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Did anyone here ever gig this thing? (Fender 400PS)
- Thread starter Gunga Din
- Start date
I kinda-sorta "inherited" one, back in the mid-'70s, but I never did a gig with it. I schlepped it around through several moves and finally gave it to a bass-playing friend around 2000. He lives in another town and I've lost track of him, but I know he did do a few gigs with it. It really was an odd duck: yes, it did produce about 400 watts, but what it had was basically three mono, 135-watt amps in one chassis. To get the full power, you had to have 3 separate 4Ω speaker systems. I noticed that this isn't clear in the advertising copy, but that would be a real gotcha if you bought it thinking you'd have 400 watts to power your 215 cab. The thing was a real beast to carry -- it had handles on the ends of the top as well as a single handle in the middle -- it was all I could do when I was a young man to lift the thing to move it around. Probably the only MI amp I ever handled that outweighed an SVT.
I think you can find a number of threads about this amp here on TB if you do a search on it. Are you just now discovering it?
I think you can find a number of threads about this amp here on TB if you do a search on it. Are you just now discovering it?
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That was Fender's late in the day attempt to counter the SVT and Acoustic 360 all at once, circa 1970/71. Even in the heyday of monster amps, it was a bit unwieldy and awkward, and didn't go over well. The only major name player that I heard of using it was the Allman's Berry Oakley, but I believe he mated it with Sunn cabs, and then Colin Hodgkinson. There was a downsized model, the 300 PS, supposedly 320 watts RMS from four 6550's, but that faded quickly as well. I think the front end was utilized for the subsequent Studio Bass combo, a great amp but another poor ergonomic execution.
Here's what looks like a 400 head, with a cab loaded with 12's, I believe…
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Once. The rest of the time it sits in practice space. I wouldn't try to move it alone. Sounds fantastic. Never heard or even seen the matching Fender cabs. I've tried it with every mix of 4 Ohm loads I could manage, currently 2 Bag End Elf D12E and 1 Carvin ..something..NEO work well. The cabs are much easier to move than the head.
Here's some 400 lore…the amp designer supposedly demanded that any tech that might work on one be required to take special training or else chance death…
The Fender 400-PS FAQ
And yes, it's been a topic of conversation here before…
Official Fender 400ps Club
The Fender 400-PS FAQ
And yes, it's been a topic of conversation here before…
Official Fender 400ps Club
First, that catalog brought back memories. As a kid who got his first bass a year earlier, I sent away for every Fender catalog during the 70's, the one above being the very first.
Second, I this link must be in the thread posted by Michedelic.
The Fender 400-PS Amp Designed By Ed Jahns
Second, I this link must be in the thread posted by Michedelic.
The Fender 400-PS Amp Designed By Ed Jahns
I never used one live but I know people who did and they loved it (but they also had roadies). What I did use was that chrome trolley shown in the picture. It was a real back saver not having to dead lift heavy amps onto tall cabs.
Roland GR 88
Commercial User
I had that cab and used a Peavey MK III with it.
Let's just say that when I moved out west the cab sat on the front porch of my friends house in Toronto for almost 2 years before someone took it.
Let's just say that when I moved out west the cab sat on the front porch of my friends house in Toronto for almost 2 years before someone took it.
Click around a bit on timeelect.com and you'll find the pictures of a Sylvania 6550 with a hole melted in the glass due to not following the 30-step process to bias it correctly, as well as praise for the GE 6550A and dismissal of the "Polished Turds" that pass for 6550s in these degenerate modern times.
never had the chance to see one in person, but in my mind the "trick" would have been a 6x10 cab with all 8Ω speakers and three separate inputs, one for each pair wired parallel for 4Ω x3
I would love to have one, but it has to be the most impractical amp I can think of 
.
It sort of makes sense as a touring rig. For anything else, you would probably have to be a bit nuts. A very big and heavy amp that requires three very big and heavy cabs to develop full power. I am totally uninterested in owning the cabs, although it would be very cool to play through the full rig just to see how it performs. There is a TB member who has assembled the full rig, including the stand.
The 400PS has a reputation for being hard on the tubes and hard to work on. Overall I think it also has a reputation for low reliability. I believe I have seen one but never heard one. The one I saw was at a music store and broke. This was late 70 to early 80s. The store was not very interested in fixing it. I asked about it several times, and they sometimes feigned interest or humored me.
Supposedly the tone is very HiFi.
If I had one and wanted to gig it, I would do probably do a vertical 210 array with three 4 ohm cabs. If I had one and just wanted to play it in my basement, I have variety of cab combinations I could try.
Although it was designed to work with 1, 2, or 3 cabs, I suspect it would be most reliable if you always used 3.
. It sort of makes sense as a touring rig. For anything else, you would probably have to be a bit nuts. A very big and heavy amp that requires three very big and heavy cabs to develop full power. I am totally uninterested in owning the cabs, although it would be very cool to play through the full rig just to see how it performs. There is a TB member who has assembled the full rig, including the stand.
The 400PS has a reputation for being hard on the tubes and hard to work on. Overall I think it also has a reputation for low reliability. I believe I have seen one but never heard one. The one I saw was at a music store and broke. This was late 70 to early 80s. The store was not very interested in fixing it. I asked about it several times, and they sometimes feigned interest or humored me.
Supposedly the tone is very HiFi.
If I had one and wanted to gig it, I would do probably do a vertical 210 array with three 4 ohm cabs. If I had one and just wanted to play it in my basement, I have variety of cab combinations I could try.
Although it was designed to work with 1, 2, or 3 cabs, I suspect it would be most reliable if you always used 3.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,084
- 46,057
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
I would love to have one, but it has to be the most impractical amp I can think of
I worked on one once, that was enough of that fun. I was in a Fender certified shop at that time and we had excellent documentation, it seemed to go fine. But just running one cab was pretty underwhelming, and like you, I supect that loading all of the output circuit up might be better for reliability.
The late Rich Koerner at Time Electronics was a very over the top type guy, and extremely prone to exaggeration at times, but he was a real hoot to interact with back in the USENET days. He certainly left behind a rich and entertaining legacy!
When Fender sent schematics of their amps to dealers at the time, the 400PS was not included. If you were a repair person needing help with it, you'd have to get Ed Jahns, the designer, on the phone, and prove to his satisfaction that you knew what you were doing, or he'd tell you to go pound sand, before hanging up on you.
I hear that amp is very difficult to work on, and if not set up just right, will go up in flames.
It needed three "big and heavy" cabs to work in the 1970s, but any four ohm cabs will do, and three Neo cabs aren't that heavy (I use three Schroeders). That said, I don't use it much, because I don't really need that much power.I would love to have one, but it has to be the most impractical amp I can think of
It sort of makes sense as a touring rig. For anything else, you would probably have to be a bit nuts. A very big and heavy amp that requires three very big and heavy cabs to develop full power. I am totally uninterested in owning the cabs, although it would be very cool to play through the full rig just to see how it performs. There is a TB member who has assembled the full rig, including the stand.
The 400PS has a reputation for being hard on the tubes and hard to work on. Overall I think it also has a reputation for low reliability. I believe I have seen one but never heard one. The one I saw was at a music store and broke. This was late 70 to early 80s. The store was not very interested in fixing it. I asked about it several times, and they sometimes feigned interest or humored me.
Supposedly the tone is very HiFi.
If I had one and wanted to gig it, I would do probably do a vertical 210 array with three 4 ohm cabs. If I had one and just wanted to play it in my basement, I have variety of cab combinations I could try.
Although it was designed to work with 1, 2, or 3 cabs, I suspect it would be most reliable if you always used 3.
My old tech (now retired) said that Fender had sent him the service manual back in the 1970s, but he'd never seen an actual amp until I took him mine about a decade ago.
