Ampeg SVP-CL Preamp

All you need.

Ampeg.........there simply is no substitute. This is the sound of SVT Bass. Use passive Lindy's and cook with even heat.....never burn but always melt.

This machune is not for the garage band, more like a vintage player.
It is not for the meek, young adolescent scratcher or pick using leotard wearing school girl drop out. This is your old man's straight razor......sharp and heavy. Punk Not Here.

Like Greg Allman and ZZ Top it only gets better with age! I t will never leave you flat and will always continue to boogie.

they were there when it started, they'll be there when it counts

Look I've got this thing paired with Carver 2.0t power amp and it is like Jessica....(take your pick) .....it doesn't get any better. Now trust me on this one....just add the 410 HLF.....or 2 of them and create live or studio rockfunkblues tone exofiche.........

that means end the quest.....

mine was made in usa in 04.....pretty basic controls....set your low contour then move on to the eq, bass and treble with a mid-shape selector....a couple of brite and ultra high switches...took me awhile to get the right setting in a loud band setting...my patience with this preamp paid off...
2- 12ax7 groove tubes and 2- 12au7 electro harmonix tubes....came stock with this unit

I'm playing a passive stock mexi p-bass and a stock american 5 string passive jazz bass....I run the gain at about 3 o'clock and the red light is flashing most of the time......at first I was a little lost for bottom end and it was a bit thin sounding.....I replaced the stock crap tubes with a couple of n.o.s. ampexex made in holland 12ax7 bugleboys (90$) and 2 made in usa n.o.s. sylvania 12au7
(40$).....what a difference....much warmer bottom and more gain and fatter low mid....about 20% more gain....wow....I'd rate this preamp a 10 if it came with the higher end tubes....real nice SVT grit that softens up a bit when you do....killer...

no problems yet....still lovin it...

I recently purchased a second SVPCL and low and behold, when I ran it against my svpcl with the higher end tubes in it, it was quieter, thinner sounding and I had to run the gain hotter to get any grit....
the second svpcl is full of the stock groove tubes :(
so I would strongly recommend upgrading the preamp tubes to some nice old rca, sylvania, westinghouse, amperex.....
for me and my fingers and pick on p-bass sound there is nothing better than this preamp.....I liked it so much I own a second back-up that will sit in my closet until the unlikey event something should go wrong with my main svpcl.....
or maybe I'll wait 'til you can't get anything american ampeg anymore and sell it.....

Has everything I need. This pre is a little bit more than a plug-and-play setup but you won't spend forever getting a good tone out of it. I'm too lazy to mess around with all kinds of EQ's and drives and gains, etc. This pre is perfect for that. I've got it setup to where I just have to change the style of the low-band EQ selector. Everything else stays the same.

Absolutely great for running to a power amp or to a house PA or direct to board for recording. For recording though, I'd recommend having all EQ's set flat and boosting/cutting the signal to match sound levels. For rock, metal, & country there's nothing better than this.

I'd recommend this pre with an external power amp over a regular SVT-CL amp for a few reasons:
*You'll save about 40 pounds or more
*It's a more reliable setup and cheaper to own (no power tubes to replace)
*You can isolate any excess noise sources from your signal
*You have more options with hooking up cabinets
And most important
*You can get the same tones with more volume

Absolutely reliable. In my experience, Ampeg preamps have been built like tanks. I have an SVTII-P preamp made in 1990 and it still has the original tubes in it. How amazing is that? This unit is a few years old itself but is still in perfect condition.

They've always been quick to respond to emails and pretty helpful to me.

Overall, if you're looking for a plug-and-play preamp with a lot of versatility and just a great sound, you can't beat this. I'd recommend for any style of music but it's an Ampeg, so it's obviously gonna excel at rock, metal, blues, and country. If I wanted anything else on it, I'd buy the SVP-Pro for the drive & 9-band EQ functions. Other than that, I can't think of anything else you would need for bass.

PS - This works great for acoustic guitar and bass as well!

Mine was made in 2006. It is a versatile preamp with a unique sound. I play rock/dance/r&b/funk/raggae, and some 80's metal, with the occasional country gig thrown in, and although I have to re-dial the EQ depending on the style, I haven't had any problems falling right in with whatever style I'm playing for the night.
Love the tube grind if I want it.
Also, the mid-scoop controls are fantastic. That was what I've been looking for on an amp and finally found it.
I've been using a Galien-Kruger RBIII, and it was good. Although it broke down on me twice during shows, it had a unique tone that I was happy with. But I've been hearing other bands that come through my town playing, and the guys with the solid bottom end are using Ampeg equipment.

I use any one of 5 different basses that all use EMG active pickups. I mention the EMG's because if you use them, they cover up a world of sins such as bad woods used in basses, etc. I run the Ampeg preamp into a Carvin HD1800 power amp with Avatar NEO 410 and Avatar NEO 210 cabs as my speaker source. It sounds HUGE!
I haven't noticed any excess noise out of the preamp, but if you crank the treble EQ all the way up, of course you get some hiss. I don't know anyone that would crank the treble all the way up, but if you are the kind of guy that would do that, you'll hear hiss.

I have been using this amp at gigs and practice twice a week for the last few months with no problems at all. I don't use a backup amp for my bass. If my amp went down during a show, I'd just go with a DI into the PA to finish the night out, and worry about the bass amp in the morning. I'll give the 'reliability' rating a 10, because I haven't had any issues with the preamp. Who knows, a year from now I might have problems with it, but to date, everythings great.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 26 years. I've owned (bass amps): Marshall, Peavey, GK, Carvin, and Fender. This Ampeg preamp/Carvin power amp combo is much more professional sounding than the other amps I've owned.
I would definitely replace this preamp with the exact same one if it were stolen.
I love the sounds, and I haven't found anything that I hate about it yet. If I had my wish to fix just one thing about the preamp, I'd put an input jack on the back of the unit as well as having one on the front of the unit. I use a wireless unit that's also rack-mounted, and I have to run a cable to the front of the Ampeg preamp to plug into it. If the input were on the back, it would have saved a lot of work.
If you've been searching for a rock-solid bass tone, that has a pro-quality edge to it, this would be a good preamp to try out.
It is $500, but for that you get a good return in sound on your investment.

Brand new (2005) Ampeg SVP-CL Preamp, single channel, 2 X 12AX7 and 2 X 12AU7 pre-amp tubes. Dual 1/4" and parallel XLR outputs. The only feature I wish it had is dual channels, with an overdrive feature like the BSP model. Otherwise the easy to use tone shaping controls and features are a snap to adjust to individual style or situation.

I am playing a couple of warrior basses, an "Armed Soldier' with an 18 volt Bartolini MX-5 system, mahogany body and purpleheart fretboard and a "standard" Soldier with a single Seymour Duncan 9 volt Humbucker, zebrawood/maple body, birds eye maple fretboard and a vintage Tobias classic with mahogany body and maple fretboard. I plug these into my Ampeg SVP-CL, run one of the 1/4" outs into my Ampeg SVT350H, route a speaker lead (monster bass speaker cable of course) to my Ampeg SVT-410HLF and WOW! This is THE sound. I also own an Ampeg V4BH 100 watt tube amp. IT was THE sound. But after about 8 months of ownership (I took it to 3 gigs) it became unreliable. After generating the percussive "spank" that only a tube driven signal can produce for several months through that V4BH, I became obsessed at discovering how to emulate that sound without going to the super heavy SVT-CL amp. The SVP-CL preamp was the answer for me. I now have the warmth and punch that the tube amp I used to play out of gave me. This is not the preamp to end all preamps---I was looking for that original SVT sound (look at my equipment list). In my case, I found it.

It has worked perfectly so far but it is brand new. I son't anticipate any problems with it though.

I've dealt with Saint Louis music company before. They attempt to be very helpful. But everone has their limitations and I have found through dealing with these guys on some other products that warranty repairs can be a merry-go-round. Overall, though, not bad.

I am a 50 year old "Hobby" player (my classic rock band plays 8--10 gigs a year). I don't have the best chops, play on the best equipment, or have aspirations of hitting the big stage. But I am pretty anal about my tone (ask ANYBODY that knows me). I've been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of great players witha lot of great sounds. If you are looking for that classic SVT sound, this is your key. I would definitely buy this again if I lost it as it, along with my other line-up of SVT components, makes the sound I wanna make.

2005 model. Four tubes configured similar to the vintage Ampeg head NOT any of the current models.

Sound-wise the preamp sounds about as good and tubey as you're gonna get out of a preamp. When I think of Ampeg I think of growly punchy mids - with the right EQ I can get in the ballpark with this. The EQ can take you into other territories too. A fair substitute for an all-tube head without compromising too much. I also own an Alembic F1X preamp which is naturally cleaner and smoother.

I plan to experiment with some higher quality tubes soon but the tubes in the unit are fine, it sounds good.

Haven't had it long enough so we'll see. It is a shame that the click selectors do not precisely match up with the lines on the panel, a common problem. Not really a problem but still for this money I would expect that.

Haven't had to deal with company direct but there's a couple of bass forums with some very helpful chaps on their including Ampeg employees.

I've been playing 25 years and always searching for that elusive magic sound. I realise that it is a combination of factors... bass, amp, cabs, technique. Would I replace it if it were stolen? Not sure - it isn't a cheap preamp and I have 3 others of similar quality. For a few more pounds I could get a full all-tube V4BH.

I wish the bass freq was set higher than 20Hz. That's the one thing I would change.

Just bought it brand new from ZZ Sounds. Absolutely perfect for my styles of music. I like to play any style. One input, a minimum of knobs, mute on footswitch or button, it's about as perfect for me as I could wish for. I don't like or need all kinds of features, don't want any distortion crap, or chorus, or anything but good sound coming out the speakers.

I play a Kawai F2B. NO noise, that I can hear. Gets any type of sound that I want. It has good variety. Can get from bright to super lows. NO distortion at any volume, perfect. CLEAN--NICE!!!!WONDERFULL SOUND!!!!

Just bought mine, but others have said they have had no problems.

Hopefully, I will never call them.

Been playing 36 years. Have wanted this sound for 36 years.There is no amp I've ever played that can compare to this. I have it in a 3 space Grundorf, with a Carvin DCM600 for power. 450 at 8 ohms 600 at 4 ohms. Several different cab configurations, for different venues, depending on how loud a person can play for the situations. This is the cats meow! I love it. It IS what I have long waited for. It's my birthday present to myself for my 52nd.I am a real happy camper. I recommend this preamp to every bass player out there. BUY ONE-you WILL be really happy that you did!! Nuf said.

good quality for chassis and electronics parts, assembly ok, DC regulated for valves filaments, s/n ratio very good :valves are all Groove Tube, no semiconductors or IC components on signal route.quality transformer for DI output.

ONLY the classic Ampeg sound. no noise.no distortion.the noise more depend on quality of tubes, for this class of products it's ok, this project is developed on '70s... (Super Valve Tecnology) if you want less noise you can try a TL Audio 5051 for example, or similar... but remember it's not all and only valve.Today the IC's of front end are very noiseless.
my set-up: precision '78s, MM sterling '80s,SVP-CL, dbx 266, return of a SWR sm400s bridged(work only power amps), Eden 410T. I played my first bass on 1988.

no problem.never broken down.

I'm a electronic tech.

I played the svp-cl for 2 year, 6-10 hours /week. no tubes are need of replacement.I love the sound and the classic factures of this unit.

Early 70's SVT single channel tube preamp with a few modern bells and whistles added. If you buy this thing you are obviously going for that classic SVT sound but its tone is surprisingly versatile given it has few eq controls. There are really no features I wish it had, this thing is well designed and built. If you want graphic and/or parametric eq then get something else.

A few things I like-

- first off this thing is built like a brick s**t house. The chassis is heavy steel, the controls are rugged, and it looks like a thick powder coat finish.
- I took the lid off and the inside is also very rugged and well laid out. Not a single IC in the joint and almost all of the signal caps are top notch WEMA caps. Any component that can rattle loose is siliconed.
- Groove Tubes.
- mute switch/tuner out is cool because it mutes the pre out but the tuner still gets signal. Sounds totally obvious, right? My Eden head has a tuner out but no mute, and muting the tuner does no good so whats the point? I believe SWR is like this too but not sure.
- low end switch is cool but I bypass it most of the time.
- nice full featured di output.

Don't like:

- 'on' light is way too bright. I wanted to replace the bulb but turns out it has 5, yes 5, super bright LED's.

Going for the classic SVT sound in a smaller package than the big rig. I have a power amp and will be getting the SVT410he cabinet soon. I play an American Standard Jazz w/ Custom Shop vintage pups and a MM Stingray in a semi-pro rock band- a couple gigs a month and put out a record every couple years.
The pre is a bit noisy going into the Eden power amp but it wasn't noisy at all going into a tube power amp, not sure why. The gain control is for setting the optimal s/n ratio, not for getting preamp distortion. If you want distortion, you'll have to get a pedal.
The di is pretty nice for recording direct but not as full bodied as the Eden. I will use the di in conjunction with a mic'd amp.

Just got it a month ago but as stated earlier this thing is rock solid and I don't anticipate any problems whatsoever any time soon. It has a 5 year warranty so reliability must have been a huge goal in its design.

Haven't needed to contact them.

I'd give it a 10 but I don't want to seem like a total tool. Anyways this pre is awesome and I'd highly recommend it. My other bass rig is an Eden WT400 and D115T/D210T cabs. With the Ampeg setup I'm going for a more vintage sound plus I'll be using a much bigger power amp for bigger gigs.
I've been playing bass seriously in bands for 4 years and guitar about 15 years before that.

Made in 2004. Ideally suited to rock styles. I believe this preamp includes the preamp section of the vintage 70's SVT's. Has a five-position switch which selects among five general EQ settings: flat, low-cut, SVT, SVT+lows, Dub. All very useful, but I don't reach for the low-cut much. I give it a 9 because it is not a "jack of all trades" preamp, especially if you're looking for modern clack. But then again, it's not trying to do everything, either.

Rock. Rock. Rock. Dig?

Comes with a 5 year warranty and is built to weather anything. YOU try to bust it!

Incredibly kind and helpful support staff. Plus, 5 year warranty.

It's pretty easy to find preamps on the used market today. I bought most of my gear used. Why spend the extra on a new preamp? Because this one is worth it. I would buy this new again in a second.

This is the latest & greatest bass preamp from Ampeg. It is based on the preamp section of the SVT Classic head and contains 4 preamp tubes (two 12AX7 & two 12AU7). Man, this thing is versitile. There are push buttons for ultra hi & brite, a 5 position mid selector and a slick 5 position selector to dial in the lo end. The only other knobs are the bass, mid, treb, input gain & master. Its down, dirty and easy to use & I was able to dial in a fantastic tone very quickly BECAUSE it is such a simple design. Some people may not like its simplicity, I do. It has a "pre/post" selectable balanced line out (no volume knob for that output), and two 1/4" outputs that you control with the master volume. There is also an FX loop, which I do not use.

I have tried the SVPCL with a few different basses, I prefer the sound using P-Bass with active EMG's. The pre cooks (in a good way) when the input gain is turned up & sometimes I add a Varidrive tube distortion pedal (with the pedal's drive barely on "1") to the front end for a little extra grind for even more of a "cranked" SVT sound. But it also has a sweet, smooth, clean tone. Primarily I have been using the SVPCL to record direct. I run it through a focusrite voicmaster pre for a little cab simulation and then straight into the computer. It sounds fantastic. I also have A/B'd it with my SVT 3 pro head through a cab and although the 3 pro sounds great, I think the SVP CL sounds better (I used a Stewart World 1.2 power amp to power the SVPCL).

This pre is brand new. I am told that Michael Anthony is taking an SVP CL out on the road for the upcoming VH tour so he is depending on it! Although I have used it for a few recordings, I have yet to put mine through a hard workout on the road. I bought the SVPCL for direct recording & also to use on the road so I could simply plug into a house system and already have my tone dialed in. I will know soon enough how it holds up, but I am very confident it will!

FIVE YEAR TRASFERABLE WARRANTY!!!! The only thing I have ever needed to "fix" with any of my ampeg gear is replacing the tubes. 'nuff said.

I have been using Ampeg bass gear for almost 10 years. I own an SVT Classic AV Head, two SVT 410HE cabs, two SVT 15E cabs, SVT 3 pro, and now the SVP CL. I have either used or put through the paces all of the current Ampeg tube based amps. (2 pro, 3 pro, 4 pro, 5 pro, SVP PRO, SVP BSP, SVT CLASSIC). As pre-amps go, I prefer the sound of the SVP CL over the SVP PRO & SVP BSP. The SVT Classic AV is my main live amp, but I am not going to take a 85 lb. head on the road since for me that involves plenty of flights and the weight limit is 70 lbs for checked items. The SVP CL will be touring with me from now on. Oh yeah, if it was stolen I would call my insurance company and replace it!