Ampeg V4BH - struggle for volume

[king of spain 2]

absolutely without a doubt not the tubes.

 

[EdBo]

absolutely without a doubt not the tubes.

Looks like you have yourself a tough problem. Without it setting in front of me I can't think of anything that would cause what your describing. Need to find a good local tech.

 

[JimmyM]

absolutely without a doubt not the tubes.

How do you know?

 

[Lowbrow]

Jeebus, how I got by for decades gigging 100 SS watts I'll never know.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

warning: rather long post, lots of whining

Yesterday I had the first chance to test drive the Ampeg V4BH tube amp I recently acquired. And to get straight to the point, it failed miserably volume-wise

My setup is Gibson T-bird -> V4BH -> SVT410hlf. With the gain set at 7 and the master set at 10(!), I could not keep up with the drums. With gain and master at 10, I was able to cut through but then it was straight-out distortion (the best bass distortion I have ever heard, but not something I want all the time).
With gain at 6 and master at 6, I was getting a nice fingerstyle tone ... at a level for practicing by myself! A 100 Watt Ampeg tube amp should deliver more than that, no? Was I a fool for thinking 100 Ampeg Watts would be enough for a 3-piece rock band?
Something else I noticed was that all A notes were boosted significantly, and at low volume I could hear a slight ringing sound.
We did play a large hall with bad, bad acoustics, but we have been doing so for years now, and I've had the 3-pro master over halfway and even played a 80Watt combo when the 3-pro was being serviced. To my feeling, that 80 Watt Fender ss combo was louder than this 100 Watt Ampeg tube amp.

The guy I bought it from said he replaced the power tubes five months ago, and did the bias himself. He chose to bias it rather conservatively (opposite of 'hot' biasing) 'to maximize the tube life span'. He did not replace the preamp or driver tubes.

I'll drop off the amp with a respected amp tech/builder this afternoon for a full check-up. If no shortcomings are found, would a different cabinet make a difference? I have been eyeing Aguilar DB 412's and Mesa's 610, but I'm not convinced that would be sufficient.

Does anyone have experience with this amp? Is it really just not loud enough to compete with a loud drummer and a 2x12" guitar combo?

With that cabinet? No, 100w will not be enough. All your power is lost to low end.

With a 412/610, yes. 100w will be more than enough to get loud and stay clean.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

So using more speakers doesn't cure the lack of volume?

It always cures the lack of volume. It's the only thing that does.

Your volume is only ever limited by your speakers. Amps don't make sound, they make power. Speakers make sound.