New 12" speakers for Ampeg V2 4x12?

[hotsnake]

Hey I've got a big fridge Ampeg 4x12 with the tilt-bar and all. Its huge but at 8ohms 200 watts it is not cutting it with my Sunn Coliseum 300. The Sunn pushes 300watts @ 2 ohms but only about 120 at 8 ohms (if that). I also have a Sunn Concert that's 4ohms and 150 watts.

What i've got in mind is refitting the Ampeg cab with dual 2x12s. Ideally I would have it configurable for mono or stereo so I can ran one or two of the heads into it. What i'm wondering is...

What kind of speakers should I put in?

Money isn't a really big issue, i'm getting a modest tax return back in two weeks but i'd like to have enough left over for a new bass also..

My distortion tone is light on the low end, 6-8 range for the mid and highs a little bit less. I use wah and delay as well. The speakers don't need to be ultra high wattage but enough to hang with at least 150 watts @ 4 ohms per side mono or 300+ mono @ 2 ohms.

[RickenBoogie]

Are you positive it's a bass cab? Ampeg also made 4x12 guitar cabs, and if that's what you've got, changing the speakers will never work out, as the internal volume of the cab would be way too small for a bass cab.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by hotsnake

What i've got in mind is refitting the Ampeg cab with dual 2x12s. Ideally I would have it configurable for mono or stereo so I can ran one or two of the heads into it.

Don't bother. The likelihood that you'll get any more volume out of the rig is slight. You might do better with different drivers, but the only way to know is by knowing what's in it now.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Are you positive it's a bass cab? Ampeg also made 4x12 guitar cabs, and if that's what you've got, changing the speakers will never work out, as the internal volume of the cab would be way too small for a bass cab.

The V2 was a ported guitar cab. After the first year of the B25, it split off into the B25B with a ported 2x15 for bass and V2 head for guitar with the tall ported 4x12.

[hotsnake]

Could someone explain to me why a guitar cabinet that is bigger and heavier than most 4x10s or 2x15s would not do better with 4 new 250watt bass speakers? It's even ported!! I'm realllly confused on this!!

[coreyfyfe]

Finding speakers that match the cabinet's tuning frequency and size is the issue. Just tossing speakers in the box will be a bit of a crap shoot. If you know the internal dimensions and port size and have some speakers in mind you can use a program like winISD to model how the cab will sound. I've only tried to use it once or twice with the online version (since I use a mac and there is no mac version).

BFM is one of the best on here when it comes to speakers and cabs, and his advice is usually spot on. His point was that the whole endeavor is a bit of a waste - hitting the two halves of that cab with two different heads won't give you much more than using a lower impedance with a higher rated head, or using a different cab altogether. If you really want to split your signal into a few different heads, why not just get a second cab and save the headache of trying to mod the cab.

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

since I use a mac and there is no mac version.

It runs just fine in Parallels or Virtual PC. If you have an Intel Mac you can run Windows natively.