Completely unfair Ampeg vs. Ampeg shootout

[JimmyM]

The players:

1969 Ampeg SVT with all NOS tubes, 1973 Ampeg SVT 810 cab with CTS alnico speakers

2010 Ampeg Micro VR, 2010 SVT 210AV cab with Eminences

always wanted to do this, and i just had some time to finally do it. i plugged in these two rigs in every permutation possible to see what would happen. i was especially curious about the cab. other than not moving air like the 810, it sounded very similar on the gig once i got the micro vr eq'd the way i like it. i stuck to clean sounds since the micro vr doesn't get the level of grind you can get with the svt cranked. does a good mild breakup, but stops there.

i suppose the results are pretty predictable when you compare the two cab depths...the 210av is shallower so it doesn't have quite as much on the bottom as the 810. but it only took a little added bass response to bring it back to snuff. forgetting the differences between a wall of 10"s and 2 of them, i could easily find the tone and response i get out of the 810 on a smaller scale. makes me want to load an 810 with these speakers and see what happens against my 810.

comparing a 200w micro to the tube svt is quite an unfair comparison indeed, but to my ears, the micro vr did as well at copping the real thing's tones as one of my favorite pedals of all time, the tech 21 vt, and was a lot more intuitive, whereas it took me a while to figure out the vt. so what you might lose in versatility with the range of distorted tones you can get from the vt, you make up in ease of use with the micro vr. like the vt, not a dead nuts match for the feel of the big rig, but the tones were right on imho.

one interesting thing happened when i set my svt flat and tried it in the 210av. it sounded just like the tone i always get in my svt/810. usually i crank the mids at 800 hz pretty high and give the treble knob a boost plugged into the 810 to give it more of a flatter response, but with the 210av, flat worked out very well.

i'm even more impressed than i was when i gigged it last. both the head and cab have the sounds you can get with the vintage rig, albeit not the depth and breadth. but it's as close as you could expect out of a rig that costs 1/5 as much, and a lot closer than rigs costing way more. those who don't like ampeg tones or want insane volume need not apply, but for those who like the tones, it really is a micro version of a vintage svt.

[rpsands]

Can you post some blind sound samples? I want to see what people think is which

[Buster Brown]

Yep!! You've peaked my senses......


Throw up a sample or three.....Very interested to hear them!!!


HaPpY NeW YeAr!!!

[lkngro]

Originally Posted by rpsands

Can you post some blind sound samples? I want to see what people think is which

+1

I want to hear this for myself.

[JimmyM]

aw damn, why did you guys have to hit me with that? i'd love to but the svt's out in the garage, and then i'll have to move it into my house to be able to get anything usable, and it always takes forever for me to plug stuff in and record and all that. and 3 hours later i'll have a recording for you guys to say, "yeah, you were right." it was ok in the old house where my studio was the garage, but my garage is a lot less accessible to my gear. just take my word for it. you know me.

[koobie]

I don't remember from reading earlier; are you planning on adding a second cab? And have you owned other 210 cabs in the past? If so, how do you feel the Ampeg ranks with any others?

[randall p]

Jimmy, I will take your word for it. I now am seriously GASsing for a micro stack for my smaller "acoustic" gigs. (SVT CL is just a wee bit too big)

[DanNowhere]

I'm not sure if I'm completely sold on the head, but I am ready to spring for a couple of the cabs and make a vertical mini 2 x 10 stack and run my V4BH through 'em. The head will outweigh both speakers together, but what the hell.

[Jim C]

Tone aside, wouldn't a 1x15 with 200 watts just move a ton more air and make more noise than the little 2x10?

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by koobie

I don't remember from reading earlier; are you planning on adding a second cab? And have you owned other 210 cabs in the past? If so, how do you feel the Ampeg ranks with any others?

hey koobie, would not mind adding another cab...it always improves the sound to add a second cab. i could use just the one and be fine on the majority of my gigs (i'm not usually loud onstage), but a second cab would rock. maybe down the road.

haven't owned any other 210's but i've used a lot of supplied 210 rigs on gigs and rehearsals. tonally it ranks right up there with the best of them. some may be able to handle more power, some may go deeper, might not be the 210 for everyone but i love it. it cops svt tone and it's tiny.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Jim C

Tone aside, wouldn't a 1x15 with 200 watts just move a ton more air and make more noise than the little 2x10?

maybe. all depends on the design of the cab. unimportant to me, though. this one gets way louder than i've ever needed with my regular band, and i have big rigs for when i need more for anything else.

[Eskimo Spy]

I own a Ampeg Micro head and a 210AV. If I added another 210AV, this would run at 4 ohms then, right? Do you think the head and two 210AV's would be enough power to cut through two guitar players and a drummer playing indie covers? I would love to use that setup rather than cart my Ashdown 410 combo around to every gig...

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Eskimo Spy

I own a Ampeg Micro head and a 210AV. If I added another 210AV, this would run at 4 ohms then, right? Do you think the head and two 210AV's would be enough power to cut through two guitar players and a drummer playing indie covers? I would love to use that setup rather than cart my Ashdown 410 combo around to every gig...

between the wattage boost and the doubling of the driver count, with a double vertical stack you could count on at least doubling your available output. no idea if that's enough for you but it's certainly enough for me.

[SactoBass]

JimmyM,

Congrats on the Ampeg Micro-VR! Nice Christmas present!

Just for fun, I found the User Manual for the amp head online and clicked on it. I busted up laughing when I looked on page 3. There is a list of features, and the last one listed stated that it was much smaller than Stonehenge, and to the right of that, there is a drawing of Stonehenge and the Micro-VR next to it for comparison. Too funny!!!

[JimmyM]

well it may be smaller than stonehenge but it's louder. stonehenge just sits there. thx sacto...happy new year to you and yours!

[dopejohnpaul]

Waiting for my Micro-VR to arrive... tracking says it should be here any day now. I ordered it after playing one that was owned by a group we played a show with. I did this simply for the fact that, for all practical purposes, sounded just like a smaller, less forceful version of my SVT-VR/810AV rig. There's really no better way to describe it.

[kosmicwizard]

Originally Posted by Eskimo Spy

I own a Ampeg Micro head and a 210AV. If I added another 210AV, this would run at 4 ohms then, right? Do you think the head and two 210AV's would be enough power to cut through two guitar players and a drummer playing indie covers? I would love to use that setup rather than cart my Ashdown 410 combo around to every gig...

I doubt that that head would be enough through 2 stacked 2X10AV's, however, your 2006 SLM SVT-CL through those cabs will be!

[Roadkill]

I seem to remember a magazine measuring a Micro-VR at 260 watts into 4 ohms so for all practical purposes it should be as loud as "The Real Thing(tm)" at a similar output overdrive setting. A volume boost pedal in the FX loop might get its "crunchyness" up to the level of one of them tube infested hernia generators yous guys are so fond of? Oh, and make sure you switch the limiter off, that's only there to make it sound like some wimpy solid state head . The mosfet outputs break up very similarly to tubes when overdriven.

[alembicguy]

I would like to see a pic of the two side by side.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by alembicguy

I would like to see a pic of the two side by side.

I don't have the micro cab so it won't be as good as Jimmy's pic will be () but I figured I'd share this one to hold you over...