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Natural overdrive from an SVT

#21
JimmyM said:
I was going to suggest the V4 or V4B to you. But yeah, whatever you get, you'll want something lower wattage. An SVT into a 610 cranked really loud can make you puke.
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Exactly why I kept my SVT for only 2 weeks before trading it back for a V4B.
First gig, the manager asks me to turn down. I told him the amp was new and I wasn't familiar yet, but asked if it was really that loud. "Well, you know that banquet room on the other side of the kitchen? You are knocking plaques off the wall."
It was a Holiday Inn.
 
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#23
Tim Henagan said:
I JUST HAD TO SAME PORBELM ITS SOME OF YOU SOILDER JOINTS IN THE HEAD . THEY SOILDER WITH LEAD FREE SOILDER IT CRACK AT SOME OF YOUR CONNECTIONS.RE SOILDER SOME OF YOUR WIRING CONNECTIONS AND WILL BE GOOD TO GO.
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What about your bass's lead free solder joints on the pickups, wire harness, and output jack? Gasp!
 
#24
I agree on the V4B option. I have one along with an SVT II non pro. They both sound pretty similar overall, but the V4B gets into power tube distortion much sooner and thus at a lower overall volume.

Just keep in mind how much headroom you need. I tend to like a cleaner sound so the V4B is JUST enough for me most of the time.

The_Janitor said:
Look for a used SVT-2-PRO, sell your CL and get one of those. The gain/master setup plus Drive knob means it can get pretty dirty at low volumes. Crank Gain and Drive, adjust master to suit your needs. Sounds killer.

People don't discuss this feature very much and I don't understand why - it's an amazing-sounding dirty overdrive, especially when you crank the master. I did a lot of research before I bought my 2-PRO and the onboard drive only gets passing mentions - it should be a major selling point, IMO.
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That's still preamp tube distortion, which OP said he didn't care for.

DavidBassista said:
Could you have a volume attenuator wired into the amp? A lot of guitar amps have those so people can overdrive them at lower volumes. I have one my EC Vibro-Champ.
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Nothing that can handle 300 watts of power.
 
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#25
The_Janitor said:
Look for a used SVT-2-PRO, sell your CL and get one of those. The gain/master setup plus Drive knob means it can get pretty dirty at low volumes. Crank Gain and Drive, adjust master to suit your needs. Sounds killer.

People don't discuss this feature very much and I don't understand why - it's an amazing-sounding dirty overdrive, especially when you crank the master. I did a lot of research before I bought my 2-PRO and the onboard drive only gets passing mentions - it should be a major selling point, IMO.
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I was gonna mention the svt2 non-pro I had years ago, it didn't have a gain or drive knob, but if you cranked it to ungodly volume(3:00) you'd get a very pleasing overdrive sound, I wore earplugs for this though, LOUD!!!;)
 
#26
not sure what bass you have
make sure your pickups aren't too far away from your strings

another thought, crank up the mids and treble a bit
my svtII is pretty clean until i get the mids to about 3oclock position and the treble around 1oclock to keep it all even sounding.
play the bass like you're pissed off at it. should get it to grind a little earlier maybe...

BUT...if you're band isn't very loud then you'd probably be better off with a V4B
 
#27
I actually prefer to use pedals for grind and my amp for tone I could be wrong and Beans and Jimmy can correct me but I don't think when amps like my V4B were initially designed the thought of someone pushing the amp to produce an overdrive sound was even thought of?. I don't think any serious damage can be done by consistently pushing a tube amp but my overcautious nature won't let me experiment to find out. :)
 
#29
SirMjac28 said:
I actually prefer to use pedals for grind and my amp for tone I could be wrong and Beans and Jimmy can correct me but I don't think when amps like my V4B were initially designed the thought of someone pushing the amp to produce an overdrive sound was even thought of?. I don't think any serious damage can be done by consistently pushing a tube amp but my overcautious nature won't let me experiment to find out. :)
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By the time the V4B came out (71), overdrive by pushing tube amps was pretty common, but it was not really a design goal. Tubes will wear out faster, but other than that, there's not much danger to amps.

PikeoftheLake said:
I would have suggested a power attenuator as well but those things can go for as much as a used V4B!!
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They also won't work on 300w tube amps.
 
#30
I run a Barbershop ,... always on ... just to get a little head start on breaking up ...!

preamp tubes ... I think the 5751 is a 12ax7 that runs at 80% , so it would start to break up a bit earlier ...
I always preferred tubes with Long Plates for tighter bass ... mil spec tubes are affordable and work great ...
lower gain tubes ... 12 at7, 12au7 ... I forget the percentages ..!!??

some good descriptions and info at tubedepot.com ...
 
#31
Also, you should set the tone kinda bright, use a passive bass (a P or J), and make sure you have brand new strings and low-ish action. Hit those string hard now!

My old '77 SVT (no gain knob, just volume) would distort at lower volumes if the highs and mids were up a bit.
 
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#32
I'm surprised no one has suggested trying a Fender Bassman 100T. I tried one out at a local music store right after they first came out and was completely blown away! It had the best, most natural, ballsy, grindy tube overdrive i'd ever heard! Way better than any pedal i'd ever played through! I'm generally an Ampeg fan, but that Fender is absolutely amazing!!
 
#33
[QUOE="StringslamDan, post: 17238254, member: 232429"]I'm surprised no one has suggested trying a Fender Bassman 100T. I tried one out at a local music store right after they first came out and was completely blown away! It had the best, most natural, ballsy, grindy tube overdrive i'd ever heard! Way better than any pedal i'd ever played through! I'm generally an Ampeg fan, but that Fender is absolutely amazing!![/QUOTE]


So is the Super Bassman. Same 6x6550s as the SVT and can easily cop the SVT sound plus has the overdrive blend option.
 
#34
Well in studio and live the SVT can be a bit mighty to easily power soak, my best method was to use an 8 Ohm Eden 8x10 LXT in parallel with the old 8 Ohm Motherload Dual Pro Power Soak/Speaker Sim, taking half the power away from the amp and cab without anything getting too hot.
In the end though you have to weaken and go with a V4b for less hoot to get more toot.:-)
image.jpg
 
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#35
May be your best choice is a 212 or 210 cab because of one reason.
V4B power amp overdrive is somewhat different to SVT.

However if you like the overdrive sound of a V4B I'm pretty sure you will be pretty happy with the V4B.

V4B and SVT sound are soemewhat different, I myself like both sounds just the same way.

Most of the time I'm running my svt on a 212 cab. Medium SPL due to 3" voice coil of the loudspeakers, so I have got a smooth grind sound without breaking down walls.
 

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