The Steel Guitar Forum

I haven’t had a solid state guitar amp since 1993, but since I started playing steel last August, I thought I should have one, since every self respecting steel player seems to have at least one. I have several tube amps, but was looking for a small SS amp I could use in small venues. I didn’t really want to spend $400 on a used NV 112, so have been patiently perusing Craig’s List. A couple weeks ago, a Peavey Special 130 showed up for a pretty good price, so I bought it. It was seriously dirty, had some dead bugs in it, really scratchy pots and quit intermittently. Other than that it was great.

The clean-up just took some 409, Armor-all, chrome polish and time. Cleaned pots and Molex connectors with DeOxit. The intermittent problem was a lead had broken off of one of the capacitors, easily fixed. I have since replaced all the electrolytic caps, and replaced the OPAMPs with the Burr Brown chips. This amp is seriously easy to disassemble and work on. I also installed a switch on the front panel between the Post Gain of the lead channel and the Normal Gain knob to switch between the channels. Can still us a footswitch if wanted. For speakers, I tried three I already had, the original Scorpion, an Eminence Texas Heat, and a Black Widow (not sure which basket, but 8 Ohm with an aluminum cone). For steel, I prefer the BW, so that is in there now in spite of the weight. (Doesn’t feel much lighter than a Twin).

I am really liking this amp, especially the sweepable mid feature. Is sounds really good, with plenty of clean volume. I won’t be getting rid of the tube amps, but this is a nice addition to the group.

One question for the Peavey guys…Is there anything else I should be proactively replacing on this amp so I should not have to worry about reliability?

I feel the same way about the old Peavey Special 112 and have two. I prefer the sound over a NV112. I have posted about it as well but nobody cares.

dave: anyone that has not played thru a special 112 does not know what they will do. i own 9 different peavey amps and the 112 goes just about anywhere i do. i would love to find another one....thanks jack

...and the best part is finding one in an antique shop for $ 100. and it needed nothing!

dave: if you find another one and you don't need it, please give me a call....thanks jack

I assume the Special 112 replaced the 130? Looks like it is about 4 years or so newer.

howard: mine was mfg. in 1988....thanks jack

I have a Special 112 head that I've kept mostly as a backup. I tried it with various speakers, never could find a really great-sounding combination. Until today! My new EPS-12C arrived, and it's like they were made for each other!

tommy: i am glad to hear that, i should get mine tommorow to go in my 112....thanks jack

sorry for the hijack but how much weight will that save the 112? BTW you have to adjust the controls VERY carefully!

Very nice little amps indeed! I heard one with a Tele at the Nashville Steel Show a few years ago and it was just awesome!

I just picked up a dead mint (like new, really) LA400. Same amp exactly except 200 watts RMS and it is stock with a 12" Black Widow.

I am going to do the 2134PA Burr Brown chips for sure. I might do a full intense mod of the audio coupling caps (change them to tantalum) and Orange Drop tone caps as well.

I love reading this stuff about these old Peavey amps. This Rhythm Master 400 I found is similar in the fact that nobody knows about it but yet the thing is absolutely AMAZING! Great stuff guys. Thanks for posting!

these are amps you would love to hate,my first one was a pawn shop find and was a back up for 10 years, but it seems that I always went back to it because it always worked, would handle about any gig. i wojnder why these are not still made and why they are so under rated as a PSG amp.

I have had two of these and they are great amp for what they cost. About the best $ 200.00 amp you can find. If you get one you will most lkley have it for a long time, they are hard to kill. I put some of Ken Fox chips in my last one and WOW what a difference 1/2 hour of work and $ 30.00 bucks makes.
These are wonderfull with a tele and not al together a bad PSG amp, I wonder what one would be like with a 1203-4 BW....in all fairness the scopion works pretty darn well. Personally, if you can run into one clean, beat up or what ever you may not ever spend a better $ 200.00 or less
matthew

I have been raving about this amp for a while now. I had the Ken Fox chip mod done, huge difference. Honk out, glass in. That plus large voice emmin. spkr. and I have a 50lb amp that I can actually lift without trouble and get NV400 tone. I totally dig mine. Stripped the ugly panels and logo and armour alled it and it is a stealth SS tone monster. I fell out of love with tubes after several gig fails. BE and Mooney sounded great touring with their NV 400's. Certain old SS PV's have a cool growl/clean tone that is really usable. I love the reactions of the boutique kids at church. That's a SS PV? Ha! I need an amp that can be played at barroom levels unmiked and stay clean as well as studio/church situations, and doesnt weigh 70 plus lbs (twin/400). Had Mb200 but it died. Went back to old SS. One thing, you may want to get recap job. Seriously, if it sat for long time, they are prob dried out. Mine started cutting out at gig and sure enough, my tech said new caps were in order. I use my 130 for almost everything now. Chip mod and new spkr seals the deal. Glad to see 130 love.

looks like you already did the caps.

I have not done the caps, only the Fox chips (about a 1/2 hour job and the best $ 30.00 you can spend)
these are great amps, I would like to compare one side by side with a new n 112. One thing that is also cool aside from two channels is that you could run an addational speaker.
I belive these are a way under rated amp

The amp is rated at 130 watts into 4 ohms. If the internal speaker is 4 ohms you are done! Do not run an extension speaker with the internal speaker still plugged in, you could very well fry the output transistors. If the internal speaker is 8 ohms then you can in fact run an 8 ohm external. Other wise you are limited to the internal 4 ohm speaker or unplugging it and using a 4 ohm external speaker load.

I was blessed to find and buy this Special 130 a few days ago. It is a very clean example,and came with the foot switch. These are great amps.

Kind of funny, every time I see a picture of one of these, the order of the colored knobs is different. Anyone know how they came new?

The owner's manual appears to come in black and white, but all the pics I have found show just one blue and the rest white.
Logic tells me that goes on the Normal gain

The knobs are correct on the amp. Seen this color scheme on my LA-400 and countless N-400 amps as well. Typically white is pre gain, blue is post gain, light gray are tone controls, black is reverb. Dark gray used for the Saturation.

I drug one of these things all over the country, back in the eighties, playing 5-6 nights a week, 4-5 hours a night. It sounded great, and never failed me. I traded it to a guy from Ohio (I think) for a Twin Reverb. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, either. I look forward to the one I've got coming. Might be the best amp Peavey ever made.

Ken is right on about the knob colors. I have one I bought new and it looks as Ken describes. I also used one in the eighties with a telecaster and a compressor and loved it for guitar. I bought a Nashville 112 when I first started playing steel because I thought I needed a "steel" amp. Personally I like the 130 better for steel.

I bought a Special 130 for my wife to use with "her" pedal steel (she's learning and wants her own rig ). I was pleasantly surprised to find out it sounded REALLY good!...and that was with a Scorpion speaker!!

I removed the Scorpion and put a Blue Marvel in it and I like it as much as my N112.

If I was going to use it for gigs, I wouldn't trust the Blue Marvel to hold up to the 130 watts, so I'd put an Eminence in it.

A while later I found a Special 150 that needed a speaker, hardware, and knobs, and new tolex. (got it real cheap) I'll seriously customize that one. Should be a killer amp when I get it done.

I think they're great amps.

I would be willing to sell the Special 130 amp that I have pictured in this thread. I just got a package deal with a Nashville 400 in it , so I really don't need the 130. Thanks