To me the best way to acheive the SVT tone in a class D amp is the Ampeg SVT 7 Pro.....
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Opinion - Which Class D comes closest to an SVT
- Thread starter Ringhammer
- Start date
Please research the gear I've mentioned in stead of contributing absolutely nothing. Thanks
Indeed, without actual experience of this amp, how could you make a valid judgement? I recently had the luck to try WD800 / TC Blacksmith / Aguilar Tone hammer 700, with my Mesa D800 as a comparison. Before I received the amps (courtesy of Thomann, Germany), I was convinced that, having liked my D800, that I'd LOVE the WD-800...not so. Without going into details (that may only be relevant to me), I kept the Aguilar - Love this amp, but could not have made that choice without having been able to play the other amps.
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I own an SVT-CL, and have owned pretty much every SVT except a 5 and an 8, including a vintage blueline and a vintage V4.
I currently own a 610 HLF. It takes an HPF in front of it to dial out some of the loose lows and get it back to the classic Ampeg cab tone. With the HPF it get very close.
I have owned an Ampeg 410, B40, 412, 610 HLF, 810 (several), and an Isovent.
The classic Ampeg tone TO ME is the 300W all-tube beast with sealed 10 inch speakers. The closest head to the 300W all-tube WITH an 810 is the SVT 6 Pro.
As @JimmyM said, there isn't "one" SVT tone. It'll go all over the place. BUT, the overall feel and nature of the tone TO ME involves heavy low mids. That comes from the natural SVT tone AND the CAB (again, sealed 10s).
The Mesa Walkabout CAN get close with sealed 10s. I have used mine with several backline 810 cabs and it really gets in the ballpark. Of course, it's not all the way there.
All of this goes to say two things.
1) You need either sealed 10s, an LPF/HPF to dial in that sound, or a cab sim that does all of that for you. The cab IS a huge part of the sound.
2) I have yet to play a featherweight head that gets me there. If one existed that I had heard, I would own it. The SVT 6 and Walkabout are both mid weight MOSFET amps. MOSFET amps are the closest compromise I have found in my almost 35 years of playing.
My advice?
Get a Mesa WD800. I haven't played one myself. But having an almost uncomfortably close relationship with the Walkabout, I have done a ton of reading up on the new one. I trust @agedhorse more than many people I know in person. So I'm sure he didn't "ruin' the Walkabout, rather he refined it. The para mids section of that preamp is powerful. If you get to know it, you can dial in, or out, just about anything you want.
Sit that puppy on top of two vertical Ampeg sealed 210 cabs. That will be a lightweight, somewhat close to the SVT sound, modular rig with some wattage headroom.
Best of luck with your search.
I currently own a 610 HLF. It takes an HPF in front of it to dial out some of the loose lows and get it back to the classic Ampeg cab tone. With the HPF it get very close.
I have owned an Ampeg 410, B40, 412, 610 HLF, 810 (several), and an Isovent.
The classic Ampeg tone TO ME is the 300W all-tube beast with sealed 10 inch speakers. The closest head to the 300W all-tube WITH an 810 is the SVT 6 Pro.
As @JimmyM said, there isn't "one" SVT tone. It'll go all over the place. BUT, the overall feel and nature of the tone TO ME involves heavy low mids. That comes from the natural SVT tone AND the CAB (again, sealed 10s).
The Mesa Walkabout CAN get close with sealed 10s. I have used mine with several backline 810 cabs and it really gets in the ballpark. Of course, it's not all the way there.
All of this goes to say two things.
1) You need either sealed 10s, an LPF/HPF to dial in that sound, or a cab sim that does all of that for you. The cab IS a huge part of the sound.
2) I have yet to play a featherweight head that gets me there. If one existed that I had heard, I would own it. The SVT 6 and Walkabout are both mid weight MOSFET amps. MOSFET amps are the closest compromise I have found in my almost 35 years of playing.
My advice?
Get a Mesa WD800. I haven't played one myself. But having an almost uncomfortably close relationship with the Walkabout, I have done a ton of reading up on the new one. I trust @agedhorse more than many people I know in person. So I'm sure he didn't "ruin' the Walkabout, rather he refined it. The para mids section of that preamp is powerful. If you get to know it, you can dial in, or out, just about anything you want.
Sit that puppy on top of two vertical Ampeg sealed 210 cabs. That will be a lightweight, somewhat close to the SVT sound, modular rig with some wattage headroom.
Best of luck with your search.
Aguilar Tone Hammer
Aguilar Tone Hammer
Aguilar Tone Hammer
(I prefer the 700 to the 500, but the 500 still rocks socks)
I have to say... I've bought and sold a LOT of tube amps looking for a lighter / 200 Watt version of the SVT, and none of them fit the bill. I was stunned and amazed when I tried an Aguilar Tone Hammer. As said above, it's not 100% an SVT, but it's 100% something I like just as much as the SVT for all the same reasons.
1) Vintage-voiced grind --> fuzz depending upon how hard you push it. Close enough to an SVT to fool my ears.
2) Touch sensitive: if you dial in the gain and drive knobs just right, you can go from clean to filthy, just depending upon how hard you dig into the string. THAT dynamicism (dynamicism?) is the holy grail I've been searching for in solid-state for the last 22 years.
I know it's just an iphone strapped to a radar detector or whatever--there's no real "amp" in there. But it sounds effing fantastic to me.
I owned and played SVT's for several years. The rig that has come closest to it for me is a Jule Amps Monique tube preamp played through the power section of a bridged Walter Woods stereo head into two Greenboy F112's.
i've posted it a thousand times and i still stand by it.
my old markbass head with the v1 VT bass.
you can't possibly get a better SVT rig than that.
my old markbass head with the v1 VT bass.
you can't possibly get a better SVT rig than that.
Yes there are a lot of amps that have tone controls . Does that make them sound or have the slam and feel of an all tube SVT absolutely not. You can turn knobs to get the basic same frequencies boosted or cut, but when you start playing it is not even close to the SVT. IMHO the amp that I have played through that sounds the most tube like (so much so that I was playing through it, and thought I was Playing through my Super Bassman 300 ) is the Peavey Mini Mega. No it does not have the feel of an SVT or the Super Bassman or any other tube amp I have used but it is close sound wise. And much closer overall than any other SS amp I have used.
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I was just about to bring up Jule Amps. They have a pedalboard version of the Monique called Simone coming out, along with a pedalboard size 500W power amp. Perhaps not a very light setup, but definitely smaller than an all tube amp head. With Jule's experience and knowledge about all things tube amps, I reckon it will become a smash hit in both studio and live situations.
@juledude
As far as I can tell with my old ears and brain, my Aguilar TH-500 into an 810 Cab is as close as I need to get! Now if I could just find an 810 that weighed less than 50 lbs..........
I was just going to ask if any SVT users had experience with any of the newer modelers/profilers, and how they stack up.
I know my Helix does a great job on the guitar amp models. I haven't played an all-tube SVT through an 810, so I can't speak for the accuracy of the Helix SVT model, but I know I like the way it sounds. I'm sure the Kemper is as good or perhaps better.
My Fender Rumble 800 Combo, has a few nice Ampeg Models on it, go give one a try its light, affordable and loud. From small stages to outdoor shows it holds its own with a nice FOH.
Yeah, I love everything Jule makes. Lately I've been using a R.A.D. Engineering 1000P power amp instead of the bridged WW, but I no longer have the two F112's. I've been playing it through a Euphonic Audio VL-208 and VL-110, but I'm having a new F112 built, which will replace the VL-110. Should be pretty close to having two F112's.
I have (among others) Ampeg PF-500 and PF-800 amps, but the only amp head that I've used for the last several years is a Peavey Headliner. It may or may not sound like an SVT, but it has amazing grind or heft or chutzpah or whatever this week's term of art is for the sought-after ineffable.
I posted a question on Talkbass a few years ago about the Headliner series of heads, and got the following enjoyable reply from a Peavey insider:
"This amp uses the PV1000 amp module, originally designed for the Mini Mega, which has been shipping for a few weeks now. Other than that, it's the same as the previous Headliner head with the exception of an added mute switch.
"While the Mini Mega preamp is an attempt at refinement and control over the PV1000, the voicing of the Headliner preamp pretty much throws that out the window in favor of ridiculous loudness."
I posted a question on Talkbass a few years ago about the Headliner series of heads, and got the following enjoyable reply from a Peavey insider:
"This amp uses the PV1000 amp module, originally designed for the Mini Mega, which has been shipping for a few weeks now. Other than that, it's the same as the previous Headliner head with the exception of an added mute switch.
"While the Mini Mega preamp is an attempt at refinement and control over the PV1000, the voicing of the Headliner preamp pretty much throws that out the window in favor of ridiculous loudness."
+1
I picked up a Tone Hammer 700 just a few weeks ago and have been playing it into two SL115 cabinets. My comments below are based on one gig, so this a first impression only and come with a few caveats:
1. I played a new-to-me 1959 Precision through this rig, which I have not yet had the opportunity to try through the SVT/810. So some of what I heard might actually be the bass. It has a set of LaBella flats that only had a few hours on them - so I know will only sound better over time as they break in.
2. The SL115s are new also and not broken in yet. I expect the low end to fill out a bit more and for the highs to sweeten up - at least that is my experience having broken in a lot of cabs through the years. And this is 2 115 versus the Heritage 810 I normally play through - so not exactly a fair fight.
3. The EQ on this amp isn't super intuitive - I'm a "set and forget" kind of guy and admit I probably don't have this dialed in quite yet.
So, my hope is that things only sound better as I settle in with this rig. But here is what I experienced:
The Aguilar is, to my ears anyway, warmer sounding than the SVT - in a really pleasing way. It lacks the fat, round, pillow-y thing that I love about the SVT and comes across as a bit more focused - at least on its own. But, I've never heard an amp that sounds as nice in a live mix as that Tone Hammer - fat, warm and clear. It has better string-string balance (which has me thinking about perhaps changing up the way I EQ the SVT a bit). I could hear every note from the TH better, but it didn't have that weighty feel the SVT provides - I'm not sure if that is better or worse, but it is certainly different. I had the gain at 11-12 and volume maxed on the TH (yes we're loud), so was pushing the amp. Whereas the SVT (to me) sounds better the harder you push it, I thought the TH sounded worse the harder it was pushed - not dramatically so though. Again, this isn't a fair fight - two 115s versus an 810 - I have to think the playing field would be leveled a bit if I had played it through an 810 (or the SVT through the 115s).
Our harp player records all of our shows with his go-pro. Obviously not a hi-fi, pro recording, but is surprisingly good. The go pro is situated just in front of the stage, so not sure how much it was picking up my stage rig versus the house. BUT, that rig sounded better to my ears in those recordings than any other we've done. And, of course, the load-out experience was completely different - not only are those SL115s a svelte 34 lbs, but they have great side handles that make them feel like carrying an empty box.
We're doing a rehearsal in a few weeks and I plan to take the SVT/810 and TH, where I can do a better A/B comparison. But very happy so far!
I mean... the way I see it, trying to see what head will come closest to sounding like another head is a bit of a mission in failure. 'Closest' I guess would be something specifically designed to sound like it - I thought the SansAmp was basically designed to mimic the SVT, so I guess a SansAmp into a class-D power amp maybe? Never tried the VT-500 but if it's designed in any way to copy the SVT sound I guess it would get quite close. Maybe another one of Ampeg's own class-D heads?
I played a festival in Romania and they had an SVT+8x10 setup. I unhooked the SVT and connected my Mesa D-800 (I always travel with it) and the sound was pretty epic - not identical but still quite close, maybe a touch cleaner and a bit less, well, Ampeg-ish sounding. True about the cabinet though, it's a very heavily voiced one.
I played a festival in Romania and they had an SVT+8x10 setup. I unhooked the SVT and connected my Mesa D-800 (I always travel with it) and the sound was pretty epic - not identical but still quite close, maybe a touch cleaner and a bit less, well, Ampeg-ish sounding. True about the cabinet though, it's a very heavily voiced one.
My Engl Iron Bass with the overdrive up through the Engl 410 sounds reminiscent of my SVT through a 410 Heritage. It does have 2 tubes for the overdrive circuit but is a class D. They're pretty hard to come by. Had to wait a few months coming from Germany and I'm not even sure you can buy them anymore. Rare to say the least and a little over priced.
