shug Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 First time posting for me and I'd be interested in any feedback. A few weeks ago I bought an SVT-vr, on e-bay, b-stock(ex-demo) at the very reasonable price of £999. Up until about 3 years ago I'd owned a 72 svt for about 20 years and had always regretted moving it on as it sounded fantastic. As Ampeg themselves market this as a faithful repro of my old flame, and it was about £700 below rrp I thought ' what the hell' and 2 days later it arrived. Now, I have to say that it was completely immaculate in every way, not a mark, original packaging, manual etc so I was prepared to have me a real good time. I spent the next 3 days trying and failing to get a decent sound out of it. I used it with an Ampeg 8x10, so it can't have been cab compatability issues. I tried the manuals recommended settings- all ghastly. I used 2 Fender basses, both excellent, but could not coax anything but a hard edged, fizzy and deeply unmusical tone out of it. I didn't take the thing to pieces, but i took the back off and had a good poke around and (now I'm prepared to be wrong about this) there don't appear to be any pre-amp valves. The pre amp on the svt is mounted in the top of the cab with the exposed valves pointing down whilst the power section is mounted on the base with a wiring loom conncting the two. Going off Ampegs own website (and my clear memeories of the original) it appeared to be several pre amp valves short ! Can this be why the sound was so distinctly SS - and poor SS at that? I might add that the seller (whybuynew,com) was absolutely on the button with the refund and covered the return postage without question, so I couldn't fault them at all. Anybody any thoughts on this (Ampeg, perhaps)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS73 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 I had heard that the VR was a direct as, copy of the original, so I tried one a few years ago and it only took minutes before I switched the thing off. The problem was I had a 1970 SVT in the 80's, you never forget the way they sound and the VR didn't sound like it. They are a great bass amp and streets ahead of most, but if you want the sound of the original, it's just not going to get there. Can you not buy yours back?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I tested one of these before I decided the Orange was more my thing. It sounded nothing like I expected, quite bland. Glad you got your money back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shug Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share Posted February 13, 2010 [quote name='SS73' post='743556' date='Feb 12 2010, 10:27 PM']I had heard that the VR was a direct as, copy of the original, so I tried one a few years ago and it only took minutes before I switched the thing off. The problem was I had a 1970 SVT in the 80's, you never forget the way they sound and the VR didn't sound like it. They are a great bass amp and streets ahead of most, but if you want the sound of the original, it's just not going to get there. Can you not buy yours back?.[/quote] I don't think the guy'd want to sell and anyhow I'm using a marshall vba400 now and it's great. I guess my issue with the vr is one of honesty. It's being touted as one thing when in fact it's another. And, as for it being streets ahead of most I'm not so sure. Both amps I've used in recent years (the aforementioned Marshall and a Trace) have blown it away and through the same cab. I dunno, it seems a bit 'emporers new clothes' to me. Anyway, after all that, to cheer meself up I've just ordered a nice new Barefaced Vintage 2x15. Hope to God I'm not whinging about that in a coupla weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS73 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I think the VR is still quite a good amp, but these days, I think most small pub bands just don't and can't play as loud as we used to, if I still had the SVT I probably wouldn't even be using it as I just couldn't get it up to that break up point. The SVT CL though has a Gain control, I was thou so dissapointed with the VR that I never tried one and then bought a V8, of which I'm ''kind of'' happy with. Looking forward to hear what you think of the 400 with the Barefaced, sounds ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwindham Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) Very interesting to see your thoughts on the VR. I actually had the same exact experience with this amp on several occasions. In the past 5 years years Ive ordered the SVT-VR 3 times, and also found it to have a very aggressive, unmusical, one-dimensional tone. Not at all what I was expecting. There must really be something off with the current production of these, because "bad sound" is not this amps pedigree by any means. Also, I know a few players with earlier US/Vietnamese made VR's that find them identical in tone to the originals- very loud, but still round, warm, and harmonically rich. I do have some experience with the new V-4b reissue, however, and its a very nice sounding amp. May not be as powerful as a VR, or SVT-CL, but it has a very musical tone that is pleasing to the ear IMO. Always good to try things out though, and I'd be curious to hear what a proper vintage SVT or VR sounds like in person. All that said, glad to hear your digging the vba400 Edited June 19, 2015 by jwindham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afterimage Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Can you get the amp checked out and tubes rebiased. Google tube store for valves and look up UK suppliers good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 watford valves if you need em replacing https://www.watfordvalves.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boroman Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I played VR couple times on festivals - they run out of power quicker than vintage SVTs. More distorted, but still very good amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I bought mine second hand from Bass Direct about 5 years ago and love it - it was almost brand new. It has a different sound to my 90s Classic and V4B heads - but IMHO a better tone. For me I am coming to the point where I will sell my Classic and use this one when a valve head is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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