Peavey Musician 400 Distortion and Fuzz sound faint.

[naenne]

Hi there,

I registered here because I just bought a used peavey musician 400, and it has some issues with the on board effects.

I knew it wasn't 100% ok, so I bought it for a relatively low price of 40 euro's.

The fuse was blown, I replaced it, and it turns and stays on now.

First of all the clean inputs work 100% correct, the equalising works perfect. The amp goes loud without any problems or sound deformation.

When I plug my guitar to the effects channel with all the effects turned off, the clean sound works perfect as well.

the fuzz seems to work, the fuzz increases steadily when I turn the knob, but it still gives a loud clean overtone with more of a fuzzy background.(don't know if this is normal?)

The distortion kinda does what the fuzz does, but at a tenth of the volume and rate, so that really doesnt seem normal. I have to turn the knob all the way to have a faint background distortion sound, but still with a really clean overtone.

Depth and rate: (tremolo)These work, but the dept is also faint, and I kinda need to turn it all the way open to notice a bit of tremolo. Rate works perfect.

The reverb did nothing at start, but I have opened the amp and disconnected all the (disconnectable) wires, cleaned it and reconnected the wires, and the reverb seems to work steady and clean now. (it's an analog spring reverb).

I do see some rusty components on the back of the front panel mainly, I will check those, but I don't have any measuring equipment at hand.

I'm just posting this here because I am kinda new to this, and i'm eager to do the troubleshooting, but well, I can also learn from others ofcourse.

Does the faint distortion problem sound familiar to someone? could it be rusty components? There is some presence of effect, but it's just really weak. so my conclusion would be that there is connection, but just bad connection.

Any help or insight much appreciated. I could also post pictures if requested.

[52 Bill]

Hi there,

I registered here because I just bought a used peavey musician 400, and it has some issues with the on board effects.

Welcome to the place. Peavey made a lot of amps under the Musician 400 nameplate, which model do you have?

Once we know which version of the amp you have, we/you can get a copy of the schematic and we can assist you in your repairs.

Some models had parallel inputs so that both channels clean and FX would work at the same time, so try turning down all of the clean channel controls when you test the FX channel.

[olddawg]

To be quite honest, if you have no electronics experience you might want to use it as is with a Zoom multi effects pedal or something like it. Most people will tell you that the effects in theses amps are not that desire able for most players.

[naenne]

Hi, Thanks for your responses.
My amp looks the same like this one http://www.peavey.com/assets/literat...s/musician.pdf

Despite my lack of experience, there is interest. And I know people with experience in electronics and Hi-Fi, and have asked their second opinion already about the state of the condensators, and the little amount of rust present.

I've managed to fix the "broken" delay because i noticed it was a grounding problem. I've stated that there is no problem with the power amplifier. The distortion and fuzz problem remains even with the knobs of the clean channel turned down. There is no problems with the potmeters, no cracking etc.

So It seems a very concentrated problem to me.

If I can't fix it I will still love the amp for the clean channel and analog reverb, But I just want to know I have tried and researched everything withing my limited means and knowledge before putting it back together and leaving the distortion and fuzz untouched.

[dbdoc]

Hopefully, someone who owns one of these will respond. I was interested because it brings back memories of one of the first bands I played in. I chose the Peavey Festival, while the other guitarist used the Musician. I know he always used an EH Big Muff with the amp.
I noticed that the instructions you included describe the fuzz and distortion similar to your description. The distortion control blends harmonics into the signal and the fuzz control introduces fuzz into the output. As if you will always hear a dominant clean sound with some degree of overdrive added in. Also, it seems they suggest using distortion and fuzz together and experiment with the graphic EQ for various effect. You might try using a little contact cleaner (DeoxIt) on the controls in case they are causing a problem, even though they don't make noise. Good luck.

[naenne]

Hopefully, someone who owns one of these will respond. I was interested because it brings back memories of one of the first bands I played in. I chose the Peavey Festival, while the other guitarist used the Musician. I know he always used an EH Big Muff with the amp.
I noticed that the instructions you included describe the fuzz and distortion similar to your description. The distortion control blends harmonics into the signal and the fuzz control introduces fuzz into the output. As if you will always hear a dominant clean sound with some degree of overdrive added in. Also, it seems they suggest using distortion and fuzz together and experiment with the graphic EQ for various effect. You might try using a little contact cleaner (DeoxIt) on the controls in case they are causing a problem, even though they don't make noise. Good luck.

After doing some good cleaning, the presence of the distortion and fuzz became better, but they still sound really crap. Maybe I'm just a little spoiled with the sound of my jcm 800.

The reverb works great now, and the amp has got a real warm sound to it, so I decided just to put the amp back together and leave the distortion and fuzz for what they are. I still think the amp was a real steal for 40 euros, and i'll have some good fun with it.

I can use a tubescreamer on it for a little lead overdrive, wouldn't use this amp for a very distorted sound anyway I think.

THanks for your reactions people!

[Modorange]

After doing some good cleaning, the presence of the distortion and fuzz became better, but they still sound really crap. Maybe I'm just a little spoiled with the sound of my jcm 800.

The reverb works great now, and the amp has got a real warm sound to it, so I decided just to put the amp back together and leave the distortion and fuzz for what they are. I still think the amp was a real steal for 40 euros, and i'll have some good fun with it.

I can use a tubescreamer on it for a little lead overdrive, wouldn't use this amp for a very distorted sound anyway I think.

THanks for your reactions people!

Did your amp come with the footswitch? The fuzz and distortion may not even be activated. I don't have that amp but I do have a Peavey Vulcan, which also has a fuzz circuit on it, which needed to be activated via the footswitch (I bridged the footswitch jack and it activated). I would be surprised if that fuzz/distortion circuit doesn't work assuming no one's messed with the amp internally, or the jacks on the panel haven't come loose and been inadvertently disconnected.