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Lighter all-tube SVT alternatives?
- Thread starter jebo
- Start date
not super easy to find, but the Fender Studio Bass and Super Twin amps (basically the same circuit) deliver 200w of all tube goodness with an interesting 5 band EQ that gives the ability to cut and boost your way towards an all-tube SVT like tone. If you put something like a VT Pedal in front of it, you are pretty much there.
So, pretty much 2/3rds of an SVT power at about 1/2 the weight.
worth taking a look for one.
good luck
So, pretty much 2/3rds of an SVT power at about 1/2 the weight.
worth taking a look for one.
good luck
30 lbs of extra glass for the 400+? Probably not.
I bought my 400+ off the ebay and when shipped to me in just cardboard and styrofoam it weighed over 98lbs by UPS weight. So I just deduced the case weight. I could be wrong. I feel much weaker now, thanks.
Congrats on the Strategy! I know though that my case with out the head in it is way more than 15 lbs. Maybe it is the 'heavy metal version'.
I had a Bass 400 briefly. It didn't sound or act like an SVT at all but it was a very nice amp.
My favorite lightweight SVT alternative was the PF500 by a long shot. The comp made it even more versatile IMO. That said, my favorite all tube alternative weighs 5 lbs more than my SVT...
My favorite lightweight SVT alternative was the PF500 by a long shot. The comp made it even more versatile IMO. That said, my favorite all tube alternative weighs 5 lbs more than my SVT...
I'd guess my 400+ in the factory Diesel case is 60-65lbs. It's significantly less than an unracked SVT II pro, which I believe is 80lbs.
Just to set the record straight (I was wrong) I went over the shipment documents and it was 75 lbs shipped. 25lbs ' ish were the head case.
And sorry OP for crashing this out but you should do as Jimmy says and get a V4B. Closest thing to an SVT with your needed weight reduction. Or you can fake it with a Mesa or other lighter tube amp and a preamp pedal or something (I do) or get an SVP and any manner of tube power section. Something like the 2nd post here:
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=32166&start=135
And sorry OP for crashing this out but you should do as Jimmy says and get a V4B. Closest thing to an SVT with your needed weight reduction. Or you can fake it with a Mesa or other lighter tube amp and a preamp pedal or something (I do) or get an SVP and any manner of tube power section. Something like the 2nd post here:
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=32166&start=135
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If you decide to get a lighter all tube amp and fake the SVT sound with a pedal or two, look at the Traynor YBA200-2. The -2 version is lighter than the original, under 40 pounds, and 200 watts. The YBA300 weighs in at 51 pounds which is still almost 30 lbs less than the SVT-CL.
However, if you do not need more than the 100 watts that the V4B can give you, then that would be a great (best?) choice if you are looking for the Ampeg sound.
Hi.
If You can, take a shot at the Smarvo 300W tube amps (Ashton, Eden, Fame), not exactly a SVT, but a bit lighter.
Not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper
.
Yep, agreed, but it's not the current giving cpability, or the power requirement, or even the rather poor efficiency of class A/B tube output section that makes the iron core (EI) transformers the most widely used mthod of making PT's and OT's in commercially succesful tube amps.
There's plenty of ways to shave a considerable chunk (or even almost all) of that iron off, but the reason everyone who has tried to introduce a high power lightweight tube amp into the market has failed is that it's more or less the iron itself that generates the tone and the response we love in a tube amp.
OTL tube amps of every imaginable configuration has existed for decades, the first ones well before the semiconductors "won the game", none AFAIK has taken off in MI field.
Hi-Fi is a somewhat different matter.
SMPS the same.
We've had switch mode power supplies in our PC's and in our car stereos at least from the mid 80's.
Today it's actually really hard to find line frequency transformers anywhere in consumer electronics, everything from the tiniest wall-wart to charge Your cell phone, to huge UPS's, SMPS's everywhere.
EXCEPT in medium to high power affordable AF applications.
There's only a handful of manufacturers even today who have been able to make a cost effective SMPS AF equipment to the "masses", but plenty of old iron core transformers being schlepp'd around at the same time though.
No matter whether it's tube or SS.
Regards
Sam
If You can, take a shot at the Smarvo 300W tube amps (Ashton, Eden, Fame), not exactly a SVT, but a bit lighter.
Not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper
.Yep, agreed, but it's not the current giving cpability, or the power requirement, or even the rather poor efficiency of class A/B tube output section that makes the iron core (EI) transformers the most widely used mthod of making PT's and OT's in commercially succesful tube amps.
There's plenty of ways to shave a considerable chunk (or even almost all) of that iron off, but the reason everyone who has tried to introduce a high power lightweight tube amp into the market has failed is that it's more or less the iron itself that generates the tone and the response we love in a tube amp.
OTL tube amps of every imaginable configuration has existed for decades, the first ones well before the semiconductors "won the game", none AFAIK has taken off in MI field.
Hi-Fi is a somewhat different matter.
SMPS the same.
We've had switch mode power supplies in our PC's and in our car stereos at least from the mid 80's.
Today it's actually really hard to find line frequency transformers anywhere in consumer electronics, everything from the tiniest wall-wart to charge Your cell phone, to huge UPS's, SMPS's everywhere.
EXCEPT in medium to high power affordable AF applications.
There's only a handful of manufacturers even today who have been able to make a cost effective SMPS AF equipment to the "masses", but plenty of old iron core transformers being schlepp'd around at the same time though.
No matter whether it's tube or SS.
Regards
Sam
Everyone will have their favourites but tone no doubt must be a priority along with weight. My vote would go for the Ampeg V4B or Orange AD200.
Depends on how bad the OP's back is. V4-B is a good option, but if it's the kind of thing where you just can't strain yourself all the time- and I've been there- it really might be better to go with a nice class D amp and a good pedal. Of pedals, I have heard that the Catalinbread SFT pedal is the way to go in that sense.
In my opinion you won't find any better than the Ampeg V4B Reissue. It's got pure Ampeg tube tone and is a very loud 100 watts.
Lots of Ampeg suggestions here. OP did not ask for SVT tone though, only that it be all tube and lighter than an SVT. The SVT is not all tube, I guess we let that go for now. The new Mesas and Peaveys have the SVT on weight and have equivalent tube complement as the SVT, i.e., tube pre and power stages.
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SVT's aren't all tube? Funny, but when I looked inside my Heritage SVT-CL and when I looked inside the SVT-VR and SVT 2 Pro, sure enough, it was an all-tube design. Only ones currently available that aren't all tube are the SVT 3, 4 and 7 Pro.
Perhaps, Ampeg has overused the name SVT on it's products? Especially so, since most of the amps with that moniker in it's model designation have solidstate power amps in them? Apparently, this has confused the buying public as to the nature of what an SVT is supposed to be.
If I owned Ampeg, I would do the exact same thing. SVT is a rapidly identifiable trademark in bass-world. But I'd think someone named "Codger" would know that there are plenty of all-tube SVT's
