Ampeg SVT 210AV Crapping Out, Buzzing

[kelleyjq]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased the Ampeg Micro VR and SVT 210AV stack for use at home and at smaller gigs. Being the poor college student that I am, I drooled for months and finally decided to bite the bullet when Ampeg offered the $100 rebate.

Upon receiving my new amp and cab, however, I noticed a "buzzing" noise when playing lower notes on the bass (anything below an A). I tried a different head with the cabinet and noticed the same problem. I expressed my concern with this issue to my sales rep and he sent me a new cab. I plugged the head into the new cabinet today and I have the same problem. Even a different bass produced the same results.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? It's like the speakers are crapping out on me with lower notes, and the more I let the note ring out the more the buzzing is noticeable. I have the limiter on and the gain and volume set at 12. I've dialed the bass eq back, and it helps the problem but it's still there. I would understand this being a problem @ higher volumes, but I feel the cab should be able to more than handle the volumes I'm playing at. I plan on calling Ampeg tomorrow to hear their thoughts. I hate to spend $500 on a practice amp that farts.

 

[JimmyM]

try backing off the gain a little. don't know what you're using for basses but with a regular fender, the gain starts getting a little overdriven right around that point. i like that sound, though but if you have a bass that's hot, it could be overdriving the gain earlier. so back off it and turn the master up and see if that helps. and play around with the eq a bit more, too. it won't put out walls of sound but you should be able to get a good loud clean sound out of it.

 

[Seans]

Kelley, you have reminded me of my first taste of the 210AV, out of the box mine did the same thing, lower notes produced a sort of distortion, but I didn't put it down to the speaker flapping out, I thought it was just the sound of the speaker itself, which did concern me initially, it has now decreased, go easy on them, perhaps try as I did and set an amp up, SS if poss, plug in your guitar lead to the amp with the other end resting on the bench, now put a piece of metal on the positive end (the tip) this will create a frequency hum, turn the amp up with bass freq up too, not too loud just so you can see the speakers moving and leave them on all day, this will run them in nicely.

 

[kosmicwizard]

or you could ship it to JimmyM, he can break it in for you. Cheers.

 

[kelleyjq]

I'd be alright with that if he wants to send a B15 for collateral.

JimmyM and Seans, thanks for the comments. I tried backing the gain down but still seems to be a problem. I'm hoping it's an issue of running the speakers in as Seans pointed out. I'll try to get some audio clips up today or tomorrow so you guys have a better idea of the noise I'm referring to.

 

[dubstylee]

I found that my 210AV had a break in period for the speakers. They were doing the same thing, but now not so much. It is a sealed enclosure, remember that as well.