Restoring Peavey Session 500

Henry Schuellerman · From: Columbus, Ohio, USA

Hi everyone,

After lots of reading through old posts on here, I just picked up my first steel amp, a 1981 Peavey Session 500 Mark IV. It was definitely sitting in a garage for a long time. It still worked, but was kinda noisy... noise increased as I turned up the reverb. I vacuumed out all the spider webs / dust from the cab, removed the power and preamp chassis (mine comes out in two pieces) to carefully vacuum out a large spider nest, cleaned the pots, and gently used a microfiber towel to wipe dust off the speaker in the front.

Upon plugging in with a guitar, it made some weird crackling noise when strumming. And the reverb no longer worked (maybe it got disconnected). And when I turned the bass EQ knob, it made a LOUD popping noise. I mean insanely loud. The vibrations strummed my banjo that was sitting next to the amp. My ears are still recovering.

I come here to ask- what common issues arise from an old, likely unserviced Peavey SS amp like this? Is it possible I damaged the amp when trying to clean it? Could some of the caps be bad? Should I give up and take it to be serviced / send to Peavey? Any advice appreciated. Smile

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

I needs serviced. For sure pots cleaned or replaced. In that garage moisture and being unused is no good. Some pots are surely dried out maybe leaking. The jacks are likely oxidized Look up a Peavey service center for your area.

Joe Bill Moad · From: Oklahoma

I know your misery in trying to find out the problems you are experiencing. First off the pots are an easy fix. The noise is a problem in the circuitry more than likely. Could be a solder joint not connecting any more. The loud Boom Boom is called “Motor Boating”. It can be caused from your transformer not putting enough power to the tubes, and other items also. I have a 59 tweed copy of the fender circuit in the shop right now getting gone over. Rest assured that your amp in capable hands will come back to new. Hopefully it has a Black Widow speaker in it? They have been known through aging to have the inside foam packing break down, another easy fix.

Good Luck:

Joe Bill Moad
Oklahoma
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Don’t Worry About The Mule! Load The Wagon!

Dennis Detweiler · From: Solon, Iowa, US

I would replaced all of the capacitors and especially the two filter caps. If you are handy with a pencil soldering iron, it's much cheaper to do it yourself. It's a tedious job. Pots can be cleaned with Detox It. I replace all of the caps, molex pins and the six power transistors in my 1974 Session 400. It's a new amp and so quiet that I don't know that it's turned on. I replaced the power transistors with the ones used in the Nashville 400 amps, so it is putting out a little more power from it's stock version.
Conclusion, your 500 can be new again or better than new.
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1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

I have a lot of Peavey gear. Over the years I've sent a lot of amps to them for service. Always done right, no issues.

Normally I will pull the chassis and ship it to them sans cab & speaker. Recently I sent them a Nashville 112. As the issue was with the reverb they wanted the whole rig.

I'd call them first and ask what they need.

Shipping Tip:

Find out where the closest UPS terminal is (where your UPS driver leaves from and returns to daily). Most of the time they have a walk-in shipping counter that you can ship your heavy amps from. Mine is one town away and is open M-F 4:00 PM to 7:00PM.

The price you pay is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than what a UPS Store will charge - like 40% to 60% lower. In effect you get wholesale rates. Well worth the trip.
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Tony
Newnan, GA

Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster Quad black
PedalMaster D8

Mike Holder · Posted 10 Sep 2024 9:33 am

Servicing it or doing it yourself will continue to cost money, these are great amps but also happen to be cheap to purchase due to weight etc. find a better used one and keep yours for parts, win on both sides of the coin!
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I thought Nashville was the roughest, but I know I’ve said the same about them all.
I received my education, drivin through the Nation listenin to Paul!.. ( Franklin that is! )

Stephen Cowell · From: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Dennis Detweiler · From: Solon, Iowa, US

I've detoxed the molex pins a few times and they last for a few years. The other problem with them is the pins are crimped to the wires and the crimps become corroded or somehow start losing contact. I recently replaced all of the pins and soldered the wires to the pins. Another rare problem is the power transistors on the back are installed into a pinned socket. Those sockets can become loose and you'll experience an intermittent drop in power. I pulled all of mine and crimped the pin sockets. I'm talking Session 400. I don't know if the Nashville and 500 were installed the same way?
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1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.

Henry Schuellerman · From: Columbus, Ohio, USA

Thanks for all the information everyone!

I took it in to be serviced (by a licensed Peavey service shop). 4 weeks later... the invoice says he burnished and de-ox'd all the jacks, controls, and pcb plugs. Apparently the gain pot and some transistor were bad, so he replaced both of those. Also some small things, like making sure the reverb cable is good and replacing an incorrect chassis screw from a previous owner.

I'm now a happy Peavey owner, I think it sounds superb... the EQ is insane and seems handy for any instrument that can be plugged in. I'll use the session 500 for recording steel at home and gigging. I'm curious to see how it handles other guitars in the long run, since for shows I'll be switching between pedal steel and my strat or jazzmaster (with a blues driver + rat for dirt). Harder country rock stuff. The cost of repair exceeded what I paid for the amp (slightly) but oh well... at least I got a good deal upfront and now have all the volume I will ever need.

I've been enjoying these Merle Haggard live clips where the whole backline seems to just be a Peavey Session for each instrument... lol!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bRGH9eD5o

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