• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Borrowing a PF-500 / 210he - my first impressions

whitespikebass

whitespikebass

Boy Orbision
Feb 19, 2013
205
37
Austin, TX
#1
For the past year and a half I have been dealing with wrist and back pain. During that time I have mainly been recording a solo project, so it hasn't been an issue amp wise until now. Having recently joined a group I have been playing out more and more. The last show we played with my SVT I could only turn up to .5 despite there being around 200 people there. We like to keep a reasonable stage volume.

This weekend I am playing ACL in Austin to a sold out 1000 capacity room and will be using a friend's PF-500 / PF-210he set up. I took it home to try out this week. While he has done nothing but rave about it, I find some good and not so good things about it.

The most obvious con is something I have read about many times. At louder volumes some of the 5th fret and below on the E string vibrates and gets a bit farty. I guess it needs to have weather stripping added like some have done? Weird, because the owner has never noticed or cared about it. In a good way, it actually reminds me of the fartyness on those solo'ed James Jamerson tracks on the web. But it makes it a bit of a one trick pony.

I think it does the fliptop vintage thing very well. I havent had much luck getting a full, thick more modern tone out of it. I think the SVT 7 pro I tried months back did a better job of doing that. That being said I think it has more to do with the cab's small footprint than anything.

I'll see what I think after the show. The band is getting busier. I'm done schleping the SVT. It's hurting my wrists and back and it isnt worth it anymore. Done. And it's too bad. Beautiful blue line amp. I really think for 90 percent of the time its completely overkill. People hate loud bands anyway.
 
#3
There will be PA support. I dont have another 210, so I want to test the limits of this things. I should update the post by saying the vibrating was mostly if not all user error. I cant tell bc stuff in my small room is still rattling about, but I was running the gain really high in effort to get that tubey sound. It just tends to affect the low notes more than the rest. Once I turned that down and used the master it was more even. I just thought it was farting bc it was mainly on low notes. I thought running the gain higher would more evenly distort the notes.
 
#4
All in all I am pretty impressed with this little get up. I have been wary of its small size. We will see how it holds up in the venue. If it works well I'll buy one (although I think I want the 115). If not I will prob go with an SVT 7pro / 212AV.
 
#6
whitespikebass said:
There will be PA support. I dont have another 210, so I want to test the limits of this things. I should update the post by saying the vibrating was mostly if not all user error. I cant tell bc stuff in my small room is still rattling about, but I was running the gain really high in effort to get that tubey sound. It just tends to affect the low notes more than the rest. Once I turned that down and used the master it was more even. I just thought it was farting bc it was mainly on low notes. I thought running the gain higher would more evenly distort the notes.
Click to expand...

hey whitespikebass - I have a PF500/115HE rig and have found that the cab does develop buzz/rattle issues with use over time. The seal on the fliptop is one issue, and the hardware (fliptop latches, cab hardware screws, speaker screws/nuts, etc.) also seem to need tightening down from time to time to avoid these problems.

that said, when it works, it sounds just fine, and does do a reasonable B15 impression. I'm not a rig aesthetics fanatic, but these PF amps also have that vintag-ey blue check look too, which is cool.

good luck and enjoy!
 
#7
I tried out the pf210he. I was hopeful: 10's would (potentially) be articulate, and with around 1.5cf per driver, there was adequate volume for decent bass extension. I was disappointed on both counts. I found the tone to be very 'old school'. It seemed almost like a 210av in a larger cabinet. I found both 15 inch PF cabs (115lf and 115he) to offer a more extended bottom while being more articulate. With the 115's, you can turn down the highs to get that old school tone, or get the thick, modern tone the OP was looking for (especially with the 115he). I guess that Ampeg has used the larger internal volume for more efficiency (instead of bass extension), and that is a valid design alternative. However, with power so inexpensive these days (like with Ampegs PF series amps), this would not appear to be a critical advantage. Those looking for old school tone and using a low power tube amp may find this cab a good choice.
 
#8
It's actually black check ;)

The PF500, PF800 and SVT 7 Pro have a lot in common. The two PF heads sound virtually identical, except I think the extra headroom gives the PF800 a bit more mule kick, if you will. The 7 Pro sounds a tad more warm in the lower mids and the tube does some nice things to the tone but also sounds very much like the PF heads. For a cab, though, I prefer the 212av because it's voiced closer to what an 810e sounds like while the PF cabs have deeper lows and lower highs with the tweeter off, with the possible exception of the PF210he, which would likely be my choice if I went for another PF cab (used to have PF115he's, which sound great but ultimately went too low for my tastes).
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back