My nasshville 400 is distoting at high volume settings, what

DJ Sillito · From: Lethbrige, Alberta, Canada

Lately I decided to try a combo of effects pedals thru my amp. I have a Boss DD-2 digital delay, CE-5 chorus, and a BD Blues driver pedal. I connected them in series with one another on patched them thru the pr-eq patch located on the front of the amp. We practiced the other night and we were running straight out the amps so I had my turned up fairly loud ( pre at 7 and post at 9 ). When I picked hard at high frets the amp distorted even when all the effects were turned off. When I use just the delay pedal I don't think I ever had that problem. Could the multiple pedals be causing this problem? I also thought that I may be causing this problem because I run my volume pedal in series with the guitar and if I back off of it a little I may be cutting some the signal to the amp and hence the distortion ? Any insights would be great because I would like to use therse effect pedals.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

First thing to try is to ditch all the pedals and go straight into the amp. Then if the problem disappears, you know the amp and speakers are OK. Next, try connecting the effects in line one at a time. If each effect doesn't cause a problem when used by itself, then you know the effects are all OK. Now, try adding then to the line one at a time, your problem should reappear at some point. It's probably just a small gain build-up from each effect that's overloading the preamp. Next, you have to check the effects (and your volume pedal, if it's the powered kind) for a gain control, and turn them down until the problem disappears. Keith Hilton had another thread on this problem a few weeks ago.

Good luck.

Don Townsend · From: Turner Valley, Alberta Canada

Good advice, Donny. My first guess would also be overloading the pre-amp. I never have been a big fan of stomp boxes, and counting on them to do what they're supposed to without some hum that can get amplified and really noticeable at high volumes. If everything sounds OK at lower levels, you might want to just use your amp for stage sound, and mike it or D.I. it into the house system, then have the sound man put as much into the house mix as needed for the proper sound balance.
Hang in there, DJ

Mike Brown · From: Meridian, Mississippi USA

Are the pedals "line level" or "instrument level" pedals. My guess would be that they are instrument level pedals. If they are, you should be able to connect these either in line with your instrument or in the PRE EQ PATCH loop and it should work fine. Donny's suggestion is what should be done first.

Is the DDT compression light blinking, staying on or not coming on at all?

Bill C. Buntin · Posted 25 Jan 2001 7:49 am

D.J. I had this problem with my Nash 400's and Session 400's. It still is an on going problem. More often than not, mine ended up being faulty cable ends and jacks on the amps. Rarely a speaker problem. I did have to replace 1501 BW's a couple of times.
As far as the Nashville 400's. Mine were the newer models that had the built in compressor. On the one I bought in '97, I actually damaged that DDT compression circuit and luckily got it fixed before the warranty ran out. The problem came from running too hot of an output signal from my Pro-FexII. Once I backed off on the Pro-Fex's output, I quit having trouble.
Now the only Peavey rig I play is a vintage Session 400 with a JBL D130 speaker. I just don't "push" it that hard. If the bands I work with want more volume, they just have to mic the amp. I have to play with that amp right up behind me fairly close to get the tone I want, so its not a problem wherever I play. All I use is a boss DD-3 delay and the onboard spring reverb in the amp. Hope I helped. Regards.

Keith Hilton · From: 248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721

Donny has told you to do what I would do. In a situation where you have several things "in line", and you get distortion, the distortion is almost always caused by a over driven signal. Do not suspect there is someting wrong with your Peavey amp first. The root of the problem is usually the player not knowing how to turn down signal strength. For example;You would be surprised at how many experienced players don't know that there are 3 gain controlls on a Peavey Pro Fex II multi-effect unit. One in front, one in back, and gains on the program settings. Besides multiple gains on most of the rack mount gear, some of the cheap floor stomp boxes have no gain controls. Without gain controls on these little floor effect boxes, you get increased signal strength you can't control. Ever powered "line level" device creates some gain. As signal runs through each device, the signal strength is multiplied. I did not want my Hilton pedal to "ever" be blamed for over driving a signal. That is why there is a gain control on the pedal. The player can turn the signal strength down, down, down, even to off. Therefore, it is impossible for my pedal to over drive a signal. The next thing I say "might" help Mike Brown understand more about my pedal. The signal strength of my pedal can be turned down lower than a instrument level, passive pot pedal. So Mike, I hope you understand that even though my pedal is a powered, line level device, the output can be turned down lower than the output on a non powered instrument level device. Mike, to state it another way, so you will understand; I can make the output signal strength of my pedal
"LESS" than the output of a standard pot pedal. My pedal has a signal strength control. Mike how many old pot pedals have you seen that have a signal strength control?

Mike Brown · From: Meridian, Mississippi USA

Did I miss something here?

DJ Sillito · From: Lethbrige, Alberta, Canada

Mike you asked if the DDT compression light appeared when the distortion is heard. It doesn't come on and I should mention that the distortion is not really dominant but is noticeable. Thanks to those who commented on the problem i.e. Keith, Donny, Mike etc.

Keith Hilton · From: 248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721

Mike, I don't think the devices he is using are passive devices. I think they are line level, powered devices. All these types of devices create some gain. If there is no gain control on these devices, signal is multiplied by each one of them. It is like throwing cans of gas on a fire. Guess what, the fire gets bigger the more cans of gas you throw on it. Same with these powered devices ,in line, that are boosting signal. Mike, the point I wanted you to understand is; It makes little difference if a device is passive or powered. What you need is the ability to control signal strength on the output of these devices. This means you have the ability to decrease signal strength. The problem we may be facing here is, the devices he is trying to use don't have gain controls to turn down. Mike, what you are thinking about is the input of these devices. I have been talking about the output. Yes, you may be correct that some of these devices can only take a instrument level signal. If you put a line level signal to it, you will get distortion. The confusion has been this Mike: I have been talking about the combined total signal when it gets to the Peavey Amp. You have been talking about the maximum input of these devices. It is highly possible that they can only handle instrument level signals.

[This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 25 January 2001 at 12:35 PM.]

[This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 25 January 2001 at 12:44 PM.]

ajm · From: Los Angeles

A quote from the original post: "When I picked hard at high frets the amp distorted even when all the effects were turned off."

I believe that these particular pedals are all stompbox types where the effect is switchable on/off. However, the switching circuitry is electronic and active, so it still may be possible to overload the switching portion of the circuitry with a big signal even though the "effect" is off. I've never tried doing this, so someone else may have to verify this.

I believe that this user also said that the distortion is not really super prominent. This may point back to overloading of some of the pedal circuitry at high frequencies.

I always thought that these stompbox types of effects were unity gain if the "effect" is switched off. Right or wrong? Forumites chime in......

I also believe that these particular effects are instrument level. I am not familiar with the amp in question. Is the jack which is driving the pedals part of an "effects type" loop? If so, then the preamp is probably feeding a big ol' honking signal to the effects and may be overdriving some circuitry. (If not, please disregard.)

I think someone else also made this suggestion: go guitar-volume pedal-effects-amp and see if the problem still exists. However, if the volume pedal is a straight pot type, I would probably put at least one effect between the guitar and volume pedal to get some buffering of the signal. There may be a slight difference in tone (more high end) that is desirable.

Also, are the pedals being powered off of adapters or batteries? If batteries, you know the next question......

Finally, I believe that this gentleman said that he had the amp set on 7 or 8. I am not familiar with this amp, but most amps I know of set at that level will distort. Forumites.....?

It's hard to troubleshoot and fix a problem when you're not there in person. I'm not trying to shoot down Keith or Mike Brown, but merely attempting to bring up a couple of other points as well as getting a couple of my own questions answered.

Mike Sweeney · From: Nashville,TN,USA

D.J. You said you had the pre gain at 7 & the post gain at 9 did it occur to you to turn down? If I were to play at that volume either the amp or my ears would go. It's not healthy to expose your hearing to that kind of level. Mike

DJ Sillito · From: Lethbrige, Alberta, Canada

You guys are right The volume I had it set at was high, however every one else must have been blaring loud because that's what the level had to be for me to hear myself. Actually I should mention that after about ten minutes of that insane loudness I miked the amp and turned it down. We were just practising so we ran our instruments thru the monitor so we could all hear each other without creating permanent ear damage. At any rate even with the "pre" set at 3 and the "post" ant 4-5 I still had a little distortion going on. my pedals are all stomp boxes and only the blues driver has a level or gain control. I am going to try the suggestions given to me and see if I can remedy the problem. Thanks again

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