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Micro amp or SVT4-pro

M

mainten4

Guest
Feb 9, 2013
4
0
Indy
#1
Hello everyone. This is my first post at talk bass. I've read thru many postings and am happy to have something like talk bass to hear from like minds. I have a question. I'm in the market to buy a new head for my Ampeg Classic 410HLF 4ohm and I need some advice. I have the cash for a new head but and split between the Markbass Little Mark 800 Bass Amp Head, the Markbass III, or an SVT4-PRO. I am tired of heavy amps and like the idea of portability, but from what I've read, everyone who uses micro amps do so for 210's or 212's or 115's. The 800 can give me headroom on my 410. I've had repair issues for 500w amps in the past and outdoor gigs with no wall behind you leaves me hard pressed for sound with my old 500w amp. I'm leaning towards the SVT because it has 2powered channels for possible extension cabs and I have a MESA powerhouse 1000 that I could use with the SVT. I can get one of the three and the more resarch I do, the more undecided I get. I want to get into newer gear like I micro amp, but I NEED SOME ADVICE.:rollno:
 
#2
Micro amps are perfectly capable of powering large cabs loud enough to induce vomiting. But most folks who use them use small/medium cab rigs because they're also looking to downsize their cabs. It's a choice and cetainly not a reflection on the ability of a micro to produce sound and lots of it in a big cab.

However, there is a difference between the micro amps and the big iron amps like the SVT 4 Pro. Just like there's a sonic difference between all-tube amps and traditional solid state and hybrid amps, there's a sonic difference between the micro format and the other two formats as well. Some folks will say that these differences are design choices and not based on type of amp. I say they're wrong ;)

I've yet to play a micro that has either the hard attack of trad solid state or the 3-dimensionality of a full-on tube amp. Don't get me wrong...I like micros a lot. They aren't as tight as trad solid state, and in some ways that reminds me of a tube amp being pushed slightly hard and I like it. And they're super light and easy to carry, which is awesome for gigs with tough load-ins. But they are most definitely different from the other two previously existing types of amps.
 
#3
100% agree with JimmyM. I almost always find myself bringing the SVT4 unless I know it will be a lower volume affair. There really are things that distinguish all these different amps as Jimmy succinctly described. I really like the speed and punch of the hybrid 4Pro when placed in a moderate and up volume environment.

And even though I'm not quite as young as used to be the weight of the 4pro really isn't bad--and I absolutely love it run through two 4X10's-----sweet!!!!
 
#5
Funny, I just posted about buying a micro right before I read this but not for a gigging situation to use in a small basement studio setting. I have a 4Pro and it's all awesomeness. More power and head room than any of the micro will be able to give you. I'd had a CL but at 85lbs kind of clunky to get around. The 4Pro at half it weight gave me as close to everything the CL provided but in a smaller package. The EQ and flexibility of the two amp sections offers a lot of options you won't find in any of the micros you've listed. And if you want to humble your drummer just switch to monoblock!! I doubt I'd ever get rid of this. I tried the 7 and 8 pros and they're not even close.
 
#7
I agree that the sonics of the micros are different. I have always been a tube amp guy (I own a Reeves 225) and lately I have been gigging with an Ampeg pf500, which while a bit low in power for me, does remind me a bit of a tube amp. It suits my style better than the sound of the SVT 7 Pro, which I did not like at all. I am sure its a fine amp, just not what I was looking for.
 

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