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Ampeg PF500/PF350
- Thread starter maevinj
- Start date
- Status
coreyfyfe said:Ended up picking up a PF-500. I started playing with a new band and the micro-VR was just not cutting it for the rehearsal space (good excuse right).
Learned a huge thing about this amp last night - and your settings reminded me. I used to play with the low boost on. No longer. Muddies the tone. Love everything about this amp. And it's even better w/o the boosts.
Maybe they are like the "Loudness" button on stereos: meant for use at low volumes only... Once you turn up the volume you defeat their intended use.
Picked up the 210 and the PF-350 (and a SR5HH, but don't ask me about that...) today, but I'm already feeling the urge to upgrade. I got the whole lot at one GC, but I know that another one a couple miles away has the PF-500......... for $100 more I've gotta go pick up that sucker TOMORROW MORNING before any of you can get your grubby hands on it!
Hey, this is a stupid question, but how do you install the head to the flip-top? I see that there are four rubber plugs that I can remove, what do I do after that? The manual (and my poor intuition) were of no help.
There should be a bag supplied with bolts and grommets. Unscrew the feet from the head. Figure out which holes in fliptlop line up with the holes where the feet were (one set of holes in the fliptop is for the PF500, the others are for the 350. ) Put bolt through grommet and insert through flip top from handle side. Do all four. Put the rubber feet you removed onto those bolts -- those are now a spacers and shock mount. Screw bolts into the head where the feet were. Tighten and you're done.
OK I finally got started on my new Ampeg PF rig today.
Picked up the Ampeg PF500 from GC, had a coupon so got a decent discount and they had one in a box. I always like to have a new one in a box if possible. You know just in case I have to ship it someday. I tried the floor model head with the PF-210HE cab they had on display and to be honest, I didn't care for the tone. it just didn't have enough bottom for me. It did have a decent mid and high end punch though. YMMV but I chalk it up to the fact that for the last 35+ years I've always used ported cabs for the most part so maybe that's why I thought it just didn't sound round and fat on the low end. BTW I was using a AM Std P with stock RW strings.
GC didn't have the PH-115HE in stock and from what I was told they don't plan on stocking that cab, at least at the location I was in. I was hoping to find an Ampeg single 15 cab to match it up with but they didn't have one in stock either (losers). The only single 15 they had there was GK so I tried it with that. I believe it was the Neo 115-III. Sounded decent with more lows than the Ampeg PH cab and nice punch. Don't know the specs but my ear was telling me that it was around 40 to 45Hz. It wasn't a bad combination with the PF500 but just sounded a bit middy to my ears and I'm sure I could've lived with it. I liked the weight fairly light. I was really hoping to get a standard paper cone speaker for some old school 15" thump.
There's a Sam Ash about 4 miles down the road from GC so I headed down there. I knew they had one of the Hartke AK series 15 cabs and I wanted to check that out. Hartke says
it's got a 400 watt paper cone driver so I was really looking forward to trying that one out. Didn't want to unbox the PF and haul it in so I used an LH500 to check it out.
I really wanted to like that AK cab but for me it was a MAJOR letdown. Just didn't have it. It started to fart out real quick and I just couldn't get any volume out of it to maintain a decent full sound with any kind of punch. I don't know maybe it was a bad cab. I'll tell you it was bad for me. Again NO Ampeg 15's at SA either (losers). The Ampeg 15's are great cabs and I don't know why they aren't stocking those at GC and SA here in my area.
So even though I wanted to try and stick with a paper cone speaker, I decided to try the HyDrive HX115. After giving the cabinet the "tap" test, I left the LH500 at the same settings an just switched cabs. All I can say is WOW! I was very surprised with that HX115 cabinet. It had twice the volume and punch of the AK cab and a smoother and louder bottom end than the GK I tried at GC. With the HX115 tweeter off I was able to dial in a sound that was real close to the old school paper cone 15 sound I was looking for. That cab handled everything that I threw at it with the LH500. Had a nice growl to it with a touch of bite when digging in. Smooth mids and highs without the tweeter probably due to the aluminum center cone. The salesman over at SA is a long time acquaintance so I was able to crank it without the usual "please turn down" thing.
Decided to get the HX115 and my guy gave me a special Father's Day deal on a new one in the box. Hey, I love those boxes. Rushed home to try it with the PF500.
Sounds REAL good with the PF500. Deep, punchy and loud. Gets some nice grit with cranking the gain up a bit on the PF. Played it hard for about 30 minutes here at home trying different
tone, compressor, gain and volume settings. Head was running at 8 ohms and I was using my 08 Am Std P Black / Maple with DiAddario XL Chromes on it (not sure yet if I like those or not, I think they're kind of clanky). The head never got hot and sounded great. Fan is a bit loud, but honestly I've heard way way louder. It's not an issue for me. The head is a good match up with the HX115 and I'm going to PU another cab soon. Should be a nice stack
Here's a few pics. I'll try to get some sound clips up if possible.
Keep Low
Picked up the Ampeg PF500 from GC, had a coupon so got a decent discount and they had one in a box. I always like to have a new one in a box if possible. You know just in case I have to ship it someday. I tried the floor model head with the PF-210HE cab they had on display and to be honest, I didn't care for the tone. it just didn't have enough bottom for me. It did have a decent mid and high end punch though. YMMV but I chalk it up to the fact that for the last 35+ years I've always used ported cabs for the most part so maybe that's why I thought it just didn't sound round and fat on the low end. BTW I was using a AM Std P with stock RW strings.
GC didn't have the PH-115HE in stock and from what I was told they don't plan on stocking that cab, at least at the location I was in. I was hoping to find an Ampeg single 15 cab to match it up with but they didn't have one in stock either (losers). The only single 15 they had there was GK so I tried it with that. I believe it was the Neo 115-III. Sounded decent with more lows than the Ampeg PH cab and nice punch. Don't know the specs but my ear was telling me that it was around 40 to 45Hz. It wasn't a bad combination with the PF500 but just sounded a bit middy to my ears and I'm sure I could've lived with it. I liked the weight fairly light. I was really hoping to get a standard paper cone speaker for some old school 15" thump.
There's a Sam Ash about 4 miles down the road from GC so I headed down there. I knew they had one of the Hartke AK series 15 cabs and I wanted to check that out. Hartke says
it's got a 400 watt paper cone driver so I was really looking forward to trying that one out. Didn't want to unbox the PF and haul it in so I used an LH500 to check it out.
I really wanted to like that AK cab but for me it was a MAJOR letdown. Just didn't have it. It started to fart out real quick and I just couldn't get any volume out of it to maintain a decent full sound with any kind of punch. I don't know maybe it was a bad cab. I'll tell you it was bad for me. Again NO Ampeg 15's at SA either (losers). The Ampeg 15's are great cabs and I don't know why they aren't stocking those at GC and SA here in my area.
So even though I wanted to try and stick with a paper cone speaker, I decided to try the HyDrive HX115. After giving the cabinet the "tap" test, I left the LH500 at the same settings an just switched cabs. All I can say is WOW! I was very surprised with that HX115 cabinet. It had twice the volume and punch of the AK cab and a smoother and louder bottom end than the GK I tried at GC. With the HX115 tweeter off I was able to dial in a sound that was real close to the old school paper cone 15 sound I was looking for. That cab handled everything that I threw at it with the LH500. Had a nice growl to it with a touch of bite when digging in. Smooth mids and highs without the tweeter probably due to the aluminum center cone. The salesman over at SA is a long time acquaintance so I was able to crank it without the usual "please turn down" thing.
Decided to get the HX115 and my guy gave me a special Father's Day deal on a new one in the box. Hey, I love those boxes. Rushed home to try it with the PF500.
Sounds REAL good with the PF500. Deep, punchy and loud. Gets some nice grit with cranking the gain up a bit on the PF. Played it hard for about 30 minutes here at home trying different
tone, compressor, gain and volume settings. Head was running at 8 ohms and I was using my 08 Am Std P Black / Maple with DiAddario XL Chromes on it (not sure yet if I like those or not, I think they're kind of clanky). The head never got hot and sounded great. Fan is a bit loud, but honestly I've heard way way louder. It's not an issue for me. The head is a good match up with the HX115 and I'm going to PU another cab soon. Should be a nice stack
Here's a few pics. I'll try to get some sound clips up if possible.
Keep Low
Because it was a good idea
There is no way a 115 can take 500w or anywhere near it. So why bother getting a 4 ohm 115 if it can't take it?
BTW, I'm an Ampeg dude, but if I wasn't, those Hydrives would be on my short list. Great sounding cabs.
Yes. First the HX115 is only offered in 8 ohm. That would give me a nice compact single 15 rig with 300 watts that would cover practices and most any gig with players I jam with who actually know about dynamics, stage volume, and have PA support. Added plus is that at 72 lbs total weight even with my tired old 59 year old back, I can move the rig fairy easily.
I'm going to be adding another HX115 to get me up to the 500 watts atop a nice double 15 stack that should get me through any higher volume club stuff or outdoor gigs with minimal PA support. I'm a believer in using matching cabs and just never bought into the 15 / 410 setup. Besides I'm wanting to get back to a more old school 15 sound. I miss that tone from 15's.
Keep Low
Got mine today (PF500), I love it so much. I play downtuned (drop A) brutal death metal nad this thing handled practice today just fine. MY band mates were surprised the little thing was sounding so good. I had it sitting on top of my rack with my M2000 and I had convince the I wasnt playing it. I have yet to find a tone I didnt like. Im convinced this is one of the all around best deals in amp heads going right now! Ampeg did this right!
They rate the HX115 at 500 watts and Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 17 kHz. 20Hz hmm... wonder what db that 20Hz is at? Really wanted an Ampeg 15 to match up with the PF but alas none to be found
So far the HyDrive sounds great. I know from experience that pushing 300 watts through a 15 (even a quality one) can blow one out if you're clipping it all the time. However two HX115's running with the PF @ 500 watts should hold up decently enough. If not well I have a 3 year warranty if I blow one. After playing for over 35+ years, I've learned a few things. I can't remember the last time I blew out a speaker. Hey but it can happen.
Jimmy I'm still getting used to the gain and tone structure on the Ampeg and haven't used a compressor for a long time. I like to make my own dynamics but I do have it set just a shade under three. So it will take a few times to tweak it where I like it. I also just put some DiAddario XL Chrome flats on the P about a month ago and still don't know if I like them. They sound really middy but that might be my 08 P. I changed out the tone control with a switched push/pull pot with one setting modern .05 cap and the other vintage .1 cap. Even on the vintage .1 cap I still think it's mid heavy, not dark and woody like an older P. I don't know maybe the strings are still too new. First set of flats in over 30 years so maybe it's just me. Tomorrow I'm gonna break out my 60 P with Roto's and try it out. If I like the RW's better I'll switch back to those on the 08.
One thing is for sure though is I'm gonna ride that Ampeg like charlie sheen's porn goddesses
Keep Low
Yes. First the HX115 is only offered in 8 ohm. That would give me a nice compact single 15 rig with 300 watts that would cover practices and most any gig with players I jam with who actually know about dynamics, stage volume, and have PA support. Added plus is that at 72 lbs total weight even with my tired old 59 year old back, I can move the rig fairy easily.
I'm going to be adding another HX115 to get me up to the 500 watts atop a nice double 15 stack that should get me through any higher volume club stuff or outdoor gigs with minimal PA support. I'm a believer in using matching cabs and just never bought into the 15 / 410 setup. Besides I'm wanting to get back to a more old school 15 sound. I miss that tone from 15's.
Keep Low
OK.
Just wondering.
S
the only problem i'm having with my pf500 is, the dang serial # sticker keeps coming off the bottom. probably because of how dry it is out here. anyone else had that problem?
lfbassguy said:
Actually, yes. When I bought it they were looking for the serial number, and they found the sticker on top of the speaker cab it was resting on (this was GC, so unboxed product). I think I may just peel it off and put it in a safe place. Also, you could put clear packing tape over it to secure it better if you're looking too keep it in place.
I got to try a PF-350 with the PF-210HE cabinet today at my local GC. I was hoping for a PF-115HE but no dice; I think the PF-500 may be in the cards for me as I liked the tone of the PF-350 but I am not sure if it's got enough power to keep up, at least through the PF-210HE.
What I don't understand is the lack of side handles on the cabinet, only the top handle. Why?
I will probably add handles if i buy one.
What I don't understand is the lack of side handles on the cabinet, only the top handle. Why?
I will probably add handles if i buy one.- Status
