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When it really comes down to sound and uniqueness, old Ampegs are unique in a world of copycat brands and models. No one tried to copy and market a SVT killer. It is still the standard by which bass players rate amps. Although my shop was specializing in high volume modern gear, studio, keyboards, we probably did more SVTs than anyone on the west coast. A lot of pros sent them in road cases for checkups from all over, once a pair came from Hong Kong as a rush. One day one of the counter girls took a call from a roadie asking if we worked on SVT's and she said we did. 2 hours later a large equipment truck pulled up to our loading dock filled with road cases, the entire backline and spares for George Clinton's funk band. Every instrument was through a stage SVT, key, bass, leads, horns..everything. A few had problems and most were just needing cleaning and biasing but over the next 24 hours before the SF shows the shop worked without a break on them. We used every 6550 in Ruby Tubes, warehouse. Luckily, since we were an Ampeg warranty station and had lots of old parts we got them all up to new spec before the show. 24 SVT's in total.
I loved the sound of them to me defined the sound of funk and some styles of rock. I also liked the quality of parts and heavy construction mostly because I grew up with military surplus gear which is all I could afford as a 10 year old. The SVT's were also a good one to record, used my own as a house amp for the studio for years and it is heard on a lot of very well known records. That and an old Marshall 45 that got used on hundreds of major records regardless of what the guitarist or session player brought. They all wanted to try the sound of the SVT and early Marshall.
I loved the sound of them to me defined the sound of funk and some styles of rock. I also liked the quality of parts and heavy construction mostly because I grew up with military surplus gear which is all I could afford as a 10 year old. The SVT's were also a good one to record, used my own as a house amp for the studio for years and it is heard on a lot of very well known records. That and an old Marshall 45 that got used on hundreds of major records regardless of what the guitarist or session player brought. They all wanted to try the sound of the SVT and early Marshall.
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