Ampeg Classic Preamp Pedal

[JimmyM]

I've found that when you listen to the Classic under a microscope, it's a little noisier than the SCR-DI, especially if you goose the treble, but I've used it on gigs and the noise is a non-issue. It's one of those things where you have to be listening in a quiet room with only you playing. YMMV.

 

[StayLow]

I've found that when you listen to the Classic under a microscope, it's a little noisier than the SCR-DI, especially if you goose the treble, but I've used it on gigs and the noise is a non-issue. It's one of those things where you have to be listening in a quiet room with only you playing. YMMV.

Does your cab have a tweeter? Different setups might reveal more. Would you be comfortable blasting that difference through a PA? Quite the opposite of a microscope. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that with the Classic, especially if anything down my signal chain from it might be amplifying the hiss before the PA does.

There's a vast difference in the published specs in the signal to noise between the two, 75 dB vs. 90 dB if I recall correctly. Real world it's a night and day difference between my two units, with treble boosted or not, using batteries to make sure it's not a power supply issue.

I liked the SCR-DI so much that I bought the Classic so as not to have to pack the much larger and heavier SCR-DI around. End result, I'd rather pack the much larger and heavier SCR-DI around to avoid the noise of the Classic.

 

[JimmyM]

Does your cab have a tweeter? Different setups might reveal more. Would you be comfortable blasting that difference through a PA? Quite the opposite of a microscope. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that with the Classic, especially if anything down my signal chain from it might be amplifying the hiss before the PA does.

There's a vast difference in the published specs in the signal to noise between the two, 75 dB vs. 90 dB if I recall correctly. Real world it's a night and day difference between my two units, with treble boosted or not, using batteries to make sure it's not a power supply issue.

I liked the SCR-DI so much that I bought the Classic so as not to have to pack the much larger and heavier SCR-DI around. End result, I'd rather pack the much larger and heavier SCR-DI around to avoid the noise of the Classic.

Well at least you're keeping it in the family But seriously, the Classic wouldn't be my first choice for an in-studio EQ going direct to the board, but I would think you would seriously have to goose the treble before it became a distraction on a gig where day-to-day noise in the venue easily covers it up. That's just my opinion, though...I respect your right to use whatever you want.

 

[shewhorn]

Just a followup. Had a lesson today and Ampeg had given my instructor an SCR-DI. He sent me home with it to check it out. It is indeed much more quiet than the Classic, even when you have the high cranked, and the high boost clicked in. I found the Classic to be unusable in that scenario (and speaking as an audio engineer, given the amount of noise coming from that pedal, I'd have taken my DI feed *before* that pedal, a full range PA is going to amplify that noise much more than your typical head and cab simply due to the fact that the mains have A LOT more power). Anyhow, love the EQ section of the SCR. The Scrambler... meh. I'd use it on a few things but I'd rather have an overdrive that adds "growl". The Scrambler sounds more to me like a full on distortion (and not of the nice tubey variety either). This is of course, purely personal opinion. I can definitely see it being useful for some.

 

[StayLow]

Another difference; the internal 15 dB pad on the SCR-DI affects the signal whether the pedal is on or off while on the Classic it only affects the signal if the pedal is on.

 

[littlealien]

I’ve got the classic pedal too and man is it noisy! It’s fine at gigs but at practice the noise is too much. I’m going to take mine off my board and rely on my Ampeg amp more. I’m using a stingray right before the pedal so there’s a decent strength signal going through.