Ampeg SVT-III Pro rig question

[evil1603]

Hey guys,

I currently play the following rig

Amp: Ampeg SVT-III Pro (450w at 4ohm)
Cabs: 2x10 GK (400w at 8ohm), 1x12 Avatar (500w at 8ohm)

Is my amp powerful enough?

Will I damage the cabs?

Would I need an amp that has 900w at 4ohm?

Many thanks in advance!!!

[RickenBoogie]

There is NO SUCH THING as UNDERpowering. That set up will do fine, if not a wee bit unbalanced between the 2 cabs.

[Lazarus.Bird]

Two 8 ohm cabinets gives you a 4 ohm load, so your head will be pushing out 450 watts to be shared between your two cabs. The cabs will not be damaged, although I think a 210 and 112 combo sounds strange. Someone can confirm/deny that and elaborate more than I can...

In terms of what you NEED? Depends on what your guitarists are using. If you have two guitarists running 100W tube heads into 412s, you may or may not need more power depending on how well those cabs move air. I don't have experience with them. If you currently play that rig, wouldn't you know if its loud enough or not?

[evil1603]

Thanks for the quick replies!

The reason I'm asking is that I sometimes feel that the amp is/or is close to distorting (not in a good way).

I usually dial it in like this:

Gain: 3 o'clock
Master: Trying to keep it around 12 o'clock
Tube Gain: max (which is, as far as I understood, the cleanest setting)
Hi, Lo, and Bright switches are off.

I feel like my sound could use some more headroom (and clarity). Of course, that is very subjective.

I also heard the recommendation that an (power) amp should at least be able to handle the wattage of the sum of the speaker cabinets, which is in my case is 900w, for best results. And this came from one of the big power amp companies. Not quite sure if they referred to separate power amps only though.

Thanks much!!

[Lazarus.Bird]

When I played through my SVT-610 I had my gain decently high with the -15dB switch on for my active pickups, around 3:00 with tube gain maxed as well, and depending on my mood, set the master anywhere from 3:00 to max. The SVT-3 manual will actually show you the Master is maxed under some of the suggested settings, and using the Gain to set your volume/tone to taste.

I'd say it's probably your cabinets causing the distortion and not the amp. I played my SVT-3 at lower levels through my Hartke 2.5XL but never very hard because the cab had a low power rating. However I can play the amp at max master with a lot of gain through my EarCandy BassBomb 212 and it takes it like a champ. I never get bad distortion, just gnarly Ampeg grit.

[MonsterTruck88]

My first "real" set-up was an SVT3 Pro through a 410HLF. I held up fine against two guitarists in a drop c metal band.

[ptolemny]

Originally Posted by evil1603

Thanks for the quick replies!

The reason I'm asking is that I sometimes feel that the amp is/or is close to distorting (not in a good way).

I usually dial it in like this:

Gain: 3 o'clock
Master: Trying to keep it around 12 o'clock
Tube Gain: max (which is, as far as I understood, the cleanest setting)
Hi, Lo, and Bright switches are off.

I feel like my sound could use some more headroom (and clarity). Of course, that is very subjective.

I also heard the recommendation that an (power) amp should at least be able to handle the wattage of the sum of the speaker cabinets, which is in my case is 900w, for best results. And this came from one of the big power amp companies. Not quite sure if they referred to separate power amps only though.

Thanks much!!

I'm currently playing a 3-Pro through an 810E, with a VT Bass out in front. First, I would back off a bit on the gain, unless you are using the input pad, and then compensate with the master volume. Remember that your amp has to work harder to produce lower freqs at volume, so dialing down the lows might help to ward off unwanted distorting effects (personally I find the 3-Pro to be naturally bassy, so I cut lows and boost low mids for a more focused tone). Second, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "clean" but diming the tube gain will maximize the "warmth" or "tubeyness" of the amp, while running tube gain at the minimum setting produces a more hi-fi, solid-state sound, which many people consider to be the "cleaner" of the two, although the overall effect of the tube gain is rather subtle IMO.

Here's a link to the manual:

http://www.ampeg.com/pdf/SVT-3PRO.pdf

There are also a few 3-Pro threads on TB that contain a lot of useful information.

[evil1603]

Thanks for your replies!!