The less well known/publicized art of Bass amps...

[Andyxlh]

Hmm I have had a couple of good and indifferent amps.
The worst was by far a 1980s solid state Marshall bass rig with 2x10 and 1x15 cabs. Not sure of the model, I think it was 200w.Expensive and rubbish.
50w Peavet Basic combo was a great cheap amp super clean with guitar too
1980s fender 30w open back combo was marginal, no bass response and way too quiet
Best was my '79 SVT AMPEG which was fantastic until it eventually fell apart. I had it repaired in Sydney in the early 2000s and it was never the same again. Run it through an ampeg 4x10 and a home build 1x15 with a Celestion bass speaker.
Now have a 300w ampeg solid state mini head with the same cabs, it does a really good job of copying the growl of the SVT. Bought it in the USA new 4 years ago for about 350aud and cheaper than the last repair on the SVT!
The huge downside is the ampeg cabs are heavier than a battleship. The bass player I currently play with has two fibreglass custom made 1x12 cabs and a micro head which is 1000w, the whole setup is about half the weight of the ampeg 4x 10 alone, and sounds great.

[Marcel]

Hmm I have had a couple of good and indifferent amps.
The worst was by far a 1980s solid state Marshall bass rig with 2x10 and 1x15 cabs. Not sure of the model, I think it was 200w.Expensive and rubbish.
50w Peavet Basic combo was a great cheap amp super clean with guitar too
1980s fender 30w open back combo was marginal, no bass response and way too quiet
Best was my '79 SVT AMPEG which was fantastic until it eventually fell apart. I had it repaired in Sydney in the early 2000s and it was never the same again. Run it through an ampeg 4x10 and a home build 1x15 with a Celestion bass speaker.
Now have a 300w ampeg solid state mini head with the same cabs, it does a really good job of copying the growl of the SVT. Bought it in the USA new 4 years ago for about 350aud and cheaper than the last repair on the SVT!
The huge downside is the ampeg cabs are heavier than a battleship. The bass player I currently play with has two fibreglass custom made 1x12 cabs and a micro head which is 1000w, the whole setup is about half the weight of the ampeg 4x 10 alone, and sounds great.

Was it a CL or VR version of the SVT Andy? Do you still have it?
The current SVT-7PRO that pumps out 1kW of bass grunt with tube front end goes for $1500... An all tube SVT that pushes 200W into 2 ohms starts at $3k... As desirable as either is both are out of my league...lol

[Andyxlh]

Err I'm not sure, in spite of living with it for 20+ years! Currently it sits in the garage at my sister in law's place for the last 6 years or so...
It is 350 watts I'm sure, and I never wound it right out to se how loud it would go

[Marcel]

Err I'm not sure, in spite of living with it for 20+ years! Currently it sits in the garage at my sister in law's place for the last 6 years or so...
It is 350 watts I'm sure, and I never wound it right out to se how loud it would go

Oh...my.... Sister in laws garage !?!
That's one valuable (and probably rare) amp to have sitting idle... If not using it I'd be putting it on Reverb or on consignment at a local music store, or are you hoping its value goes up...lol.

[Andyxlh]

Oh...my.... Sister in laws garage !?!
That's one valuable (and probably rare) amp to have sitting idle... If not using it I'd be putting it on Reverb or on consignment at a local music store, or are you hoping its value goes up...lol.

Ha! Back in the day... the 90s... I used to run two of these rigs at bigger gigs, one either side of the drummer. I sold the one I liked the least and bought a used car with the proceeds in '97. I used to play in the sw of the uk and had a mate walk past a pub one night when I was standing inwith a different band, he said he knew it was me from that growly tone....... I think it was a top 40 band, would have given a new edge to the latest Kylie classic at the time!
Must admit, it is pretty tatty with all that playing, was well used when I bought it in '89, but never missed a beat until it started to crackle and I had it repaired by a pro here in Sydney soon after I arrived, like I said it was never the same again. Too quiet and too clean!
Bit of family history now, I'll drag it out and open it up to see I find I can see what's wrong with it one day...........

[Marcel]

Ha! Back in the day... the 90s... I used to run two of these rigs at bigger gigs, one either side of the drummer. I sold the one I liked the least and bought a used car with the proceeds in '97. I used to play in the sw of the uk and had a mate walk past a pub one night when I was standing inwith a different band, he said he knew it was me from that growly tone....... I think it was a top 40 band, would have given a new edge to the latest Kylie classic at the time!
Must admit, it is pretty tatty with all that playing, was well used when I bought it in '89, but never missed a beat until it started to crackle and I had it repaired by a pro here in Sydney soon after I arrived, like I said it was never the same again. Too quiet and too clean!
Bit of family history now, I'll drag it out and open it up to see I find I can see what's wrong with it one day...........

So sad that it's still crook... If I was in Sydney I'd have a look at it for you. It's such a buggar that freight up to Rocky could prove so costly due to weight ...

[dave.king1]

So sad that it's still crook... If I was in Sydney I'd have a look at it for you. It's such a buggar that freight up to Rocky could prove so costly due to weight ...

I'd be surprised if there weren't members on here driving up and down the coast LSL the time who could relay it up, it happens with my car club forum all the time.

I'm driving to Brisbane early on Friday morning so if it could be organised I'd be happy to take the head that far

Returning on Monday or Tuesday so probably wouldn't be able to do the return freight