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have the D's toppled the SVT's?

#341
Jeff Scott said:
I was very much into progressive rock and jazz fusion when I started I playing in a couple of Top 40/Disco bands in the late 1970s (the first one was a band I created). I wondered whether I was "prostituting" myself to play that kind of music, but you know what? I had a blast in those bands; the audiences were great and really got into what we were doing, the places were packed, the bars were making tons of money on drinks, basically it was all good. Given the chance, I'd it again, really.

Did I mention the girls....................... :)
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Don't get me wrong I have no serious regrets but a decade+ of scuffling was enough. Having steadily kept my hand in it as a player and lighting guy I've worked a lot with full time road bands and the around town hired gun cats. In my heart of hearts I'd like to be playing full time but I have no romantic notions of going back to it.
 
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#342
Jeff Bonny said:
There have been times when it's been easier to make a living playing music but honestly most of that work was soul sucking bull****. I can remember doing a cruise ship gig in my late twenties and for the first time questioning whether or not I really wanted to be a professional musician. But even back then for most of us there wasn't much of a living in following your heart playing original music. I always liked the line "they're an overnight sensation....yeah and it only took a decade of touring 250 days a year in a 20 year old econoline." Hell, a lot of bands never even got the momentum to do that.
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Yep.

A little while ago, the band SubRosa seemed to come out of nowhere to take the doom metal scene by storm. However, in reality they'd been busting their asses for about ten years before that.
 
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#343
I played at Disney tonight. Parking is a long way from the stage. The house PA is first rate, so I brought my Kemper and my basses. As always, it sounded glorious. I typically use a model of a HiWatt tube amp; clean with lots of headroom. The guitar also used a Kemper. The house engineer was sooooo happy he didn't have to mess with stage amps given the band also has horns and keys plus four vocals. Setup for the eight-piece band was less than ten minutes. Time is money.

So here's my entire rig for the night...
20161029_185307.jpg
 
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#344
larrymon74 said:
I feel bad for the stubborn SVT herd, they don't know what they are missing. Don't be so quick to underestimate solid state/ class D amplification. Once you step away from the rest of the SVT sheeple, you may just be surprised
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Personally , I've always preferred HiWatt amps over the SVT. SVTs just don't do it for me. Still, althought I sometimes do for fun, I don't bring an amp very often. The 21st century has its advantages .
 
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#345
I'm a recent class D switch. I've never been down the tube road, other than backline--so I have litttle experience with which to make any judgements one way or another. I've heard both enviable and almost unlistenable tones from players with a myriad of different amps.

(Edited to remove erroneous information)

I will say, that think the class D stuff has come a long way since the older iterations, and the gap has narrowed considerably. I love my Puma, and have had great experiences with it. I'd love to have some more time on the classics, as long as someone else transports it to the venue. My fav amp so far (for electric) has been my early '90s Eden WT, and I wish I still had it.
 
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#346
Jon Mush said:
I think amplifier topology has a huge impact on the low end/low mid content of the signal. I used to work at a large pro audio house and was tasked with another guy to have a massive amp shootout in order to choose a direction with a switchover to dsp controlled power.

It was staggering to me, that amplifiers with the same power ratings could have a very different perceived feel on the lower frequency content. The switching amps, and class D amps in our very rudimentary tests, put out a lot of voltage to the speakers, but (comparatively) little current. The old school, rack hog, heavyweights, had a lower voltage at the output, but a whopping amount of current.
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This is factually incorrect as it would violate Ohm's law, even for reactive loads. On any reasonable quality amp, output current will always be proportional to voltage as governed by the actual load impedance. In fact, it's easier to deliver high current (both source and sink) with class D than it is with a linear amp because of the saturation switching of the output devices.

Perhaps it was something else responsible for what you heard?
 
#348
larrymon74 said:
I feel bad for the stubborn SVT herd, they don't know what they are missing. Don't be so quick to underestimate solid state/ class D amplification. Once you step away from the rest of the SVT sheeple, you may just be surprised
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I've played all sorts of amps and yet to find a SS amp that was completely satisfying tone wise. we only play a handful of gigs a year so hauling a heavy amp and cab isn't a big deal. my rig stays setup at our practice space too so that mskes it convenient. if we played more shows or couldn't keep our gear at our practice space then compromising tone for weight may make sense. but for now my matamp and SVT destroy my TH500 and previously my walkabout in every way.

i think there will always be a market for tube amps. it may get to be a boutique only market but i can't see Ampeg getting rid of the SVT from their lineup.
 
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#349
bassboysam said:
I've played all sorts of amps and yet to find a SS amp that was completely satisfying tone wise. we only play a handful of gigs a year so hauling a heavy amp and cab isn't a big deal. my rig stays setup at our practice space too so that mskes it convenient. if we played more shows or couldn't keep our gear at our practice space then compromising tone for weight may make sense. but for now my matamp and SVT destroy my TH500 and previously my walkabout in every way.

i think there will always be a market for tube amps. it may get to be a boutique only market but i can't see Ampeg getting rid of the SVT from their lineup.
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As long as it keeps selling, it will be in the lineup.

You know, I'd love to see yearly SVT sales figures from the 70's and now. I'd bet that they're within 10% of each other. There was a time where they seemed down in the late 80's and early 90's, but I think I see more SVT's on stages now than I ever have.

BTW, I must have missed it the first time, but this larrymon character actually called us "sheeple," eh? Geez, how about a little maturity once in a while, eh Larry?
 
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#350
JimmyM said:
As long as it keeps selling, it will be in the lineup.

You know, I'd love to see yearly SVT sales figures from the 70's and now. I'd bet that they're within 10% of each other. There was a time where they seemed down in the late 80's and early 90's, but I think I see more SVT's on stages now than I ever have.

BTW, I must have missed it the first time, but this larrymon character actually called us "sheeple," eh? Geez, how about a little maturity once in a while, eh Larry?
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someone (not me) should start an SVT Sheeple club:roflmao:
 
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#351
JimmyM said:
BTW, I must have missed it the first time, but this larrymon character actually called us "sheeple," eh? Geez, how about a little maturity once in a while, eh Larry?
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I already pick enough fights so I let it pass but yeah, I heard that sheeple comment as basically saying if you like an SVT you're a tin eared **** who listens with his eyes. May or may not be what he intended but that's how it read.
 
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#352
agedhorse said:
This is factually incorrect as it would violate Ohm's law, even for reactive loads. On any reasonable quality amp, output current will always be proportional to voltage as governed by the actual load impedance. In fact, it's easier to deliver high current (both source and sink) with class D than it is with a linear amp because of the saturation switching of the output devices.

Perhaps it was something else responsible for what you heard?
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Well, I stand corrected! And thanks for pointing it out in a kind way. Stay in school kids.

Now I'd love to know what was responsible for my observations...however, I've no inclination to derail this thread any further. Apologies to all.
 
#353
Jeff Bonny said:
I already pick enough fights so I let it pass but yeah, I heard that sheeple comment as basically saying if you like an SVT you're a tin eared **** who listens with his eyes. May or may not be what he intended but that's how it read.
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No, I think he meant we were all following the SVT herd like sheep, if that's true then baaaaaaa! :roflmao:. (As Sam the Sham sung)
 
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#354
bobyoung53 said:
No, I think he meant we were all following the SVT herd like sheep, if that's true then baaaaaaa! :roflmao:. (As Sam the Sham sung)
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I know Sam The Sham! I backed him up many times in the past years. Good dude.

Anyway, yeah, some people love to use words like "sheeple" to describe others who don't think as they do so that they feel better about their lack of confidence or inability to argue a point intelligently. So they just call everyone else "sheeple" and then they can sleep easy at night, knowing that their amp choices (or more commonly, their political opinions) makes them the most intelligent free-thinker on the planet. Hey, whatever.
 
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