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Ampeg PF800

#21
Stop boosting bass.

Run the comp on the PF. At noon, Have the gain up till you are seeing the red and yellow lights flash on your hardest hits. Dont boost bass on an active bass, and leave the ultra low, high, and active bass pad out. Mid selector on one, boost mids 2-3 oclock.
 
#22
Hey thanks jimmyM/cl400PV for those replies. I did just that with the gain, red light flashed, don't think I saw any yellow light flash.
Just trying it here at home, mod volume, seemed the Comp knob just sorta attenuated the overall volume. But will try it at gig. The advice of Mid selector knob should be helpful as I was not sure how that worked. And using my 212 cab may help with mids as the TB153 has that 3015HLF that wallops the lowend outta that cab. That cab works great with my Shuttle 9.2 but I know this Peg can be a different beast.
Will be using only passive bass at Sun gig and I'll back off the PF bass knob to noon or below to see where it gets me.
Thanks again. e.
P.S. was also considering the SVT PRO 7 amp. Is that more of a tubey-sounding head than the PF800 or what?
 
#24
I like the ultra low for those quieter gigs, but a little compression added as cl400pv says helps focus the sound quite a bit without stomping on your tone. To the point of the thread, I use mine a my main amp, gig several times a month and jams, practices/rehearsals about the same. It's a workhorse, no question. I'd suggest that the fence sitters can stop waiting on his one.
 
#25
ErnieD said:
Hey thanks jimmyM/cl400PV for those replies. I did just that with the gain, red light flashed, don't think I saw any yellow light flash.
Just trying it here at home, mod volume, seemed the Comp knob just sorta attenuated the overall volume. But will try it at gig. The advice of Mid selector knob should be helpful as I was not sure how that worked. And using my 212 cab may help with mids as the TB153 has that 3015HLF that wallops the lowend outta that cab. That cab works great with my Shuttle 9.2 but I know this Peg can be a different beast.
Will be using only passive bass at Sun gig and I'll back off the PF bass knob to noon or below to see where it gets me.
Thanks again. e.
P.S. was also considering the SVT PRO 7 amp. Is that more of a tubey-sounding head than the PF800 or what?
Click to expand...
How do you like the PF with your NX2 vs the Shuttle + Nx2?
 
#26
I think I might be the guy who had the other PF800 with problems. at any rate, I did. First thing it did to me was thermal out within 10 minutes of playing it into a 4 ohm load. I let it sit for awhile and then it worked fine. A day later I had a rehearsal and i recall reading in the manual that it was OK to overdrive it using the gain knob. I was driving the hell out of it, 8 ohm load, and it sounded great. But then it suddenly tuned into a buzzy fuzz box. And no amount of control changes stopped it.
Having said that, when it worked, I liked it. Had a true Ampeg sound: super deep, like there was another octave on the bottom. as proof, where we rehearse there is a goof living down the street who only complains when he can hear the bass. we got several calls that night. to me that was a good thing. ;-)
things I liked: the overall sound, pure Ampeg; the tone control frequencies; the compression.
Things I didn't like: The size, it's just big and weird, too big for a backpack so you have to carry it separately; IME it's not the loudest 800 watts I've heard; the quality, of course - If an amp does this to me, I never trust it again.
I have a lot of Class D amps - MarkBass, Ashdown, GK - and the Ampeg sounds different enough from them all to at least consider it. But from my experience, drive the hell out it when you get it, to be sure it'll hold up.
 
#27
I have PF800 as back up or apartment practice since is produces nice tone at very low volume vs the Terror Bass1000 wish is my main amp live. This weekend I spended a total of 8hours practicing with it and fall in love again since I don't use it. I have no problem with only nice comments of how nice this amp reproduce legit ampeg tone. Also I need to add that I use a 70 ampeg fridge so its a nice pair to get true ampegy tone! Of course there's a reason for me to use the terror bass as main but this post is not about it!
 
#28
bdplaid, I don't like hearing when folks have problems with their amps, so I'm hearing you, but only two complaints in over a year's time on here is pretty darn good, you have to admit.
 
#29
I've actually considered getting one of these myself (easy, Jimmy! ;)). Yes, I've read a handful of posts/reviews that claimed that the PF800 had malfunctioned. While that's concerning, it's also an aberration that shouldn't be permanent, as Ampeg gradually gets the bugs out over time. And as long as it's under warranty, Ampeg will at least replace it (presumably).

More concerning are the occasional reports of the PF800 being underpowered, i.e. not sounding, not performing like an 800-watt amp head. Because if true, this would likely constitute a design flaw - something that is not remediable by a trip to the repair shop.

MM
 
#30
Geez, how loud do you need to be, MM? I've not scoped it but I've cranked it in an 810, and it's enough to make me puke. Certainly doesn't seem underpowered to me. I don't know how much it's got in the tank past its 800w RMS, and there's often not a great deal more power for peaks in many micros, and that could possibly make it seem like it's running out of headroom at its highest volumes. But it'll make you beg for mercy before you get to that point.
 
#31
I don't have ordinary cabs, Jimmy. I've got a pair of Acme Full-Ranges. And those suckers are indeed power hungry.

I don't need to get insanely loud. What I need is headroom - and plenty of it. Even with a bona fide 800 watts @ 4 ohms, I'm still on the low side of where I'd ideally like to be, headroom-wise - although it is certainly workable. With much less than that, I don't feel I'd have the breathing room that I really need. :atoz:

MM
 
#33
Mystic Michael said:
I don't have ordinary cabs, Jimmy. I've got a pair of Acme Full-Ranges. And those suckers are indeed power hungry.

I don't need to get insanely loud. What I need is headroom - and plenty of it. Even with a bona fide 800 watts @ 4 ohms, I'm still on the low side of where I'd ideally like to be, headroom-wise - although it is certainly workable. With much less than that, I don't feel I'd have the breathing room that I really need. :atoz:

MM
Click to expand...
gsusmood said:
That's somehow true. There's venues that the PF headroom is not enough... It happen to me 1 time.
Click to expand...
Played in some loud bands in my day but I've never turned up that loud in any of them, even when we played metal and had to use stage volume. Phew! Even in a low endy cab like the Acmes, I can't imagine 800w not being enough to make the bass pop.
 
#35
Ampeg's been pretty honest about their power ratings. There was some controversy a couple years ago about the SVT 7 Pro not meeting spec in a Bass Gear review, but a couple other scopes of one hit the marks. And other folks I've read about on the net who have scoped other Ampeg amps said they hit their marks, too, so while I haven't personally scoped them or even know how it's done, I believe them.
 
#36
This amp to my ear, and small amount of experience, is a bit harder to dial in with ported cabs that go real low, and i think it matches with sealed better to be honest - extremely easy to dial in my 810e but really maybe not the best pairing with my xsonics. As to clpeavey advice this issue is where the built in compressor comes in, which I struggle with cause I don't like a compressed signal (I admit that my Streamliner does as well, but that more natural compression with tubes to my ear is much more pleasing than one built through a circuit). Either way I have been able to control the low end on it with the compressor using my xsonics, not as high as recommended as I found my happy spot at around 9:00, any higher and to me it is really squashing the life out of it.

Right now I am struggling with the mid range as during an outdoor event last Thursday it sounded really to pronounced in the upper mid area, I like a low mid grunt punch in tone (on my STL I just click back and forth between 220 and 600 depending on room at a slight boost, this amp does not react the same way). My next big experiment is to try some cutting without loosing too much definition in the mix. My current settings are gain12-1 compression9 bass12-12:30 mid1-2 tried all feq's treble12 main2-3.

As far as watts - I think it has the power but the sweet spot for me is really twisting that main volume knob up to around 2:00. The taper seems real slow to react and doest do much till ya get up there. I don't think I could push it higher as it would be just too loud. At that level it does seem to have plenty of headroom for a thick tone though, so power wise I think it is there. The thing is I really like to pluck softly as I can get finger pain if I did in too hard all night, so I really crank it up so I can do that while maintaining a good, solid, dominating tone.

Overall I really like the tone of it and it is a keeper and more than just my backup amp, it is a full rotation tool for me. It does have a bit more of a learning curve than other amps I have used, but I never make judgement on something that can be blamed on my ignorance of its nuances. Great tone, has the power and is holding up just fine.
 
#38
I've had mine since February, 2014. I run it through an SVT810e. Plenty of power, great tone, and rock solid reliability. I've found it to be the closest to a tube amp sound that's possible without tubes.
 
#39
Mystic Michael said:
More concerning are the occasional reports of the PF800 being underpowered, i.e. not sounding, not performing like an 800-watt amp head. Because if true, this would likely constitute a design flaw - something that is not remediable by a trip to the repair shop.
Click to expand...

Anyone that claims ampeg amps are under powered, SVT 3-pro, 4-pro, 7-pro, PF-500, and PF-800 are most commonly maligned, has a serious case of user error. Use the pregain, and compressor right, and understand that "3" on one dial does not equate to any other dial on any other amp, and you will have very loud amps.

darrenmt said:
How does the PF800 compare to the SVT7-Pro tonally?
Click to expand...

Quite honestly, I dont thing I could pick one out over the other in a double blind test.
 
#40
I have had one issue with mine and it was fairly understandable. It was sitting in my car for a few hours that was pretty hot. When we started setting up the red light would come on at any touch of the strings with the gain way down and the volume sounded weird. We were perplexed but then thought maybe it was from the heat. Let it sit for about 20 minutes, turned back on, boom like nothing ever happened.

When I run it with my 410HE (400 watts match @ 8 ohm) the volume sounds WAY lower than my tone hammer can go with 2 db112nts (500 (600 speaker) watts 4 ohms total). However, when I hook it up to another 410HE (800 watts match @4 ohms), I can't imagine needing more volume any time soon. It's pretty ridiculous.

I absolutely love the amp as far as tone and versatility goes. I love playing with it and getting different sounds. It sounds pretty good on a lot of different settings. At the cost, I can't imagine finding a better amp personally. The size, shape, and weight is very awkward, but still beats the hell out of carrying a big tube amp.

My aggie rig is my go to because it's also amazing but very portable. If I need a lot of volume I'll bring the ampeg. I also play it at home more than my aggie because it's usually already set up.
 

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