Ampeg SVT-200T

[Dr_pain]

Hey everyone,

I have been given the chance to buy an Ampeg SVT-200T head for £350. I've always wanted an Ampeg but as you all know they are really expensive. As far as I'm aware the SVT 200T is a discontinued model made in the late 80's. I've been told regardless of it's age it's a still a beauty of a bass head and still sounds great.

One of my favourite bass players Alex Webster from the Death Metal band Cannibal Corpse has used the SVT-200T on the many of the bands older recordings. I know to a lot of people that doesn't mean anything but for anyone that is familiar with Alex Webster's work this must be a good bass head if he used it right?

Anyway I'm just asking anyone for any advice they can give me about this head?

Good or bad? Buy or avoid?

Is £350 a good price for it?

Cheers

Edited October 21, 2015 by Dr_pain

[discreet]

AFAIK it was made for a relatively short time before developing into the SVT350. It's a solid-state head, but if my recent experience with an SVT350H is anything to go by, this shouldn't put you off. I don't know how rare they are or whether £350 is good or bad, but I'm sure someone will be along very shortly with an opinion on that.

Edited October 21, 2015 by discreet

[dave74200]

Hiya mate. They're not bad heads but nowhere near as good as Ampeg's range of all tube heads. If you like the Ampeg tone but are on a tight budget, i'd advise go for a PF500. I've never played through one but have heard lots of good things about them. If money is no object, get an SVT 2 Pro!!

[Lozz196]

Not heard of these amps but if they`re based on the same as the SVT350H/450H then as far as I`m concerned they`re a nice sounding amp. Yes they`re not as good as the all-valve Ampegs, but they`re much cheaper and much more portable. No idea of price/rarity issues though.

[chevy-stu]

If its anything like an Ampeg svt350 then I wouldn't bother. I had one for a short while and was very dissapointed .. not much volume and average sound.. I bought it as a hopeful replacement for my then ageing Marshall DBS7400 but it was not I. The same league, so sold it on within a few months for about half of what the one you mentioned... and this was 15 years ago..

[mazdah]

This one is MUCH, MUCH better than SVT-350 and 450. SVT-200T has a totally different preamp, you should try it! PF-350, 500 or any modern solid state Ampeg (except Rocket Series combos) is a joke compared to this one.

Edited October 22, 2015 by mazdah

[Conan]

I used to own one of these (maybe even this one - I sold it to a guy in Ireland about five years ago) and I liked it a lot. Very warm and smooth sounding (to my ears) and certainly no problems with volume. It depends what you are asking it to do, of course! It is a heavy amp, and a bit unbalanced to carry due to the positioning of the transformer...

Good EQ section

I'm fairly sure I sold mine for less than £350 though... maybe there is room to haggle the seller down a bit?

Here is the thread relating to my old amp... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/183402-ampeg-stack-for-sale-american-flightcased-sold-sold/page__hl__svt+200__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/183402-ampeg-stack-for-sale-american-flightcased-sold-sold/page__hl__svt+200__fromsearch__1[/url]

Edited October 22, 2015 by Conan

[basshead56]

I had one briefly as a backup to my SVT 4PRO but never really had to use it. Good solid amps these. Great reputation for a reason. Nothing wrong with them in terms of volume. Tone-wise, they get into SVT territory, but nowhere near as warm or big.
Definitely one-up on the 350H or 450H. But they weigh more than they should I reckon.
There was a 400watt rack version aswell, similar styling to the SVT 2. These had proper heatsinks in them as well so they cool properly. I've never heard of one having any major faults (a couple of mates have them aswell).
The knobs on some are quite flimsy though, so just be careful in transit.
Don't know if this one you are looking at is the first of second gen as the ones I've dealt with were blackface with blue line styling. This one looks cooler than mine though as it has the Classic series styling.
$350 may be a little steep for one of these though.

[danbowskill]

from what i know the 400w version was toured by Krist novoselic (Nirvana)and used in the recording of nevermind........so i imagine it would sound ace?

[3cina]

[quote name='mazdah' timestamp='1445493103' post='2891816']
This one is MUCH, MUCH better than SVT-350 and 450. SVT-200T has a totally different preamp, you should try it! PF-350, 500 or any modern solid state Ampeg (except Rocket Series combos) is a joke compared to this one.
[/quote]

+1

I have SVT200T from 1989. And as [b]mazdah[/b] said it sounds different than SVT350/450 and PF-350/500.

I think those amps were later on replaced by svt350/450 because of factory faulty (described here http://doktorsewage.com/operating-theater-ampeg-svt-200t/ )
My SVT200T has a mod and it works flawlessly ;- )