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Show your Ampeg Tube Heads!!!
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Nothing much...saw it in a store in Orlando 20 years ago for $750, talked the owner down to $650 and took it home.
Edword, how did that VT-22 sound for bass? There's a part of me that is drawn to a tube combo amp for bass for some reason - even the '59 Fender Bassmans despite the fact that they apparently sound like butt for bass.
Also, it looks like 1969 was the only year they had those black plastic switches on the SVTs and B25Bs, even though they had metal switches on the B-15 series before and on the later SVT/B25/V4s - can anyone confirm or deny this with photos? Thanks again for posting all of these - they have a lot of character.
Also, it looks like 1969 was the only year they had those black plastic switches on the SVTs and B25Bs, even though they had metal switches on the B-15 series before and on the later SVT/B25/V4s - can anyone confirm or deny this with photos? Thanks again for posting all of these - they have a lot of character.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
i just finished a complete rebuild of a 1975 SVT that i purchased in the talkbass classifieds.
here's what it took to get it to work like new:
cleaned chassis and all circuit boards
cleaned all pots jacks, switches and tube sockets
replaced all filter caps with OEM parts
replaced all power resistors
replaced all bias resistors
replaced AC panel jack on back
replaced all tubes with NOS USA GE 6550A's and Sylvania 12DW7's, RCA 12BH7A's and RCA 6C4 and 12AX7A.
Set bias and hum balance
replaced fan
replaced 12 pin connector
replaced fuse post and fuse
regrilled grillcloth with OEM
cleaned tolex, f&r panels
it sounds awesome now! (and it looks pretty good too!
all three of my SVT's ('69, '75 and '07 VR) sound almost exactly alike. its hard to say which one is my favorite. i mean the '69 blue line is my favorite-looking one, but this '75 reminds me of one of a brand new one that i purchased back in 1978. i'm in SVT heaven now.
(pics of my three V4's coming soon) and my B12N with a D120F speaker. (when i finally get it out of storage)
here's what it took to get it to work like new:
cleaned chassis and all circuit boards
cleaned all pots jacks, switches and tube sockets
replaced all filter caps with OEM parts
replaced all power resistors
replaced all bias resistors
replaced AC panel jack on back
replaced all tubes with NOS USA GE 6550A's and Sylvania 12DW7's, RCA 12BH7A's and RCA 6C4 and 12AX7A.
Set bias and hum balance
replaced fan
replaced 12 pin connector
replaced fuse post and fuse
regrilled grillcloth with OEM
cleaned tolex, f&r panels
it sounds awesome now! (and it looks pretty good too!
all three of my SVT's ('69, '75 and '07 VR) sound almost exactly alike. its hard to say which one is my favorite. i mean the '69 blue line is my favorite-looking one, but this '75 reminds me of one of a brand new one that i purchased back in 1978. i'm in SVT heaven now.
(pics of my three V4's coming soon) and my B12N with a D120F speaker. (when i finally get it out of storage)
hasbeen
Commercial User
- Sep 23, 2004
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- Executive Vice President, The Adam Hall Group
i just finished a complete rebuild of a 1975 SVT that i purchased in the talkbass classifieds.
here's what it took to get it to work like new:
cleaned chassis and all circuit boards
cleaned all pots jacks, switches and tube sockets
replaced all filter caps with OEM parts
replaced all power resistors
replaced all bias resistors
replaced AC panel jack on back
replaced all tubes with NOS USA GE 6550A's and Sylvania 12DW7's, RCA 12BH7A's and RCA 6C4 and 12AX7A.
Set bias and hum balance
replaced fan
replaced 12 pin connector
replaced fuse post and fuse
regrilled grillcloth with OEM
cleaned tolex, f&r panels
it sounds awesome now! (and it looks pretty good too!
all three of my SVT's ('69, '75 and '07 VR) sound almost exactly alike. its hard to say which one is my favorite. i mean the '69 blue line is my favorite-looking one, but this '75 reminds me of one of a brand new one that i purchased back in 1978. i'm in SVT heaven now.
(pics of my three V4's coming soon) and my B12N with a D120F speaker. (when i finally get it out of storage)
wow...very impressive...great job. As a history geek, it is nice to see somebody taking the effort to preserve things like that. Thumbs up!!
John, that 75 makes me hot and horny for a Magnavox SVT now to match my 77 B-15N. Wife would kill me dead!
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
Thanks guys!
yeah, it has become very theraputic for me to restore old tube amps back to their original specs. i've been doing it for more than 30 years and i'm diggin' working on them more than ever.
its actually fairly simple to do it. with all the schematics, and parts suppliers available on the web, it is now easier than it was years ago. the key is to not cheap out on the replacement components like filter caps,pots, jacks and switches, and not stray for the original amp's values.(i.e. use USA replacement parts in a USA amp)
i was telling my fiance' the other day that even if i were to win the lottery, i would keep rebuilding/restoring vintage amps, if only to maintain a sense of well-being.
here's some pics of the '75 SVT's innards showing the caps that i replaced. with 34 years of the SVT's fan blowing 34 years worth of dirt, crud and dust in there, it took alot longer to clean the chassis and pcb's than to fix it.
yeah, it has become very theraputic for me to restore old tube amps back to their original specs. i've been doing it for more than 30 years and i'm diggin' working on them more than ever.
its actually fairly simple to do it. with all the schematics, and parts suppliers available on the web, it is now easier than it was years ago. the key is to not cheap out on the replacement components like filter caps,pots, jacks and switches, and not stray for the original amp's values.(i.e. use USA replacement parts in a USA amp)
i was telling my fiance' the other day that even if i were to win the lottery, i would keep rebuilding/restoring vintage amps, if only to maintain a sense of well-being.
here's some pics of the '75 SVT's innards showing the caps that i replaced. with 34 years of the SVT's fan blowing 34 years worth of dirt, crud and dust in there, it took alot longer to clean the chassis and pcb's than to fix it.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
thanks! cool '72!
yeah, GE6550A's are nice, and i expect them to last many years, but i think that winged C 6550's, Gold Lion KT88Genalex RI's and Shuguang KT100's sound just about as good (and cost ALOT less!) . if you use really good NOS tubes in the preamp and driver stages (like RCA, Sylvania, Amperex, Telefunken, Mullard, etc) to me, it makes a bigger difference than the output tubes.
here's a couple of pics of my VR (with the 610 and the 410 cabs). not a vintage amp, but IMO, a cool amp(eg) nonetheless. and it can really fill a room using both cabs.:
yeah, GE6550A's are nice, and i expect them to last many years, but i think that winged C 6550's, Gold Lion KT88Genalex RI's and Shuguang KT100's sound just about as good (and cost ALOT less!) . if you use really good NOS tubes in the preamp and driver stages (like RCA, Sylvania, Amperex, Telefunken, Mullard, etc) to me, it makes a bigger difference than the output tubes.
here's a couple of pics of my VR (with the 610 and the 410 cabs). not a vintage amp, but IMO, a cool amp(eg) nonetheless. and it can really fill a room using both cabs.:
Me too...very calming. Like walking on the beach at 5 am after a night of gambling your last $500 away in a desperate attempt to afford the $1000 hooker sitting at the bar, but she's impressed by how much you're willing to do to get her and gives you a quickie anyway.
Not that's ever happened to me...
Not that's ever happened to me...
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
yeah, we must be geeks. you'd think that we were looking at cool old street rods or muscle cars- but nope, just a bunch of tube bass amps.
I want a full stack like jvdb's. Got 2/3 of it...now I just need an orphaned cab. Ya, my wife would love that.
'77 V-4B
'79 SVT
Kindness was, well, kind enough to let me mess around with the SVT and V-4B above today. Suffice it to say, I'm now on the lookout for a V-4!
thanks! cool '72!
yeah, GE6550A's are nice, and i expect them to last many years, but i think that winged C 6550's, Gold Lion KT88Genalex RI's and Shuguang KT100's sound just about as good (and cost ALOT less!) . if you use really good NOS tubes in the preamp and driver stages (like RCA, Sylvania, Amperex, Telefunken, Mullard, etc) to me, it makes a bigger difference than the output tubes.
here's a couple of pics of my VR (with the 610 and the 410 cabs). not a vintage amp, but IMO, a cool amp(eg) nonetheless. and it can really fill a room using both cabs.:
What is the difference in tone between your original head and your 2007?
