"Like a Martin acoustic guitar it's sort of pricy, but like a Martin guitar, its made extremely well made, sounds great, and is w" submitted June 26, 2011
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Sound:
I bought the Ampeg Microvr Head originaly with one Ampeg 2-10" cabinet as a part of matched set, as most people do - about three months a later I bought another cabinet - so now I'm often running two of the same cabinets and the head together. When you plug in the second cabinet the rig gets noticeably louder in this set up, and also appears to have a much more deeper bass tone(if you want it). Adding the second cabinet added $300 to my rig - but if you can afford it, the sound is far superior to just the single cabinet, and gives you a lot of flexiblity.
For smaller indoor venues like playing bass behind people with pugged in acoustic guitars, I run the head with just one cabinet and it sounds fine - both tone and volume wise. When I playing along with a drummer most of the time I opt for using two cabinets rather than just one. At higher volumes - like playing with a drummer it just sound stronger and fuller in every respect than by using just the single 2 10" cabinet.
I'm either running a recent custom C.F. Martin Acoustic/ Electric Bass guitar, or a Fender Precession Bass, through the rig - depending on who and what I'm playing on music wise. It works excellent with either instrument and I am very happy with the set up. Even with just one cabinet you won't be dissapointed.
Feature:
Happy with everything that it came with feature wise. Didn't like the stock power cord that came with because it was very stiff and hard to wind up - Ampeg should switch vendors and get a power cord supllier that could offer them a more felxible cord of the same quality that you cound wind up easier.
Ease of Use:
Tone controls are easy to figure out and use. Rear connections on the amp are simple, straight forward and easy to use, and hook things up. I often use a Martin acoustic bass guitar with this rig - so I use a Fishman DI preamp in between my bass and the amp - this being done basically to help control feedback at higher volumes (especially when playing out door gigs) and to fine tune the tone on the acoustic bass a bit more. My Fender bass sounds fine with out the Fishman preamp and the controls on the amp head work well with it - giving you many mutiple tone combinations depending on how you set them. Also my Fender fretless bass sounds really good through the amp and the matched speaker that you will most likely buy with the head.
Quality:
Quality seems very high. After about two years of owning and active giging - it is holding up extremely well. Over the last year or so I have taken it out on local gigs about twice a week, So it's been out of my house more than a hundred times so far, and there haven't been any issues so far - all this in all kinds of weather and temperatures. I had black vinyl covers made for the head (from a custom amp cover innernet company)and for both speaker cabinets as soon as I bought everything - so even aften trucking the units all over the place for quite awhile now they still all look fresh and brand new.
The power cord that came with it was very stiff and always hard to roll up - so I bought an after market cord on a website cord supplier that was more flexible and easier to wind up. I've used the after market power cord every since. The head has a fan in the back that runs whever the unit is powered up, that when you first get the amp drives you crazy - because it appears to sound so loud. Truth is though while you may hear it running in your house when practing - you never do at gigs. At any gig the room and enviroment background noise easily drown it out right away - you just never hear the fan running at all. When I first got it I though something was wrong with the fan - there wasn't. Its an Ampeg thing - that is the low fan noise in a quiet background setting. Keeps everything cool inside the head - so you can certainly live with it. I got used to it after awhile and don't even notice it anymore. No one has ever commented to me anywhere about any fan noise coming from my amp. So don't think something is wrong with the fan when you first get the head.
Value:
The original outlay (about $600 for the head and one matching cabinet) is a bit steep compared to several other small bass amps on the market out there - but you get what you pay for I guess. Due to the price saddly - alot of bass players might not be able to buy one and will go with something cheaper out there. Before buying this I looked around for about two months at other rigs on the innernet, at music stores, and at othet musicians' bass rigs when watching them perform. This unit was replacing a Hartke Kickback 12 - which I used for about three years for the same type of smaller gigs - which is for more low volume type of dealsthat I play at - where you don't have to worry about shaking the room and making the paint peel of the walls when you hit your low E string on something like Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac".
I still feel that I made the correct choice and am happy with the head and the speakers matched for this unit. Should this head get stolen or something I wound't hestiate to go out and buy the excat same head and setup again. Its made well- very light weight and suits my playing needs perfectly at the moment. If I was still playing full time big time rock more than I do now - I would buy an Ampeg SVT with a 8 10" cabinet, which is sort of the "Rolls Royce" of bass amps - but I'm not - so this works for me just fine!
I took a chance when I first bought this head because no one that I knew owned one- I never saw anyone using one anywhere - and there were no customer reviews out there yet to read. My purchase was based on my own personal needs and the reputation of Ampeg in general - when it comes to bass amps. I do own another larger Ambeg Classic speaker 15" cabinet, and some Hartke cabinets, that I use with an older vintage Acoustic Control head that I really like. Bottom line is the amp and matched cabinet are worth the money and I could recomend buying it. Its like a Martin acoustic guitar- kind of expensive - but well worth it because its made extremely well and sounds very good.
Manufacturer Support:
Never dealt with the Ampeg factory people ever - so I don't know. I have some other Ampeg equipment, and never had any issues with anything either, so I never called for any warranty service.
The Wow Factor:
Design looks cool enough I guess - looks kind of like a "toy" classic Ampeg SVT. But -I guess that's what its supposed to look like right? Other musicians often make jokes and laugh at me when I am first setting it up someplace - then when they hear the amp and cabinets they are always curious how it can be so loud, and sound so good tone wise. Often other bass players come up to me and ask all kinds of questions about it after hearing me play through it at a gig. They always want one!
Overall:
This head along with two matched 2 10" cabinets are used quite alot as one of my setups for giging out in smaller places like coffee houses, farmers markerts, jam sessions in peoples basements, and at small bars. When I play outside at something - let's say anything larger than a farmer's market, and are playing louder I use something different - which is a Ampeg 15" cabinet on the bottom, and one of the 2 10" cabinets on the top from this small rig. Believe it or not this amp head can power up both and a good volume - it looks kind of funny seting on top of that large of a speaker combination given its tiny size - but it does work out just great. Its a very versatile head and can be used in lots of different set ups with several different speaker combinations. Don't let the size fool you!
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Sound:
For the money you can't beat the tone this thing has.
Feature:
Not a lot of frills. What is there is great tone and eq abilities.
Ease of Use:
Plug and play.
Quality:
Have been exceptionally happy with all my ampeg products.
Value:
Low cost of the combination of the amp and 210 cab leaves you wondering how you can pay $600 for what you usually pay $2000 to sound like.
Manufacturer Support:
Loud Technology experience has been fine as I have only needed a few parts and was treated well.
The Wow Factor:
I am buying another extension cab because I can leave one at practice and one at the recording studio and just carry the amp back and forth. If I wish I can run them both with the amp.
Overall:
Best Tone for the $
2 of 2 people
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Sound:
I own the Microvr amp and 2 210svtav cabs. I bought the second cab after I got the Mircovr set up. The sound sound you get from this things for the money blows anything else out their out of the water. To get the rated 200watts performance you need a 2nd cab as the load with one cab is 8 ohms at 150 watts. Light weight portability and small footprint size are a plus especially if your space chanllenged. This thing rocks.
Feature:
This is a no frills set up. Has what you need to have great sound with a headphone jack to play practice in a low noise enviroment.
Ease of Use:
It has a 3 band eq section that you can dial in easy to find a sound you like. Its no svtpro 7 but for the money you will not find a better amp in its class.
Quality:
This amp is made solid. Mimics the old school look of the 70s svt lineup.
Value:
With anything you purchase you wish you could get it for less thats just the way it is. But for the money you will not find a better sounding and well made rig in this class. The Microvr and 210 svtvr cab set up is da bomb. If you want portability light weight and the best sound get this AMPEG.
Manufacturer Support:
I have had no issues with this amp. I have owned it for about 2 years now and play on it alot. Its an AMPEG.
The Wow Factor:
This thing looks great sounds great and its and AMPEG.
Overall:
I will always have this amp. Its perfect for travel to other locations and has enough head room for small venues and recording situations and the sound is truely amazing.
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
Has a great tone played thru the matching cab. Can be cranked with no rattling of cab, good clean, nice bit of growl. Assuredly could be paired with another cab for good sound.
Feature:
Not a ton of tone shaping options, but enough. It is capable of getting some variety on it's own.
Ease of Use:
easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. roight. come on, couple of knobs and switches, it's not like running a huge sound board.
Quality:
Ampeg, mostly great and long term name, but will it hold up cause it's made in an asian country? Time will tell. Most Korean and Japanese made are great, with China and Indonesian following.
Value:
great value
The Wow Factor:
awesome little beast
Overall:
I will be having this little beast
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A temporary customer reference number is assigned to each customer only while they are shopping on zZounds.com. If you call our customer service department for assistance, this number makes it easier for us to answer any questions you have about products, services or purchases.
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