Ampeg SGT-DI

[Akiyama]

Someone on Instagram floated the idea of adding a Class D power amp to the SGTDI and making it a Portaflex series head to go with the cabs. My SGT won't be here til tomorrow, but even just from the demo videos (several of which I've watched more than a few times in anticipation of getting mine), that sounds like an idea I'd be totally on board for my PF115HE stack.

Just sayin'.

5sg.

Good idea. If they put this into a head with a Class D 700-800 watt power amp, it would probably be a big seller. I don’t really want the pedal, but I’m looking at getting a new amp at the end of the year and if they did it I would be tempted.

Ashdown has almost such a thing. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

They also have the complementary product: LB 30 2.N
Tubes plus modeling head. A co-op product with Two-notes.

I would assume Ampeg/Yamaha's marketing team would research sales of the Ant and its success to see if your proposed Ampeg product's potential sales was worth the R&D and manufacturing.

 

[Parzival]

Ashdown has almost such a thing. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I would assume Ampeg/Yamaha's marketing team would research sales of the Ant and its success to see if your proposed Ampeg product's potential sales was worth the R&D and manufacturing.

My suggestion would be for it to be a full head with 700-800 watts.

 

[klattman]

Ashdown has almost such a thing. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

They also have the complementary product: LB 30 2.N
Tubes plus modeling head. A co-op product with Two-notes.

I would assume Ampeg/Yamaha's marketing team would research sales of the Ant and its success to see if your proposed Ampeg product's potential sales was worth the R&D and manufacturing.

I have an ANT and it works great for just that purpose. Everything is on my board including wireless, with one speaker cable going to a cab.

 

[klattman]

They also have the complementary product: LB 30 2.N
Tubes plus modeling head. A co-op product with Two-notes.
.

The lb302n is a lot of fun and basically is my DI for most things since it has an internal load and runs post transformer DI. Also has can sims after the transformer so it’s kind of like an ultra heavy version of these DI pedals we’ve been discussing here, but it drives a cab at 30 watts in the studio which is nice when needed.

 

[fivestringgecko]

Good idea. If they put this into a head with a Class D 700-800 watt power amp, it would probably be a big seller. I don’t really want the pedal, but I’m looking at getting a new amp at the end of the year and if they did it I would be tempted.

I'd gladly own both if given the opportunity. Amp for the road, pedal for the studio.

I'm happy with my amp setups and the SGTDI should be here tomorrow, but I'd buy in on an SGT amp in a heartbeat if they sized it to be a straight bolt on to the Portaflex cabs. Like @3toes mentioned... cover all needs.

Ashdown has almost such a thing. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

They also have the complementary product: LB 30 2.N
Tubes plus modeling head. A co-op product with Two-notes.

I would assume Ampeg/Yamaha's marketing team would research sales of the Ant and its success to see if your proposed Ampeg product's potential sales was worth the R&D and manufacturing.

The person on Instagram mentioned the idea and Portaflex in the same sentence, so I interpreted it as a modern sized class D "Ampeg SGT amp" like the Tone Hammer heads. But yeah, I guess the Amp is sort of similar? I would expect that a pedalboard amp isn't a fair comparison for market research though, as I wonder just how popular those are. That's the only one I've heard of, and I would think if it were popular, more companies would be doing amps like that. But then again, I'm not in the market for a pedalboard amp, so I may just be out of the loop there.

And regarding the LB 30 head - Ampeg already has the PF20T and PF50T (I've wanted the 50T for a long time), so that's quite an interesting idea as well: Ampeg Portaflex SGT tube amp. Hmmmmmm!

5sg.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Well guys, it's officially the size of my hand.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I just got mine, and spent an hour with it. I am disappointed with the SGT. Even with the grit level all the way down, there is too much distortion. The quality of the distortion is too dull and midrangey. The choices left me are very clean, or too distorted. I prefer the Scrambler in the SCRDI to this.

My basses are all active and perhaps are set too hot (the gain on all my basses are internally adjustable.) but I have no problems with other preamps, and I have a lot of them.

I love the compression on my PF-500 and 800. I’m not crazy about the compressor in the SGT-DI. It squashes too quickly and imparts nothing to the tone as the bit of grind in the PF compression. Some may prefer this.

I am anxious to try this at Church. I have three pedalboards with different preamps and a couple other preamps I like at church. With it’s compressor and SGT, I had hoped to simplify things a little. I’ll know at the end of next week.

 

[iagtrplyr]

I already have the Brainworx one for a while. Love it! Just was wandering how it compared to the SVT, but didn’t know it didn’t have the B15 model. I bought the Brainworx Gallien Krueger 800GK model yesterday.

Yep, I have that too and it’s also quite versatile. Some may not like its tonal pedigree, but it cuts through about anything and is very musical. Good call.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Set up, and ready to plug her in

 

[Hot Rats]

Had a chance to take the SGT-DI for a short spin using headphones [3 different pairs] only. It sounds great and the multiple tonal options & features make it impossible to give a full review until it's used in more real life scenarios.

But safe to say this thing can be dialed in to suit just about anyone. A couple quick thoughts:

-Love the the cab sims, especially the 115. But the cab sim volume sets to the level the last time each was used, and that will take some getting used to. Doubt I'll ever add custom sims, a little too tech for me. Besides, there's enough great tone available as is.

-Love the mid sweep, very useful to dial in a tone that will cut thru the mix.

-Love the SGT, especially in B15 mode. I've never been a full tilt distortion guy but this is capable of some very usable overdrive and look forward to discovering all the possibilities.

Got a small no-rig gig this Sunday and will report back. Can't wait to hear everything the SGT-DI can do.

Did you get a chance to run your Night Owl in front of it?

 

[johnthegod]

I just got mine, and spent an hour with it. I am disappointed with the SGT. Even with the grit level all the way down, there is too much distortion. The quality of the distortion is too dull and midrangey. The choices left me are very clean, or too distorted. I prefer the Scrambler in the SCRDI to this.

My basses are all active and perhaps are set too hot (the gain on all my basses are internally adjustable.) but I have no problems with other preamps, and I have a lot of them.

I love the compression on my PF-500 and 800. I’m not crazy about the compressor in the SGT-DI. It squashes too quickly and imparts nothing to the tone as the bit of grind in the PF compression. Some may prefer this.

I am anxious to try this at Church. I have three pedalboards with different preamps and a couple other preamps I like at church. With it’s compressor and SGT, I had hoped to simplify things a little. I’ll know at the end of next week.

Ill gladly take it off your hands

 

[Akiyama]

My suggestion would be for it to be a full head with 700-800 watts.

I recognized that suggestion by saying *almost* get you what you suggested. Going from 300 watts to 700 watts, using the same speakers and cab, would give you something like more 4-5 dBs, right? Going from 120 to 125 dB is going from really loud to really loud, taking into account human hearing.

https://soundproofingguide.com/wp-content/uploads/Levels-Of-Noise-In-Decibels.jpg

From my perspective, that is *almost*. But, I am a studio artist so maybe I am not as in-tune to the thought that a few dB difference might make or break a show?

 

[2saddleslab]

Did you get a chance to run your Night Owl in front of it?

Not yet, but hope to check that out tonight thru headphones. My BL had some surgery and it will be a little while before we get back to the studio.

Took the SGT-DI for another spin earlier today [headphones only] and I'm starting to appreciate the 810 cab sim for it's punch. The 115 has a throaty edge. So far I've found 5 or so settings I want to try live & in the studio to see how they sound. It's an embarrassment of riches when it comes to tone options.

 

[OkayistBassist]

Alright, so this is sort of a gig story, but it fits in to the subject at hand.

This was the first time I have gone ampless with my main band. This was also the first time using the pictured StingRay 5 with them (typically use a Precision and Jazz) So, lots of new things.

My original plan was to send one signal off of the Noble and the other off of the SGT. I could not get to the gig as early as I had planned to mess with it. So, one channel had to do.

When I first got plugged in, I had the band lead turn on my floor monitor so I could play around a bit. I put the StingRay’s EQ at: T - just passed 5, M - 8, B - 7. Switch was in third position (closest to bridge).

I set the EQ on the SGT flat across to see what it sounded like and tweaked from there. I ended up moving it to:

Volume - 12
Bass - notch passed 0
Mid / Freq - top knob hair passed 1k, bottom 2k
Treble - hair under 0
I didn’t engage the SGT for the show. It was something I didn’t have time to dial in.

Cab - 8x10
Ultra Lo - middle position
Ultra Hi - 0
Voice - SVT

Our lead guitarist records every show with two different recorders, one near the stage, one further back. He called earlier and exclaimed how crystal clear the bass was.

Yes, there is the variable of using the Stingray compared to my Precision or Jazz. The guitarist did say he thought the SGT was a much better solution compared to the Super Vintage (which occupied the spot on my board where the SGT now resides). I feel there are a lot more tonal options with the SGT.

I have another gig tomorrow evening with the same band. Hopefully I can get there a bit earlier and mess with dual channels.

Pic of the carnage. Sorry it’s not as clean as usual. Again, I got there late lol:

 

[Ian774]

You realise that the voice you chose -SVT- apparently has no impact on the sound if the SGT isn’t engaged?

 

[Steve Dallman]

I spent more time with my SGT-DI, with other basses. The problems I was having was due to the first bass being too hot. With other basses, the compression and SGT were tamed to very useable and tone full levels.

The cabinet IR’s sound great, too. I’m anxious to use this preamp at church. I will configure a pedalboard tomorrow, and use it at Church Sunday. I play at 3 different churches this week, all with very different sound systems in different sized rooms. I don’t have big pedal needs, but use an octave up pedal, usually a chorus and a dirt pedal or two. I use a more aggressive tone than the other bass players at our church.

 

[Steve Dallman]

But for FOH It´s a good and handy feature. You would not use the cab sim for the cab onstage. You need you use the preamp out. The DI It´s affected by the cab sim

My gigging cabinets are fEarful 12/6/1 and a 12 sub with true 3-way crossovers. I can see using the cab sims with those cabinets as they are closer to flat response, full range PA cabinets than typical bass cabinets.

 

[OkayistBassist]

You realise that the voice you chose -SVT- apparently has no impact on the sound if the SGT isn’t engaged?

Understood. I just wanted to put it since I had no picture of the rest of the settings after adjusting them. It would have bothered me not putting it there.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Bam




Read video details for my opinions on it.

 

[cataract]

Just saw this pedal advertised this evening, looks interesting. I was wondering why there’s a surplus of older Ampeg pedals in the classifieds now lol