Ampeg

[terryj]

Has anyone had any experiences with the new Ampeg V 7 amp heads?

[Lozz196]

I used one of the amps from this range a few weeks back, was quite physically small and had to be pushed on the volume so I think was the lowest wattage model. But the sound was great, all 4 bands used it, a variety of different sounds, handled them all. What I really liked was that the lows were really tight and solid but no booming, a really good full bottom end but all notes had definition. 

Edited Friday at 12:14 by Lozz196

[BassAdder60]

I don’t think they are flying off the shelf for some reason but if they at least sound as good as a PF500/PF800 etc without the shutdown issues then they will be great amps 

Since Yamaha purchased them I don’t see a lot of groundbreaking designs and the Venture cabs are so over priced 

[Russ]

I'm wary of Ampeg now after having had two of their more recent heads that have crapped out on me on gigs (an SVT-7 and a PF-800). Love the sound, hate the patchy reliability. 

 

I've heard good things about the tone of the Venture series, but I'm still not prepared to drop a big chunk of money on one. Once bitten and so on. I might be more enthusiastic if they had a replacement for the SVT-7 with a proper valve preamp, rather than the emulation circuit that's in the Ventures. 

[aniki]

I really expected more from the Venture range. The PFs had nice tone but for me still lacked that mystery special sauce that I only get with heavy amps.

My old SVT200 absolutely decimated the PF800 I owned briefly for volume! As such, won’t be throwing any more money at this tech until there’s a fundamental change.

[Russ]

15 minutes ago, aniki said:

I really expected more from the Venture range. The PFs had nice tone but for me still lacked that mystery special sauce that I only get with heavy amps.

My old SVT200 absolutely decimated the PF800 I owned briefly for volume! As such, won’t be throwing any more money at this tech until there’s a fundamental change.

The SVT-7 had that special sauce, complete with as much power and weight as you needed. When it worked. When my old one died in the middle of the first song of a set (wasn't even turned up loud), that was it for me. 

[Downunderwonder]

The Venture is an all new Yamaha, much as Peavey revitalized Trace Elliot, minus bass player enthusiasm.

[Russ]

23 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

The Venture is an all new Yamaha, much as Peavey revitalized Trace Elliot, minus bass player enthusiasm.

I'd love to be convinced that the Venture range is everything that the Portaflex range should have been, and I may get there eventually as long as their long-term reliability proves to be good. But we need valves.  

 

I think the new Trace stuff is excellent (as the owner of a TE-1200). But there's a lot of people out there who refuse to even acknowledge that a good Trace amp could have been designed and built outside Maldon - a Trace users' group that I'm in on FB is full of posts from owners of 89s/90s Trace gear ranting that the Peavey-era stuff isn't "real" TE. It's as real as any post-Kaman Trace gear, and they all seem happy to play through those. 

[Bolo]

Our rehearsal place just kitted out their rooms (about 15) with full Venture stuff, replacing the old svt3. The fact that they're going with this instead of the DIY repairables says a lot. They do their homework.

[Downunderwonder]

24 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Our rehearsal place just kitted out their rooms (about 15) with full Venture stuff, replacing the old svt3. The fact that they're going with this instead of the DIY repairables says a lot. They do their homework.

How's the tonez?

[BassAdder60]

I must admit I don’t care for the look of the Venture amps 

I think as a new design they could of come up with a nicer and less wide design 

[Chienmortbb]

Ampeg were a great company but time. and tech moves on. I never got the Ampeg Bug although I loved Trace Gear. 
 

I think Peavey have honoured the Trace legacy despite my initial fears. Like Trace, Ampeg have limped from owner to owner with none really taking tha brand seriously. Portaflex was a disaster, it took almost ten PF500 iterations before the amps were right, meaning you cannot trust them. I don’t think Trace ever had such a problem but the name of Ampeg went from top dog to has been rapidly and are now a brand rather than a make. 

[BassAdder60]

52 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Ampeg were a great company but time. and tech moves on. I never got the Ampeg Bug although I loved Trace Gear. 
 

I think Peavey have honoured the Trace legacy despite my initial fears. Like Trace, Ampeg have limped from owner to owner with none really taking tha brand seriously. Portaflex was a disaster, it took almost ten PF500 iterations before the amps were right, meaning you cannot trust them. I don’t think Trace ever had such a problem but the name of Ampeg went from top dog to has been rapidly and are now a brand rather than a make. 

Yep anything that’s class D powered from Ampeg has been bad news 

However their SVT CL and V4B are still great amps even though they are huge and very heavy. 
I think Ampeg for the rest of the market must be seeing falling sales as they are a long way behind Ashdown, Peavey, MarkBass, Genzler, Eich, Orange, Laney, Aguilar,  pretty much anyone who makes a decent bass amp 

Edited 8 hours ago by BassAdder60

[Bolo]

12 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

How's the tonez?

I'm not a ampeg player, previously preferring SWR and now Aguilar db750, but I tested a few rehearsals with the v7 and I have to admit in band context it does all the classic tones (svt/B4/b15) well. Plenty of power for a full thrash metal band.

The integrated comp, tube circuit switch, grit and Tone controls make it a very versatile machine.

 

Build quality has yet to be established but six months in they're still pleased with their decision.

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Bolo said:

I'm not a ampeg player, previously preferring SWR and now Aguilar db750, but I tested a few rehearsals with the v7 and I have to admit in band context it does all the classic tones (svt/B4/b15) well. Plenty of power for a full thrash metal band.

The integrated comp, tube circuit switch, grit and Tone controls make it a very versatile machine.

 

Build quality has yet to be established but six months in they're still pleased with their decision.

 

I'd say that 15 units over 6-months use in a rehearsal studio without problem (if I understand correctly) is a pretty decent indicator of reliability given that previous reports re recent Ampeg units suggested they could go very quickly?  

[Beedster]

Just now, Beedster said:

 

I'd say that 15 units over 6-months use in a rehearsal studio without problem (if I understand correctly) is a pretty decent indicator of reliability given that previous reports re recent Ampeg units suggested they could go very quickly?  

 

....by which I mean that 6-months in a rehearsal room perhaps equates to about 2-years of normal high-volume use for an amp owned by the average gigging bassist (more in my case I'd imagine)?  

[Mediocre Polymath]

I can't speak to their reliability, but I played around with a V3 at the Yamaha/Line6/Ampeg flagship store in Soho a year or so back and really liked the sound. The EQ was very effective and the overdrive sounds were nice and valve-y (more like an EHX Bass Soul Food than an ODB-3).

[Lozz196]

Yep 6 months use as a rehearsal room rig suggests reliability, especially the way some people pound them

[jassthebass]

I have a V7 & have gigged with it a fair bit.
I personally would like a bit more than the 3 band eq but that said the existing eq is very uesable.
The B12 bit is real good.

As Lozz196 stated above, one has to push the volume a bit more that what I would expect - a bit of anecdotal; with the rock band I am in, I have it connected into a Bareface BT2 & generally have the volume pot around the 1:30/2pm position which surprised me for a 700W amp. I have a number of amp heads to compare - with anything else I have the output volume set substantially lower.

e.g. My Orange 4 Stroke 500 (500W) is considerably louder regarding volume pot position

 

But to be fair I have never ran out of juice with the V7.

 

 

Edited 55 minutes ago by jassthebass

[BassAdder60]

Yep I found the SVT 3 Pro under powered 

The PF800 under powered too for what should be an 800w amp