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Ampeg Micro SVT with 2 cabs

Matt R.

Matt R.

Jul 18, 2007
2,437
1,933
Huntsville AL
#1
I brought home an Ampeg Micro stack with 2 cabs (both Ampeg micro cabs) last night to demo. I found that I could push the rig harder and get more usable volume with one cab than with two. Running 2 cabs distorts easily and i have to bring the volume WAY down to make it sound good. Does anyone know why this would be?

Thanks
Matt
 
#3
If you can switch back and forth between both identical cabs and they sound the same, but it sounds bad together, then I would guess that one cab is out of phase with another when both are used. Could be the speaker cable is miswired, or could be the cabinet is miswired. That cab is supposed to be able to handle 4 ohms, and the 2x10 cabs are 8 ohms, so you should be fine with the load of both cabs. How do you physically connect both cabs?
Wes
 
#4
Yeah I turned the gain down. Tried with and without limiter. Limiter helped but there was still a short "stab" of distortion if a note gets attacked fairly hard.
Tried the cabs both wired from the head and then in a chain. No difference. I'd really like to run 2 cabs successfully though:mad:
 
#5
Maybe the deal is that cab has something loose inside of it, or has some construction issue. I tried the Acoustic "competitor" to the Ampeg, and that cab had something going on inside that I could only narrow down to something going on with the cab itself, rather than the signal, room, or other possible sources of resonance.
 
#6
Hi Matt,

I've been running two 210AVs with a Micro VR as well and haven't had any problems to speak of at this point. It could very well be what Wes was suggesting in that one of the cabs might be mistakenly wired out of phase. The only way to check that would be with a meter or to visually check the wiring in the cabinet. Another thing you could do is to see if you get the same results with another head.
 
#7
Or use the 9-volt battery test.
Speaker cable to cabinet; clip lead from sleeve to negative terminal of battery, attach second clip lead to plus side of battery and then touch to tip of cable; cone should move forward (to be in relative phase with the rest of the world)

Repeat this test with second cabinet
Basic idea is that both cones move in the same direction when tested under the same conditions
 
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#8
Dino@Ampeg said:
Hi Matt,

I've been running two 210AVs with a Micro VR as well and haven't had any problems to speak of at this point. It could very well be what Wes was suggesting in that one of the cabs might be mistakenly wired out of phase. The only way to check that would be with a meter or to visually check the wiring in the cabinet. Another thing you could do is to see if you get the same results with another head.
Click to expand...


Thanks Dino. Since I'm only demoing the rig and haven't bought it yet, I don't want to open it up. But the store I borrowed it from does have another head in stock so I will try that.

Have you gigged with the rig, and if so, how do you run the controls?
 
#9
Hey Matt,

I do gig with this rig. (two 210AVs) I actually stack them vertically so the top cab is at just about ear level. Sort of like the right or left side of an 810 cab. I usually run it with PAD out (0db), I run the Bass at about 3 o'clock, the mid at about 1-2 o'clock and the treble at 12 o'clock. I leave the limiter out too. Gain and Master are set accordingly. The Gain to whatever bass I'm using. Mostly a Lakland 55-01 or a Lakland JO4 passive. I also play an Alembic Elan 5 and an Orion 5 at times through it.

Keep in mind though. This is a great rig but it will not get you the Metallica gig. My playing situation is a 7 piece wedding band with good PA support. It's perfect for that. Anything louder and I need to add more power or more speaker surface. I've actually gigged with these two cabs and my CL and although it's overkill, it sounds awesome.
I have to say though that I really am loving the hell outta this little rig!! My chiropractor only sees me once a week now!

+1 on Jim C's suggestion too for checking phase. You can also have the store look into it as well.
 
#11
Dino@Ampeg said:
Hey Matt,

I do gig with this rig. (two 210AVs) I actually stack them vertically so the top cab is at just about ear level. Sort of like the right or left side of an 810 cab. I usually run it with PAD out (0db), I run the Bass at about 3 o'clock, the mid at about 1-2 o'clock and the treble at 12 o'clock. I leave the limiter out too. Gain and Master are set accordingly. The Gain to whatever bass I'm using. Mostly a Lakland 55-01 or a Lakland JO4 passive. I also play an Alembic Elan 5 and an Orion 5 at times through it.

Keep in mind though. This is a great rig but it will not get you the Metallica gig. My playing situation is a 7 piece wedding band with good PA support. It's perfect for that. Anything louder and I need to add more power or more speaker surface. I've actually gigged with these two cabs and my CL and although it's overkill, it sounds awesome.
I have to say though that I really am loving the hell outta this little rig!! My chiropractor only sees me once a week now!

+1 on Jim C's suggestion too for checking phase. You can also have the store look into it as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks again. Yeah, I know about the rig size thing. My main rig is an SVT Classic stack. I'm getting this for smaller rooms.
 
#14
I second the battery test. When the battery is added in replacement of where you plugged the amp in, all 10" speakers should pull in, or all should push out. If some go in, and some go out, then something is out of phase between the cabs. You don't need to open the demo cab up to run the test, if you really want to get to the root of the problem quickly.
Wes
 
#15
Matt R. said:
So I just chop the end off the speaker cable and touch neg/pos ends to corresponding battery terminals right?
Click to expand...



You don't have to chop anything - just plug a 1/4" speaker cable in, and put the tip of the other end to positive, the barrel to negative on the battery... That will make all the cones move out, if it's wired properly - disconnect, and the cones will go back to rest... Repeat as necessary to verify proper wiring...



- georgestrings
 
#18
Reviving an old thread.

I played my micro vr with two cabs this weekend with a church/ coffee house gig and it destroyed. It sounded great.

But I was wondering if the cabs should both be plugged into the back of the amp, or just one in the amp and the other daisy chained to the other, or does that even matter?

Secondly, I had the limiter on and the light would turn on a lot even though my gain and master were both around or under noon. Is this showing the limitations of the amp, or is this another issue?

IMG_20230127_172931655.jpg
 
#20
From its introduction there have been issues when driving two 8 ohm cabs at high volumes with the micro VR,, mostly a horrible click type distortion when playing loud. Ampeg created a soft clipper fix for amps already in the field and up issued the amp design. The limiter is telling you that the amp has literally reached its output limit when it engages. Unfortunately because the SVT210AV cabs don't go particularly loud or low there is a temptation to keep turning the amp up to its limit. I had the same rig but eventually gave up trying to gig it. The Micro VR head is a great amp but the cabs are light to medium duty.
 
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