NEW AMPEG LINEUP! Venture series

[SamPlaysBass]

4 hours ago, ossyrocks said:

Cheers for that. I watched it whilst making some biscuits. 
I am sorely tempted to invest in one of the cabs for a valve head I’m currently having built, and then possibly a head. 
It was interesting that you thought the V3 would handle smaller gigs even with just one 8 ohm cab, I found that reassuring. I run a LM3 through an 8ohm 2x10 at the moment, and it’s always been enough.

Thanks,

Rob

My pleasure. The cabs are great - not just for the weight - just great cabs all round. I’d be tempted by a 4x10 to take on tour but the price is a tad eye watering. I do love a Neo cab, though. 
 

The 1x12 could do some damage, especially if you’re in a small or not particularly loud band. 2 stacked together would be great in most situations. 1 on its own would be a perfect accompaniment as a monitor for a bigger gig. May be tempted by a 2x10 because old habits die hard. 
 

I’m not sure of the origins of the power section in the V3 but it doesn’t sound like it gives up very easily - clear and punchy right through the sweep of the volume knob. Didn’t appear to compress too much at high volumes but I didn’t run it too hard or for two long. It sounds much, much louder than the 250 watt unit that was in the old TC amps and the like. 

[MuddBass]

The Ampeg Venture look interesting, and the blend (wet/dry) effects loop is a nice touch at this price point. It seems a shame that they don't offer a variable HPF like Mesa have done. Does anyone know where the Ampeg Venture Heads are assembled?

[sPiKi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poQzINrgFBU

[Linus27]

The V7 is definitely on my shopping list.

[Downunderwonder]

Needs merging.

[sPiKi]

Whoops, didn't notice that thread. Please merge or delete, admins.

[grenadillabama]

On 21/09/2023 at 13:57, Geddys nose said:

The 2x12 is 8 ohm only, I suppose watts are cheap these days but an option of 4 ohm would be welcome.  
 

The selling point is the fact they are Ampeg and lightweight.

Yes- I liked the 300 with 212  cab. The tone switches really change the tone a lot. How many watts for one cabinet ? This amp might be nice-it sounded good to me.

[Downunderwonder]

On 22/09/2023 at 06:57, Geddys nose said:

4 ohm would be welcome.

A 4 ohm 212 would get blown up by 1000w amps too often for them to bother. Warranty claims left and right.

 

"If it sounds like it's about to blow up, it probably will" is a maxim that is not widely appreciated. "1000w amp + 1000w cab = good go" is more the level of understanding out there. Making them all 8 ohms gives them at least a fighting chance.

[Downunderwonder]

I think it was MesaBoogie that stopped making their small cabs 4ohm for this reason.

[Vin Venal]

If I was replacing my darkglass microtubes 900, I might be interested in the 700, but I don't think I'm interested enough to change for the sake of it. I do love Ampeg stuff though.

[flippyfloop]

The 1x12 costs more than my Vanderkley EXT 1x12. Crazy!!

[d-basser]

210 costs more than a Barefaced! ah well better keep saving for a Barefaced

Edited November 14, 2023 by d-basser

[Pow_22]

A V12 head has already rocked up at crack converters!

 

https://www.cashconverters.co.uk/shop/music-tv--video/musical-instruments/amps--stage-equipment/bass-amplifier/020800194571

Edited November 22, 2023 by Pow_22

[cetera]

That's only £100 cheaper.... they can do better than that....

[SamPlaysBass]

A little update for those who are interested - I've gigged a Venture V12 and 4x10 cab.

 

Full disclosure - I'm not a Yamaha artist, but the guitarist in my band is. Yamaha invited us over to Germany for a showcase event using their nice, shiny new gear and we asked (very politely) if we could use the same gear for a gig the night after, to save us bringing our own. I haven't been asked to give an account of the Venture series and I'm certainly not being paid to promote Yampeg. My current rig is Ampeg SVT CL and run it through a Fender Neo 8x10 (all paid for by myself - no amp deals yet), and this was a cool opportunity to road test a Venture head and cab in the wild. 

 

The first gig was in what looked like a Bond villain's lair, and was essentially Yamaha's Christmas party. Matteo Mancuso was the opening act (with Federico Malaman on bass who was, as you can imagine, a monster) and we had to follow them - no pressure. I had a box-fresh Venture V12 sat on top of an equally box fresh 4x10 cab with a shiny new Yamaha BB P34 on a stand next to it. The V12 head had plenty of oomph, though I think we can disregard the '1200 watts' on the front of the amp; the wattage arms race in the Class D world verges on ridiculous at times. Big numbers don't always mean a big sound, but in this case it did provide me with more than enough volume. Unfortunately on night 1 of our test, our stage volume was pretty quiet, though I did give the whole thing a quick blast on full volume. There was quite a bit of travel in the volume knob; the first half seemed relatively lifeless but quickly became deafening once past 12 o'clock, and the volume was there in spades all the way to max. 

 

The amp sounded great but it was used as more of a monitor whilst the FOH did the heavy lifting. The room was boxy and full of shiny concrete surfaces so turning down was our best bet to sound decent. And decent we sounded, according to the videos we saw afterwards. Not much to report, other than it all worked, sounded great and didn't need to be cranked to sound good. 

 

The next night, we played at a venue called HeadCrash in Hamburg, which was much more our home territory - a dirty rock bar. Tried as we might, we couldn't arrange for a van to take the equipment from Yamaha HQ to the venue (a paltry 1.5km away) and the weather had become very British, so we opted for 6 Ubers instead. It was as chaotic as you'd expect, getting a band plus all of their equipment and luggage across town, though carrying the cab in its washing machine-sized box was much easier than expected. It certainly didn't stand out like an anvil amongst the leagues of drum paraphernalia and cardboard. Chaos navigated and perplexed Uber drivers calmed, we were soon at the venue. A light and easy load-in up the stairs and I carefully plonked the head and cab onto the stage. Job done. 

 

Under stage lighting, the rig looked mean and purposeful. The cab looks like a proper SVT cab and the head is businesslike and focused. This time, I could open up the Venture V12 and give it the beans. At 1 o'clock on the volume knob, it was plenty loud enough to shrug off a drum kit played by a drummer possessed by the spirit of Taylor Hawkins. The gain was set around 12 o'clock and I added in a touch of the SGT circuit to give it some valve crunch. Our FOH engineer blended the clean DI signal with the dirty cab sound to give a really impressive bass sound - looking back through social media videos you could hear fantastic articulation of the bass frequencies and the SGT channel sounds wicked; a really good, slightly overdriven sound that didn't lack or overpower in any frequency band. The cab was punchy and articulate, giving a nice little sizzle to the top end with the tweeter engaged. Honestly, the whole rig punched well above its weight. The Venture V12 and 4x10 cab put on a pretty fearsome roar. 

 

My only slight criticism is that it didn't snarl in exactly the same way as my all valve SVT CL, and it compressed the overdrive just a tad compared to the real deal. It didn't quite have the bell-like chime that an SVT can give you when it's at full chat. However, I can safely say that no-one in the audience would notice the difference in the Venture V12 compared to an SVT. The Venture V12 sounded incredible. I've been fortunate enough to use a big SVT for a while now so my ears are naturally accustomed to that big rig. The Venture has its own flavour, but it's certainly an Ampeg and it's a very, very good sounding amplifier and cabinet. 

 

Overall, I'd give the rig a solid 9/10 rating. Light, loud, tonally interesting and flexible with its EQ and drive/modelling sections. I'll knock off 1 point for lacking that valvey top end punch, but this amp is a different beast entirely to my setup back home, so perhaps I'm being harsh in docking a point. One place I can dock a point is the price. This rig is just over £2k brand new. It’s very high quality and very light, but when you compare what £2k could buy you elsewhere in the bass amplifier market, it makes it harder to justify. Nonetheless, should my SVT and Fender 8X10 Neo ever going up in flames and I win the lottery, I'd happily replace it with a Venture V12 and a 4x10. Or possibly two 4x10 cabs if I win the Euromillions. 

 

 

IMG_6666.HEIC IMG_6688.heic IMG_6689 2.heic

Edited December 1, 2023 by SamPlaysBass
Grammuh.

[Chris Storrier]

I wish Ampeg had put a swichable  cab amp sim toggle switch on the amp & the footswitch for the DI like on the Ampeg SGT pre-amp/DI pedals...shame as a decent DI but no on/off cab sim which would have been nice...a 1 x 15" for the B-15 voicing & the mighty 8 x 10 for the SVT voicing would have been the cherry on the top....suprised no cab sim option...does anyone know the DI's output impedence ? for sound quality you want it 75ohms - 100ohms..as low as possible for long DI cable runs...sounds good but not cheap for class D....would have preferred a class A/B topology

[BassmanPaul]

Every extra feature adds a cost to the unit. YOU might want the features you mention but how many others would like the same thing. Manufacturers always have a guessing game about what to build into a unit to make it attractive to the most customers. Most times they get it right but not necessarily for everyone.

[M@23]

On 30/11/2023 at 23:56, SamPlaysBass said:

…

Ace, great write up. Frightening warm up act to follow there! Wow. 
Also, Yampeg. Dunno why I’ve not heard that previously, but it’s a part of my vocab now. 
Would love to try one of these rigs, I play that same Yamaha bass (well, the 5) and love what they’re producing right now.