The Steel Guitar Forum

Has anybody out there ever cut down a Session 500 to just the preamp section? I want to keep just the pre, go into a digital amp, then a cab. Thanks in advance for your input on this.

Leroy Deuster was telling me about having done something similar. Not sure it was preamp only, though.

Might be easier to just look for a Stereo Steel preamp unit. It's based on the Session 400, which I assume would be similar, if not the same, as a 500.

But then you would lose the "String Section" and the Phase Shifter.......

True Jim. I have one of these amp in my possession. I want to leave the cab. power amp, reverb intact and just make a new box for the pre. Just need to know how much power the pre needs.

Ask Peavey

That is my next call. Just thought I'd mine the forum first. An excuse to to be on here...

Looks like + & - 15Vdc. You can probably find the schematic online or Peavey will send it to you.

I have decided to leave the amp unmolested. It just sounds too good to mess with. Just have to hire a moving company when I need to use it.

The Session 400 and 500 have different EQ. The Session 500 has the Peavey "Parametric" EQ system, the same as the Nashville 400/1000/112. The Session 400, either the original or reissued does not have the Parametric EQ.

If I was gonna do that and I have myself several times is just buy a rack mount studio preamp with EQ like a Neve or API. That's what steel players are ultimately playing through in Nashville when they are making a hit record. The EQ in the Neve 1073 and 1081 Preamps is sweet. Far superior to anything in a Peavy amplifier.
I'm presently using a 1073 in my rack now and have owned an entire API Legacy console with 32 equalizers that was $1100.00 each just for each equalizer module.
You can get a preamp/EQ combo for about $2,000 to $3,000 depending on which model you get. I would hate to chop up a working Peavy amp. It would be easier just to copy the Peavy circuit on a breadboard and make your own preamp. You can even buy empty chassis. Only takes a few parts and an a couple of opamps.

I might add to what Jack said. Certain models of Peavy amps sound different and not because of the features. My favorite Peavys are the early ones that used a discreet transistor preamp such as the original Session 400 and the hybrids like the Artist 240. Not the Artist VT. Those had discreet transistor Preamps just like the high end Neve and API studio console Preamps only with slightly lower specs. The VT had the new integrated opamps as well as the Session 500 and the Nashville 400. That's why the old Session 400's sound so much different. Also those early Peavy amps EQ's were copies of the old Fender amp equalizers. Just cut and boost. No parametric sweeping.
The Session 500 however is the best for ear damaging brutal power if you need it. It won't even flinch as it drowns out a heavy metal rock band.

I don't play enough to justify the cost of the real high end gear. Just a weekend warrior. I can however verify the power statement you made. In 94 I did a clinic with Carmine Appice on drums. Stadium drum level in a brick room. I played a tele through a Session 500 that day, just to keep up. He even mentions in the clip that he asked me to turn up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSu3nytwiUc

Session 500 is a beast. I've been turning some jazz guitar players onto the Session 400's and 500's. All that power means you have a cleaner sound at low volumes. Only the blues/rock players hate them because they won't break up (distort) until they are as loud as an old Boeing 707 throttling up for takeoff.