- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,634
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
Having purchased an SVT810-E cab for only $300 recently, i re-tolexed and regrilled the cab to basically make it into an SVT810-AV to better match, at least appearance-wise, my vintage SVT's and VR head. it is a made in USA cab, that dates to the late 90's. i think that the cab sounded pretty darn good with the stock speakers, but something in its tone was lacking to me, mostly in the mid and highs.
the stock speakers are the 100 watt 32 ohm Eminence 10's, which Ampeg states that the cab has a frequency response of 58Hz-5kHz. well if it does go to 5k, it would be a surprise to me, unless its at least 10dB (or more!) down at that frequency.
i believe that this is why JimmyM as well as many others don't care for them when compared to an 8x10 made from the late 70's-early '90's. to me, these cabs seem a bit, for lack of a better term, 'cloudy'. i must say that i really do like their power handling and fuller low end, but everything from about 300Hz on up just doesn't have the immediacy, punch and clarity of what i'm used to in a vintage Ampeg 8x10. (and i've literally had a ton of them in the past).
at first, i thought about buying some of the weber CTS clones, but at $100 a shot, it seemd like too much($800 + shipping!) to put into this cab. and since i get Jensen and Eminence speakers at wholesale, i figured that it wouldn't cost much to experiment with a different 10' speaker, namely a Jensen MOD 10-50 (32 ohm version). so for under $100, i was able to get four of them. they don't have gaskets on the back for front load mounting, so i used some firm weatherstrip on the rear mounting flange. I installed them in the four upper positions of the cab and then tested the cab.
WOW! this cab really came alive. it now has much more transparency and detail than with all 8 of the stock speakers, but still has a nice deep, air moving low end that my '72 cab lacks. because the Jensens have a much smoother midrange and go up higher in freq response, the cab feels alot livelier and louder. (the cab also lost 13 lbs in weight as well). its possible that using these 50 watt 10's is more thinking along the lines that Ampeg used with the early 8x10 cabs, as back in the old days, they really didn't use 'bass specific' speakers, but rather just 32 ohm 10 inch guitar speakers.
i don't have my '72 cab here to a/b them (its in my storage unit, way across town), but this 1/2 speaker change does remind me of when i played thru it last, and now that i'm very pleased with it, there's no need to throw any more money at it.
just thought that i'd share this with you guys.
..................anyway, here's a pic of the cab:
the stock speakers are the 100 watt 32 ohm Eminence 10's, which Ampeg states that the cab has a frequency response of 58Hz-5kHz. well if it does go to 5k, it would be a surprise to me, unless its at least 10dB (or more!) down at that frequency.
i believe that this is why JimmyM as well as many others don't care for them when compared to an 8x10 made from the late 70's-early '90's. to me, these cabs seem a bit, for lack of a better term, 'cloudy'. i must say that i really do like their power handling and fuller low end, but everything from about 300Hz on up just doesn't have the immediacy, punch and clarity of what i'm used to in a vintage Ampeg 8x10. (and i've literally had a ton of them in the past).
at first, i thought about buying some of the weber CTS clones, but at $100 a shot, it seemd like too much($800 + shipping!) to put into this cab. and since i get Jensen and Eminence speakers at wholesale, i figured that it wouldn't cost much to experiment with a different 10' speaker, namely a Jensen MOD 10-50 (32 ohm version). so for under $100, i was able to get four of them. they don't have gaskets on the back for front load mounting, so i used some firm weatherstrip on the rear mounting flange. I installed them in the four upper positions of the cab and then tested the cab.
WOW! this cab really came alive. it now has much more transparency and detail than with all 8 of the stock speakers, but still has a nice deep, air moving low end that my '72 cab lacks. because the Jensens have a much smoother midrange and go up higher in freq response, the cab feels alot livelier and louder. (the cab also lost 13 lbs in weight as well). its possible that using these 50 watt 10's is more thinking along the lines that Ampeg used with the early 8x10 cabs, as back in the old days, they really didn't use 'bass specific' speakers, but rather just 32 ohm 10 inch guitar speakers.
i don't have my '72 cab here to a/b them (its in my storage unit, way across town), but this 1/2 speaker change does remind me of when i played thru it last, and now that i'm very pleased with it, there's no need to throw any more money at it.
just thought that i'd share this with you guys.
..................anyway, here's a pic of the cab:
