SVTII-Pro Modern Equivalent: HSVT-CL? Other brand?

[bass player 53]

You will find SVTs all over the world.

 

[FSGrind]

You'd be surprised. Its not that technologically advanced here. Its all gimmicky stuff. Been here 15 years. It is advanced in ways that you dont see and are specific to manufacturing, not everyday life. Its not that anyway, it's transporting the thing to get it serviced that's the problem.



That's one of the points of the post. Fuzz is definitely not what I want.



It had been a long 20 years finding the sound. But the point of the post is to ask the good people of TB if they know how to get it with a beast that I can buy new so that I can possibly mitigate maintenence for a while because the parts and technology are newer. If the amp were new I'd buy it today! You should see it though, broken flight case, detachable fan, it is in need of some love. . . . And I do have a lot to give . . . . Must resist!

Part of the magic is in the old tech.

 

[tom once dead]

Why don't you just find a new 2 Pro for sale?
I think they're awesome, much better than a H-CL. Tube amps do need some attention from time to time, but they should be fairly reliable if you're treating them nicely.

 

[markjazzbassist]

Ampeg svp-iip it's the preamp from that Ampeg in a single space rack. Pair with whatever power amp you want. Thats the clean version.

Ampeg svp-pro that's the preamp single rack dirty version.

Pick your poison

 

[BaltBass5]

I use a Quad Cortex with an SVT 2 (Or multiple other heads) capture to FOH and then to a Demeter Minnie 800D into my cab. Sounds like $1,000,000

 

[Mastermold]

I sure like mine.

 

[coreyfyfe]

Why don't you just find a new 2 Pro for sale?
I think they're awesome, much better than a H-CL. Tube amps do need some attention from time to time, but they should be fairly reliable if you're treating them nicely.

They were discontinued when Yamaha took over Ampeg. Could find newer than early SLM era for sure, but you won't find "new" models unless they're older floor stock.

 

[Jim C]

I have a SVP-CL pre amp and a SVTIIP pre amp as well as an Ampeg SVP1500 SS head.
Neither of these combinations sound as good as my SVT-CL through ported cabinets.

 

[JimmyM]

Why don't you just find a new 2 Pro for sale?
I think they're awesome, much better than a H-CL. Tube amps do need some attention from time to time, but they should be fairly reliable if you're treating them nicely.

2 Pro has been discontinued for years.

 

[SactoBass]

Hi all!

20 years ago, my socks were blown off by an SVTII (maybe pro, maybe not) through an 810, and ever since then I've been chasing that sound. An SVTII-Pro has popped up for a REALLY good price pretty close to me; I went and tried it, and omg, it was BLISS!

The problem: It's an older model, the one with the blue writing on the top-right side. I am worried about the maintenance, especially as I don't have a car.

The solution: Find a modern-day equivalent!

I have looked through TB and it seems like the SVT-CL is what I'm looking for. Which is absolute aggression, attack and punch (not fuzz) when I push the gain and dig in, then mellow and soft when I pull my fingers back a bit. Some amps and pedals I've tried just turn to sloppy fuzz when pushing the gain, but these ampegs really hold it together and punch. It feels like even the ampeg is flexing it's muscles to contain the note, and I think it's that feeling of resistance that creates such a powerful punch. Rather than just letting it slide through like other amps and pedals.

After much searching, I have found that tubes are my thing. And after much playing I've loved the Super Bassman and was sure I was going to buy one, but it didn't have that gnarly bite when I dug in. I fancied the AD200 because it's British-made, but I'd struggle to play one before buying it, and because it apparently breaks up quite easily, I'm worried about going into too much fluffy fuzz territory. That's not what I want; I want it to rip my head!

My question: Will the Ampeg HSVT-CL quench my thirst and give me similar to the SVTII? Is there another brand or model that will take my head off? Weight and size don't matter, since I won't be moving it around much. I haven't decided on a cab yet either, so recommendations are greatly appreciated here too. But I can't do an 810, I wish I could, but it is just too big for me.

I appreciate all your replies. Thank you, TB, for giving me awesome stuff to read on my long, boring journeys to work on the Tokyo trains!

Tone-wise, 300-watt all-tube amps are by far my favorite. But at my age (70), I can no longer schlep them (dang it!) I've had a plethora of tube amps during my 50+ years of playing bass, including various SVTs. The most toneful amp I ever owned was a USA Ampeg SVT-VR (IMO, it sounded even better than the SVT II Non-Pro that I once had, and the Non-Pro was no slouch!) If I was in the market today for a brand new 300-watt all-tube amp, and if weight and cost were not issues, I would go with a brand new Ampeg SVT Heritage "50th Anniversary" amp as it has two different preamps built in: a 1969 Blueline SVT and an 1975 Blackline SVT. I'm quite confident that you would find the tone you seek with that amp. And as for cabs, if you want the punch, girth, and volume of an Ampeg 810 fridge cab but don't want the size or weight, go with a Barefaced 610. Here's the link to the 50th Anniv amp at Sweetwater...

Ampeg Heritage 50th Anniversary SVT 300-watt Tube Bass Head

Special Edition 300-watt Tube Bass Head with 6550 Output Tubes, XLR DI out, SpeakOn Outputs, User Biasing, and Spring-loaded Side Handles

www.sweetwater.com

And here's the link to the Barefaced 610...

Six10T

Inspired by the '69er but with a bigger sweeter tone and a lot more max output especially down low. Based around our unique 10CR250 driver, a retro sounding high output ferrite 10" loudspeaker. Using our innovative hybrid enclosure which sounds and feels like a sealed cab but can play loud and...

barefacedaudio.com

With that rig, you would be able to knock down walls and rupture spleens!

 

[bass player 53]

Tone-wise, 300-watt all-tube amps are by far my favorite. But at my age (70), I can no longer schlep them (dang it!) I've had a plethora of tube amps during my 50+ years of playing bass, including various SVTs. The most toneful amp I ever owned was a USA Ampeg SVT-VR (IMO, it sounded even better than the SVT II Non-Pro that I once had, and the Non-Pro was no slouch!) If I was in the market today for a brand new 300-watt all-tube amp, and if weight and cost were not issues, I would go with a brand new Ampeg SVT Heritage "50th Anniversary" amp as it has two different preamps built in: a 1969 Blueline SVT and an 1975 Blackline SVT. I'm quite confident that you would find the tone you seek with that amp. And as for cabs, if you want the punch, girth, and volume of an Ampeg 810 fridge cab but don't want the size or weight, go with a Barefaced 610. Here's the link to the 50th Anniv amp at Sweetwater...

Ampeg Heritage 50th Anniversary SVT 300-watt Tube Bass Head

Special Edition 300-watt Tube Bass Head with 6550 Output Tubes, XLR DI out, SpeakOn Outputs, User Biasing, and Spring-loaded Side Handles

www.sweetwater.com

And here's the link to the Barefaced 610...

Six10T

Inspired by the '69er but with a bigger sweeter tone and a lot more max output especially down low. Based around our unique 10CR250 driver, a retro sounding high output ferrite 10" loudspeaker. Using our innovative hybrid enclosure which sounds and feels like a sealed cab but can play loud and...

barefacedaudio.com

With that rig, you would be able to knock down walls and rupture spleens!

I posted this in the Master Effects thread.
I didn't make the video; I'm just impressed by the sound.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Despite the huge evolution of bass amps and the wide variety available nowadays, my all time favorite remains the Ampeg SVT Pro 3.

I tried many times to convince me otherwise but when I had the opportunity to plug my bass in this amp, the magic happens again and again.

I would suggest you get YOUR amp, get it serviced and enjoy. Those machines are bulletproof, they can be serviced easily and they use standard parts that remain available.

My Hartke LH 500 is not as good but it gives me that same satisfaction of an "old" technology that sounds beefy but sweet.

 

[bass player 53]

Despite the huge evolution of bass amps and the wide variety available nowadays, my all time favorite remains the Ampeg SVT Pro 3.

I tried many times to convince me otherwise but when I had the opportunity to plug my bass in this amp, the magic happens again and again.

I would suggest you get YOUR amp, get it serviced and enjoy. Those machines are bulletproof, they can be serviced easily and they use standard parts that remain available.

My Hartke LH 500 is not as good but it gives me that same satisfaction of an "old" technology that sounds beefy but sweet.

At some point, forever ago, I had an interest in the SVT 6 pro and the SVT 7 pro. I'm not sure now where these stand in the Ampeg
'annals of history'. They were impressive at the time they appeared.

 

[BowserGriff]

Tone-wise, 300-watt all-tube amps are by far my favorite. But at my age (70), I can no longer schlep them (dang it!) I've had a plethora of tube amps during my 50+ years of playing bass, including various SVTs. The most toneful amp I ever owned was a USA Ampeg SVT-VR (IMO, it sounded even better than the SVT II Non-Pro that I once had, and the Non-Pro was no slouch!) If I was in the market today for a brand new 300-watt all-tube amp, and if weight and cost were not issues, I would go with a brand new Ampeg SVT Heritage "50th Anniversary" amp as it has two different preamps built in: a 1969 Blueline SVT and an 1975 Blackline SVT. I'm quite confident that you would find the tone you seek with that amp. And as for cabs, if you want the punch, girth, and volume of an Ampeg 810 fridge cab but don't want the size or weight, go with a Barefaced 610. Here's the link to the 50th Anniv amp at Sweetwater...

Ampeg Heritage 50th Anniversary SVT 300-watt Tube Bass Head

Special Edition 300-watt Tube Bass Head with 6550 Output Tubes, XLR DI out, SpeakOn Outputs, User Biasing, and Spring-loaded Side Handles

www.sweetwater.com

And here's the link to the Barefaced 610...

Six10T

Inspired by the '69er but with a bigger sweeter tone and a lot more max output especially down low. Based around our unique 10CR250 driver, a retro sounding high output ferrite 10" loudspeaker. Using our innovative hybrid enclosure which sounds and feels like a sealed cab but can play loud and...

barefacedaudio.com

With that rig, you would be able to knock down walls and rupture spleens!

Barefaced cabs are on my list. They are pretty narrow, I was wondering whether my cat would tip it over if she sat on the amp one night

The only thing with that amp is that it doesn't have a gain knob. Ive found the tone I like when pushing the gain so it breaks up just a tiny bit when I dig in with my fingers. Im probably wrong, but the 50th anniversary ones output tubes are wide open ( like master control in max) and the volume control is like controlling the gain. If im not wrong, its definitely more nuanced than how i explained . I like to do the opposite, max the gain (until a little break up) then adjust the master output for volume.

 

[BowserGriff]

This is the case its in at the moment. I told the shop I dont need the case, disposing of things is a pain in Japan

 

[BowserGriff]

Actually, really struggling to find someone who would take a look at the amp. Everyone i have emailed has been worried about finding parts. Yamahas website has an 'items no longer supported for repair list' and the svt2pro is on that list. The reason being: may not be able to get replacement parts.

 

[bass player 53]

Actually, really struggling to find someone who would take a look at the amp. Everyone i have emailed has been worried about finding parts. Yamahas website has an 'items no longer supported for repair list' and the svt2pro is on that list. The reason being: may not be able to get replacement parts.

I dunno, is Google AI wrong here?
Are there really proprietary parts on that thing that are truly unavailable?

 

[BowserGriff]

I dunno, is Google AI wrong here?
Are there really proprietary parts on that thing that are truly unavailable?

According to Yamaha Japan's web site they are no longer taking them in because they cant get the parts. Even if they were available and I could get my hands on them, I cant find a tech that will work on it here. I wont bore you with the cultural differences here, but if they aren't sure that they can fix it 100%, with the proper parts, and it be perfect at the end, they'd rather not look at it. I totally get it, there's a perfectionism and pride in the work. Which unfortunately means that this amp is a no go.

Im gutted because after this thread, everyone and myself has convinced me to go for it because it's my dream sound. Would have paired it with an 212av and had a great time!

As far as alternatives, I definitely don't want to go down the pedal route. I got my eye on the HSVT-CL and as long as I can squeeze that gain like the svt2 pro, ill be happy

Gonna keep my ears open and listen to you guys who have more experience with tube amps than me.

 

[coreyfyfe]

Barefaced cabs are on my list. They are pretty narrow, I was wondering whether my cat would tip it over if she sat on the amp one night

The only thing with that amp is that it doesn't have a gain knob. Ive found the tone I like when pushing the gain so it breaks up just a tiny bit when I dig in with my fingers. Im probably wrong, but the 50th anniversary ones output tubes are wide open ( like master control in max) and the volume control is like controlling the gain. If im not wrong, its definitely more nuanced than how i explained . I like to do the opposite, max the gain (until a little break up) then adjust the master output for volume.

Barefaced has some wide body models for their 12" series now to fit tube amps, but they also make the 10" series which fit wider tube heads well. I used my two10 cabs with my SVTs as a nice compact 4 ohm option which still fit the width



As far as parts, full compass and British audio are distributors in the US, no idea who distributes in Japan. Might be Yamaha directly.

But more to the point, this would be pretty far down my list of concerns on a tube amp. The major wear parts will be the tubes. The power amp schematics are the same between the 2 pro and CL, so the main boards may be compatible in the highly unlikely event you needed to swap an entire board. There may be hard to find or out of production components in the preamp boards but the likelihood of failure of some highly specific part here is pretty low. Outside of that the hard to find parts will likely be proprietary hardware, chassis parts, things like that. Most of the electronics parts (caps, resistors, diodes, etc.) can be replaced either directly or with modern equivalents. The transformers might be an issue but again I think there is overlap with other SVT series, and transformer failures are something I would put in that "major catastrophic but also highly unlikely unless you're doing something stupid" failure category.

Most of my tube amps are from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They've been out of production for a long time. It would take a catastrophic failure to knock them out of commission in some way that's not repairable.

Maybe I missed it in here, but is there something wrong with this particular amp that needs to be fixed?

 

[bass player 53]

Barefaced has some wide body models for their 12" series now to fit tube amps, but they also make the 10" series which fit wider tube heads well. I used my two10 cabs with my SVTs as a nice compact 4 ohm option which still fit the width



As far as parts, full compass and British audio are distributors in the US, no idea who distributes in Japan. Might be Yamaha directly.

But more to the point, this would be pretty far down my list of concerns on a tube amp. The major wear parts will be the tubes. The power amp schematics are the same between the 2 pro and CL, so the main boards may be compatible in the highly unlikely event you needed to swap an entire board. There may be hard to find or out of production components in the preamp boards but the likelihood of failure of some highly specific part here is pretty low. Outside of that the hard to find parts will likely be proprietary hardware, chassis parts, things like that. Most of the electronics parts (caps, resistors, diodes, etc.) can be replaced either directly or with modern equivalents. The transformers might be an issue but again I think there is overlap with other SVT series, and transformer failures are something I would put in that "major catastrophic but also highly unlikely unless you're doing something stupid" failure category.

Most of my tube amps are from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They've been out of production for a long time. It would take a catastrophic failure to knock them out of commission in some way that's not repairable.

Maybe I missed it in here, but is there something wrong with this particular amp that needs to be fixed?

I think the OP's concern, as he stated, is not so much about the parts availability, as getting a qualified Japanese shop to look at it when they perceive a lack of parts.
I agree with you, in my non-professional opinion, that much of the wear and tear of
tube heads, in general, is not high tech, not available components; especially if the head is not on tour and being moved around a lot.