Ampeg SVT-CL

[soundguruman]

"complete confidence that there is NO DIFFERENCE in quality between the USA-made SLM amps and the Korean-built "Crate Pegs."

That's cause they are the same identical amplifier.

Oh please.
When compared to real Ampegs...They are both laughable.

So, I guess I will continue talking out of my butt.

Real AMPEG was made by Magnavox, not SLM.

Real Ampeg has shock absorbers, for the circuit boards.
http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/adDetails/323

Real Ampeg has removable metal chassis covers

Real AMPEG used to drop amps and cabs off buildings, to see how they would break.
So they could be made stronger.

Real AMPEG would supply parts and transformers for 20-30 year old amps.
Try that with a Crate-Peg.

"Cadillacs are made by the same company that makes Chevrolets."

Yes, and if I take a VW bug...
and put a "Cadillac" name badge on it...
Does that make the Bug a Cadillac?

[bsco]

Just a note SGM...Yorkville used to do that with all the Traynor gear that they manufactured back in the 60's and 70's...they used to throw the amps out of a second story window,go out and bring them back in, replace any broken tubes and fire it up again...repair what was necessary and do it again.......they wanted to make the gear as close to bullet proof as possible.....and for awhile they did....I checked out that link you posted up...I couldn't see anything there pertaining to the way the original Ampeg was built...looks like a site that sells everything under the sun....maybe I looked in the wrong place...anyway, I have that amp all biased up....220 ohm resistors installed, the associated diodes were not installed to begin with.......going to pump a Fender precision bass through it for awhile and then recheck everything...
Cheers,
Bernie

[MarkusBass]

Ampeg SVT CL power amp board with removed diodes and 22 ohms resistors. Instead of cutting off the diodes I just desolder them.

Mark

[bsco]

Hey Mark...I didn't have to remove the diodes...They were never installed by the looks of it.....so the only thing I had to do was to change the 22 ohm resistors with 220 ohm resistors.......Just buttoned everything up...one more test and then it's ready to go back...

[bob p]

> So, I guess I will continue talking out of my butt.

No surprises there.

[Enzo]

"Cadillacs are made by the same company that makes Chevrolets."

Yes, and if I take a VW bug...
and put a "Cadillac" name badge on it...
Does that make the Bug a Cadillac?

No, but the point you made was that the Ampeg amps are really Crates because they are made by the same people. And Cadillacs and Chevys are made by the same people, so by YOUR logic they must be the same.


But that's OK, I don;t expect your metal capacity to allow proper interpretation of logical inferences.

[g1]

that's OK, I don;t expect your metal capacity to allow proper interpretation of logical inferences.

Logic? Surely you jest!

[g1]

Just a note SGM...Yorkville used to do that with all the Traynor gear that they manufactured back in the 60's and 70's...they used to throw the amps out of a second story window,go out and bring them back in, replace any broken tubes and fire it up again...repair what was necessary and do it again.......they wanted to make the gear as close to bullet proof as possible.....and for awhile they did....I checked out that link you posted up...I couldn't see anything there pertaining to the way the original Ampeg was built...

Bernie, SGM has his stories mixed up, the amp torture test story WAS about Traynor amps, not Ampegs, how much it was embellished I'm not sure. But there was no such rumour about ampeg.
The Traynor YBA-3A (super custom special) was a 250W RMS amp using 4 6KG6 tubes. It was first made in '68. The SVT came out in '69 (with six 6146B output tubes for 300W RMS). Another rumour is that Dan Armstrong of Ampeg got hold of one of the YBA-3A's and took it back to Ampeg so they could come out with something more powerful and the SVT was born.
The advertising link about the Ampeg locking reverb and shock mount chassis are referring to the V-series Ampegs, not the SVT. V4's have shock mount and reverb, SVT's do not.

[Enzo]

Yes, it would be hard to put a travel lock on an SVT reverb, because it is a bass amp and has no reverb.

[bsco]

AHHH, The 6KG6 tube....used in horizontal output circuits for color tv's...I had heard of a Traynor amp using these.....(I have an old tube caddy that I picked up a couple of years ago with a bunch of broken gear and it is full of radio/TV tubes..not sure exactly what is in there but there are some horiz outputs).....I don't think there are any of those amps here where I am....but then again you never know.....I have yet to run across an amp with a travel lock on a reverb....then again, I haven't begun to scratch the surface of this area of electronic repair.....See,I learned something again today....gotta love it!!
Cheers,
Bernie

[bob p]

It doesn't matter that the locking reverbs were in the V-type amps and not the SVT -- SGM will make up new rules for the discussion as he goes along. That's just what he did when he changed the rules about what qualifies as a REAL Ampeg. In Post 13 he created the definition that a real Ampeg SVT was any SVT that was made in the USA (boldface emphasis added):

Of course it's nothing like a real Ampeg.
It's more like a home stereo amplifier...
And there was never a complete schematic for it.

REAL Ampeg SVT: Made in USA.
The amp was designed, so it could blow 2 output tubes, and keep right on playing, no matter what.

Then, when I pointed out that SLM Amps were real Ampegs according to his definition because they were made in the USA and not China, and when I pointed out that the successor Crate-Peg amps were just as good in terms of quality even though they were actually made in Korea, he changed the rules -- in Post 31 he changed the rules so that American SLM amps wouldn't qualify as REAL Ampegs:

So, I guess I will continue talking out of my butt.

Real AMPEG was made by Magnavox, not SLM.

I guess that he thinks it's OK to keep changing the rules as the game is being played. Not only is he talking out of his butt, he's cheating too.

Some people could argue that the only REAL Ampegs were made before the Magnavox buy-out.

[g1]

Yep, kinda like saying the only real Fender's were made by CBS.

[bob p]

Exactly.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Just a note SGM...Yorkville used to do that with all the Traynor gear that they manufactured back in the 60's and 70's...they used to throw the amps out of a second story window,go out and bring them back in, replace any broken tubes and fire it up again...repair what was necessary and do it again.

Ah yes, an almost forgotten episode in Canadian history - "The Defenestration of Mississauga."

"Whoa look out, here comes another one, eh?" Ka-RASH!!!

I've been tempted on occasion to do the same to gear I'm working on, and occasionally a customer. But never a Traynor tube amp.

- - - - - - - -

If I read Ken Fisher's autobio correctly (in Fender's 60th anniversary book), the REAL Ampegs were pre-Magnavox. Once the "suits" arrived he knew the game was over & bailed. Well.....in spite of Ken's unwillingness to duel with the Magnavox "suits", I think Ampeg continued to make some very tough and good sounding amps for a long time under Magnavox. Post-Magnavox the Japanese SVT was surprisingly good and true-to-form, and SLM's early SVT's also. There was some word Tony Frank was involved in the "redesign and upgrade" of the earliest SLM SVT's but the only difference of note I can see is the black bail handles.

This may not increase my popularity but so what - SLM's manufacture of products marked Ampeg looked on the inside an awful lot like Crates of the same period. Same kind of PC boards, transformers, pots, parts on the boards, comb multipin connectors etc. I came to the conclusion both were made on the same assembly lines and the differences were design and finish (tolex, knobs, logo). Like 'em or not most of the changes from the Magnavox period came about while Ampegs were USA built, mainly to save $$, remain competitive, and increase profits for SLM. Nothing unusual about that. Just bizness.

[J M Fahey]

Some people could argue that the only REAL Ampegs were made before the Magnavox buy-out.

And with very good reason to say so.

Magnavox was a TV manufacturing company and moved the Ampeg carcass they had bought at auction to one corner of their huge TV factory.

So in SGM "logic" Ampegs are really Magnavox TVs, excellent to watch Saturday sports in the living room.

And anyway SVT were designed and built *after* the original Ampeg was sold, so ...