Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've been reading the thread about the Sansamp boxes, and the replies on it. I've been using a basspod for a few years now, but was never quiet satisfied with it. Nowadays I use an Eden WT-300 Mk1, a Mesa Powerhouse 2 x 10" and a Reverend Drivetrain Overdrive for my Ric setup.

Altough the Reverend Drivetrain is basicly a Ibanez/Maxon Tubescreamer in design, some things have been modified for better bassresponse. It also is less noisy, and has seperate High and Low frequency controls. It uses the original "Tubescreamer OpAmp chip", but the design seems to be better all in all.

Without question, the Eden is a beautifull amp, but lacks the organic roughness of an Ampeg or so. The Reverend box adds the balls to my sound, and if needed, I can use the clean-ness of the Eden.

They say, you can't have the best of both worlds, but he - you can!!!

Robin Moree

Robin,

If I understood correctly, do you mean that this box allows to have SVT-like tones even with an Eden ?

Cheers,
JL

Reverend Drivetrain : apparently unavailable in Europe. There are days when I hate being European...

I see everywhere in this forum of SVT-like tones, I wonder how many of you would say that if you spent any considerable time with a real one? And I'm sure a few of you have (before the hate mail begins). The "tone" of an SVT is only one aspect of it's sound, there is also the sheer impact of playing your bass through a three hundred watt RMS. all tube head with one or two 8 X 10 cabs that have four separate sealed chambers with pairs of tens in each one, that stiffens up the sound so that you don't get a lot of rumble, even when you play with a lot of bottom. There are many different reasons why an SVT sounds like it does, including the cabs, the tube selection, even the power output tube section is an unusual design, there are a pair of three 6650 (or 6146B) tubes linked in series for the push pull output.
The closest I have ever heard to the tone was in the new little self contained SS Ampegs. I forget the model. But in no way could it even compare with a real SVT. I've played the Edens, the Gallien Krugers, Mesa Boogies, the SS Ampegs, and they are all nice amps and have their strengths but....

I'm among those who spent much time with a "real" vintage SVT. This love story lasted for two years and half. But I make a difference between the massive tone you get from an SVT while you're giggin' or rehearsin', and what comes out the tape when you record your bass by mikin' that big ol' 8x10" fridge.

You're absolutely right for what's about the first case : nothing can substitute for an SVT on live situations. On the second case I have to say that my Johnson J-Station, with appropriate settings, comes _close_. I'm just tryin' to reach even closer to the SVT tone. But once again, I mean closer to _what I would get out of the tapes_ after recordin' with an SVT.

Cheers,
JL

That's why they call them simulations ... they aint the real thing ...

But I would even dream of playing without my bass pod as a tone shaper ... even when I play through a SVT

Yeah Jean, I think a miked SVT sounds great in the studio, you get funny looks sometimes though when you bring them in. Why did you fall out of "love" dragging it around? I'm kind of lucky, I leave them on the first floor and one cabs fits in my back seat, believe it or not that is one of my first considerations when I buy a new car. The car I had before my current one was an 87 Buick station wagon "SVT hauler" When gas almost doubled in price it was time to go for that one though. My other consideration is, how many Ric basses can I fit?

Ampeg's are great amps without a doubt, and I've owned both old (1970) and new SVTs. But to my ear they are a bit of a one trick pony. What they do, they do very well and if I was into classic tone I'd still use one, but I like to able to dial in lots of different tones and found I really couldn't do that with an SVT. I'm now using a 350 watt rms Trace Elliot head, with a 2x10 and 1x15 cabinet and find its easily as loud as the SVT with 8-10s that I own without effort (I'm talking about a practical stage volume level here, at some point more volume becomes pointless) plus I can get the tonal variety I'm after without giving up chest thudding punch and awesome tight low end.

On our gig last weekend I took the Ampeg 8x10 cabinet to see what the combination of that cabinet and my Trace head would be like on stage. When I showed up with the Ampeg cabinet for the gig my bandmates were skeptical but after the first set they all said they had no idea the cabinet could sound that good. So I'm thinking I may keep the cabinet after all.

No hate mail from me, just a guy wanting a different (but no less commanding)sound.

Bob, I sold this SVT because the band had split and I had not enough room in the flat I had at this time. And yes, I admit I miss it much today (the SVT, not the flat...).

The irony is that now I live in a very large house, and I have a 800 sq. feet rehearsal room...

Cheers,
JL

Well, a lot of people are right about a lot of things, in their own particular context. The SVT is the sum of several different components, and just because I dial in an SVT tone on my emulator preamp doesn't mean my dinky practice speakers would sound anything like an SVT in a live venue. BUT.......an SVT will always sound like an SVT, and that is rather limiting if you want to sound like Jack Bruce or John Entwistle instead of John McVie for a while. An SVT would not be my first choice in a cover band, metal band, or recording session player situation. Robert is correct about the SVT being a one trick pony that does a really neat trick. For me, variety is the spice of life, so a Jack Bruce-of-all-trades amp is more correct for me. My Marshall practice amp is my "one trick pony", and what it does it does very well, which is emulating a Marshall stack in my bedroom at a volume level that precludes eviction. My RBI provides everything else.

Bob, if I bought an SVT and WHEN (not if) I encountered the inevitable eviction, would it be possible to sleep inside one of those big SVT cabs?

Also, why buy a car for your SVT? That thing is big enough to BE a car. What if you could come up with a chassis to mate with the SVT cabs, and then let the monster amp head be the engine, supplying variable frequency electric pulses to a variable speed electric motor. That way you could PLAY your way to your next gig, instead of merely driving like the poor schmucks that own lesser amps. E = first gear, A = second gear, D = third gear, G = fourth gear, and sliding up the fretboard is your overdrive. I haven't got the steering figured out yet, but maybe a couple of pedals could be rigged up for that. Wouldn't be much need for brakes, as most people would be running for cover expecting to be run over as you approached, with you living in Peru and all that.

Phil, I suspect you can somehow achieve the steering thing with Ric-O-Sound. Cut the bridge pup output to turn right and the neck for left ...

Ampeg makes a nice 6x10 and 4x10 SVT cab ...

Still refrigerator size ... just a smaller refrigerator ...

Phil, you're the engineer, I'm going to wait until you come up with the steering as I don't have a car here in Perú.
And actually one of the reasons I have never changed amps is because I have always thought that they were very versatile. I can always get the sound I want in any room. Back when they were first introduced you used to get a little cardboard cutout that fit over the knobs with which you could emulate all the amps of the day, including Marshall, Fender, Sunn etc. I can get a mean Jack Bruce tone out of my SVT with my Ric, I just crank up the Lo-mid.
Many people think Rics are one trick ponies also, and I have found both Rics and SVT's to be quite the opposite.
Just because an instrument (or amp) has a trademark sound that doesn't mean that it isn't good at something else. There is a famous jazz bass player who's name now escapes me that used to use SVT's.
IMHO, the cab is as much if not more of the trademark sound than the head. I use the head with different cabs. I think that the cab with it's design is much more limiting than the head. I think maybe with your Trace Elliot you might be getting getting an Ampeg-like like sound. I have found that when I plug one of my little 100 watt Ampeg B-15T's (SS) into them they almost sound like an SVT, maybe a little more sterile, but a tube Fender bassman, no, it doesn't have the tonal versatilty or the power. Also an old V4-B sounded almost identical because the preamp section is very similar. (by that I mean I could get the sound that I like and am used to).

John, I like the Ric-O-Sound steering idea. It gives bystanders a bit of advance warning. Yes, Bob, you can get a wide range of sound out of an SVT, and I can do the same thing with my Marshall, but they both have a different range of tone. When somebody says "it sounds like a Marshall", or whatever, my thoughts are which Marshall and on what settings. OK, maybe that's not the best example as everybody plays a Marshall maxed out it seems. I cut the mids and boost the bass and treble on my Marshall, and it still doesn't sound close to an SVT to my memory. That's how I usually play it, except the new OLP SB4 has major bigtime gorilla grunt E-string bass on the neck pickup, so I backed off on the bass. I was tweaking on the SB4 today, and it's really turning out to be a killer cheap bass. The neck has a slimmer feel than the 4004L. The MM2 can match it in the treble, but not in the bass. It's almost like having a 4004 and a StingRay rolled into one. Tomorrow I'll fire up the RBI/B&K "high end" bass amp and see how the 4004L competes against the SB4 in the bass, as the Marshall doesn't have bottom end equal to the 4004L. This is one example where an emulator preamp run through an extended system can get you more tonal range than a bass amp that's made for efficiency.

....I think maybe with your Trace Elliot you might be getting an Ampeg-like like sound... No I don't think that's the case. The Trace SMX pre-amp has extensive tone shaping capabilites and they came thru pretty well, much to my suprise, with the Ampeg cabinet. It sounded like a Trace with less presence and a somewhat mellower tone is the best way I can describe it. I found it to be a good combination.