Ampeg PF20T vs. PF50T

[GR7G5TER]

I did talk to ampeg some time ago and they did say the 20 (and 50) do follow the b15 path but to me, with the mid control apparently playing less of a roll in the 20, it seems to be more in line with what you would expect if you played without a true mid control feature on the vintage amp.

I would concur, I've owned both the 20&50 at the same time (bascially had them on trial together as i could get to 50 in my LGC.

Both are excellent sounding amps and i wish i could justify having both. The 20T to me is more reminiscent of the Classic B-15 (i've only been luckier enough to play through 1 once, it was with a 62 P bass and sounded amazing, I'd need to seel both kidneys my liver and put my son on ebay to afford that set up though!) and sounds amazing through an SVT210AV.

The 50T was mych more what i was after and even more so now I've upgraded to an SVT212AV cab. A while back (pre lock down) a friend of mine bought a V4B Reissue and for reason i won't go into, had to have delviered to my adress and couldn't collect it for 2 weeks. The 50T and V4B are tonaly very similar, the 50T has the advantage of the dummy load and the post transistor DI, where as the V4B has more speaker out connections and pre and power amp conections and of course 50 more wattsThat

It would be great to both sets of features in each amp, but i guess that would add unnecessary costs!

If you can mail order both with a retailer that has a good returns policy you could A/B them (better still get a V4B to play with as well!)

 

[marchone]

An unloaded PF-20T is a great studio DI amp with a baked in B-15 flavor.

A PF-50T with a Mesa Subway SW210 gives a wider range of tonal options for live play, midrange frequency control, and the 18 dB cut for active basses is a useful feature.

What its 50W won’t do is carry above a heavy handed big kit drummer. So in a sense it’s neither fish nor fowl. But, with a light kit it’s OK.

 

[txhawaii]

PF-20T owner here.
3. as a preamp with another amp feeding the cabinet

How do you run the cords to plug in the 20t into another amp?

 

[Zbysek]

How do you run the cords to plug in the 20t into another amp?

My other amp (Marbass Little Mark 3) has XLR input. I use mic cable (XLR-XLR) to connect PF-20T (preamp out or transformer balanced line out) into LM 3...

 

[txhawaii]

My other amp (Marbass Little Mark 3) has XLR input. I use mic cable (XLR-XLR) to connect PF-20T (preamp out or transformer balanced line out) into LM 3...

I would like to try it with the pf350 which has a xlr out. I looked at the LM 3 and that has an out as well. How do you plug yours in?

 

[Zbysek]

I would like to try it with the pf350 which has a xlr out. I looked at the LM 3 and that has an out as well. How do you plug yours in?

LM 3 has XLR input (front side on the left "Balanced Input")

https://www.markbass.it/product/little-mark-iii/

 

[txhawaii]

LM 3 has XLR input (front side on the left "Balanced Input")

Little Mark III – Markbass

the pf350 doesn't have one of those. i guess a instrument cable to xlr into the loop effects will do the trick

 

[Zbysek]

i guess a instrument cable to xlr into the loop effects will do the trick

I am not sure. The issue is that XLR out is balanced and FX loop return is unbalanced. It has been discussed here on TB. My recollection is that there was no consensus whether one needs additional gadget to do it...

 

[Mark Ellis]

There are lots of pedals that emulate the sound of an Ampeg tube head (Sansamp, just to name one popular example).

Personally to me, that seems like a better approach than using a PF50T or PF20T basically as a glorified effects pedal into your PF800.

Also I have my doubts that the Transformer Balanced Line Out puts out enough "juice" to drive a power amp to gig volume. It says "Line" but I don't think it is true line level; I think you would probably need a preamp.

Final comment, I wouldn't assume that the PF50T and PF20T sound identical. They have different preamps.

(Source: PF20T owner but haven't tried the PF50T yet.)

Used as an actual amp head to drive a cabinet, it's great!

I think you should stick with the PF800 and get a pedal if you need 800w but think your tone is too clean.

The output of a PF20T will drive a power amp to full power without difficulty. I have a PF20T and have tried it but find it all too fragile for gigs. I prefer my Mesa Boogie M9 Caliber in a flight case for gigs.