is this a fake or a real one?

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/carbon_comp/carboncomp.htm

 

It's real. I know that amp very well. It belongs to the drummer in my band. I regularly use it for rehearsal. I should say USED. I'm gonna miss that amp a LOT!

The tech who did the work on the amp is well regarded in the area and I don't think he'd screw up the amp by putting crappy resistors in it.

The Genz Benz speaker that's below the amp in the photo is mine.

I can attest that this amp is very original. When the owner bought it, it came with 2 8-10 cabs! They're long gone though.

I have no financial connection, but I do have a friendly one. In any case, it's not a fraud.

 

Wow, I'd heard that Ampeg used 6146s in the original SVT, but this is the first picture I've seen. The 6146 was used in lots of radio transmitters in the 50's and 60's, but not so much in audio. In addition to being expensive (probably still are !) the 6146 had the 600+ volt plate connection to the cap on the top of the tube. They look very cool, though... Not sure how many SVTs were built like this, but I'll bet the number is small.

This might be more of a collector's piece than a player, although it probably sounds great.

As for resistors, if they are the correct value, their effect on the sound is somewhere between subtle and non-existant (IMHO)

doc

 

I'm afraid of amps with rusty transformers.

 

Dang... Thanks for the link, an interesting read to be sure!!!

 

I should save those pictures for the next thread where I read about how much better point to point wired amps are than those built with printed circuit boards.

Some folks don't realize that SVTs have always been circuit board amps...

 

My Trace Elliot V6 is a circuit board amp, too. And I think it's the holy freakin' grail of tone. I don't think circuit boards are the issue -- it's circuit DESIGN.

IM Limited and Probably Ignorant O.

 

Not the least bit limited or ignorant, I think you're exactly right.

 

Maybe someday we'll see p2p wiring where tubes are suspended in spiders like they do for condenser mics. That'd sure help with the microphics.
This would be a mechanical aspect to the design. A new boutique nitch.

 

It doesn't matter that SVT's NEVER used point to point or that most tube bass amp users know that p-t-p is overrated anyway.

EDIT- evidently, countering with information like the fact that SVTs have an internal shock suspension already and that "seamonkey" is not aware of it is now now some sort of personal attack.

 

Want to hate somebody?

I picked up one of those and a matching SVT cab back in '84 both for $120.

Sold them off since I needed space and didn't need that kind of power.

Jim

 

Man...did I miss something?

I found the link to R.G. Keen's article interesting.

I'm the one that brought up circuit boards because I get tired of folks claiming that circuit board based tube amps are inferior while they still say that SVTs are the cat's meow...

Building on what MrBonex posted, I think that circuit design is the key to any amp regardless of whether its solid state or tube.

I'm not sure what happened in this thread to have it get so ugly

 

In '96 I bought a '72 SVT head for $250 that needed new preamp tubes and a good cleaning. Ended up costing me an extra $100 to get it running like a champ.

Bought an SVT cabinet a year later for about $400.

I presently have neither...

 

Keen's article is good. It does point out that shotgunning an amp and replacing resistors can effect it's tone. You'll often hear of someone put their tube amp in the shop and hat components changed out and now "it sounds better than ever" High voltage and tubes themselves all effect the tone. They are not consistent.

 

And finally, taking an old classic amp and swapping out all components doesn't give you the same amp it was originally. When you see a smile on the guitar players face cause they just got a rebuild of their amp - it's not the same amp. And if they like it better now, then those old parts must had been worn out. Either way the amp doesn't sound the way it use to.

 

Wuss.

 

Seamonkey:

"And finally, taking an old classic amp and swapping out all components doesn't give you the same amp it was originally. When you see a smile on the guitar players face cause they just got a rebuild of their amp - it's not the same amp. And if they like it better now, then those old parts must had been worn out. Either way the amp doesn't sound the way it use to."

Me:

Sorry, I don't know how to do that quote thing.

What's your point? There are two reasons to swap out parts (that I'm aware of). 1. You want to "upgrade" and "improve" your amp. 2. It's old and parts are worn out.

Firstly, it's obvious that the goal is to make sonic changes. So that's rather obvious. Secondly, as an amp (and it's parts) ages, one might want to bring it up to original spec -- or even repair a problem. It sounds different because the old amp has aged! Of course it will sound different! Will it sound different from the "original" the day it walked out of the plant? I'm afraid there's absolutely no way to know that. It's just an assumption on your part. You might as well try to prove the existence of God.

So while you're empirically proving that God knows that the sound of the amp has changed from the original, I'll go back to playing my bass.

 

well at least I know that somebody here doesn't ignore my posts.