The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
What was the name of the 1970s 300w or so Fender amp with 3 handles on the top?
Where can I find info on that beast?
Where can I find info on that beast?
70's Fender Amp Guys...
- Thread starter The Golden Boy
- Start date
kmcguitars
GuitarArtologist
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
I think this is what your talking about. Fender's idea of a SVT.:smokin:
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/400ps_bass.html
I think this is what your talking about. Fender's idea of a SVT.:smokin:
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/400ps_bass.html
Jeff Seal
New member
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
The 400PS is an interesting animal..... It remains as the only tube amp ever known that will safely run without any speakers plugged in!!!!. This is due to fact that the cathodes are disconnected entirely until one of the three speaker jacks is used. (an idea utilized by your's truly to make amps much more "bulletproof"....ok, so I "borrowed it" from this design..:blackeye: )
Each spkr jack, turns "on" a pair of 6550's....(which proved to be a really bad idea) You can actually get all six 6550's to work by simply inserting a 1/4" plug into all the speaker outs...the plates are all tied together. Naturally nobody figured this out and even if they did, it was pretty pointless.
Unfortunately, for Fender, most could only afford one cabinet and that configuration was easily dwarfed by the much less expensive Super Bassman (69-71) and to add insult to injury, the Bassman 100 into the same cabinet...and the PS400 was three times the cost.(not the best thinking) and SVT's still ate them for lunch regardless of how many cabs you had...
Probably explains their rather "short" production run. In theory, they could easily be re-engineered to be the most powerful tube amp ever made.....but given the rarity of them, no real point!
They were originally advertised as the "no-conversation piece", but unfortunately that's exactly what they became....
Jeff Seal
The 400PS is an interesting animal..... It remains as the only tube amp ever known that will safely run without any speakers plugged in!!!!. This is due to fact that the cathodes are disconnected entirely until one of the three speaker jacks is used. (an idea utilized by your's truly to make amps much more "bulletproof"....ok, so I "borrowed it" from this design..:blackeye: )
Each spkr jack, turns "on" a pair of 6550's....(which proved to be a really bad idea) You can actually get all six 6550's to work by simply inserting a 1/4" plug into all the speaker outs...the plates are all tied together. Naturally nobody figured this out and even if they did, it was pretty pointless.
Unfortunately, for Fender, most could only afford one cabinet and that configuration was easily dwarfed by the much less expensive Super Bassman (69-71) and to add insult to injury, the Bassman 100 into the same cabinet...and the PS400 was three times the cost.(not the best thinking) and SVT's still ate them for lunch regardless of how many cabs you had...
Probably explains their rather "short" production run. In theory, they could easily be re-engineered to be the most powerful tube amp ever made.....but given the rarity of them, no real point!
They were originally advertised as the "no-conversation piece", but unfortunately that's exactly what they became....
Jeff Seal
The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
That's EXACTLY the one I was thinking of!
I can get my grubby mitts on one of these for next to nothing.
I'm kind of getting the hankerin' for a tube bass amp. More or less for something a little different. I've never been a real fan of the SVT or the Sunn 300, but I also haven't put a lot of time into eq-ing them either. I'm much more into the solid state bass amps, but enough headroom should be the way to go.
This thing would CRUSH through my 2x15!
Of course, not that I'd want to haul around an 85 lb head to match my 115 lb cab...
That's EXACTLY the one I was thinking of!
I can get my grubby mitts on one of these for next to nothing.
I'm kind of getting the hankerin' for a tube bass amp. More or less for something a little different. I've never been a real fan of the SVT or the Sunn 300, but I also haven't put a lot of time into eq-ing them either. I'm much more into the solid state bass amps, but enough headroom should be the way to go.
This thing would CRUSH through my 2x15!
Of course, not that I'd want to haul around an 85 lb head to match my 115 lb cab...
CapoFirstFret
New member
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
I found one of those in a pawn shop years ago...I didn't get it though, another guy I told about it picked it up and ended up selling it a little later. Of course, I wasn't playing bass at the time, just guitar...kinda wish I had snagged it back then!
I found one of those in a pawn shop years ago...I didn't get it though, another guy I told about it picked it up and ended up selling it a little later. Of course, I wasn't playing bass at the time, just guitar...kinda wish I had snagged it back then!
SpeedDemon
New member
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
GB, those amps are very similar to the Sunn bass amps. Just so you know.
It even looks like a Sunn Model T, or something along those lines to me.
GB, those amps are very similar to the Sunn bass amps. Just so you know.
It even looks like a Sunn Model T, or something along those lines to me.
The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
Jeff, does that run down to 2 ohms, or is that really pushing it?
However, 135w more.SpeedDemon said:
Jeff, does that run down to 2 ohms, or is that really pushing it?
Jeff Seal
New member
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
The trannies will handle 2 ohms with no problem......in reality, 1.33 ohms was what they were designed to push....massive doesn't begin to describe it!
But again, a SVT will still outperform it..... but then again everyone has a SVT.....right?!
Jeff Seal
The trannies will handle 2 ohms with no problem......in reality, 1.33 ohms was what they were designed to push....massive doesn't begin to describe it!
But again, a SVT will still outperform it..... but then again everyone has a SVT.....right?!
Jeff Seal
The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
1.33 ohms...
I'm running all 3 of my cabs!
When you say "outperform" what do you mean by that? I'm looking for a lot of clean headroom, with as little "sag" as possible.
1.33 ohms...
I'm running all 3 of my cabs!
When you say "outperform" what do you mean by that? I'm looking for a lot of clean headroom, with as little "sag" as possible.
:dunno:Jeff Seal said:
Jeff Seal
New member
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
The output of an SVT is about twice what the output of the 400PS is.....sorta strange the preamp isn't stouter given they were trying to compete with the Ampeg's. The tone selectors are vastly superior on the Ampegs.
Again, it could easily be modded to outperform any other bass amp, but it just doesn't compare in it's stock form.
JS
The output of an SVT is about twice what the output of the 400PS is.....sorta strange the preamp isn't stouter given they were trying to compete with the Ampeg's. The tone selectors are vastly superior on the Ampegs.
Again, it could easily be modded to outperform any other bass amp, but it just doesn't compare in it's stock form.
JS
The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
Re: 70's Fender Amp Guys...
The one I could get a hold of is kind of a basket case- we haven't gone through it to see exactly what's wrong with it. We were going to fix up a Sunn 350 L, but it was totalled.:blackeye:
What things can you recommend to make this thing worth the effort?
Jeff,Jeff Seal said:
The one I could get a hold of is kind of a basket case- we haven't gone through it to see exactly what's wrong with it. We were going to fix up a Sunn 350 L, but it was totalled.:blackeye:
What things can you recommend to make this thing worth the effort?
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