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Ampeg pf-800

#141
I just recently started playing my new PF-800 through two SVT-112AV's and I'm really impressed with the tone and the portability. I think it's really a step up from the PF-500, the tone is fuller and it really does the Ampeg big, warm, round sound and plenty of head room. The cabs were a big surprise for me, they have lots of bottom and the whole rig just sounds very musical to me. This is a great little stack for club work. Of course, I am being careful to not over power the 300w 12's but so far I've been able to play as loud as I need to with no sign of any problem. It's also a great looking rig as well.
 

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#142
P-oddz said:
"Polite" might not be the right adjective, but I definitely wish I could coax some more "throat" out of it (to throw out another tone term that all of us disagree upon and no one has one real definition for) ;).
Admittedly my Precision seems to have a better tonal response with the PF than my Jazz. Maybe I just need to woodshed with EQ settings some more and see if I can improve my response.
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Not exactly the same animal, but when I had my PF-500 I used to dime my mids and it got pretty aggressive sounding. I also would not use the compressor. It wasn't hairy/grindy like my SVP-Pro could get, but it was a little past polite.:D
 
#146
B-string said:
I can only guess the Berg has a higher quality crossover design and the Dr.Bass that I have seen use a prebuilt higher order crossover. The problem I have noted lays more with simple designs using LC networks. The capacitive load seems to create the possibility for very high frequency oscillation in the class D module. While it can't be heard it uses large amounts of power and thermal runaway (overtemp shutdown).
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What frequency oscillations have you seen?
 
#148
JimmyM said:
Wow, I must have totally different hearing from you guys, because I just did my first gig with the new PF800 I got Sunday into two 210av's, and I was impressed with it way more than I have been with their other micros. I don't hear it as polite at all. I was getting pretty aggressive tones out of it, even when clean and not very loud. To me it hits way harder than their other PF heads.
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So JimmyM, or anyone else who has played both, how does the tone in the PF800 compare to the PF350? I really like the simplicity of the EQ on the 350 but I would expect that you could get the same tone profile out of the 800 with all that EQ flexibility.
 
#149
johnpbass said:
So JimmyM, or anyone else who has played both, how does the tone in the PF800 compare to the PF350? I really like the simplicity of the EQ on the 350 but I would expect that you could get the same tone profile out of the 800 with all that EQ flexibility.
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I think you can. Some might prefer the "less is more" approach of the PF350, but I can get basically the same sounds I got out of the PF350, although the PF800 has a few more sounds you can get due to the extra switches and mid selector.
 
#150
Cool. I'm seriously thinking about upgrading to a PF800 but I was hedging because I really dig the tone and simple effective EQ on the 350. Although, I will say that I've never had a problem getting my tone out of pretty much any Ampeg head I've played through!;)
 
#151
Well one nice thing about the PF800 is I believe the extra headroom gives it more oomph and makes it hit a little harder. But I used the PF350 for over 2 years and probably wouldn't have upgraded if I hadn't got a sweet deal ;)
 
#155
In an earlier post I had asked about the 800's response and user experience in general with the amp. I was finding that I really missed my Orange tube amp whenever I switched to my Class D PF800, and was really wishing the PF800 had a "throatier" response. It's pretty obvious that I might have been expecting too much from the Ampeg.

But last night I played an SFT pedal into the 800 all night at practice and really fell in love with the tone! The SFT really added just the right amount of salt on top for me and really gave the impression that my Class D Ampeg was hitting some tube response. I'll be buying the pedal for sure so I won't feel like I'm missing out not playing the Orange everywhere.

Just thought I'd share.
 
#157
Waking this thread up, but for those of you who have used it with bigger cabinets, do you find it gives you the headroom you would expect from an 800 watt amp? Also, anyone throw a bunch of pedals in front of it? Such as a muff, sadowsky pre, zvex SHO, etc.

I am weighing the idea of snagging one of these to put on top of my Mesa Vintage Powerhouse 412. I use a GK Fusion 550 at the moment, but also have an Acoustic 370 and an Ampeg V4 (second input modded to V4B circuit) as well. The cabinet is super efficient and sounds huge with pretty much anything driving it, but this is just more curiosity than anything else i think. Wondering how the 800 would perform on such a cabinet.

Looking for something that gives me big clean (tubey, for lack of a better term) headroom in a smaller package. Believe it or not, I don't mind hauling the cabinet, but I'm getting over hauling the rack with the GK, power conditioner, etc. or an all-tube monster. I really find it easier moving that cab around than picking up the rack unit. haha

If this would do the trick, I may be parting with the GK, which I never thought I would do.

Thanks!
 
#158
I throw a bunch of pedals at it...an OD and fuzz and octaver most of the time. Works great with all of them.

As for headroom, it does for me, but I play at piddly volumes so I'm probably not the guy to ask. I know a lot of micros (not all, but a lot) don't have much peak power beyond their RMS power, unlike tube and trad SS amps, and that extra power for peaks is sometimes interpreted as extra headroom, but I have cranked it in an 810e really loud and it blew me out of the room well before I reached the end of its clean and uncompressed capabilities.
 
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#159
JimmyM said:
I throw a bunch of pedals at it...an OD and fuzz and octaver most of the time. Works great with all of them.

As for headroom, it does for me, but I play at piddly volumes so I'm probably not the guy to ask. I know a lot of micros (not all, but a lot) don't have much peak power beyond their RMS power, unlike tube and trad SS amps, and that extra power for peaks is sometimes interpreted as extra headroom, but I have cranked it in an 810e really loud and it blew me out of the room well before I reached the end of its clean and uncompressed capabilities.
Click to expand...

haha. Didn't think anyone would be awake to see this for awhile...but you're always here!

Thanks!

i'm gonna goto GC tomorrow and see if i can get it hooked up to a bigger cab and see what I can find. Really hoping it can do what I want it to. Sounds like it will if it behaves that way with an 810.
 

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