The 1969 Summer of Love is often remembered as a time of classic music, flower power, and few inhibitions, all of which was epitomized by the 3-day Woodstock Music & Art Fair. For the Rolling Stones, however, it was a tumultuous year of firsts and lasts. It was the last year Brian Jones contributed to a Stones album (two tracks on 1969’s Let It Bleed) before passing away that July. Consequently, it was the band’s first year with guitarist Mick Taylor, who hit the ground running and contributed parts on two songs for Let it Bleed and performed at the band’s November concerts, which were released on 1970’s Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out. And 1969 was also the first and last year of the Altamont Speedway Free Festival—which was headlined and organized by the Stones, and billed as “Woodstock West.” Sadly, it’s primarily remembered for its fatalities, including the infamous scuffle between a Hells Angel and a murderous meth user.
Gear-wise, 1969 was the birth of Ampeg’s SVT amplifier—the backline choice not just for bassist Bill Wyman, but also for Mick and Keith Richards during the band’s 1969 U.S. winter tour.
Ampeg’s Bill Hughes and Roger Cox designed the “Super Vacuum Tube” amps with help from Bob Rufkahr and Dan Armstrong. They debuted at the ’69 NAMM Show in Chicago. The 95-pound, 2-channel, 300-watt head was originally loaded with 14 tubes, including six large, volatile 6146 power tubes. A year later, the 6146s were switched out for more reliable 6550s. The earliest “blue-line” SVTs like the one shown here (which has since been updated with KT88 tubes) had control panels engraved with blue lines and text, though Ampeg later switched to a more legible black format.
SVTs of this era had volume, treble, midrange, and bass knobs for the first channel, while channel 2 only had volume, treble, and bass. Extra flexibility came via the five rocker switches along top, which engage ultra-hi and ultra-lo boosts for each channel, and a 3-position mid-tone control. There were also four inputs, normal and bright for each channel.
The Stones’ 1969 U.S. tour, their first since 1966, was the group’s seminal run in American arenas—up until then they’d been playing smaller theaters and auditoriums. The need to move and groove fans in the nosebleed seats made the powerful SVTs a perfect choice. The amps were so loud they came with a Surgeon General-esque warning: “This amp is capable of delivering sound pressure levels that may cause permanent hearing damage.”
During rehearsals, the band reportedly pushed the prototypes to the brink of meltdown. Production models weren’t out yet and backup rigs weren’t an option, so Ampeg’s Rich Mandella joined the tour as the official SVT babysitter.
Today, Ampeg builds recreations of this beloved behemoth in the Classic and Heritage lines, both of which mix vintage SVT soul with modern needs such as cooling fans, tube-bias controls, Neutrik connections, and direct outputs. The SVT Pro series has models with more modern voicings, solid-state and class D power amps, graphic EQ, and power-reduction circuitry. And Ampeg’s recent GVT amps are specifically voiced for 6-stringers looking to emulate Ya-Ya-era Keef.
A special thanks to Jeff Sadler of Rock N Roll Vintage Guitars in Chicago and Ampeg for the opportunity to feature this fine piece of gear and its story.
Got some gear that would make a great Gear of the Month? Then email pics and its story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
Resistance to digital amps might just be futile at this point. Many tunes you hear—and an increasing number of live gigs—feature a bit of faux-tube tone somewhere in the mix. But while the sound of pro-level modelers can be nearly indistinguishable from their analog counterparts in a mix, the feel and simplicity of a real amplifiers remain appealing and even indispensable to many players. That said, modelers that make usability, convenience, and price priorities can convince even die-hard tube users to see what’s on the other side of the fence. IK Multimedia’s TONEX ONE is one modeling device that might make the cut. It’s likely the smallest, most portable modeler out there. And at $179, it’s easily the most affordable.
Big Tones, Tiny Controls
The TONEX ONE isn’t designed to put a million different options at your feet, and that economy may be the unit’s strongest feature. It features several different modes, but the primary operating mode allows you to either switch between two different models, or simply use the unit as a stompbox. Each model can be an amp, an amp and cab, a pedal, or a pedal driving an amp and cab. Judging by how deep the online repository tone.net is for user-created presets, the options are nearly endless, which speaks to the already sizable user base. It’s a little strange to consider a modeler in a package this small with so few controls. There’s a large main knob that controls volume and gain (when you’re in ALT mode), and above that are three illuminated mini knobs that control the 3-band EQ, gate, compression, and reverb. You can also plug your headphones directly into the pedal, which makes it a dynamite silent practice amp.
My experience with modelers is that high-gain tones and clean tones are relatively easy to achieve and typically very good. After unboxing the TONEX ONE, I loaded up a slightly dirty Vox-style amp to evaluate the edge-of-breakup tones. I paired the pedal with humbuckers (with a coil split option), Stratocaster single coils, and P-90s in a T-style solidbody. With each one, the Vox-style amp was punchy and clear but could also range to very nice higher-gain sounds. Naturally, each version of a modeled amp offers different gain structures, so it pays to experiment. Combining the humbuckers in a PRS SE DGT with a few hot-rodded Marshall emulations and the growl offered tones nearly as good as those from much more expensive modelers. In a blind test, I’m not sure I could hear—or feel—much of a difference. As I explored further and fine-tuned things a bit more, the ToneX One felt more alive in my hand,s and sounded much less shrill in the top end than other digital solutions I’ve encountered.
One of the most obvious tone fixers in a modeler—and maybe one of the most underutilized—is the EQ section, and kudos are due to IK for placing those controls at the fore. Being able to adjust the most immediate tone-shaping options without having to dig through menus or touchscreens is a pleasure.
There are many possible uses for the TONEX ONE. It can serve as a high-quality direct solution on your pedalboard, a portable recording interface, and a plug-and-play practice solution when high volume is a no-go. One handy setup I tried was disabling the cabinet emulation in the pedal and then plugging into the effects return of a combo amp, in this case, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I immediately imagined many backline amp headaches being a thing of the past. You can always plug directly into a flat-response cabinet or PA system too.
Because it has such a small footprint and streamlined controls, harnessing the unit’s full potential, and accessing all the different modes, takes a bit of effort. You can store 20 different presets within the pedal and assign them to any of the three active slots (two for dual mode and one for stomp mode). And although doing this on the fly is handy, I found it much easier to program the presets via the easy-to-use desktop editor.
The Verdict
TONEX ONE benefits from a rather singular focus and its biggest advantage is that it’s not shrouded in unnecessary layers of tweakable options. You can simply load up a base sound or two, drop it at the end of your pedalboard, and go.The included software allows you create your own models and makes swapping presets easy. I did find the multitude of modes, and their color-coded indicators, a bit confusing at times, but IK’s documentation was very clear and got me through any trouble spots. The TONEX ONE would serve well to those who want to explore digital modeling but still hold on to their analog pedalboards, and at $179 it’s a steal.
If 3 Were 6
With six times the controls found on the 1 and 2 versions (if you discount the original’s on/off slider switch,) the LPB-3’s control complement offers pre-gain, boost, mid freq, bass, treble, and mid knobs, with a center detent on the latter three so you can find the midpoint easily. A mini-toggle labeled “max” selects between 20 dB and 33 dB of maximum gain, and another labeled “Q” flips the resonance of the mid EQ between high and low. Obviously, this represents a significant expansion of the LPB’s capabilities.
More than just a booster with a passive tone, the LPB-3 boasts a genuine active EQ stage plus parametric midrange section, comprising the two knobs with shaded legends, mid freq and mid level. The gain stages have also been reimagined to include a pre-gain stage before the EQ, which enables up to 20 dB of input gain. The boost stage that follows the EQ is essentially a level control with gain to allow for up to 33 dB of gain through the LPB-3 when the “max” mini toggle is set to 33dB
A slider switch accessible inside the pedal selects between buffered or true bypass for the hard-latch footswitch. An AC adapter is included, which supplies 200mA of DC at 9.6 volts to the center-negative power input, and EHX specifies that nothing supplying less than 120mA or more than 12 volts should be used. There’s no space for an internal battery.
Power-Boosted
The LPB-3 reveals boatloads of range that betters many linear boosts on the market. There’s lots of tone-shaping power here. Uncolored boost is available when you want it, and the preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.
“The preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.”
I found the two mid controls work best when used judiciously, and my guitars and amps preferred subtle changes pretty close to the midpoint on each. However, there are still tremendous variations in your mid boost (or scoop, for that matter) within just 15 or 20 percent range in either direction from the center detent. Pushing the boost and pre-gain too far, particularly with the 33 dB setting engaged, can lead to some harsh sounds, but they are easy to avoid and might even be desirable for some users that like to work at more creative extremes.
The Verdict
The new LPB-3 has much, much more range than its predecessors, providing flexible preamp, boost, and overdrive sounds that can be reshaped in significant ways via the powerful EQ. It gives precise tone-tuning flexibility to sticklers that like to match a guitar and amp to a song in a very precise way, but also opens up more radical paths for experimentalists. That it does all this at a $129 price is beyond reasonable.
Electro-Harmonix Lpb-3 Linear Power Booster & Eq Effect Pedal Silver And Blue
