My band, A Fragile Tomorrow, is just starting to make a name for itself, playing more often and bigger gigs such as playing for his Holiness the Pope in April. So I thought that it was time to upgrade my old rig to a new one. After making a few mistakes about what to get and running back and forth between stores and online sites trying to stay on a budget, I finally just bit the bullet and bought an Ampeg SVT 810E and paired it with a used Genz Benz GBE600 head (about 425watts at 4 ohms). This is my question: Am I under powering this cab? I don't understand why ampeg makes cab that can handle so much power, 800 RMS at 4 ohms, but makes two heads that are legendary for being paired together that don't come close to that (SVT-CL 300 watts at 2/4 ohms and SVT-450H 450 watts at 4 ohms)
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Young player with new Ampeg rig needs some help!!!!!
- Thread starter Bassgrits
- Start date
Don't worry. Your rig should sound fine and loud enough for your purposes. A bit of under powering is OK. And Genz's power rating is known to be very conservative.
YES, LOL the Pope!!!! Check us out Afragiletomorrow.com or on myspace. They go to a church in upstate New York, that has some ppl who work at the archdiocese in New York city, and that asked us if they could put our name in the running to play at the Papal Youth rally at St. Josephs Seminary in Yonkers, NY. Two months and a bunch of back round checks later we took the stage opening for Third Day, Toby Mac and Kelly Clarkson and such...., The stage was actually left over from an old Rolling stones tour so that was pretty sweet.
Just to let you know, 300 TUBE watts is AT LEAST 2.5X to be converted to solidstate(maybe 800w) if you are conservative. I understand there isn't really a way to do a formula of
XXX tube watts=XXX SS watts, but you can just assume. 300 tube watts is a lot louder than the SVT4Pro, etc.
Why do you have to get an ampeg head?
Unless you could find older USA versions of the CL or the VR I'd steer clear.
Check out the Mesa Boogie 400+
Unless you could find older USA versions of the CL or the VR I'd steer clear.
Check out the Mesa Boogie 400+
+1
I think this is because the tubes clip differently than their SS counterparts, allowing the amp to be cranked far more.
scottbass
Bass lines like a big, funky giant
The only time you will regret the SVT-CL is when you have to carry it - but you will forget all about that when you plug it into that 810 and play that first note!
I liked the last pope better, but then again I liked David Lee Roth better than Sammy Hagar, too.
I liked the last pope better, but then again I liked David Lee Roth better than Sammy Hagar, too.
I don't care for the pope, if it was my gig we'd be covering "The Anti-Pope" by Zlad. But it's a nice gig, probably gonna be lots of people. Congratulations!
I don't have to get an Ampeg but ultimately I want to get one, but for the budget I have right now this was the best combo. I like this head/cab combo alot. The tone is great and its loud for what I need. Plus at smaller venues I can run it thru the top 410 at 400 at 8 ohms. I am also having trouble dialing in the tone, so if anyone has some suggestions for settings with the Genz Benz GBE600 please let me know!
Bue92,
Thanks.
and it already happened it was in April of this year. Check out Youtube to see some other performances. Just type Papal Youth Rally
Thanks.
and it already happened it was in April of this year. Check out Youtube to see some other performances. Just type Papal Youth Rally
It's funny I actually had a USA SVT-CL and it failed 2 times in the first year. They replaced it with a Vietnam SVT-CL and I had it for a year and never had a problem with it.
Go figure...
How did yours fail you? I bought my SVT-CL new in late 2001, and it worked without any problems until within the last year. The majority has, so far, been cold solder joints giving up the ghost. It's back in the shop right now having the caps checked, just to get rid of that hum and static from hitting the standby switch. Between the less-than-stellar solder and often bumpy rides from being transported poorly, it became unreliable. I assume part of the blame is on me, part on Ampeg. After it gets back to being 100%, it will be treated like royalty... or a fragile Pope.
Anyway, before it went back in this last time for caps, I hooked it up to a friends 810-E, and we were both blown away by SPL's and that beautiful Ampeg tube tone I've been missing with my backup SVT-III PRO. The VR is a great choice too, I'm sure. Don't assume the CL (or any other piece of gear, Ampeg or not) is bulletproof, take care in transporting it, and it should be around until you can't lift it anymore.
You sir, are no physicist. While I believe that the percieved loudness of a tube head is greater, a watt is a watt.
I would love to hear one of our resident experts chime in on this.
So true. A watt is a measure of power output. It's calculated by smart people who know how to calculate. 1 watt = 1 watt, 1000 watts = 1000 watts. That's it.
Unfortunately, I suspect that a watt changes when marketing gets involved. My 200 watt Sound City is a lot louder than my 200 watt traynor. Both are tube amps, so thats not an issue. So a there seems to be some variance. Is a british watt louder than a canadian watt? lol
And they are both louder than my Ampeg 300watt ss amp.
And they are both louder than my Ampeg 300watt ss amp.
