Okay, so this summer I finally had enough money to buy the amp of my dreams the Ampeg SVT-CL along with an Ampeg 4x10HE cab. I bought them both off of the Guitar Center website and had them shipped to the nearest store. The head was used and the cab was brand new. My only worry was that the head was somewhere around $800 which was shocking considering that they usually sell for much more than that. The description on the site mentioned that it was used and had a few cosmetic issues, but mentioned no technical problems. I've been playing it since this summer and from what I can tell it sounds all good, but I'm a tube noob and pretty naive. So things to look for that could be wrong with it that aren't glaringly obvious to me and just any ideas on what could cause this drastically lowered price would be thoroughly appreciated.
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Ampeg SVT-CL
- Thread starter dollarsign_wag
- Start date
I would find a local tech that's familiar with SVTs and have them give it a once over. It'll probably cost you $50-$75 for the bench fee.
I've seen GC list SVTs pretty cheaply though with no issues what so ever. Most likely you just got a pretty good deal. Congrats!
I've seen GC list SVTs pretty cheaply though with no issues what so ever. Most likely you just got a pretty good deal. Congrats!
If it sounds good, it's fine. Enjoy, and consider getting a second 410he because it sounds so awesome with an 810!
Ok cool well thanks a lot ill take it to the place where i take lessons i always see them fixing up tube amps. thanks!
The price may have been higher for some time. There comes a point where you just need to free up the floor space and get some cash flow. Sounds like you got a good deal!
So a tube amp with 2/4 ohm outputs and an 8 ohm cab.
About the low end of the range for a used SVT-CL. Could have been there for a while and they wanted to clear it out.
If the tubes are good and the amp biases and sounds good I wouldn't worry. The power tubes will wear faster than normal as you're running a mismatched impedance load and long term you're running a higher risk of damaging the output transformer than if you ran the optimally matched 4 ohm load, but the SVT OT is pretty sturdy and many people run theirs with 8 ohm cabs without issue.
Corey, Bill Hughes, the inventor of the SVT, was on here a couple days ago and said that an SVT will work fine with an 8 ohm load. So if he says it, I have to believe him. Now I don't care for the sound of an SVT using a less than optimal load (tightens it up in not a good way IMHO), but Bill's word is good enough for me not to worry about it.
When I've looked, I almost always see numerous CLs on GC Used for $800 and, usually, it's not hard to find one on there for $700.
Definitely time to find another 410 or, even better, an 810!
Definitely time to find another 410 or, even better, an 810!
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