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Double Bass Using an SVT with UB

derridiandrift

derridiandrift

Apr 9, 2009
1,100
23
Hamilton ON
#1
I've tried searching for this information but I can't find what I'm looking for.

I'm buying my first UB next week.

I have an SVT-CL and a variety of cabs (check my signature for the gear I use). I'm selling the CL and the Mesa and buying a VR.

I'd like some advice on how usable this rig will be for loud rockabilly, bluegrass, country gigs. One of my gigs is a supper club thing were I use the B200R combo to play everything from jazz to 50s rock to pop.

My questions: what pickup can do it all (wishful thinking?)? Has anyone used these rigs in this way, and if so can you give me some advice?
 
#2
I have never successfully played a good sounding loud gig on DB with an SVT. I've heard rumor it can be done, but in my experience I can't figure out how. The amp is not voiced very well to sound good with DB pickups and generates a lousy tone with lots of feedback. Feedback is the biggest problem. The 810 just makes it worse.

There are rockabilly players however that have used bigger louder amps and they generally have dead sounding basses from an acoustic standpoint. Dead works better for loud. Plywood, closed up FF holes etc. Look to them for solutions here. Not many are on this forum.

What you are about to do is a chore and you'll need to experiment a lot. My solution was to go real small speakers with lots of power. That seems to work for me. It doesn't look as cool as an SVT but there will always be compromises.

I'm a huge tube person in all areas except for the DB amp. I think SS allows some level of control over the DB sound that tubes can't get to...think dampening.
 
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#3
What he said^^^^^

I tried my upright through an SVT once or twice with different speaker cabinets. Never got a tone I really liked.

So instead of using a 100lb SVT I use a 2lb micro amp. It sounds better IMO, IME.

For electric bass, the SVT kills. There's nothing like it.
 
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#4
It's possible !
A friend of mine plays his DB over a SVT and a 8X10 cab.
His bass is a german ply (probably Höffner), he uses a very cheap Shadow SH950 pickup and on old Fishman preamp. That's it ! I'm not shure about the strings but the acoustic tone of the bass is... uhum... PLY. High action, no sustain, just "plom, plom ,plom..."
For some reason this is a killer combination but i'm sure if he was using an expensive carved bass and a high-end PU (FC, realist...) it would sound like sh!t.

Another bassplayer from Belgium (Jasper Hautekiet) is using the same amp and that too sounds great. From the picture you can see that he's using a underwood and a nice looking quality bass.

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#5
derridiandrift said:
I've tried searching for this information but I can't find what I'm looking for.

I'm buying my first UB next week.

I have an SVT-CL and a variety of cabs (check my signature for the gear I use).


My questions: what pickup can do it all (wishful thinking?)? Has anyone used these rigs in this way, and if so can you give me some advice?
Click to expand...

derridiandrift. The SVT is a really great amp for electric bass. It's companion amp the B-15N was the amp that Everett Hull designed for Double Bass and Electric together. That much speaker and cabinet surface is very prone to feedback. I've seen Rockabilly players do it but it's tricky and it doesn't get DB sound I'm looking for. Uncle Toad is our resident expert on SVT's if he can't do it I wouldn't venture into that territory. Good Luck Though.

Ric
 
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#6
I played a hybrid with an Underwood through a '70's SVT and a modern 8x10 with a horn in a loud rockabilly band for years and was very happy with the tone. It wouldn't be ideal for a jazz gig but it was perfect for that band. I ran it through a Fishman Platinum EQ for impedence matching & phase switch capabilities and a Carl Martin para eq pedal to notch out any problem frequencies (usually about 120hz with that bass & rig). I could play as loud as I needed to with no feedback problems.
 
#7
Any time I've used a backline SVT with my upright I haven't cared for the tone at all.... even when using a buffering/impedance matching preamp in front of it. I know a number of guys who tour with an SVT and their upright and I can't stand their tone either. To my ears it is just plain muddy and lacks definition.

Sure it can be done, but I believe there are better sounding, lighter "loud rigs" out there.

I agree that for electric an SVT sounds great. For upright however I still prefer the sound (and EQ flexibility) of my EA iAmp for "stupid loud" shows.

Oh, and as far as pickups go, I have finally settled on the Fishman Full Circle. I've got them on both uprights and at least in my experience I have much less trouble with feedback.
 
#8
I agree that an SVT through an old-school 8x10 cabinet is muddy and undefined with an upright. However, in my experience, it can sound great in a loud setting through a more full-range cab-as long as you run a preamp in front for impedence matching.
 
#11
You can see Avisahi Cohen play on an Ampeg big rig in this vid. Must be a CL and not a SVT as far as I can guess (but I don't know the Ampeg gear wery well).



You can also see in this vid, that he's mixiing an external mic with a contact pick up (maybe a Dyn B).

Sound's good. But then he's Avishai Cohen and surely can afford a good sound tech.
 
#12
doberman said:
Isn't the SVT Drew Gress's number 1 choice in his rider? He's clearly figured a way to make it work. The three times I've seen him he wasn't using an SVT, though his sound is always great, but that goes without saying
Click to expand...

I heard Drew play a couple of times and he used a Walter Woods MI-100-8 and a SM 57 or 58. Drew would sound great on anything he played through.

Ric
 
#13
Yeah, he wasn't using the SVT any of the times I saw him either, but according to this http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=591081 it is his number one choice. Last I saw him with Fred Hersch and Paul Motian he was using a Woods with a blend of a realist, a mic (could be SM57/58 but I didn't think it was, could be wrong though) through the afterlengths, and an RE-20 through the house. But yes, he would sound great on anything.
 
#14
I wouldn't buy an SVT thinking it would be the best combo, but if you already have one, you can make it work. Weight wise, an SVT 3 is 10% of a classic, has a graphic eq, tube gain, and with a SVT half cab, (4x10), not a bad combo for electric & DB. A TB tip-a terry towel woven between the strings in the afterlength can cut feedback.
 
#16
Michael Case said:
It just seems a big Ampeg rig AND a double bass is too much to have to haul. For me at least anyway, I don't like hauling big rigs with the electric either.
Click to expand...

+1 the heaviest amp I've owned was a B-15N 80 pounds I have no desire to return to those days either. Since you already own the SVT-CL I'd get the lightest weight cabinet that I could pair with it and get the right sound.

Ric
 
#17
Nice responses everyone. I'm enjoying the debate.

Ya, the SVT is big, but combined with my p-bass, it's the sh!t for electric bass. And besides, it's what I own. My main gig right now has me playing rooms in the 500-1000 person range so the SVT is appropriate (versus the little Ampeg combo I have). I'm going to try to incorporate some UB into that show, and I won't be changing out the SVT in order to make that happen.

Transportation space isn't really an issue right now either, though that can always change if my gig changes down the road.

I guess the answer is that I'm going to have to experiment to figure this out. I have to get my slap chops up first, so I'll have plenty of time to try to work this out.
 

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