Hi-Fi Sound

[rockbassist]

In my opinion, you will never get the sound you are looking for with Ampeg. I used to have a deal with them and tried every amp and cabinet combination they offered. I could never get the sound I wanted and gave up the deal. I tried SWR and HATED the tone. I have had very good luck with Gallien Krueger. It's very close to what I am looking for in terms of tone. I will admit though that whenever I hear That Sound it's always a bass being played through an Eden or EBS rig. I am considering buying an Eden rig but while reading the posts on their forum it seems that a lot of people are unhappy with the reliability. My GK has been a workhorse so even though I am not getting the exact sound I want (it's close) I might be better off hanging on to it.

[dannobasso]

Please keep in mind this simple reality. Your rig, unless it is in a small venue is your personal monitor. Your perfect tone, your expensive rig, your perceptions etc., all go out the window when the sound gets under the control of the guy running the big PA. I have some good gear. Alembic basses, Alembic preamps, QSC power amps, Epifani T310 UL 212, Acme Low B4, and Accugroove El Whappo Jr. cabinets. Most guys just want the bass direct into a di, then you go into your rig which takes it out of the Oh My God! tone world. It took me years to realize that. That being said, an SF2 will give you the ability to shape your tone to fit most any situation you may come across. I'm not fond of Eden but thats me. Like others have posted, try out as many combinations as possible, then decide on what you love and can swing cash wise.

[jet_powers]

I've been running my '83 Exploiter through an Ampeg SVT3 for the past two or three years. I oft times wish I had dropped the cake for the 4, but sometimes you have to work with the budget you have at the time of purchase, in my case, an emergency replacement.  
 
At first I ran it through my old reliable boat anchor, a 612 Peavey cab built in the early 70's as what I presume was their answer to the Ampeg 810. It's been reloaded a couple of times and is still the best sounding cab I have but it's a literal and figurative pain to move about.
 
However, I liked the sound and feel of the SVT3  enough to get an Ampeg 410 cab to go with it. Much easier to move around and in small rooms we were playing it was plenty. As I was not quite satisfied with the overall sound, I added the Ampeg 115 to make an entire Ampeg rig, first one I've had, and so far I am quite pleased with the rig. All need to do now is find more time to spend really learning to play the rig and to find its acceptable extremes. So far I've found it pretty versatile. If now only I had an SF-2...
 
Bottom line is what sounds good to your own ears is ulimately what matters....
 
-JP

[jphilauren]

Looks like  experimentation  time. Hoping to check out a F1-X or try to find a SF-2

[David Houck]

Using an F-1X and bypassing the preamp on your Ampeg will work.  It should definitely give you a different sound; and though I don't have an Ampeg to compare, my guess it that the sound will be much cleaner.
 
And while there are a few club members here who use an SF-2 as their preamp, it is primarily a tone shaping tool; and that's how most SF-2 owners use it.  Unlike the F-1X and F-2B, the SF-2 does not have a tube stage.
 
Personally, I think the F-1X is a great preamp, though I'm currently using an F-2B to get a little more tubiness.

[0vid]

I think most amps like ampeg, mesa, etc.will add alot of color to the sound that isn't needed or wanted for bass if you want a really clean hi-fi sound.
 
I have three amp setups in my possesion, and use bag end 15 cabs. A mesa walkabout, a demeter preamp with a qsc power amp, and an ampeg b25. By far the most hi-fi and cleanest sonding is the ampeg followed by the Demeter. The mesa adds sometimg to my sound I really don't like.
 
If you want a true hifi sound, you should look into getting an Alembic preamp or the Demeter preamp. An sf2 will also improve your sound greatly and may be the least expensive route.
 
(Message edited by glocke on July 26, 2008)

 
+1... but add to that a full range speaker system, not a 2 way system. Most 2 way commercial cabs have a severe mid dip, largely due to the woofer running beyond its frequency capabilities, before the tweeter kicks in.
 
Also, if by hi-fi you mean clean and neutral, Ampeg is your least likely candidate, ... Ampegs give you a great tone but a coloured tone.

[glocke]

Also, if by hi-fi you mean clean and neutral, Ampeg is your least likely candidate, ... Ampegs give you a great tone but a coloured tone.
 
Not the old heads like the B25....all tube, and super clean.

[kenbass4]

Sorry I'm a little late.
 
As Harry said, I play through an SVTCL, which is tubes all the way through, unlike the SVT-4Pro which is solid state in the power section. I actually prefer the growly tube snarl thet the Ampeg imparts, but I do have an SF-2 in my signal chain to tweak my sound and supplement the high end clarity.
 
Ken

[jphilauren]

That's probably what I will have to experiment with. Hoping to check out a F1-x where I can bypass the Ampeg preamp,then I might have the best of both worlds, being able to switch from external preamp to internal depending upon my bass 73 Jazz, Musicman Sabre, Hi bred Precision to external preamp Kawai and Exploiter. Have seen not many SF-2 around

[willie]

Hey, somebody else with a Music Man Sabre. You don't see many of them around either.
I also have a Music Man HD-150 amp that I considered doing something like your talking about. Install a switch, (probably DPDT), before the preamp section of the HD 150 and install a jack for the output from my F1-X. That way I could combine the tube output of the 150 with the tube preamp from the F1-X. I would wire it so that flipping the switch would allow normal operation of the 150's own preamp. Haven't got around to it yet. Currently the F1-X is connected to 3000 watts of Crown power so I'm not hurting for power or tone. Just curious about how it would sound and it would be cool to see those tubes glowing purple again. If you rewire that Ampeg let us know how it works out. Might inspire me to go ahead with my experiment.
Willie

[82daion]

The most hi-fi bass sound I've heard with my Alembic was a Glockenklang Bugatti preamp through a Bergantino IP212. It wasn't exactly the sound I would go for in a band setting, but it reproduced the bass in a very clean, uncolored fashion that was very flattering to its natural sound.  
 
My sound with a Thunderfunk TFB550 and Acme Low B 210's was close, but with a little more color due to the natural sound of the Thunderfunk. While it wasn't as high-fidelity as the Glock/Berg rig, it was closer to my preferred tone.

[811952]

For a few years I often ran my Series 1.5 direct into the input of my power amps, sans any tone control beyond what's on the instrument itself, and from there into a pile of Peavey 1810 cabinets.  It sounded very good.
 
John

[jphilauren]

The SVT 4 Pro is set up to bypass the built in preamp just by directly plugging into the back of the amp to power amp in, this disconnects the internal preamp. . this way I guess with just plugs I could use an external preamp, unplug it and then use the internal.

[edwin]

While the old Ampeg tube amps sound great, they are anything but flat. Take your preamp output, run it into some studio monitors. There's what your DI sounds like. If you run that signal into an old Ampeg tube amp, it won't sound anything like the studio monitors. If it did, they'd be using them as studio monitors. Not to say that it won't sound good.  
 
For a long time, I put effort into making my onstage rig a mini PA so that I would be able to make intelligent decisions about my tone that would translate through the DI into the PA. These days I mostly use in ears, so it's not a problem to approximate what the PA hears.
 
Edwin

[rockbassist]

I used to have a deal with Ampeg and tried a variety of heads and cabs including the SVT 4 Pro with an HLF cab. I also tried running  bi-amped with a 4x10 and 2x10 and just running through an 8x10. I tried an SVT Classic all tube head through different cabs as well. I was never happy with my sound. I finally gave up the deal and switched to Gallien Krueger. I run a GK 1001RB-II, bi-amped through a GK 410RBH and a 115RBH cab. People have told me that my bass sounds better than ever. I do not have a deal with GK but I have been very happy with this setup and the customer service.