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Advice on a trade........

jmbstudios

jmbstudios

Dec 4, 2001
263
126
South AZ
#1
Hi,

I had a guy offer up a trade.

His Ampeg SVT 5 Pro for my Hot Rod Deluxe.

I have been eyeing a Mesa boogie 400+ head that I can pick up for $400.00. local friend has one he would let go.

But when this trade came up I thought it might be interesting.

NOTE::: I have not purchased bass gear in over 13 years, so I am looking for advice on this trade. If its decent, or not...

I appreciate any help.
 
#3
So are the svt5 pro amps not worth very much?

I have seen them new for around 1K. But I have also read about guys having problems with them.

I dont want to get into something I have to put in the shop all the time....

I think I will stick with the Mesa. Again, I haven't bought gear in a long time, so I am WAY out of the loop!!!
 
#5
The 5 PRO has two channels, distortion and clean. The head allows you blend the two together for tonal destruction. One major flaw of this head is that lack of tone control on the clean section. The distortion, in my opinion is not very versatile and way too wild for overdrive sounds. It seems to start at distortion, then go up to wild fuzz sounds. It's great for metal, but not much else.

The 400+ is much more versatile, louder, and overall more pleasing to the ear. If you do a specific tube swap in the 400+, the amp will be even more usable. There is one pre-amp tube you can swap to get an even better tone of this head. We are talking a tube swap that you easily can do yourself and the tube is only $7-$20. I recently did it, and the amp is now easier to adjust tone and volume. Before it was either too quiet or too loud! Luckily I did not mind it being loud! Do a search on this forum for information on the tube swap.

Get the Mesa 400+. The Ampeg SVT 5 PRO is nothing to be excited about.
 
#7
The going price for a 400+ is around 900-1100 if it's in good working order. At 400 bucks, even if it needs a complete re-tube, it's a great deal if it's otherwise in excellent shape.
 
#11
So if I read the information right, I can retube this thing with maybe some Tung Sols, and avoid that HUGE Re-Tubing price tag that I have heard about.

And it can all be done without rebiasing the amp.

Is this right?

Can you guys give me some examples of how you have retubed your 400+?? With other than Mesa Tubes.
 
#13
Mesa will happily sell you a matched set of tubes ready to be installed without a bias adjustment on the amp! Another way to make money for Mesa....

I was wondering about this too, can you call or e-mail Tube Depot and get a set of tubes that are matched for the 400+ that aren't Mesa Tubes? Or is it easier to add a Bias control to the 400+ and just go from there?

I read a few past threads and it sounds like some people just threw in tubes without caring and still got good tone, but how good? I put a JJ Telsa 12AU7 in my 400+ and loved how I can finally adjust my amp. So can you put new pre-amp tubes in the amp without Mesa label on them? I think the power tubes are what need the Bias adjustment - not the pre-amp tubes - correct?

Not meaning to hijack your thread! But I will eventually swap some more tubes out of this amp and I wanted to let you know the tubedepot.com is a great place to find tubes that easily affordable.
 
#15
I dont have te amp yet, but as I see it....... it as 12 power tubes and 4 preamp tubes right?

So the pre amp tubes can be replaced with no problem, or bias adj.

But what about the power tubes. Thats the biggest cost! Do you have to put a bias adjust for each tube??

Has anyone here replaced the power tubes with no problems, and at a less expensive price?
 

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