molan

Nothing wrong with the 'sound of the '70's' - especially if it's a Fender Jazz through an SVT

Definitely never too old to start playing with other people (oo er missus!) - have a scout around your local music shops & rehearsal studios & see if there's other like minded people out there. Loads of web based resources for finding other musicians locally - might be a little daunting at first but worth the effort & you may just find you're better than the people with 'experience'

Have you tried an EBS 2x12? It's maybe 2-3" taller than the Aggie 2x12 and the Proline weighs about 5 pounds more but I don't think you'd really notice this difference in a 'real world' situation. Obviously the Neo will be lighter but, personally, I prefer the Pro sound to the Neo - very much a personal thing I'd say though. They go pretty deep and are very punchy. It's a 4ohm cab as standard so great as a standalone unit if you want to release the full power of an amp. Worth a try if you have a dealer nearby anywhere? PS - Promise I'm not saying this just because I've got one up for sale! I'm selling mine because I've fallen for an Ampeg SVT II and am very 'anal' about having matching heads & cabs, lol.

I saw Paul Gilbert on a mega guitar fest night at the HoB in LA. Lead acts on the bill were Satriani & Vai but also had Steve Lukather, Dweezil Zappa, Johnny Hiland, Scott Henderson, Johnny A & with Sheehan & La Rue on bass. For my money Gilbert was the best of the lot!

[quote name='jensenmann' post='269012' date='Aug 24 2008, 06:49 PM']Having played Ampeg since ages I have to add one thing: the different becomes obvious with volume. The III has a MOSFET amp which will get to the point when it will not get any louder. Increasing volume with your fingers on the strings will not lead to increased volume in the amp. Same thing happens with the tube poweramp of the II BUT poweramp distortion rises and compression start to set in. These increased harmonics will give you the feeling that still it gets louder when you play louder (with your fingers not volumeknob), hence you have better control over the dynamic of your playing. The beauty of the SVT and SVTII and classic is to play with this poweramp compression and distortion this makes your sound come alive. (sorry, that´s LOUD) But you don´t want this for slapstyle. There it sounds annoying. An alternative is the V4B (only 100W) or using KT88 tubes in the SVT (they compress a little earlier than 6550s) or leaving a pair of poweramptubes out.[/quote] That's interesting about leaving the power amp tubes out - what does this do to the power output in terms of wattage? As you're obviously a bit of an expert on Ampegs I wondered what you thought about running the SVTII into an 8ohm cab. I've read that it really prefers to run into 4 or 2ohm loads but Ampeg say it's 'ok' to run into 8 as well?

As someone who works very close to the Bass Cellar I've popped in several times over the past few years. General level of service is best described as one of general disinterest aligned with a hint of arrogance. Now, whilst this isn't uncommon in Denmark Street there really is no excuse for this sort of attitude in any service industry. Especially as the web has opened up the opportunity to browse at leisure, seek users advice & track down the best prices. Some thing that bought this home today for me was a simple trip to my local Waitrose. Let's face it, working in a high street supermarket isn't that exciting & the wages are generally rubbish. However, today every single person I came into contact with could not have been more helpful, friendly and genuinely appeared pleased to serve me with a smile. I have no idea whether this is because they have a really stringent employment policy, a great motivational manager or just that it's a group of people who vaguely enjoy their work. Given that working in one of London's most famous areas, surrounded by great shops, bars, restaurants, music venues etc. has got to be a bit of a privilege and, if you're a bass player, then working in what ought to be one of the best bass places in the country should really be a bit of an inspiration to enjoy your working day and offer up some great client service. The Bass Cellar should be buzzing with good vibes and smiles and it just isn't, it's miserable and dowdy and seems like there's a cloud over the place. Seems like an example of classic sales prevention rather than being an effective sales force. if they do have 200K people going through the doors just imagine how much more they could sell by simply improving the attitude of the staff. Oh, and by the way, last time I was there the guy 'helping' me gave me incorrect information about Warwick bass neck profiles which took me about 2 seconds to check online. I was pretty sure he was wrong when I was in the shop be he was adamant and wasn't going to check his information. It's not like they actually have to know that much to do a decent job, If I can know this stuff when it's only a hobby for me why can't someone who does it as a job be bothered to do some 'homework' and be a bit more professional?

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='263605' date='Aug 16 2008, 02:44 PM']That and roll the tone right off and also play up on the finger board with plenty of meaty pad on the right hand fingers[/quote] and look out for a 1x18 (or even 2x18!) cab - these sometimes pop up and are soften urprisingly cheap because they are a bit limited in use. Great for classic old school reggae sounds

I've bought and sold lots of stuff through the For Sale section in basses, amps, effects & accessories. I have also put feelers out to see if there's even a remote interest in selling something & I've withdrawn a bass that I decided to keep (partly because I didn't get offers I was happy with but also because I lived with it for a while and decided I'd hang on to it for a while longer). I've been buggered around a little and I pulled out of one purchase, for reasons mainly out of my control. However every sale, bid, offer, declined offer has been with lots of friendly chatter and everyone has been really courteous - something that cannot be said of a lot of Ebay transactions I've been through. I've made some real friends in the process as well. I find the whole for sale section works incredibly well, certainly better than any other forum based sale section that I've come across anyway!

[quote name='ste_m3' post='263998' date='Aug 17 2008, 04:10 PM']Id say, Yes.[/quote] I had a feeling that might be the case

I've recently picked up an SVTII as part of a multi trade. I'd never considered an Ampeg before because I always thought of them as 'rock monster' heads only to be used with an 8x10 stack! Having played through this head a few times I'm really surprised at what a lovely pure tone it has, have tried it through a few cabs and seems to sound really nice through all of them. Problem with it of course is that weighs more than the average child & is a beast to lug around. Ampeg quote about 70lbs for it but with a flight case as well it's even heavier. I noticed that the III has pretty much the same front end as the II but has a solid state power circuit (and only weighs 26lbs!) & wondered how close it gets tot he sound of the II? Is it those wonderful 6 glowing power amp tubes that are making all the difference or have Ampeg managed to replicate the core oft he sound without the weight, and hassle, of the power amp tube section?

Yep - I got the 10% offer & cashed it in last weekend for some rack gear worth £440 - got the full 10% off a multiple set of purchases from the same vendor including the postage. Saved me £44

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='263254' date='Aug 15 2008, 05:11 PM']Someone probably read your OP and thought 'I'll have that, thank you very much' I'm 'semi' kidding, but it's always a risk when you ask a question on an open forum like this as there are likely to be an awful lot of folk that are quite prepared to dive in if the opportunity arises. In fact they may never actually post... just sit and watch [/quote] It's back on now - It definitely wasn't showing this morning though - however, Friday AM is EBay's administration time and things often go awry!

[quote name='joegarcia' post='262127' date='Aug 14 2008, 02:03 AM']Yea, i'm interested in that one on Ebay too. Have always been intrigued by them, they look awesome. They are indeed mega heavy though. Theres one in Rikaxxe in Bristol but he wants loads for it I think.[/quote] What happened to the EBay listing? I spotted it the other day & it had a few days to run but it seems to have disappeared!

I've never seen one of these in the flesh but think they look kinda cool: I'm sure they weigh a ton but would love to hear how one sounds!

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='259369' date='Aug 10 2008, 03:57 PM']One man's heaven is another man's hell...[/quote] Vaguely similar to a recent gig where I used fairly expensive Ashdown gear. Coming from a Euphonic set up it sounded dead and woolly to my ears & lacking any drive to another player who uses an Ampeg. However the guy who owns the rig absolutely loves it! I have a Fafner which I really like but also fooling around with a 20 year old SVT which has a rather seductive sound. I must admit that using the Fafner through just my 2x10 it is very bright and I have to cut the high end but with the 2x12 (or both) it sounds great to my ears.

The Flailing Pits are a fun alternative if you want someone who plays more modern stuff. Maybe not as polished as the typical wedding band but might be waht your friend is after. I think they have vids on YouTube as well now. Based on their MySpace page their 'influences' are: Stone Roses, Charlatans, Flaming Lips, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen, Happy Mondays, James, Foo Fighters, The Cars, Razorlight, Rolling Stones, New Order, Verve, Hard Fi, Kaiser Chiefs, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Jet, the Who, The Jam, the Darkness, Inspiral Carpets, the Cult, Kula Shaka, Hard-Fi, Cream, Bros I know their guitarist and he's a very nice chap indeed! Pm me for details if you're interested