AMPEG SVT 7 PRO - UPDATE REVIEW

[Bombom]

UPDATE ON AMPEG SVT 7 PRO

Firstly the reason I’d bought this amp was to achieve more versatility over the Ashdown abm 500 ( voiced eq ) especially in regards to bad sounding rooms and the wide range of music I need to cover.

 

Take for example a private function – where you can go from jazz standards at the start of the nite to full blown rock at the end of the nite - This can be a big ask of any amp – but the one important criteria it had to fulfil was – the setup must be able to cut the rock stuff at the end of the nite.

 

I’d like to apologise to the manufacturers of this amp and if I gave anyone a bum steer for saying this amp is pretty much useless unless the Ultra Low is engaged. ( March 2013 post – Harmony central )

 

Using the Ultra Low engaged – after a while I noticed it wasn’t versatile for my needs and the notes F to A on the E string always felt lacklustre / almost unbalanced from the 3 other strings, the G,D,A strings generally sounded Ok.

 

I persisted on and off for a while, then was almost ready to throw it in the creek, it had became that frustrating.

So one day I thought let’s resurface this amp and start from scratch – I mean, millions of bass players use Ampeg so why am I so disillusioned.

 

During my research I noticed almost all Ampeg users DON’T use the Ultra Low.

 

So I went back to the ‘P’ bass ( as I’d recently started to love the wider neck and full bodied thump again ) and set up the amp – everything set at noon, including gain and NO ultra low. ( compression was set to zero ) Strings being Daddario XL170 45-100.

 

And whella – what clinched the deal was setting the bass at 3 or 4 oclock depending on venue of course. All of a sudden this made the normally choked sounding ‘E’ string come alive.

Having to set a bass knob so high was alien to me , but I’ve learned Ampeg is a completely different animal - the mid selector is on 3 and to add some sparkle to the rich bass, I have been using the Ultra HIGH.

 

This setup has been amazing – all the notes are well defined and balanced – first time playing December 63 ( oh what a nite ) – that run in the high F# register – the notes jumped right out at me.

I’m still determining how much mid-range to use but I’ve been playin safe – at NOMINAL 12 oclock to 1.00 oclock for now.

 

Some top end notes can sound a little brittle and sometimes I will drop treble to 11 oclock. – Will experiment with finding a good quick EQ setting when doin a song that requires occasional pops. ( tips anyone ???? )

 

With a P bass and a SVT 610 this amp-setup is the Swiss army knife – sure nothin is 100% but I believe I have found the versatility criteria I’ve been looking for, and more importantly peace of mind.

 

[WRGKMC]

The midrange is a key element on the Ampeg's. I used to own a 70's V4B back in the 80's which had the same tone stack as an SVT, just lower wattage. I own a 350W Portaflex head now which has a tone stack like their vintage flip tops do. On the V4B I's set the bass so I had drive without speaker flap, treble that matched the drums and guitars, then walked the mids up to hear the finger tones. That amp had a 3 way mid switch and I believe I had it set for lower mids and took a little 500hz out.

 

The drummers I played with back then had over sized Ludwig kick drums with a stuffed pillow tone and the key was to match their tones. Allot of drummers today use small kick drums so sizing the bass tones to match the kick may require using less lows and more mids to complement the drummer.

 

Much of how well the ultra low will work depends on the speaker cab you're using. When I had the V4B I could use the ultra low effectively because I was using a V4B cab with 2X15 Altecs. They were a huge step up from the stock Eminence speakers that can originally had. The aluminum dust on those speakers gave the speakers a brighter tone and they had a high SPL and flatter response then the stock speakers which had allot more mids and less highs and lows.

 

The Portaflex head I have now is the old school Ampeg tone stack. I don't have the matching cab but it does best with a JBL loaded cab. The bass knob boosts the 40hz range which is at the low extreme of hearing. The speaker has to be able to produce those lows (like with a 15" cab with good box resonance) If the can doesn't produce ultra lows well you may wind up cranking this knob up higher then normal and consuming allot of wattage that never gets turned into sound waves.

 

The mid knob targets 500hz. This is fine for me because I like a little more acoustic jazz bass type tones and by cutting the mids I get a more upright bass tone (which is what the original Portaflex amps were designed to do)

 

The treble is voiced pretty high at 8K which is pretty much above the effective range of most bass pickups. it is a broad ranged treble so it will slope up the treble frequencies from about 2K and up. Most basses get their bite in the 2~5K ranges for slap bass so knowing what your bass and speakers can produce is key here. Most bass speakers will roll off the sound at around 4K so some of that treble boost will be lost and you'll only wind up having the normal top end boost of the speaker. If the cab has a horn then you can effectively get that Hi Fi fingered string tones an upright bass needs.

 

From there its just a matter of the bass I use. All of them sound different through the head.

 

The SVT has a whole lot more power but they have the same basic tone stack with a variable mid boost/cut. If you're using 10's then its unlikely the ultra lows or high setting will do much more then cloud your sound because you're pumping tones the speakers cant produce. If the cab had a 15 or 18, a couple of 10's and a horn with a crossover then you'd be able to use those settings allot more effectively. SVT's are obviously designed to work best with a full sized 8X10" cab. Those speakers do pretty good on producing full ranged tones and even the ultra low and highs do pretty good depending on the bass you're using.

 

A precision does put out allot of mids in comparison to other basses. if you want slap tones you need to give it a upper mid boost somewhere in 3~5Khz range. A jazz bass with the bridge pickup would do better with the ultra high switch and something with a fatter neck pup may do better with the ultra low.

 

I ran an SG bass and a precision when I had my V4B and of the two I liked the SG better because the fat neck/center pickup had a fatter tone. I wasn't into slap bass and obviously an SG bass is a very poor choice for that. I could cut mids and get that earth shaking vibration in my toes that would make a wooden stage vibrate. The precision was much more mid frequency oriented, and can give me slap tones with the right strings.

 

I wouldn't rule out the string choice either. Strings make a huge difference in bass tones. I liked using Labella Deep Talking round wounds playing live. They produced better lows then D'Addarios and had a more earthy tone to them. You'd have less highs from the pickups which means you could boost those frequencies more with the amps EQ.

[Bombom]

Wow, some real interesting stuff here.

From you comments I get the feeling that only 15 inch speakers ( other than 8x10 ) will do these amps justice - and over the last few years I've been thinking whether to go back to 15's. Im no sound engineer but I recall reading that when using 15's the sound wave hits you at nominal 25 feet away - in other words - without pa support the audience will notice theres a bass player in the room - my point is I guess you don't have to introduce extra bass in the eq.

The other nite playing on a dead sounding stage, the mid selector at position 3 ( 800 hz ), and running the bass at 3 o'clock ( as discussed 8th april )- needed to set the midrange also at 3 o'clock to achieve some grind.

On songs where I needed to pop occasionally, i used an exotic rc booster - set with some extra treble - seemed to scoop the sound a little.

 

And after playing the P bass with this amp for the last few months, I honestly cannot see myself going back to the 'J' anytime soon. ( even though the 'J' pop is the bomb )

 

Actually you comments relating to strings is real interesting. When I think LaBella Deep talking I think of Flat rounds which everyone seems to talk about on forums , but I'm yet to bump into anyone that uses them.

But yes, they do make a Round wound which I will try, I just love the D'Addario is regards to low tension playability.

 

Will also try the Ampeg V4-B re-issue one day - its not just the valves, its that big heavy transformer, that feels like you have a mini power station behind you.

 

But like I said nothings ever 100 % - but a P a pro 7 and a 610 hlf - for now I'm set.

Although a vintage P with the wider 1.75 inch neck - now we're talking.

Like a wise old man of bass told me once - all the sound is in the bigger the neck man.

 

[WRGKMC]

When I was playing in my last cover band I was trying out all the main brands of strings and doing allot of comparisons. I do like the D'Addarios on my short scale Gretch because that bass is deep sounding with its Humbuckers and benefits from some brightness and they do last a long time.

 

45~100 D'Addarios are a little too flabby on the low E and lack some solid lows.

 

On the long scales I'd stick with at a low E closer to 110 or even 120. It takes a little time to get used to them but the benifits in tone are worth while. The deep talking round wound has a great live tone. Great feel too. A heavier gauge like 44~110 will actually have the same feel as the D'Addarios even though they are wrapped thicker. D'Addario uses thick core wire in comparison which gives them a brighter tone, but would wind up feeling much stiffer in a heavier gauge.

 

Boomers are similar to the Labellas in tone and feel and an excellent buy for the money. I can get allot of hours out of them before they need changing and even then thay still have a tone close to new ones. The balance/tension on both are very good, especially the low E string. D'Addarios can be a little flabby on the low E depending on the gauge.

 

I quit using Rotosound awhile back. I like the way they sound when new, but lately they loose their tone very fast and corrode quickly. I could get maybe a few weeks to a month at the most out of them before they started to sound dead and feel bad. I think they changed their formula because they used to be a much better quality string (or maybe the competition just got that much better).

 

 

For cabs, you can always take the head to a music shop and try others. Personal preference is a big factor here. I haven't tried the smaller 6X10 cab so I can only guess its a smaller version of an SVT. I know a full sized cab sounds great, but man, those suckers are a monster for moving. Everyone learns to hate the bass player who owns one. For me a single 15 and a 4X10 cab would be ideal for just about anything. I could use either the 4X10 or singe 15 for rehursal and take both when gigging.

 

I kind of have that on my EV cab. Its got a single 18" and 2X10's. I biamp the cab with two heads and set the EQ's up to drive more mids and highs to the 10's and lows to the 18". I also have a Sunn 6X12 cab, a Traynor 2X15 and a Sunn cab with a single 15" Folded bin.

 

Out of the whole bunch the single folded horn Sunn cab sounds the best live. I just wish I had a second one or the 2X15 version. My buddy had the Model T head and folded 2X15's and that amp produced pure thunder. It even had a tag on the amp warnings you about hearing loss.

 

The speaker in those cabs acts more like a horn then a bass reflex. It produces allot more mids. When you're up close to the amp you mostly feel the bass tones. Its not until your out past the PA cabs you begin to hear the full frequency response. The cab has a long throw because of its folded design, but its a super solid bass tone. It doesn't have the same kind of dead spots or increased resonance on certain notes a reflex cab can produce, Kind of a 10" tone on steroids in a 15" can design except a lot more power.

[Craig Vecchione]

Wow, some real interesting stuff here.

From you comments I get the feeling that only 15 inch speakers ( other than 8x10 ) will do these amps justice - and over the last few years I've been thinking whether to go back to 15's. Im no sound engineer but I recall reading that when using 15's the sound wave hits you at nominal 25 feet away - in other words - without pa support the audience will notice theres a bass player in the room - my point is I guess you don't have to introduce extra bass in the eq.

 

 

It's usually a mistake to generalize speakers based on cone size. Any size speaker and cabinet can be voiced as needed, note the Phil Jones cabinets using lots of tiny drivers. The wavelength issue isn't tied to the speaker cone, but to the frequency(ies) being produced, and the room/space/location the speaker is within.

 

 

[Bombom]

( WRGKMC ) - I appreciate your in depth comments - but in regards to the Ampeg SVT 6 x 10.

This is the easiest cab I have ever owned to move around and load into a station wagon.

You just turn on its side, lower it down with the handle and slide it in from the bottom castors.

 

As far as everyone hating the bass player comment - well, that has never been my experience with all the musicians I have performed with - we have always helped each other out at start and at end of gig - whether it be subs, drum hardware cases etc.