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Alembic Club » Swap Shop and Wish Lists » Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere » Archive through November 26, 2013 » Fender Vintage Amp 400PS with 3 cabinets « Previous Next »

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rustyg61
Senior Member
Username: rustyg61

Post Number: 979
Registered: 2-2011
Posted on Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - 7:26 pm:   Edit Post

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FENDER-VINTAGE-AMP-400-PS-1970s-RARE-TUBE-BASS-AMP-RIG-/370916424449?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565c577b01
bigredbass
Senior Member
Username: bigredbass

Post Number: 2054
Registered: 9-2002
Posted on Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - 11:37 pm:   Edit Post

Now . . . . see why they call them 'W bins' ?

This is actually from back in the day (amazingly, I only remember seeing them in Fender catalogs, did anybody actually play through these earthmovers?). On the other hand, while modern science has not quite been able to birth new dinosaurs from bits of DNA dissolved out of ancient fossils, we do have THIS walking the face of Mother Earth once more:

http://www.acousticbassusa.com/products/360-361.html

. . . . and I do remember LOTS of cats playing those. I always see these and think of Jaco's rig, with two cabs and the original MXR blue-faced rack delay on top. Rest in Peace. I can hear that side of the thumb harmonic intro to 'Byrdland' right now . . . .

J o e y
sonicus
Senior Member
Username: sonicus

Post Number: 3068
Registered: 5-2009
Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 3:52 am:   Edit Post

I do believe that Berry Oakley ( Allman Brothers) had a Fender 400 PS .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_eyePC5cIA

Interestingly , I also once had an Acoustic 360 top . The 360 top was just a " solid state" pre amp. I experimented with it a bit and traded it for something else. Without the powered 361 bottom and with the speaker combination it just did not do anything for me to warrant keeping it. An aspect that I noticed was that the enclosure was quite large and the circuitry inside really did not need such a massive shell because it could have been enclosed in a much smaller unit. If I remember correctly the original 360 top did not offer as many IO ( input/output) variables as the reissue model shown in the link provided by Joey.
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1601
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 9:05 am:   Edit Post

Well, not the whole rig, Joey, but a bass player I roadied for & I put together a rig where we had an SVT 8X10 modded so the middle four 8s were replaced with a 15 (divided; basiclly it ended up as a 1X15 & two 2X10s) and tri-amped it with one of these 18 Ws on the bottom. Ashley pre-amp & Furman x-o (or vice versa; it's been >30 years), Yamaha power for 10s & 15, Acoustic power for the 18. You could hear the bass. And feel it. And see it, smell it, and taste it.

Peter
bigredbass
Senior Member
Username: bigredbass

Post Number: 2056
Registered: 9-2002
Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 10:56 pm:   Edit Post

Yes, Pete, those were the days (and the rigs) where glasses would vibrate across a table . . . . next door !

I tell you what this really reminds me of: You had to be in the moving business to play bass back in the day. These new little four-pound amps and Neo bins would have seemed like a dream back then.

It was nothing to lug rigs like this (or SVT's, or component/rack rigs back when all power amps had BIG transformers) up and down stairs, in and out of those places your Mother warned you about, 100-pound or better 215 bins, folded 18's, 810's, sheesh. And all that to keep up with a guitar player with a single twelve combo ! Yikes !

I once made a gig (when the drummer forgot to come get me in the van) by puting the top down on my Bug convertible, standing a Peavey 215 bin up on the back bumper and flipping it over the folded-down top into the backseat, then driving to the gig, top down, with this big black cab pointing at the sky (the chrome casters were a nice visual) at a 45-degree angle. Got some funny looks at stop lights . . . .

J o e y
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 5566
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 12:36 am:   Edit Post

Come on Joey, those guitar players were playing Twin Reverbs or Marshall Stacks. lol

Bill, tgo
wookie
Intermediate Member
Username: wookie

Post Number: 179
Registered: 8-2010
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 5:59 am:   Edit Post

Is this the fender amp the SVT was built from?
sonicus
Senior Member
Username: sonicus

Post Number: 3069
Registered: 5-2009
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 10:06 am:   Edit Post

The first version of the Ampeg SVT used 6146B audio output power tubes.

The Second version of the Ampeg SVT used 6550 audio output power tubes.

The original Fender PS400 used 6550 audio output power tubes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampeg_SVT
sonicus
Senior Member
Username: sonicus

Post Number: 3070
Registered: 5-2009
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 10:33 am:   Edit Post

The way that the total stated RMS WATTS power is coupled and divided at the output stage differs between the SVT and PS400 as well.

In the Fender PS400 the power is divided into three outputs each rated 145 WATTS RMS @4 OHMS .( three outputs individually coupled)

In the Ampeg SVT the power is 300 WATTS RMS @4 OHMS( one output with multiple jacks not individually coupled )

(Message edited by sonicus on October 17, 2013)
5a_quilt_top
Intermediate Member
Username: 5a_quilt_top

Post Number: 190
Registered: 6-2012
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 11:50 am:   Edit Post

SVT = "Super Vacuum Tube".

'nuff said!
sonicus
Senior Member
Username: sonicus

Post Number: 3071
Registered: 5-2009
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 12:43 pm:   Edit Post

The Ampeg SVT 400T has no vacuum tubes , not even in a preamp stage. Therefore not all models of Ampeg SVT's use vacuum tubes or " valves " as one refers to them in the UK.
keith_h
Senior Member
Username: keith_h

Post Number: 1913
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 2:47 pm:   Edit Post

I used to use one of these (Top picture right hand side). Had two JBL K-140 front loaded speakers driven by a Yamaha head on top. Got loud and sounded pretty good but the weight. Setup and tear down was like moving a second PA.

Keith
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1602
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - 8:45 pm:   Edit Post

The bass rig wasn't the hard part; we carried a piano, too. Not a Rhodes, not a Wurlitzer, definitely not a Korg or Kurzweil - a freakin' piano. OK, it was a spinet, not a grand, but still.....
3-man crew, on and off stages averaging 3-4', and, if it was Molly's (Champaign IL) or Crow's Mill School (Springfield IL), second floor. What's that you ask? Is my back completely bunged up? Oh my, yes. Do I miss it? You know I do.

Peter
rustyg61
Senior Member
Username: rustyg61

Post Number: 989
Registered: 2-2011
Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2013 - 11:42 am:   Edit Post

I have had some pretty big rigs over the years, both of these had home made cabinets I patterned after other cabinets. None of them sounded very good but they were big & looked cool! (Or so I thought!)

3648_10201616333319320_391031133_n.jpg

970793_10201616334959361_706087879_n.jpg

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