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Peavey Super Festival 800 B

Rocker47

Rocker47

Nov 3, 2009
702
1,091
Alberta, Canada
#1
So I just picked up an near mint Super Festival amp and after playing with it for a few days I have some questions. First, there is a jack on the right side without any designation. I assumed it was for a footswitch to turn on/off the overdrive? I looked through the manual and it isn't listed. I went to the Peavey site as well and no luck. I even tried my footswitch from another Peavey amp that I have and still nothing. What does this input jack do and what footswitch do i need? Secondly, does anyone know how to read Peavey serial numbers? I believe it's a 1974, but would like to confirm. Thanks very much!

:hyper:
 
#4
On the front right? Some Peavey amps from that era had a line out jack there, but I've always seen Peavey labelling it as "booster"

If there's no label of any sort, it sounds like it was added by a previous owner (or somehow Peavey's label was removed, which seems unlikely). All the Peavey gear I've seen from that era had labels on every jack and switch. Might not have been obvious what they did, by the wording on the label, but labelled regardless.
 
#5
Post some good pictures of it! That'd be great.

You could try pulling the chassis from the wooden box and take a peek inside.. it easily may not be connected to anything. I've got a 73' Peavey Bass head that has two jacks on the back that aren't connected to anything. But the model chassis is shared between the bass and guitar version.. ;)
 
#7
The link to the manual helps solve this a little bit. Although the picture of the 800B shows the jack, it isn't labelled. Very odd. On the guitar version, the 800G, the footswitch jack is labelled and is the ubiquitous 6 pin Peavey DIN jack.

The written description of the front panel doesn't help any,. But at the end of the manual, in the footnotes to the 800B preamp section, it says the overdrive/distortion is footswitched.

The Festival's footswitch is not shown in Peavey's Footswitch Wiring Guide. To find out if it's a standard 1/4 plug, or a TRS, I'd a) pull off the front panel to see if the jack is mono or TRS and/or b) get the amp's nameplate data and call Peavey to ask for them to email you a schematic.

The schematic would really help best, I've seen occassional misprints in Peavey manuals. There's still a slim chance that it might yet be a line out, I have a Series 400 "The Bass" head (lower power cousin of the Festival) and it has both a 1/4 inch line out (labelled "Booster") in almost the exact same spot as the jack in question--plus a 6 pin DIN jack a little above the Booster jack.
 
#8
Hey thanks for the info. I have had the panel off already and it is wired from that input to the board. The wire lands near the overdrive pot which is why my thoughts were that the overdrive was switched. I tried my other Peavey footswitch and it did nothing. I sent Peavey an email asking what the jack is for and what switch I need. They have always answered my questions quickly. They really are awesome. When I got the amp home I printed off the manual from their site to go through it and get to know the settings. Thanks again for the help. I really love this amp so far, and it's lighter than it looks! I have tried to upload photos on this site many times and I can't get it to work. Who knows?
 
#9
I still have one of those same heads, love the sound and the power.

The jack you are asking about is indeed for a footswitch to turn on and off the distortion.

I have an old Crate footswitch that works perfectly, I assume most any footswitch would work.

BassRig01.jpg
 
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#10
DogBone said:
I still have one of those same heads, love the sound and the power.

The jack you are asking about is indeed for a footswitch to turn on and off the distortion.

I have an old Crate footswitch that works perfectly, I assume most any footswitch would work.

BassRig01.jpg
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Thanks! Ya I have been playing it since I got it and really like it a lot. When I first found it locally I did a search and actually seen the picture of your rig! Looks sweet! A rare find if you ask me. Have you ever had yours serviced for stuff that just wears out over years like the caps or anything? I was thinking of taking mine in for a once over. Also, I was at a pawn shop last week and what did I find? Another one of these heads! I'm going to try it out today and see what kinda deal I can swing. It looked ok on the outside, I just wanna hear it. I'm picking up a footswitch as well from a friend of mine who makes them himself. It's a great amp. Do you have specific settings for the EQ? Would you be willing to share? Thanks again!:hyper:
 
#12
Well, I went down to the pawn shop and played the amp for a while. Everything works 100%! I got it for a song and brought it home to give it the once over clean up. I'm not really sure what I'll do with two of these monsters, but I felt the price was right and it was a shame to let such a cool amp sit it the pawn shop. It's a slight bit different than my other one. The jacks for the cabs say 2ohms where my first one says 4 ohms. I've got some investigating to do. Still a cool sounding, cool looking vintage amp!
 
#13
Rocker47 said:
Have you ever had yours serviced for stuff that just wears out over years like the caps or anything? I was thinking of taking mine in for a once over.
Click to expand...

Other than cleaning out the dust when I first got it, I have not done a thing to mine.

But then it did spend much of it's previous life in a church setting so it has had a very easy existence and is in incredible shape for a 38 year old amp. :)

Do you have specific settings for the EQ? Would you be willing to share? Thanks again!:hyper:
Click to expand...

Currently not in a band, but when I was playing it live (using a P bass w/ flatwounds) I ran the bass setting down around 10 o'clock, mids and treble up around 2 o'clock. The other eqs on the right I usually kept flat.

Peavey really put a lot into that amp, even for it's modest wattage compared to today's standards, it hits VERY hard, gets VERY loud, and has a tone, to my ears anyway, quite a cut above the more popular Peavey solid states that came later that the F-800B is often lumped in with.
 
#14
Rocker47 said:
Well, I went down to the pawn shop and played the amp for a while. Everything works 100%! I got it for a song and brought it home to give it the once over clean up. I'm not really sure what I'll do with two of these monsters, but I felt the price was right and it was a shame to let such a cool amp sit it the pawn shop.
Click to expand...

Wow, good score!

I bought mine originally to have a high powered "beater" to use for outdoor gigs at questionable locations. But once I heard it, it became my primary amp.


It's a slight bit different than my other one. The jacks for the cabs say 2ohms where my first one says 4 ohms. I've got some investigating to do. Still a cool sounding, cool looking vintage amp!
Click to expand...

I'd like to see pics of the new different one. Mine has two speaker jacks on the rear, each one marked 4 ohms. I know the amp was designed to run two 4 ohm folded horn enclosures for a total load of 2 ohms.
 
#16
Hey Dogbone! Thanks for the reply! Ya, my settings seem to be be about the same as what you have. Such great amps and tue power and tone are awesome. I've tried to upload pictures on here before and it never works. The second one of these that I got at the pawnshop is labelled 2ohms at the speaker jacks. The first one is labelled 4ohms. The serial number of the one that says 2ohms has been scratched where the date is so it's only a guess at it's age. Do you know what years they were produced? All said I really love them and glad I was able to get them for a good price. Simple and reliable is what I like and these fit perfect. A little on the large side, but actually not all that heavy. ;)
 

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