Is the line out on the SVP noisy compared to the main outs? Thats my largest concren....
@Bassgod: How would you describe the differences in distortion between the Pro and the Cl?
Definitly going with the rpm, thanks for the heads up!
Never used or needed the DI Out on my SVP. I always use the regular 1/4 jack preamp out for either recording or live gigs.
And as I mentioned before, with new tubes it's almost considered noiseless, provided you supply enough gain from your instrument and adjust the gain knob so that the PEAK light only flashes occasionally when you hit an open B, E or A string firmly. Of course this recipe is for cleanest and noiseless operation for SVP-PRO.
The main reason why I don't use DI Out is it bypasses the 5th tube in the preamp.
The 5th tube is the final volume stage thats controlled by the Master Volume knob of the unit and the 5th tube also significantly alters/colors the overall sound of the unit when especially used at maximum volume setting. In my experiences using Master Volume full or near full setting makes the sound fuller, warmer, punchier which I like very much.
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By the way, altough I never tried an SVP-CL before, overdrive or grindier sounds should be theoretically obtained by setting high gain levels of the preamp and let the PEAK light always flash in every situation.
Same is true for SVP-PRO also. You can distort the 1st tube by setting high gain levels without ever needing to turn up the Drive knob.
However, at least in my opinion, in both preamps, this type of operation altough does yield a musically appealing quite grindier sound, SVP-PRO's Drive feature comes to help and adds another layer of sweetness and evenness should you need a little bit more definition and character to your sound.
Can't attain that quality by only using higher and higher Gain. The overdriven sound altough quite good a little bit at first can become quite boring and unappealing when you want to use it at high extreme gain levels.
I most of the time use my Drive setting at max and set Gain at moderate levels so that PEAK light occasionally flashes. In SVP-PRO this still makes a clean bass sound with extra sweetness and cutting through quality for high mid frequencies. A more "refined" grind approach for my ears. Also the Drive on SVP-PRO changes the overall EQ response of the unit when only used at low gain situations. I mean it also acts like a High Mid Bump EQ shelving control while cutting some low frequencies. I guess this is intended this way so that the distortion effect is more even accross whole frequency spectrum. Otherwise I guess low freq portion of the spectrume gets distorted more which yields an "unbalanced" distortion sound.
