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going to the darkside....ampeg questions.

grendle

grendle

Mar 4, 2011
4,702
77
Central FL
www.reverbnation.com
#1
Gotta be murphy's law. After singing the praises of my Hartke 3500 which has served me well for over 18 years. It had one good show left in her last night and gave up the ghost today. The tube side of the transformer let go. I could fix her ( the SS side still works fine) but think a change would be cool and overdue. So I'm looking at ampeg. The front runner would be a svt-3 pro, although it spears to be down a bit on volume, I need to take a closer look at them. I don't need a ton of Watts 350-400 I believe is enough, after that your fighting the pa usually. But I'm open to what ever. Im interested in getting that ampeg tone but with versitility as well. What do you ampeg guys suggest? I prefer a tube pre with SS power. Lots of svt3's around me for cheap also.
 
#3
I didn't see it on their website. Had to search for it. That looks pretty good. Different looking from the other pro series. I'm curious / confused as to why you would need / want/ or how you would have driver tubes for a mosfet power amp. But I'm sure it works .

I don't know much about the ampeg models but I see most don't like the 350h / 450h . What are the differences tone / build wise from the pro series?
 
#4
Ahhhh I get it now, that's pretty cool, they stick a tube at the end of the signal chain and basically let you dial in some grind if you want right before the power amp. That's a cool idea and gives you the chooce to keep the preamp clean if you want but get some grind on the end of the signal chain. Nice! I can feel the GAS comming on...
 
#8
Grendle, not to derail your thread, but just wanted to clarify from you and any other satisfied Hartke owners which 3500 you're talking about, there's a couple of different variants from what I can tell, specifically those w/and those w/o the MOSFET power section.

I'm seeing a bunch of used 3500s here in town for excellent prices, and having used one in the past once w/happy results would like to add one to my "amp library".

Thanks :bassist:
 
#10
dhsierra1 said:
Grendle, not to derail your thread, but just wanted to clarify from you and any other satisfied Hartke owners which 3500 you're talking about, there's a couple of different variants from what I can tell, specifically those w/and those w/o the MOSFET power section.

I'm seeing a bunch of used 3500s here in town for excellent prices, and having used one in the past once w/happy results would like to add one to my "amp library".

Thanks :bassist:
Click to expand...

There have been some variations over the years I believe, mine was a mosfet version I bought new in 92-93
 
#12
I can vouch for the SVT-III PRO having great tone, and plenty of power if used properly. The blinky red light is your friend... Keep it on more than off when playing along steadily. And, running at 4 ohms is also very important if you want to get the most out it.

When I was using one a few years ago, I ran an Alesis Nanocompressor with mild settings in the fx loop, and it really helped to fatten things up and give the amp a bit of a tube "sag" feel. Honestly, I nearly retired my SVT-CL in favor if the 3.
 
#13
Used to have a 3 Pro and really liked it. I've got a PF350 now and LOVE it, and I like the SVT 7 Pro even more than it, though I have no use for 1000w, so I got a PF350 instead. Some folks love the lead sled sound so if you're one, try the 3 or 4 Pro or any of the lead sled SVT Pros, but I'm more about tube amps and micros, so the SVT 7 Pro and the PF series heads are my favorites. Still have yet to try the 8 Pro, but that one's got so much power that I'd get fired just for having one ;)
 

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