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Every Amp Has Too Much Overdrive At Loud Volume

#61
fu22ba55 said:
If you love the clean sound of your SVT, I'd recommend getting an SVP-PRO preamp and a 1000W solid state power amp.
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I was in a similar situation a few years ago, and this is exactly what I did. I got a SVP-Pro and I ran that into a QSC RMX1450 bridged mono into a 4ohm SWR Goliath Jr. 6x10 loaded with 6 of Avatars Deltalite II 10" Neo drivers, each rated for 250W RMS for a total of 1500W RMS, YEAH BABY! It was louder than god and clean as a whistle. I honestly believe I could have shaken my house to the ground with that rig. It was a great rig, but the rack was heavy and so was the cab.

Loud is heavy.
 
#65
Scrappersa said:
Since I don't have access to an SVP-CL or SVP-PRO to test out, is there a way that I could safely use my preamp out on my SVT-2 through a poweramp to give me a basic idea of what I would be getting myself into?
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Sure,
First plug a guitar cord into your SVT-II Power Amp In jack and leave the other end of this cord unconnected, but just make sure it doesn't touch anything, especially anything that's grounded. (this will activate the switching contacts inside and disconnect the SVT-II power amp section from its preamp section)

Next, plug your 15" cab into your SVT-II just like normal. (this cab wont be actually be producing any sound during your test here, but were just plugging it in as a safety measure so your Tube power amp would at least have an 8-ohm load connected)

At that point you could safely plug your SVT-II Preamp Out jack into another power amps input, that would be powering your other 4x10 cab for your test.
 
#66
if its been said before i'm sorry.. turn the volume down in your guitar. turn down the gain on your amp, and adjust the output with the master. if you can't get any clean tone you're either doing something wrong, or something is broken.
 
#67
stingray96191 said:
if its been said before i'm sorry.. turn the volume down in your guitar. turn down the gain on your amp, and adjust the output with the master. if you can't get any clean tone you're either doing something wrong, or something is broken.
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this.

also, the jane's addiction intro you posted isn't the kind of tone that will come out of *any* amplifier playing at high volume. There is a chorusy intimacy to that sound. Seems to me that you'd need a high end PA in an accoustically decent room to make that sound at great volume.
 
#70
I understand how much the actual room has to do with the sound. This isn't about that. From everything that's been posted here and everything I've read, it seems that to get the tone that I want, I need to use a power amp with an Ampeg preamp. I overstated how loud we are. I've been using a Gallien Krueger Backline 600 (300 watt) for the past five years and it's been loud enough. It's just not clean enough for what I want to do and I haven't been able to find other amps that can maintain the clarity that I get when I'm turned up about a quarter of the way on the SVT-2. There's nothing wrong with any of the amps I've played. I'm in the middle of debating what I should do with everything and which power amp I should go with if I decide to go this route. My 300 watt GK is completely sufficient in terms of power. It just doesn't give me the tone that I want at the level I want. I really appreciate the help from everybody who has talked about different amps, more cabs, and power amps. I've been playing for over five years but this is my first real upgrade and I don't have a lot of experience in bass gear. I have really learned a lot over the past few months searching through old topics and just asking questions. I haven't had a lot of luck with local music stores and the guys at GC tend to know almost nothing. I still have a lot of questions, but I want to say thank you.
 
#71
I read through this, and I'm sorry if it's been mentioned (I can sometimes have a very short term memory), but what's your tone profile like? If you're looking for response sub-100 Hz and are EQing to get more lows from the amp, you'll find your amp runs out of steam faster with a more mid-efficient cab than if you had used something like a 1515/66 fEarful setup and not boosted the lows that eat the amplifier power. The pre/power amp rig sounds like a good suggestion to me too.
 
#72
anderbass said:
Sure,
First plug a guitar cord into your SVT-II Power Amp In jack and leave the other end of this cord unconnected, but just make sure it doesn't touch anything, especially anything that's grounded. (this will activate the switching contacts inside and disconnect the SVT-II power amp section from its preamp section)

Next, plug your 15" cab into your SVT-II just like normal. (this cab wont be actually be producing any sound during your test here, but were just plugging it in as a safety measure so your Tube power amp would at least have an 8-ohm load connected)

At that point you could safely plug your SVT-II Preamp Out jack into another power amps input, that would be powering your other 4x10 cab for your test.
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wow, even at my advanced age, i still learn something new every day! thanks anderbass!
 
#73
JimmyM said:
wow, even at my advanced age, i still learn something new every day! thanks anderbass!
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Lots of techs keep a shorting plug around to do that -- just a standard 1/4" jack with the two contacts wired together. If you use an open circuit like an unterminated guitar cable instead the cable can pick up noise and that noise will be amplified by the power amp section, driving either no load or the shorting jack on the outputs if there is one. Usually that doesn't create problems, but if you're gigging or recording with the amp a shorting plug is the way to go IMO.
 
#74
Passinwind said:
Lots of techs keep a shorting plug around to do that -- just a standard 1/4" jack with the two contacts wired together. If you use an open circuit like an unterminated guitar cable instead the cable can pick up noise and that noise will be amplified by the power amp section, driving either no load or the shorting jack on the outputs if there is one. Usually that doesn't create problems, but if you're gigging or recording with the amp a shorting plug is the way to go IMO.
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Good Idea, I agree the guitar cord might pick up noise but didn't think he'd have a bare jack.

But for the OP's quick test here, why would we want the bare 1/4" jack to have its contacts wired together. Would grounding the power sections input further lower noise from just using an open jack?
 
#75
anderbass said:
Good Idea, I agree the guitar cord might pick up noise but didn't think he'd have a bare jack.

But for the OP's quick test here, why would we want the bare 1/4" jack to have its contacts wired together. Would grounding the power sections input further lower noise from just using an open jack?
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Yep, but very possibly only in the power section...:cool:

I responded to Jimmy's post rather than yours because I was sort of amplifying on your idea as it applies what Jimmy might want to do, not because there's anything inherently wrong with your suggestion, which is a very good one. I just twist a little piece of solder bridging both contacts of the the unterminated jack if I need a quick and dirty shorting plug BTW. When I was still Sound DeWd I tended to do a lot of onstage troubleshooting where light dimmers and other stuff throw a lot of EMI and/or RFI. ;)
 
#80
He only has one volume control.

I love the SVT but the non master ones all start breaking up subtly pretty early. It's musical and lovely but it's obviously not what you're looking for.

Past 12:00 you're only adding distortion and no extra volume, so at least for now turn down to noon or under. You might even seem louder with less breakup.

There are all-tube amps that will deliver great clean tone at high SPLs, like the Hiwatt/Reeves designs, and some of the Trace heads, for example, but if you want a more practical solution I'd go the pre/head SS route, or at least audition a few powerful SS heads to find one with the tone you're after. I agree with the poster above that clean but warm live tone like that requires at the very least an excellent PA in any but the smallest of rooms.

BTW, my Bergantino NV215 sounds cleaner at the same levels than the NV810- maybe the extended highs and lows contribute to this perception. I could get that tone with it and my SVT ans still be very loud.

But really, you guys need a PA. I really hope you all use earplugs, too.
 

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