Nash 400--dumb question

Greg Vincent · Post by **Greg Vincent** » 7 Feb 2001 8:54 am

Here's a dumb question for all those of you out there who are much smarter than I am when it comes to amps:

I have a Nash 400 that I bought new around '97...

Where is the fuse?

GV[This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 07 February 2001 at 08:55 AM.][This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 07 February 2001 at 08:56 AM.][This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 07 February 2001 at 08:57 AM.]

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 7 Feb 2001 11:13 am

The fuses can only be accessed internally.

Greg Vincent · Post by **Greg Vincent** » 7 Feb 2001 11:26 am

Thanks Mike --I got an answer right from the source!

So... if I'm on a gig and I blow a fuse, then I have to disassemble the amp?

GV

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 8 Feb 2001 1:01 pm

If you blow a fuse in a Peavey....

you got a REAL problem !!

You ain't gonna fix it by replaceing the fuse.

Greg Vincent · Post by **Greg Vincent** » 8 Feb 2001 2:30 pm

Bill,

That's good to know. Is that true of solid state amps in general ---they don't blow fuses unless it's something drastic?

GV

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 9 Feb 2001 4:37 pm

In tube amps, if a tube shorted (this wasn't uncommon) the fuse would blow, and you could replace the bad tube and the fuse without taking the thing apart.. But in solid state amps, nothing is "field replaceable". When the fuse goes...something inside the amp made it go, and you're going to need to take it apart to fix it, as well as replace the fuse.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 10 Feb 2001 9:14 am

If I remember correctly, the old Session 400 I had back in the 70's had a fuse holder that was accessable on the back of the amp. Of course I never had to replace a fuse.

By the way. That amp had 2 EV 12" speakers, instead of one 15" speaker. Has anyone ever seen one of those?

Lee, from South Texas

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 10 Feb 2001 9:36 am

Yeah I could play louder than a whole band with my old Session 400 with two EV SRO speakers vintage 1975 until I got too close to some Kryptonite one day and couldn't move it anymore so I sold it.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 10 Feb 2001 3:16 pm

Certainly you're not implying that it was a heavy amp are you??

Lee

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 10 Feb 2001 9:21 pm

Talk about heavy amps. My back says no, no.
I have never played a job in 50 years that I couldn't blast the place out, with a 100 watt amp and 12 or 15 inch speaker. Of course at full on, it would distort, but nowdays that is the in rocksound...lol....al

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 12 Feb 2001 7:06 am

If I remember correctly, the old Session 400 I had back in the 70's had a fuse holder that was accessable on the back

Yes, thats right, It has a 6Amp slow-blow fuse.
Eventho I always carry a spare fuse for it, I've never had to replace it. I play it hard too, Use it for Steel and lead.

Lately, I entertained the idea of selling it. What would be a reasonable price for it ?? It's in very good shape and been taken care of.

Kenneth Kotsay · Post by **Kenneth Kotsay** » 12 Feb 2001 4:12 pm

My Nash 400 is 10 years old and has never blown a fuse.

But why did Peavey install it internally and make it so hard to find and get to. When I installed Lemay's mode kit I discovered the fuse location and just shook my head and stated, "who's on drugs at Peavey, why on earth place a fuse internally at such a hard location to get to"

Fender & Music Man amps had them in the rear with a spring-loaded device you twist and out popped the fuse.

KEN

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 Feb 2001 3:13 am

The Kustom amps had the fuse internally. Peavey did not institute a new concept. Generally, if a solid state amp blows a fuse you need to be concerned about internal problems.

Almost all consumer products, e.g. TV's, stereo equipment, etc., have internally mounted fuses.

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 17 Feb 2001 2:09 pm

Jack said it all !!

Personally, I think it was a very wise decision to place the fuses inside the chassic. (However, I have seen AC line fuses placed along side the DC fuses, and wonder why not place the AC fuse accesible to the comsummer, If it blowes again, surely one would have sence enought to know there's something wrong in the amp, even then, if the comsummer replaced the AC fuse with a bigger fuse, the DC devices would go, telling the person he has a real problem)

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 19 Feb 2001 3:15 pm

I thank Jack for his correct explanation. We certainly don't design our amps this way to make it difficult to continue performing on your gig. However, there are safety considerations when a fuse blows. If a fuse blows in a tube amp, there could be an intermittent tube that caused the failure. The tube can be replaced by the consumer. But, if it isn't the tube, there is not much else that a player can do "on the fly" at that point except to take the amp to a technician.

With a solid state amp if the fuse blows, there is not much that you can do as a consumer but to replace the fuse in hopes that the problem was actually caused by a faulty fuse. This leads me into another explanation.......................and that is SAFETY APPROVAL. In order for us to ship our products to foreign markets, there has to be safety appovals for those products to enter those markets. One in particular is the "CE" safety certification. "CE" certification does not allow fuse access to a consumer due to high voltages involved. You've heard the stories of replacing a fuse with an auto fuse, which is not wise and is definitely not recommended.

I hope that this helps in exposing some light on this subject.

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 19 Feb 2001 10:33 pm

Thanks Mike...

We do have a tendency to forget about safety sometimes