I need a gritty ballsy rock sound with an Ampeg SVT-4PRO

[Qvist]

Hey y'all

I'm going recording with the hard rock band I'm in and I'm gonna be playing through an Ampeg SVT-4pro! I dont have a whole lot of time so I would like some advise for a getting a great tone with it that will be present and defined in the mix and not just like some... undefined shadow of low-end mud.

If anyone here have ideas for a nice sound with this setup, I'd love to hear some EQ/setup suggestions! My bass is a fender aerodyne P-bass.

Bass sounds I like are, just to name a few: Jason Newsted's (Black Album in mind here), Duff McKagan's, Mike Starr's (on Dirt with AIC).

Thanks in advance

PS: Just realized, I should've put this in recording, sorry!

[JimmyM]

Turn the gain way up, then EQ to taste. Start with all knobs flat then work from there.

[DBTOYS]

I play mostly rock and for that thumpy sound on my svt 4 i use bass at 2 mid at 11 treb at 1 then eq to taste and # 2 on the eq button

[TheNightLife]

when i had my svt4

ultra low - pushed in
ultra high - pushed in
bass - 6
midrange - 7-8
mid freq - 4
treble - 6
bright - off
graphic eq - off

but i also had an 810 cab and was using a p-bass to get that mark hoppus/ ian grushka sound.

[TundraBooking]

I used to have a 4Pro before I went tube. and I have an Aerodyne too. My suggestion is turn the gain not all the way up but play open and turn it up untill the light starts to show, then go a 2 or 3 higher on the scale. should be about 7.5 or 8. mid's about the same with freq at 5. bass 5, treb 4 ultra low and high on bright off.

seriously though, if you can, get your hands on a tech 21 sansamp. it makes that amp sing.

[Sten]

Originally Posted by TundraBooking

seriously though, if you can, get your hands on a tech 21 sansamp. it makes that amp sing.

I just played that setup live a week ago (Stingray 5->Tech21->Svt4->410HLF) and I really liked it.

I'm curious, why do you recommend to turn gain past the point where the clip LED only lits on the strongest notes?

[TundraBooking]

A lot of different factors will affect how much gain you want to run before you go too high and it sounds like crap. Including but not limited to the height of the pickups, pedals and cables used, gauge/age of strings, pick/fingers. All these factors combined is the reason, the Aerodyne has a lot of growl to begin with, if you turn it up till it clips it sounds great. Go higher and it's just what the doctor ordered.