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Ampeg SVT 3pro vs Ampeg SVT 3pro


andy67
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Morning folks.

Two weeks ago I bought a second hand Ampeg SVT 3pro (I have two now) from Soundcontrol Edinburgh. It had been repaired for a customer who didn't collect and had been sitting in the shop for two years. I got it for £250 with a 4u rack included. It is the model before the latest incarnation, the one with the blue writing, and in fairly good condition.

When I got it home, I decided to re-tube it. I practiced with it properly for the first time yesterday and found it to be the most growly sumnabitch full on rock amp I've ever used - completely different from my other SVT 3pro - of which, left me wondering how this could be?

I changed the sovtek tubes for sovtek tubes ecc83, the only difference was I changed the philips ecc82 for a Russian made (sovtek?) ecc82. So my question to all you out there who have had the pleasure of owning and using an SVT 3pro new and old: did you notice any difference between these revisions?

It's very odd as I would have expected the newer SVT 3pro to be better!? granted it's much more refined and clear but why such a difference?

andy :)

Edited by andy67
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Good find for £250 I reckon, a bit scary it sounds so different to the newer ones though. Could this be the kind of same thing that’s happened with the vintage 70’s ‘classic’ heads and the reissue SVT-CL?

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[quote name='andy67' post='201959' date='May 19 2008, 09:47 AM']It's very odd as I would have expected the newer SVT 3pro to be better!? granted it's much more refined and clear but why such a difference?[/quote]
Later versions of any product usually include newer technology (to reduce cost), improved manufacturing processes (to reduce cost) and probably a lot of component price reductions. Can you see where I'm going with this? I would guess that, where mass production is concerned, previous versions of a product have a good chance of being the "better" product.
But, in spite of my cynicism, my "off the shelf" Ampeg SVT-3 PRO has been the dogs danglies from day one.

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Several years ago I was at the Wal workshop takling to Pete Stevens about the great sound of old (1970's) Wals. He said that the sound changed when they had to switch from imperial wire to metric wire. You wouldn't think that a small change would make such a difference!

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[quote name='chris_b' post='202103' date='May 19 2008, 01:56 PM']Several years ago I was at the Wal workshop takling to Pete Stevens about the great sound of old (1970's) Wals. He said that the sound changed when they had to switch from imperial wire to metric wire. You wouldn't think that a small change would make such a difference![/quote]
Honestly ?!! is this due to impedence issues ?
I had a customer in work the other day with an old svt 3 pro ( the black and white one ?) and it sounded fantastic. Far better than the new one i had in stock. Btw those 3pros and aguilar gs112s absolutely slay .

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[quote name='chris_b' post='202103' date='May 19 2008, 01:56 PM']Several years ago I was at the Wal workshop takling to Pete Stevens about the great sound of old (1970's) Wals. He said that the sound changed when they had to switch from imperial wire to metric wire. You wouldn't think that a small change would make such a difference![/quote]

you should hear the change in tone when i stopped using black guitar cable and started using a red one....

Edited by ahpook
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