Blown Horn??

[Rockit]

I've got an Amprg SVT-610hlf cab and I've been playing around with the horn to try and brighten up my sound a bit and t try and cut through my 2 guitar players amps (1970's 50 watt Marshall JMP and a 100 watt JCM800). I notice that when I turn the antenuator up to 12 o'clock, the cab just sounds horrid, kind of distorted.

One guitarplayer has his prescence cranked and the other has a very midrangy sound. I'm about to lose my mind with this band and I can't seem to cut through sound wise. I own a an SVT-CL that I'm about to retube(microphonic tubes) and have been using my drummers SVTII which I'm not too crazy about. Bottom isn't an issue, highs and mids are. Suggestions??

 

[Eric Moesle]

This raises the question, when you have a horn with an internal crossover and an L-pad, and you hear distortion when turned up, is it indicative of a blown horn, fried L-pad, fried crossover, or a combination of each?

 

[Rockit]

I've considered just disconnecting the thing but I'm also wondering how essential it is.

 

[bassampegman]

Hi i had the same rig as you, i still have the svtcl head but i have sold the 610hlf for the following reasons. 1. too heavy, 2. too boomy, 3. too dark sounding 4. too big
I now use the Ampeg svt15e and the svt210 and the sound is fantastic, very low punchy yet loasd of twang to cut through. But here is the trick even if you use the 610. Firstly im guilty of loving the ultra low in position on the svtcl this boost the 40hz bass eq and pulls out the 500hz mid, i.e its abit like the instant smiley face eq shape. This sounds wonderful on your own but in a band especially rock it gets lost witht he guitars. What i do is have ultra low in, bass on 5, mid on 7 or 8 mid pos selector on 4 and treble on 8.I then have the ultra high in to brighten things up, turm the horn off, Ampeg use cheap low quality horns that only add hiss. With the horn off you can get more mid and treble out of the 10" speakers without the snake impression of hiss that the horn gives. I use an active musicman bass s/s strings for more bite, play finger style and my 3 eq on guitar is treble boosted a bit, mid boosted a bit bass flat neither boost or cut. this sounds great and i maybe back off the bass on the guitar if i drop d tune.
I also went to the store and tried the 410hlf (yuk ) and the svt410he (yuk ) the svt810 great but even larger and guess what no horn and the 10" speakers are in little internal boxes so not as boomy as the big ported 410 or 610 cabs.
Trust me ive tried them in many combinations and the svt15 and svt210 together really sound nice.

Mart

 

[Jerrold Tiers]

Horns may add what you want, or not, depending.

What they will surely do is bring out the clipping harmonics, which on a tube amp (no limiter) will typically be there but not be a problem, normally, without a horn.

So naturally, if you are clipping quite a bit of the time (again normal for tube amps), you will hear that with the horn up, but generally not without. The whole balance of harmonics and fundamental is altered when the horn is turned up. When the harmonics are too high, they don't add anything musical, they are just noise.

And, the typical horn control, ours included, just raises and lowers the volume of the whole range of frequencies the horn handles. There is such a thing as too much, where the sound balance is just not good anymore.

A good cone type mid driver might be way better than a horn for a lot of people........hmmmmmmm.

 

[Rockit]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm taking the horn in to get it looked at. I used your tone set up Bassampegman as a starting point and tweaked it a bit and it worked out pretty well. I actually heard everything I was playing fine, it had bottom end but no boom and the mids and highs stood out nicely. I also picked up a MXR M80 bass DI+ which sounds great and really added to my sound. I'm playing a MIM Classic Jazz with passive p/up's (both wide open) and a pick. My band could be described as Punky Hard Rock.