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1968 SVT: myth or reality?

#22
Mr. Foxen said:
Unlikely, Hiwatt amps have always had switchable voltage, pretty much any European amp had a selection of voltages, only ever seen US ones with single voltage transformers.
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I just quoted from the article, from the author of the book. Apparently, those belonging to the Stones did not.

I assume you could take it up with Mr. Babiuk.
 
#23
As long as we're on an Ampeg SVT "Holy Grail" oriented thread … has anybody ever seen an Ampeg flatback 8x10 loaded with Altecs? I could easily be having a 60's flashback, but I seem to recall seeing an old Ampeg catalog or ad that mentioned an upgrade option of Altec 10s in the the era of the flatback 8x10 cabs. That would certainly be a beast of a cabinet to schlep.
 
#24
buldog5151bass said:
I just quoted from the article, from the author of the book. Apparently, those belonging to the Stones did not.

I assume you could take it up with Mr. Babiuk.
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Pretty well versed in Hiwatts, they always had switchable voltage. They were amps made for touring.

In fact, here is one, can see the voltage selector on the back: Invalid Link Removed
 
#26
pbassnut said:
As long as we're on an Ampeg SVT "Holy Grail" oriented thread … has anybody ever seen an Ampeg flatback 8x10 loaded with Altecs? I could easily be having a 60's flashback, but I seem to recall seeing an old Ampeg catalog or ad that mentioned an upgrade option of Altec 10s in the the era of the flatback 8x10 cabs. That would certainly be a beast of a cabinet to schlep.
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That was addressed just recently by Bill Hughes in another thread. He said that it never happened at Ampeg. He called Roger Cox to confirm. Both state that they didn't have an 810 option with Altecs.


Some other Ampeg amps such as the B-15 did have an Altec-Lansing as an option.
 
#27
buldog5151bass said:
There was an article in BP - review of a book on the Stone's gear (Rolling Stones Gear by Andy Babiuk). It says for the '69 tour, they were all playing Hiwatt stacks, but since they weren't set up for the right voltage, they couldn't use them here. When they got to Stephen Stills' place to rehearse, they liked the sound of his little Ampegs. Stills called Ampeg, who said they had just designed the SVTs and had only built a handful of them.

Even though Ampeg said they had not tested them (300 watt heads with 2 cabs each), they trucked them out, and basically used the Stones as the beta testers, and worked on them every night after the gigs.
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Super cool info, thank you! I would like to know the time frame of this rehearsal for which the SVT's were delivered....

pbassnut said:
As long as we're on an Ampeg SVT "Holy Grail" oriented thread … has anybody ever seen an Ampeg flatback 8x10 loaded with Altecs? I could easily be having a 60's flashback, but I seem to recall seeing an old Ampeg catalog or ad that mentioned an upgrade option of Altec 10s in the the era of the flatback 8x10 cabs. That would certainly be a beast of a cabinet to schlep.
Click to expand...

Yes. There was definitely a published offering of an Altec upgrade for the 810 - that's a fact. I secretly harbor hopes that it's true and it still could be but....

beans-on-toast said:
That was addressed just recently by Bill Hughes in another thread. He said that it never happened at Ampeg. He called Roger Cox to confirm. Both state that they didn't have an 810 option with Altecs.


Some other Ampeg amps such as the B-15 did have an Altec-Lansing as an option.
Click to expand...

......even the various 12" cabs and 15" cabs: verified.
 
#32
beans-on-toast said:
Kiss did that in Australia. I'm sure that they had something to say about what was supplied but it wasn't even close to their regular stuff. Shipping the amps would have costed too much.
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BOT - gotta say. KISS is hardly the top band in the world in this decade/millenium, Australia is not a major destination (compared to the US in 1969), and KISS would play with ukelele and bongos if the check clears.

Gotta admit, I am not up to date on all current rock, so I don't know who would be the equivalent of the Stones right now.
 
#34
buldog5151bass said:
BOT - gotta say. KISS is hardly the top band in the world in this decade/millenium, Australia is not a major destination (compared to the US in 1969), and KISS would play with ukelele and bongos if the check clears.

Gotta admit, I am not up to date on all current rock, so I don't know who would be the equivalent of the Stones right now.
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I was going to qualify Kiss as being, well Kiss. You're right about them.

Keith has forgotten more riffs than kids in bands today can play. His playing is raw and amazingly musical.

Check out the Billboard Money-Makers List: Music's Top Earners of 2014. With a few exceptions, most top earners are pop. We need to get back to a place where music is important.
 
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#35
beans-on-toast said:
I was going to qualify Kiss as being, well Kiss. You're right about them.

Keith has forgotten more riffs than kids in bands today can play. His playing is raw and amazingly musical.

Check out the Billboard Money-Makers List: Music's Top Earners of 2014. With a few exceptions, most top earners are pop. We need to get back to a place where music is important.
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Agreed. Actually kind of funny. For the most part, we are back in 1955 - bands have little exposure, singles are king rather than albums, soloists king rather than groups. Same truckstop - different exit off the interstate.

Too bad, because there is some good music out there.

Now get off my lawn.
 
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#36
buldog5151bass said:
@wighat According to the article, they basically were delivered last minute - the article sounds like they did not even get to do much, if any, rehearsing with them.
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Interesting.

The pots on my '69 SVT were manufactured between June 21 and June 27. The NAMM show was June 22-26. The Stones tour began November 7.

The notion that the SVT was an untested product when it got to The Stones could only mean not real-world or road-tested since it had been shown at NAMM months earlier.

It has been said that the Stones got virtually all the SVT's available at the time and that there may have been as few as 50 of the very first run of SVT's.

My amp doesn't have a serial number. Just this inspection tag. I wonder who these people are that signed-off on it.

inspection tag.JPG
 
#37
I think there is a little difference between being shown at NAMM v. running full volume for several hours night after night. I am sure Ampeg saw this as something that could make or break them, so they sent all the dogs to make sure the amps didn't @#$#@# the bed mid-song before thousands of people.
 
#38
buldog5151bass said:
I think there is a little difference between being shown at NAMM v. running full volume for several hours night after night. I am sure Ampeg saw this as something that could make or break them, so they sent all the dogs to make sure the amps didn't @#$#@# the bed mid-song before thousands of people.
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I have read that they had back-ups on stage and ready to go in an effort to deal with the occasional amp fire and less dramatic failures.
 
#40
I showed Mr. Hull a "breadboard" of the SVT power amp that I built in my basement in around 67 or 68. It used 4, 811A triodes operating at 1500 V, and was first used for disc mastering in my home studio.

It was quietly under development in 1968.

I believe the 1969 stones tour was the unveiling of the amp. I was on the east coast leg and that was quite exhausting. That was 46 years ago, and I was born in March of 1947!

Just because date codes from 1968 show up, that could be inventory that was in stock. The true date codes to look for are the transformers as they were application specific.

There were a few voice coil fires, but never the heads, although there some head failures.

Bill
 
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