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Just got a '69 SVT for $500
- Thread starter Chris 'Wighat' Jordan
- Start date
I just barely missed that custom white SVT-VR. Myself and many of my local music buddies are friends with Doc, an old ampeg artist relations guy that was selling. It was a VR based on a 69 instead of an early 70s era. White tolex with white silver and blue grill cloth. There were only a few made for the Stones and Rod Stewart. Now Queens of the Stone Age own most of the siblings. Ended up going for $1375, a down right ****ing steal. I was bummed. Doc is actually where my 4 pro originated. One of the last MIA models. The guy has a garage full of old NIB ampeg gear.
I really want to see if he will let me dig through it for some gems, like an svp CL, or something.
I really want to see if he will let me dig through it for some gems, like an svp CL, or something.
Ahh! I bid on that amp. Granted I only went up to 200 ish. But I'm glad to see someone's going to restore it. I have an awesome tech. And he was a little Leary of the size of it. But good for u man
Well, the '69 came today. It's in way better shape than I thought. The faceplate has one little patch of paint missing but not at all scratched up. Get this: there is an obviously BRAND NEW output tranny in there!
Attachments
Nice score!
I recently got an old one back up and running, though it wasn't as much work as you have ahead of you.
Spring for some nice NOS tubes or Winged C tubes, stay away from JJs and Tung-Sol, I learnrd the hard way...
Good luck!
I recently got an old one back up and running, though it wasn't as much work as you have ahead of you.
Spring for some nice NOS tubes or Winged C tubes, stay away from JJs and Tung-Sol, I learnrd the hard way...
Good luck!
He's converting it back to use 6146b's, so that shouldn't be an issue. But I've had the JJ 6550's in my Heritage and they kick ass. But as far as 12dw7's go, definitely go NOS for them. JJ 12dw7's are the only new ones you can get, and they suck.
I was watching that auction too! Couldn't believe it went that cheap. I was watching it but missed the ending so didn't get tempted to bid. Nice score! I would do 6146's just from a cost standpoint.
It's all worked out for me though...I won a 74 for a tad under $1k last night on a BIN OBO offer! I think it was on eBay for about an hour before I spotted it, put my offer in, and closed the deal before others got involved. I've seen much worse looking ones go for $1500+.
Anyway, keep us updated on the restoration!
It's all worked out for me though...I won a 74 for a tad under $1k last night on a BIN OBO offer! I think it was on eBay for about an hour before I spotted it, put my offer in, and closed the deal before others got involved. I've seen much worse looking ones go for $1500+.
Anyway, keep us updated on the restoration!
I had some stability issues with JJs in my 74 and went back to my stockpile of winged C's to pull out a matched set. I have a sextet of tung-sols that I ordered from TC tubes when they had them in stock, but haven't tried them out yet. What issues did you have with those? I've liked the other t-s reissues I've tried thus far and not had problems with any of them (12AX7, 6L6GC, 6V6, 6SL7, and KT66).
I had tube failures less than a month after the original cap and tube job. It has run nicely since I had it done with Winged C tubes and NOS tubes.
The shop was good about it though. All they asked me to pay was the difference in the cost of the first set of tubes and the higher quality replacements, nothing more.
Bill, I don't think I'm the only one that yearns to hear more about that. Why?
The 6146 to 6550 conversion was discussed here:
Why did Ampeg changed from 6146's to 6550's in the SVT? | TalkBass.com
Why did Ampeg changed from 6146's to 6550's in the SVT? | TalkBass.com
There's a story in the Ampeg book about how when Keith Richards played guitar through his SVT that the filaments in the 6146B's would glow cherry red and jump from tube to tube, and that was the beginning of the end for the 6146B. Bill and Roger determined they were unstable in a bass or guitar amp and changed to 6550's.
Now my amp tech recommended that I change mine over to 6550's but I wouldn't let him because I figured there were enough 6550 SVT's out there and I could always get one of them, but there were precious few 6146B SVT's still left. I don't play with an SVT cranked to infinity like Keith did so I wasn't worried about causing jumping glowing filaments
Had to get a replacement set since getting it restored, but other than that, they've been pretty well problem-free. But my experience with comparing my 69 with the Heritage leads me to believe that the 6550 is really the better choice. Got no plans to change mine over to 6550's, and it doesn't sound any different than the Heritage IMHO, but 6550's are definitely a more stable tube and the plate voltage isn't coming through a wire that's easily accessible to the user.
Now my amp tech recommended that I change mine over to 6550's but I wouldn't let him because I figured there were enough 6550 SVT's out there and I could always get one of them, but there were precious few 6146B SVT's still left. I don't play with an SVT cranked to infinity like Keith did so I wasn't worried about causing jumping glowing filaments
Had to get a replacement set since getting it restored, but other than that, they've been pretty well problem-free. But my experience with comparing my 69 with the Heritage leads me to believe that the 6550 is really the better choice. Got no plans to change mine over to 6550's, and it doesn't sound any different than the Heritage IMHO, but 6550's are definitely a more stable tube and the plate voltage isn't coming through a wire that's easily accessible to the user.
It seems like you should be able to bypass the whole relay/timer thing
and just use the polarity switch as a standby switch.
and just use the polarity switch as a standby switch.
The 6146's don't have sufficient plate dissipation and Keith could make the plates glow red on alternate sides depending on his playing style. The 6550's are better in every way.
That must have sent you for a loop.
Makes me wonder if there was some sort of oscillation within the tube. I've seen issues with stray capacitances within the 6146 causing problems.
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svtb15
Inactive
- Mar 22, 2004
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- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
My old SVT had the Speaker cable permanently attached to the rear of the amp and passed thru the amp chassis by grommet. On the Cab side there was a 4 pin XLR... I determined the 4 pin was an auto cut off. If the plug came undone from the cab. it would put the amp in Standby automatically ..
I have not seen another SVT like that since
I have not seen another SVT like that since
This is how the earlier revisions were designed. The outside pins (1 and 4) of the four pin connector were the speaker wires, the inner two pins (2 and 3) were part of a safety loopback circuit that disabled the amp if it was turned on without the speaker cabinet connected. Other Ampeg amps of that era had the same feature although it was implemented differently depending on the model. Jess Oliver told me that a regulatory agency had safety concerns, at least the way that it was being done on some amps, so the implementations were changed. For example, in the case of the B15, rather than putting a high voltage in the safety circuit loop, they used a much lower voltage loop to disable the phase inverter if the cabinet wasn't connected. This design was later changed as well.
I don't know if these concerns applied to the SVT. Some time after '71 the SVT's safety loop circuit and speaker cable was removed and a ¼" jack was mounted on the rear panel for a speaker cable. This was a common mod on SVT's. For one thing it made it easier to use other cabs.
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