Ampeg SVT-3Pro

This head is great. It is really versitile, and is great for what i play (punk). I have it hooked up to a Ampeg 4X10 hl pro. It has a Graphic EQ which you can also use as a second channel, it has an input in the back for a foot switch. I use this for all the shows i have played in the past month and it works great, nothing has gone wrong. I can't think of anything else i would want on it. So for me it's perfect.

I play an Ernie ball sterling w/ a pick, fingers, and slap when i practice (altho i never use my fingers or slap when i play with my band)It's not noisy, when you crank it it gets a small hiss but i havn't seen a head that doesn't get a small hiss when played at loud volumes. I never have to turn it up that loud so that's not a problem.
You can get all kinds of nice sound out of this head, i play punk and it's great for that but when you mess around w/ all the settings you can get all sorts of sounds. The head never gets any distortion so that's good.

I would never worry about bringing a back up when i use this head. The head has never broken down. This is a ver dependable head, even if it takes some bumps.

The warranty is 5 years. I have never had to deal w/ customer sevice so i can't give a rating for it.

At the time i wrote this i have been playing bass for 2 and 1/2 years. If it was stolen i would def. buy another one. I Can't think of anything i don't like about alltho i wish it had a tuner on it, that would be cool. But then again i almost never have to tune my bass. It's a great head.

Brand new 2001 built. 3 band EQ with midrange selector, and selectable 9-band graphic. Effects loop. Footswitch jack for EQ/mute functions. Tuner out. Independant direct out. Used with Ampeg 4x10 cab, plenty of power. 275w @ 8 ohms, 450w @ 4 ohm tube-driven MOS-FET power.

I play a standard P-Bass for punk rock and the band at church and this amp works great for both. The tone is very versatile, with many options. The tube gain feature allows you to get a fast, punchy tone, or a slower, mellower tone. The high and low boosts greatly enhance the sound.

It seems very durable. I would use it without a backup. I'd just bring an extra fuse and some tubes. It's built like a tank, with the 1/4" steel plate on the front and heavy-duty chassis. I haven't owned it long enough to know if it will break down on me.

I've never dealt with the company, other than some emails that were answered very promptly. I haven't ever contacted one, but there are plenty of Ampeg service centers here (since I'm in St. Louis). It has a 5 year transferable warranty which I hope to never have to use.

Been playing 2 years, and I wanted to get pro gear early to save money in the long run and am very happy with this purchase. I would certainly replace it or buy Ampeg's preamp to use with a power amp if something happened to it. I love the tone and the features and the power and versatility of it. Compared with SWR and the SVT-Classic. The SWR didn't have enough, "oomph" and the Classic is great but HEAVY, not to mention expensive. I think Ampeg should include a footswitch and a speakon cable with it.

Defeatable 9 band parametric EQ. 3 band Graphic EQ including Bass, Treble, and a 2 control midrange (5 position frequency selector, and a level sweep). 2 seperate gain controls. Input Gain, and tube gain.
various pre-shaping buttons including "Bright, Ultra High, Ultra Low". Mute, which leaves only the tuner jack running, for silent tuning. I believe it has 2 12ax7 preamp tubes, and 3 12au7 driver tubes. I could be wrong there though. Mosfet power amp. 450 watts @ 4 ohms, 275 watts @ 8 ohms. Mine is a few years older, so It doesn't have the speakon jack that the newer ones have. It has a direct out (with a level control), effects loop, and pre amp in/ pre amp out jacks for using eaxernal preamps, or power amps. It has a tuner out, and a footswitch jack (but I got mine used and it didn't come with the footswitch). A pretty wide variety of options. I kinda wish it had a seperate channel, like a distortion channel, but oh well.

I use an Ibanez Ergodyne EBD 400(review in bass section), a Soundgear 305, and an old Fender Jazz bass. I run it through a home made cabinet with a 15. One can get a wide variety of tones out of this thing. Hell, just look at the list of people who use these things, and their different styles of music. Everything from metal, to jazz, to Primus (since there really isn't any other way to label their style, I just say their name). This being said, I think it suits my style since I like to dabble in most if everything. You can get a good ballsy rock sound, fairly smooth distortion. You aren't going to get that bowell loosening wall of pure overdrive, but it has some balls. You can also get a nice clean tone, that does good with melodic passages, and arpeggios and such. If I turn the master volume up past about 6, then this nasty hiss shows up. At 10 it can get pretty messy. But I got this used, and I have no idea what the guy before me did with it, and I paid a pretty good price for it, so I will deduct 1 point.

I have had it for about a year and a half. It hasn't given me any trouble yet. It depended on how much gigging I was doing. I feel it may need re tubed at some point, and since it us used, I may have it gone through to make sure there is nothing that may give me problems down the road. But it seems pretty damn solid. Built like a tank.

I have had some questions, so I've E-Mailed them a few times. I had no manual whan I got it (have I mentioned that it's used?), so I asked if there was a way I could get one. It was in the evening when I wrote. I'm on the west coast, they are in St Louis. There was a response there for me in the morning. And I had a few technical questions once that I figured would take at least a day or two. But they were right on that shit. They responded in less than 2 hours.
And they seemed personable, and friendly too. I just happened to come back later, I don't spend all of my time here, so who knows how long. Could have been a half hour.

I've been playing for about 8 years. I use a Digitech Whammy pedal, and a Boss Flanger. It sounds great. I use it by itself, and with a Marshall B65. I think it was a great value, and if it was stolen I would definately get another one. If you want to know what I would do to the guy if I found him, then read my bass review. I think that the only thing that I hate about it is that it makes the neighbors bitch about the noise. It is plenty loud. If there is ever a point where I need more power, then I will be able to afford it.

Excellent amp great for any size gig, dont be fooled, playign in clubs or other places have PA systems, dont worry about that. Tone sound are grear, many pros use ampeg svt3 pro including les claypool of primus

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No problems

no problems once again

everything is great A+, use it with a 410 cab sounds incredible

Same as what everyone else put. If you have questions, go to www.ampeg.com

I play a custom Warrior Jazz bass with active Lane Poor's and a Warrior Studio (musicman type pickup) with active pickups. I'm really into mid tones and cutting tones because guitar players tend to muddy things up a bit, especially with the new 7 string guitars. This amp fits that bill pretty darn good. I like the Ultra Low switch, which fills the bill pretty darn well when I'm just using my Eden 4x10T. When I add the Eden 18, I have to roll the bass off a bit because it is overbearing.

It has a nice tube sound, but not perfect. I still like the old SVT Classic, but not for the money or the weight. This simulates that sound pretty good - closer than any other amp I've played or owned. Users just have to realize that it IS NOT an SVT Classic.

I have to agree that I get some hiss at very high volumes, but quite honestly I haven't found an amp that doesn't do that. It's just a common thing, but it isn't bad with the SVT Pro III, and actually is better than my Fender, GK and Eden. If you get overwhelming hiss, have your bass checked.

I'm giving it a 9 because it is an Ampeg and it is going for the SVT sound, but although good, it isn't perfect.

I've never had a problem with it, so I can't say much on this one.

Once again, I have no idea. The thing has worked GREAT since day 1.

I've been playing for 20 years and have probably owned everything on the market except Walter Woods. I cut my teeth on a '74 SVT with the 8x10 cabinet, so I know what that is supposed to sound like. I've also had Peavey (who hasn't?), GK, SWR, Trace Elliot, Eden, Traynor...crap, tons of stuff. This is a great amp for less than $400, but it isn't a Classic SVT. The power just isn't there...however, I boost my signal through my compressor, so I get plenty of power - enough to make my edens or my two Trace 15's literally shake the house. If anyone wants to be louder than that, then they're gonna have a serious hearing problem. It does the job pretty darn well.

Overall, I've got to rank it a 9 because I think it does exactly what it says it does. The power is a little low, but that can be remedied easily...and the sound is really nice for a mosfet type amp.

Would I buy again it if it got stolen? Probably...for my rock stuff. I'm still partial to Eden for just about everything else though. But for rock, man you can't get that tone any other way except an old SVT.

This is a good amp made by a good company.

2 space rack mount style head. Front handles. The amp has 3 tubes for the preamp, 2 power amp driver tubes, 8 mosfets for the poweramp. Rated at 450W @ 8 ohms. Single channel. 9 band graphic EQ (defeatable via push button or footswitch). Effects loop, tuner out, mute switch, preamp in & out, (2) 1/4 inch speaker connectors and 1 neutrik speakon. I play mostly rock on weekends, more than enough power for that. Complaints? I wish I could get a true "distortion" out of the tube gain at low volume levels (we dont play that loud). BIGGEST SUGGESTION FOR AMPEG: use the "brains/guts" of this amp to put in the SVT 350 H body. I don't like rack gear, and I think old amps look cooler on stage. I bought the SVT III pro because of the features and light weight (compared to an SVT Classic). I ordered the "shell" of the SVT 350H, and plan to modify it to mount the SVT III pro in. I'm sure I'll get asked "What model is that?"

I use Ibanez soundgear 800's and an 885. They have active pickups and vari mid eq. I'm glad the mid selector has a setting for around 800-900 hz, because I like to pull that frequncy. One good thing I noticed that surprised the hell out of me--- this amp VERY accurately reproduced the actual sound of my STRINGS. Mabey I've just played through junk amps in the past, but there is no hiding here- what your instrument sounds like "acoustically" is what will come out of the speakers. Again, the only complaint is that I wish I could distort the amp at lower volume levels. I know you can with the SVT II Pro, but it is much heavier.

I havent had any problems yet. In fact, part of the reason that I bought the SVT III Pro was because I know a lot of guys who use the "all tube" SVT's who have had problems with tubes going out and so forth. This has a tube driven solid state power amp, so ther is no fluctuation in sound from gig to gig, and less worry about breaking down.

I've spoken to reps at Ampeg who have been very honest with me. I told them money was not an issue, and after I told them what I play, how I play, and how often I play, they did not recommend the top of the line amp & cabinet (which I was well prepared to do). It sounded like they recommended based on need, rather than profit. My local dealer also made me a very reasonable deal, and was willing to order something he normally wouldn't stock.

Again, I played lots of Ampeg amps and cabinets, and the features and sound were just right. (I bought the 1540 HE cab). The biggest suggestion for ampeg is to make this available as an actual HEAD, not just a rack unit.

I GOT THIS AMP BECAUSE IT WAS RECOMENDED TO ME BY THE SALESPERSON. I USE TO PLAY SWR WORKINGMAN COMBO 15, I think the thing that sold me on the amp was the pro look and the eq. I also like the fact Can simulate different tube sounds from one knob

Currently I am using a pedulla bass, and play a vasts amount of style from jazz to rock. the one thing that I noticed was the amount of noise from the amp when I turned it up to five. I also noticed that the louder the amp got the more hiss came through the speaker cab.I honestly believe that this amp would be ideal for practicing at lower levels. At lower levels the amp has a nice warm, fat sound that is ideal for jazz. It is only at higher levels where the flaws of the electronics come out.

I played the amp at all levels, and after four weeks of playing in clubs and in the studio, the amp head blew. If I were to go touring I would want at least two backups.

I had called customer support and they told that I could send it back to them and the would fix the problem. I ended up taking it back to the music store and trading it in for a mesa boogie

overall, I think that the higher quality, all tube ampegs are better and I wouldn't mind trying one sometime. As for the svt3pro, I would not buy another unless it was for practicing. I have been playing for 10years on some of the better equiptment( Lexicon, Joe meek, Padulla) and I think this is one of the lower quality amps I have ever played.

got this amp to replace my very OLD tube SVT because it was so big and HEAVY Not as powerful as old SVT. Not using my 2 old svt 8 x 10 cabs. used SVT PRO II w/ Carvin 4x10 and 1 x 18 because light and easy, portable to carry

low end not as good as old tube SVT. Used with a Spector Bass active PU's

very reliable. no trouble in a year of extensive gigs,loud stage volumes

never dealt w/co.

Endosement deal w/ local music store. overall good quality amp

Bass Amp. One innie, one outie. Basic rich bass amp with the classis SVT sound of the 70's.
It has 450 Watts @ 8 ohm, and is more than adequate for my needs. I gig at a Vineyard Church (way cool rock praise/worship) in Texas.

Awesome sound, great rich tube front end with 450 watts of MOSFET power. Really clean. I play mostly rock/R&B/goat roper (country) styles (in decreasing order of preference).
I'm playing a Peavey Foundation (fairly cheap guitar), that surprisingly has a pretty good sound. Except it needs a new pickup.
These gigs pay the best of any I've ever done...a touch from the Lord.

Haven't had it long. I have a Peavey for backup, but don't take it. Peavey amps are too cheesy for me.

No trouble yet.

My next amp may have a bit more power, if it's really clean like this one.