SPECTOR® Club - Part 27

[rockstarbassist]

Sweet! I owned an SVT-3 pro in college, and I've always regret that I sold it! I am looking into the Ampeg rig with the ability to change the pre when necessary. This is what I'm looking at.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f127/***fs-ampeg-svp-pro-usa-rig***-850062/

I've had a few 3Pro's as "temps" and they're workable, but really they have better stuff IME.

I think if it came down to it and I had to use a 'Peg I'd use one of the older Pres+power amp or the 4Pro, as long as it was working right...

 

[grendle]

Sweet! I owned an SVT-3 pro in college, and I've always regret that I sold it! I am looking into the Ampeg rig with the ability to change the pre when necessary. This is what I'm looking at.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f127/***fs-ampeg-svp-pro-usa-rig***-850062/

Do it! I told Jeff to buy that rig, he liked it but didn't like the weight. Thats an early Billy Shean pre I believe. Very sought after amp. I haven't played one in ages but its a good pre with a pretty big following ( basically a hot rodded svt2 pro I believe). There's a guy here in a local band that has one and it sounds great. Not to mention Jeff is an awesome guy!

 

[rockstarbassist]

I've never played the pro, but i use mine kind of like a pro version. there's a master and a gain on that one i believe. I use the volume on the pre like a gain and the volume on the power amp like a master so it works for me. I also don't like any distortion so I can balance the preamp volume and master volume pretty well with my setup. A lot of guys who like the pro lie it for the gain control so they can get that grit at lower volume levels than with the non pro. Either way it's not an issue for me.

The svt2's have more low end than the other ampeg stuff I've played. It's a different low end than i'm used to also. It doesn't get boomy, it just gets "thicker" if that makes any sense. The low boost on the tone pump is centered lower than the head also so if i want more really low lows I just turn that up. You really don't want all those lows that sound good in the bedroom live or in a band setting anyway though, it just turns to boom and mud through the FOH. Took some time to learn that. Those mids (low and hi) are where it's at. But your still gonna feel it

All of what you said is why I considered the II's or variations of such.
People say the Carbine stuff is for Mesa players who don't dig the traditional "Mesa sound". I think the same holds true for 'Peg and the II line.

 

[grendle]

I've had a few 3Pro's as "temps" and they're workable, but really they have better stuff IME.

I think if it came down to it and I had to use a 'Peg I'd use one of the older Pres+power amp or the 4Pro, as long as it was working right...

Thats what I thought. I had a 3 pro and bought the svt2 pre because I really wasn't happy with the 3. I played through the 2 pre and the 3 got sold the next day. very different amps. The 3 sounded thin to me no matter what I did. I plugged in the 2 and it was like OK! now thats what an ampeg is supposed to sound like.

 

[5string_phunk]

I've had a few 3Pro's as "temps" and they're workable, but really they have better stuff IME.

I think if it came down to it and I had to use a 'Peg I'd use one of the older Pres+power amp or the 4Pro, as long as it was working right...

yeah I def just want the ampeg pre. I also want a demeter, eden and eventually an aggie DB680 that I can change out when my tastes change for live stuff and I can use the rest in my studio.

 

[rockstarbassist]

yeah I def just want the ampeg pre. I also want a demeter, eden and eventually an aggie DB680 that I can change out when my tastes change for live stuff and I can use the rest in my studio.

I did the pre thing for a long while-
bast are:
Demeter HBP-1 (I favored it over the 201S)
Aguilar DB659
at least from what I tried out.

 

[delucajohn2000]

+1 ill take mine with a tone pump though!

I do love the tonepump but part of me wants to try out that EMG BQC System that is installed in the Alex Webster basses. All of his Spector's have them installed and I love the tone he gets so I would love to try one for myself since it has the separate mid controls.

 

[5string_phunk]

I did the pre thing for a long while-
bast are:
Demeter HBP-1 (I favored it over the 201S)
Aguilar DB659
at least from what I tried out.

Yeah I am also looking into the Demeter HBP-1 pretty heavily. Brian at the Low End has one with the Jensen transformer for $500ish...but could probably him talk down a bit.

I am new to the pre/power amp setup so I am going to take my Forte to a few shops that sell what I am looking for and spend some time with each.

I think I am more concerned about the power amp choice. I will probably buy multiple pres to use, but will try to only purchase one amp.

 

[grendle]

All of what you said is why I considered the II's or variations of such.
People say the Carbine stuff is for Mesa players who don't dig the traditional "Mesa sound". I think the same holds true for 'Peg and the II line.

Never got to play much of the mesa stuff. Played the carbine recently and it sounded good, played a 400 also which wanted to distort every where but was really thick sounding. They both were cool but not distinctive to me. Definitely big stage worthy and the definition of "backline" though. Beefy amps.

Thats why I like the Hartke and the Ampeg. The Hartke sounds like you and your bass. No color, basically an amp in the basic cence. If you have any issues with your playing, your gonna hear it through a hartke. I dont like their cabs though. Way to harsh for me. The hi drives are better though.

The Ampeg sounds like an ampeg, pretty much no mistaking what it is. The ampeg has the whole mid forward thing going on which is like a match made in heaven with a Spector.

Funny, when I first got the 2 pre, I spent a few hrs playing around and was able to nail tons of tones I had heard on albums very easily. I was kind of like "oh, now I know what they were using in the studio" lol

 

[rockstarbassist]

Yeah I am also looking into the Demeter HBP-1 pretty heavily. Brian at the Low End has one with the Jensen transformer for $500ish...but could probably him talk down a bit.

I am new to the pre/power amp setup so I am going to take my Forte to a few shops that sell what I am looking for and spend some time with each.

I think I am more concerned about the power amp choice. I will probably buy multiple pres to use, but will try to only purchase one amp.

$500 isn't a bad price actually w/ the Jenson xformer. But yeah I'd haggle a little.

IME the best all-around stuff is the original QSC PLX line. Sound-wise, the Stewart 1.6/2.1 takes the flippin' cake, though.

 

[rockstarbassist]

Never got to play much of the mesa stuff. Played the carbine recently and it sounded good, played a 400 also which wanted to distort every where but was really thick sounding. They both were cool but not distinctive to me. Definitely big stage worthy and the definition of "backline" though. Beefy amps.

Thats why I like the Hartke and the Ampeg. The Hartke sounds like you and your bass. No color, basically an amp in the basic cence. If you have any issues with your playing, your gonna hear it through a hartke. I dont like their cabs though. Way to harsh for me. The hi drives are better though.

The Ampeg sounds like an ampeg, pretty much no mistaking what it is. The ampeg has the whole mid forward thing going on which is like a match made in heaven with a Spector.

Funny, when I first got the 2 pre, I spent a few hrs playing around and was able to nail tons of tones I had heard on albums very easily. I was kind of like "oh, now I know what they were using in the studio" lol

I considered going the 4Pro route right before I got my Carbine actually, but I couldn't find a right year/model one that hadn't already been thrashed to death. And no way was I buying a new one lol.
But yeah I like my tone pretty clean without being panky and most of my Mesa stuff gets me there. I had the M-Pulse 600 for a long time (actually had 3-4 over the years haha) and that's another great one.

 

[delucajohn2000]

I actually looked at the II-Pre and the original II's a few years back, the non-Pro version. The pre was part of the 90's Rex sound for sure.

I hate to have to ask this but I get so confused with all of this amp talk Would you mind explaining real quick what this would do and what benefits would be gained when adding it with a head?

You mentioned it was part of Rex's sound so that is what drew my attention I love Rex's tone and I was always curious how he achieved it but there seem to be so many different explanations. If it's too involved, don't worry about it...I was just curious.

 

[JeffplaysBass]

I play Brownie around town at all our local gigs, but that bass is NEVER, ever out of eyesight or far away enough to not chase after a fool and knocking them out cold for even looking at her wrong lol.

Thats what I'm talking about!....also some idiot guy in the gym is always talking about how he stands up to people at the clubs. Why am I saying this??...cause he always says he walks over to them and yells "COME AT ME BRO!!!"...haha

 

[FunkySpoo]

Umm, Alex friggin rules lol.
Also considering he's the main songwriter/arranger/lyricist for CC as well, that's a lot of work.
The Blotted Science stuff is just ridiculous as well. Why bassists in general are so butthurdt over metal is beyond me. Bassists "in general" aren't major songwriters anyway, which is why most of the time on TB I lulz at "crappy song" comments anyway. I used to do that when I was younger (and more ignorant ) which is why I bought my own dang guitar and started putting up instead of just talking noise bc I wasn't contributing. If putting together 3 chords and a minor and having a large to huge number of people like it were "that easy", everyone would do it.
I was actually thinking of which bass I'd get if we were to ever do any kind of touring and it's prob the A.W. sig! Definitely not taking Brownie on any kind of overnighters.

+1

Here's my take on this. Dude has mad skills. I wish I could play with that speed but thankfully none of the stuff I play requires it. Having said that though, and speaking as an old guy, what I heard on that clip just isn't my thing. Not even close to my thing. But just because I don't like the salad doesn't mean the chef sucks.

 

[PaulMacCnj]

A few years ago, I swapped out the tonepump for the EMG BQC System in a Euro5LX. It certainly tames the treble and midrange control helps get rid of the "chirp" from the EMG DC pups. However, you do lose some of the growl. Also, IMO the bass control of the tonepump is more usable over the BQC.

I do love the tonepump but part of me wants to try out that EMG BQC System that is installed in the Alex Webster basses. All of his Spector's have them installed and I love the tone he gets so I would love to try one for myself since it has the separate mid controls.

 

[rockstarbassist]

I hate to have to ask this but I get so confused with all of this amp talk Would you mind explaining real quick what this would do and what benefits would be gained when adding it with a head?

You mentioned it was part of Rex's sound so that is what drew my attention I love Rex's tone and I was always curious how he achieved it but there seem to be so many different explanations. If it's too involved, don't worry about it...I was just curious.

Nah it's no biggie lol
The SVT-II is just the pre+power amp version of that design. With the IIPre you can mate it to whatever power amp(s) you want which is what he did. I'm pretty sure those guys had a lot of their onstage cabs running (if not all of them, which is what Wylde & Co. do) so toting around that many vintage tube amps probably wasn't the best ideal logistically, since he was just sending the DI signal and a miked SVT810 to the board.

I think he used Crest (or Crown) power amps up through the GST touring cycle, and moved on to 4Pro's whenever they suited up for RTS and on through Down.

I know he also used this old Rocktron preamp unit but I forget what it's called, and have never seen one FS. However in his Rig Rundown when he was w/ Down, you can see them in his rack.

IMO the "Rex sound" is all about attack. He has "his way" of attacking the note to make it always sound like him. A Spector + Ampeg rig and a boost around 900hz and 2khz doesn't hurt either but yeah.

 

[rockstarbassist]

+1

Here's my take on this. Dude has mad skills. I wish I could play with that speed but thankfully none of the stuff I play requires it. Having said that though, and speaking as an old guy, what I heard on that clip just isn't my thing. Not even close to my thing. But just because I don't like the salad doesn't mean the chef sucks.

Totally!
To me, I've learned the word "sucks" = you flat out can't play. I've seen bands live that overwhelmingly "suck" haha.

It takes a lot of work and drive to put together what the guys in CC and lots of other bands to and make it sound that tight live. I can't always jam CC but the talent is there. Goes for all kinds of music. That's why it's so funny to see n00bs show up in these threads bashing Spector artists like Mike and Robbie and Alex and expecting it to be like their high school lunch hour or something lol. I also realized a long time ago just because you "play" a certain style of music for a living/job isn't all you can do. Why a lot of interwebz warriors assume this is beyond me.

And just since I mentioned Robbie/GS, I have his instructional DVD and it's stellar. LOT to be learned from that guy. He's a lifer.

 

[rockstarbassist]

Thats what I'm talking about!....also some idiot guy in the gym is always talking about how he stands up to people at the clubs. Why am I saying this??...cause he always says he walks over to them and yells "COME AT ME BRO!!!"...haha

LOL!!

come@mebro = way of life

 

[grendle]

I hate to have to ask this but I get so confused with all of this amp talk Would you mind explaining real quick what this would do and what benefits would be gained when adding it with a head?

You mentioned it was part of Rex's sound so that is what drew my attention I love Rex's tone and I was always curious how he achieved it but there seem to be so many different explanations. If it's too involved, don't worry about it...I was just curious.

Any "head" has a preamp section ( where the signal is made / shaped) and a power amp section ( where the signal from the preamp is amplified ) . In most heads they are in one box and can't be separated.

A separate preamp and power amp are just that, basically two separate boxes that make up a "head"

The ampeg stuff, the svt2 and 2 pro heads have a pretty unique tone to them. Their also all tube in the head version and weight 80 lbs and are only rated to 300w I believe. To me, the main part of that tone come from the preamp, there are no transformers or anything in there so it light ( less than 4 lbs). I wanted that tone but not the weight and also more watts. A 30 lb power amp can push 1500w of clean power or more easily ( it's a FOH PA amp). So basically I have a 1200w svt2 rig

Those all tube 80lb+. heads will allow you to overdrive the power amp for some distortion / color if you want. I don't care for power amp distortion ( or preamp distortion) with bass. So the tube power amp section wasn't an issue for me.

Now you can use what ever preamp you like with any power amp pretty much, so say you want an ampeg tone , a demeter tone, a sansamp tone and what ever else. You can have any of those you like running into a power amp and basically change amps on the fly if you have a switcher, and keep the same power amp. Power amps don't usually ( or shouldn't) color the sound much so you can pick your power level and not worry about needing a new head because the one you bought isn't loud enough, or starts to distort when you turn it up.

This is my first component rig and honestly I don't think i'll go back to a head. I can use multiple main outs from my preamp for what ever i want ( tuner , FOH, a second power amp etc.) and can run pretty much any cab config I chose ( 2 channels stereo @600w @4 ohms, or 1200w mono) 2 4 ohm cabs, 4 8 ohm cabs, or 1200w into 4 ohms (1 4 ohm cab or 2 8 ohm cabs)

since the power amp doesnt color the sound much there are multiple choices at all different power levels. They have new class D amps out that push 1000-3000w and only weigh 7 lbs also ( and go for $200 or less). Thats what i'm looking at next. My rig ( preamp, power conditioner, tuner, power amp, road case) weighs about 50 lbs. I'd like to get that down to 25-30. The class D amps sound a little different to me, but live it doesn't matter much. My back will thank me later.

 

[grendle]

+1

Here's my take on this. Dude has mad skills. I wish I could play with that speed but thankfully none of the stuff I play requires it. Having said that though, and speaking as an old guy, what I heard on that clip just isn't my thing. Not even close to my thing. But just because I don't like the salad doesn't mean the chef sucks.

+1