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Topic: 1979 Session 400 Tone Upgrades? |
Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 7:15 am |
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I actually feel sorta silly even asking this. But, are there any cool mods for one of these? Mine is in great shape and has the original (I think) speaker. It's a spiderweb BW. I've been playing the amp with my 1970 Professional and am pretty stunned by the tone. It sounds way better than I at first realized. Man, is it clear and phat! I don't need to change it...just wonder because I'm a tone junkie.
It seems that many Peavey models have chip upgrades or whatnot that "improves" them in some way. Some prefer the upgraydds. others do not.
What has been your experience?
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Wakarusa 5e3 clone
1953 Stromberg-Carlson AU-35 |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 7:43 am Re: 1979 Session 400 Tone Upgrades?
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| Rick Abbott wrote: |
| What has been your experience? |
My experience has always been "if it ain't broke -- don't fix it."
I'm no electronics guru by any means, but it's my understanding the circuit in the original Sessions and LTDs did not use ICs. |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 7:55 am
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These fantastic amp's have aged to a point now where it may be time to replace the electrolytic capacitors in both the power supply and in the signal path. Electrolytic capacitors have a limited lifespan. Modern ones are much better too.
These days, look into the Nichicon MUSE or the Elna RFS (Silmic II). These are superior audio-grade electrolytic capacitors that sound great in the preamp stages. For the larger power supply filter cap's, anything decent will do fine.
I once had a page with all this info online relating to the Session 400 mods, but it appears that ever since I left earthlink, they disabled the page.
And it's true, there are NO opamps in the Session 400, only discrete transistors, and this makes it a special amp for sure. And honestly, I kind of agree with Jack here - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Really, if it's stable and not making unwanted noises and the tone is nice, just leave it alone and enjoy it for now and someday if it acts up, then you can go in for some maintenance.
Brad |
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Dennis Detweiler
From:
Solon, Iowa, US
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 8:45 am
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Yes, these are excellent amps, but might need repairs at some point in the future. Another option, pull the chassis and send it to the Peavey factory and they will go through the amp and bring it up to specs for a very reasonable price.
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Boss 59 Fender pedal for preamp, NDR-5 Atlantic Delay & Reverb, two Quilter 201 amps, 2- 12" Eminence EPS-12C speakers, ShoBud Pedal, 1949 Epiphone D-8. Revelation preamp into a Crown XLS 1002 power amp. |
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Peter Freiberger
From:
California, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 11:06 am
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| Brad's "Session 400 Geek Page" mods worked wonders for my two old Session 400's. And after a little soldering tutorial from a friend I did the work myself! Perhaps Brad might re-post the page? And let me also highly recommend his classy "Sarno Music Solutions" T shirt! |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 12:27 pm
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I had a feeling I would receive the above advice!  It sounds fantastic at the moment. I'm about to start gigging with it and may just go ahead and do the filter caps and other electrolytics for good measure. If I have any luck I'll be playing out 6-8 times a month, so, not a lot of action, but some.
I'd love to see that Geek Page too...any hope of that?
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Wakarusa 5e3 clone
1953 Stromberg-Carlson AU-35 |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 12:34 pm
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| Peter Freiberger wrote: |
| Brad's "Session 400 Geek Page" mods worked wonders for my two old Session 400's. And after a little soldering tutorial from a friend I did the work myself! Perhaps Brad might re-post the page? And let me also highly recommend his classy "Sarno Music Solutions" T shirt! |
I feel bad. A few months ago we finally cut the cord with Earthlink as their email service had grown terrible and they kept charging us too much money. So apparently when I cancelled it, everything associated with the account got deleted too - like that Session 400 Geek Page from 2001. So I'll poke around to see if I have that stuff saved on a computer somewhere.
B |
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Scott Duckworth
From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 2:33 pm
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Brad, if you remember the web address of the page, you might try the Way Back Machine to see if it got archived.
_________________
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it
I may, in fact, be nuts. However, I am screwed onto the right bolt... Jesus! |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 4:47 pm
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Wayback Machine definitely has it. There are a bunch of snapshots, here's the latest - Click Here.
There are some photos missing, but the gist of the changes are there.
PS - I love my Session 400 (and have an LTD 400 too). But my Session 400 was cut down 3" vertically (by the fellow I got it from) for a 12" Telonics Neo speaker. With both the cut-down cabinet and the lightweight speaker, it weighs about as much as my Vibrolux Reverb - about 47 pounds. And it sounds great. I have generally preferred 12" speakers to 15", even for steel, so YMMV. |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2018 6:13 pm
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Gosh, Dave, thanks!
I am still struggling with 12 vs 15. I really love 12's, but the 15BW in this Session 400, and the amp generally, is so good!
For a couple of years I've been using a mid-80's Peavey Studio Pro 50 to play through. I put a 12" telonics in it and really like it. The band I jam with is going live this month and I pulled out the Session to get used to it. I owned it for over a year and never played it at stage volume until a couple of weeks ago. Good lord, what a difference in tone, feel and presence. Damn, I've been suffering and had no idea!
Peavey should stop what they are doing and put out a 100 watt version of this thing...cut no corners...spare no expense. I had a NV112 and just couldn't bond, it wasnt "live" enough, but I liked the power-range it was in.
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Wakarusa 5e3 clone
1953 Stromberg-Carlson AU-35 |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 2 Sep 2018 7:12 am
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| Dave Mudgett wrote: |
Wayback Machine definitely has it. There are a bunch of snapshots, here's the latest - Click Here.
There are some photos missing, but the gist of the changes are there.
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Nice work!!!
B |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 2 Sep 2018 7:18 am
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I installed the Lemay "mod" in an old Session 400. It replaces all the electrolytic caps on the preamp board. The user was complaining about "noise" in the amp and the cap replacement took care of that. He was happy.
But, the power supply caps are also due and maybe overdue for replacement. Even though its working "ok" the voltages are probably not up to what they should be.
_________________
GFI Ultra Keyless S-10 with pad (Black of course) TB202 amp, Hilton VP, Steelers Choice sidekick seat, SIT Strings
Cakewalk by Bandlab and Studio One V4.6 pro DAWs, MOTU Ultralite MK5 recording interface unit |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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