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Ampeg PF350/500 Part V

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#502
I am going to be running my PF500/PF115HE this Friday. I'd like to see a few of your eq settings. I am running an American Precision. I've been reading a lot about running the bass eq too high lately and being boomy and muddy. I've probably been guilty of that. I want my bass to sit better in the live mix with a 7 piece band. Any suggestions?
 
#503
GregT said:
I am going to be running my PF500/PF115HE this Friday. I'd like to see a few of your eq settings. I am running an American Precision. I've been reading a lot about running the bass eq too high lately and being boomy and muddy. I've probably been guilty of that. I want my bass to sit better in the live mix with a 7 piece band. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Boomy and muddy

Thats your cab... the driver was not designed to be a barrier between the inside and outside of your cab

1 try insulating the inside of your cab with soft foam padding
this will allow more volume without big boom..

2 you can have too much volume and or bass on the eq...

try raising your pickups and lowering your volume or bass ...
 
#504
GregT said:
I am going to be running my PF500/PF115HE this Friday. I'd like to see a few of your eq settings. I am running an American Precision. I've been reading a lot about running the bass eq too high lately and being boomy and muddy. I've probably been guilty of that. I want my bass to sit better in the live mix with a 7 piece band. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I don't find the PF500/115HE boomy or muddy at all. With my Fenders, it sounds great. Clean, warm, nice mid presence for cutting through, with plenty going on down low. Fits the mix just right.

I mostly use either an American Jazz Deluxe or a Lull M4V (both active). I slightly favor the neck p/u, use a slight bass boost, treble is cut just a touch, mids rolled off just a touch.

PF500
Compressor = noon
Ultra High = off
Ultra Low = on when running the vol under 11, off when pushing the amp harder
Gain = between 12-1 o'clock (depending on the bass - the Fender is hotter than the Lull)
Bass = just a touch past noon
Mid = 3 o'clock-ish (I don't find that this control does much before the 3 o'clock point)
Frequency = either 3 or 5 depending on how much snap I want. 3 is soulful and mellow, 5 is very snappy
Treble = just a touch past noon
Volume = set to match the gig, but never over 1 o'clock, never under 9 o'clock.

remember, well dialed mids are your friend when it comes to fitting into the mix well. low end competes with the drummer (and keys if you have them), the high end fights with guitars and cymbals. Mids are key.

good luck finding your best settings for the band mix. I found it pretty easy to get good tone out of the PF500/115HE combination.
 
#505
Thanks pfschim. That's the kind of information I was looking for. I didn't mean to sound like I was saying the PF was boomy or muddy. I also play guitar, and I think some bassists who also play guitar (I'm including myself) have had an unrealistic approach to setting a bass eq. I don't want to be that guy. I've been doing a lot of research lately about it because when I fill in on bass with a band, I want the bass to sound as good as it can. Less bass (I was running it pretty high) and a little added mids is what I was thinking, but now I have a few good reference points. I always liked the ultra low and your idea about shutting it off when you play louder makes sense now. I appreciate the input.
 
#508
GregT said:
I am going to be running my PF500/PF115HE this Friday. I'd like to see a few of your eq settings. I am running an American Precision. I've been reading a lot about running the bass eq too high lately and being boomy and muddy. I've probably been guilty of that. I want my bass to sit better in the live mix with a 7 piece band. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Greg - Here is my starting point for the PF500 that I use with either my P-bass or my T-bird. With the P-bass, I usually roll the tone off, on the T-bird I roll the tone off the neck and run it along with the treble bridge pup. Also note, I'm running two cabs, and I've been using the neutrik jacks on the side which are wired directly to the 15' bypassing the horn. Once the band gets going, sometimes I might cut the mid to 11:00 and I might bump the master volume a little - but not much.

Pad: Off
Mute: Off (duhh lol)
Comp: 9:00
Gain: 10:00 - 12:00 depending on which bass. The Tbird runs hotter than the P so I can get away with 10:00 for the Bird.
Ultra Lo: On
Ultra Hi: Off
Bass: 3:00
Mid: 11:00 - 12:00
Freq: 800 (pos 3)
Treble: 1:00
FX Blend: Off
Master: 11:00, 12:00 - 1:00 by the end of the night



2012-06-08_17-50-32_781-1.jpg
 
#509
If this is a "show your settings" moment, I'm happy to join in!

I've only gigged with the PF-500 once, and used an Avatar 115 with an Avatar 210 on top. I turned off the tweeter horn.

Pad: depends on the bass -- actives on, passives off, obv.
Mute: Off
Comp: 12:00ish, probably more like 11:30.
Gain: I want grit, so I go as high as I can before the red light starts blinking at me. With my active Warwick, even with the pad engaged, that wasn't very high. The passive Fender can push it a lot harder -- near 3 o'clock I reckon.
Ultra Lo: On -- but might revisit to see if going without helps me turn up the mids.
Ultra Hi: Off -- haven't seen this as a useful setting for me.
Bass: 9:00 -- in my band, I want to cut the bass a bit as the keyboards will resonate down there a lot of the time. I might go lower with the Fender, haven't tried it yet.
Mid: 3:00 + (depends on the room and situation -- I want to cut through and here's where that happens. But you don't need to overdo it either.)
Freq: 800 (pos 3)
Treble: 3:00ish
FX Blend: Off
Master: 1:00 but this might change if I can get gain higher.
 
#510
GregT said:
Thanks pfschim. That's the kind of information I was looking for. I didn't mean to sound like I was saying the PF was boomy or muddy. I also play guitar, and I think some bassists who also play guitar (I'm including myself) have had an unrealistic approach to setting a bass eq. I don't want to be that guy. I've been doing a lot of research lately about it because when I fill in on bass with a band, I want the bass to sound as good as it can. Less bass (I was running it pretty high) and a little added mids is what I was thinking, but now I have a few good reference points. I always liked the ultra low and your idea about shutting it off when you play louder makes sense now. I appreciate the input.
Click to expand...

you're welcome. that's what we are here for (mostly) ;)
 
#512
Hey guys, I have a question about these amps (sorry if it's been asked before). I was super turned off on these when they first came out because of all of the cut out problems I was reading about, but I haven't noticed as many complaints lately. Does it seem that the cut out issue has been mostly resolved in these amps now? the 500 head with one of the matching cabs seems like it might be ideal for my situation, I just don't want to risk something that might fail on me when I won't be able to afford to replace it.
 
#513
El-Bob said:
Hey guys, I have a question about these amps (sorry if it's been asked before). I was super turned off on these when they first came out because of all of the cut out problems I was reading about, but I haven't noticed as many complaints lately. Does it seem that the cut out issue has been mostly resolved in these amps now? the 500 head with one of the matching cabs seems like it might be ideal for my situation, I just don't want to risk something that might fail on me when I won't be able to afford to replace it.
Click to expand...

I had the cutting out issue when using a 4 ohm cab (or two 8 ohm cabs). I never had the cut out with the one matching cab.

Once I learned how to use the 500 correctly ( that is to dial in the gain properly and not over EQ), I haven't had the cut out issue happen. Two gigs so far with the 115HE and 115LF being driven by the 500. And oh, the sweet sweet tone! :)
 
#516
So I've moved over to the Ampeg PF500, ended up getting a great deal on one. I was originally going for the Aguilar TH500 but this was just much better priced and I thought sounded nice in the 4x10 I used in store. Took a gamble and brought it home to try on my 2x10.

Fresh out of the box, mounted it on top of my Epifani UL2 210. Plugged it all in, sounded good but not great. Thought I'd be taking a long time to find the sweet spot and had a little bit of a fear. Nope, just a little bit of fiddling around with the EQ and I was amazed by how many tones I was able to pull out of it.

Finally settled on a setting, jammed on it. Loved it. Then I reset the EQ to show my brother the new rig. I forgot what I set so I did it all again and even though I ended up with a totally different EQ setting, I was really starting to appreciate the flexibility of the tone. The gain and compressor I find extremely useful.

Overall I am very pleased. Amazing amount of options tonally on this amp. A vast improvement over my last amp. Great lows, pleasing high end, powerful flexible mids (that frequency setting was worth skipping the 350).

I have a gig in a fortnight and I already know it'll be all over my old Fender Rumble. I just cannot wait to work with it in a live setting :D

Link Removed
 
#518
Crowella said:
So I've moved over to the Ampeg PF500, ended up getting a great deal on one. I was originally going for the Aguilar TH500 but this was just much better priced and I thought sounded nice in the 4x10 I used in store. Took a gamble and brought it home to try on my 2x10.

Fresh out of the box, mounted it on top of my Epifani UL2 210. Plugged it all in, sounded good but not great. Thought I'd be taking a long time to find the sweet spot and had a little bit of a fear. Nope, just a little bit of fiddling around with the EQ and I was amazed by how many tones I was able to pull out of it.

Finally settled on a setting, jammed on it. Loved it. Then I reset the EQ to show my brother the new rig. I forgot what I set so I did it all again and even though I ended up with a totally different EQ setting, I was really starting to appreciate the flexibility of the tone. The gain and compressor I find extremely useful.

Overall I am very pleased. Amazing amount of options tonally on this amp. A vast improvement over my last amp. Great lows, pleasing high end, powerful flexible mids (that frequency setting was worth skipping the 350).

I have a gig in a fortnight and I already know it'll be all over my old Fender Rumble. I just cannot wait to work with it in a live setting :D

Link Removed
Click to expand...

Did you replace one of the fender rumble 350 combo's with this? The rumble is the exact amp that I'm looking to replace right now.
 
#519
I'm gonna start on to my 3rd PF500.

#1) I bought it brand new from Sweetwater. After 6 gigs or so, it died. It made it through the whole night of 3 sets of 80's music. I play in an 80's tribute band. At the next gig, it was dead on arrival. I turned it on, and got the fault light. I called Ampeg and they sent a replacement and were very nice.

#2) I used this for approximately 4 gigs and got the same problem. The last time it was working, it was a 4th of July festival. It made it all the way through a 1.5 hour set. Then, at the next gig, dead on arrival again. I turned it on during setup and it was fault light. I called Ampeg and they had me take it to a service center.

#3) I am still waiting for the service center to complete the fix. But, today, I am having doubts of whether I can rely on it when I pick it up. I was gonna buy a Hartke LH500 today and sell the PF500. I decided to sleep on it and think this through carefully.

I wonder if it is something that I am doing to cause the issues. I've read the manual, careful with my gain, play harmless 80's music. Does it need more cool off time after a gig before being packed away? Does it not like octave and synth effects from the Zoom B-3 (important in 80's music)?

The rig that I have been using:
Fender 4 string Jazz
GK MBE115
Zoom B3 pedal

My former rig, which has been saving my ass with all these issues, and has been awesome for 15+ years, good thing I didn't sell it is: Alembic FX-1 preamp > Carvin DCM1500 amp. I bought the PF500 to cut down on weight and size.
 
#520
pokengkong said:
I'm gonna start on to my 3rd PF500.

#1) I bought it brand new from Sweetwater. After 6 gigs or so, it died. It made it through the whole night of 3 sets of 80's music. I play in an 80's tribute band. At the next gig, it was dead on arrival. I turned it on, and got the fault light. I called Ampeg and they sent a replacement and were very nice.

#2) I used this for approximately 4 gigs and got the same problem. The last time it was working, it was a 4th of July festival. It made it all the way through a 1.5 hour set. Then, at the next gig, dead on arrival again. I turned it on during setup and it was fault light. I called Ampeg and they had me take it to a service center.

#3) I am still waiting for the service center to complete the fix. But, today, I am having doubts of whether I can rely on it when I pick it up. I was gonna buy a Hartke LH500 today and sell the PF500. I decided to sleep on it and think this through carefully.

I wonder if it is something that I am doing to cause the issues. I've read the manual, careful with my gain, play harmless 80's music. Does it need more cool off time after a gig before being packed away? Does it not like octave and synth effects from the Zoom B-3 (important in 80's music)?

The rig that I have been using:
Fender 4 string Jazz
GK MBE115
Zoom B3 pedal

My former rig, which has been saving my ass with all these issues, and has been awesome for 15+ years, good thing I didn't sell it is: Alembic FX-1 preamp > Carvin DCM1500 amp. I bought the PF500 to cut down on weight and size.
Click to expand...

Man - that's a bummer. I got one of the early ones and had the issue with momentary cutouts early on. I took it to a service center and they said it was completely healthy - and for some reason, it does not cut out anymore. I have used it with many different cabs, but no effects.

I know what it is like to lose confidence in a product - but I would attribute your expirience getting a bad one (or two).
 
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