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Author Topic:  Settings for old Session 400 amp?
Jim Bates

 

From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 8:33 am    
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I will be jamming with a group in a few days, and they have a original Session 400 in the hall that I can use. What settings for steel is best to try? I am used to the 500 and Nash 1000 settings.

Thanx,
Jim
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Jody Cameron

 

From:
Angleton, TX,, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 8:44 am    
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Jim, what kind of guitar and pickups are you using?
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Chas. J. Wagner


From:
Denver, Colorado USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 8:44 am    
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Here's some input from past threads...
session 400 settings..
Session 400 settings?
Session 400 settings
There's more should you want to do a Search...
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Jim Bates

 

From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 9:26 am    
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Jody,
I will be playing either:

Emmons LeGrand w Emmons Humbuckers (or)

Sho-Bud Super Pro w BL 705 (originals)

Both are vvery hot pickups.

Thanx,
Jim
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Paul Sutherland

 

From:
Placerville, California
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 9:40 am    
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I use settings that are similar to what Buddy Emmons and Buddy Charlton used to suggest. My guitar is an Emmons push-pull with stock single coils (about 18.5 K). I use a goodrich pot pedal with no effects or impedance matching device. The below values are common stage settings.

volume 3

presence 6 1/2 to 7 1/2

treble same as presence

middle 3

shift 10

bass 5

reverb 5 to 6 plus

sensitivity 2 to 3 (if I'm sitting in with a loud band this might go up to about 5)

My session has had the intense mod by Ken Fox (which I really like) and has a new Black Widow 1501 SB speaker.

Depending on the room and my mood, sometimes this set-up and setting sounds fantastic.
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Jim Bates

 

From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 9:51 am    
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Thanks guys for the suggested settings to start with. So the 'sensitivity' is just a 'pre-amp' input control. If so, would you want to have it higher than the volume or less ,for the cleaner sound?

Thanx,
Jim
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)


From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 10:03 am    
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Hi Jim,
Don't know if this helps or if these are settings you'd like to try on it, but here's the sort of sound I was getting (on an early Session 400 amp) ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw4gbNQXec8

... I was using the following settings that night:

INPUT - I always used Input 2 on my session instead of Input 1, otherwise I'd get a little distortion.
BASS 9
TREBLE 3.5 (10-11 o'clock)
REVERB 7
PRESENCE 7
SHIFT 800Hz
MID (about 9 o'clock)
VOLUME 3
SENSITIVITY 9

The video isn't great, the song starts about 1:02, but the sound is clear ... (I'm on E9th on the black guitar ... Harold Van in the red shirt was on C6th on his Sho-Bud also using a Session 400, but with different settings than mine).

Naturally, each guitar would sound different, but this is an idea of the sound I was getting through the settings shown above. Smile

NOTE: I went back in and edited the knob names after looking at a photo of my old Session 400 front (had to make sure I was accurate on the settings I was using).
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks)


Last edited by Jim Lindsey (Louisiana) on 31 May 2012 10:18 am; edited 2 times in total
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Paul Sutherland

 

From:
Placerville, California
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 10:05 am    
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Jim: I've never really understood the sensitivity control. I usually have it set lower than the volume, because I tend to play a lower volume levels.

I never set the volume above 3, because if it is set above 3 I start to hear distortion. But the sensitivity can be set higher or lower than the volume on my amp with no distortion introduced. So the sensitivity does not really function like a master volume control.

I have played at rehearsals and really low volume gigs with the sensitivity set on zero and the volume on 2 1/2 to 3.
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Jim Bates

 

From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 10:42 am    
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Thanks again for the settings. The rehearsal hall is up stairs, so now I can use the one in the hall without having to struggle with amp.

Thanx,
Jim
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Lane Gray


From:
Topeka, KS
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 11:36 am    
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The sensitivity modifies input impedance.
The wider open, the clearer the sound.
At values below 3, amp output drops dramatically
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects
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Lane Gray


From:
Topeka, KS
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 12:16 pm    
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And here's a post explaining a quick method for dialing in ANY amp; scroll down to the second post.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=223731
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects
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Paul Sutherland

 

From:
Placerville, California
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 12:46 pm    
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Lane: I've always used the sensitivity knob, in conjunction with the volume knob, to control the volume. But I suspect that's a bad idea. I just tried turning the sensitivity to 10 and dropping the volume control dramatically, to about 1 1/2 or less, since I'm playing in the bedroom right now. The amp does seem a bit clearer, but I had to lower the treble and presence.

What's the point of the sensitivity knob, and under what circumstances should one vary the setting? If it relates to the input impedance, do you vary the setting to match the steel's pick-up, volume pedal, &/or effects devices? If so, how do you determine what's the optimum sensitivity setting?

I've always been baffled by this control.
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Lane Gray


From:
Topeka, KS
Post  Posted 31 May 2012 5:40 pm    
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I was told to leave it cranked unless your pickups deliver transient peaks that distort, at which time you lower it to tame the amp's, ummm, sensitivity to them. And so I've left it maxed. My fiddler, who borrowed my LTD when her Vegas went to the shop, prefers it dropped a bit.
Long about now I'd love Sarno to walk in and explain it.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects
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