Ampeg SVT VR

[swsmusic]

Thanks JimmyM. I really appreciate everyone's help. I just spoke to the tech that worked on the amp and he said to make sure that when the head is on and on standby, that the two lights on the back of the head are green. He said this means that the tubes are properly biased. And, to listen for any weird noises, hum, etc.

 

[Alex1984]

Check the bias, the knobs (turn them), the rocker switches. $900 for an AV is pretty darn good, I'd go for one at that price if I were in the market.

 

[Jerrold Tiers]

Thanks JimmyM. I really appreciate everyone's help. I just spoke to the tech that worked on the amp and he said to make sure that when the head is on and on standby, that the two lights on the back of the head are green. He said this means that the tubes are properly biased. And, to listen for any weird noises, hum, etc.

Perhaps he means when the unit is NOT "in standby", since there will be no high voltage, no tube current, and no clue about the bias if it is "in standby".

 

[swsmusic]

Jerrold - I must have mis-understood what he said. The lights on the back of the amp do not light-up when the amp is in standby mode. Thanks again for the clarification! Your help is much appreciated. Some of these things seem simple, but I haven't had a head like this in a very long time and it's time to learn. Once again, thanks everyone for your help. I did buy the head last night for $875. The dude seemed super cool too. I will get pictures of it up hopefully this weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend.

 

[swsmusic]

Here are some pics...

 

[swsmusic]

one more...

 

[SactoBass]

As was mentioned, the AV is an SVT-CL. The VR is a different amp.

The VR is based on the original SVT circuit from the 70's. It is a two channel amp. The CL and AV is a single channel amp, it has a master volume, the VR has more tone flexibility.

+1

swsmusic: I have owned a CL and a VR. IMHO, the VR sounded waaaaaaaay better. The VR just had that wonderful Ampeg tone for days. The CL was meh. IMO, of course.

 

[oinkbanana]

what cab is that? some silver grilled 6X10?

 

[swsmusic]

oinkbanana - the cab is just a USA made svt 410hlf that I had re-grilled. i also added wheels to the bottom to get the cab off of the ground. made a tremendous improvement.

 

[kdogg]

+1

swsmusic: I have owned a CL and a VR. IMHO, the VR sounded waaaaaaaay better. The VR just had that wonderful Ampeg tone for days. The CL was meh. IMO, of course.

Back when I had my CL I demoed a VR for a few days, both heads running through an 810e. By using the method Jimmie mentioned earlier, master set around 3:00 and control volume via the gain knob, the CL and VR sounded almost identical to me. Some subtle differences to be sure, but I think you would have been hard pressed to differentiate the two in a blind test.