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Opinions: VT Bass Rackmount or keep the SVT5 Pro?

S

Selios

Jun 20, 2012
312
375
Niagara, ON, Canada
#1
Hello,
Lately I've been thinking of putting a rack together. Right now I've got an Ampeg SVT5 Pro, it's not bad at all, but it's sure to add loads of weight to a full rack case and I find myself more likely to be using the clean channel rather than blending it with the distortion channel. I figure that if I picked up a Sansamp VT Bass rack preamp unit and a power amp I could play around with the blend and drive controls to get any additional grit that I might want. That might save some weight in the rack case as well as offer all the Sansamp goodies like the DI allowing for cabinet-less gigging (the SVT has a DI out as well, but I wouldn't want to have its power amp working without driving a cabinet)...

Anyway, I'm just looking for opinions. Would you go the VT preamp + power amp route or would you keep the 5-Pro? If you dig the VT Bass I'd also appreciate suggestions for a power amp. Thanks!
 
#2
Lighter gear is attractive, and for the money the VT's a very versatile unit, but a 5 Pro's very sweet in a different (and IMHO better) way, and you'll be hard pressed to ever find another one if you sell it. The VT does sound really good but it has compression at all times that the 5 Pro doesn't. At the very least, I wouldn't off the 5 Pro before I found out if the VT pre will work in its place.
 
#3
I don't know anything about the 5Pro, but I love the VTRM and lightweight is a good thing for sure.

Note that the Blend control on the VTRM can reduce the compression effect. The sample tone settings in the tech21 manuals (for many of their devices) usually have Blend turned all the way up, but I have better luck with Blend set back to 2 o'clock or even noon, depending on how much overdrive I dial in.
 
#4
What else do you have the 5 Pro rack up with? 40 pounds isnt that bad, when you consider how many times a night you actually move the amp. IMHO unless you are actually going to go full micro, you are not shedding an appreciable amount of weight to make the switch worth it.

If you are letting the 5 Pro go... I want to know about it. ;)
 
#5
Thanks for your opinions, I was thinking of putting a compressor in the rack anyway as well as a power conditioner, tuner, maybe a wireless and a power amp if I go with the VT. It's a pretty simple setup that I'm going for but I haven't actually purchased any of these components except the 5Pro. Maybe it's also a question of tone. It's quite possible that the VT and the 5Pro can offer some pretty different flavours using what features they have. Like Jimmy said, it's probably a good idea to make sure the VT can get a suitable sound before I let the 5Pro go, if I even let it go.
 
#8
Selios said:
That might save some weight in the rack case as well as offer all the Sansamp goodies like the DI allowing for cabinet-less gigging (the SVT has a DI out as well, but I wouldn't want to have its power amp working without driving a cabinet)...

Anyway, I'm just looking for opinions. Would you go the VT preamp + power amp route or would you keep the 5-Pro? If you dig the VT Bass I'd also appreciate suggestions for a power amp. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would look at a VTDI pedal for the cabinet-less gigs and keep the 5pro. Try running it into the effect return to see if you prefer it's sound to the 5pro if you must. My modded BDDI can get me 90-95% of my SVP-Pro, but still not quite there. The EQ points are slightly different and I prefer the low end push I get from my Ampeg. But for some gigs, it's BDDI, & bass. Not trying to persuade you one way or another, just maybe play with a VT for a while before you decide.
 
#9
Fuzzbass said:
I don't know anything about the 5Pro, but I love the VTRM and lightweight is a good thing for sure.

Note that the Blend control on the VTRM can reduce the compression effect. The sample tone settings in the tech21 manuals (for many of their devices) usually have Blend turned all the way up, but I have better luck with Blend set back to 2 o'clock or even noon, depending on how much overdrive I dial in.
Click to expand...

I've also found that this is the key with the Tech 21 units. I don't use my VT Bass v2 much because it doesn't have a blend control (I think I'm gonna have it modded though). With the RBI pre and the Para Driver I run the blend at noon (50%) - or even less.
 
#10
cableguy said:
I would look at a VTDI pedal for the cabinet-less gigs and keep the 5pro. Try running it into the effect return to see if you prefer it's sound to the 5pro if you must. My modded BDDI can get me 90-95% of my SVP-Pro, but still not quite there. The EQ points are slightly different and I prefer the low end push I get from my Ampeg. But for some gigs, it's BDDI, & bass. Not trying to persuade you one way or another, just maybe play with a VT for a while before you decide.
Click to expand...

THIS.

I personally think that the VT BassDI pedal is the best VT Bass configuration due to the DI feature and the 10" speaker emulation defeat switch. You should be able to either plug it into the effects return or poweramp in jack of your SVT5-Pro which will bypass the native preamp and use just the power section of your 5-Pro. This way you'll have the use of the 5-Pro sound as is and have the option of the Tech 21 VT Bass sound.
 

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