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Deciding between 2 All Tube amps...

S

socksnrocks

Aug 26, 2007
18
1
Utah, USA
#1
Ok, so I just purchased an early 80s MTI Ampeg SVT and I need to make some room and sell either my Fender Bassman 300 or my Mesa/Boogie 400+

Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the 400+ and selling the Bassman 300, because I still like the overall tone of the 400+ better; however, I haven't had the Bassman 300 for that long. The bassman 300 has so many features that I might not have spent enough time finding the right tone.

I just don't want to make a rash decision that I'll later regret.

Any thoughts?
 
#4
Plain Old Me said:
Why sell either? :hiding:
Both are very versitle, but I from experience I find that the 400+ has more useful tones. It also tends to sit better in a band setting. However, I think it will also be closer tonally to your SVT than the 300, so you may want to take that into consideration as well.
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I wish I could keep all three amps but at this point I just can't justify it financially :bawl:

I know there are some threads on the 400+ vs. various Ampeg amps, but I couldn't find any that compared it directly to the MTI SVT so I might be able to get some idea of what differences I might be able to get tonewise between the 2 amps.
 
#6
Plain Old Me said:
Why sell either? :hiding:
Both are very versitle, but I from experience I find that the 400+ has more useful tones. It also tends to sit better in a band setting. However, I think it will also be closer tonally to your SVT than the 300, so you may want to take that into consideration as well.
Click to expand...


Plain Old Me is right on the money. I've owned both the MTI era SVT and currently own the 400+. The SVT is going to be closer to your Bassman 300, but with less versatility. I think I prefer the offerall tone of the MTI over the 300, but the Bassman has it beat on the versatility front. I really liked my MTI, but IMO the 400+ has it beat in overall tone too. The SVT does one thing really well. The 400+ isn't a one trick pony and all her tricks are top notch. The key to the 400+ is knowing about quirky mid control. Mids at 7-10, Bass 2-4, Treble 2-4. Good luck.
 
#9
ggunn said:
I think it was in another of your posts that you put a photo of your SVT, and I recognized it as being the same as mine. What makes it an "MTI" SVT?
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I'm definitely not an expert in this area, but according to a few other TB'ers' responses and posts on this site, the black face, overhanging top front corners, 4 inputs, and the fact that it is not a skunkworks SVT-HD, indicate that it is probably an MTI made SVT from the early 80s (post-Magnavox, pre-SLM).

Those are just the exterior characteristics. On the inside I believe the MTI SVTs had very similar layouts to the original SVTs, but they had slightly different pre-amps and Japanese components (like transformers). There are some others on this board that are way more knowledgeable than I; feel free to chime in and correct anything I got wrong or to expound further than I.
 
#11
I forget what year they did it, but Ampeg switched to 12AX7's and a 12AT7 instead of 12DW7's, a 12AX7, and 12DW7's and a 12BH7 for drivers/phase inverter. It was either when Ampeg got sold to MTI or right before. Because of parts availability, minor changes have been made over the years, but the tubes have been the same basically. The SVT-CL has a couple fewer, but it only has one channel.

I like the MTI amps myself. They're as good or better than new ones and available at good prices.
 
#13
Are in a financial bind where you MUST liquidate one? Once upon a time I owned both of these amps, was in such a bind, and kept the 400+, selling the 300. I have not regretted it. I preferred the tone of the 400+, plus looking down the road the 400+ is really a pretty basic amp that is relatively simple and thus cheap to have serviced. The 300 is all high techy and complicated.

On the other hand, if you like both and aren't strapped for cash, nothing wrong with keeping both.
 
#14
JimmyM said:
I forget what year they did it, but Ampeg switched to 12AX7's and a 12AT7 instead of 12DW7's, a 12AX7, and 12DW7's and a 12BH7 for drivers/phase inverter. It was either when Ampeg got sold to MTI or right before.
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The change was made by MTI and converted all 12DW7's in the amp to 12AX7's. 12AT7's have never been used as stock tubes in an SVT. All "pre-numeral" SVT variants use 12BH7's as driver tubes.
 

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