Beedster

I use my un-racked/cased in part for this reason, in part because it looks better un-racked, and in part because the shock-mount case I have adds over 10kg to the weight, and given the already serious weight of this thing, those 10kgs make a difference. Given we're going to be gigging a lot more this year, with increased risk of it getting damaged, I'd like to find a good ventilated case for it, even if it needs to be 6u to get decent air flow around the case. Very keen to hear the experience and advice of others? Thanks Chris

Whilst I get the idea that this thread is about knowledge and experience of the SVT-II, I also think it should be in praise, so here's my thoughts on my SVT-II as posted in Donslow's original thread yesterday Just reread that and remembered why I sold - and then bought another - SVT-II. The answer to 'what comes close' in my experience is nothing, seriously, not even the SVT-VR and the rest of the Ampeg large tube amps range. I'm no tech so can't tell you why this is, but I can say that having sold my first SVT-II, and realising my mistake, I owned two SVT (US re-issues) before realising that they can't do what this amp can do. I've also owned pretty much every large amp Mesa have made - 400+, Prodigy, Titan, M-Pulse, Big Block 750 and Buster, as well as a Aggie DB-750, some pretty nice pre-amp power amp combinations, including an Aggie DB-659 with an SVT-300 power amp (which got close), but nothing among that list makes me feel what the SVT-II makes me feel. And music for me is all about feeling, I'm not a great bass player by any means, but I love how I feel when I play bass on my own or with the band, and a huge part of that feeling for me is the tone, and the sheer psychoacoustic pleasure I get from this is irreplaceable. So for me, the SVT is an emotion machine, something that I can't quantify in mechanistic terms, but something that adds a huge amount of what is important to me into my experience of playing the bass. If I ever get to the point at which my back is too weak to carry it, I'd happily spend the £300 or so required to get a very high quality rack/trolley case for it, and if it meant a two person carry onto the stage, so be it. I use it even at small gigs, not because I need it, but because I like it (and unlike some tube amps it does quiet pretty well). So, the SVT-II is my emotion machine

A very wise decision mate

Likewise, nice one @donslow I'll add my thoughts re cases once I've had breakfast

Agreed, we often forget that a lot of great artists similarly started out in competitions or similar. A great song performed by a great singer is always a pleasure

And I’m loving it. Within the first few pages you’re captivated

Amazing how many similar 'economies' are to be found in recordings

Thanks Steve, and welcome to BC

Bought it yesterday, looking forward to starting it today

Totally get it, human brains evolved to be acquisitive, so the need to acquire is hard-wired into all of us to a far greater degree than is the need to master a skill, especially if the skill doesn't lead directly to more acquisition (or as an eminent neuroscientist has put it, we are all hard-wired to be addicts, the question is simply one of what we become addicted to). Once you recognise that scanning the FS pages is simply your brain playing tricks on you and acting as if it were still in a landscape in which there were very few resources - i.e., where we spent 99.9% of our evolutionary history - it's a lot easier to resist the next purchase

Listening to it now, still sounds as good as it did when I first heard it

We have parallel lives

Sometimes it sounds better, sometimes it sounds worse, it will vary with stage, room and volume. All are manageable to a degree. I would get a bigger cab