Ampeg B25B 2x15 Cabinet

[bray101]

Have a chance to pick one of these up fairly cheap.

It has a 5-digit Serial Number, and from everything I have found, I can't determine the year this cab was made.

Anyone have any idea? Everything I see says 6 digit serials are from this year, that year, etc. What about a 5 digit?

[coreyfyfe]

Serial numbers on 70s ampegs are notoriously uninformative. Best way to date the cab is to pull the speakers. They went through several revisions over the years, with the first year (70/71ish) being 16 ohm, the later years having a series/parallel switch for 4/16 ohms, and at one point changing from rear loaded (grill bolted on, rear panel removable) to front loaded (grill removable).

[JimmyM]

The B25B was made from 1969 till 1979. The only way to get a fairly accurate date from it is to pull a speaker (if they're original) and use the speaker date code to guesstimate.

[bray101]

This is the back plate. It has the 4/16 switch. This mean 70-71?

[bray101]

Oops. Misread that. This would make it post 70/71 then. (I think). Haha

[bray101]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

Serial numbers on 70s ampegs are notoriously uninformative. Best way to date the cab is to pull the speakers. They went through several revisions over the years, with the first year (70/71ish) being 16 ohm, the later years having a series/parallel switch for 4/16 ohms, and at one point changing from rear loaded (grill bolted on, rear panel removable) to front loaded (grill removable).

What is your take on the cab? I see you have one in your gear list.

I have the 810 that I use with the svt-cl, but am wanting this for more portability and to sit under my acoustic 370.

[Surfnski]

Great cabinet, especially if it's loaded with the optional Altec's rather than the CTS speakers. I don't know how well the CTS speakers will handle your SVT if you're running it very loud though. I'm currently looking for another B25B cab to load with a pair of JBL K140's that I just came across.

[arthur31686]

I owned one of these. Gigged it twice. Heavy sucker that can fit into the backseat of a civic with some cleaver maneuvering. It sounds great but I never got as much volume out it as I wanted. Now I'm in a "lighter is better" phase of GASsing so who knows.

[Bass 45]

I remember in the late '70's early '80's my parents were etching there social security numbers on everything of value to prove ownership in event of theft. In this age of identity theft, it is funny to see that cab's badge labeled as such.

*edit: Sooo, David might appreciate if you blotted is info out

[coreyfyfe]

I like the cab well enough. I got it as another 4 ohm cab for my SVT that was smaller than my 8x10. The cab I got came with blown CTS speakers so I loaded it with eminence delta 15s. While loaning the cab as backline another band blew the deltas, so I put in a pair of beta 15s. I definitely like the betas better, all around (I've tried them in a couple ampeg cabs now). The cab has a very "old school" sound (heh, imagine that), not a ton of low low bass, but a nice smooth response, good mids. I'm actually selling mine now, but mostly just because it's taking up space and I'm either using my 8x10 or one or two of my portaflex cabs lately, not because I dislike it.