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SVT-DI

Visirale

Visirale

Mar 23, 2003
3,043
6
37
Orlando
#1
I think this belongs in the amps forum... Anyway I searched and didn't find anything. Basically it's just a little box you plug put your signal through, it passes through a 12ax7 tube, and voila. You get a tube like sound. Ampeg specifically says it's for coloring up the sound of solid state amps. I think this would really benifit my solid sate 350h head.

I don't know if these are even out yet, ampeg is the only website with anything on them... But I'll probably pick one up... after I get my fender deluxe 5 that is ;)...

So anyone got any comments on this?

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#3
Haha, you saying that just gave me an idea. If one had an infinite budget, one could run his/her signal through as many tubes as he/she wanted...

Oh well... One tube would still be better than none. Or do you think there is a better project within a reasonable price range that could add more warmth?
 
#4
Nino..there are actually two triodes in a 12AX7 so you can get plenty of "tube like warmth" out of them....at least as much as most Eden or SWR (or many other) brands with a 12AX7 at the input.

Personally, I like the tone of the SVT-350H all by itself and sold a '73 SVT in favor of one...but that's just me...
 
#5
Wow BillyB something must have been something wrong with that 73 SVT wish you had sold it to me. Anyway, a single 12AX7 does not a tube sound make. I had an svt III-pro and I would not consider that a tube sound at all. I feel that most of an amps tube tone comes from the power amp (and drive tubes) I think that musicman even had an amp with a solid state preamp and the rest was all tube which would sound totally different if it was the other way around. One 12AX7 alone won't give you that much warmth (listen to how warm sounding an Ashdown is and that has no tubes in it).
 
#8
Visirale said:
So anyone got any comments on this?
Click to expand...
Well I think that it looks a lot like about 25 other DIs I've seen. Wonder what took Ampeg so long? I hate to say this but I'm tired of trying DIs which run on AC. IME, unless you're also gonna spend another couple hundred cleaning up your AC power then you just get garbage in the signal. Live, it matters a lot less.

The other big deal with me is the signal attenuation at the output. Makes getting a vibrant signal to tape that much harder. A lot of studio-built jobs have a gain built on that solves that prob. I think the JDV and Groove Tube DIs caught on to the gain thing too.

This Ampeg looks a lot like the DB900. It's got the weakest output of them all and noisy.
 
#12
This thread is from '04, before the DI was discontinued. It was revived by "Woolly Mammoth" who wanted to let the ancients know that it really contains a 12AU7, which makes pretty much no difference to anybody who isn't actively shopping for a replacement tube for their SVTDI. :p
 
#14
I thought this thread could use a bump. I have an SVT-DI and I can vouch for the fact that it adds an impressive amount of warmth to your signal, even for 1 tube, you can hear the difference by punching the TUBE IN/TUBE OUT button. What is really cool now is that you can use this DI as the front end of the new SVT MICRO-VR and if you set the gain and volume controls in the sweet spot and use two of the cabinets for 200 watts of power at 4 ohms, you can get that Tubey SVT Classic sound. I can say this because I toured the last two years with a USA made SVT Classic head and a 6x10 USA cabinet. Its remarkable. Im thinking of adding another micro stack and putting it all in a road case and making it my new touring rig, as we use in-ears and I dont need to push a lot of air, but still want that sound. And the speakers are great and perfect for miking at just before breakup. I run the Gain at 12-1 oclock, Bass at 3-4 oclock, Mid at 10 oclock, Treble at 11-12 oclock, and Volume between 12 and 1 oclock, and use Mogami 12 gauge speaker wire. If you use ears live or if you like to record with an amp, Im telling you, just short of a good vintage B-15, this rig with the SVT-DI in the front end is a killer!
 
#15
I had major gas for one of these when it came out. I read the review in Bass Player Magazine and I knew that it was for me. However, the only time I actually saw one was in Rudy's on 48th street and the price scared me away so I never had the chance to try it out.

I'm wondering how the sound of one of these compares to the Tech 21 VT Bass pedal.

Anyone have the chance to A/B them?
 
#16
I own both. It's a very cool DI and the VT bass pedal is pretty slick as well. I think they are pretty different animals though, all things considered. I like what both things do, I wouldn't say the VT pedal would over-take this DI just by the nature of not having an XLR out, but all things considered, they do add tube tone to non tube amps, just in different ways. Simulation vs actual-ation. Does it turn a Crate into an SVT? No, neither ones does but some of those tones are in each.
 

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