School Me On SVT’s

[Grinderman]

There's too much to be possibly left to imagination and preferences to flatly say whether an amp is enough or overkill.

This is a cool feature on most amps. Whatever you choose, I recommend never settling for an amp without one.

 

[socialleper]

Do you hate your neighbors, anyone that lives with you, or you back? Then do it.

Or, buy a good VST for a DAW and practice with that.

 

[funkyjudge]

An Ampeg SVT. I’ve been playing bass for 45 years and I’ve never had an SVT and I think I want one. For at home use only. I would never want to move it. What are reliable years, etc.? Thanks for the help!

My first thought was “Why in heck would anyone want an SVT for ‘at home use only’?” Particularly when paired with the 810 sealed cab, that would be absolute overkill, and would probably rattle your windows and shake pictures off the walls.

I toured using an early 70s SVT head and (2) 412 cabs throughout the mid-late 1970s and into the early 1980s (I played in the opening act for Rick James and the Stone City Band). The SVT was a great amp for large venues and playing it through a total of (8) 12” speakers plus an equal number of Piezo horns moved one heck of a lot of air and created enough volume to keep up with two guitarists, a drummer and a keyboard player using a Hammond B3 and two Leslie speaker cabs. However, for use in virtually any home setting, it’s just pure overkill.

 

[funkyjudge]

I think BOC had the SVT in mind when they wrote Godzilla.. 300 watts of molten lava.

Seriously, if you can handle the weight, it has the beef for any situation. I had one for 21 years. Just the head with a Traynor 2x12 cab with EV speakers. Loved it, but the weight and my tastes changed.

However, IME, it’s not the most HI-FI in sound. If you’re playing jazz, modern R&B or contemporary Christian, you might want to go Class D or hybrid. Just one player’s opinion.

Just curious - where did you acquire that Traynor 2x12 cab with the EV speakers that you used with your SVT amp? The two 4x12 cabs that I used with my SVT head were built by Yorkville Sound (a/k/a Traynor) at their USA assembly plant in Batavia, NY.

 

[ThudThudThud]

it's one thing to have one at home, but it's whole other experience to play on a huge stage in front of a large audience with an SVT through the 810 turned up kinda loud. Especially if it's a rockin' gig. The first time I had this happen it was like an epiphany. It's the best.

It does flap the trousers behind the knees, and fun at a big gig.
IMHO there's a lot of emulators out there that get you 99% there without the chiropractic bills.
Once the band is playing, nobody can really tell other than you, and two or three bass players in the audience.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

It does flap the trousers behind the knees, and fun at a big gig.
IMHO there's a lot of emulators out there that get you 99% there without the chiropractic bills.
Once the band is playing, nobody can really tell other than you, and two or three bass players in the audience.

that’s all that matters- that I can tell -and it’s inspiring.

 

[roccobass]

Just curious - where did you acquire that Traynor 2x12 cab with the EV speakers that you used with your SVT amp? The two 4x12 cabs that I used with my SVT head were built by Yorkville Sound (a/k/a Traynor) at their USA assembly plant in Batavia, NY.

Oops.
I should have been more precise in my description. It was a Traynor 2x12 Guitar cabinet that I purchased it my from my friend Frank around ‘88 or ‘89. He had modified it with the bass EVs. It kicked butt.

It’s funny. I went online to get a picture of that cab for you and I just did a double take.

I haven’t seen my Traynor since about 2004 but this is the spitting image of it being sold at this GC. Frank did says his from the early 70s.

The speaker cover even has the exact same horizontal tear at the bottom right damn near as close as mine as mine did as well as that poke in the middle. It’s too surreal if it was. I wonder if I call if could get them to pull off one the speakers and see if it’s an EV? That would make my day if it was.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Grinderman]

Do you hate your neighbors, anyone that lives with you, or you back? Then do it.

Or, buy a good VST for a DAW and practice with that.

Maybe.

I've got an SVT, a DAW with a good VST, and an OE SVT preamp DI too. I'm set pretty much no matter what I want to do, or where, or how quiet or loud.

Despite all that my wife still loves me and my playing and our closest neighbor doesn't mind at all either, I asked him.

 

[Bobbadfinger]

What i found really amusing - I read it day after day in this forum - is how a 350W mini head (note that I'll not use the D word to not stir sh@t) is best suited for "small or medium gigs" (or backup) but you need 500W or 800W to not run out of headroom etc.

And then a 300W SVT (that has a volume knob - and I don't agree that it just sounds good cranked; will not be moved, so weight is no issue) is too loud for home use, will demolish your walls and make you homeless...

To be honest I probably wouldn't buy one if I don't actually have it, but got mine for a song (an even swap for an Acoustic 220, which cost me US$200).
It's just waiting the right buyer, since a used one in Brazil goes for US$3000, nice profit nonetheless...

 

[_Some Dude]

What i found really amusing - I read it day after day in this forum - is how a 350W mini head (note that I'll not use the D word to not stir sh@t) is best suited for "small or medium gigs" (or backup) but you need 500W or 800W to not run out of headroom etc.

And then a 300W SVT (that has a volume knob - and I don't agree that it just sounds good cranked; will not be moved, so weight is no issue) is too loud for home use, will demolish your walls and make you homeless...

To be honest I probably wouldn't buy one if I don't actually have it, but got mine for a song (an even swap for an Acoustic 220, which cost me US$200).
It's just waiting the right buyer, since a used one in Brazil goes for US$3000, nice profit nonetheless...

If I remember correctly an SVT peaks somewhere around 700w.

That said, a lot of people are using their mini amp through a mini cab. They're using power output to compensate for the smaller speaker surface area.

 

[Bobbadfinger]

If I remember correctly an SVT peaks somewhere around 700w.

Never had the balls to measure one cranked; even at onset of clipping I just leave it for a few seconds (too much hassle to change a popped screen resistor on these); but I'm fully aware tube amps exports a lot more power outside its linear region...

 

[_Some Dude]

I added another sentence, probably while you were posting. Not sure if that changes anything or not, but I do agree and see the irony of a forum full of people running 500-800w mini amps saying an SVT is too loud for home use.

 

[DJ Bebop]

What i found really amusing - I read it day after day in this forum - is how a 350W mini head (note that I'll not use the D word to not stir sh@t) is best suited for "small or medium gigs" (or backup) but you need 500W or 800W to not run out of headroom etc.

And then a 300W SVT (that has a volume knob - and I don't agree that it just sounds good cranked; will not be moved, so weight is no issue) is too loud for home use, will demolish your walls and make you homeless...

To be honest I probably wouldn't buy one if I don't actually have it, but got mine for a song (an even swap for an Acoustic 220, which cost me US$200).
It's just waiting the right buyer, since a used one in Brazil goes for US$3000, nice profit nonetheless...

I personally think 300 watts is 300 watts regardless. But what you have it paired with makes a difference. 300 watts into a Super 12, not a lot of air movement or presence in the room. Yet the same 300 watts with an 8x10, or two 8x10s is a whole other matter. More air movement, more height, more presence in the room. I think the desire for more power, 500 to 800 watts comes from using these high power handling new but smaller modern cabinets, the 1x12, 1x15, 2x12, 4x10, compact 2x15, but expecting and wanting a presence like a 4x12 or 8x10 behind you. So instead of 300 watts, we use more power because the cabs will take it but they don't nessacerly give up more presence in the process.

Of course, IMHO.

 

[Bobbadfinger]

Sure, understand and agree. But then no one is pointing a gun to your head to use an 8x10 with the SVT either...

 

[Not Insane]

You've been playing bass for 45 years?!

OK, first question: How big is your mom's basement?

 

[Bobbadfinger]

Nah, just guitar for 40 years.
Houses in Brazil don't have basements...

 

[Grinderman]

I personally think 300 watts is 300 watts regardless. But what you have it paired with makes a difference. 300 watts into a Super 12, not a lot of air movement or presence in the room. Yet the same 300 watts with an 8x10, or two 8x10s is a whole other matter. More air movement, more height, more presence in the room. I think the desire for more power, 500 to 800 watts comes from using these high power handling new but smaller modern cabinets, the 1x12, 1x15, 2x12, 4x10, compact 2x15, but expecting and wanting a presence like a 4x12 or 8x10 behind you. So instead of 300 watts, we use more power because the cabs will take it but they don't nessacerly give up more presence in the process.

Of course, IMHO.

Yes. The choice of a cab, along with the volume knob, are the key elements as far as practicalities or versatility.

 

[Wasnex]

If I understand it correctly the PF50 is voiced closer to the V4B than the SVT

My understanding as well. I own a PF50T and it does not sound exactly like my 69 or 87 SVT. But the two SVTs don't sound exactly alike either. However, they all sound "Ampegy" to me.

To my ears the PF50T is slightly sweeter, more focused, and perhaps more HiFi sounding. My SVTs are a bit thicker, and of course way louder.

The SVTs get their signature grind when pushed. The PF50T is not quite as grindy to my ears. To me the grind is not distortion. It is sort of a texture they get in the high mids.

There are differences in characteristics of OD each amp produces as well.

 

[Grinderman]

I added another sentence, probably while you were posting. Not sure if that changes anything or not, but I do agree and see the irony of a forum full of people running 500-800w mini amps saying an SVT is too loud for home use.

Indeed. Too powerful, too loud, and too large seem to get conflated in this discussion.

We could put a WD-800, TT-800, TH700, V4B or an SVT on top of a 4x10 cab. All are potentially loud enough to be heard down the street. None of those combinations would be much larger spatially speaking than a B-15N.

They're all possibly within the same realm in terms of price.

They all have a volume knob.

 

[Wasnex]

300W SVT (that has a volume knob - and I don't agree that it just sounds good cranked; will not be moved, so weight is no issue) is too loud for home use, will demolish your walls and make you homeless...

I never found the SVT and 810 to be bone crushing loud. But, when I was in college my neighbors called the cops on me several times for blasting the SVT in the middle of the night .

The fans in vintage SVTs are obnoxiously loud. I had several people make fun of my MTI. I have gotten used to the fan noise, so it doesn't bother me in my basement. But I think it would drive some people nuts.