Peavey Vintage 410

[reggiepe]

Hi all,

My Father just came back from a trip to Florida for a month and brought back a nice find (so I thought) It seems to be an early 70's Peavey Vintage 410 guitar amp. It is the Hybrid version with the SS Preamp. Looks road worn and in not the best shape, but he said it sounded good when the guy he bought it from played through it. Unfortunately the long trip from Florida up to PA in the back of a pickup has done something to the amp. He said that when he plugged it and turned it on it was fine. But as soon as he threw the satndby switch on it started humming and popping real loud and then smoke start to roll out of the back of the chassis. He turned it off and I went back today to have a look to see if I could help him. I am coming here to see if there are any ideas from experts as to where to start. I mentioned to him about throwing in a new set of tubes (4 x 6L6GC's or 5881's) but he said that he didn't want to throw that much money into it to find out that the amp is toast.

Here are some pics.









It would appear that two of the speakers were replaced. The originals seem to be Eminence speakers from 1973. So, are there any thoughts on where to start troubleshooting this amp?

Thanks

Rich

[reggiepe]

Anyone have any thoughts?

[reggiepe]

I think I may have found the issue. One of the output tubes had it's key worn off and it MAY have been put in incorrectly. What would happen to the amp if one of the output tubes was put in with the pins not in the correct holes?

[Cygnus X1]

I'd throw in here but I'm too old school.
I won't commit to circuit board amps.

[reggiepe]

Originally Posted by Cygnus X1

I'd throw in here but I'm too old school.
I won't commit to circuit board amps.

What would happen if one of the 5881's was put in incorrectly and then turned on? Would it smoke the output tranny or something of the like?

[Cygnus X1]

More than likely!

[reggiepe]

I just contacted Peavey to get a schematic for this amp and they told me that it is one of the first ones of that model produced in 1973. The schematic is fairly straight forward. I needed it to identify some resistors that are on the power tube pins. Specifically one resistor. I found last evening that there is a resistor that got fried that is going across the pins on the first power tube. I am not sure what the terminolgy is for that specific part. I am in the hopes that if I replace that the amp will be ok to operate. What clued me in to look was when I put some new tubes in (4 x 6L6GC) the very first tube did a quick orange flash. I am faitly certain that that tube is hosed now. Any one have any thoughts on this?

[Asdain]

if one of those was put in incorrectly it might arc/short/rape the shit out of the amp!
replace tubes,check all Resistors in Output stage and Power supply and check the output tranny.
a resistor across the output tube socket pins could be a screen stopper, though that would not cause this drastic failure..

[reggiepe]

Oh Crud. I sure hope you gave the worst case scenario.

[reggiepe]

Replaced the 47k resistor on Socket 1 and very gingerly fired that amp back up. I was ready to hit the power if anything looked out of the ordinary. I left it run for 10 minutes in standby and then flipped it out of standby for a few more. No hot smells (except for the tubes themselves) and no smoke....no smoke! Plugged the gitfiddle in and was introduced to a warm clean sound that I never remembered Peavey being able to produce. The OD stinks on the preamp side, but cranking the master to 12 and just cracking open the volume is a beautiful warm and clean amp. Loud....did I say LOUD! Good God this thing is loud. No problems with clean headroom on this little brute. My dad picked up a real nice find that all it took was a .25 resistor and a new set of tubes. He's happy and I am happy for him.

Anyone have a good method of cleaning that old battle worn tweed? He says he would enjoy it more if he could clean it up a little.

[Danno1985]

Originally Posted by reggiepe

Loud....did I say LOUD! Good God this thing is loud. No problems with clean headroom on this little brute.

"Little"??? My old 4X10 Peavey Classic 50 weighed at least half as much as my Crown Vic, haha. Sweet amp though, glad you got it sorted out.

[Splattle101]

If your dad ever gets tired of it, you could gut that sucker and turn it into a Bassman.

Good score!

[rumblebox]

Originally Posted by Danno1985

"Little"??? My old 4X10 Peavey Classic 50 weighed at least half as much as my Crown Vic, haha. Sweet amp though, glad you got it sorted out.

yea it's fun lugging up and down the stairs. i'm sure my neighbors think i fell down them.

[mokoffeplease]

I've got that same amp....dismantled this winter and gave it a thorough cleaning. Took the chassis in to a local amp guru to have it checked out. I used vinyl cleaner and a stiff brush on the covering...its vinyl not cloth. It has that great vintage look that an amp thats pushing 40 should have and it sounds great ...for what it is.

[refin]

Originally Posted by reggiepe

I think I may have found the issue. One of the output tubes had it's key worn off and it MAY have been put in incorrectly. What would happen to the amp if one of the output tubes was put in with the pins not in the correct holes?

I think you found out what would happen----

That was my main gigging amp for about 3 years back in the '70s.Mine had the preamp tubes inside the chassis (6C10).Get that thing serviced,get at least a cap job,and keep on rocking.