Evans users out there?

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 24 Feb 2007 6:11 am

I was wondering if anyone else uses an old Evans Fet 500? I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago from Bobbe's store on Ebay. I talked to Mr. Evans about it once and he said that they made 50 of the original high voltage models. He has number 50 and I have 49. They took out the tube sockets and put fet stuff in their place.

Bobbe Seymour, if you read this, and remember selling the 1970 Fet custom 500 for some person 3 or 4 years ago, does the amp have any interesting history? I love it and couldn't use any other. Mr. Evans was really tickled to hear about one of his amps after so many years.

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 24 Feb 2007 2:30 pm

Hi Rick, I have a couple of amps, one is an Evans Fet 500 (1985), but it is the Lv...and it has the Evan's eclipse speaker. My other amp is a Nashville 400 ...an old one with the 1502 B/W. They both sound brilliant, both have their own sound, but I tend to dial in what I like to "my" ears, like we all tend to do.

Micky Byrne Carter universal England www.mickybyrne.com

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 24 Feb 2007 3:06 pm

Micky, Jim Evans told me that they started building the Lv in the early 70's. It must have been a good amp for them to make them all that time. Mine has a JBL E-130-4ohm. It's insanely loud. I've played outside with it on 3 master, 4 on the gain. I would like to get a Nashville or Session 400 to run stereo. I have an old Fender Twin that is in head form, if I could find an empty Twin cabinet I'd put a 15 in it and make a combo.
Do you run both amps or one at a time?

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 25 Feb 2007 8:58 pm

I use an Evans FET 500 I bought from Ron Lasley, Sr. in 1987 in Knoxville. It has always hummed a little, but not enough to harm recordings. I love its tonal accuracy and the tremendous power when you need it. It has the Eclipse 15" and a perforated black steel grille as well as ozite covering. Ron said at the time it was the first ozite Evans he had ever seen or sold.
PRR

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 26 Feb 2007 12:35 am

Hi Paul and Rick.... as you said Rick, that amp "is" insanely loud. Paul, if I have my master full on there is a bit of hiss, but not enough to notice on a gig situation, but all I do is knock back the master to 6, and gain to 6 also......still well loud enough. Great amps

......Rick, try a Nashville 400, for your stereo set up. I think they sound better than the session 400 IMHO, as I've had one of them too in the past. I like the pull brite switch on them

....I only run in mono Rick. On big gigs, I'm miked through a megga P.A system.

Micky Byrne United Kingdom www.mickybyrne.com

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 26 Feb 2007 6:57 pm

Micky - I usually set gain and volume equal to start with and, if I need more volume, tweak them up a bit together so they still read the same on the dials. If I have to go much above 2-1/2 on these controls, I then insist on being miked. I once worked with a band that played so loud one night I had to hit 5 on each control. It wasn't even that large a room. My amp was sitting to my left and when I came in for a break, I stomped the pedal. . .couldn't hear a thing. At break the leader asked me why I didn't play on that song!!! I quit that group because I hated driving home after each gig with my ears ringing. That amp has a very inherently warm tone spectrum to it, but when you start cranking them up to the max, you tend to lose some of that along the way. He always used a fuzz tone on all of his lead breaks. The night I did an instrumental on "I Fall To Pieces" and he came in for a break in the middle of the song with his trusty fuzz tone, I knew my days with that band were rapidly drawing to a close!!!
PRR

Terry McCumbee · Post by **Terry McCumbee** » 27 Feb 2007 5:47 am

Hi Rick.I to use the FET 500 LV and they are one great AMP.I just installed a NEW DELTA LITE 11 that just came out From the EVANS CO. that they are puting in there NEW AMPS with the paper dust cover.There are Speakers out there that look like this Speaker but they are NOT the same.This Speaker is available at the EVANS CO.Just talked to CHRIS at the EVANS SHOP he has them in Stock.What a Difference it made in this AMP and a lot lighter to carry.

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 27 Feb 2007 9:58 am

Mine is the HV from 1970. It weighs in at 70 lbs. A lighter speaker would be great.

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 27 Feb 2007 5:54 pm

I've used one since 1990 with no major problems. Great amps and sound as good as any of the new ones IMO

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 27 Feb 2007 10:13 pm

I play thru an older (20-25yrs) FET 500. 15" Eminence speaker.
Just a great "little" amp - not that heavy to tote around,

When I was living in Chatham, MA [Cape Cod] back around '73-'76, John Macy [fellow forumite] was playing with a super swing band [and original-song-band], "John Lincoln Wright & The Sour Mash Boys".

I met John for the first time at this time. He showed me a ton of stuff, of which I am very indebited, and was playing thru an Evans at this time.

I asked John about it, and he said the amp just had what he couldn't find in other amps of the day. He also mentioned that he loved the Evans "dry" reverb.

Maybe John could elaborate more on Evans. But all I know at that young and impressionable time, after hearing John Macy play his beautiful D-10, P/P, Emmons (BLACK) thru that Evans amp, I did like a lot of us do, here. I Followed the leader, and did not watch the parking meter.

The FET500 with a 15" speaker is just a beautiful amp.

It's compact and light-weight in comparison to many other amps of equal statistics.

Great amp.

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 28 Feb 2007 5:48 am

Looks like a bunch of us with Evans' are also U12 players. Is there a pattern?

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 28 Feb 2007 6:30 am

I love my FET 500 LV, but, I'm still mad at it for letting me down on a major gig. We were playing the the Double Door (hell Clapton played there!) and the FET 500 took a dump. It's still with my amp guy, I told him to take his time and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Hopefully after this it won't have to go back in the shop for a loooooooooong time. After it having it go out on be twice at a gig, I will never be without a backup again!

Robbie Daniels · Post by **Robbie Daniels** » 28 Feb 2007 7:50 am

I have an Evans FET 500 LV that I bought in 1984 and has a JBL E130 speaker and I also have an Evans 200 SE that I bought in 1999 with an Evans Eclipse and I prefer the 1984 model over the newer model although they are both great amps. Occasionaly I use the two to obtain a wider semi stereo effect. I only use Evans amps for pedal steel for older non-pedal or my Fender 400 I use a Peavey 1000. Which doesn't really mean anything other than that is my choice for the sound I want to hear.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 28 Feb 2007 8:58 am

I'm a U-12'r that plays through a 1985 FET-500 LV, large cabinet.

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 28 Feb 2007 9:53 am

Guys,
What tuning are you using? e9/b6. Also what do you so with your high eq and effects?

There MAY be a pattern!

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 28 Feb 2007 10:18 am

Hey Paul, I had the same experience a few weeks back with a band I played with. When it came to my "break" the lead man still had over driven distortion rhythm........this was on a real Country tune. When will these guys "EVER" learn????? Needless to say i've decided not to work with them anymore. I sooner a night indoors that to be subject to all that.

Micky Byrne United kingdom www.mickybyrne.com

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 1 Mar 2007 7:06 am

Paul, were you playing with a young guitar player? You know of course that the new guys think an amp that sounds clean has something wrong with it!!

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 1 Mar 2007 7:12 am

BTW Rick, I took the e Series JBL out of mine and replaced it with a black widow 1501-4 SB. Sounds better to my ear AND it's about 5lbs lighter.

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 1 Mar 2007 12:51 pm

Thanks for the idea, I will try the BW and use the JBL to make a 15 cab for my Twin Reverb. I love the tone of my Evans now, but if it could be better....

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 1 Mar 2007 6:07 pm

You might want to check to ensure the polarity on the speaker leads of your amp. If I'm not mistaken, JBL's are backwards from everything else so, more than likely, you will have to reverse the leads when you hook up the BW. You can easily check the polarity of the speaker leads but using a multimeter and measuring the resistance of each lead. One probe of the meter to the chassis and the measure each speaker lead with the other. The one with the least resistance (almost zero) will be your negative lead.

Take Care
David

The Steel Guitar Forum

Evans users out there?

Evans users out there?

Re: Evans users out there?