The Steel Guitar Forum

After four years of diligent practice, I am finally established with a band and working towards my first club date, upcoming in September. My sound is prefaced on some vintage L9 amplifiers, which I have refurbished with fresh electronics and JBL 15" speakers. The L9's provide clean, clear sound at healthy volume levels when played in a cool, stationary living room, but do not stand up well in hot, stuffy rooms after 80 mile week-end road trips and loading/unloading from a truck with a moving dolly. After a continuous run of vintage amp mallfunction, I am ready to throw in the towel on the L9's. I also have a vintage Fender Twin modified for a 15" speaker, which sounds great once you get over the signifigant hum produced by the tube amplifier circuit. I am considering going to a Nashville 1000. Will this amp stand up to grueling road conditions, including stretches of dirt road? Will it stand up to hostile electronic environments, including rehearsal halls without earth-ground wiring? Does anyone know of an amp that can take a licking and consistantly perform? Any input appreciated.

billr, Amado AZ

Bill,
there is no amp that can't be destroyed.
I believe a transistor amp can have more dirtroads then a Tube-amp, but the rule is, take care of your amp and is does take care of you JJ

The most sturdy amp I have ever used was made by Peavey. I had a Nashville 400 that was indestructable.

Bob

I've got to go with that Peavey rating as well. It's just a fact of life. And I'm ashamed to say it but last night I threw a tantrum and really pushed my DPC-1000 to the limits.

After three hours of being boomed to death by a new bass player, I shoved my level to the top and when everyone had stopped gasping I asked: Now is that loud enough or do I need to go higher ?? I put my bar and picks on the Carter, turned my power off and went to the bar for a few cool drinks.

When we finished playing with our closing theme (Yes, I went back and he went down on the volume...) Sleep Walk, it was the best we had ever played it and the folks told us so. One of our singer's wifes had tears in her eyes. What can I say ? 40 some years and I still don't get it.......

Regards, Paul

I have used two Peavey 400's for years. When you consider the temp. of -20 degrees in the winter and 100 degrees in the summer with being move in the back of a pickup truck, I have never had one fail.They just keep going..going...going.

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What's an "L9" amplifier? I've never heard of it.

I think that Mesa/Boogie combo amps are among the most durable out there. I've been using them for 20 years and I've never had a manfunction.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (E7, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

I have to go with the " take care of" part of this thread and the Peavey part. I have had a Bandit 65 Solo Series that has been hauled all over SO CA and Vegas since '85 -- never a single problem. Went to steel after destroying both shoulders and now have 2 Nashville 400's I have picked up in the last 3 weeks, I expect to have the same luck with them as well. Good with with your search for your perfect system, everyones got one.

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Steven

GFI Ultra S10 Keyless
Nashville 400
Peavey Bandit 65

billr,
Tube amp circuits don't typically
have a hum to them. I've got an old
original '65 Twin Reverb that's perfectly
quiet. If fact I've heard some solid
state amps that are actually a bit
noisier (as far as hissing) than many
tube amps. Your old Twin just needs
a little service. Maybe a dried out
filter capacitor or bad ground somewhere.

Bill,I think your best bet is any of the Peavey's...I have 2 Session 500's a Session 400, and a Nashville 1000..You cant beat them for reliability, sound, and service if you need it..A solid state amp is definately tougher when it comes to hauling around..

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Jerry Wallace-2001 Zum: D-10,8+6, "98 Zum: D-10,8+8,Nashville 1000,Session 500 ,Session 400 head only amp,Tubefex,ProfexII, Artesia, New Mexico
http://communities.msn.com/jerrywallacemusic

90% of the time my 1978 Peavey Session 400 gets the nod. Once, an over zealous stage helper jerked a cord that was underneath the amp stand. I just knew that was the end of my Session because it did the back flip right into a real nice set of Slingerlands. We set it back up, and it played as normal. The Slingerlands got a little bruised.

Thanks to everyone for your replys. Sounds like Peavey has the majority vote for road durability. I should have explained a bit more about the amps I am currently using. The LabSeries L9 is a solid state 100W amp designed by Robert Moog and marketed by Gibson in the 80's. It doesnt make a good steel amp unless you replace the stock EV 15" speaker with a JBL. The amplifier circuit consists of op-amp input stages, a push-pull transitor reverb amp, and power transistors on the output. While it looks good on paper and provides crisp, clear amplification with low noise at high volume, it is temperature sensitive and does not like the heat. Thanks again to all.

Sincerely,

Bill Rasmussen

Bill;

I have to agree on the Peavey amps. I had a '70's Session 400, a '80's Session 500, an early 80's Nashville 400 and Vegas 400. Currently I'm using a Session 400 Limited and a '70's LTD. They were all very dependable and durable.

I re-solder the '70's LTD about every 8-9 months. Vibrations riding down those dirt roads shake stuff loose and it starts to hum. Re-soldering it has corrected the problem every time. It has always worked though.

(knock wood!)

I do that because during the course of the last two weeks, the delay in my effects rack decided to start crackling - blew out a high pack 15" JBL speaker in the mains - My brother, Wayne, our band leader, blew out the Peavey Scorpion "12 speaker in his amp - two separate Intel's, (fancy moving lights,) went down, too. I think it's the humidity, but don't know for sure.

For your heat sensitive amps, try getting a small fan. I've seen a lot of amps with a fan blowing into the back. Might work and would save you some money, too!

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Another Peavey testimonial.

A very good friend of mine, who happens to be my mentor, rolled his SUV a couple of months ago with two Nashville 400s in the back. Both went for the full ride and one of them even flew out the back window.

Both amps escaped with very few scratches and apparently no affect on the operation.
Paul came out battered and bruised but the amps laughed it off.

I just wish we could figure a way to make something that indistructable weigh about half as much.

Tony Orth
Dekley S-11 (that's right, S-11)
Peavey Session 400

Well,here is aplace for a story I've been awnting to share for a long tme. In May 1999 my wife and I were involved in a seious accident. My van was totaled,we were both hospitalized and all my equipment thrown up and down the highway. Included was {2} Session 400s and a Carter guitar. One amp had a broken cabinet. After 6 weeks of recovery, everythng was checked and worked just fine. YEA PEAVEY. G# was out of tune.

I used to play with 2 Nashville 400s and really liked them. However, I replaced them with a rack mounted unit that sets along side my steel and then 2 15" extension speakers with Black Widows in them. I rather prefer this setup. But I never had a problem with the 400s. I'm just a gear nut I guess.
Keep Picking! Erv

* <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 06 May 2002 at 10:11 AM.]</p></FONT>