1978 Peavey Mark III 400GH, worth it?

[Tommygunn]

There is a guy on CL who wants it plus a 'bullfrog' cab for $140. is that worth it? Seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Thanks,

[will33]

If everything works like it should it's worth it. I don't know what a "bullfrog cab" is but if it works, there's $140 worth of something there IMO.

[Tommygunn]

He said the only thing thats wrong with it is the phaser (sp) is broken. And by the looks of it this was his rig for years so I'm thinkin it will work. If not, I can always resale the cab and get an acoustic cab or something. Thanks

[nashvillebill]

Bullfrog, also known as BFI, was a smaller manufacturer of speaker cabs in the 80's. Decent cabs, maybe not great but not trash either.

A 400GH? That's a guitar head, I'm pretty sure, especially with mention of a phaser. Though it's got tons of power, I do not think this is an optimum setup for bass. Was the CL guy using it with bass or guitar? What's the cab (1x15, 2x12, open back, sealed back, ???)

[pnut166]

Originally Posted by nashvillebill

A 400GH? That's a guitar head, I'm pretty sure, especially with mention of a phaser.

Wasn`t there nearly identical models of this head - one for bass and one for guitar, with the guitar having the addition of the phaser ?

[Tommygunn]

He said he used to use it and the phaser sounded pretty cool until it broke. So I'm guessing it works for bass. It'd be a step up from my 10watt guitar amp I'm running through D:

Here's the pics.
http://images.craigslist.org/3n63kd3...58be731278.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3nf3p33...f2200e15e4.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3nf3pe3...b873fd18de.jpg

And he was using it with a bass.

Thanks guys

[nashvillebill]

Originally Posted by pnut166

Wasn`t there nearly identical models of this head - one for bass and one for guitar, with the guitar having the addition of the phaser ?

Yep, all of those series--starting with the 200 series, then the 300 then 400--had both guitar and bass versions. The Musician 400 was one of the guitar versions I recall.

Same power amp from what I could discern on the schematics, at least on the earlier versions, but the preamps were "voiced" a little differently (in addition to having guitar stuff like phaser, etc). By that I mean the EQ had its mid-range placed slightly different, maybe more treble roll-off on the bass version, etc. It would still work for bass but some playing with the EQ would likely be necessary, to get more of a bass tonal response.

The original Series 400 amps were rated at 200 watts into 2 ohms and 140 into 4 ohms (the 400 was "program" watts), this I am sure of (I have one). Going from memory, though, the later versions like the 400GH and 400BH were rated 200 watts into 4 ohms.

Still, for only $140, it would be a huge step up from a 10 watt rig.

Leaving the only question for the OP: while this is an upgrade, at some point another upgrade would likely be in order (or maybe not, depends on how things pan out for the OP musically). At that point, reselling the 400GH/Bullfrog rig may not get much cash. So...pay $140 now and more in the future if/when you upgrade, or save a little more now and just buy once??? Decisions, decisions...

[Tommygunn]

Originally Posted by nashvillebill

Yep, all of those series--starting with the 200 series, then the 300 then 400--had both guitar and bass versions. The Musician 400 was one of the guitar versions I recall.

Same power amp from what I could discern on the schematics, at least on the earlier versions, but the preamps were "voiced" a little differently (in addition to having guitar stuff like phaser, etc). By that I mean the EQ had its mid-range placed slightly different, maybe more treble roll-off on the bass version, etc. It would still work for bass but some playing with the EQ would likely be necessary, to get more of a bass tonal response.

The original Series 400 amps were rated at 200 watts into 2 ohms and 140 into 4 ohms (the 400 was "program" watts), this I am sure of (I have one). Going from memory, though, the later versions like the 400GH and 400BH were rated 200 watts into 4 ohms.

Still, for only $140, it would be a huge step up from a 10 watt rig.

Leaving the only question for the OP: while this is an upgrade, at some point another upgrade would likely be in order (or maybe not, depends on how things pan out for the OP musically). At that point, reselling the 400GH/Bullfrog rig may not get much cash. So...pay $140 now and more in the future if/when you upgrade, or save a little more now and just buy once??? Decisions, decisions...

Well I will prolly be getting it for a little cheaper than $140. But mostly I don't want to upgrade to a real amp cause I'm kinda abusive and I just want something real cheap with some power than I can thrash around.

[nashvillebill]

Well, the old Peavey's are about as bulletproof as they come, so this setup should work out for you.