Giving up on the SVT-II.

[JimmyM]

switches are usually easy to fix with some contact cleaner.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

check out a rack bag type lightweight rack. Then take a look at some of the pedals out there. The newer tuners and compressor pedals (I'll need to drink some black coffee to get the taste out of my mouth, oh hey, I have some Peets right here!) are probably tons better than what you are using now anyway.
Esp considering that the SVTII is such a sought after head!

 

[Korladis]

I played the thing for 2+ hours yesterday (pretty sure I owe my neighbors some beer or something...) using my newer EBMM SR5 HS (which I got from austentatiousC, incidentally) and my Zon Sonus, and I learned two things. Dag nabbit, it sounded phenomenal at almost any setting, even with my Russian Muff pedal on some of the settings. Sounded really gnarly with the Zon blend rolled towards the bridge pickup. The other thing that I noticed, unfortunately, is that the Ultra Hi button has decided to stop working and the "Bright" input has a significant volume decrease. I think I need to take it to our local Tallahassee tube tech guys at Class A Electronics.

I think the moral of this story here is that I shouldn't have the II in a rack with anything! Time to strip down the rig, sell off everything except the amp, and start from the ground up again - get a 4-space rack, for starters, just for the amp. I still have thought of getting a VT bass or one of those preamps we've talked about here and an 800-watt SS amp to drive the 212 and have that be the "light" rig.

I may have gotten a little carried away with unloading stuff, since like I said, I'm moving across country in a few weeks. It's still going to be a mass exodus, but this is the second time I'm doing this - the first time was another big move, from NJ to FL in 2005. Man, I hope I don't have to make any big moves again soon. I might end up selling everything!

Now that I actually have this thing called "free time," I can start getting boxes, taking pictures, and unloading some of this unnecessary/redundant gear. Oh, and get a Supporting Membership so I can keep it all in the TB fam. Thanks for talking me off the ledge.

We knew you'd see the light.

The thing about a VT pedal, or any overdrive, really, is that they are a form of compression. So if you get one just to leave it on all the time, you may find that you no longer feel you need a compressor.

 

[Inverness]

I'm not totally sure I'd have a distortion pedal on all the time. Just for the really aggressive stuff. Either way, I think I can get enough selling all the rack gear (esp. the G-Force) so that I can set myself up nicely with some cool pedals. My Russian Muff won't be so lonely anymore! Thanks for saving me!

 

[Musikill]

+ 1 on the SVP-CL. I run it with a QSC RMX 2450 through a Berg NV 610 and couldn't be happier.

However, in my opinion, it doesn't get real dirty. It is pretty clean sounding preamp. Thick and warm bass, but clean.

I also use the SVP-CL - too bad they are discontinued but look for a used one you can't beat the sound. I run it into a DBX 160a compressor and a BBE 482i then into an old Crown DC300a and a new Crown Xti 1000 - the DC300a powers an ampeg 4x10 classic series (I run both crowns in bridge mode so the DC300a has to go into an 8 ohm load which the 4x10 is) and the xti1000 into an ampeg 4x10 hlf classic series. I run the master on the preamp full volume and regulate with the gain control. You can get just the right amount of tube distortion if you set the gain so that the clip light only comes on with hard attack - at least that is where I like it. I like the warmth of the tubes but I keep it on the clean side. I almost never have the clip indicator lighting and I get a very nice tone.

I also have the SVT-Pro II - when I can keep it running it also sounds very nice - just put power tubes in it today at the cost of $300 - that's the down side of tube power. The SVP-CL has 4 tubes so you get a very nice tone out of it - I would look for one of those used if I were you and I would hang onto the Pro II because you might want that tone from time to time.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Buy it a separate case and put it on wheels.

this sounds like the bestest option......a two wheeler and away you go.....

It's a 12-space road ready with a power conditioner, a compressor, an harmonic driver, the G-Force (now no longer there), a 3-space drawer, and finally the II.

Oh, and a tuner.