Submitted by anonymous on Wed, 06/22/2005 - 12:31

anyone heard about it?

Comments

I looked it up, but didn't come up with much. I will say that it looks a lot like the Ampeg SVTDI (direct injector).
But is obviously made for use as a mic pre.
I think they saw how well GT's "The Brick" is selling. And are hoping to grab a share of the market.
I only say that because they...
1st) They have done little or no advertising (that makes me believe they just released it in a hurry)
2nd) Also, it is looks SO much like the SVTDI that it makes me think they just "re"designed the unit from a bass DI box to a mic pre.
These are just my reasonings. You may find out different. I love the Ampeg gear. I have a 1500W amp made by Ampeg, and a SVT proIII tube head. Pus a 4x10" cab and a 1 x 18".
My rig kicks ass!
But only cause it's Ampeg!

I was immediately interested in this thing when I first saw it on their site a few months back. But out of 6 or 7 reviews I've not read a lot of positive things; most have been pretty negative. I've read that it's a little noisey (not that big of a deal to me) and not much different in sound when compared to low end hybrid mic pre's (to me THAT matters). I've already got plenty of that already. LOL. Ampeg is good to watch and of course their antique gear good quality.

For less cash though I've heard directly and reliably that the EH 12AY7 Mic Pre is tha shizzzz. http://www.guitareffectspedals.com/electro-harmonix

frob wrote: i dig it, clif and less claypool. oh the children they could have.

Hehehe.
That one made me laugh out loud. :lol:
Back to the SVTMP.
I still say that Ampeg is trying to reach out to the small guy with this one. And theres nothing wrong with that. The writeup I saw about the SVTMP was that it has 1, 12AX7 as a tube. I really wonder if they can nail a quality product like GT's "The Brick" with only 1 tube in it?
I saw the inside of the Brick (on a post by Big D) and it only had 1 tube in it.
I have one of the best Ampeg pre-amp's ever made, it has 5 tubes in it. And sounds DYNOMITE!
The Vipre is GT's Bigger version of the Brick and it has 8 tubes.
Well, thats what I think.
And Damn it Frob!
I'm going to buy a Rickenbacker :lol:

I must have a special edition Brick then. Mine really has 3 tubes. (I counted them :wink: )

The Manual also says 3. Here's a link:

http://www.groovetubes.com/assets/2084_The%20Brick.pdf

It's in the second paragraph "A tube mic pre for stage"

There's a diagram there as well. But I really know very little about the wonders of electronics, so I could be wrong. Nothing special. Happens all the time

Did we turn this into another Brick thread?? :oops:

CoyoteTrax wrote: Yup, 2 tubes, so it looks like it's not your typical starved plate hybrid design. I looks like there's actually some decent gain on the back end. Up to 54dB. Enough to push a ribbon mic. :lol:

CoyoteTrax wrote: Sorry, didn't mean to confuse.

Someone mentioned the SVTMP having only 1 tube and it's actualy got 2. So, I was referring to the Ampeg SVTMP, backing up what SPLstudio said.

And, yes, the Brick does have 3 tubes not 1.

sooooo, how many tubes does "The Brick" have? Your different answers have confused me.

Kurt Foster wrote: [quote=CoyoteTrax]Yup, 2 tubes, so it looks like it's not your typical starved plate hybrid design. I looks like there's actually some decent gain on the back end. Up to 54dB. Enough to push a ribbon mic. :lol:

CoyoteTrax wrote: Sorry, didn't mean to confuse.

Someone mentioned the SVTMP having only 1 tube and it's actualy got 2. So, I was referring to the Ampeg SVTMP, backing up what SPLstudio said.

And, yes, the Brick does have 3 tubes not 1.

sooooo, how many tubes does "The Brick" have? Your different answers have confused me.

I didn't mean to confuse anyone. All along I was only talking about the Ampeg SVTMP, not the Brick. So when I mentioned the 2 tube design I was referring to the SVTMP.

hum......... :shock:
Well that's weird. I own an ART MP and the tube it's mounted on his own socket, thats how i switch to EH tubes and thrown the fabric one .
That would be much harder to change the tubes if they're solder to PCb directly in the Brick.
It could even get dangerous if it's power with high voltage, melting the pcb.
anyways they should known better than me. :lol:

Once again it shows the value of seeing ... inside the box.

Even if you knowledge is thin.
you can see an input and output transformer
a larger power transformer ... probably multi tapped
3 tubes
some IC hest sinks
perhaps a voltage regulator ... could be more on the other heatsinks

obviously this could be relocated into a larger Rack Box with an additional unit to make a Dual Mi-pre.
leave things just as they are and parallel two units to the one IEC power inlet on the back panel.
Re-arrange the switches as desired ... pad, phase etc.
Your choice to use a combined power switch or one for each unit in a dual Mic-pre.

I though this might also be of interest

here is the same PDF from GT as posted above
new location - just in case you have trouble with the GT server as I did
(Dead Link Removed)
(right click and download)

:)