A bittersweet day. Goodbye to the SVT

That's a nice looking MTI era SVT head

 

So long, SVT !

BTW, did you also sell the 810 fridge ? If so, will you get the matching 4x12 cab for the Bassman ?

 

Those Bassmans are SWEEEEEEET my friend. Don't you worry.

 

He's right, The MTI era SVT's were awesome amps made in Japan between 1981 and 1984.

 

I have this same amp. The SVT's from this era are, tonewise, truly monsters. One of the best sounding amps ever. A friend's band has a mid-70's SVT (previously owned by John Mellencamp, no less), and I prefer mine. Mine has a tendency to break down though, so....until I have enough cash to get it fixed properly where I don't have to worry about it shutting down at every other show with no warning, it's sitting in its road case in my basement, waiting, while my 800RB + VT Bass fills its shoes.

Can't wait to play through it again one day though.

 

I'd love to build an SVT clone that isn't all weird PCB nonsense. Maybe a stripped down preamp.

 

If you have the skill, time and money what's stopping you my friend? Get the soldering iron out!

Paul

 

OP, tube amps are something you have to learn to live with. Once you do it IS hard to let them go. Age makes us less able to schelp heavy equipment around. In my case I left tube amps behind in the late Seventies and that was a 150W tube amp of my own design and build. I admit I have a yen to get it back but that was thirty years ago, it might no longer even exist.

When I heft my new Carvin Bx1500 I remember why I went lighter.

Paul

P.S. Make that the early eighties!

 

There are plenty of early Ampeg SVTs still around and working fine, and I believe they were all PCBs. Similarly with early GKs and so on. I have always felt that PCBs per se are not the problem, the problem appears to be that they are difficult to work on in comparison to a hard wired head. Techs seem to almost insist on a circuit diagram for PCBs or else you are in for a lot of cash as they trace through the circuit.

 

Sorry for your loss, TK. Sounds like it went to a deserving home, however. Getting taken out by your SVT in some deserted stairwell is not a thought to relish... although there are certainly less glorious ways to go!

 

Amen, brother Paul

 

mti's are fabulous. but hey, if you ever get the svt fever again, there are plenty out there for ya.

 

If some younger feller comes after my SVT, I'm gonna break his shin with my walker.

 

I love SVT's!! The only thing that stopped me from bring my 2004 SVT-CL to gigs is the '73 SVT that I just bought off a bro on here.

 

I played a gig with a band I used to play in, where we used the Grassroots backline (we opened for them), and the bass rig was a G-K 400RB through an SVT bottom. I LOVED the sound, and remarked that i might get an SVT bottom to the band. the drummer and Keyboard player both said "who you gonna get to move it?"....I got my revenge a few months later when the keyboard player started talking about bringing a Hammond B-3 to the gigs, and I looked at him and said "who you gonna get to move it?" No B-3 and no SVT bottom, but the score was even....

 

I know it hurts to let go of a prime trophy like that. But I think you made the right call. I've never been one to hoard a thing when I know I won't be using it enough. (Or schlep a 96 lb head when none of my gigs require half that much power!)

 

How do like the sound of the BX1500 after using a real SVT?

 

Most bass amps from the 70s (and since for that matter) were certainly inferior to the SVT. There are only other two amps from the 70s I've played that I think are in the same league: Fender 400PS and Hiwatt 400. But, both of these are far more rare by comparison.

I hate letting go of great old amps, but sometimes I cannot justify keeping more than 3 or 4.