you compare pricing of the Peavey kit and our competitor's kits. The Nashville 400 kit doesn't contain more than $29.98 worth of parts though, so why pay $250.00 for a kit that should costs $29.98.

I was involved in determining how our kits sounded in each of the models that we make a kit for. It's not rocket science, it's part swapping to determine what voicing appeals to steel guitarists. We chose the OPA2604 IC's and did not mask them when placing them in our kits. Even though our competitor masks the IC's that he uses, I wonder if they are replaced with a different chip at all? Why are they masked? Just wondering aloud.

Thanks for this disussion.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 26 Mar 2004 9:24 am

Mike, everyone here is aware of and appreciates your involvement and accessibility to users of Peavey products, including myself.
FWIW, I don't believe Peavey's update
was available at the time mine was done. As stated in my earlier post, the $250 fee included the parts, labor and shipping and follow support from Miracle Audio. I believe his price has been reduced since then, but I have no regrets about my having spent the money. The users of Peavey's mod installation all seem to be quite satisfied also.
Have a good day!

Jack Francis · Post by **Jack Francis** » 26 Mar 2004 1:07 pm

I have not heard anything but the Peavey MOD that I just had installed in my MV400,,but
My band and I agree that it sounds awesome.

And at $82 including parts labor and shipping back to me, I believe it was the best money that I spent yet for my sound.

------------------
RUS-LER S-10 / NV 400
Randall rack amp system
TELE's & STRAT's - FENDER TWIN &
Seymour Duncan 50W tube amp

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 30 Mar 2004 11:51 am

I'm looking into modding my Session 400 LTD. I know the kit itself is inexpensive... what should I expect in terms of labor time for the work to be done?

There's an amp tech in Brooklyn, who is a Peavey authorized dealer/service rep... at $75/hr, how much is the swap going to cost me???

David Martin · Post by **David Martin** » 30 Mar 2004 12:19 pm

I had Peavey install the Mod in my Session 500 and do some other repair and it cost me more to ship than they charged for labor. Very reasonable and a good job too.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 30 Mar 2004 2:12 pm

Hey Jeff, isn't Flatwoods Billy Ray's hometown? If you're ever planning to be close to Louisville, drop me an e and you'd surely be welcome to come by and tryout my LeMay modded 400 for yourself.
I have a stock one to A/B with. JO

Wes Bakken · Post by **Wes Bakken** » 30 Mar 2004 6:24 pm

My sound has always been warm and fat and thus always had trouble cutting through to match the lead guitar player. Recently I installed the upgrade kit from Peavy and now my Nashville 400 does the dance. It has given me the warm fat sound and the highs are smooth and silky. I am very happy with this modification and it was fairly easy to do, it is like having a new amp. If you do the mod yourself, make sure you know the resistor and capicator color code and while you're in there, change out the other electrolytics as well. Other than that, pretty straight forward. $30 bucks is a real bargain for a new amp. Bought the Peavey in 88.
wes

Jeff Hogsten · Post by **Jeff Hogsten** » 31 Mar 2004 11:46 am

Jerry

your right, Flatwoods is Billy Rays hometown, his dad lived across the street
from me and sang in a gospel quartet with my uncle but I really dont know him but know a lot of his family real well. I may be i Louisville soon and get in touch, thanks for the offer Jeff

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 2 Apr 2004 5:37 am

I'm sure the LeMay mod is excellent. My only experience is with the Peavey mod:

I contacted Mike Brown at Peavey for the mod kit for my NV 400. Not only is the kit a great value price-wise, it also gave the amp a great tone it was lacking. The mid "honkiness" is eliminated and the lows are boosted. Overall, the amp has a warm, natural sound compared to the pre-mod tone.

Tool-wise, I needed a soldering iron (pencil-type), a little solder, phillips screwdriver, nut driver, pliers and I think that's it. The kit comes with schematic and pictoral drawings. From start to finish (and I'm slow and meticulous) it took about 2 hours of my time. If I had a de-soldering tool for the resistors and caps. the overall time would have dropped significantly. It's a fairly simple job. However, it does require knowledge of resistor color banding and capacitor types (mylar, electrolytic, etc.) That knowledge helps identify each component in the kit and their electronic values.

If you're not sure you can handle the job, Peavey can do it for you. Mike, what is the cost for Peavey to do the mod?

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn[This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 02 April 2004 at 05:57 AM.]

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 2 Apr 2004 7:00 am

Would an original Session 400 or LTD 400 benefit from these mods? I wouldn't touch mine, but I have never played through a "modern" PV amp.

bob[This message was edited by Bob Snelgrove on 02 April 2004 at 07:02 AM.]

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 2 Apr 2004 10:04 am

Mike B; my Peavey distributor charged me over $50 for the NV400 Mod Parts. That was 2 yrs ago. I finally installed it last winter and it was worth every cent. Good thing I had a capacitor checker though, them teeny weeny picofarad caps are hard to read :>)

Glenn; it also helps to have a big table top and one or two of them plastic bins with the little compartments.

The best reason to "mask" or otherwise obliterate the identification from the chips and components in your system is to let the rest of the world know how cheap, petty, and inconsiderate, and selfish your company is.
Then one could always be like IBM, they made their mainframe computer active and passive components into such weird packages that they wouldn't fit into anything else man-made[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 02 April 2004 at 10:06 AM.][This message was edited by Ray Minich on 02 April 2004 at 10:08 AM.][This message was edited by Ray Minich on 02 April 2004 at 11:58 AM.][This message was edited by Ray Minich on 02 April 2004 at 11:59 AM.]

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 2 Apr 2004 11:19 am

Glenn, it takes a good hour to install the kit. You will need some mechanical skills so that the circuit board can be removed and reinstalled. If you would rather send your chassis only to us, the factory technicians can install it for you. If no other problems exist with the amp, the labor will be $45.00 plus parts and return shipping.

I feel that you will be thoroughly satisfied with with the results. If you have other questions, please feel free to contact me here at Peavey Electronics.

Bob, as for modifying the original Session 400 amplifier, I haven't encounter enough owners of this amp that think that this model needs any modifications. Most all want it to remain "stock" since it sounds so good.

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation[This message was edited by Mike Brown on 02 April 2004 at 11:23 AM.]

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 14 Apr 2004 6:04 am

FYI:

The Peavey mod. kit for the Nashville 400 is part #90500048. When I bought mine, early last year, the price was $29.98 (plus S&H).

Well worth every penny spent .

Thanks again Mike B.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 14 Apr 2004 6:28 am

I just picked up a Session 500 off of e-bay and already have a mod kit ordered from Peavey to put in it. A case of making the good sound better!

P.S. The retail price for the mod kit is $36.35. Even a left-handed Norwegian from Minnesota can afford that!

Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 14 April 2004 at 07:30 AM.]