My restoration series continues with a 1975 Peavey Session 400. This is my fourth restoration story and I hope you've enjoyed taking this journey with me.
This amp sat idle for many years in a clean, dry garage after its former owner abandoned it and left in the care of a friend. I found it on Craigslist here in the Austin area.
HISTORY: This amp was owned by a guy named Gregg Cheser who started playing music when he was in high school in San Antonio. He was in a band called the Swiss Movement. He used the amp in the 70s-80s with various bands around the area. His last gigs took him to Fredericksburg area as the band leader of the Pronto Brothers. He passed away in 2004.
As you can see, the amp was pretty dirty. However, it was not bad once all the dirt was cleaned off. It had good bones and it was all there for the restoration. Here are some before-and-after pictures:
Here is the work in progress. I always like to see a nice clean chassis for these restorations. This one was nice and clean. I couldn't deal with the red knobs, so I pulled all the original ones I had in my inventory and installed these. I cleaned (flushed) the pots with 99% anhydrous alcohol and followed this up with a drop of sewing machine oil for lubrication. Thanks to Brad Sarno for this tip (obtained from a tech that maintained high-end sound boards for studios). Reference a past Forum post on this subject.
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Here is the final result of the restoration! I went ahead and installed a Peavey 1501-4 BW Spider Web speaker that got the most votes in a recent poll. Thanks to all who gave input...I really appreciate it.
I had a chance to play it a little while today and it sounds fabulous with the 1501-4 BW. I was also struck by the fact it is really clean sounding for an amp of this vintage--no annoying hiss and other extraneous noises!!
And here is my next restoration project: 1982 Peavey Session 500
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