Anyone NOT like the SVT?

[unclekebm]

Opened for Dick Dale the other night
got to play through an SVT/810 rig ...although awesome pant leg flappin' chest thumpin' goodness was heard and felt.

Doesn't even come close to my TC classic 450 / GB NeoX212t rig
blows the SVT rig away in tone and volume, even on a big stage, ime

 

[JimmyM]

Jimmy, there are 6 of them, one for each 6550. They look at the cathode current in each tube to set the bias lights in the newer design. Their outputs add together in groups of three for each red/green light pair. That's how you get the high-good-low bias indication from the lights. In parallel with each of those there's also 6 little averaging circuits that look at the current in each tube to trip the fault relay on a tube overcurrent (along with other inputs, like good B+ and filament volts).

hey, i actually got that! thanks chuck!

 

[sunbeast]

No need to concede anything. If they're the best guys in town for your gear, then that's who you'd use. I was just feeling smarmy after a long Sun. nite gig, and apologies for the OT.

No need for your apology- I'm pretty sure I probably started (or at least extended) this particular off-topic tangent, though I don't even recall how (also a long night for me- WISH I could say it was spent gigging!)

 

[jetofuj]

Unfortunately my CL had some sort of failure in the power section (as did my SVT-4 when I had that- fortunately both still covered by warranty). The unfortunate part as I mentioned is that both of those amps use modular internal sections that weren't designed for repair- so their solution for the failure of what may have been a 20 cent component will always be replacing the whole power amplifier circuit board (and for me- a repair shop wait of several months)!

Is it really true? Can someone else confirm it?

CL is on top of my list, but if there are such problems with servicing it I will look for something else.

 

[sunbeast]

If you read the conversation since then, there are apparently techs out there who will work on them- just not the techs I have had experience with. And I did get it repaired under warranty, though the warranty repair people are the ones that told me about the modular replacement thing- I'm guessing intended to streamline warranty work (though it did take a couple months and lots of phone calls for them to even look at it after I brought it in!).

 

[TaylorO']

Bergantino NV610 for the win.

Elbow patches+cork sniffin=Bergantino....

 

[Buster Brown]

Elbow patches+cork sniffin=Bergantino....

We all knew that, at some point, the berg HAD to come out....

 

[metron]

The berg nv cabs snobby and pretentious? You must be joking?

 

[murphy]

I walked into Long and Mcquade the other day and heard some guy quietly jamming.
The tone was beautiful.
I walked around the corner and there he was sitting next to an SVT and 410 rig.
I honestly think there is no better tone.

 

[Raymeous]

Yes and no...

Generally speaking they are not for me, however that doesn't mean they don't serve a purpose; like holding a mob boss underwater, or as a wheel block to keep your car from rolling down a hill in San Francisco. D I just pissed off the Ampeg fanboys!)

I think in a classic 4 piece rock band (Van Halen for example) they are the perfect choice for filling up that growly space left when a guitarist stops playing rhythm and goes into his noodling. That distorted gritty sound kinda fills in for the missing rhythm guitar, while the lower register and EQ does what bass is good at, i.e. holding it all together and being a strong foundation. So in that case I like Ampegs. Besides an SVT with a pair of 8x10's is a hard look to beat for monster bass on stage.

On the other hand, in large bands with complex arrangements and/or lots of layering, or rapid fire runs of a zillion notes a second, the growly sound is more like muddy. If there are multiple guitars, keys, double bass drums, 3+ part vocals, it is really easy for stuff to start mushing together and if you start with a bass sound that is already mushy from the get go, you're just asking for trouble.

 

[coreyfyfe]

Who says a tube amp has to be mushy? Or that one is in general?

 

[metalinthenight]

I thought the SVT was MUCH brighter than I expected, while the 810e was where all the warmth came from.

The only thing that I don't like about the SVT's are the headroom. My band is LOUD and to be heard, I have to push my SVT-2-PRO just past the sweet spot. Oh well. It sounds too killer to not use it.

 

[JTUK]

Ok..I'll play.

I've had to use them a lot.

I think the SVT ll is ok in so far as it will give you a sound with a decent bass...but forget about EQ.

The little graphic, IMV, is useless so you are stuck with a one trick pony.

It is fine if that trick is what you want.

SVT lll is plain awful... all the ll EQ problems ( graphic ) without the sheer weight of power, as is the SVT 11 pro pre..
Should be better made says a freind who repairs amps but he says worse about Boogie.
So, no love for Ampeg here, I think they are living on their laurels.

 

[Bassmickeyd]

The great sitting onstage, plugged in and at the end of the gig that's where they stay.

 

[deeptubes]

I got rid of my Ampeg setup to get my current rig: a G-K 1001RB-II and an SWR Workingman's Tower (8x10). I think Ampeg is overrated. My current rig sounds MUCH cleaner and is 40lbs lighter. I'm thrilled with my decision to switch and would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Jerrold Tiers]

I don't much care if you like the SVT or not. But there HAS been some apparent real BS dispensed here, a couple examples of which may need to be cleared up........

Unfortunately my CL had some sort of failure in the power section (as did my SVT-4 when I had that- fortunately both still covered by warranty). The unfortunate part as I mentioned is that both of those amps use modular internal sections that weren't designed for repair- so their solution for the failure of what may have been a 20 cent component will always be replacing the whole power amplifier circuit board (and for me- a repair shop wait of several months)! I won't take my bad experiences to mean that they are necessarily unreliable, but that they are certainly no more reliable than their recent solid-state brethren.

Whoever told you that was really blowing smoke up your whatever... or is totally ignorant. I'd definitely suggest looking for another tech, because that one either is abysmally ignorant, OR has an agenda and just wants certain types of work, OR is so lazy that they only want to change boards out. There have always been a few techs who only want to swap boards, we fired a few service centers for doing that too often when they could easily have fixed the amp.

There is NOTHING about the CL, or the VR, 4PRO, 3PRO, etc, etc for that matter, at least as they were when SLM made them, which makes them in ANY way not possible to service on a component basis.

ALL Ampeg, EXCEPT SOME CLASS_D AMPS*, have been deliberately made to BE serviceable. We AVOIDED surface-mount parts, because many folks claim those are not repairable (they are wrong, but...). We used all "through-hole" parts specifically in order to allow service.

Now, LOUD has had these amps for a while, and for all I know they have converted them to surface mount...... In that case, I can maybe see the point, but someone is gonna have to show me a PICTURE, including a shot of the serial label, because all the SLM era SVT units (or other Ampegs as above) have been serviceable at the component level. AND, all the "Nam and Korean versions I have seen have been through-hole and field-repairable also.

Anyone who CAN'T do that should tear down his "Repair Shop" sign, and take up a new career at a fast-food restaurant.

The last true SVT was made in 1988 when SLM first bought Ampeg from MTI, they used the parts from Magnavox and called it the SVT-HD only 250 were made.

Wrong............. wrong in almost every way

1) We bought all new parts, but we DID get them mostly from the very same vendors, Electrical Windings, Lightning metals, Sylvania, etc, etc.............

2) there were 500 made

3) "Magnavox" wouldn't have been a factor, since MTI had had Ampeg for a number of years... We made a 100W Amp out of some left-over MTI parts. I think there were maybe 100 made, if that.

4) We did have to change some things in teh SVT, as the 12DW7 wasn't available at that time (now it is), so it really depends what you call a "true" SVT...... Some folks say the HD is a second-rate imitation.......... Mostly just because SLM did it.

We DID call it the "SVT-HD", you have that right.....

* Some portions of the SVT-8PRO and PB-800 are surface mount and probably not field repairable. The PB-250 is all through-hole, though.

 

[metron]

Lol lard valve. Definitely an agenda there.

 

[JimmyM]

The little graphic, IMV, is useless so you are stuck with a one trick pony.

slowly i turn...

that one trick pony nonsense...like i said before, if you can't get several different usable sounds out of an svt, i blame you, not the amp. and again, i would say that if you said that about ANY amp.

EDIT: that goes double for you folks who say the svt is "mushy." YOU are mushy, not the amp.

 

[georgestrings]

We all knew that, at some point, the berg HAD to come out....

I'll never fault someone for liking the finer things in life - and Berg cabs are right up there, IMO... Even though I dig my Mesa gear, I'll probably also own a Berg cab sooner or later...


- georgestrings

 

[sunbeast]

I don't much care if you like the SVT or not. But there HAS been some apparent real BS dispensed here, a couple examples of which may need to be cleared up........



Whoever told you that was really blowing smoke up your whatever... or is totally ignorant. I'd definitely suggest looking for another tech, because that one either is abysmally ignorant, OR has an agenda and just wants certain types of work, OR is so lazy that they only want to change boards out. There have always been a few techs who only want to swap boards, we fired a few service centers for doing that too often when they could easily have fixed the amp.

There is NOTHING about the CL, or the VR, 4PRO, 3PRO, etc, etc for that matter, at least as they were when SLM made them, which makes them in ANY way not possible to service on a component basis.

ALL Ampeg, EXCEPT SOME CLASS_D AMPS*, have been deliberately made to BE serviceable. We AVOIDED surface-mount parts, because many folks claim those are not repairable (they are wrong, but...). We used all "through-hole" parts specifically in order to allow service.

Now, LOUD has had these amps for a while, and for all I know they have converted them to surface mount...... In that case, I can maybe see the point, but someone is gonna have to show me a PICTURE, including a shot of the serial label, because all the SLM era SVT units (or other Ampegs as above) have been serviceable at the component level. AND, all the "Nam and Korean versions I have seen have been through-hole and field-repairable also.

Anyone who CAN'T do that should tear down his "Repair Shop" sign, and take up a new career at a fast-food restaurant.

I'm glad to get your input- the service center I took my Ampegs to must have been one of those you mentioned. A couple months of waiting when they told me in the long run all they were going to do is replace the whole board. AND they made it sound like this was the intended process for warranty repairs.

As far as the other two techs- Lord Valve certainly has his detractors, though honestly he never did anything but good work for me (no offense to you Metron- I know others who claim otherwise as well), and I never had any good luck with other techs in Denver (as grating as dealing with Lord Valve could be, at least he never gave me back a non-functioning amp!). I can't really speak as to Brian's intentions either, but I guess I find it weird that of all the tube amps he'll work on, he chooses not to touch a CL.