Yes that is a good point. I dont really mean I *have* to provide all the bass from the stage when I use the big rig...just that I’d rather not schlep it just to use for a stage monitor...however, the tone is great and if someone else did the schleppage (like if it were a fly date for me) I could very happily use it!
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Why are Ampeg SVTs so popular?
- Thread starter Whitenoise17
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- ampeg svt
Yes that is a good point. I dont really mean I *have* to provide all the bass from the stage when I use the big rig...just that I’d rather not schlep it just to use for a stage monitor...however, the tone is great and if someone else did the schleppage (like if it were a fly date for me) I could very happily use it!
I had just posted this in Signature sound and PA support:
I remember doing sound for the first kid I met that got it (playing at a manageable stage volume). A band came on for sound check, set up. I asked the bass player going through SVT to let it rip to see where to bring the faders up to. He stomped on his pedals and a little mouse whisper of a sound of distortion and angst came out. I asked if that was it? The kid said, "Yeah, that's what the PA's for, Right?" I dropped to my knees and began crying to the heavens, He gets it! He asked me, "Are you, OK mister?"
I like having enough tube power, and the height of the cabinet. The amp moves air in just the right way. The tube amp and the 10’s are quick to respond.
Well I can't argue that at age 57 and me mostly using the two smallest cabs they make
I certainly hope you told that kid to turn it up a little. He deserved a reward.I had just posted this in Signature sound and PA support:
I remember doing sound for the first kid I met that got it (playing at a manageable stage volume). A band came on for sound check, set up. I asked the bass player going through SVT to let it rip to see where to bring the faders up to. He stomped on his pedals and a little mouse whisper of a sound of distortion and angst came out. I asked if that was it? The kid said, "Yeah, that's what the PA's for, Right?" I dropped to my knees and began crying to the heavens, He gets it! He asked me, "Are you, OK mister?"
He told me later that he likes to play the on stage amp low enough to hear the bleed back of the FOHWell I can't argue that at age 57 and me mostly using the two smallest cabs they make
I certainly hope you told that kid to turn it up a little. He deserved a reward.
to hear if his sound is coming through.
The only amp that i have experienced that gives an SVT a run for its money is the Hartke that Ellefson from Megadeth uses.
Because somma loving hauling ... or have the $$$ to let; and mostly for its sound, but this is just a guess!
- Jul 3, 2004
- 1,300
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- Endorsing Artist: Ernie Ball MusicMan Guitars
It was only two setups, but I used a modern SVT with a 4x10 and then a vintage one with an 8x10 and they both sounded like mud to me. If I could try a properly calibrated vintage one in a good room, I'd be willing to try again. Next to that 8x10 was a Behringer head with an 8x10 MESA and it sounded hella better.
SVT's can play from quiet to insanely loud. They go from clean to full on distorted. It's really hard to get a bad tone out of them... you may not get a tone you would use, but it won't necessarily be bad. As an amp, they are pretty versatile in achieving tones.
I'm not a fan of the "fridge" cabs, but they are loud and respond well. For my taste, they are a bit muddy... but that's just me.
SVT's defined bass sound. They are very prevalent and easy to find. So, if you're in a random city and your rig breaks down, you can rent a replacement fairly easily.
I'm not a fan of the "fridge" cabs, but they are loud and respond well. For my taste, they are a bit muddy... but that's just me.
SVT's defined bass sound. They are very prevalent and easy to find. So, if you're in a random city and your rig breaks down, you can rent a replacement fairly easily.
repair is also a big part of the popularity. Whenever my SVTS broke down, most of the time could be diagnosed and repaired in a day, if parts were available.
The last repair took 20 mins and 40$.
Any good tube repair shop should be able to fix the most common SVT breakdown causes with one hand tied behind their back.
I understand that this is a 'chicken or the egg' scenario- they are easy to repair because they are so popular, but ease of repair keeps an amp popular and popular amps stay easy to repair because they are everywhere.
The last repair took 20 mins and 40$.
Any good tube repair shop should be able to fix the most common SVT breakdown causes with one hand tied behind their back.
I understand that this is a 'chicken or the egg' scenario- they are easy to repair because they are so popular, but ease of repair keeps an amp popular and popular amps stay easy to repair because they are everywhere.
There have been tremendous advances in bass cabinets over the last 10 years or so. Used to be the only way you could get the big sound was with big gear. So, with THAT understood, Ampeg (and other 8x10 cabinets) were the BIG SOUND standard for 40+ years. So if you owned one, you often held onto it. Not to say everything we see nowadays was purchased before the change in trends to smaller items. But ... there are a lot of older workhorse Ampeg cabs out there. I myself moved away from the big cab (Bassman w 2x15) to Genzler cabs (much smaller, sound so much better, 37 lbs). Truth told tho - if I could have a rig just set up as a house band, or something for example, I might go with the Ampeg (or two, as someone suggested) for sheer air-moving capability. Has a o be a big venue, granted. I maintain my Genzler stuff actually sounds better in tone, but the power/air move/volume of the big Ampegs is alluring and satisfying.
Good point. However, like any tube amp, if you play enough, you will be changing out those tubes on a somewhat regular basis. I think the tubes for my SVT2-Pro was about $1100 and at the rate I was playing needed to be done about once annually. Pretty expensive.
Putting aside the particular amp, perhaps its just confirmation bias...you like the sound of SVT's so therefore the bass players that are your favorites, because you like their sound, all happen to play SVT's. It's similar to how when you buy a new car, suddenly everyone on the road seems to be driving those cars...this is not the reality, but it is what you notice; or you notice the odometer when it is a significant number, rolling to 1000000 for example; its not that you only look at the odometer when a interesting number is changing, it is that you look at it all the time, but pay no attention if it is insignificant...
I have only played the solid state Ampegs and were quite underwhelmed. However, all this talk about the tube heads makes me want to try and see what all the fuss is about! Nothing looks better on a stack than a big tube head rather than a tiny Class D amp! I just wonder if 300w will be loud enough. I currently use a GK RB1001.
whomever was selling you those tubes should be ashamed of themselves. That is an insane ripoff.
The Mesa D800+ is easier to carry is the only thing I agree with you. There is a certain thickness and punch that the SVT with 810 cab will produce that I haven't heard in any lightweight amps. I have a Trickfish BH1 which is the closest. You'll have to up the ante to an Aguilar Db750 or Phil Jones Bass M500.
You have to play one on a big stage to get it!
People who try one at a music store or on a smaller stage won't!
I wouldn't call it the "Holy Grail", but it is definitely an "industry standard", just like (as others have pointed out) a Marshall JCM for guitarists, a B3/Rhodes for keys, a SM58 for vocalists, etc. I would say that 85-90% of the time, the bass backline is an SVT + 810.
