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Ampeg SVT 50th Anniversary Edtition
- Thread starter Clap Trap
- Start date
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Good luck finding an amp these days made with all-US parts.
Very cool. I purchased an SVT VR as soon as they came out of the factory and had it for 10 years, then fell in love with SVT II non pro which kicked VR out. Therefore I won’t be buying this 50th anniversary new but I have a feeling I’ll wait for them to start showing up on used market.
I'm not sure its even possible to source all US made parts. And, it would be prohibitively expensive to design and build every single component in the US!
Everything about this head looks to be well designed. I am very intrigued.
I had a similar experience. Owned a VR, played through an SVT II non pro a handful of jams, fell in love, sold the VR and am now hording SVT II's, haha. They are such workhorses!
I AM very curious about this mystical channel 2 on the heritage anniversary model. I will be watching for a floor model in the local shops to poke at.
Ya... the 2 non pros just slay. There is one for sale near me and I am very tempted to grab it.
Just curious... what made the SVT2 non pro better in your opinion than the SVT VR? Other than the graphic EQ and rack mount on the SVT2... are the SVT2 non pro and SVT VR more alike than not? Again just curious...
Hmmm........I had a USA SVT-VR and an SVT-II Non Pro, and to my ears, I liked the VR the most. The SVT-II Non Pro sounded awesome to me, but the VR sounded morer awesomer! 
Both are fantastic amps IMO!
Both are fantastic amps IMO!
Being a Heritage model, that may be a bit hard to find. I don't recall ever seeing a Heritage on the floor of a shop, except for a used HSVT 410hlf I once saw at our local GC.
I think the VR and SVT II non pro are EXTREMELY alike in tone and controls. The difference is in the preamp, 5 position mid selector mostly, Graphic EQ aside. For the tone I try for, the SVT II is just 'right there'. My VR sounded great, just broke up a little too easily/early I felt. The SVT II seems to not breakup/distort so easily at lower volumes. I had purchased my VR used with a replacement set of tubes (completely blank right now which brand they were) and I had always speculated that THAT was the reason I wasn't quite 100% into it. It was very much a 'moment in time' though when I first plugged into an SVT II non pro. I was like "THERE it is! My tone!" haha!
Yeeaaaahhh, hadn't thought of that... damnit... lol
My experience is similar. I found VR and II non pro almost identical but the II non pro had some compression in the mids going on that I really liked. I only noticed it when I had both amps side by side in a recording session and once it gets in your head you’ll always hear it... highs and lows are nice but mids were always critical to me and II non pro delivers exactly what I was looking for. It sounded like something that could be done with tube rolling and I tried that with VR but could never quite nail it. Both amps sounded similar when pushed into overdrive.
So this heritage 50th anniversary with 69 and 75 in one amp with all blending options really got me intrigued.
I agree, and I'll take it a step further...I think the CL's sound very much like channel 1 normal in a 2-ch SVT, too. Some disagree with me, but I've sat with my HSVT-CL and 69 for hours trying to hear differences and I can't.
I had a VR that I found a bit dry sounding so sold it for an SB300. Then got my hands on an SVTII(NP) that just hit the spot. So gooey and fat sounding. Ymmv Could well have been the tubes in them that made the difference.
I’m definitely intrigued with the 50th AV and the jumping channels aspect. Im just trying to justify if there’s enough of a sound/ tone difference to pick one up. After re-tubing my SVT2pro it’s a monster and as Jimmy said in other post...running it with the master up and using the gain as my volume it’s very close to an old school SVT. I will say having the gain is an added bonus...I can get some nice dirt running the master lower and gain up. I’m also glad to hear the SVT CL design is very close to channel 1 of a 69 ... it’s all we ever want anyways!
$2700 street? That's about what I was expecting.
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That's going to be a hard sell considering that:
* According to polls here, players want light weight amps; in fact, 20 lbs. has been deemed too much by many
* The price of used SVT's has dropped like a rock
* There are more and more amps opting for shelf space and unlikely that I will see this particular amp in a GC
* It's not anything new
* The original SVT's are very robust and seem to be able to be repaired without much effort
* Reals fans already have SVT's (had my current SVT since the mid 80's) and the kids don't seem interested in them at all
Ampeg didn't due much in its' last year under Loud's ownership.
They did a decent job with their line of Class D amps but those features are kind of old by today's standards.
Yamaha bought the brand 14 months ago and hasn't said or released a thing
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I get the restructuring, design, and fabrication delays but 14 months?
Here's to hoping there really is a strong plan that will appear in the near future!
LOL! This isn't an amp they're expecting to sell 2000 units a month. People said the same thing about the Heritage SVT-CL, and 9 years later, they're still on the market and selling. The Heritage line are what's known as "prestige pieces." It shows that Yamaha is serious about honoring the Ampeg legacy, it's an amp that lots of folks have wanted since the Heritage shop opened, and maybe it won't sell like the PF350, but it'll sell enough to be profitable. Easily.
Also, bear in mind what happened when LOUD rush-released Ampeg gear in 2007. You don't think Yamaha learned from that hard lesson? Yamaha knows what they're doing...they didn't get to where they are by being careless.
I'll say this! If I was going to buy an SVT, the only one I would buy is this new USA 50th Anniv version. To me, the $2700 price tag is of no consequence at all. (Sheesh....I have friends that shell out $20,000 for a golf club membership, and I forked over $23,500 for a new BMW motorcycle in 2014, so $2700 is chump change in the big picture of life, IMO.)
I love *everything* about this new USA 50th Anniv SVT except one thing (which is common to all SVT's): the 85 pound weight. I had trouble lifting my SVT's 20 years ago when I was just a youngster at age 43. But now at age 63, I'm not going to get any stronger. My current 100-watt all-tube amp (Fender Bassman 100T) weighs around 48 pounds, and I can easily deal with that all day long with a smile on my face. The 300-watt Fender Super Bassman weighs 65, and *maybe* I could deal with that. But 85 pounds? That's a tough one for me personally, and I don't enjoy saying that because the best bass tone I have ever heard from any of my rigs is an SVT.
If I was going to buy an SVT, the only one I would buy is this new USA 50th Anniv version. To me, the $2700 price tag is of no consequence at all. (Sheesh....I have friends that shell out $20,000 for a golf club membership, and I forked over $23,500 for a new BMW motorcycle in 2014, so $2700 is chump change in the big picture of life, IMO.)I love *everything* about this new USA 50th Anniv SVT except one thing (which is common to all SVT's): the 85 pound weight. I had trouble lifting my SVT's 20 years ago when I was just a youngster at age 43. But now at age 63, I'm not going to get any stronger. My current 100-watt all-tube amp (Fender Bassman 100T) weighs around 48 pounds, and I can easily deal with that all day long with a smile on my face. The 300-watt Fender Super Bassman weighs 65, and *maybe* I could deal with that. But 85 pounds? That's a tough one for me personally, and I don't enjoy saying that because the best bass tone I have ever heard from any of my rigs is an SVT.
Thanks. I just saw a pevious post and deleted mine so some nerd wouldn't crab me about not reading all the posts.
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