Ampeg SVT Heritage HSVT410HLF cabinet with Heritage SVT head, NOTHING BUT MUD

GreyBeard

GreyBeard

Sep 5, 2002
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BARRACKVILLE WV
#1
Yesterday I played at the Clarksburg Black Heritage Fest. in Clarksburg WV. Nice crowd, excellent sound, everything provided even keyboards. My gripe is with the Ampeg SVT Heritage HSVT410HLF cabinet pr'd with the Heritage SVT tube head. I was playing my Lakland 5502 which has the cleanest most articulate tone of any of my basses. I could not get a clean tone on anything played on any notes on my A-E-and B strings. I pushed the mids, cut the lows but nothing helped. I'm 74 and I've been playing since 1969 so I've played my share of tube amps. It has been my experience that as a general rule, tube amps sound cleaner through and tighter through sealed cabinets and SS amps sound fuller through vented cabinets. The HSVT410HLF is a vented cabinet tuned to go down to 28 hz. When this cabinet is pr'd with a SVT tube head with it's relatively low damping, I got nothing but mud. I think this cabinet would match up much better with a high powered SS head or pre / power setup.
 
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#2
I grew up playing Fender Showmans and Bassmans ( which I always played through the normal channel ) I bought a new Ampeg V4B in ‘75, it sounded to my ears like the bass channel on the Bassman, no top end, kind of a bland tone, it was OK for an actual gig, plenty of power, but not the articulation that my ears were used to, the founder of Ampeg felt that Fenders had too much “ treble “ and specifically designed his amps to have less, I could hear the difference and didn’t like it, YMMD.
 
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#7
This is a common complaint about the 410HLF. I get the impression most who like this cab are using big solid state power, which has more damping than an SVT. That doesn't necessarily mean you would like the resulting sound with a big solid state amp.

The Ampeg SVT210AV is ported, but it is tuned to sound similar to an 810E.

I personally think Ampeg 810s sound muffled and incoherent. Millions of people love this cab, but it's not for me. IMHO, my SVTs sound great through my Genz Benz 1288Ts, which are ported 3-ways. The lows are very even with this cab.

Here is a 1288T with the grill off.
1725819109406.png
 
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#8
Almost any other cab, ported or sealed, would have sounded better than an SVT 410 HLF. Apparently, the design characteristics required to get a cabinet to produce 28Hz at a useable level comes with an unintended anomaly, and that anomaly is major lack of midrange. I owned one for a while and driving it with a solid state amp doesn’t solve the problem at all. While I owned mine I tried some unusual tricks to get it to sound different. Plugging the ports didn work, but swapping the speakers with an old Peavey 410 actually made the cabinet useable, but the extended low end kinda’ disappeared. The final fix trick I tried worked great. I put the original speakers back in it, made sure the polarity & impedance was correct, and traded it off. That fixed the problem….
 
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#11
A few years ago, a band called me to sit in for the night and told me that they had a bass rig on the trailer so I wouldn't need to bring one. Ampeg top (don't remember which) and 4x10HLF cab. I couldn't get any distinguishable sound out of it. They have called me a few more times but I always bring my own rig.
 
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#13
Years back, had a 410 HLF cabinet given to me.

At that time my main gigging head was a G.K. 800RB.

No matter the settings on the amp, everything sounded wooly, muddy, indistinct.

Not to mention that short, squat, 20+" deep cabinet was the hardest PIA to transport cabinet I've ever dealt with.

I returned the favor and gave it away. :)

The lesson I learned from that cab...nowadays when I cabinet shop, I won't even consider a cab whose depth is over 16".
 
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#15
shoot-r said:
Years back, had a 410 HLF cabinet given to me.

At that time my main gigging head was a G.K. 800RB.

No matter the settings on the amp, everything sounded wooly, muddy, indistinct.

Not to mention that short, squat, 20+" deep cabinet was the hardest PIA to transport cabinet I've ever dealt with.

I returned the favor and gave it away. :)

The lesson I learned from that cab...nowadays when I cabinet shop, I won't even consider a cab whose depth is over 16".
Click to expand...
Except that it had nothing g to do with the depth of the cabinet.
 
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#16
jim nolte said:
I grew up playing Fender Showmans and Bassmans ( which I always played through the normal channel ) I bought a new Ampeg V4B in ‘75, it sounded to my ears like the bass channel on the Bassman, no top end, kind of a bland tone, it was OK for an actual gig, plenty of power, but not the articulation that my ears were used to, the founder of Ampeg felt that Fenders had too much “ treble “ and specifically designed his amps to have less, I could hear the difference and didn’t like it, YMMD.
Click to expand...
There are Ampeg amp/cab combinations that are tight, articulate and punch like a heavy weight. The SVT with sealed 8x10 cabinet is by far the most revered bass amp ever made. I have a pf500 head that I've used with several different cabs and it has been great for me. My only complaint is with the combination SVT / Heritage HSVT410HLF cabinet begin way too loose on the bottom end.
 
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#17
Well, it seems that a lot of players have had the same experience as me. The owner of the sound company bought what bass players had told them was the best bass amp was so he went out and bought a svt heritage with what Ampeg calls a matching cabinet. That is what the salesman sold him. The owner's a drummer and we were talking a bit about separating the kick from the bass guitar in the mix. When he made the statement that "they are the same instrument" I knew I was wasting my time and smiled and said "I'll just play what I play and let you take care of the rest." The show went fine as our lead singer put on a great show and all the vocals came off well.
 
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#18
Ampslut said:
There are Ampeg amp/cab combinations that are tight, articulate and punch like a heavy weight. The SVT with sealed 8x10 cabinet is by far the most revered bass amp ever made. I have a pf500 head that I've used with several different cabs and it has been great for me. My only complaint is with the combination SVT / Heritage HSVT410HLF cabinet begin way too loose on the bottom end.
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It's all subjective. Im not a fan of most sealed cabs and not super crazy about ampeg 8x10s. But I actually like a loose low end so that explains why I dont like the fridge.

Glad you found the sound excellent btw. Been good friends with thr owner of that sound company for decades. They probably provided the backbone staging and lighting too. I know they have some 8x10s but they might have been on other gigs or maybe the 4x10 was requested by someone.
 
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#20
I had thought from reading other threads on here that the Heritage 410HLF was different enough from the Classic version to make a difference. Maybe not? I still think they look great with that black sparkly grille.

I've had the BSE410HLF for years, but it hasn't left the basement since I got an Aguilar DB212.
 
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