Hi Everyone,
I’ve been lurking on here for a few months now, but I just joined and this is my first post. Thanks so much to all of you for creating such a wonderful resource/community. All of you have shared some great insights, but in particular, thanks to tombowlus, Pocket Dave, Lowbrow, agedhorse, JimmyM, LetItGrowTone, and Anthony Fregoso (and many others) for giving us such detailed insights. I’ve read all 58 pages of this thread and learned a lot along the way.
My apologies if this is a long or self-indulgent post, or if I ask some dumb “noob” questions. My hope is that other members can also learn from the responses this post might receive and/or that this post might serve as a partial summary of some of what we’ve learned along the way (for folks who don’t want to read all 58 pages).
I’ll start with a very brief summary of what I think y’all seem to be saying about this product lineup, but please correct me if I’m spreading misinfo. For the most part, I didn’t cite specific post numbers because that would’ve taken quite a lot more time to go back and research. But again, please correct me if I’m off base about any of this. After the brief summary, I’ll then get into my specific situation so I can (hopefully) borrow your experience and mental horsepower.
Tone:
A lot of you more experienced bassists seem to think the Venture amps have good clean-ish tones and can approximate “the SVT sound” if you keep the SGT set fairly low. Similar nods to the B15 voicing, though it seemed like there was less mention of it. A lot of you like the sweepable mid EQ controls. And of course there are the Mesa junkies out there who give a lot of love to Subways as alternatives, haha.
Build Quality:
A few of you had some initial concerns about the heads feeling slightly cheap/plastic and also smudging/scratching easily. However, at least thus far, most people on this thread with firsthand experience seem to have walked back those concerns a bit. Similarly, everyone seems to love how light the cabs are, but some of you are worried if they are roadworthy and can handle years of (un)loading at gigs. All in all, it seems like Yamaha quality control can be counted on.
Concerns of Wattage Mismatch between Venture Heads and Venture Cabs:
Anthony Fregoso shared some really useful information around post #905. He said that Ampeg’s published specs have created confusion over compatibility between the Venture heads’ wattage and the Venture cabs. His explanation went way over my head, but the gist seems to be that many of the Venture cabs can handle the V7’s or even V12’s power (at least that was my understanding. Somebody please correct me if I’m misunderstanding). While Anthony didn’t state this, I believe several others have noted that the heads’ watt ratings are at 4 ohms, whereas all of the Venture cabs except the VB-88 have an impedance of 8 ohms (VB-88 is 4 ohms). This means that, except for the VB-88, plugging a Venture head into a Venture cab will result in the head running at about half the listed wattage. So, for instance, the V3 would run at 150w rather than the listed 300w.
Cab Frequency Responses:
Page 6 of the Ampeg User Manual (
https://ampeg.com/data/6/0a00050803ae6614521cda3db/application/pdf/Venture Cabs Owner's Manual - English .pdf) states that many of the Venture cabs can reproduce pretty low fundamental notes. In particular, the VB-115, VB-410, and VB-88 are all capable of hitting notes at or below B0 (approximately 30.87 Hz). Hence, these cabs might be good options for those of us tuned to B standard (more on how that relates to my personal situation below).
Compressor:
Many of you seem to think the built in compressor isn’t very useful and might be best left off.
DI:
Apparently the DI doesn’t sound too great when the SGT is engaged. Some users have suggested that it seems better when used with a cab sim.
Volume Knob and Perceived Power:
The volume knobs apparently save a lot of the volume increase towards the latter half of their rotation. So, unlike many other amps, you need to turn up the Venture volume knobs quite a bit before the volume really seems to increase. This has led some to think the amps are underpowered, but in reality, it might be better to frame it as saving that power for the further parts of the volume knob’s range.
My Personal Situation:
Okay, that’s all the general info I have, so please feel free to quit reading if you aren’t curious about my specific questions.
I’m primarily a guitar player, but I want to record a one man band e.p., and I’m getting into bass. This project is sort of post punk, sort of shoegaze, so those are the types of bass tones I’m going for (think early Cure albums, The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order, early Slowdive, etc.) Through a long and winding road, I’ve ended up tuning down to B standard, which might be a little odd for a subgenre that tends to play higher up on the neck, but that’s where I’ve ended up and it’s led me to write some songs that do make use of those ultra-low notes in the first few frets.
Given the genres I’m playing, I primarily want clean to slightly overdriven tones. When I say “clean,” I don’t mean ultra-ultra hi-fi pristine clean like some bassists seem to strive for. I also know that a lot of players in post punk and shoegaze have used SVTs on some iconic recordings. But this is a home recording project, so using an actual SVT and 8x10 seems like… well… overkill to say the least, haha. This led me to think the Venture amps might be a great choice for me.
Solid state also seems like a good option for me compared to tube heads, because if I understand correctly, I can get a decent solid state tone at relatively low volume whereas I’d need to crank a tube head (for the guitar parts, I have two 100w tube guitar heads running into separate 4x12 cabs, but I have attenuators on those so I can have the amps set pretty high without rattling windows. Yes this is total overkill for bedroom recording, haha. Like I said, it’s been a long and winding road to get here). My wife is cool as hell and doesn’t mind some loud noise, but I don’t want to deafen us. Likewise, we live in a house with no shared walls and pretty cool neighbors, but I’d like an option that gets good recording tones at reasonably loud volumes rather than having to get “calling the cops” loud for decent tone. For reference, we have a basement and I’ve jammed with a live drummer a few times but the neighbors never had a problem with the noise.
So, some of you might be asking, “why not just go strictly DI if this is a recording project?” 1) I love having actual amps and feeling some air moving in a room. 2) Despite all logic and track record, I still have hopes that a reasonably well-done e.p. can attract some people to play with, in which case, I’d like to have a bass amp for practice and perhaps gigs. So, having an actual amp mic’d and then blending in a DI signal for recording seems to make sense.
In that case, why not get the SGT-DI and a separate power amp? Well… maybe I should? As a new bassist that seems somehow more convoluted to me than getting a full-fledged amp and then incorporating a DI. Maybe I’m just scared to try something new. Also, since I want to play post punk and shoegaze, I’m anticipating running quite a bit of modulation and time-based effects for certain bass parts. That makes me think having the FX loop of the full blown amps might make sense and I’m not sure how common it is for a dedicated power amp to have an FX loop if I were to go for the SGT-DI + power amp, instead.
My Questions:
1) Given that I’m tuned to B0, and given the frequency response of the various cabs discussed above, it seems like I’d be best off with a VB-115, a VB-410, or a VB-88. Based off of YouTube demos, the 1x15 sounded the coolest to my ear, but some folks seem to say 4x10 can be easier to record. Oh, and that 8x8 looks rad, but some comments suggest it sounds a bit more “modern”. I’m not sure I want that given I’m going for an ‘80s post punk/shoegaze sound. Can anyone throw in their two cents on which of these cabs might make the most sense for semi-loud home recording and possible live shows for the genres I’m dabbling in? Y’all seem to say that a lot of the “Ampeg tone” lives in the cab, so I’d like to get this right.
2) As for amps, I’m guessing I want a decent amount of clean headroom in case this music is ever played live and that I want mostly clean tones. Given the half-wattages described above, and because of most Venture cab impedances being 8 ohm rather than 4 ohm (again, the VB-88 being the exception to this statement), I’m wondering if the V3 at 150 watts wouldn’t have enough power. On the other hand, the V7 or V12 might be crazy overkill for a project that might never get out of my spare bedroom. I do like the idea of having a blend on the FX loop, which the V7 and V12 have, but is apparently lacking on the V3’s FX loop. What say you? Go for maybe a V7 into the 4x10 or 1x15 to keep it at 350 watts and just keep the volume relatively low? Because these heads are solid state, I believe I could still get good recording tones at relatively low volumes even from the more powerful options, but please tell me if I’m incorrect about that.
3) Should I be considering anything in the SVT Pro lineup instead of the Venture series?
TL;DR
I’m doing a home recording project but can play reasonably loud. I’d also like to buy gear that could be used live in small bars if I can get a band together. This is for post punk/shoegaze so think classic SVT tones that are mostly clean to slightly overdriven and have lots of modulation effects (very ‘80s and not that modern sounding). I’m tuned down to B0 so I’d like a cab that can handle those lower fundamental notes. Folks on here seem to think that the Venture amps’ DIs aren’t the best when using the SGT feature, and I plan on using that quite a bit. Does a V7 head with a separate DI box and either a 1x15 or a 4x10 seem like a reasonable setup for my needs or would I be better off with something else?
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read some or all of this.
We all hear things differently, and it's great to have multiple sources of feedback. I have done most of my comparisons of the VB-88 to the VB-112/VB-115 stack, and by comparison, the VB-88 sounds a lot more "old school" to my ears. Both stacks take really well to EQ, though, and I do think you could dial in a "modern" bass tone on either.
