I found the C400 to be the best deal available of any tube amp. They are pretty much bullet proof too.
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Peavey Classic 400 - Mega Thread - Part II
- Thread starter WillPlay4Food
- Start date
I found the C400 to be the best deal available of any tube amp. They are pretty much bullet proof too.
I'm lovin' mine!
Running it through a Sunn 4x15 cab and it's RIDICULOUS. It eats people. For real. Look out. For basses... Playing my '73 and '68 ric 4001's and my 1980 Active Pre bass mostly, because they get OH so growly, and that amp is built to get OH so growly.
PLUS I can make guitar player jokes like 'I really like the crunch channel, but the clean channel doesn't have that fender shimmer I want' and the like (though it actually does everything I want it to).
I'll post a pic or two of my updated rig for people to laugh at maybe tomorrow.
Running it through a Sunn 4x15 cab and it's RIDICULOUS. It eats people. For real. Look out. For basses... Playing my '73 and '68 ric 4001's and my 1980 Active Pre bass mostly, because they get OH so growly, and that amp is built to get OH so growly.
PLUS I can make guitar player jokes like 'I really like the crunch channel, but the clean channel doesn't have that fender shimmer I want' and the like (though it actually does everything I want it to).
I'll post a pic or two of my updated rig for people to laugh at maybe tomorrow.
I've played the C400 a total of twice, (borrowed), then I found this one. The guy I bought it from had 2, a black carpeted one and this tweed. This tweed was pretty much used to feed tubes to the other one, it looks as if it just came out of the box. I don't know that it can cop an exact Ampeg sound but can get close enough for me if you tame it down some. I guess you could if you cut some bass and blend in a little overdrive channel but I'm not an Ampeg nut (not that there's anything wrong with that) so I've never tried to get the Peavey to sound like an Ampeg. Sealed 810 might help. If you want that SVT roaring sound, you need a cranked SVT. The C400 is more powerful, deeper and fuller sounding than anything I've ever seen, including SVT's. It was like you removed the blanket that was covering your SVT stack.
i got mine for about $700 with new tubes and yes, i think a proper description for this amp is that it will eat people! just huge sounding, it drives the band.
running it through an nv610 (and sometimes the 215 as well) with a m80+ for a little hint of distortion... i love it. maybe not for everyone but i think for what it does you couldnt do that much better.
who wants my svt?
running it through an nv610 (and sometimes the 215 as well) with a m80+ for a little hint of distortion... i love it. maybe not for everyone but i think for what it does you couldnt do that much better.
who wants my svt?
I got the two I had for $650-$750 each. Can't remember exactly how much but something like that. The more expensive one was brand new.
I picked up a Classic 400 from Submonkey around 10 months ago or so. He had two of them! I absolutely love it, but it has caused me to go on a seemingly never-ending search for cabs that would hold up to it. It punishes speakers harder than anything I have ever seen.
That being said, I think I've finally picked up something that will hold up to it - one of the early models of the SWR Goliath Sr.
The clean channel does overdrive fairly early (in a very good way, mind you). This may be partly because of the stock Chinese coke bottles, or it could be the way it's biased. I've swapped all the preamps/phase inverter out for NOS and that has helped the tone, though not made the amp really any cleaner.
When I retube in the next couple of months, I'm thinking I'll opt for something that will get me more headroom, both in the tube and bias department.
Anyway, I'm loving the amp and I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.
That being said, I think I've finally picked up something that will hold up to it - one of the early models of the SWR Goliath Sr.
The clean channel does overdrive fairly early (in a very good way, mind you). This may be partly because of the stock Chinese coke bottles, or it could be the way it's biased. I've swapped all the preamps/phase inverter out for NOS and that has helped the tone, though not made the amp really any cleaner.
When I retube in the next couple of months, I'm thinking I'll opt for something that will get me more headroom, both in the tube and bias department.
Anyway, I'm loving the amp and I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.
I'm running mine through a Sunn 4x15 cab and it takes it like a man.
I also have an old Traynor 2x15 that sounds substantially cleaner and deeper than the sunn 4x15, so I had a series/parallel box built so I can run both 4 ohm cabs at 8 ohms and Bam- I have the loudest rig ever (until I get my V9 to run seperately through the 2x15
)
I also have an old Traynor 2x15 that sounds substantially cleaner and deeper than the sunn 4x15, so I had a series/parallel box built so I can run both 4 ohm cabs at 8 ohms and Bam- I have the loudest rig ever (until I get my V9 to run seperately through the 2x15
)
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,942
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
FYI for Seattle area folks interested in a Classic 400. I saw one yesterday at Woodinville Pawn for $400. It was the non-tweed version and had a few of the pots busted off.
Damn that thing was heavy!
Damn that thing was heavy!
Wow... I had no idea. This really is a cool amp. Hopefully someone will be selling one after the beginning of the year... I will be in the market for one...
I might be awakening a dead-thread here, but I just picked up a Classic 400 on Sunday.
I f----ing LOVE this amp!
It sounds positively enormous; but my first thought when I plugged in was "it just sounds like me".
It reminded me of the first time I played my Dingwall -- everything just seemed right, and it isn't until you go back to the old setup that you realize how much better it really is.
One thing I felt compelled to do, based on the MASSIVE power of this amp, was to install a Speakon output.
Has anyone else done this? I'm not sure I can hear a difference, but I just feel better knowing that all those watts are going through a locking high-amperage connector.
Fantastic amp, though...it made my rack setup sound like it was down the hall with a blanket over it (i.e, somewhat distant and muffled) and my rack is uber-mondo (Peavey Max preamp, dbx 166A compressor, QSC PLX 3102 power amp...bridged)
Pete, if you're on TalkBass, THANK YOU!
I f----ing LOVE this amp!
It sounds positively enormous; but my first thought when I plugged in was "it just sounds like me".
It reminded me of the first time I played my Dingwall -- everything just seemed right, and it isn't until you go back to the old setup that you realize how much better it really is.
One thing I felt compelled to do, based on the MASSIVE power of this amp, was to install a Speakon output.
Has anyone else done this? I'm not sure I can hear a difference, but I just feel better knowing that all those watts are going through a locking high-amperage connector.
Fantastic amp, though...it made my rack setup sound like it was down the hall with a blanket over it (i.e, somewhat distant and muffled) and my rack is uber-mondo (Peavey Max preamp, dbx 166A compressor, QSC PLX 3102 power amp...bridged)
Pete, if you're on TalkBass, THANK YOU!
So, the fist time I took this amp apart, I'm thinking "Jeezus! This thing is heavy! Do I really have to take it apart to bias it?"
It occurred to me that an externally accessible bias pot would make life MUCH easier. Also, based on the "bias procedure" listed on the Classic 400 Page, I installed test points to measure bias voltage.
I have since found out that measuring bias voltage is basically useless.
The Peavey Official bias procedure calls for setting bias voltage between -52.5 and -53.5 v DC.
When I was biasing my amp, I connected 2 multimeters and compared bias voltage and bias current.
The plate voltage of MY amp is 663 V DC. According to the schematic it should be 675v. Anyhow, based on a targeted 70% dissipation for a class AB amp and an anticipated 35 watts per 6550 output tube, you divide the power output by the plate voltage to get MAX dissipation. So we're at 35/663 = 52.8 milliamps. Multiply that by .7 for safe Class AB operation and we get a recommended plate current of 36.9ma.
Biased at that current, the bias voltage is around 46.5, WAAAY lower than the Peavey recommended -53v.
Conversely, at a bias voltage of -53 v., I get a bias current of ~18ma--VERY cold.
So...if you want to get the most out of this amp (and really, why would you be hauling a 100 Lb. amp unless you were going for a "no-compromise" tone) you need to bias to the power tube current.
I've included pictures of my "mods" although, as I hope I've just illustrated, externalizing the bias pot is the only part of it that's really worthwhile.
Play on. Play loud.
John
It occurred to me that an externally accessible bias pot would make life MUCH easier. Also, based on the "bias procedure" listed on the Classic 400 Page, I installed test points to measure bias voltage.
I have since found out that measuring bias voltage is basically useless.
The Peavey Official bias procedure calls for setting bias voltage between -52.5 and -53.5 v DC.
When I was biasing my amp, I connected 2 multimeters and compared bias voltage and bias current.
The plate voltage of MY amp is 663 V DC. According to the schematic it should be 675v. Anyhow, based on a targeted 70% dissipation for a class AB amp and an anticipated 35 watts per 6550 output tube, you divide the power output by the plate voltage to get MAX dissipation. So we're at 35/663 = 52.8 milliamps. Multiply that by .7 for safe Class AB operation and we get a recommended plate current of 36.9ma.
Biased at that current, the bias voltage is around 46.5, WAAAY lower than the Peavey recommended -53v.
Conversely, at a bias voltage of -53 v., I get a bias current of ~18ma--VERY cold.
So...if you want to get the most out of this amp (and really, why would you be hauling a 100 Lb. amp unless you were going for a "no-compromise" tone) you need to bias to the power tube current.
I've included pictures of my "mods" although, as I hope I've just illustrated, externalizing the bias pot is the only part of it that's really worthwhile.
Play on. Play loud.
John
I was poking around on Guitar Center's website this weekend and saw that one of the local GC's had a used VB-2 for a decent price.
So, I went and checked it out, and the thing looked brand spankin' new.
Soundwise, it was giving a buzzy distortion (at ANY volume) on the clean channel, so I thought maybe it had a bad preamp tube.
But I decided to get it anyways -- my Classic 400 has quickly turned me into an "all-tube" guy, and I wanted a backup.
When I got it home, I plugged into MY cab and it sounds perfect, and WAY louder than I expected 225 watts to sound.
Tonally, it is extremely similar to the Classic. The volume isn't that much less, and it weighs 40 Lbs. less. Definitely an awesome decibel/pound ratio.
Count me VERY impressed...
John
So, I went and checked it out, and the thing looked brand spankin' new.
Soundwise, it was giving a buzzy distortion (at ANY volume) on the clean channel, so I thought maybe it had a bad preamp tube.
But I decided to get it anyways -- my Classic 400 has quickly turned me into an "all-tube" guy, and I wanted a backup.
When I got it home, I plugged into MY cab and it sounds perfect, and WAY louder than I expected 225 watts to sound.
Tonally, it is extremely similar to the Classic. The volume isn't that much less, and it weighs 40 Lbs. less. Definitely an awesome decibel/pound ratio.
Count me VERY impressed...
John
I feel fortunate in finding this one. It is new, unused, and still in the original box.
I have no idea why this monster was discontinued - so very loud with a tone equal to any other that is commercially available.
I have no idea why this monster was discontinued - so very loud with a tone equal to any other that is commercially available.
Attachments
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,942
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Nice score!
I second the nice score comment.
Mine is not that pretty, but it kicks some serious butt
Tone for days
To anyone looking to pick one of these monsters up cheap, there is one on Phoenix craigslist for $400. I was really tempted to pick it up myself, but I just don't have the money (this will probably haunt me for awhile).
Sorry for bringing a 2 month old thread back, BUT if anyone sees one of these guys for sale, could you please PM me or let me know somehow. I had one 4 years ago, and was young(18) and stupid(sold it).
Thank you
Thank you
