I'm sure there is something specific with that amp, a
Montagsproduktion (lemon item), no doubt.
Thanks for the gracious offer, I'll give it one more try here.
Frankly, I'm not on the lookout for an old SVT, the sound does nothing for me (I've used old ones in the studio) and they tend to sound samey to me, whatever bass you use, you get an Ampeg sound. Kind of like a Marshall with a guitar. I don't want an amp with that much coloring. I bought my Ampeg rig back then because after decades of sophisticated biamping (tubes for the highs, solid state for the rumble, four different cabs with 10", 15" and 18"), I wanted to try an all-in-one solution (and, to be honest, I played in a Brit Pop band at the time and thought the Ampeg SVT plus fridge would look the part). Turned out I'm not an all-in-one guy at all
, I only had the 8x10 fridge cab for a few weeks when I began to miss my 18" from the biamping days, so I added a 1x18" Ampeg cab, that much for "all-in-one".
I only use the Ampeg rig in the rehearsal room. I'll say that for it: It has a nice way of "immersing" a room in bass sound without being too loud or stepping on anybody's toes. Of course, playing live, "immersion" of the stage in bass sound is exactly what the sound engineer does
not want.
Someone here once quipped that if my desire is to have a rig that brings out the nuances of each and any bass, I should get a Glockenklang and be happy. I played one in a shop some time ago to test basses and I must say I immediately liked what I heard, no fiddling necessary. And the two basses I played (Epi Explorer Korina Ltd Ed and Gibson EB 5-er 2016) sounded radically different with the same settings, but both sounded good in their way.