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SVT-CL Fart noises

#21
Before you get other gear. I would try the flat settings on the amp (with probably a raised master). And I would try different settings on the bass... I find those pickups to blend very badly, so I would try to use just one pickup and use the EQ of the bass to make it sound like you want it to sound... The bridge pickup with the mid from the bass cranked will give you more cut through than you can handle... but it won't give you the low end that knocks you of you feet... but you'll still have the bass from the bass's EQ.
 
#23
AndyMan said:
The preamp circuit on the SCt Classic is really sh**y, dirty sounding, for lack of a better term, if you tun it too high. I would agree you need to back off the high EQ settings.

BTW--an active bass with EMG's though and SVT? WHAT are you thinking man!!! Get ya a Fender!!!
Click to expand...

I'm one of those dudes thats been playing bass for like 8 years now, BUT I've just recently started worrying about tone and stuff like that. So technically I'm brand new when it comes to gear and pickups. I loved the way that bass looked and people told me the pickups would sound great so I figured what the heck. I still like the way that it sounds actually so I'm not all that concerned with the tone, just cutting through and not farting.

So I went down and messed with it a bit. Basically here are the new settings that I found sound good, but it may be different tommorow when I try it.

Gain: 6.5
Bass: 6
Mid: 5
Frequency: 2
Treble: 4
Ultra Lo: On

On bass itself:
Bass: 10
Mid: 5
Treble: 10

It doesn't have the farting at all anymore but obviously I had to crank the master a bit more. What is the maximum master level that I should steer clear from. I notice myself turning the master to like 5ish and I don't want to turn it too high.
 
#24
The amp settings look fine, the bass, I'm not so sure about. A lot of guys will flame me if I told you there was one way to do it, but for me there is only one way to do it.

For one, set the onboard completely flat and get the sound you want from the amp itself. Banging the front end of your amplifier with a heavy boosted bass signal will get you--surprise--a distorted signal through your amp. And that's what you're doing when you boost the bass control on your instrument...not good if you're after good tone.

Now, if you have a clip light near the gain as most Ampegs do, use that as your guide, if not, set it at around 11:00. Then turn the volume up to near playing level before you start fiddling with anything, because your overall volume level has a HUGE effect on the tone of your amp.

Now you can mess with the controls on your amp to see how good it is at getting the tone you're after.
 
#25
fmfisdead said:
I'm one of those dudes thats been playing bass for like 8 years now, BUT I've just recently started worrying about tone and stuff like that. So technically I'm brand new when it comes to gear and pickups. I loved the way that bass looked and people told me the pickups would sound great so I figured what the heck. I still like the way that it sounds actually so I'm not all that concerned with the tone, just cutting through and not farting.

So I went down and messed with it a bit. Basically here are the new settings that I found sound good, but it may be different tommorow when I try it.

Gain: 6.5
Bass: 6
Mid: 5
Frequency: 2
Treble: 4
Ultra Lo: On

On bass itself:
Bass: 10
Mid: 5
Treble: 10

It doesn't have the farting at all anymore but obviously I had to crank the master a bit more. What is the maximum master level that I should steer clear from. I notice myself turning the master to like 5ish and I don't want to turn it too high.
Click to expand...

The ultra low switch would be better named the fart switch. It boosts the lows slightly and makes a massive midrange scoop. The likely result at a gig is you can't hear it properly so you turn it up until you get mush. It's a good thing to avoid.
 
#26
I've found that passive basses sound "better" (well, not actually better, but you know what I Mean) with these valve amps (Ampeg). I have one SVT-VR and makes sound my Stingray5 awesome... But with my jazz bass things are in a better level, I think this has a lot to do with the nature of the amp, and how it's still an amp that was designed when a passive bass was the only option, who knows, maybe I'm wrong... But you should maybe try a passive bass trough it and decide for yourself. All of this just IMHO.
 
#27
Okay, so what I've basically done is totally just turn the Ultra Lo off. Its scooping my sound really badly even though it seems to clean up the sound a bit. But I think running the Ultra Lo with the band and then trying to dial in more lows and mids is what my problem is.

So I've turned my mids up on my bass, I'd say its probably at about 9 now while bass and treble are at 10.

I've even noticed that I can really get the bass to a very boosted level and even get that total chest thumping sound that I wanted as long as the Ultra Lo is off. I tried out one of the "Rock" suggested settings in the owners guide for the head and they had the bass cranked up to 9.5. Is it okay to boost it that much?

Its all starting to come together better now with the help of you guys. I think the Ultra Lo might have been a lot of my problem just because it cut so much mids to give me a lot of inaudible bass.

I'm still wondering if my bass could be some of the problem itself but it woud really suck to pick up a new bass at this point....
 
#28
Your bass is oke, I have an LTD with the same pickups. I have the onboard EQ setup with a slight bass and slight midboost and I achieve a great pumping, in the mix sound, with an amp that would run and hide when it sees yours...

Your questions about cranking bass and master. It won't do any harm... If it's in the manual to put the bass knob on 9.5, I guess there will be no harm... And there are a lot of people who set the master of a tube amp on 10 and control volume with the gain knob... so no problem there either.
 
#29
Make sure that it's not air rushing around the speakers or around where the box goes together. See if you can feel air rushing out around the speakers or in other places on the box.

Definitely don't use the ultra lo button, it might sound alright when you hit it when everything else is flat and you're playing by yourself, but set your EQ without it.

Also try setting the master high and adjusting volume with the gain so you get the overdriven tube power amp tone, I think that sounds a lot better than trying to get the overdrive from preamp tubes.
 
#31
I would recommend you back off the tone controls on the bass too. That's an EMG active EQ with something like +15DB boost. A little goes a long way with those bad boys. Try just a pinch over flat with bass and treble and the mid flat for a nice scooped tone, then set the amp to taste.

I'm guessing you are driving the speakers beyond their excursion point with the EMG bass on 10.
 
#32
EASonBass said:
I would recommend you back off the tone controls on the bass too. That's an EMG active EQ with something like +15DB boost. A little goes a long way with those bad boys. Try just a pinch over flat with bass and treble and the mid flat for a nice scooped tone, then set the amp to taste.

I'm guessing you are driving the speakers beyond their excursion point with the EMG bass on 10.
Click to expand...

+100000:eek: Active basses are high output & whenever I use one with my tube amps - & set the bass's EQ's flat & cut more than boost-if I have to boost it's usually only a lil' bit!!! BTW are U plugging into the Odb (passive) input or the -15db(active) input. Even tho I use an active bass I still -usually-plug into the passive input-sounds better 2 me! Depends tho!!! Still try cutting rather than boosting on the bass!
 
#34
A couple of things to keep in mind. The way the db scale works, every 3db increase in your bass eq requires twice the power from your amp. In theory a +15db boost asks the amp for 32 (!!) times the power. So you can see with those kinds of boosts any amp can easily run out of headroom and 'fart'.

Also keep in mind that an ampeg 810 is not a low end monster, it's 3db rolloff point is around 60hz. If you try and get it to do something it's not designed for, ie vision altering low end, you'll have just the sort of problems you're encountering. So don't fight the cab, it's a midrange monster, make use of it's powerful mids/low mids.

For the cleanest sound put the master on 10 and bring the amp up to volume on the gain pot. Set your lowend eq with your band, otherwise it's easy to put in way too much on your own. Start with the instrument eq flat and obviously too little on the amp, say around 10 o'clock. It will sound different to what you are used to so play a couple of tunes to give youself a chance to get used to it. Then add in just enough lows so that you are sounding good and the amp is staying tight at the volume you need. Those svt-cl's can deliver some great cut thru with the mid eq selector on 400/800, which doesn't eat up power like the low eq, so experiment with that too. Superglue the ultra low button in the off position! :)
 
#36
Thanks for everything guys! Just to say that first and foremost.

So I got a chance to practice with the band and mess with the eqs with the mix of the band. Ultra Lo is definitely off. I don't mind the way it sounds but it totally cuts me out of the mix.

So I've basically found that with the Ultra Lo off and the gain turned to about only 6.5 I CAN dial in a lot of bass and mids. In fact I turned the bass up to about 9.5 with no farting at all. I ended up dropping the bass back to 8 and turning the mids to 8 as well. But my bass is eqed for a more scooped tone on my bass itself.

I found that I could either have the knob in a certain position on the bass, or just have it at the exact halfway point on the bass and dial in the same tone on the head.

I'll have to mess with the Master at 10 and gain as my volume. That could be interesting and it sounds like something I really want to try.

I notice everyone is saying that I should cut back on eqs, but should I really do that when I'm not getting the fart anymore and it sounds good? I'm plugging the bass into the -15db input so its basically padding the hot output of the pickups anyhow. Basically if it sounds good can I do it, or should I keep on dialing back on the eqs?
 
#39
fmfisdead said:
I notice everyone is saying that I should cut back on eqs, but should I really do that when I'm not getting the fart anymore and it sounds good? I'm plugging the bass into the -15db input so its basically padding the hot output of the pickups anyhow. Basically if it sounds good can I do it, or should I keep on dialing back on the eqs?
Click to expand...

Set the controls on your bass to flat position. Flat bass flat mids flat treble (in other words, OFF)...That's the only way you're going to know what your amp sounds like. You shouldn't have any problems getting a huge sound from an Ampeg and you should use whatever features it has, that's what they're there for.
 
#40
Hey guys, so this question is a bit off of the topic but not so much that I needed to post it somewhere else and you guys have been helping me thusfar.

So I pretty much got my settings to my liking, no fart, nice chest thumping bass, and warm sound. I'm happier then ever. Then I get to playing with my band and now I cut through just fine, but its awkward because sometimes it sounds like the bass is out of tune or I'm hitting notes a hair off when I'm not. Has anyone else experienced this? It seems like it has something to do with the mids but I don't know about these things.

Right now the settings are:

Gain 6.5
Bass 8-9
Mid 4
Frequency 2
Treble 6.5
Volume around 3-4

Bass settings are Bass cranked, Mids right in the middle, and treble cranked.
 

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