SVPCL Classic Bass Preamp

Made in about 2006.  I've played funk, metal, classic rock, it's really easy to dial in your exact tone without going thru a lot of hassle.  It's only one channel, It's a BASS AMP!! Not a PA!  No headphone jack.  It's mono, but will drive two power amps if you wanna go stereo, plus there is a built-in DI for direct to PA applications.  Has a fader on it plus a post/pre switch.  Don't know why anyone would ever use the pre, you wanna have the pure Ampeg SVT tone out the front end, for God's sake!

I have a lot of basses, mostly using Precisions.  Have three + a Guild Pilot, two Jazz basses and a StingRay.  Sounds great with all and has plenty of Adjustment for the different guitars.  It's really quiet.  You can get a bit of growling distortion if you turn up the gain till the LED flashes.  I play mostly heavy and hard rock, VH, Sabbath, Ozzie, Led Zep, Rage. It's hard to get the really fat bottom that I like without losing definition.  This handles it.  I'm playing it thru a QSC RMX850 thru 2x 4x10 Carvin RL series cabs.  It's loud.

Never had a problem with it.  Tried to kill it a few times just to see if I could.  Tried my Boss octave pedal in drop D rocking SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE and never a hiccup.  The QSC is not quite as robust, but the Ampeg is ROCK SOLID.

Never dealt with the warranty or with the mfr.  No idea how long the warranty is.  I didn't buy it 'cause of the warranty, I bought it 'cause it's an Ampeg, and if Billy Sheehan can't blow one up, I probably won't either.

Been playing for about 30+ yrs, have a lot of other gear, SWR SM400S, 1976 Bassman 100, a Traynor, have had others like a Trace Elliott (not so good).  I'd buy it again if they still made them.  I'm in the market for a V4B or SVT as a back-up.  If someone stole it, I'd hunt them down and use their skeleton for a stage prop after I fed them to our drummer.

mine was made in usa in 04.....pretty basic controls....set your low contour then move on to the eq, bass and treble with a mid-shape selector....a couple of brite and ultra high switches...took me awhile to get the right setting in a loud band setting...my patience with this preamp paid off... 2- 12ax7 groove tubes and 2- 12au7 electro harmonix tubes....came stock with this unit

I'm playing a passive stock mexi p-bass and a stock american 5 string passive jazz bass....I run the gain at about 3 o'clock and the red light is flashing most of the time......at first I was a little lost for bottom end and it was a bit thin sounding.....I replaced the stock crap tubes with a couple of n.o.s. ampexex made in holland 12ax7 bugleboys (90$) and 2 made in usa n.o.s. sylvania 12au7 (40$).....what a difference....much warmer bottom and more gain and fatter low mid....about 20% more gain....wow....I'd rate this preamp a 10 if it came with the higher end tubes....real nice SVT grit that softens up a bit when you do....killer...

no problems yet....still lovin it...

I recently purchased a second SVPCL and low and behold, when I ran it against my svpcl with the higher end tubes in it, it was quieter, thinner sounding and I had to run the gain hotter to get any grit.... the second svpcl is full of the stock groove tubes :( so I would strongly recommend upgrading the preamp tubes to some nice old rca, sylvania, westinghouse, amperex..... for me and my fingers and pick on p-bass sound there is nothing better than this preamp.....I liked it so much I own a second back-up that will sit in my closet until the unlikey event something should go wrong with my main svpcl..... or maybe I'll wait 'til you can't get anything american ampeg anymore and sell it.....

Mine was made in 2006.  It is a versatile preamp with a unique sound.  I play rock/dance/r&b/funk/raggae, and some 80's metal, with the occasional country gig thrown in, and although I have to re-dial the EQ depending on the style, I haven't had any problems falling right in with whatever style I'm playing for the night. Love the tube grind if I want it. Also, the mid-scoop controls are fantastic.  That was what I've been looking for on an amp and finally found it.  I've been using a Galien-Kruger RBIII, and it was good.  Although it broke down on me twice during shows, it had a unique tone that I was happy with.  But I've been hearing other bands that come through my town playing, and the guys with the solid bottom end are using Ampeg equipment. 

I use any one of 5 different basses that all use EMG active pickups.  I mention the EMG's because if you use them, they cover up a world of sins such as bad woods used in basses, etc.  I run the Ampeg preamp into a Carvin HD1800 power amp with Avatar NEO 410 and Avatar NEO 210 cabs as my speaker source.  It sounds HUGE! I haven't noticed any excess noise out of the preamp, but if you crank the treble EQ all the way up, of course you get some hiss.  I don't know anyone that would crank the treble all the way up, but if you are the kind of guy that would do that, you'll hear hiss.

I have been using this amp at gigs and practice twice a week for the last few months with no problems at all.  I don't use a backup amp for my bass.  If my amp went down during a show, I'd just go with a DI into the PA to finish the night out, and worry about the bass amp in the morning.  I'll give the 'reliability' rating a 10, because I haven't had any issues with the preamp.  Who knows, a year from now I might have problems with it, but to date, everythings great.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 26 years.  I've owned (bass amps): Marshall, Peavey, GK, Carvin, and Fender.  This Ampeg preamp/Carvin power amp combo is much more professional sounding than the other amps I've owned. I would definitely replace this preamp with the exact same one if it were stolen. I love the sounds, and I haven't found anything that I hate about it yet.  If I had my wish to fix just one thing about the preamp, I'd put an input jack on the back of the unit as well as having one on the front of the unit.  I use a wireless unit that's also rack-mounted, and I have to run a cable to the front of the Ampeg preamp to plug into it.  If the input were on the back, it would have saved a lot of work. If you've been searching for a rock-solid bass tone, that has a pro-quality edge to it, this would be a good preamp to try out. It is $500, but for that you get a good return in sound on your investment.