Ampeg Confusion
 

Hi there, have just recently received my new Ampeg cab (B115E) and bought it because of the hype and the great reviews the Eminence speaker has. I took the back plate off to have a look at the quality of build! To my suprise, there is no Eminence speaker inside but a SLM. Would not have bought it if I had known that, feel ripped off. Just thought I should share this.

SLM is the company that owns Ampeg. it's prolly still an Eminence speaker

There is nothing on Ampeg's website which mentions an Eminence driver: http://www.ampeg.com/products/b/b115e/

You may have been recommended to buy the PF115HE, which is a popular, fantastic sounding (and portable) cab. http://www.ampeg.com/products/portaflex/pf-115he/
Yes, it has the upgraded Eminence driver. Also, twice the handling power (I have 2!).

Odds are Eminence makes the speakers for SLM. They make a lot of speakers that re-branded with another company's name.

there are a lot of excellent resources out there, talkbass for one. use them wisely before handing over cash. just out of curiosity, who misinformed you?

i wondered that myself, as a lot of manufacturers will "rebrand" parts.......

Ampeg's parent company was the St. Louis Music Company which is why the speaker has SLM on it. In 2005, LOUD Technologies purchased St. Louis Music. They also own Crate, Mackie, Alvarez Guitars, Martin Audio UK and Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW).

If you post an image of the speaker someone may be able to tell you who made it.

@mattbass6945. It was one of the many sites i'd checked out before handing over cash. I will try my best to find disinformation site.

More importantly, how does it sound?

THIS is the bottom line.

If the speaker frame is black, it is almost certainly an Eminence if it is an older unit.

If there is a number on it that is "67-" with other numbers following it, that settles the matter as Eminence, that's their EIA code. The other numbers are a date code.

I AM a little surprised that a "NEW" Ampeg would have "SLM" on it, because "SLM" has not existed for a while, aside from the "reconstituted" version that is part of "US Band and Orchestra".

Maybe it was "new to you"?

+1 They do for Fender also.

Me too. Make sure that whatever info you are trying to look up on it is for that particular vintage. Parts certainly change over the years.

And some for Mesa

I also have a B115e. I purchased it cheap from Musician's Friend about six months ago. It was not pre-owned and it had a blown speaker.

The original speaker does not resemble an Eminence in any typical definitive way - and is labeled "SLM Acoustics Lab" and it has an Ampeg part number. I am assuming SLM made some speakers of their own at some point.

Those B115 speakers seem to have a bit of a reputation for being fragile. The good news is - good replacements can be found fairly cheap (if you need one). I installed an Eminence Beta in my cab and it sounds great (and it is very lightweight). It has been my go to cab for rehearsals and out of town gigs where space is tight in the mini van. I like the sound in it's current form so much that I sold my PF115HE's after comparing them side by side. Ampeg has since discontinued the B series - but I am on the lookout for another because I think two with the Beta would sound extremely bueno.

We never made any drivers ourselves, we bought them in.

Something does not sound correct here. Got any pictures?

Here is the speaker from the B115E.

It has no other markings that you can't see (no 67-XXXX etc).

I had an Ampeg 412 guitar cab a while back that I think was made in the late '80's/early '90's that (if I remember correctly) had the same SLM stamp on them. This was the lower level option 412 (not the one with the Celestions). Those speakers looked really cheap - small magnets and thin gold frames.

This 15 from the B115 also has a really thin stamped frame.

I had wondered if they had been in a warehouse since the eighties:hmm:

Not likely it has been around long with what looks like an "09 2011" date code.

Looks like 86-036-08, which means it still has the old SLM number code on it. Those speakers came from an asian source, going by the name "Hornsonic" back then. I have no idea who they come from if that is really a 2011 date code.

I forgot about that date code. Judging by the age of the cab, it should be accurate.

The cab sounds good but it is only for thrashing/learning on and cannot turn it up too loud in my basement. I am running it through an Ashdown Mag 300 paired with Ashdown Mag 210 cab. I bought it from soundland in Germany and it was the last (showroom) model so it could have been there for years? Another strange thing is that the dimensions of the cab are different from the Ampeg site? Thought life would be easy but maybe bought some North Korean/Eygyption/Eskimo import! And the final thing is that the actual speaker does not look as beefy as the one posted above.