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I tried a SVT

#41
Texican said:
I love that it took less than a handful of replies before someone basically said that anyone who claims to not love the SVT stack is simply a weak noodle-armed liar! Gotta love the Internet :thumbsup:
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I cannot lie. I do not enjoy the 810E and it has nothing to do with the weight.

I owned and gigged a full SVT rig. Trust me, it's a lot more work to transport and setup this one.

Quad of Quads.jpg
 
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#42
GK makes great amps. I used one for years and years and loved it. Actually, at one time I owned 2 GK heads, and a 1001RB 2-10" combo. I haven't tried their speaker cabinets, but Bob Gallien knows his stuff, and I'm sure they're great. I have zero complaints about GK.


The first time I played an SVT stack I was in love. I never should've sold the stack I owned. I'm a big fan of the 810E cabinet.

IMHO GK and Ampeg both have their signature sound, and both are extremely versatile tonewise.

It sounds to me like you've found your sound in GK. Rock On!!!
 
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#44
So many variables, room, which cab, etc. You might like it somewhere else on a different night.......or not.

I bought my first 810 after I had been playing bass for many, many years. I had a Fender Studio Bass amp section (~180 watts, all tube), which is about 2/3 of an SVT head in power, so I thought I had the ingredients to get the tone. Well, I didn't, and not only did it not sound great, but it was very dark, almost muffled sounding. After doing the research I should have done before buying the cab, I found out I ended up with one of the blandex-constructed cabs that was known for being dark & muffled. At least it lived up to its bad reputation. I traded it off for an SVT 410 HLF, which I thought I liked in the store, but found it to be about as bad as the 810. There is no one-size-fits-all tone for everyone, much to the delight of amp makers everywhere.
 
#47
83B0FE05-48C6-4773-9279-0197C0667C56.jpeg
Tim Skaggs said:
So many variables, room, which cab, etc. You might like it somewhere else on a different night.......or not.

I bought my first 810 after I had been playing bass for many, many years. I had a Fender Studio Bass amp section (~180 watts, all tube), which is about 2/3 of an SVT head in power, so I thought I had the ingredients to get the tone. Well, I didn't, and not only did it not sound great, but it was very dark, almost muffled sounding. After doing the research I should have done before buying the cab, I found out I ended up with one of the blandex-constructed cabs that was known for being dark & muffled. At least it lived up to its bad reputation. I traded it off for an SVT 410 HLF, which I thought I liked in the store, but found it to be about as bad as the 810. There is no one-size-fits-all tone for everyone, much to the delight of amp makers everywhere.
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I had the same issues. I had a 410 hlf. Sounded good if you put it against a wall. But free standing all the power dropped out.

The amp in the picture is my current rig. Amazingly enough both cabs sound the same. Both have had driver upgrades. Both have the exact same drivers in each.

Whether I'm using one or both. The tone never changes. Just the ability to increase volume. Punch and clarity is what this rig is all about.
 
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#49
Aidenn7 said:
Sealed cabs don't like a like a lot of bass.
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Took the words right out of my mouth!

Properly designed ported cabs will always provide better low end extension VS an Ampeg 810E. That's not saying an age old design from the 70s isn't awesome. The 810 is in its own right.
But if you don't like the 810E, that's fine, it's your opinion. It's all about how you enjoy your sound on a personal level. Then you must test your rig in different scenarios (different rooms, stages, with sound engineers, etc) and see how it works. If your happy...that's priceless.
 
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#51
joel406 said:
Ok not a whole SVT. Just a 810 classic. Ran my Gallien Krueger MB-800 fusion into it.

Now normally I run my GK through one of my GK 410's. And I love it.

But the drummer I jammed with last night has a studio and a few amps on hand there. He bought a SVT 810 classic last week and I invited me to use it.

I couldn't refuse him now could I.

I had a lot of hope that it would blow the roof off.

I was wrong.

Maybe it sounds better with an actual SVT head. But it just didn't sound good.

Volume wise it kept up against a 100 watt marshal half stack and a large loud drum rig. And punched through the pa.

But did not have the presence or boom my GK 410's have.

In fact. Just one of my 410's sound better than this "fridge".

And yes I eq'd my brains out. Had to back off the low end and push some mids. Contour and presence adjusted according to the room. Tried running pre amp hot and cold.

It shaped up but was, in the end, a disappointment.

I guess I'm just a GK guy.
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If you like thundering lows and sparkling highs, the sealed 810 is not your deal.

If you like low mids that kick like a mule, the sealed 810 is the king of them all.

To each his own.
 
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#53
two fingers said:
If you like thundering lows and sparkling highs, the sealed 810 is not your deal.

If you like low mids that kick like a mule, the sealed 810 is the king of them all.

To each his own.
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Sometimes (often) limitations are a good thing, kinda like a P bass. Too often a wide variety of options only allow us to make things worse. :D
 
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#54
packhowitzer said:
I have two Mesa Powerhouse ph410s. I have powered them with an SVT 4pro, and SVT 2pro, and a GK MB800. They all sound good to my ears and can all get loud, but the MB800 gets the speakers to full excursion in a way that is more pleasing to my ears for some reason. Maybe it's the eq? maybe it's something inherent to Class D amp? I'm not sure, but it just seems to make those cabs come to life.
Don't get me wrong, when that SVT 2pro warms up, there is a tube-y quality that sits really well in the mix of a live rock band, BUT when I switched to the MB800, even people who know little about music and even less about bass started making positive comments to me after shows about how good my bass sounded. maybe some kind of coincidence, but my gut tells me no.
I love my 'pegs and always will, but these days the GK gets first call for gigs. (it works well in the studio too in my opinion- the song in my sig is the MB800 into the Mesas with a mic plopped in front- no line out, no DI, just a mic in front of the rig).
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No coincidence here. Nothing I've ever played has a much power down low as GK MB stuff, or GK in general. Mesa heads are right up there though.
 
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#57
My personal fridge experiences are limited. The first was in high school, when I borrowed an SVT head and a single 810 from my Sunday school teacher (who would wind up being my BL a few years later) for a few gigs. Sounded great to me then, but what did I know at 16? I was just trying to "out cool" the competition. The second was a few festival-type outdoor gigs a couple years later in the mid 80's. I was actually playing keys in the band led by my former Sunday school teacher. We were one of the opening acts and PA support was generally minimal. Our bassist's Carvin rig (whatever the most powerful Carvin bass head was at that time and a pair of matching Carvin 1x15" cabs) just didn't have the needed "oomph". Band leader suggested using the two SVT 810 cabs he had. The volume increase was noticeable, but the tone was just meh to both my and generally everyone else in the band's ears. The best sounding fridge rig I've ever heard and played through was the house rig at a blues club/BBQ joint back in the early 90's. It was a GK 400RB over an older Ampeg 810; plenty of volume and solid bass tone for days.
 

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