Ampeg SVT III head suitable for Ampeg 8x10 bass fridge?

[AJ Ta Misery]

I have a Classic bass fridge (not sure of the wattage ... somewhere around 1000?) and need a head that is suitable to power this thing. I see A LOT of people using the SVT III with this cab and it seems to me as if that's not providing enough power to the cab. 450 watts at 4 ohms. I've read through ALL of the reviews on this site about every different SVT head, but the reason I'm bringing up the SVT III is because I have someone willing to sell me one at a decent price. While I want to jump at it considering its from someone I trust at a reasonable price ... I'd rather just get a suitable head and not have to worry about blowing out the cab. Any suggestions?

 

PS - I think I remember there being a power amp in on the back on the SVT III ... could I hook up an external power amp somehow for that extra juice that I'm assuming I'll need for this cab?

[way2fat]

 

I have a Classic bass fridge (not sure of the wattage ... somewhere around 1000?) and need a head that is suitable to power this thing. I see A LOT of people using the SVT III with this cab and it seems to me as if that's not providing enough power to the cab. 450 watts at 4 ohms. I've read through ALL of the reviews on this site about every different SVT head, but the reason I'm bringing up the SVT III is because I have someone willing to sell me one at a decent price. While I want to jump at it considering its from someone I trust at a reasonable price ... I'd rather just get a suitable head and not have to worry about blowing out the cab. Any suggestions? PS - I think I remember there being a power amp in on the back on the SVT III ... could I hook up an external power amp somehow for that extra juice that I'm assuming I'll need for this cab?

 

 

What you're describing sounds like the SVT-3 Pro, a different amp than the SVT-III.

[AJ Ta Misery]

You're correct, SVT 3 Pro, my bad.

[bass_n_drums]

with the III pro hooked to the 8x10 should be no problem at all. You'll have plenty of power.

 

I use to use my III with 2 x410 cabs and it was plenty loud! at 4ohms 300 watts.

 

Now I use just a 4x10 going 200 watts at 8ohms which is still plenty...just as long as you don't have a guitarist for a jerk that blast his amp over everybody.

 

Plus when you play shows....the clubs are going to mic you...so no worries.

[dragon9666]

I run a 3-Pro to an Ampeg 8x10 and sounds and works just fine. I've never had a problem with volume and tone, sounds great!! I use the speakon cable, BTW.

If you need more juice, run a power amp through it, bypass the head amp, and use the 5 tube pre-amp!

Go for it!

[AJ Ta Misery]

My band is extremely loud + most places we play don't have full PA systems. Therefore, I have a Triple Rec and a 5150 both with two cabs to compete with.

 

I saw that the SVT 3 Pro had a Power Amp In ... I'm not sure how this works though. Does it just override the power amp built in the head and you essentially use the controls on the head accompanied with the power from the power amp? What I'm getting at is that I use a SansAmp pedal for most of my control (usually turn the EQ off on my current Hartke 3500) ... so here's my question ... is it even worth it to buy this head? Would it be possible for me to just run the sans amp pedal into a power amp that had whatever wattage I felt was suitable for the cab?

 

Also, what wattage would one ideally want to run into this cab? I run live sound so I have pretty much any type of power amp you'd want.

[AJ Ta Misery]

One more question ... this is an OLD 8x10 that doesn't have the speak on connector ... would it be worth it for me to buy a speakon to 1/4 cable or would it not be worth it? Not sure if those things serve much purpose if its not speakon on both sides.

[Kindness]

The power amp in is for when you want to bypass the preamp of the SVT 3 Pro and just use the power amp in the SVT 3 Pro. If you want to use the preamp of the SVT 3 Pro and bypass the power amp section, you'd use the preamp out to connect to a power amp.

 

It is possible to a sansamp pedal into a power amp to achieve good results. The key is matching the output voltage of the sansamp to the voltage required to drive the power amp to suitable levels. These specs are easy to find and you are probably already familiar with the input voltage sensitivity of your power amps since you run live sound.

 

I personally like speakon connections quite a bit, especially for high powered amps. However, they are not essential. I would use a speakon to 1/4" if possible and I'd take it one step further and rewire the cab with a speakon connection. That's a very simple mod for any tech to do.

 

As for what wattage to run, I don't know the answer. I do know how I'd figure it out. First I'd ignore the 1000 watt rating. That is the thermal rating of the cabinet and pretty useless for any purpose. I'd hook up one of your larger power amps and push the amp with a suitable preamp until I made the cabinet fart out. Then I'd back it off from there to clean up the sound. This is the max clean power I'd be looking for. If you are handy with a multimeter you could then measure the output voltage of your signal from your pre and determine the power being used based on the gain of the power amp. If that's too technical, I'd just use an amp that can make the cabinet fart out, but keep the power output level just below that threshold as my "max volume."

[bass_n_drums]

 

My band is extremely loud + most places we play don't have full PA systems. Therefore, I have a Triple Rec and a 5150 both with two cabs to compete with. I saw that the SVT 3 Pro had a Power Amp In ... I'm not sure how this works though. Does it just override the power amp built in the head and you essentially use the controls on the head accompanied with the power from the power amp? What I'm getting at is that I use a SansAmp pedal for most of my control (usually turn the EQ off on my current Hartke 3500) ... so here's my question ... is it even worth it to buy this head? Would it be possible for me to just run the sans amp pedal into a power amp that had whatever wattage I felt was suitable for the cab? Also, what wattage would one ideally want to run into this cab? I run live sound so I have pretty much any type of power amp you'd want.

 

 

you should still be fine....just bump your mids a bit.

[AJ Ta Misery]

Alright, this is a dumb question ... but how would I connect things to utilize the features/sound of the Ampeg SVT 3 Pro along with the wattage of an external power amp? Also ... is running a sans amp through a power amp into the cab safe or is there some extra step I'd need to take ... seems too simple to be true.

 

Thanks in advance, the help is much appreciated.

[dragon9666]

http://ampeg.com/products/pro/svt3pro/index.html

 

Download the user manual.

[I was The Funk]

 

My band is extremely loud + most places we play don't have full PA systems. Therefore, I have a Triple Rec and a 5150 both with two cabs to compete with. I saw that the SVT 3 Pro had a Power Amp In ... I'm not sure how this works though. Does it just override the power amp built in the head and you essentially use the controls on the head accompanied with the power from the power amp? What I'm getting at is that I use a SansAmp pedal for most of my control (usually turn the EQ off on my current Hartke 3500) ... so here's my question ... is it even worth it to buy this head? Would it be possible for me to just run the sans amp pedal into a power amp that had whatever wattage I felt was suitable for the cab? Also, what wattage would one ideally want to run into this cab? I run live sound so I have pretty much any type of power amp you'd want.

 

 

 

It wouldn't be possible to maybe.....lose one cab for each guitar player and pull a couple tubes out would it?

 

If you are not playing a 2000 person place, 2 full stacks are WAAAAAAAY overkill. If you are playing a place that big then you WILL have a full pa, and its STILL overkill.

 

Let me take a guess and say your drummer breaks a lot of sticks and cymbals. How do you hear your singer at practice?

 

But to answer your question, any SVT into a 8x10 at 4 ohms should be plenty of rumble for any place not carrying a big pa. You should be able to hurt someone with this rig.

[I was The Funk]

 

Alright, this is a dumb question ... but how would I connect things to utilize the features/sound of the Ampeg SVT 3 Pro along with the wattage of an external power amp? Also ... is running a sans amp through a power amp into the cab safe or is there some extra step I'd need to take ... seems too simple to be true. Thanks in advance, the help is much appreciated.

 

 

 

Running a sansamp through the poweramp should work fine, but only needed if you don't like the sound of the ampeg's preamp. Just plug the sansamp into the poweramp in and ajust to taste.

 

to slave to another poweramp, take the preamp out of the ampeg and plug into any power amp. You'll probably want an additional cab as well so you can run both amps in parallel and have lots of headroom.