posted 28 February 2005 03:28 PM
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I know this is old news (Nashville 400 - RIP - 1983-1999) but for those who still use the NV400 (there are still many thousands in the field) here is a mod that brightens the reverb of the Peavey Nashville 400 amp and gives it a more Fender-like reverb sound, a long needed improvement. It also gives the reverb more drive, like a Fender reverb, so you don't have to advance your reverb control so much (I use mine about at 10 or 11 O'Clock). I've been developing and using this for a few years and it is a big improvement. (It's been tested by other forum members for about 16 months). If it's better than your Lexicon or Profex, I don't know. If you want an improved reverb sound and enjoy rackin' and rollin' inside your amp, this is for you!
I tried to get the generally dark Peavey reverb to be more Fenderesque and I felt I've succeeded. I prefer to carry less things to gigs and keep it simple so I wanted to see if this reverb is good enough to gig with and I found the answer for me to be 'Yes, it is'
The NV400 uses a three spring tank. I also experimented with several 2 spring reverb tanks (4EB2C1B) in conjunction with this mod. The two spring tank is identical to the stock Peavey 3 spring tank electronically, (except for the two springs) and I found them not as diffuse and generally producing a lesser quality of reverb sound. I wanted to see if this could make the NV400 reverb more Fendery sounding. It did not. The three spring tank is better in this case.
I know this is an amp that is no longer made but there are plenty of units still in service and there are plenty of players who may find this worthwhile. For those who have performed the various mods to Nashville 400s, I would say that this is about 1/3 as complicated as the preamp mods popular for this model. It will take about a half hour to carry out once the amp is out of it's cab.
You'll need a soldering iron, low wattage preferable, solder, some solder wick, and a needle nosed pliers. DO NOT work on an amp that is plugged into the wall AC outlet and please DISCHARGE THE FILTER CAPS before commencing work.
It defeats the whole purpose to use cheap parts for a mod like this so source your parts correctly. As this mod tweaks frequencies, don't sub in different values because you can't find the listed values. Your results will be less than satisfactory. Just dig deeper in your sourcing. The parts are out there (but not at Radio Shack).
You'll also need a Peavey Nashville 400 schematic/parts layout to do this mod (Peavey part # 81501040). Peavey is pretty good about providing this sort of literature. If they charge for it, the charge is minimal.
I would like to thank Roy Mallory who was invaluable with his consultancy and advice. His spring reverb page is here: http://members.tripod.com/~roymal/
Thanks to the forum beta-testers for being my guinea pigs and providing their comments.
I'll post the actual mod details in another post here with the same title so people who don't want the rap can just cut to the chase and get the part values and procedure.
Bob Metzger[This message was edited by Bob Metzger on 01 March 2005 at 09:49 AM.]
The Steel Guitar Forum
posted 28 February 2005 03:28 PM