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Hey guys, thank you all for all the info and opinions! Buy them both seems the way to go . Unfortunately my wallet disagrees. Some people tried talking me out of getting an all-tube amp and that's not going to happen. Sure amps like Markbass are great, they really are, but that's not what I'm looking for. There's something to an all-tuber that you just cannot get from a SS or hybrid. It's like the slogan from Harley-Davidson: "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand". And I already own a hybrid (Genz Benz Streamliner 900). My dilemma has sorted itself out. The SVT II is sold . Guess I'm going to get the V-4B then. BTW, I think I was going to get it anyway even if the SVT II was still available... Or I could always get an SVT CL or Heritage . Doh!
KN,
As a Bass Player since 1962, & having owned 2 B18s(1966) and 1 B15(1965 and still have & use with my 1965 Gibson EB-3), I would recommend Ampeg to ALL Bass Players, regardless of Model or Size, just make sure you play ALL you Basses you own thru both Amps and trust your ears!
Regards,
Pigpen (aka [email protected])
Try the Ampeg BA-210v2. It is 450 watts and designed like a monitor that fires at you at a 60 degree angle like a floor wedge. If you need more volume just add another cab and the amp switches from 350 to 450 watts to give you the needed juice. It has all of the classic Ampeg tones and controls and you don't have to hire a road crew to move it for every gig. It will fill any club or medium stage. If you need more than that run it through the pa system. It really changed things for me in a positive way. It might for you too, since you seem to like that sound a lot, as do I. Good luck!
Hi First off I have a killer MusicMan Stingry bass. Killer... I had a V4B head. it was huge and heavy but it sounded beautiful. it was too heavy so I sold it :-( I got an Acoustic 450 head and a 15" cabinet an got most of that classic Acoustic sound with plenty of power. Even though solid state it is musical and not so heavy. But have been pondering either an Ampeg or Mesa Boogie pre-amp pedal and then can marry those good EQs and versatility to a power amp and either 2x10 or 1 15 cabinet. Super versatile especially for recording and light enough to get up and down on stairs. But if you have roadies load up with the SVT and 8x10 cabinets to make them sweat. Remember Tone is King!
I just read the previous reply about the Ampeg BA-210. Sounds like a good idea, too. Plus Ampeg is a great US company Skill breeds Luck!
Had a SVT(unknown age)w/810 cab in the early 80s. Loved it,BUT-it was put on stage and 50 weeks later taken off for 2 week vacation, then put back for 50 more weeks twice until gig(hotel in Miami Beach)petered out. Now doing one nighters in small venues using a Rumble 200-and my same old 1967 NR Tbird. As Slim Pickens said in Blazing Saddles:"I'm gettin' too old for this (stuff)".
I'd get the II...you'll be glad that you did. The headroom will enhance your tone. I'd recommend a Schroeder 815L. Neo 8", 15", and a 200 watt horn....1200 watts, 50 lbs. Fabulous tone. Tell Jorg Schroeder that Doc recommended you!
I can give advice on the V4b as I used them when they were 1st introduced and I can tell you this much. Although I can't speak for 12's don't get this and push 15's with it. It is woefully lacking in every area that 300 watt tubes don't even grunt to do. I immediately traded my V4b for a classic SVT in the 70's and drove a combo of single 12", 2-15's and a 18"" cab. Huge difference. Playing hard rock and funk--blew the doors off everywhere I played. Talk about bone rattling bass. The V4b couldn't even do a decent job on 2-15's. And my guess is the same would apply to 12's. The answer in a nutshell--it's headroom. Deep low gut punching bass loves headroom in amplification. Some believe this does not apply to tubes, but it does, and the bigger the speaker the more critical it is. I'm not an audio engineer, but I think it has something to do with energy required to move larger voice coil's. Your never going to worry about having to drive anything with 300 watts of tube power.
I am also a bass player of over 50 yrs. I totally agree with your assessment of the GK amp as I too have been gigging recently with the Ampeg SVT 810e cab and I also have an early 70's SVT 300 watt tube head that I updated and went through with a nice new matched set of Sovteks and I played it 1st through that head and then my GK 1001 RBII head and the difference was remarkable. The 1001 really has a lot of headroom (750 RMS watts I believe) which yes, I think is really critical for good bass sound. (I posted an earlier reply on the V4-B head and was disappointed in it because it doesn't have enough headroom especially with 15 and 18 inch speakers). I was trying to come up with the correct terminology of why the bigger speakers performed so poorly with the V4-B amp and yes it's damping factor. I don't know how the 810e cab would compare with a 800 RB amp, but it sounds pretty fantastic with the 1001RBII. You turn the presence and contour up and Oh man--it is just singing with punchy low end and nice articulated mids and highs. And I barely crank the master beyond 10:00 and it's blowing my guitar player off the stage. I was at an outside event direct lined in PA and they could hardly turn me up because the amp was so loud. But the tone of it is what really blows me away. Great combination indeed.
I just hope you don't regret having the lack of headroom and all its causal effects as I and a few other posters have pointed out. No doubt the V4B is a nice amp and does sound good, but mark my words, you will run into situations where you will wonder why it's not sounding right--and 9 times out of 10 it will be needing more headroom in the amp. Just make sure to stay away from running anything larger than 12's.
Huh? Where does that one come from? The original cab made for the V4B was a 215 horn loaded cab!
I used those same cabs with a 1000 watt pre/power amp setup so I wouldn't worry about either amp smoking your cabs (jmho). Now mind you I'll probably get flamed for this but, an SVT played at lower volume (clean) doesn't do much of anything you can't do with a class D with a tube pre. I don't get turned on by tubes until the power tubes start going into saturation and then it is YESSSSS. But that is just me. I'd go with the V4B
I bought the SVT II (np) the first year it came out. (Along with the SVR 215 Isobaric speakers & built in 4 rack space)..To this day it is my only amp for jamming and gigs..drummers love the rear firing speaker..I can't comment on the other amp you are considering,but I can highly recommend the SVT II .
I would have to agree 100% with Mike here. I've been there done that. Just can't go back to a V4B after hearing and feeling the SVT. I have a1987 Reissue limited Edition. I've had it rebuilt a few years ago. Still better than the junk coming out today, but then again I swapped in for much better parts than even when mine was new. It was about 1500 in parts and 700 labor.
Hmmm...in what ways are the new ones "junk"? Because my older Heritage SVT-CL has had not a single problem in over 4 years, even with tubes, and it sounds identical to the normal channel 1 in my 69 SVT. So I'm curious where the "junk" part comes in.
if it sounds identical to your 69 SVT, then you and i are hearing different tones......I should have made it clear that the build quality isn't junk... The tone on the CL was a bit thin and crunchy. Now i think the Heritage SVT tone is considerably better and more towards my SVT sound. I would recommend that one. Do you think the Heritage and the CL sound the same? I'm curious...Tone on my SVT is very clean, round and punchy. Like I said, the parts upgrade on mine puts it into an Audiophile level of performance.
The Heritage IS a CL. Do they sound identical to the regular CL? They can, yes, but that's more a function of the tubes than the build. At any rate, I'm happy you're getting what you want out of yours. To me, there's no such thing as a bad SVT as long as it works.
