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Ampeg PF500/PF350 Pt II.5

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#281
coreyfyfe said:
I set my gain at about 2 o'clock and that's the point where it just peaks when I really dig in with a P-bass. I usually use this head with 2x15 cabs - an SWR big bertha and an Ampeg B25B. With the bertha I'm playing with a fairly low-volume group in a basement so 9-10 o'clock is loud in that room. With the B25B I'm playing with a stupidly loud rock band in a rehearsal space and I'm usually running the master around noon but that is incredibly loud (and yes, we're all wearing ear plugs ;)).

If you can't get clipping from the gain knob set at 1 or above there might be something up. Either that or you've got a really quiet bass. Or a really light touch. I guess until you can compare with another PF we'll have to sit around and scratch our collective heads.
Click to expand...

Actually the behavour is the same with my 78 P-Bass which has a nice, stout and fat sounding stock pickup, that's got a little more output than most other P-Basses I run across, or my Geddy Lee Jazz, which isn't weak either. I'm known to dig in pretty hard as a finger style player, and while I do finesse as needed, I'm not a light touch player. I can crank the gain up and no peak indicator light comes on so it's got an issue.
 
#282
thumpbass1 said:
Actually the behavour is the same with my 78 P-Bass which has a nice, stout and fat sounding stock pickup, that's got a little more output than most other P-Basses I run across, or my Geddy Lee Jazz, which isn't weak either. I'm known to dig in pretty hard as a finger style player, and while I do finesse as needed, I'm not a light touch player. I can crank the gain up and no peak indicator light comes on so it's got an issue.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you and I would be good friends... ;)
 
#284
fenderhutz said:
I guess with my previous post I was asking. What would you prefer. 2 stacked PF210's or two stacked PF115's? Which would be louder? More low end response? etc.
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Well I bought the PF210 cab along with the PF500 head and I'm a 15 inch speaker fan. They didn't have a PF115 cab available when I bought mine so I can't make an honest comparison. Now I will say that for a 2 x 10 cab the PF is capable of getting enough of what I like from a good 15 cab as far as depth and warmth and punch goes, and I can say I can e.q. it to sound close to my SVT15E cab if that means anything. I did stack it with my SVT cab and together things sounded great running the head at 4 ohms, and I didn't have any phasing/mismatch issues. I know the Bass Player magazine review made comments to the effect that they thought the PF115 sounded a little rounder with more fundamentals going on in comparison to the PF210 if I remember their review correctly.

I'd love to try the PF115 cab, so until I can I can't judge it. I could say that I'd have no issues running a matched stack of PF210 cabs if that's all I could have. Still I'd love to have a go at a matched stack of the PF115's.
 
#285
thumpbass1 said:
Actually the behavour is the same with my 78 P-Bass which has a nice, stout and fat sounding stock pickup, that's got a little more output than most other P-Basses I run across, or my Geddy Lee Jazz, which isn't weak either. I'm known to dig in pretty hard as a finger style player, and while I do finesse as needed, I'm not a light touch player. I can crank the gain up and no peak indicator light comes on so it's got an issue.
Click to expand...

I dig in pretty good if I'm doing rock or heavier stuff so I can relate to your style. I'm running my PF-500 with two Hartke HyDrive HX115's (tweeters off) with an 08 P stock with LaBella DT flats and I do get some action on the peak LED when I dig in real hard. However not too much. My settings are as follows using 1 to 10 numbering on the controls.

No pad, comp at 3, gain at 7, ultra low/high normally off, bass at 5 (noon), mid at 7 freq switch at position 1 (crank those mids they are your friend), treble at 3 or 4 to taste (the HyDrives are a bit bright sometimes), volume at about 3 for a minimum and a max usually about 6 or 7.

IMO the 500 doesn't really start to shine till you get the gain right around 7 or so. If you experiment with the mid freq switch and mid volume and get that going on, the amp comes alive. The 500 isn't a "nooner" type amp, it likes you to turn those knobs. The heart of the amp is in the gain and mid knobs. Again just my opinion, YMMV though.

Honestly, In the 35+ years I've been playing I've really never paid too much attention to clip and limit LED's. For one thing none of the older bass amps had them and IMO one less thing to worry about. I trust my ear most of all. I can tell if the amp is ready to puke or if the speakers are on the verge of crapping out by the sound. I just keep turning those knobs till the amp sounds how I like it and play. It ain't hi-tech but it works. All the new stuff on modern amps is cool, but sometimes you need to just forget about it and play.

As for the peak LED or lack of it, I'm guessing Ampeg has changed the preamp a bit. If you read all the posts in #1 thread some owners were/are complaining about the amp cutting out when driven at louder gig volumes.

My thought was possibly the clip/limit circuit in the early amps might have been a bit too aggressive and clamping the output down too fast or too much. My amp so far hasn't had that issue and I know for a fact that my PC boards have a different revision numbers than some of the earlier amps so Ampeg has possibly been making changes.

When in doubt, check it against another and swap it out if need be.


Keep Low :bassist:
 
#287
60bass said:
I dig in pretty good if I'm doing rock or heavier stuff so I can relate to your style. I'm running my PF-500 with two Hartke HyDrive HX115's (tweeters off) with an 08 P stock with LaBella DT flats and I do get some action on the peak LED when I dig in real hard. However not too much. My settings are as follows using 1 to 10 numbering on the controls.

No pad, comp at 3, gain at 7, ultra low/high normally off, bass at 5 (noon), mid at 7 freq switch at position 1 (crank those mids they are your friend), treble at 3 or 4 to taste (the HyDrives are a bit bright sometimes), volume at about 3 for a minimum and a max usually about 6 or 7.

IMO the 500 doesn't really start to shine till you get the gain right around 7 or so. If you experiment with the mid freq switch and mid volume and get that going on, the amp comes alive. The 500 isn't a "nooner" type amp, it likes you to turn those knobs. The heart of the amp is in the gain and mid knobs. Again just my opinion, YMMV though.

Honestly, In the 35+ years I've been playing I've really never paid too much attention to clip and limit LED's. For one thing none of the older bass amps had them and IMO one less thing to worry about. I trust my ear most of all. I can tell if the amp is ready to puke or if the speakers are on the verge of crapping out by the sound. I just keep turning those knobs till the amp sounds how I like it and play. It ain't hi-tech but it works. All the new stuff on modern amps is cool, but sometimes you need to just forget about it and play.

As for the peak LED or lack of it, I'm guessing Ampeg has changed the preamp a bit. If you read all the posts in #1 thread some owners were/are complaining about the amp cutting out when driven at louder gig volumes.

My thought was possibly the clip/limit circuit in the early amps might have been a bit too aggressive and clamping the output down too fast or too much. My amp so far hasn't had that issue and I know for a fact that my PC boards have a different revision numbers than some of the earlier amps so Ampeg has possibly been making changes.

When in doubt, check it against another and swap it out if need be.


Keep Low :bassist:
Click to expand...

I'm actually a knob tweaker at heart and keep on tweaking until I get an amp to sound the the way I like it, and according to the musical situation at hand. As far as the clip detection and indicator stage goes I'm not too much of a fan of them, as I played for a good number of years before amp makers starting sticking these sections in their bass amps, but hey it's a new amp head and that section aint working, and yet it's not my biggest concern to be honest. The LED itself does light up when the mute switch is engaged, nuff about that. The tone controls work just dandy across the board, but seriously some PF500 owners and reviewers have said they get some moderate to loud volume cooking with gain and master volume just before or at noonish. On my head, everything stays at pretty low volume until that master volume hits at least one to two o'clock and the gain comes up to at least noon. After that the power comes on strong and fast. I guess I'm curious to see if the volume/power sweep of my head is within the normal ranges of most other PF500 heads. I'll find out when the local GC gets new stock in a few weeks. Other than that I can get gigable volume out of it as is, no question, but I still have a few questions as to if my head is hitting on all cylinders so to speak.
 
#291
I used Ampeg stuff for years, i had the svt4pro with 2bxt 410's when i was gigging larger venues.(my fav tone to date) so when i went smaller i bought the svt7pro and liked it but i didnt feel i could use the power to its potential. i paired it with an 810 classic and it kept clipping on me when i tryed to keep up with a drummer and a PA playing rush songs. it could have been my settings or w/e but it frustrated me. i never had that problem with my svt4pro with the BXT410s (the wooten bailey designed models) so i dont know.

ive been kinda weary of them every since selling my svt7pro even tho i loved the tone. im now playing through a SWR headlite with a golight jr and a 115 bertha underneath and it has satisfied my volume needs. but i do miss the ampeg tone.

these new PF500's seem very similar to the 7pro and with two 210s im wondering just how awesome these things are. not sure if its worth dumping the swr setup tho. but i sure am gas'ing over these. and you guys are all making it worse! good stuff guys.

i guess the best solution is to just get the ampeg stuff and keep the swr setup too! best of both worlds.
 
#292
fenderhutz said:
I guess with my previous post I was asking. What would you prefer. 2 stacked PF210's or two stacked PF115's? Which would be louder? More low end response? etc.
Click to expand...

Two PF115's would be somewhat louder, but with slightly less bottom end. You would get the old B15 tone with them, though. The two cabs were designed to sound the same, but to give options to those who are sold on one or the other.
 
#293
I just received my PF500, and gave it a quick run-through. I have to say that for a solid state head, this thing is a tone beast! I'm absolutely amazed by the sound of this thing through my SWR Goliath III 4x10 (8Ohm). I'm running the tweeter off, so YMMV if you run yours differently.

I wound up with the gain at 4 o'clock, compressor at 3 o'clock, bass and treble boost off, bass at 2 o'clock, mid at 3 o'clock, switch on position one, treble at 9 o'clock. This gave me a really nice B-15 tone without being terribly boomy. When I wanted a SVT tone, I changed the mid switch to position 3, bass at 12 o'clock, mids at 4 o'clock, and treble at 10 o'clock. Either way, with my Squier CV P-Bass and LaBella Deep Talkin' flats, I rarely lit the peak light, and the walls two floors up were shaking badly by the time I had the master volume at 1 o'clock. I couldn't turn it up any higher in my house without breaking something, but am eager to try this out at a gig. I have no doubt I'll be able to keep up without any trouble. If I do, I'll just get another Goliath III, and that'll be more than enough, I'm sure.
 
#294
thumpbass1 said:
The tone controls work just dandy across the board, but seriously some PF500 owners and reviewers have said they get some moderate to loud volume cooking with gain and master volume just before or at noonish. On my head, everything stays at pretty low volume until that master volume hits at least one to two o'clock and the gain comes up to at least noon. After that the power comes on strong and fast. I guess I'm curious to see if the volume/power sweep of my head is within the normal ranges of most other PF500 heads. I'll find out when the local GC gets new stock in a few weeks. Other than that I can get gigable volume out of it as is, no question, but I still have a few questions as to if my head is hitting on all cylinders so to speak.
Click to expand...

@thumpbass, I think I may have characterized my head wrong in my earlier post. I think what you described above pretty much sums up what mine is doing as well. I have to get it up PAST noon for the volume to really start kicking in. I'm interested in what you think when your new head comes in. Keep us posted.

I'm glad to hear you didn't have any phasing issues with the SVT15e added to the PF210. Ive got the same cabs and was planning to daisy chain them if needed.
 
#295
SkiFor3 said:
@thumpbass, I think I may have characterized my head wrong in my earlier post. I think what you described above pretty much sums up what mine is doing as well. I have to get it up PAST noon for the volume to really start kicking in. I'm interested in what you think when your new head comes in. Keep us posted.

I'm glad to hear you didn't have any phasing issues with the SVT15e added to the PF210. Ive got the same cabs and was planning to daisy chain them if needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for commenting on my observations about my head. SkiFor3. I hope your SVT15E works well for you too, when you daisy chain your rig. Yeah, I'll have to wait to see if my head is within the normal operating range of most other PF500 heads. Mine does get loud once she's cranked up, so these little boxes do have some horsepower in them.
 
#297
SkiFor3 said:
I think what you described above pretty much sums up what mine is doing as well. I have to get it up PAST noon for the volume to really start kicking in.
Click to expand...

Ski/Thump,

I've found the same thing with my PF500. I usually have the gain set to where the clip light barely comes on when I dig in a bit (typically between 12:00-2:00 depending on what bass I'm using), and I've found that I like the tone of this amp better and better as the Volume knob gets higher and higher. It's like it's meant/wants to be played louder. Things start warming up when I have the volume knob around 10:00-11:00, but things really get cooking when I've got it around 2:00.

It seems a little different when I've got both PF115's hooked up, like it doesn't take quite as much on the volume knob to get going. In the very limited time I've had with the full stack, things get going with the volume at 12:30-1:00. Chalk it up to having two cabs, I suppose.

The 2nd cab still needs some playing time to get broken in, but even despite that, man... the stack is loud with huge warm low end!

5sg.

P.S. On a side note, others talk about the fault light coming on at power up... I don't have that. The only light that comes on for me is the purple power light.
 
#300
Enter longtime player but newb as far as cabs etc. Stacking the 210s or 15s allows the pf-500 to send 250 to each cab correct? Is this able to get much louder than the 1 cab. Just a little confused as it is able to send more wattage to just 1 cab. But because of speaker surface it will be louder?
 
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