Why would somone install this on a NV400?

Jeff Metz Jr. · From: York, Pennsylvania, USA

I have recently purchased a Nashville 400 amp and noticed that the previous owner has installed some sort of modified Jack for the speaker to connect to.
I am very ignorant when it comes to electronics so please bare with me.
Is this just a way to use an extension cab easily? Does the electric component add or take away anything from the amp? Thank you!

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Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

What do the various wires connect to (meaning the ends that we can't see)?

Jeff Metz Jr. · From: York, Pennsylvania, USA

Well the quarter inch goes to the speaker and the other two go to the amp I assume.
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Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

You have four wires in the photos. The normal NV 400 set-up has two wires going from the amp to the speaker. You have two extra wires connected to that speaker!! They have to go somewhere!!

I don't see how anyone can answer your questions until you trace down where the extra two wires are going. What are they connected to?

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a female 1/4 jack somewhere on the amp chassis or the cabinet that has been added to run an extension cabinet, which is probably a real bad idea. That amp was designed to run with a 4 ohm speaker. Running an extension speaker changes the load on the amp, which can harm performance &/or cause the amp to overheat and blow up. However, my thought that it's some kind of extension speaker connection is just a guess. I'm not an amp tech or in any way qualified concerning electronics. I'm just passing along what I've been told over the years.

Probably time to start taking some things apart. It's real easy to pull the head out of the cabinet. Simply remove the four bolts on the top, unplug the reverb cables, disconnect the wires from the speaker, and slid the head out. You might take pictures before you start so you can put it all back correctly. Once the head is out you should be able to trace down those wires.

If it is a homemade extension speaker connect, you could probably leave it in. I don't think it will hurt anything AS LONG AS YOU DON'T USE IT. The load on the amp will be from the single speaker in the cabinet, which is almost certainly 4 ohm.

David Nugent · From: Gum Spring, Va.

The blue and yellow wires I believe are the factory installed speaker wires and should originate from the chassis. If the others do in fact lead to a female jack, they may have been added to make it possible to utilize an external amp/preamp and for the 400 to function as a speaker cab only.

Dick Sexton · From: Greenville, Ohio

Not much can be determined from the picture about how or why the connector was installed. But... This can be determined. There is a white thing connected to the blue and yellow wires. This is a tie point to tie the wires up out of the way, so there is little or no room for them to flop around. The white tie point has come loose(probably failed), usually installed with double sided tape. In its current configuration, it could allow the installed, but open and unprotected wires to make contact with a metal part(ie. speaker frame) while the amp was powered on. That event might and could blow the output transistors of your NV400. You have stated you do not know very much about electronics. I suggest you power down your amp and find someone who does. Not a hard fix, but if as you have stated, your not sure what to do, you could cause an expensive problem. My suggestion. Get help. Better safe then sorry...

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

I believe we're looking right at the female jack... The speaker wire of a Nashville 400 (the blue and yellow) is hardwired to the chassis. Putting that jack where it is gives you the ability to plug in and try different speaker cabs - not more, assuming its a 4 ohm speaker you've got.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

in the photo, it is not obvious that the Blue and Yellow wires which are mounted to the 1/4 connector are actually connected to the speaker at THAT point.

Me, I suspect the other end of the Blue and Yellow wires go to the speaker connection tabs which we cannot see. The other end of the 1/4 plug/wires goes to the amp ..or maybe to the Patio...
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John Phinney · From: Long Beach California, USA

The blue and yellow wires come out of the chassis and are connected directly to the built in speaker in a stock NV400.
In the amp seen here a plug has been soldered to the wires connected to the speaker and a jack has been connected to the blue and yellow speaker wires coming from the chassis.
Why?
David Nugent and Brett Lanier give two reasonable explanations.
I have a similar setup with my Nashville 400. Why? I had Rick Johnson build me a split cabinet. The chassis speaker wires (blue and yellow) are connected to a jack at the rear of the head cab. The speaker is in a separate cab also wired to a jack at the back of the speaker cab. I use a 1/4" speaker cable to connect them.
While Jeff's NV400's speaker connection isn't stock it looks pretty straight forward to me and it shouldn't give you any problems if the soldering has been done well. You can always remove it and wire the speaker directly if you have soldering skills.
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Mike Schwartzman · From: Maryland, USA

What the heck...I can make as good a guess as most, but scroll back a few posts and read Dick Sexton's post. I would get someone to look at it from the opened chassis, to the back panel, on down to the speaker cable.

This may not be a speaker jack modification at all, and could be a bandaid fix for a broken speaker jack (But not in a good way)
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Bill Moore · From: Manchester, Michigan

The normal connection points for the blue and yellow wires are square, spring loaded clamps. My guess is that the red/black wires are now connected to those spring leaded clamps. But the female jack makes it possible to disconnect the speaker from the NV 400 and then plug in another speaker wire to the jack, allowing the speaker itself to be used by another amp. With the jack connected, as shown in the picture, you should have normal operation of the NV400 with it's speaker. Just removing the back panels will show if this it true.

Dick Sexton · From: Greenville, Ohio

I tried... Hope he doesn't let the smoke out!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Well, If I wuz you, Jeff, I'd contact your seller and ask HIM what it's all about. If he's the one who did the mod, he'd be the one to tell ya-------just sayin'.
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Bob Cox · From: Buckeye State

my guess would be for headphones. They make it easier to here what your playing as you got the direct sound between you and amp and the noise factors of the drums and other instruments which the headphones will quiten them. Put an inline volume in the headphones ,some already have them. .

Stephen Cowell · From: Round Rock, Texas, USA

In no way would it be safe to connect headphones to that rig... the inline adjusters on the headphones would smoke, and then you might end up deaf.

It would be like taking a 3v flashlight bulb and connecting it to the wall socket, with a dimmer control. One slip of the dimmer and smoke gets out.

The plug and jack are there to make the combo amp more flexible. You can use either the speaker or the amp separately... I have several amps set up this way.
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Keith Murrow · From: Wichita, KS

It could also have been (crudely) set up to patch a Peavey EDI direct box inline between the amp and the speaker. The EDIs used 1/4" phone jacks as connectors.

Gary Cosden · From: Florida, USA

I have a similar setup on my NV400. I think mine is way more "elegant" but it allows me to use it as a speaker cabinet only when I want to use the black widow with my Dual Showman head. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Lee Barber · From: Sweeny, TX, USA

Jeff
Why not ask the person you bought the Amp from?
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Jeff Metz Jr. · From: York, Pennsylvania, USA

I will have to get the story from the "modder" himself. I purchased the amp from a mutual friend of the sell and I. I'll have to get my buddy to find out from his friend. Wow confusing. Either way I see how it could be just a simpler way to make the amp more versatile. Mixing and matching this amp with different cabs, or this cab with different amps.
Thanks guys. You have been a ton of help.
Any chance this addition could be affecting the tone of this particular Nv400? TY
Jeff
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Doug Palmer · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

I use that on my amps so I can use my Leslie cabinet.
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