Ampeg SVT 8X10 help!! (70's era??)

illperpheral · #1 05-04-2012, 03:29 PM

Hey all! Alright so I've been researching off and on for the past couple of weeks and I have yet to find a definitive answer. I've searched here and several other sites as well so i'm now posting in hopes that someone might be able to help me out.

So anyway, I have this 8x10 that I cannot for the life me figure out what year or at least what ampeg era it's from. Based on someone else's description of their 8x10 that I found, I'm thinking it might be a late 70's Magnavox era. But i'm not sure.

Serial # is 151520-5

Any help would truly be appreciated. Thanks!

illperpheral · #2 05-04-2012, 03:31 PM

Heres another picture

punkrocko · #3 05-04-2012, 03:32 PM

I think the general consensus is to pull one of the drivers and try to get a date code from there.

JimmyM · #4 05-04-2012, 03:40 PM

Yep. No way to date anything made in that era other than to pull a speaker and estimate from the date code. Should be a 137 or a 67 followed by 4 numbers...first two are year, second two are week of that year. But if I was guessing, I'd say either Magnavox or MTI.

jmpiwonka · #5 05-04-2012, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Yep. No way to date anything made in that era other than to pull a speaker and estimate from the date code. Should be a 137 or a 67 followed by 4 numbers...first two are year, second two are week of that year. But if I was guessing, I'd say either Magnavox or MTI.

and going from this, i'd say most likely magnavox.
pretty sure i have an MTI era cab and it doesn't have the towel rack, it has recessed handles in the slant up top...

illperpheral · #6 05-04-2012, 04:08 PM

Awesome! I'll be able to check them out tomorrow and report back. Thanks everyone!

johnk_10 · #7 05-04-2012, 04:17 PM

it looks exactly like one of the two early 80's SVT cabs that i used to own in the mid 80's only someone stripped he tolex off of it. when i bought them they were missing their grills so i just put some of that expanded steel on them for a grill. since you're in california, it might even be one of my old cabs. BTW, they sounded great, especially when i used the two together, and they were from the MTI era.

JimmyM · #8 05-04-2012, 04:25 PM

The MTI stuff gets a bad rap, but I've used it a few times when being supplied backline and they're as awesome as any. They couldn't build much else, but they darn sure knew how to build an SVT/810.

sweetwillyp · #9 05-04-2012, 08:01 PM

Just by the Looks it is not a Early SVT IE early 70's..it looks like cabs from the 80's that I have owned

illperpheral · #10 05-05-2012, 07:59 PM

Im back to report my findings! Looks to be from the 40th week of 1978 and still rockin! Thanks again guys!

johnk_10 · #11 05-05-2012, 09:16 PM

yep. that's what year mine would've been since i bought them used in '81 and they were already pretty well 'broken in' when i got 'em. IMO, they made great sounding cabs in the late 70's.

JimmyM · #12 05-05-2012, 09:47 PM

Yep, just don't expect them to take what a new 810e takes, but they sound great.

jmpiwonka · #13 05-05-2012, 09:59 PM

will the older 810's take all a healthy svt head has to give or will speakers start to blow?

JimmyM · #14 05-05-2012, 10:21 PM

Oh no! The old cabs of the 70's were rated for 250w. They used to suggest getting two of them with an SVT for that reason. I think they'll take a little more than that, but not much more. If you're looking to crank an SVT, get a newer one. The 70's cabs are the sweetest sounding 810's ever but they don't take a lot of punishment, and that's the tradeoff for getting that sound.

cardboardJoe · #15 05-06-2012, 05:06 AM

Or just use your '70's era V4, and crank it up........

Loki182 · #16 12-10-2012, 09:25 AM

JohnK10, I may have the matching 810 you so speak of. It has identical steel but it actually has an ampeg logo on it. There is no tolex just some black paint. It doesn't have a SN screenprinted on the backplate, it's on a small piece of paper that is affixed to the backplate. I got it from a guy in Canton Ohio who said it was in "A Jimmy Buffet" type band in the 80s. He said he thought it was a late 70s model.

Loki182 · #17 01-28-2013, 08:08 AM

ThisBass · #18 01-28-2013, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by illperpheral

Im back to report my findings! Looks to be from the 40th week of 1978 and still rockin! Thanks again guys!

These speakers are the Eminence square back coming with a 2" voice coil.

I can't imagine the power handling is appro 30 Watt RMS per speaker.
Probably the 30 Watt rating per speaker belongs to the older CTS speakers.

RMS power handling should be significant greater then 50 Watt on a 2" voice coil.

Since the early 70s Ampeg never did an update to the user manuals.
I recall that my 78s SVT amp + 810 cab came with a an "old" user manual of the previous amp and cab models.

Probably nobody really knows the actual power handling of these cabs coming with Eminence square back speakers, because the manuals were never updated.

As far as I remember my original manual of the Magnavox area tells something like 240 RMS handling for the cab.
But I doubt this rating because it can't be a realistic rating for 2" voice coils.

As far as I recall the manual recommends two cabs for best performance, but does not tell any warning when ever only one cab is used.