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SVT KILLER!

#81
Mr. Foxen said:
The suck parts are the layout, construction and price. The preamp is fine, bit complicated for what it does. That stuff only shows once you have to work on them (or you blow one up playing it). The other stuff is bit reactionary agianst them being popular.
Click to expand...

Well I REALLY dislike the tone of the preamp, so if the rest is that bad, what's left?

They color the tone of the bass too much for what I like.

How's the power amp section?
 
#84
Those knobs on the preamp, turn them, tone changes. If you don't like where they are, move them. Kind of the idea of a preamp with knobs on.

As for power section, same deal as the rest of it, pretty crude brute force device, minimal specced components, dreadful wiring, laid out to be easy to make with cheap unskilled labour rather than to be maintainable. Higher rated filter caps and a better wound transformer will sort that, but the failing caps happens after warranty is over, so they have no need to sort it. Might as well get an amp done right to start with though.
 
#86
Well, I figured things would get a little stirred up. Didn't expect an all out war, though, hehehe... play nice guys. I'd rather not have the thread locked. ;)

For the record: I'm more handsome than all of you, ride a Harley, drive a BMW, and Marshalls are better than anything, SO THERE!!! HAHAHA!!! :spit: :hyper: :p :D :D

Cheers!
:bassist::bassist::bassist:
 
#92
beans-on-toast said:
There's nothing like a wall of sound pushing against you when playing. :p
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Exactly. Cant we all just agree that 400 watt tube heads in to big cabs are better than 300 watt tube heads in to smaller cabs? :hiding:


In all seriousness there is just something about having that SPL behind you to make you say "ƒμ¢κ! Yeah!" and rock out. Its not about stage monitoring, or sound balance, it about the feeling of @$$ kickery at your back. If you find this joy using a Marshall, Ampeg, Mesa, Peavey, Fender, Sunn, GK, or any other amp that is all that matters. No one else can tell you what makes you happy.
 
#93
Mr. Foxen said:
Not many things have same pre as the SVT aside from Ampegs, most valve jobs have Fender style, some have Baxendall, but not with the same mid control that is a separate section.
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You cannot set the EQ on an SVT to be flat. I much prefer the Fender/Marshall style tone stack or Baxendalls. I'm aware that the Fender type of tone stack also won't get totally flat, but it's more pleasing to my ears than the "modern Ampeg" stacks. The older amps (B-15, etc.) sound fine. It's a different design.

So the part that I probably don't like about the preamp is based around this:

Bill Hughes:
I had previously developed a style of equalization for bass while working as a freelance recording engineer. Cranking up a lot of low end boost was never a good idea when your target is vinyl. Rather, removing the lower odd-order harmonics (as the SVT was set up to do) does way more to give the right illusion. I guess this is why bass amps with graphic EQ have fallen from vogue.
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Yes, I play to a vinyl audience! Graphic EQ fallen from vogue? Like on the SVT 4 Pro? (a.k.a 400+ wannabe) lol

So the amp has a baked in EQ curve (see top curve below) that I don't care for. See the report below to show that you can't get a flat response no matter how you try. But that's why it sounds like an SVT.

So when I plug my bass into either most solid state amps, or my Trace, Mesa or Hartke, it still sounds like my bass when it's direct. Each amp has a certain flavor, but It still sounds like my bass. That's what my bass sounds like, and what I want to retain, while adding the oomph that an amp provides.

When I plug into an Ampeg, with the exception of a B-15, I don't hear my bass. I hear that preset EQ that Hughes designed into the amp. And I really dislike that sound.

I'm aware that other people want the sound that the amp provides.
 

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#94
SGD Lutherie said:
You cannot set the EQ on an SVT to be flat.
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Yes you can. I haven't scoped an SVT, but I used to have a Markbass LMII which has pretty much dead flat response with all knobs at noon, and I spent about an hour one day going back and forth with them playing with the SVT knobs trying to get near-flat out of it, and I did it no problem. How it scopes out I can't tell you, but it sure sounded like the same frequency response to me, and it sounds flatter than the settings from Bass Gear's SVT bench test. Not that that's anything to be proud of since dead flat sound is kind of meh to me in a mix, but whatever.
 
#95
CL400Peavey said:
In all seriousness there is just something about having that SPL behind you to make you say "ƒμ¢κ! Yeah!" and rock out. Its not about stage monitoring, or sound balance, it about the feeling of @$$ kickery at your back. If you find this joy using a Marshall, Ampeg, Mesa, Peavey, Fender, Sunn, GK, or any other amp that is all that matters. No one else can tell you what makes you happy.
Click to expand...

+100

Then of course the sound man takes you out of the FOH mix, but that's why bands need their own sound men!
 
#96
JimmyM said:
Yes you can. I haven't scoped an SVT, but I used to have a Markbass LMII which has pretty much dead flat response with all knobs at noon, and I spent about an hour one day going back and forth with them playing with the SVT knobs trying to get near-flat out of it, and I did it no problem. How it scopes out I can't tell you, but it sure sounded like the same frequency response to me, and it sounds flatter than the settings from Bass Gear's SVT bench test. Not that that's anything to be proud of since dead flat sound is kind of meh to me in a mix, but whatever.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
 
#97
SGD Lutherie said:
You cannot set the EQ on an SVT to be flat. I much prefer the Fender/Marshall style tone stack or Baxendalls. I'm aware that the Fender type of tone stack also won't get totally flat, but it's more pleasing to my ears than the "modern Ampeg" stacks. The older amps (B-15, etc.) sound fine. It's a different design.

So the part that I probably don't like about the preamp is based around this:

Yes, I play to a vinyl audience! Graphic EQ fallen from vogue? Like on the SVT 4 Pro? (a.k.a 400+ wannabe) lol

So the amp has a baked in EQ curve (see top curve below) that I don't care for. See the report below to show that you can't get a flat response no matter how you try. But that's why it sounds like an SVT.

So when I plug my bass into either most solid state amps, or my Trace, Mesa or Hartke, it still sounds like my bass when it's direct. Each amp has a certain flavor, but It still sounds like my bass. That's what my bass sounds like, and what I want to retain, while adding the oomph that an amp provides.

When I plug into an Ampeg, with the exception of a B-15, I don't hear my bass. I hear that preset EQ that Hughes designed into the amp. And I really dislike that sound.

I'm aware that other people want the sound that the amp provides.
Click to expand...

Baxendall stacks do have a flat setting. And the flat setting is shown in the picture below the chart you mention. Also eq is there to 'equalise' other factors to the overall output you require (hence the name), like cab, because you don't get flat response cabs. The bit you forget to do is turn the knobs, you just mentioned again there, even with guidance.
 

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