Incoming! Ampeg V4BH

[rahock]

Nice score! Run mine through an SVT-215 for a "B15 on Steroids" sound

This would be a great hook up for my taste . No knock on the 4 10'' cabs that most tend to prefer, because they sound great too. I just really appreciate a nice 2 15" cab, and like you said, "B15 on steroids" sound.
Rick

[Aussie Mark]

I played the VB4H through a pair of 8 ohm SWR Goliath Jrs at rehearsal last night, and 100 watts of Ampeg tube amp was more than adequate up against 2 long haired guitarists, keyboards and sax (plus our light hitting "Charlie Watts").  With the gain on "6" and the master on "4" I had plenty up my sleeve.  This one is a keeper!

[rahock]

I'm not familiar with the new V4 but  I've got a bit of playing time in on the old 65 pounder and I'll testify that Ampeg used some pretty large watts when they built that head. A lot of players walk away when they read the specs, thinking 100 watts won't be enough juice to fill the room. I've used them in some pretty good sized rooms and outdoors and always had plenty of power. Unless you're playing somewhere very big and very loud , that 100 watts will get the job done . The old V4 and the Sunn 200S are two of my favorites. In all but a really huge room, when you start winding them up you get the nicest warm and pushy tube sound you can get and plenty of juice to give some authority to every note. I like 'em .
Rick

[jumbodbassman]

i had an original V-4B back in 1976 with the 2 15" altecs and it rocked.  later upgraded that to a svt with that 2 15" cab and a 8 10" svt cab and it moved buildings.....   My V4B lasted forever...  Sold it in mid 90's   wish i still had it although it weighed a ton but less than the SVT.    I don't know the new ones well but the old one had a quasi shock absorber that allowed the head to get moved and bounced  while the inside stayed safe.  I gree withrahock.  the v4b was was rated at 100watts but it sounded and played like it was way over that.   Blew away a 200 watt sound city head i used as a backup. 

[Dave W]

No idea about the new model, but IME the old V4B could not keep up with two loud guitarists and a loud drummer in a moderate sized club.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

A lot of the comments regarding relative volume underscore a couple of things:
First, different people and musical styles have different acceptable levels of distortion, and second, the actual power AND volume (which may or may not necessarily be related) varied according to the condition of the amp and the settings on its output tubes and their quality.  Old tube amps generally ran at least 10-20% variations in performance straight off the production line. Parts tolerances were much wider and amps were set up for maximum longevity, not volume. If you had an old V4 with a crap set of tubes or one that was biased fairly cold, you'd never know what its true output potential could be. When I first got my Aguilar DB728, it was biased so cold it couldn't even reach its rated output power. I fixed that REAL quick.

That said, I agree entirely with Dave about the V4's limitations. With a loud rock band, it's SVT time ulness you like grind with not much bottom.

[rahock]

My V4 experiences were playing against stuff like Fender Twin , Fender DeVille, Fender M80, Roland Jazz Chorus-120 and a few other things in that range.
It held up very well and delivered a lot of bottom for a mere 100 watts,  in that type of environment and coming through a 2 15" cab. I never had to compete with any real heavy artillery but  I think they stand pretty tall for a 100 watts
Rick

[stiles72]

When my 3-Pros were in the shop last year I ran my V4BH & 2x15 alongside a Portaflex head pushing a 412. I really didn't need the Portaflex set up - it was really more just for show and to add just a little bit of extra flavor. But I was competing with a 5150 and a Marshall, and the V4BH kept up just fine. I usually dialed mine in pretty deep and thumpy so I wasn't competing for the same sonic real estate that the guitars were operating in, no matter how "loud" they got. That could have helped me out as well.

[gearHed289]

Cool rig! Is that a Gene Simmons 215?

[stiles72]

Yep - it's an SVT-LGS 215 with the JBL speakers

[Aussie Mark]

A lot of the comments regarding relative volume underscore a couple of things:
First, different people and musical styles have different acceptable levels of distortion, and second, the actual power AND volume (which may or may not necessarily be related) varied according to the condition of the amp and the settings on its output tubes and their quality.

Don't forget cabinet efficiency.  My SWR cabs have a sensitivity of 105dB, which I imagine is streets ahead of 2x15 cabs and others from the 1970s.  This translates into more volume as well.

[Dave W]

Don't forget cabinet efficiency.  My SWR cabs have a sensitivity of 105dB, which I imagine is streets ahead of 2x15 cabs and others from the 1970s.  This translates into more volume as well.

SWRs loaded with 10s are louder than average. OTOH I'm always leery of published sensitivity figures. They seem to be taken at 1khz, if the frequency is shown at all. At under 100hz the story may be very different.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Don't forget cabinet efficiency.  My SWR cabs have a sensitivity of 105dB, which I imagine is streets ahead of 2x15 cabs and others from the 1970s.  This translates into more volume as well.

Actually most 2x15's from the 70's, and especially the V4B 2x15, would probably kill most modern 10" cabs in terms of efficiency. Where modern speakers win out is in power handling and excursion, since they are designed to be installed in ported cabinets from the ground up. There's a lot of fuss made over efficiency specs, which, like 'peak power handling,' is generally a spec so finely made, it's damn near a lie. What a cab does at 1kHz, where the spec is most often measured, is as Dave says, meaningless to bass players.

[rahock]

It doesn't take a lot of power to get a pair of old Altec 15" speakers moving. That's what I used for decades. If you start pushing much over 200 watts through them they're going to start blowing. I blew the the top speaker in my old Ampeg more times than I can even remember. People tend to forget the differences between the old  the new when they start mixing some of the vintage heads with newer cabs and visa versa.
I've seen people take a vintage Showman and match it with a modern cab with stiff speakers  rated for 500 plus watts and then wonder why it doesn't sound  like the Showmans they heard in the old days. Real simple, the old ones were loaded with a lower rated speakers that moved a lot with very little power, like an Altec or JBL. That really helps make that low powered Showman head sound a whole lot bigger.
Rick

[nofi]

i liked 2x15 cabs as well. so much in fact that i ran three at once. they were peavy's but they sounded good and at a ridiculous price. my experience with a borrowed showman cab was that this was the heaviest cab i have ever moved. even compared to my svt 8x10.