Looking for some advice - in the market for a budget Bass Head and wanted to see if anyone has thoughts on the Ampeg Micro. Don't really need ear-bleedign volume! We play typically 60s/70s music ranging from Motown to The Who. Have been playing an American Standard Jazz for the past 10 years and love the mellow tones I get with flatwound strings (thinking of going tape wound). If not the Ampeg Micro - any suggestions? Budget is $500 ish. GC is blowing out Acoustic heads but I have heard theose are hit and miss. THanks in advance!
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Ampeg Micro-VR 200W Bass Amp Head reviews
- Thread starter JWP
- Start date
I've been using a Markbass LM3 since December and am loving it. no issues no complaints. All good. We're playing classic rock, including The Who, as well as some Americana. The 500 watts from the LM3 is perfect. I'm not sure a 200 watt SS amp would cut it though if your band gets to rocking hard.
jimmy, i refuse to buy any head that cannot be easily fixed by any competent tech using conventional parts. not just ampeg, that goes for all of them. so, as for me i will Never get on the surface mount/ switching ps head bandwagon. i'm like you, an old and long in the trenches guy, and trad designs are where it's at for me. the next $350 i have for a spare is going towards a hartke lh500, which is much more along the lines of what i like. but i am absolutely in Love with this micro vr! that thing is no toy head, as you well know. and being conventionally built i ain't worrying too much if it goes down. it would suck of course, but at least i won't have to jump thru a million hoops to get the bloody thing fixed
No it is a mosfet and the best amp i ever owned.
I played Lowlands 3 days (Netherlands) on top of a 8x10 (fridge) in between two loud drummers and it is cutting through like a knife through butter.
In studio's i use it as a DI and for radio and theatres i use it with a 210 av matching cab and it sounds like heaven.
It is rocksolid without any problems and unlike a class d you can crank it for a tubelike sound because of the mosfets.
This is all you ever need.
I would not go for a 350 or 500 i know for sure that those amps do sound different if you start to play louder
Again it is all about the mosfets.
Just combine it with a matching cab for the gig and your ready.
Owned for years a SVT-II and i think this is actually better sounding and almost as loud.
Selling my SVT-7 now because i really do not need it anymore.
Killer amp.
My Micro VR rocks too, but I would never off an SVT 2 for it. They're rare enough as it is without even being in the Netherlands.
Hi Jimmy,
First of all, respect!
I hear what you say and i think the SVT II has a beautiful tone.
But it is a very old design.
I played the 2-pro for more then 16 years with no big issues and always liked it but always find it a bit slow as well.
If you compare it with the Micro VR it will show that fast notes just sounding better (faster) on the Micro to name just one thing.
I like old cars but really believe that newer ones have a better price/quantity value and a lot of them drive better as well.
Less fuel, better chairs etc.
The same with these two amps.
It is hard too admit that an amp wich you payed ten times as much for actually is not better.
It is also more expensive because of the parts in it wich make the casing also more expensive etc.
But the more expensive components do not necessarely make it a better amp.
Like bassguitars made from very expensive wood are'nt always better sounding.
Nature does not know of more expensive materials;-)
I think the engineers of the Micro understood very well what is necessary too be heard in a band and what a bassplayers need and i really believe the Micro does that better than the 2-Pro.
Nobody comes to me and says "i liked your tone better before the Micro" actually the opposite is more the case.
If you A- B the amps there will be a difference but that is not relevant, only maybe in your livingroom but that is not where i play bass.
Technich developments are going on and on and we should give the guys who do that the credits they deserve.
And it is nice too find out that they can build it lighter,faster and cheaper.
All the days that we just play and not being busy with amps they are.
So after years they are way ahead of us.
It is nice that everybody can buy tv-sets for a fraction of what they did cost years ago and they are much better now.
For me that is the same with the Micro.
If you take in consideration that the Micro is ten times cheaper and lighter it is just the better amp (for me).
Finally i have to mention that off course you can't argue taste so it is what i believe and i don not want to say that this is the the truth for everyone.
PS i do not know what you mean by rare about the 2-Pro but if you mean there are'nt much around, i would say "how much of them do you want". There are plenty of them here in the Netherlands, new, and used starting from 700 euro.
Guess a lot of peopl;e want to get rid of it;-)
Sorry if my english is not always correct i do the best i can.
Regards
Your English is fine, Thjis. I thought you were talking about the SVT 2, the earlier non-master rackmount SVT that came out a couple years before the SVT 2 Pro. Yeah, 2 Pros aren't hard to find...never mind 
Your English is fine, Thjis. I thought you were talking about the SVT 2, the earlier non-master rackmount SVT that came out a couple years before the SVT 2 Pro. Yeah, 2 Pros aren't hard to find...never mind
You are right the SVT-2 is indeed hard to find .
As a side note, I have both the Micro-VR and the PF350. I run them through two SVT 210AVs, and use one or the other based on the venue size. I know they're basically the same preamp (at least this is what I've heard), but I think the Micro sounds a bit better than the 350. They're both very nice, but that Micro . . . 
