New Ampeg Venture Series

[kevbassman]

I wonder if the compressor is the issue. The v3 doesn't have that. And I have a feeling Ampeg wired the amp like they did the Ampeg SGT-DI Bass Pedal.....not in the front of the signal, but behind (?).
V7 & v12 have the compressor. I actually would prefer not having a compressor to be honest.

 

[lowendrv]

I wonder if the compressor is the issue. The v3 doesn't have that. And I have a feeling Ampeg wired the amp like they did the Ampeg SGT-DI Bass Pedal.....not in the front of the signal, but behind (?).
V7 & v12 have the compressor. I actually would prefer not having a compressor to be honest.

The main reason I got the V3 was because of no compressor . I never use one . Plus onboard compressors on most amps seem like a marketing department ploy . Too many amazing compressor pedals available now . People that use them dial them in to their own sound/spec . Onboards seem useless for those folks , due limited adjustability .
The V3 sounds great thru PF 1x12 cabs . With two it gets plenty loud enough for me .

 

[DJ Bebop]

Hoorah. We are on the same track...at least for now .

In fact thinking more about this. It was recording with plug-ins that got me into dipping my toe into digital multi-effects pedals. I got my first budget one when it was released, Zoom B1xon. Once I got that, I could understand how the more refined, expensive ones functioned. Unfortunately I never graduated on to those more refined ones. I was happy with the Zoom for what I use it for. Plus I still have my old original MXR pedals that I was trying to find backups to. Still may look at that Zoom B6.

 

[iagtrplyr]

I wonder if the compressor is the issue. The v3 doesn't have that. And I have a feeling Ampeg wired the amp like they did the Ampeg SGT-DI Bass Pedal.....not in the front of the signal, but behind (?).
V7 & v12 have the compressor. I actually would prefer not having a compressor to be honest.

Their amp compressor, from what I can tell so far, hasn’t Ron over many fans. If it’s anything like the compressor on the SGT pedal, it’s no wonder. To my ears, it does very little to increase sustain and that’s what I look for. I’ve added my compression pedal back to my board and am much am much happier.

 

[iagtrplyr]

The main reason I got the V3 was because of no compressor . I never use one . Plus onboard compressors on most amps seem like a marketing department ploy . Too many amazing compressor pedals available now . People that use them dial them in to their own sound/spec . Onboards seem useless for those folks , due limited adjustability .
The V3 sounds great thru PF 1x12 cabs . With two it gets plenty loud enough for me .

I’m kinda like you right now in that I have a PF-112 cabinet and thought about adding a second one here soon and then purchase the V3 for what I think would be a pretty nice small to medium gigging rig. I would use my compression pedal with that rig and keep the SGT pedal at home for recording. It does a terrific job with that.

 

[lowendrv]

I’m kinda like you right now in that I have a PF-112 cabinet and thought about adding a second one here soon and then purchase the V3 for what I think would be a pretty nice small to medium gigging rig. I would use my compression pedal with that rig and keep the SGT pedal at home for recording. It does a terrific job with that.

It's surprising how loud one PF 112 cab gets with it . Would work great for DB players .

 

[iagtrplyr]

It's surprising how loud one PF 112 cab gets with it . Would work great for DB players .

And two must be really nice when the need arises to spread those righteous low tones out to the people and yet, still quite manageable during setup/breakdown.

 

[tombowlus]

I was able to spend a little time with the Venture V-12 and VB-115/VB-112 last night. The first thing that struck me was the insanely light weight of the cabs. Crazy light! This is a very potent rig, and gets plenty loud. The V-12 has a lot of tone control on deck, and you can dial in a very wide range of usable tones. The cabs are a bit mid-forward (not surprisingly), but they seem to be voiced with the intention of running Ultra Lo engaged, because they definitely sound more balanced (to my ears) with the Ultra Lo + setting. Much more play testing to come!

 

[kevbassman]

I was able to spend a little time with the Venture V-12 and VB-115/VB-112 last night. The first thing that struck me was the insanely light weight of the cabs. Crazy light! This is a very potent rig, and gets plenty loud. The V-12 has a lot of tone control on deck, and you can dial in a very wide range of usable tones. The cabs are a bit mid-forward (not surprisingly), but they seem to be voiced with the intention of running Ultra Lo engaged, because they definitely sound more balanced (to my ears) with the Ultra Lo + setting. Much more play testing to come!

Thanks Tom.
Would like your review with other cabs used as well. I still don’t think it felt like 1,200 Watts. And when using one 8 ohm cab ( Barefaced Super Compact) it didn’t feel like 600w. I returned mine. Prefer my Mesa TT800.

 

[Moondog]

Has anyone tried the V3 head?

 

[tombowlus]

Thanks Tom.
Would like your review with other cabs used as well. I still don’t think it felt like 1,200 Watts. And when using one 8 ohm cab ( Barefaced Super Compact) it didn’t feel like 600w. I returned mine. Prefer my Mesa TT800.

I did spend a little time playing the V-12 through my Bergantino Ref II stack (115/112), and it seemed quite loud, though perhaps not as beefy as the Forte HP (1,200w), though I did not spend a ton of time dialing it in. Also, I was trying to get a feel for the rig, but without putting my hearing in any jeopardy, so I didn't try to get absolute max output. I will say that it did seem to like to have the Volume turned up fairly high, relative to the Gain. I think I had the Vol. at about 75-80% up, and I used the Gain to vary the volume as I played.

 

[ursus]

My plan is to use my coming V7 with my Darkglass 212 4 ohm cab or with my 4 ohm Aggie slx 410 depending on what sounds best. Got message from Thomann that the V7 is delayed two month

 

[Pocket Dave]

I was able to spend a little time with the Venture V-12 and VB-115/VB-112 last night. The first thing that struck me was the insanely light weight of the cabs. Crazy light! This is a very potent rig, and gets plenty loud. The V-12 has a lot of tone control on deck, and you can dial in a very wide range of usable tones. The cabs are a bit mid-forward (not surprisingly), but they seem to be voiced with the intention of running Ultra Lo engaged, because they definitely sound more balanced (to my ears) with the Ultra Lo + setting. Much more play testing to come!

Do you have any opportunities to play this rig with a band coming up? Would love to hear how it sits in a backline mix.

Surprised that it sounds better with the ultra-low engaged, though that may be a matter of the type of music you're playing:

My most recent experience with ultra-low is with an 11-year-old PF-500 I still use from time-to-time. Playing moderate-to-lower-volume gigs with a drummer, sax player and Willie-Nelson-volume-level acoustic guitarist/singer, I moved away from using the setting in favor of more low mids.

I did use that rig with ultra-low engaged about a year ago when I brought it to a large venue sub gig with a ported 210 after being told there'd be FOH support. There wasn't. It actually worked great for that.

 

[tombowlus]

Do you have any opportunities to play this rig with a band coming up? Would love to hear how it sits in a backline mix.

Surprised that it sounds better with the ultra-low engaged, though that may be a matter of the type of music you're playing:

My most recent experience with ultra-low is with an 11-year-old PF-500 I still use from time-to-time. Playing moderate-to-lower-volume gigs with a drummer, sax player and Willie-Nelson-volume-level acoustic guitarist/singer, I moved away from using the setting in favor of more low mids.

I did use that rig with ultra-low engaged about a year ago when I brought it to a large venue sub gig with a ported 210 after being told there'd be FOH support. There wasn't. It actually worked great for that.

Yes, I definitely will put this into a live band setting. As for the Ultra Lo, with my Bergantino cabs, I liked the V-12 with the Ultra Lo turned off, but it seemed liked the Venture cabs sounded more balanced with the V-12 when the Ultra Lo was engaged. Hope that makes sense.

 

[kevbassman]

I did spend a little time playing the V-12 through my Bergantino Ref II stack (115/112), and it seemed quite loud, though perhaps not as beefy as the Forte HP (1,200w), though I did not spend a ton of time dialing it in. Also, I was trying to get a feel for the rig, but without putting my hearing in any jeopardy, so I didn't try to get absolute max output. I will say that it did seem to like to have the Volume turned up fairly high, relative to the Gain. I think I had the Vol. at about 75-80% up, and I used the Gain to vary the volume as I played.

Thanks Tom. I used the V12 on several shows, and the gain was at 80 & the volume was easily 80 %. I play in two bands and we are not loud bands, just do allot of stuff from Steely Dan to Deep Purple, and Modern stuff. One band with female lead vocalist, the other with male vocalist. Maybe there was an issue with mine. At home it sounded like my house was going to fall over, but on gig I was very disappointed.....even with the SVT (SGT) dialed in to achieve that old 70's "growl". Our soundman did love the DI, more so then my Mesa TT800.....I need to figure out how to use the SGT-DI as a pedal and maybe go that route.....I love the SVT / B15.......but to pay $1,000 for what I would use as a back-up amp is not in my best interest. I think Ampeg had a great idea, but missed. Just my opinion.

 

[kevbassman]

And I know comparing the Mesa TT800 to the V12 might not be fare (3-4 tubes tubes vs no tubes in Ampeg) but I need to go what I feel sounds best to me. I might wait until spring and try out the V7. Who knows. lol

 

[Murph_Orpheus]

My plan is to use my coming V7 with my Darkglass 212 4 ohm cab or with my 4 ohm Aggie slx 410 depending on what sounds best. Got message from Thomann that the V7 is delayed two month

Thomann gave me a January date for the V7 as well. Here's hoping it's not delayed past that.

 

[Feinkevi]

This thread is a great resource, like a lot of you I find it a bit odd not seeing any real reviews etc yet. Well I pulled the trigger on a V3 head about a week ago and went ahead and put together sort of an unboxing/first impressions/sample sound clips video here:

It’s a keeper for me, my main concerns are how dang easily it scratches and the general light duty build - basically switches and rockers etc. are on par with a mid level stomp box.

As for volume concerns, I’m honestly pretty set to go with the V3. According to the manual it’s 310W into 4 ohms and I did check in with Ampeg tech support, who confirmed it’s about 150 into 8 ohms.

So far I’ve used it with an SVT210AV, a pair of the 210AVs, and an old 410HLF. The single 210 sounds great and can hang with the modest volumes I tend to rehearse at, the pair adds maybe 25% more volume and a lot of low end, and the 410HLF felt like it could take the house down. Not much clean clean headroom but with it a bit over driven and the master on 80% or so I really can’t imagine needing more. Supposedly these class D heads are stable pushing that hard but we’ll see I guess.

Main reason I wanted a V3 was weight, and just in general to try a class D head in place of my old 1978 Studio Bass (200W 6X6L6) & 90lb cab. Paired with a single 210 the whole V3 rig is 30 pounds which is pretty awesome. I feel like just the 210 will work for me in most cases, as I don’t remember the last gig I played where I couldn’t run DI to the house and get some more back in a monitor in a pinch, though of course I understand that getting more rumble out of a giant cab can be a beautiful thing.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...my main concerns are how dang easily it scratches and the general light duty build - basically switches and rockers etc. are on par with a mid level stomp box.

Well, that's unfortunate.

 

[Lovep]

Well, that's unfortunate.

It is..especially since the PF350/500/800 were built very solid. I love the build quality of the SGT-DI. I just paired it with a Crown 1002 XLS and it sounds nice!