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Solid State vs Ampeg SVT

#41
Josh Kneisel said:
I get the same reaction when I run SansAmp into the front end of my GK 700RB into my 6X10 Ampeg. I think a big part of it is the large, recognizable, branded cabinet that people have seen since the 70's. Part of it is how much more clean and loud you can make the bass with a rig like that.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Played an SVT with two 8x10's for about a decade in the 70's to very early 80's.
Never heard or felt anything close to that until we did a charity gig and the other band's bassist let me use his rig(SansAmp Pedal>GK700RB>beat to heck SVT 8x10). Only had to tweak things a tiny bit to make THAT rig sound extremely close to an SVT head-pushed SVT 8x10, same tear-drop sound field in front of it, same "touch your strings and they play themselves" feel, same crisp bite and punch at the same time. Came real close to getting a used 8x10 and SVT Classic after that but children's college expenses got in the way.

@Crazy Pines : When they are maintained and working properly, the SVT(tubes) + SVT 8x10 cab is amazing and sounds/feels like nothing else.
 
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#46
I'm an Ampeg guy. I own three of their tube amp (two vintage port-a-flexes and a vintage B25), a small combo and a solid state 350 watt head. My ideal bass tone is a Fender Precision with flats played through an old B-15.

There is a big difference between Ampeg's tube amp and solid state sound, but you can still tell its an Ampeg you are playing through.

Nearly every one of the 100 or so rock gigs I've played over the past dozen years has been with my solid state 350 watt Ampeg head and a SansAmp Bass Driver DI set at the manufacturer's SVT settings. I've got recordings of most of these gigs and I'm always pleased with my tone; its got the "Ampeg" sound and that crunch/distortion you get when you really push a tube amp with aggressive playing. If I were not happy with the tube-like tone of the solid state Ampeg, I would have went to an SVT tube head years ago.

FYI while the B25B gives a great tube sound, at 65 watts, I don't want to push it too hard; most of my live rock gig's don't involve mic'ing or direct-boxing the bass amp.

So you can get close to the ideal sound with a solid state SVT - I'd say 85 to 90 percent, especially if you pair it with a SansAmp.
 
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#47
For me, it's not about better or worse. It's that you'll never mistake a stratocaster for a martin. You can put a saddle pickup on the martin and run it through a flanger and an amp but it won't matter. You can put some piezos in the bridge of your strat and pretend it sounds like an acoustic guitar but it won't matter. You will NEVER mistake one for the other. The Martin will keep its Martin-ness that the strat will never have and the Strat its strati-ness that the Martin will never have.

In almost 50 years of playing drums, guitar, bass, 'cello, piano, and recorder, I've tried to de-romanticized/de-fetishized gear choice. I don't hate digital pianos but I know that even the best will never be mistaken for an acoustic grand piano*. The mechanic chooses the tool he needs for the job. If he can only have one, he may choose the pipe wrench if he's mainly a plumber. He may choose a crescent wrench if he mostly turns nut/bolts. OR he might choose the vise grip if he knows he needs to do a little of both. It's that simple; an ALL tube SVT turns a bolt that almost no other amp turns. An ultra-transparent preamp into a PA style amp turns another kind of nut that the SVT never will. The various hybrids, "voiced" preamps and filtering schemes are the vise grips.

*Well… in arena concerts people are fooled all the time since 90 some percent of the time it's a digital built into the case of a grand because once you've tried to mic' up the grand to arena stage level and gotten rid of the feedback, it sounds worse than a digital and burns up an hour trying to get it dialed in. I've toured the stage of Elton John's "Million Dollar Piano" show in Vegas. He plays a fully functional Yamaha S6 nine foot grand but the sound out front(through an optical pickup and midi converter) is 100 percent digital. So the crowd has been fooled but even blindfolded, the player wouldn't be.
 
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#48
I gigged the almighty SVT-CL > Ampeg 810 for many years... many stages, many stairs, many doors (bumped door frames), many trailers... heavy. Usually need a buddy, at least a buddy to help make it easier/less damaging to walls/doors/as well as the gear itself. I downgraded to the SVT-CL & 410HLF, big weight change. Grew tired of that too.... then MarkBass LMT800 with Tech21 VT Bass into 410HLF... recently just bought a 2nd MarkBass NY121 cab, which oddly enough, now has an Ampeg PF800 on top instead of the LMT800 & VT Bass.

For me it was the ease of setup, tear down, trailering, storage, bulk, etc.... There is a certain vibe/feel/mojo that comes from the SVT-CL & possibly with the 8x10 too. But, my decision was based on weight/bulk. If I had roadies -- I'd have a pair of SVT-CL/810 setups, no questions asked. But, I don't. And I only miss that setup from a minimal standpoint.
 
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#49
kringle77 said:
Well, do a few searches and you'll find that half of the talkbass page is built around that question. Also, anything played into an ampeg 8x10 is going to have a lot of that sounds. I think the 8x10 is 3/4 of the magic for most folks.
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That's what I felt too. I'm not playing an SVT nor did in the past. I've checked out a lot of stuff at the store, different heads on different cabinets. The Ampeg Classic series (no HF, not ported but closed cabinet, with each 2x10 in separated chamber) and the Mesa Traditional 6x10 and 8x10 (made the same, old Ampeg way) sound great and similar with almost every head. The conclusion came quick, the cabinet is a BIG part of the sound. It sounds good even played at 20% of the power, so the power tubes saturation cannot be the reason for the sound. It will sound different if you crank up the volume on the SVT, of course.
 
#50
Alexander said:
I only play one because JimmyM said so
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Jimmy M? He said if I don't play an SVT, he will come to my house, beat me to a pulp, eat all my eggs, drink my beer, (I don't have any beer,) yell at my dog, and paint the living room sort of a mauve with cinnamon undertones. He will make sure my socks have no matches, and he will scream dirty limericks at my neighbors. Rather than going through all that, I just bought the tube/solid state hybrid, and he said that was fine, but not his first choice.
 
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#51
You guys are right that a good SS head will still sound good in an 810, but I have no idea where this idea that tubes must be cranked into the red to sound good comes from. The entire idea of the SVT was to get clean tube sound at high volume. I never run an SVT dirty and I greatly prefer it over SS and so do most people I know who use them.
 
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#52
mellowinman said:
Jimmy M? He said if I don't play an SVT, he will come to my house, beat me to a pulp, eat all my eggs, drink my beer, (I don't have any beer,) yell at my dog, and paint the living room sort of a mauve with cinnamon undertones. He will make sure my socks have no matches, and he will scream dirty limericks at my neighbors. Rather than going through all that, I just bought the tube/solid state hybrid, and he said that was fine, but not his first choice.
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Bah...I rarely drink or eat eggs.
 
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#54
I have always wanted an SVT, and have tried to duplicate that sound and feel with and SVP preamp and power amp. As the years go by, and the back goes bye bye, I have downsized and found the amp that I think suits me, a Boogie D800. All that being said, last week I was on the bill with Alice Cooper's band in a small club in Birmingham, Alabama. The backline provided was a 1974 SVT and 810. I plugged in and experienced tone nirvana. The only knob I touched was the turn that mother shager up knob. My mutt Geddy Jazz has never thundered and growled as much as it did then. I am rethinking my smaller is better philosophy after playing this greatness. It only took me 30 years to discover this.
 
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#58
69Jazz said:
I have always wanted an SVT, and have tried to duplicate that sound and feel with and SVP preamp and power amp. As the years go by, and the back goes bye bye, I have downsized and found the amp that I think suits me, a Boogie D800. All that being said, last week I was on the bill with Alice Cooper's band in a small club in Birmingham, Alabama. The backline provided was a 1974 SVT and 810. I plugged in and experienced tone nirvana. The only knob I touched was the turn that mother shager up knob. My mutt Geddy Jazz has never thundered and growled as much as it did then. I am rethinking my smaller is better philosophy after playing this greatness. It only took me 30 years to discover this.
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Roaring SVT>810 is one of the greatest back massages you can ever get!!!! (well, not THOSE kinds with THOSE endings)
 
#59
I'm one of the few that by my definition, doesn't classify hybrids as solid state.

I own a 2 pro, 4 pro, 6 pro and a host of tube preamps and a host of solid state Ampeg amps. They all sound very distinct in different ways. None of them completely good or bad. I would categorize them as axe's, knives, and scalpels.

Most of the pro series amps are reliable, less expensive to maintain and will nail most of today's modern music with flexibility and "features". They all get it done in their own way. I can tell you that all of the amps can cop each other but, none of them can replace each other. The 2, 4, and 6 have a sound all their own.
 

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