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Ampeg Micro VR Direct Recording Sound Clips

jkramer5

jkramer5

Jul 14, 2008
888
3
Fairfield, CA
www.jndkramer.com
#1
Just after New Years I bought an Ampeg Micro-VR head and the 2 x 10 cabinet that goes with it. I've been really happy with it since the first time I switched it on. It fits perfectly in my little office/project studio, looks really cool and I think it sounds awesome.

I bought it for recording and live use. The combo I play in isn't very loud at all and it really sounds nice. I got complements on it the first time I used it from the other players.

In the past I used a lot of different hardware and software to get the recorded sound that that this thing makes right out of the box. I had a line6 X3 live, Sansamo BDDI, A couple different ART mic pre's, a presonus tube pre, and have used Ampeg SVX, guitar rig 3 & 4, Amplitube, GTR3, and the amp sims and compressor plugins in Cubase 3 SX, Cubase 5, Logic Studio 9 and many more. This is exactly the sound I wanted.

These are the same track, one with the bass soloed and one with the other instruments. I'm no Jamerson by any means but it gives a good idea of what the head sounds like recorded direct.

It's direct out of the head into an MOTU 828MKII amp set with gain at about 9 O'clock Bass at 10, mid at ten and teble almost off. The Bass is a Squier VM P bass, all stock except for the flatwound strings. They are Carvins about 3 yrs old. No plugins or additional EQ are applied to either track.

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#5
Nice! I just got one of those recently and am still experimenting with it. I haven't been able to use my new bass through it yet (it's still under construction), so that will be the real test, but I like it so far. I ordered a second cab for it today, and an EBS Valve Drive tube preamp/pedal to give it even more warmth.
 
#6
Sounds better than I thought for that old school Motown sound. I'm still debating buying one of these. Retains that vintage sound quite well! Is your D.I. post or pre EQ? Is the MOTU device part of the EQ settings you are mentioning?
 
#8
Thanks for the listens and the feedback. I appreciate it.

I'd totally agree that the fan is noisy. When I mic the cab, the fan gets picked up unless I'm playing. It's also too noisy for me to leave it on, it bugs me, this room is small and pretty quiet. My solution is to put the head in the closet in here when the cab is miced. I took it apart and got the specs off the fan, it's a 60mm 24v dc model and I couldn't find anything to match it.

Live the fan doesn't bother me at all, it gets drowned out by ambient noise.

The only EQ I used is the EQ on the amp, and the tone knob on the bass. I'm using the built in DI on the Micro VR head and it's post EQ.
 
#11
just got mine Micro head. As expected, sounds great, but that fan is really annoying, unless playing with the drums. I opened it and tried with disconnected fan, just with passive cooling with heatsinks. after 30 mins thay were just slightly warm but it was played in the kitchen. i'm not sure if the heat rises with number of watts leaving the head at the moment but so far i like the idea of adding a small switch for fan, that would be used only with the band.
 
#12
vintager said:
just got mine Micro head. As expected, sounds great, but that fan is really annoying, unless playing with the drums. I opened it and tried with disconnected fan, just with passive cooling with heatsinks. after 30 mins thay were just slightly warm but it was played in the kitchen. i'm not sure if the heat rises with number of watts leaving the head at the moment but so far i like the idea of adding a small switch for fan, that would be used only with the band.
Click to expand...

Put a fan controller in the power circuit for the fan. It allows you to control (with a dial) the wattage that the fan recieves, effectively giving you a speed control. This way you can slow it down enough to be quiet, without having to risk running completely passive. I did it with my Ashdown Electric blue amp, that is otherwise loud as hell.
 
#15
Me, too. I'm actually looking at what options there are to replace the DI, because the one in my Micro VR sounds terrible. Tinny, harsh, and without the color of the preamp. Wondering if something is just wrong with my head.
 
#16
As much as I dig the Micro VR, it's not a bad DI but I've heard better. But it should be a post-EQ DI and your pre should be sending its signal to the DI. Try a different setting, remembering that what sounds good in your cab may not sound good in the PA or recorder.
 

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