DIY Ampeg Build, sort of...

Well, this all started a little over a year ago with our resident Ampeg guru Jimmy's thread where he posted the two bass lines, one recorded on his SVT and one on his new VT Bass pedal and had us all vote on which was which. After he embarrassed us and showed how much the VT could emulate an actual Ampeg, I had to go out and get me one ot those new "pedals of the future."

Since then, I've been running the tone controls on my amp totally flat and getting all of my tone from my pedal board, which, while not very fancy, gets me "my tone." My signal path looks like this: J-Bass with Chromes, Tuner, Opto Stomp Compressor, VT Bass, Sonic Stomp, then finally an EQ pedal which is only used as an in-song volume boost (because we mix our own sound most of the time).

After about a year of hearing how good my bass sounds through the PA, I finally decided to take the plunge and dump my amp and just go with a power amp and speakers, really relying on my pedal board for my tone.

After a few weeks of an hour here and an hour there, it's finally done. Here's a pictorial history of the build. I'd love to hear what you guys think. I went with a new Carvin DCM 1540 power amp that give me 425 watts per side at an eight ohm load. I used Carvin speakers with neo mags. The tens are four ohm speakers wired in series and the fifteen is an eight ohm speaker.

Here is it...

I used oak ply, knowing it's heavier, but I wanted that natural oak finish when done.

First step, put the cut pieces together and install the bracing for the face, cabinet divider and amp shelf.


Next was to install the shelves and seal all of the seams with silicone to make them air-tight. Even though it looks like one cabinet from the outside, the tens and the fifteen are totally sealed off from each other, only sharing one wall and vented seperately.


Next step, install the memory foam matress cover on all sides but the face as insulator, this was done with liquid nails.


Next step, cut the face plate and put a couple of coats of natural finish stain and six clear coats on it, as I decided to go with a natural finish and black hardware. After the clear dried I hit it with 0000 steel wool to smooth out the finish.








Last step, install the hardware and load it.


That's my 15 year-old son who helped me load it. He's quite the guitar player already...
















I plugged it in and lit it up last night and man is it clean and tight! I can't wait to hear it with the full band.

I'm looking forward to reading your reviews...

Thanks for the kind words there Jimmy. Compared to me, you are an Ampeg Brain Surgeon.

LAG said:

Looks good, but where in tarnation is the vt stomp pedal?

Click to expand...

My pedal board is posted in Post Your Pedalboard XVI, I think...

Here's where the VT pedal is...



When I get the time, I'm going to build a new one that matches the rig.

A few a's

1) I know NOTHING about tuning cabinets, so I mimicked the design of other existing cabinets. The 2x10 cab is a replica of a Bergintino cab. The 1x15 is a replica of a Carvin cab, with slightly changed vent shape. Carvin uses an opening across the bottom, I used the triangular vents, and they make up roughly the same total vent size.

2) Experience made me forego the speakon connections, or to be more accurate, lack of experience. I've never used a speakon connector. Being old school, which is just another word for being old, I've used banana connectors a lot, so I went with them instead. There are no speakon connectors inside the cabinet either. The speakers have old school tabs on them.

3) Weiht of the cab unloaded is roughly 45 pounds. I used oak fully knowing it's heavier wood, bbut that's the look I wanted.

4) I didn't intend on inspiring anyone, but if you take inspiration from this that's very cool. Good luck building one with your dad, it sounds like some quality father/son time. I got some of that with my son in this project. Speaking from experience, it will make your dad's heart smile!

Had a two night gig with it this past weekend. I no longer have amp GAS. My GAS is now directed to a P Bass to go with my J!

I've been in the same band for 28 years, both guitarists (my best friends) said it was the best sounding rig I've ever used.

VT Bass pedal + an 850 watt power amp = Ampeg heaven for half the weight & less than half the cost.

Sundogue said:

Looks great!

Why did you choose the Carvin speakers? My band has been using Carvin PA gear for about 25 years with great success. We're on our 3rd PA in that time and just love their stuff. The choice was easy for me.

Just for future reference, it's really easy (and kind of fun) to plan out cab builds using WinISD (http://www.linearteam.dk/). It lets you adjust the size of the box and the ports to see how the cab will perform before you even start building. Takes a bit of tinkering with it to understand it (and lots of builds to really understand what the graphs tell you about it's real world performance possibilities). I actually thought about that, but decided just to copy existing cabs. I think I got pretty lucky, as they're not 100% exact copies, but man it sounds good.

Of course, if it sounds good, it is good.

I'm building a 215 cab that's almost finished. It's kind of a Schroederesque (with the side firing speaker) but will also have two JBL 4.5" mids range drivers in it. Pretty small for a 215 (25X22.5X17) and so far is 25 lbs. unloaded. I plan on using my existing Basslite C2515's in it. But of course my needs are for high output and more mids and I'm not concerned about the lows so much in my onstage rig.

Your rig must sound killer. I've been playing through a 210/115 for a long time (and I'll bet the VT pedal is awesome...It's on my GAS list). If you're into the Ampeg sound then you'll love the VT. I've started a thread asking for different settings and have compiled a spread sheet full of them and attached it to the thread.

Click to expand...

Good luck with your build, make sure to post some pics when you're done. BTW, I'm still rockin' the Chromes and lovin' 'em. Thanks again for the push over to flats Sundogue...