- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
I just finished restoring one of the three early 70's Ampeg V4 (4x12) cabs that i currently own. i started with the one that was in the roughest shape (and i mean rough!). the cabinet itself was structurally sound but on two sides of it, the tolex was completely gone, there were deep gashes in the plywood, and the grill cloth had some large rips in it. i filled all of the imperfections, sanded it smooth and retolexed it in the same manner that Ampeg did them (i.e. one long piece wrapped around the side with a single seam, and a large rectangular piece covering the back). on the inside of the cab, i stapled egg crate foam to the back and sides of the cab. Since i am keeping this one, i installed a neutrik speakon connector to replace the 4 pin cannon jack, and added a rocker switch to make the cab switchable (2 or 8 ohms).
for this cab's speakers, i chose four new Eminence-neo deltalite 2512's, for several reasons. first, i like the sound of them. second, they are very light-weight, at around 5 lbs each. third, they handle alot of power (250 watts each) making it a 1000watt cab), fourth they are pretty efficient 99.9db @ 1w/1m), and fifth, i get them wholesale
. to give them just a tiny bit more high end, i removed their paper dust caps and replaced them with aluminum JBL ones. To me, this gives them just a little more sparkle and detail without having to boost the amps' high end ( & i've always been a big fan of D and K series jirbles).
After plugging one of my SVT heads into it with one of my p basses, i was blown away. i don't know why the cab is so efficient, but i'm running the volume's gain at a little more than half of where i run it with my SVT610HLF or 8x10 SVT cabs. this makes for ALOT of available headroom. it has a ton of low end as well as a ton midrange punch.
with most of my previous and current cabs having multiple 10's, two 15's, one 18, or two twelves i forgot just how nice FOUR twelves can sound in a sealed cab. in the mid 70's i used to use two Sunn coliseum 4x12 cabs, but that was with a solid state Sunn Coliseum bass head which i found those heads to be too sterile sounding (for my taste) as well as it being a lonnnnnnng time ago.
anywhoo, here's a pic of the cab with my VR head. I'm going to use this configuration at this weekend's gig. (i'll be regrilling it tomorrow). BTW, the feetcups on the top of the cab not only line up perfectly with my old V4 heads, the new VR fits into them perfectly as well.
for this cab's speakers, i chose four new Eminence-neo deltalite 2512's, for several reasons. first, i like the sound of them. second, they are very light-weight, at around 5 lbs each. third, they handle alot of power (250 watts each) making it a 1000watt cab), fourth they are pretty efficient 99.9db @ 1w/1m), and fifth, i get them wholesale
. to give them just a tiny bit more high end, i removed their paper dust caps and replaced them with aluminum JBL ones. To me, this gives them just a little more sparkle and detail without having to boost the amps' high end ( & i've always been a big fan of D and K series jirbles).After plugging one of my SVT heads into it with one of my p basses, i was blown away. i don't know why the cab is so efficient, but i'm running the volume's gain at a little more than half of where i run it with my SVT610HLF or 8x10 SVT cabs. this makes for ALOT of available headroom. it has a ton of low end as well as a ton midrange punch.
with most of my previous and current cabs having multiple 10's, two 15's, one 18, or two twelves i forgot just how nice FOUR twelves can sound in a sealed cab. in the mid 70's i used to use two Sunn coliseum 4x12 cabs, but that was with a solid state Sunn Coliseum bass head which i found those heads to be too sterile sounding (for my taste) as well as it being a lonnnnnnng time ago.
anywhoo, here's a pic of the cab with my VR head. I'm going to use this configuration at this weekend's gig. (i'll be regrilling it tomorrow). BTW, the feetcups on the top of the cab not only line up perfectly with my old V4 heads, the new VR fits into them perfectly as well.
