Author Topic: Fender Vintage Amp 400PS with 3 cabinets (Read 248 times)

rustyg61 · « **on:** October 15, 2013, 07:26:16 PM »

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

bigredbass · « **Reply #1 on:** October 15, 2013, 11:37:54 PM »

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 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 16, 2013, 03:52:11 AM »

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 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 16, 2013, 09:05:31 AM »

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 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 16, 2013, 10:56:34 PM »

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 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 17, 2013, 12:36:19 AM »

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

Bill, tgo

wookie · « **Reply #6 on:** October 17, 2013, 05:59:43 AM »

Is this the fender amp the SVT was built from?

sonicus · « **Reply #7 on:** October 17, 2013, 10:06:36 AM »

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 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 17, 2013, 10:33:22 AM »

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 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 17, 2013, 11:50:56 AM »

SVT = Super Vacuum Tube.

'nuff said!

sonicus · « **Reply #10 on:** October 17, 2013, 12:43:36 PM »

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 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 17, 2013, 02:47:03 PM »

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 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 17, 2013, 08:45:07 PM »

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 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 19, 2013, 11:42:22 AM »

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!)