Marcus Cornall

Thanks mate! Yeah it is BIG enough. The strange bit was, on the gig ,realising the essential difference from all my previous experience: the notes were all clean and the same no matter how much I turned it up, but I mean referring to the cab..I realised all other cabs had coloured the sound far more than I thought..certain notes begin to boom out more than others or sound tonally different, because of cab resonances and such. And its so weird being able to play at volume (or at all ,if I think about it) without that .,well.,limitation of other cabs. At first I was disappointed to have lost it! But I thought it good to be ..erm..properly HiFi I suppose, and to enjoy getting used to what the bass should sound like uncoloured by cab limitations. I can always get a pf 115 or 410 for those trad sounds. But this is lighter,more responsive and I am enjoying the contrasting cleanliness and responsiveness instead. The other paychoacoustic effect of that on me is that because that cab character is missing...my mind says it doesn't SOUND as loud! And I ended up turning it up quite a lot before realising how much I was putting out,as it was so unobtrusive (but inducing of kneecap vibration at close range!) I am glad I got the kW amp though. It just kept de.ivering MORE low end no matter how much I turned it up. Plenty of clean headroom even at gig volume is also a thing previously unknown for me. We don't have a gig u till August now and I'm itching to take it out again .

Hello all, I know it's been a while, but I have closure on this issue at last, and i thought I'd share it.. The used SVT 7 pro had an issue.It hissed badly . Having never had an amp that powerful,nor a FRFR cab, I didn't know if it was just something to expect,but I thought surely not? But LO! Something rattled inside! It turned outntonbe a capacitor that had not just broken loose in transit,but had been MELTED somehow. The guy I got it from was fully decent and honest and I'm sure he didn't know. He used it with a tweeterless 1x15. I got my money back. I was put off another one.Purely because I didn't know for sure if they all hissed or if it was because of the melted cap,and I didn't have time to mess about sending another one back. So.,a new SVT 7 Pro? £nearly 900.nearly double used prices. Alternatives? I thought on the PF800 or even 500 .but due to the way the wattage works,I'd only be getting 400wnout of the 800, and 375 from the 500. Was that 'enough' ? In the end ,how could I know? I had a gig coming,and I decided I couldn't take the risk of being underpowered. And besides anything else ,actually GETTING any new Ampeg above the pf500? 10-12 weeks awaiting stock ,said all the major (and minor) suppliers! Oh.well that also swayed me..towards... The Peavey Minimega. Only just over HALF the price of a new SVT 7,the same price as a used one...1000w giving 700 at 8 ohms.. Seemed perfect. And my old head is a Peavey. But could it do that fat Ampeg-like sound ? Aside from the hiss,the 7 pro sounded FAT at home.i didn't get chance to try it at rehearsal volume. But I needed something,so took the risk With the Minimega. At home where I plugged it into the BF,I hadnt yet plugged a bass in ,because I wanted to hear if it hissed. Even with the gain and vol up full,and the tweeter fully on,and the treble up..the thing was so silent I thought it was broken! When I plugged a bass in (having turned the gain and vol back to home levels!) The weight,clarity and power were wonderful. The immediacy of attack was incredible,and it allows so much more accuracy with the right hand touch because the amp and cab are so much more responsive than anything I've known. And on the gig? Amazing .!!!!! The dispersion of the BB astonished me,and the band.You can hear it clearly off axis or yards away. It was a hit with the band because they could feel me and hear me better onstage than the bass in the monitor,or front of house leakage of subs. I loved the tone and yes I got the one I heard in my head. Not Ampeg of course, but Ampeg-like fatness. And the power was amazing too. Huge clean lows aplenty (And everything else of course, but it being a Reggae gig and me liking a trad sound,I had some mids but not too many upper ones,and no tweeter) And the MM is even smaller and lighter,so total rig weight around 18kg. So ,thankyou to all of you for helping,and because of that help I now have an amp and cab I love ,that make the sound I wanted,and are so responsive as to give me the chance to really play it as i feel it,and that have all the power I will ever need

I'm sorry to hear you are not wel,and may you get better soon. I was packing it up but just for you I got it out and opened it again. But i just can't get it to focus enough on the little component numbers so they are legible. My hands shake quite a lot I'm afraid ,so that adds difficulty. I just couldn't get good enough shots. Sorry to disappoint you, and get well soon And thanks once again for your highly valued input.

Hello and dont worry I didn't touch anything or do any more than remove the lid. I looked with a magnifier and a torch. I couldn't see anything untoward.No obvious sticking out legs or connections,no outlined numbered area without a component there. In the bits that I could see. There were caps behind things I could just make out,so it could have come from there somewhere. I couldn't find c25 despite scouring the visible areas for half an hour. I also realised that tonget a zoomable resolution I would have to take a good few pictures. At that point I am afraid I gave up, put the lid back on and packaged it. I figured that if I couldn't see it ,you probably couldn't, given the ore limited viewpoints of pictures. And anyway past a certain point I am sure you have better things to do than scouring pictures of circuit boards looking for problems.

actually Gents, I am going to take the lid off before I package it up today,and attempt to find C25 and photograph it. I bet I find a gap there! It's for 'closure for you,. I know sometimes you work a thing out for someone, and you remain interested to see if you were right! So I'll be back with a pic in a few hours. It's the least I can do. And I want to know myself now

Wow! So it actually even accounts for the precise fault I had! I'm amazed at how much time and effort you have put it here . I feel bad ! I had hoped for help, but I never expected free technical analysis and diagnostics to this level! You guys are fantastic thanks again so much . It's even helping the seller get it repaired, so you're saving an amp too. I sort of feel bad I haven't photographed the circuit boards so you can confirm it for your own satisfaction! But I already feel like I have impinges a lot on your time. DGBsss you've done an amazing job with forum diagnosis.

Thanks again .I' d say you'd managed the diagnosis pretty well! The seller intends to have it repaired ,and was grateful that I had told him what you had said about it.

The help inhave had here has been just outstanding! Thankyou so much. And your time was not wasted.i have learned a great deal from the experience. Especially not to be such an idiot, and to magnify any loose bits immediately:)

That's so UNBELIEVABLY kind ,helpful and insightful and I ant thank you enough. Your knowledge of these things is obviously consumate. I am going to relook at the 3 pro. I was trying to keep weight down, and then there's the cab- I have a Barefaced Big Baby Ii ,And it's able take 800w. The designer recommends 600w to get the maximum out of it. I am unsure if a lower wattage amp will give me enough ,given jt's only putting out some but not all it's potential. I dont play stupidly loud onstage,but it's Reggae and I have learned that the bigger wattage is to deliver the bigger lows (I hope I have that right.it's all been a steep learning curve as I am replacing a 30yr old rig of low quality and dont have experience of other amps and cabs. I will say that the BB II is AMAZING. Such deep clear lows and seeminlgy instant transient response.a total revelation. I chose the 7 Pro as it gave 600w at 8 ohms,and I wanted the kind of colour you get from ampegs.(I rehearse with someone else's pf350) It's a whole other can of worms I know. I am beginning to feel like I ought to avoid class D . Thanks again SO MUCH for your input here.

It was rattling about inside the amp.

Thanks.i read 'uF' on there and thought I remembered that as a capacitor. Have messaged the guy and told him it's going back. He has already said he would give me a refund.

DOWNUNDERWONDER you certainly deserve your name! You've solved it.I am eternally grateful . There's NOTHING wrong with your eyes. I hadnt even made out writing ,and I wear reading glasses. I worked out how to zoom on my tablet camera, and here are the results,and oh dear.lots of writing and yes it is a component. So back it goes. Here are the pics.i could only make it out when I zoomed.

yes,that's the position.and thankfully ,he did... Thanks that's a really good way to look at things. Ahaha! Sorry,what was that? I have still got treble up to about 18k.i've been careful, and lucky.but yeah eventually it will al go ,and then at least this won't be an issue. No, you are not the April fool,and no I didn't forget that.I'm sorry I thought I had posted about it. It turned out to be a little metal sleeve encased in some mangled plastic.i'm attaching a couple of pictures. It doesn't look like a component. I can't find anywhere where there's a part like it or a gap where it should be. When you say conductive,then yes since it's metal. It was in the bottom of the tray below the boards when I turned it on,so it wouldn't have shorted anything. Or do you mean it's conductivity implies it'll be missed if it did break off? And please forgive my lack of knowledge of circuitry. I suppose I sort of discounted it as being responsible,and now feel a bit dumb.

Hello ! Good to hear from you. Youve been really supportive man NUFF RESPECT! Well, if I turn the tweeter down much of it goes away.there's a little bit left coming from the woofer although it's 'grey noise/ upper mid hiss .' It goes away slightly more if I leave the tweeter up but put the treble down. I hadnt actually tried your suggestion of turning the tweeter off but the treble up! I tried it just now.i get more of the grey hiss in the woofer. For what we're doing I wouldn't turn the tweeter on,and would have the treble off as well. I do take the points that I haven't used it at a gig and yes you hear far more at home. And that if you're going to amplify a signal to 600w the innate gain of that is a lot bigger than your hifi,so you'll hear more noise floor. And that all amps hiss,especially through a good tweeter. On the other hand, I might be getting more noise than I should be. I don't know how I can know without a lot of hassle. So at the moment I am inclined towards keeping it,using it for my current gig, as that was the purpose of buying it. And if I ever did a Prog gig with it, I'd just make sure they DI'd it,as it would sound nasty mic'ed with the treble and tweeter up! And maybe i'll get something else quiet for at home and recording.