Peavey Nashville 400

[Telecastoff1]

"It's important to look at the intent of the amp designer...and what background he/they have...before pulling the trigger on something that could be a boat anchor (honestly, a Peavey Nashville with a Black Widow is IMO one of the most harsh-sounding "clean tone" amps for 6-string guitar ever made.)."

I've been gigging with a Peavey Nashville 400 for several years now, and just love it. It's one of the later-built amps with the factory mod built into it, giving it a very big, warm, clean sound with unlimited headroom.....Perfect for my Tele. The original 1501-4 Black Widow is still in there as well. This amp is never harsh sounding. I own a lot of amps and this one is my main go-to amp for most all my gigs. The smaller gigs I use an old Red Panel Randall RG-60...very nice warm sounding solid state amp and always reliable to boot. My old tubers stay home and guard the dog.

 

[codamedia]

I'm a little confused.... I think a little context is in order, where did that quote come from?

I don't disagree with your comment, the Nashville 400 has always been one of my favorite SS amps as well as the Special 130 which is very similar, but 130 watts with a 12" Scorpion (stock). Those older Peavey amps are work horses with a warm thick tone... a great clean platform. Although the Nashville 400 was meant to be a Pedal Steel amp, there were a lot of touring acts using them for guitar during the 80's and early 90's.

 

[BobbyZ]

I'm a little confused as well. Maybe the quote came from posting in a zombie thread then the mods cut it down?

At any rate the Nashville series definitely has some fans.

 

[Wally]

Just don't put a Nashville next to a well prepared TR unless you want to reassess things. (;^) Again, Peavey provided usable equipment at lower prices. That made them popular.

 

[Telecastoff1]

Sorry, you're correct about the old zombie thread. At the time I didn't realize it was an old thread. In the future I'll pay closer attention to that. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I own two old Twins...one from '66 and the other a '79 135 watt Ultra-Linear. Both are nice amps and each sounds very different from the other, as do all my other amps, but each has its own place and voice. As far as putting the Nashville 400 next to a Twin, it's been done many times thru the years, as my pedal steel man plays thru a '70 Twin most of the time, while my NV400 holds its own easily and comfortably right along side. When he's not using his Twin, he'll be using his Session 400 when more power and headroom is needed and he still maintains his tone. Good amps are good amps whether they're powered by glass or silicone. A decent, good amp will have the parameters to be creatively tweaked to get you wherever you need to take it. Just my .02 worth.

 

[twinluva]

My Nashville 400 was the best guitar amp I have ever owned at the time... Paid $250 for it at the flea market and it played and looked like it was brand new...GREAT AMP!!

Consequently it's gone and now I play through a PV Stereo Chorus 212

 

[haggardfan1]

Just don't put a Nashville next to a well prepared TR unless you want to reassess things. (;^) Again, Peavey provided usable equipment at lower prices. That made them popular.

Unless of course you want to play pedal steel.

 

[mherrcat]

LOL. I always wondered when the Nashville 400 would show up on TDPRI. Maybe it has before and I never saw it. I had two of them at one point; one I bought from a steel player in Austin and a second I bought from Doug Livingston who got it from Jay Dee Maness. Kept the first one which I had modded around 1997 (prior to Peavey incorporating the mod in their new amps) sold the second one to a steel player in LA. I still have the first one and use it for pedal steel.

 

[Ed Boyd]

I threw my Nashville 400 in the car for tonight's rehearsal. It is lighter and smaller than the Twin or my Boogie or Session 500 so I thought what the heck, it might be a decent pedal platform.

I will find out in about an hour. LOL. I've never played guitar through it before.

 

[robt57]

Try this on Google:

Site:tdpri.com "Redd" AND "LTD"


And I will link to this:

As Far As

When I'm on the road I'm usually at the mercy of a rental place with lots of distorting amps and few clean ones, so I often get amps I wouldn't burn.

My own personal Peaveys are called "LTD 400" made in 1976-1982ish Single 15" JBL with 200 watts of transistor power, no tube preamp or tubes anywhere.

Yes they are painfully clean sounding, kind of hard and not warm, blunt and instant with no sag or compression. Pretty much all the things most guitar players hate.

Redd

 

[robt57]

I'd add, you gotta be dialed in your chops to use a zero sag power house amp with a JBL!!!

It pointed out 'amplified' my nasty habits in ways that would... well never mind that. Brutally honest and transparent I'll just say.

 

[mherrcat]

...blunt and instant with no sag or compression.

I guess since volume pedals are such a big part of the sound this isn't much of an issue for pedal steel players.

 

[robt57]

wondered when the Nashville 400 would show up on TDPRI. Maybe it has before and I never saw it.

Nothing new I can tell you since I've been jibber-jabbering round these parts [for way too long].


If you look though the old LTD-400 posts, you will see some of mine. Including how my neighbor west of Nashville was Jerry Reeds niece. And how I wound up with one of Jerry's Peavey freebees without realizing it until well after I got it.

 

[Ed Boyd]

I threw my Nashville 400 in the car for tonight's rehearsal. It is lighter and smaller than the Twin or my Boogie or Session 500 so I thought what the heck, it might be a decent pedal platform.

I will find out in about an hour. LOL. I've never played guitar through it before.

Well I won't do that again. LOL

My MSA sounds great through it though.

 

[robt57]

Well I won't do that again. LOL

Why? was the pedal steel guy stalking it like the feral kid with the boomerang in the Road Warrior was the prop on the gyrocopter.

 

[Ed Boyd]

No matter where I set the mid and shift controls the guitar sounds bad.... Especially if using a dirt pedal. I'm the steel player too but also currently the only electric guitar player. Last night was just 6 string stuff.

 

[Commodore 64]

Good amps are good amps whether they're powered by glass or silicone.

I believe you mean silicon (Si). And as an aside, glass is primarily made of silicon dioxide.

 

[Ed Boyd]

An old road rig of mine that worked really well was 2 Bandit 65s in stereo. The rig also had built in redundancy in case one of the Bandits would have failed. Never happened. I tried EVM12L in the Bandits but I thought the stock Scorpions sounded better.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I used to use two Peavey Special 130 amps in stereo for our larger outdoor gigs. One time as we were setting up at a large outdoor festival, some local, uninformed musician began dissing my choice of amps for this particular gig. He sneered at those two Special 130's and asked me "what are you going to do with these two little things?" That ignorant question didn't deserve an answer. About 20 minutes later he received his answer when we fired up the band. His mouth literally dropped wide open as he stared at all the sound coming from my two little Special 130's. I never saw him again.

 

[brookdalebill]

They are indeed great, dependable amps!