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Why am I not loud?

P

pipedreams

Mar 8, 2010
13
0
#1
Hey guys. I'm a new poster on here, signed up today. I bought a used Ampeg SVT Pro 4 about a week ago and it sounds awesome, but it's just not as loud as i had hoped it to be. I can't get it up too loud without the lows being all muffled and the peak light flashing. I used to play out of a crappy behringer head and that was some how louder than this, though it sounded like crap. I'm playing out of the SVT 1-15 cab and the SVT 2-10 cab. They're 200 watts RMS each and 8 ohms each. The speakers aren't blown or anything and the head is in good shape. By the way, I'm playing a Mexican Fender jazz bass. Do i just need a cab that can handle more watts? I was looking at a used 4-10 he (500 watts RMS) to put on top of my 1-15, that would be 700 watts total, would that make a significant difference in being louder and and handeling my lows? I also play out of a sansamp pedal to get a more gritty sound. My ultamate dream sound would to sound like comeback kid. Listen to them at Link Removed. I believe he uses the SVT Pro 4 too. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. The head is more complex than a computer, I could just have it set up wrong or I may just have no clue what I'm doing when I'm setting up the knobs and eq.

thanks a lot,
Alex
 
#4
Ive also had this problem before until I too read my owners manual. :) I found that if I keep the gain all the way down and crank the volume til its where I want it and then raise the gain just a little bit I get a pretty sweet sound as well as lots of volume. And I only have a SWR 550X, your ampeg pro 4 should have lots more power than mine. Also, like stated before, keep your eq closer to flat as far as the lows go and boost your mids more and you should carry through. And if you dont there's gotta be something wrong with your amp. Hope that helps you some, and I'm sure other will have more to add
 
#5
I've read the manual, and it does have a 3 tube preamp. I've switched from having it mono bridged with a speakon cable and plugging each cab in with speaker cables. I can't tell a difference. Anyway, I mainly want to find out if I can expect a big difference in loudness between playing with a svt 1-15 (200 watts) and svt 4-10he (500 watts) setup compared to my svt 1-15 (200 watts) and svt 2-10 (200 watts) setup before i travel to try out the 4-10he and make an offer. The SVT Pro 4 can go up to 1600 watts, so it pisses me off when i get drowned out by the guitars at practice.
 
#6
I've never owned an ampeg rig, never were really my thing.

But every single person I know/have seen use a SS Ampeg rig, that preamp clip light (the red one) lights up with every single note they hit.

I could just be making stuff up, but I remember hearing/reading to get any sort of volume out of a SS ampeg you need to ignore that little red LED and just set the gain to what sounds good, and go from there.
 
#8
A 410 SHOULD be several dB louder than the 115, though Ampeg's specs show 98dB for both. So I don't know.

Remember, a cab that's 3dB louder is like feeding twice the power to the weaker cab. As an example, the Eden D410XLT is spec'ed at 106dB. That's 8dB louder than the Ampeg 410. To get the Ampeg as loud as the Eden, you'd have to feed it about 7x the power---assuming it would take it. Cabs can make or break the deal.

As for being drowned out by guitars, that problem must be solved elsewhere. You will never be able to afford (or carry) enough bass gear to win a volume war. All they'll do is turn up more.

It's low mids, not deep bass, that you need to be heard. Have the guitars cut their bottom end.
 
#9
pipedreams said:
I've read the manual, and it does have a 3 tube preamp. I've switched from having it mono bridged with a speakon cable and plugging each cab in with speaker cables. I can't tell a difference. Anyway, I mainly want to find out if I can expect a big difference in loudness between playing with a svt 1-15 (200 watts) and svt 4-10he (500 watts) setup compared to my svt 1-15 (200 watts) and svt 2-10 (200 watts) setup before i travel to try out the 4-10he and make an offer. The SVT Pro 4 can go up to 1600 watts, so it pisses me off when i get drowned out by the guitars at practice.
Click to expand...

The 1x15/4x10 should be a bit louder, [DEL]but you're still running a 1,600 watt amp into 700 watts of cabs. You'll only be able to turn the amp up so far before you start risking blowing speakers. If you can get to your desired volume before that 700 watt limit then you're good[/DEL], if not I'd look into cabs that can handle the full output of the amp.


EDIT.

As Bass Pounder correctly pointed out, your maximum wattage is dictated by the lowest wattage cab. You'd only be able to put 400 watts of power into both cabs (200 to each) before risking blowing the 200 watt one.
 
#10
The previous owner said he got new tubes put in it a couple months ago, he seemed like an honest guy haha but who knows. I'm an amature at that kind of stuff, so I wouldn't know. The amp sounds fine, its just not that loud, could that be the tubes? When I say its not that loud I dont mean you can barely hear it or anything like that. When playing solo its plenty loud enough, but when playing with a whole band you can't really hear it that good and i didn't pay $800 for the head to not be able to clearly hear it as a whole band. We are a loud band, as we have two guitar players and play with distortion.
 
#11
Metal Matt said:
The 1x15/4x10 should be a bit louder, but you're still running a 1,600 watt amp into 700 watts of cabs. You'll only be able to turn the amp up so far before you start risking blowing speakers. If you can get to your desired volume before that 700 watt limit then you're good, if not I'd look into cabs that can handle the full output of the amp.
Click to expand...


Looking at the amps specs, it appears it is capable of 1,200 watts (not 1,600).

Also, he will not be at a limit of 700 watts with those 2 cabs.

The lower wattage cab (200 watts) will dictate the max power level. He will be limited to 400 watts - alot less if he is trying to pump low end.
 
#12
I doubt there's anything wrong with the amp. The rest of the band is simply too loud.

Most guitarists crank up the bass because it sounds cool in the bedroom. Unfortunately, it muddies up the band mix---makes it crap. Listen to some albums and you'll realize the guitars have been thinned out so the bass is audible.

If the guitarists just want to play all the bass parts (monotonically, I might add), then perhaps your talents are better spent with an ensemble that NEEDS a bassist.
 
#13
The 4Pro can put out 1,200 watts RMS. Those Ampeg speakers won't take that power for too long. I would recommed speaker cabinets that can each handle at least 400 watts RMS or continuous... not program or peak or max.

IF YOU HAD THE CORRECT SPEAKERS... you would run the special "bridge mono cable" from the center speakon connector that says "Bridge Mono/Biamp" on the back to one speaker and a regular cable from the other jack on that cabinet to the other (daisy chain). The small square Stereo/Bridge Mono button needs to be IN. In order to get the full 1,200 watts you need to do that and have a total 4 ohm speaker load. Trust me... when properly connected, this amp is loud and clean. I run mine with an Avatar 15 (450 watts) and a 210 (500 watts). Both are 8 ohms giving me a combined load of 4 ohms. Read the manual. If you don't have it you can download it at the Ampeg website. Do not believe anyone that says the amp is "not that loud". They probably have theirs hooked up wrong too.

If you plan to use those Ampeg cabinets you described, you should run the head with a 1/4 jack cable or speakon from power amp A to one speaker cabinet and another cable from power amp B to the other. Have the stereo/mono bridge button OUT. You will only be getting 300 watts RMS to each speaker or a total of 600 watts RMS...not 1,200 watts like I described above... but your speakers will not blow or fart. The two speakers you have will sound better and live longer using a 3Pro. I have several 4Pro's and they kick serious butt when you know how to use them.
 
#14
Personally, I'd try and source an 810. It sounds like you'd need the speaker area. Also, some science would suggest that unless you're bi-amping, running drivers of different sizes can create tonal/volume issues. Just some food for thought.
 
#15
pipedreams said:
The previous owner said he got new tubes put in it a couple months ago, he seemed like an honest guy haha but who knows. I'm an amature at that kind of stuff, so I wouldn't know. The amp sounds fine, its just not that loud, could that be the tubes? When I say its not that loud I dont mean you can barely hear it or anything like that. When playing solo its plenty loud enough, but when playing with a whole band you can't really hear it that good and i didn't pay $800 for the head to not be able to clearly hear it as a whole band. We are a loud band, as we have two guitar players and play with distortion.
Click to expand...


And what kind of speaker cabs are your 2 guitards using ?

If they are using 4X12's, you are seriously outgunned with 2X10's and a 1X15. No matter how watts you pump into them, they will not keep up.

And while on the subject of your cabs - why would you take a head with high power capability and run it into cabs with a 200 watt rating ?
 
#16
Trust me, I'd buy an svt 8-10 in a heartbeat if I had a vehicle that it could fit in, but thats just not the case. The svt 8-10 is 800 watts and my set up that i'm thinking about buying would be 700 watts, so hypothetically, I should have almost the loudness as the 8-10, if that's the case I should be more than content with that.
 
#17
Bass_Pounder said:
Looking at the amps specs, it appears it is capable of 1,200 watts (not 1,600).

Also, he will not be at a limit of 700 watts with those 2 cabs.

The lower wattage cab (200 watts) will dictate the max power level. He will be limited to 400 watts - alot less if he is trying to pump low end.
Click to expand...

GAH! You're correct of course. My mind slipped a bit on that one.

:scowl:
 
#18
pipedreams said:
Trust me, I'd buy an svt 8-10 in a heartbeat if I had a vehicle that it could fit in, but thats just not the case. The svt 8-10 is 800 watts and my set up that i'm thinking about buying would be 700 watts, so hypothetically, I should have almost the loudness as the 8-10, if that's the case I should be more than content with that.
Click to expand...

No you won't unless you run it in stereo mode.

If you hook the 2 cabs together, your power will belimited to 2X the rating of the lowest rated cab (200 watts X 2 = 400 watt limit).

And even in stereo mode, you will be able to put 300 watts @ 8 ohms into the 4X10, but still be limited by the 1X15 to 200 watts @ 8 ohms - giving you max ability of 500 watts
 
#20
+1 to having [more than] enough power and not enough drivers. I'd invest in an 810E or two 410's if you prefer a more modular setup. You're going to kill the speakers if you try to compensate by cranking the low end and overpower them continually.
 

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