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Ampeg SVT-II Pro Premiere Edition

#103
I've had a few of these since new. It's a shame I don't remember the numbers but I think the first one was 48 or 49. It had problems with either it's power tubes or some other power circuit issue that would trip it's safety default and kick it into standby while playing. This problem popped up shortly after buying it and Ampeg swapped it. I am pretty sure the swapped unit was #68. That unit did the same thing shortly after and was swapped yet again to my current one, #249. #249 eventually did the same thing, but instead of warranty I had the tubes swapped and kept rolling with it. I was in an obnoxiously loud band at the time, which might have had something to do with it, as they were run hard - mostly into an 810e from the same era. Used every bit of it. That said, the power protection safety circuit seemed way too easy to trip.

#249 is currently down for the count. I haven't really had a reason to rebuild it yet as I currently don't have a use for the volume. It hasn't gone anywhere because I can't bring myself to sell it. I assume it's the power tubes, but it could be a cap or otherwise and really needs a full go over to be sure.

Over the years it's had a slew of various tubes in it. The best by far being a set with various Groove Tubes in the front end lead by an ECC83. These fed a set of NOS GE6550s with olive drab printing on them in the power section. It was a total beast with those and it's a shame I swapped them for what I thought at the time was a tube issue and I needed reliability. It's also had a few different sets of KT88s in the power section, but those have been far less successful.

The other strange thing is the curiously tiny wire that they used to wire to the output jacks inside the amp. I did have one meltdown where one of these burned through, shut the amp down, and made the room smell of burning insulation/electronics.

Anyhow, someone needs to make a real GE6550 reissue tube. There was nothing like that tube in these amps. It still had a nice grind and warmth that only tubes seem to offer, but also epic punchiness, clarity, and tight bottom end. They also were nearly impossible to destroy.
 
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#104
Bumpity bump. I just snagged #126 a few days ago. It's supposedly recently tubed (not so sure about it, but owner said so), came in a shock-proof gator rack too. I'm just starting to play with it now, comparing with my non-pro SVT-II, and it does sound great, but I think I'll be swapping the drive tube for something more aggressive.
I'd just have one question to owners: Does the peak-led come on near-constantly in normal operation? My bass is active (Warwick Buzzard), but even if I punch in the -15db gain-cut, I need to drive the gain pot till the peak led keeps lighting up, in order to get good volume.

Cheers folks!
 
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#105
Rattanee said:
Bumpity bump. I just snagged #126 a few days ago. It's supposedly recently tubed (not so sure about it, but owner said so), came in a shock-proof gator rack too. I'm just starting to play with it now, comparing with my non-pro SVT-II, and it does sound great, but I think I'll be swapping the drive tube for something more aggressive.
I'd just have one question to owners: Does the peak-led come on near-constantly in normal operation? My bass is active (Warwick Buzzard), but even if I punch in the -15db gain-cut, I need to drive the gain pot till the peak led keeps lighting up, in order to get good volume.

Cheers folks!
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Congrats on your score! FYI- I've had an SVT-4pro and an SVT-2pro. The peak light was on constantly no matter what I did on both amps. I pretty much ignored it and used my ears to judge how the amp was performing. I never had a moments problem out of either amp from pushing them too hard or anything like that. Both amps saw years of use in a loud bands in live settings. I'm not suggesting that the peak LED is not a valuable notification, or that you should disregard it if you feel that your amp is in distress, but IMO it's going to illuminate frequently under normal use. good luck!
 
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#106
packhowitzer said:
Congrats on your score! FYI- I've had an SVT-4pro and an SVT-2pro. The peak light was on constantly no matter what I did on both amps. I pretty much ignored it and used my ears to judge how the amp was performing. I never had a moments problem out of either amp from pushing them too hard or anything like that. Both amps saw years of use in a loud bands in live settings. I'm not suggesting that the peak LED is not a valuable notification, or that you should disregard it if you feel that your amp is in distress, but IMO it's going to illuminate frequently under normal use. good luck!
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That's a relief :D My SVT-II non-pro has no peak led, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Just seems a bit weird that the peak led comes on so soon.
 
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#107
Rattanee said:
That's a relief :D My SVT-II non-pro has no peak led, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Just seems a bit weird that the peak led comes on so soon.
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Back in those days, Ampeg made the lights more to indicate signal strength rather than peaks. They still do that with the SVT 3 Pro I'm told. So best to ignore it and use your ear to set gain level. Better yet, crank the master all the way and use gain to control volume, and it sounds like a vintage SVT with the single volume knob.
 
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#108
JimmyM said:
Better yet, crank the master all the way and use gain to control volume, and it sounds like a vintage SVT with the single volume knob.
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Man what a difference this made, thank you for this info! Thought I loved the sound before this, but did feel it sounded a bit "treble heavy". Only change I made was this and now feel it has the perfect tone to my ears when I practiced last night! Such a fat, round, and thick tone!
 
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#109
JimmyM said:
Back in those days, Ampeg made the lights more to indicate signal strength rather than peaks. They still do that with the SVT 3 Pro I'm told. So best to ignore it and use your ear to set gain level. Better yet, crank the master all the way and use gain to control volume, and it sounds like a vintage SVT with the single volume knob.
Click to expand...

Hey JimmyM, you seem to be in the know, any ideas what tube I should be looking for to get more crunch out of the drive pot? I think it might have a JAN tube in there, as it's pretty clean, it only really starts to break up around 3/4th of the pot's travel (and I do mean -start-, it's nowhere near driven to full distortion).
 
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#110
Pop in a tube with less gain on tap , like a 5751.
That will get you more grit sooner ,
You can get more grit with a tube of less gain value, Like a 12au7 , but you will lose definition

Rattanee said:
Hey JimmyM, you seem to be in the know, any ideas what tube I should be looking for to get more crunch out of the drive pot? I think it might have a JAN tube in there, as it's pretty clean, it only really starts to break up around 3/4th of the pot's travel (and I do mean -start-, it's nowhere near driven to full distortion).
Click to expand...
 
#111
Rattanee said:
Hey JimmyM, you seem to be in the know, any ideas what tube I should be looking for to get more crunch out of the drive pot? I think it might have a JAN tube in there, as it's pretty clean, it only really starts to break up around 3/4th of the pot's travel (and I do mean -start-, it's nowhere near driven to full distortion).
Click to expand...
Been so long since I played a gig with a 2 Pro that I couldn't tell you. Plus I tend to be accepting of most tubes as long as they work. And that's pretty much how Ampeg tube amps work...not much preamp dirt till the back end of the pot travel, except for the PF-50T and SVT 7 Pro (which is a hybrid, not tube amp, but does allow for a goodly amount of dirt).
 
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#112
JimmyM said:
Been so long since I played a gig with a 2 Pro that I couldn't tell you. Plus I tend to be accepting of most tubes as long as they work. And that's pretty much how Ampeg tube amps work...not much preamp dirt till the back end of the pot travel, except for the PF-50T and SVT 7 Pro (which is a hybrid, not tube amp, but does allow for a goodly amount of dirt).
Click to expand...

Followed your advice and after playing around a bit, I have master at 3/4, and now I can get the gurgling, dirty sound I want. It's absolutely brilliant! :)
 
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#114
Woodyrson said:
Has anybody here recently sold or bought their SVT-II Pro Premiere? I'm contemplating moving mine at some point in the near future, but I really have no concept of their current value. Any ideas?
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Depends a lot on condition, and where you are. In Europe, I bought mine with fresh tubes and a shock-proof Gator case with extra fans on a rear rack-plate, for 1100 EUR. I consider that a good deal, as the naked amp is generally advertsed around 1200-1300 EUR.
I imagine in the Us, where these amps are foudn more often, the price would be somewhat lower.
 
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#115
Rattanee said:
Depends a lot on condition, and where you are. In Europe, I bought mine with fresh tubes and a shock-proof Gator case with extra fans on a rear rack-plate, for 1100 EUR. I consider that a good deal, as the naked amp is generally advertsed around 1200-1300 EUR.
I imagine in the Us, where these amps are foudn more often, the price would be somewhat lower.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. That at least gives me a 2019 touchstone for if/when I decide to make a move.

Mine is in fair-to-good shape, I'd say. Physically, there are some dings and scratches on the front handles and around the mounting holes. It lives in a Road Ready rack case, but doesn't have any extras like fans and the like. I'm unsure of the last time it was re-tubed, if ever. I've owned it for about 10 years and have never changed any tubes. It still seems perfectly functional, but I haven't really stretched it out for about 7 years now.
 
#117
Bump. New here and new to SVT ii PRO Premier. For reasons I can not fathom, a previous owner removed the number plaque on this amp. Is it possible to find out #/250 based on S/N?
 

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#119
I am resuscitating this thread (!) as I have one of these beauties popping in tomorrow, with option to p/x for a bass I have on sale... Re-tubed and serviced last year, don't know which XXX/250 but I'm told it's a pretty low number!

What should I expect, look for? I've read the whole thread and looked around, I think I'm just typing out of sheer excitement to try my first proper tube Ampeg (to date I've just played portaflex's and SVT 7, SVT 3 at most).

I'm not pressed to buy it and the guy bringing it is happy for me to play it and test it for some days before committing, he's definitely super trust worthy in that regard.

The only thing I don't love is having to use a jack to connect to my Barefaced Six10 - will share pictures here :)

Any thoughts welcome!

Ander.
 
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