So I'm looking to get an ampeg 8x10 and looking for the right head so I'm really happy and never have to buy another one unless I'm rich one day and can afford an orange.
My guitar tech friend is telling me to avoid all the svt pro heads. Saying svt2 is the only way to go, that svt3 and 4 are no bueno. Any opinions in this stuff?
Also, I got to play through nick oliveri's acoustic amp and cab, seemed cool at the time but when I see how "affordable" they are I must of course wonder why.
Help me on my Craigslist used gear journey por favor.
My experiences with those SVT-Pro heads hasn't been positive (especially the 4), and yeah I always hear the 2 is more robust...I dunno, I'm an Acoustic homer so I'd recommend one of those while they're still 200-300 bucks
Those SVT-4's don't sound good (TO ME...!) even when they're working right ;)
I think Dave Curran uses the SVT-3 or 4 with Unsane.
Ahhhh, help right off the bat!
you can get a terror bass orange for like $600 new through humbuckermusic.com
it has tube preamp so it sounds legit and weighs only 10 pounds
you can buy an after market amp sleeve
There are tube versions of the SVT2 pro I believe?
If you have the money to indulge and you're strong enough to move 'em around, an older SVT tube amp is godly through the 8x10.
I would probably get something modern and lightweight, and let the preamps and pedals shape my tone. Because I'm old, and the SVTs are expensive to buy and maintain.
I didn't mention the old-school SVTs because of the "......unless I'm rich" thing, but tonewise those are my favorite Ampegs, easily. The weight thing would suck if you had to handle it more than ten minutes a night, but YMMV.
The SVT-2's I'm familiar with have tube pre and solid state power sections
I forget which one, but one of the SVT II is an all-tube overlooked sleeper amp.
Honest to Betsy (?) I think bass heads are less important than people think. Get something loud, it doesn't have to be toobs. There are new bass amps that are lightweight and loud as fuck.
I always thought the Mesa 400/400+ was underrated. Granted they are more clean machines.
Re: the old SVT sound vs. cost problema:
Just get the Tech 21 SVT character pedal and a burly power amp & spend the rest on weed.
Ampeg 8x10 is going to be main limiter on your tone. Not really good at anything except being heavy. Plus there are some bad ones about, several periods of using bad speakers or OSB construction.
Quote from: everdrone on March 28, 2014, 03:53:14 PM
you can get a terror bass orange for like $600 new through humbuckermusic.com
it has tube preamp so it sounds legit and weighs only 10 pounds
you can buy an after market amp sleeve
I bought one of these and sold my Ampeg SVT3 AND my SVT4. My 4 was a piece of junk. NEVER got the volume I could hope for. Just all around disappointing heads. I LOVE my Orange Terror Bass head.
Re: the SVT4. On paper, it looks like a killer, but we must have spent the better part of a year trying to get the tone and volume we wanted out of one our last bass player used. Let him use my Acoustic 220, and never looked back!
+1for the tech 21>power amp route. I know a couple local players who use that and sound killer.
Quote from: themusketking on March 28, 2014, 09:07:46 PM
Quote from: everdrone on March 28, 2014, 03:53:14 PM
you can get a terror bass orange for like $600 new through humbuckermusic.com
it has tube preamp so it sounds legit and weighs only 10 pounds
you can buy an after market amp sleeve
I bought one of these and sold my Ampeg SVT3 AND my SVT4. My 4 was a piece of junk. NEVER got the volume I could hope for. Just all around disappointing heads. I LOVE my Orange Terror Bass head.
ya I have been g.a.s.sing for one
I heard a band play the Orange Terror 1000 bass and it sounded great
I prolly have enough stuff though, maybe need to sell some,
I have a tech21 VT bass character series pedal I record with
a Gallien 212 combo 500 watt powered amp for portability at 37 pounds but it has no growl
I have a Peavey pro tour 450 but no growl
my Line 6 lowdown 400 has tons of growl and great sound, not totally tube sound though, a little tough to dial in
I have an old SVT-II (non pro)
All tube rack mount version of SVT
However mine developed a problem where it would crackle, like a dirty pot. But it wasnt a pot. Took it to best Ampeg tech in Austin and he was baffled.
When I was teching for Kings X saw that Dug Pinnick had one in his garage.
I asked him about it and he said "Yeah I LOVED that amp... But it developed this crackle that no one could fix..."
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As per other amps, an old Acoustic or Sunn would do you right for SS amps.
An old V-4 would be good. Mid 70s or earlier SVT if you can find one for cheap.
Not a fan of the SVT-Classic or any SS/hybrid Ampeg. Even SVT-II Pro and its later versions just sound dull to me.
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Quote from: Mr. Foxen on March 28, 2014, 08:59:32 PM
Ampeg 8x10 is going to be main limiter on your tone. Not really good at anything except being heavy.
"Yeah every time I see a band with one, I get that same feeling" said no one ever. Did they rip you off or something?
He's a dedicated Ampeg hater, I would take his Ampeg comments with a grain of salt. Personally I love Ampeg 8x10s, the color they add to your tone is what I want from a bass cabinet. The same way an old Marshall cab adds it's own coloration to a guitar tone. I've never seen even one heavy band using the 3-way cabs he likes (3 way meaning woofer, mid range and tweeter). But the number of bands killing it with Ampeg 8x10s is legion. "One handed carry" - nobody in the audience cares about that.
that reissue ampeg v4b seems pretty interesting at only 40 pounds! very formidable in my opinion but I know what people say about current ampeg quality however... >:(
I tried one of those out a few years back.
Running full bore me and my wife at the time could still talk to each other over it without raising our voices too much.
Not impressed.
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:o dont buy that!
Just to chime in here. I to love my old wreck of an 8x10. Burlap grill and all. Fukn totes brutes.
The venue I ran had an Ampeg endorsement. I had several SVT Classics that would breakdown after 6-8 weeks, get repaired and then break down again. Finally we bought a Hartke that never failed in 4 years. As much as I love the classic SVT sound (i still like the cabinets) there are plenty of other heads out there that will do a great job. Racer X mentioned the Tech 21 pedal - you will get much more bang for your buck.
Have you guys found the Tech 21 bass driver pedals to be loud enough straight into power amps? I think I remember reading that the line level is .7 or 1V although I have an older one without the line level switch. The input sensitivity of my power amp is 1.23V.
Quote from: Lumpy on March 29, 2014, 09:03:49 PM
He's a dedicated Ampeg hater, I would take his Ampeg comments with a grain of salt. Personally I love Ampeg 8x10s, the color they add to your tone is what I want from a bass cabinet. The same way an old Marshall cab adds it's own coloration to a guitar tone. I've never seen even one heavy band using the 3-way cabs he likes (3 way meaning woofer, mid range and tweeter). But the number of bands killing it with Ampeg 8x10s is legion. "One handed carry" - nobody in the audience cares about that.
Funny I've never seen Oli with any these 3 way cabs you speak of. Been all 4x12s and 2x15s from what I've seen and if I had the money to spare I'd use the same Barefaced 2x15s too.
I've found the fridge 8x10s aren't so bad to move around, if they have the built in handle and dolly casters.
If I can find one, I've always wanted to acquire an SVP (tube preamp section of the SVT-II non pro) and run it thru my peavey CS-800 power amp.
Would probably sound good. And be heavy as fuck to lug around.
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Quote from: Lumpy on March 29, 2014, 09:03:49 PM
He's a dedicated Ampeg hater, I would take his Ampeg comments with a grain of salt. Personally I love Ampeg 8x10s, the color they add to your tone is what I want from a bass cabinet. The same way an old Marshall cab adds it's own coloration to a guitar tone. I've never seen even one heavy band using the 3-way cabs he likes (3 way meaning woofer, mid range and tweeter). But the number of bands killing it with Ampeg 8x10s is legion. "One handed carry" - nobody in the audience cares about that.
None of this is correct. An Ampeg simulator is 50% of my pedal board and I've never used three way cabs, plain 2x15s and 4x12s. Way easier ways to remove the lows and highs from your tone have come about since the 60s.
I said you like 3 way cabs, not that you use them. If you don't like fEarful cabs, then maybe stop recommending them? And if you consistently knock Ampeg when you comment on them, then I think that qualifies as well. But maybe I'm confusing you for somebody else?
Not trying to start a fight, but I think my comments are fair.
Quote from: Danny G on March 29, 2014, 10:46:55 AM
I have an old SVT-II (non pro)
All tube rack mount version of SVT
However mine developed a problem where it would crackle, like a dirty pot. But it wasnt a pot. Took it to best Ampeg tech in Austin and he was baffled.
When I was teching for Kings X saw that Dug Pinnick had one in his garage.
I asked him about it and he said "Yeah I LOVED that amp... But it developed this crackle that no one could fix..."
Was it a random scrunching sometimes? Sometimes carries on, sometimes goes away and fine for a while? Had an SVT II pro, but the early pro that was more in common with the plain 2 (this was notable because Al Cisneros was borrowing it and its the last one he likes). Anyway, it had that problem and eventually found it was some electrolytic caps buried deep within it that were running too close to tolerance and crapping out sometimes, not in a position you can test them in running type conditions (if its all open so you can get at them, they aren't getting as hot). Not sure how the dude found them, but we'd all had a poke about in it trying to find what it was and it turned out to be them. Think it was a case of carrying on using it anyway until they degraded enough to crap out most of the time instead of just sometimes.
Quote from: Lumpy on March 30, 2014, 09:59:04 PM
I said you like 3 way cabs, not that you use them. If you don't like fEarful cabs, then maybe stop recommending them? And if you consistently knock Ampeg when you comment on them, then I think that qualifies as well. But maybe I'm confusing you for somebody else?
Not trying to start a fight, but I think my comments are fair.
I like my 2x15s more than three ways for what I do, hence I use them not three ways. If someone says what they want and its best served by a three way, since they go lower and higher than the cabs I use, I recommend a three way, because I'm not the sort of idiot that recommends what I use to people who want different things from a cab than I do. Tweeters are optional, so its generally a 2 way for the purpose, and pretty sure there is no shortage of heavy bands rocking the various woofer/midrange cabs, noteably the Peavey 18s +8s/10s, but they are way behind the times. I like Fearful cabs just fine, they have a range that covers lots of area, and have substance for the price. I'm plugging the related Fearless line to a bunch of people currently that are asking after my sound, because my cabs are out of production and the Fearless Dually is the nearest available cab. I haven't got a lot good to say about Ampeg because Ampeg haven't got a lot good in the last 40 years or so, but people ask after them a lot. All the good parts come in the half pound Tech21 VT pedal which I recommend a lot.
Quote from: liquidsmoke on March 30, 2014, 06:31:15 PM
Have you guys found the Tech 21 bass driver pedals to be loud enough straight into power amps? I think I remember reading that the line level is .7 or 1V although I have an older one without the line level switch. The input sensitivity of my power amp is 1.23V.
Think the swing is 1 or 1.2v. The 1.23v is to drive the amp to max voltage swing, and that is probably more than you need, so may well be fine. That is pretty low sensitivity though, is it a valve slave?
Good to know re: caps on the SVT-II, I would love to bring that amp back into service.
Loved that thing while it worked.
Edit: Come to think of it I did replace an obviously burned out cap in it, but was not electrolytic and was right there on the board in plain sight. Didn't solve the problem...
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I'll ask the guy for specifics when I speak to him.
Quote from: Danny G on March 30, 2014, 07:38:28 PM
I've found the fridge 8x10s aren't so bad to move around, if they have the built in handle and dolly casters.
If I can find one, I've always wanted to acquire an SVP (tube preamp section of the SVT-II non pro) and run it thru my peavey CS-800 power amp.
Would probably sound good. And be heavy as fuck to lug around.
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I'm picking up the SVT IIP preamp which I've heard great things about. Gonna either run it with my Peavey Mace power section or Trace Elliot SS power amp.
Quote from: Mr. Foxen on March 30, 2014, 10:27:05 PM
Quote from: liquidsmoke on March 30, 2014, 06:31:15 PM
Have you guys found the Tech 21 bass driver pedals to be loud enough straight into power amps? I think I remember reading that the line level is .7 or 1V although I have an older one without the line level switch. The input sensitivity of my power amp is 1.23V.
Think the swing is 1 or 1.2v. The 1.23v is to drive the amp to max voltage swing, and that is probably more than you need, so may well be fine. That is pretty low sensitivity though, is it a valve slave?
It's a SoundTech PS802.
I have never been that impressed with the new style SVT Classics. VRs are nice though. I did think about getting one but ended up with a Trace Elliot V6 eventually.
3 Pro is nice but fairly underpowered compared to the others. I tried the 6 and quite liked it though. I don't rate the SVT450 though.
Tend to find the Ampegs to be a bit expensive in the UK when you can pick up a second hand Trace Elliot or Ashdown head for a few hundred quid. Anyhow, you can pretty much use any amp with a Tech 21 Bass Driver or VT Bass and get close enough to the 'Ampeg tone' with a number of amps. Also, I really rate the Hartke LH500/1000 amps.
Was tempted by another Tech21 pedal but figured the SVT IIP for €200 and real tubes was a better option.
Your username eoin_not_ian always amuses me, my first name is Cian so been called both many a time.
Yeah, my name is Eoin as in pronounced 'Ian', but in Ireland its apparently pronounced like 'Owen' and in parts of Scotland its pronounced like 'Ewan. I generally try to be flexible in terms of what people might be trying to call me.
On topic, yepp I would go for the SVT IIP as well. I have found the Bass Driver DI great for recording quickly. I generally prefer using my EBS Valve Drive for playing through an amp. Tubes is tubes and all.
My real name is "Jake" but most people pronounce it "fuckface."
Quote from: Jake on April 02, 2014, 01:50:29 PM
My real name is "Jake" but most people pronounce it "fuckface."
aha.
Thanks for the tip—all this time I had been pronouncing it, "Burt Reynolds."
Quote from: eoin_not_ian on April 02, 2014, 12:51:09 PM
Yeah, my name is Eoin as in pronounced 'Ian', but in Ireland its apparently pronounced like 'Owen' and in parts of Scotland its pronounced like 'Ewan. I generally try to be flexible in terms of what people might be trying to call me.
On topic, yepp I would go for the SVT IIP as well. I have found the Bass Driver DI great for recording quickly. I generally prefer using my EBS Valve Drive for playing through an amp. Tubes is tubes and all.
That Valve Drive is nice but not enough output to drive an amp or or a power amp. Got the SVT IIP this morning, sounds great with guitar but have no bass here today.
Quote from: moose23 on April 03, 2014, 09:01:16 AM
Quote from: eoin_not_ian on April 02, 2014, 12:51:09 PM
Yeah, my name is Eoin as in pronounced 'Ian', but in Ireland its apparently pronounced like 'Owen' and in parts of Scotland its pronounced like 'Ewan. I generally try to be flexible in terms of what people might be trying to call me.
On topic, yepp I would go for the SVT IIP as well. I have found the Bass Driver DI great for recording quickly. I generally prefer using my EBS Valve Drive for playing through an amp. Tubes is tubes and all.
That Valve Drive is nice but not enough output to drive an amp or or a power amp. Got the SVT IIP this morning, sounds great with guitar but have no bass here today.
Nah, I wouldn't use the Valve drive to drive a power amp either. It adds a nice 'tube' warmth to whatever amp I tend to use and I generally find it more transparent that the Tech 21 stuff. It can get pretty filthy in terms of fuzz but I tend to prefer actual fuzz circuits for that. After buying the V6 though I have barely use it though.