for mike brown dating peavey la 400 amp

James Ingram · Post by **James Ingram** » 7 Dec 2002 3:28 pm

wondering what year this peavey la 400 city series amp was made. it has heavy looking die cast speaker frame labeled Black Widow Super Structure.Speakers even Has Metal tag with serial number on it. Boy is this amp heavy. serial # 3A-01532247 . also would like info on how to order plasic B/W emblem on front of amp grill. this one has piece broken off. Thanks James <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by James Ingram on 07 December 2002 at 11:16 PM.]</p></FONT>

Roger Kelly · Post by **Roger Kelly** » 7 Dec 2002 4:23 pm

I had a session 400 with a 6A prefix and it was a 1976....I'd guess yours to be a 1973. FWIW.

James Ingram · Post by **James Ingram** » 7 Dec 2002 5:32 pm

thanks roger. i,d done topic search on dating peaveys but had,nt figured out a similarity on the dates. like all other peavey amps i,ve owned in past 25 yrs. they just keep going strong.

Roger Kelly · Post by **Roger Kelly** » 7 Dec 2002 5:55 pm

James....you can't go wrong with a Peavey. I have a NV 1000 and really like it.

Dyke Corson · Post by **Dyke Corson** » 7 Dec 2002 9:49 pm

I think they used this system until 1990. You had to look close at model changes to tell if it was a 3A (1973) or 3A (1983) But I think the LA 400 might have been 1983. Mike Brown could tell us for sure.I think the LA, Reno, Vegas, Nashville, Austin were the 400 "City Series" That all came out at pretty much the same time. A GREAT series of amps (I own 6 Vegas 400s!). The Austin and Reno 400s may have been some of the first acoustic guitar amps ever built. How about it Mike?

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 9 Dec 2002 2:33 pm

Dyke, you are exactly right! Now, let's move on to the bonus round for $10,000, how many................ Whoa, just got carried away........too much coffee and too much Coca Cola today! Dyke is correct. Starting in the early to mid '70's, we used concecutive serial numbers with the last digit of the year for reference. For example, "7A" meant that the product was either a 1997 or 1987 amplifier. A person would have to be familiar enough with a product to know what decade that that product was manufactured in. In the case of a long running product such as the Nashville 400, the serial number could range from 7A0123.... etc. to 7A0211...., the first number would probably date back to the '80's and the second would probably date back to the late '80's. It's hard to determine this without calling us and obtaining a date of manufacture.

Knowing your full serial number assists me in determining the exact month of manufacture and it is August of '83. This amp was rated at 210 watts, so it took a hefty transformer.

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation

James Ingram · Post by **James Ingram** » 9 Dec 2002 6:19 pm

thanks for your help mr. brown. peaveys a definite keeper. more power than i need for home practice amp .