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Ampeg Heritage SVT vs. Aguilar DB751

#41
kimmyt said:
Hi All, I am new to this forum or at least it has been a while since I if ever posted. I am looking for a new amp to play live with. Small clubs outdoor wineries, nothing big. I was playing a Fender Bassman 300 Pro which was cool, quite heavy but never really could dial in the sound I was looking for. OK so I am in my 50's and back in 74' I bought my first real bass amp and when I did I chose the Acoustic 370 over the Ampeg SVT, at the time the Acoustic was the first solid state amp with EQ. Since then I have sold that a couple years ago along with my 73' Fender Precision, damn that's a stupid story for another time. I have since played through Carvin Power amp and a ART Night Bass rack set up, then a Traynor YBA200 new tube amp, pretty cool for the price but I had my eye on the Fender so I had used that for the past 4 years and recently sold it as I also have the TC RH450 which gives me a pretty damn cool sound through my Mesa Powerhouse 4x10 & 1x15 cabs. It is light and so easy to set up. However I am leaning towards getting a tube amp to gig with again. I am not a real heavy duty muscian that has the great ear for sound but I do know when I hear it I will be happy. OK I play cover tunes mostly R&B, Motown and 70's dance music, some classic rock. Nothing loud or hard rock, so I am mostly looking for a clean sound with soul, nice clean low with all the other stuff guys talk about. Oh yeah so I tried a Mesa M-Pulse 600 and didn't really work for me then tried a Mesa Big Block 750, worked for a week or so, wanted to like it but nah. So I now think heah dummy back in 74' you should have bought the Ampeg SVT still going strong today and so I started looking and ran across the Heritage and well USA Assembled sounded good to me and would have already bought it but the price is just a bit hard to justify. OK so I came across the Aguilar DB751, have heard the Aguilar name and seems to be pretty popular, but it to is like the Mesa M-Pulse 600 with the tube pre amp and the rest is SS. So not a great deal out there comparing the Ampeg to the Aguilar DB751. Mostly looking for opinions on the differences and the Ag is as much as the Heritage and will I eventually want the SVT. I know I am all over the board, somewhere I read a post from a guy that had owned so many different bass amops and finally after years of trying to find the one for him he bought and SVT and he is finally happy. There are some really cool threads about the Heritage and a couple guys that are so happy they bought them, I am very close to making that decision but then checked out the DB751 and thought I owed it to my self to check them out too. Opinions?
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You play the same music as me, and I'm after a nice deep and punchy sound too.

Except I'm looking into the Aguilar DB cabs and Ampeg SVT cabs not the heads.

Anyone can help me decide? They are hard for me to try together.

Im after the 115 version. Weight isn't an issue. I know they are both really heavy, but it's going to be my gig amp, so it will only be used here and there and not get moved as often as my practice amp. Plus it has wheels, and I'm young so the lifting won't affect me too much.

EDIT: I was also looking at the aguilar sl and ampeg pro neo versions too. If anyone can help me compare those with their heavier big brothers.

Thanks
 
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#42
Just get a 810E

all ive used for a long long time.

and still dont care and wont care for anything new.

Its the end all solution to cabs, sounds great with solid state or tube.
but if you plug in a tuber from 100 to 300 watts there is a certain magic with sealed cabs
 
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#43
kimmyt said:
Don't think so but should it be? I noticed that the vrs have them in the back which seems weird if they are right next to the transformer, seems it wouldn't push that much air. And in one of busters threads with the cool pics I didn't see the fan. One the newer svts it looks like a speaker in the front grill and on the heritage can't see that on the front grill.
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the transformers are mounted somewhat inside the chassis and the power transformer gets pretty hot. usually the fan points inward from the back and is mainly to cool the transformer. not the tubes
 
#45
BogeyBass said:
the transformers are mounted somewhat inside the chassis and the power transformer gets pretty hot. usually the fan points inward from the back and is mainly to cool the transformer. not the tubes
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Pretty sure there's a post somewhere on Talkbass where Bill Hughes said the SVT will work fine without the fan. Ah, here it is: Found a 1976 svt

Kinda makes you wonder why such a loud fan was chosen.
 
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#46
Wasnex said:
Pretty sure there's a post somewhere on Talkbass where Bill Hughes said the SVT will work fine without the fan. Ah, here it is: Found a 1976 svt

Kinda makes you wonder why such a loud fan was chosen.
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LOL dont get me started on the SVT poop talk.

Even the bugera BVV3000 moved the transformers to the back for better venting and heat seems non issue it also has no fan from the pictures ive seen.

Far as fan noise, depends how its mounted. High CFM fan can make noise moving alot of air anyways. then again its not very high.
other answer is cause its.....cheap lol. luckily its just a typical rack/computer fan. im sure someone could find a lower noise higher cfm fan if they wanted. its a somewhat normal thing for computers to have high cfm low noise. then again certain chassis or cases are loud no matter what.

you got brushed fans, brushless fans, fans with cheaper bushings or fans with roller bearings. not sure again, really these days a brushless ball bearing fan is dirt cheap. back in the day even turd fans were a little expensive. little different now

i wouldnt doubt a old school SVT do fine without a fan. really the biggest current monster is the low voltage for the heaters. usually if you swapped tubes on some amps if you pulled to much current for heaters the transformer starts to cook. say taking the risk of putting 6550 in a 6L6 or 7027 amp. just saying ill assume the transformer is getting hot from all the heater current.

heck my old tranyor 90 watt had a fan. but someone disconnected it and removed the blades. this was before computer muffin fans. it was literally a open case small motor AC fan youd see used for a house fan. really tiny house fan lol. ill assume it was loud and annoying also. amp did fine without it
 
#47
BogeyBass said:
LOL dont get me started on the SVT poop talk.

Even the bugera BVV3000 moved the transformers to the back for better venting and heat seems non issue it also has no fan from the pictures ive seen.

Far as fan noise, depends how its mounted. High CFM fan can make noise moving alot of air anyways. then again its not very high.
other answer is cause its.....cheap lol. luckily its just a typical rack/computer fan. im sure someone could find a lower noise higher cfm fan if they wanted. its a somewhat normal thing for computers to have high cfm low noise. then again certain chassis or cases are loud no matter what.

you got brushed fans, brushless fans, fans with cheaper bushings or fans with roller bearings. not sure again, really these days a brushless ball bearing fan is dirt cheap. back in the day even turd fans were a little expensive. little different now

i wouldnt doubt a old school SVT do fine without a fan. really the biggest current monster is the low voltage for the heaters. usually if you swapped tubes on some amps if you pulled to much current for heaters the transformer starts to cook. say taking the risk of putting 6550 in a 6L6 or 7027 amp. just saying ill assume the transformer is getting hot from all the heater current.

heck my old tranyor 90 watt had a fan. but someone disconnected it and removed the blades. this was before computer muffin fans. it was literally a open case small motor AC fan youd see used for a house fan. really tiny house fan lol. ill assume it was loud and annoying also. amp did fine without it
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My Reeves 400 doesn't have a fan and it does fine. I has six KT88s and IMHO it makes a bit more power than my SVTs. I do believe some engineering was done so the chassis and case breaths fairly well without a fan though. Most of my other big tube amps have fans and none of them are anywhere as loud as my vintage SVTs.

You must have forgotten that SVTs have a separate transformer for the filaments. The filament transformer is in front of the PT, so it's not going to get much air circulation.

I have seen other posts suggest the SVT's fan is to keep the transformers nice and cool. This may be true, but perhaps it's not entirely for the reason one might think. The tubes are pretty close to the transformers; perhaps radiant heat from the tubes is part of the problem. The heats is not good for the twist lock caps mounted on top of the chassis either. I get the impression the twist locks capacitors are usually the first to go bad.

I think it's a good idea to keep a fan in SVTs, but I think a quieter fan could be used. I thought I bought a quieter fan for my 69. Went through the hassle of installing it and it was exactly the same. Turns out Mouser had a typo on their produce page that lists the noise spec 10dB on the low side.

I also tried turning the fan around on my Skunk so it pulled hot air out of the case. The rear panel on this amp is not cutout for the fan, so reversing the fan created a high pitched turbine sound from the air vortex whooshing through metal grating.
 
#49
RumbleMan3 said:
Anyone compare Aggie dB cabs to ampeg svt cabs? Or even Aggie sl cabs to ampeg pro neo cabs?

ANY help would be great as I can't try them anytime soon. I'd like to know the difference in sound, tonal var
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I've only tried the DB410's. Found them a bit dark on the top end without the tweeter on. Good sounding otherwise, but was surprised by the lack of treble till the tweeter goes on.
 
#50
RumbleMan3 said:
You play the same music as me, and I'm after a nice deep and punchy sound too.

Except I'm looking into the Aguilar DB cabs and Ampeg SVT cabs not the heads.

Anyone can help me decide? They are hard for me to try together.

Im after the 115 version. Weight isn't an issue. I know they are both really heavy, but it's going to be my gig amp, so it will only be used here and there and not get moved as often as my practice amp. Plus it has wheels, and I'm young so the lifting won't affect me too much.

EDIT: I was also looking at the aguilar sl and ampeg pro neo versions too. If anyone can help me compare those with their heavier big brothers.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I haven't had great luck with Ampeg cabs. I prefer the quality and consistency of my Aguilar cabs. Especially if you are looking at a 115. I have 2 Aguilar DB115's and they are amazing. Solid. Deep.
 
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#51
Having had my DB751 for five months now, and done a fair few gigs with it, I have to say that it is the only head I have used that really has cured my regret that years ago I sold my svt2 nonpro. I have owned a few svts and that nonpro had some special magic in it. The 751 has the punch of that old amp, and the eq on the 751 is its secret trick I think - it pays to take the time to play with it and get adjusted to its feel. It is more versatile than some give credit. A quick tweak last weekend had a stunning influence on the sound, it is not subtle and a small turn goes a long way. The amp is solid as a brick outhouse and at my age a huge plus is that it is half the weight of an svt. Been using it with a Barefaced Four 10 but I have an outdoor gig coming up shortly where it will be sitting on my Fender neo 810 cab.....:bassist::bassist::bassist:
All that said, tubes are still tubes;)
 
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#53
Greetings y'all! I have an opportunity to buy used Aguilar DB751 for the roughly same price as Ampeg V4B new. What are the main differences in these two, soundwise? I didn't try any Aguilar so far, but I played a vintage Ampeg and it was obviously great. Weight is also factor here, but these 2 weight the same. I use octaver pretty regularly so clean headroom is important to me. Also, bass is precision with SPB-3 pickups.

My main amp is Orange Terror bass 500 right now, but I would like something with more headroom and more powerful eq. I use Barefaced Compact cab (1x15").
 
#54
If you need clean headroom then 100w tube amp is not what you probably want. Aguilar offers plenty of headroom for many applications and you are not running out of juice. You are comparing 100w vs. 750w amps and if 100w is all you need then why not looking for something much lighter in hybrids. Or use your Terror Bass with selected preamp pedal for additional sound adjustment, you already have tube front end.
 
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#55
Karlo.kc said:
Greetings y'all! I have an opportunity to buy used Aguilar DB751 for the roughly same price as Ampeg V4B new. What are the main differences in these two, soundwise? I didn't try any Aguilar so far, but I played a vintage Ampeg and it was obviously great. Weight is also factor here, but these 2 weight the same. I use octaver pretty regularly so clean headroom is important to me. Also, bass is precision with SPB-3 pickups.

My main amp is Orange Terror bass 500 right now, but I would like something with more headroom and more powerful eq. I use Barefaced Compact cab (1x15").
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The DB751 is a good choice for massive slam and lot's of headroom. Neither The DB751 or V4B has a powerful EQ (IMHO). However, the V4B tone stack is probably a bit more powerful/versatile. Unfortunatley 120W is not going to give you a lot of clean headroom.

I believe the DB751 uses pretty much a Fender TMB based tone stack just like the TB 500. This does not mean they sound the same. Different component values are used in each amp which changes the sound and the way the controls respond.

The best way to make the decision is to actually play through the amps. I do understand that it's not always practical to do this though. So consider how much of a problem it will be to flip the amp if you don't like it.
 
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#56
Hopefully, what with Yamaha hopefully/supposedly invigorating Ampeg with their formidable engineering expertise, I can't think of a better time to buy a new SVT; and if only an SVT will do, the question is already answered.

If the question were to me and down to which one, I'd have the Aggie. For me, SVT's without the 810 are incomplete, and I could never see me moving an 80# head and a 150# cabinet ever again. The Aggie I could rack mount and it would sound fine with most any cabs that could handle the power, so I wouldn't be limited to a coke machine-sized rig. For me 751's offer a wider array of tones apart from the well-known SVT sound.

It's a moot-point for me, as I'd be in a Subway head and a pair of Subway 15's and call it a day. I don't miss the days where I had to pick out a (big) car or truck to drive by whether I could get my rig in it to make gigs.
 
#57
J Wilson said:
Hopefully, what with Yamaha hopefully/supposedly invigorating Ampeg with their formidable engineering expertise, I can't think of a better time to buy a new SVT; and if only an SVT will do, the question is already answered.

If the question were to me and down to which one, I'd have the Aggie. For me, SVT's without the 810 are incomplete, and I could never see me moving an 80# head and a 150# cabinet ever again. The Aggie I could rack mount and it would sound fine with most any cabs that could handle the power, so I wouldn't be limited to a coke machine-sized rig. For me 751's offer a wider array of tones apart from the well-known SVT sound.

It's a moot-point for me, as I'd be in a Subway head and a pair of Subway 15's and call it a day. I don't miss the days where I had to pick out a (big) car or truck to drive by whether I could get my rig in it to make gigs.
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I've been using my SVTs with the Ampeg AV212 for a few years now and it's voiced similar enough to their 810 that I'm okay with the substitute. But I'm sure the Subway rig is awesome, if I wasn't completely satisfied with my Genz Benz rig I'd have a Subway for my Class D setup.
 
#58
J Wilson said:
Hopefully, what with Yamaha hopefully/supposedly invigorating Ampeg with their formidable engineering expertise, I can't think of a better time to buy a new SVT;
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From what I've seen, today's SVT is exactly like the one they sold 4 years ago under Loud ownership.
Which for many is a good thing.
I think the big question is what will Yamaha eventually release that is actually something new.
Hoping for a dedicated modeling bass amp that slays!
 
#59
Thanks for educating me about the SVT; If I think about it, Yamaha would have had to do some tweaking or re-engineering in record time.

It will be interesting to see how they grow the brand. I'd think a vintage yet updated flip-top would be high on the list, but then again, who really knows. If nothing else, they could hire Demeter to leverage the work he did on his modern flip-top, but what do I know? I'm the guy in the cheap seats with chicken grease on his strings . . . .
 
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