Ampeg SVT 215E

The fuse *might* save the speakers in the event of a shorted SS output section.
There may be better speaker choices, but if it's working, sounds good and is paid for,
that covers a lot of what I require.

 

Totally.

 

They should work
The Carvin speakers are made by Eminence anyways and not very far from a Beta.
Original cab would have had higher cost eminence 158

 

I'm surprised no one else has said it yet, but PICTURES OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! I say it partly out of jealousy as I've thought about looking for a 2x15 cab many times due to having nostalgia for my long gone Acoustic 406.

In regards to the speakers, I'm sure they'll be just fine as long as you aren't running a super high wattage amp; I believe those cabs were originally rated at 400 watts RMS. I personally would re-wire the cabinet with 16 gauge wire and a Speakon jack, but if it works and doesn't cut in and out, it should be fine.

 

Wow, that's in a lot better shape than I was expecting for $125. Good catch!

That sounds like a good pairing to me. A GK 1001RB-II is my current go-to.

 

Are those heavy duty cast frame Carvin Speakers? I was thinking PS15-8 which is the cheap stamped steel basket with small magnet.

The PS15C should be a heavy Duty cast frame speaker with 80 ounce magnet.
Its pretty much a 158 legend or factory equivalent.

For people that knew what they were it was a cheaper way getting same eminence speaker. Often cheaper than eminence and definately cheaper than a ampeg replacement by buying the Carvin

 

Sweet. I would buy that in a second, never should have sold my 115E.

 

I used to have a Carvin V115 that was loaded with a single PS15C; they're good cast-frame speakers with a tone profile that fits electric bass nicely.

With that said, it's tough to tell if the PS15C's Thiele/Small parameters are a good fit for the Ampeg 215 cab.

Then again, Ampeg most likely just loaded a pair of 15's in the same enclosure as their 810, so there might not have been a huge amount of engineering with the original drivers either...

I'll second the recommendation to replace the shoddy wiring with something simple and solid like 16ga wire and a Speakon jack, if you have the skills to DIY it.

 

That’s a nice cab, especially for that price.

If you need a new dish, try here: Speakon dish - Parts Express Ships Fast and Ships Free.

Since the speakers are not original, you can experiment by plugging one or more of the ports with some dense foam to see how the performance changes.

 

Conjecture: The Ampeg 810 rolls off pretty quickly in the low end, the 215 is likely similar. My experience with Peavey 215s leads me to believe they were designed to get maximum SPL out of minimum watts. So deep bass extension wasn't really a thing, looking more for forward mids to make the cabs cut/project better. The fun part is this means I can gig my 90 watt tube head through my 215 and play pretty much any venue in town.

 

I have had a few of those cast carvin (eminence) drivers and I think they are awesome

 

Still, there may be some lows coming through that are not adding to the overall sound.

@JimmyM At least here an HFP may really assist in cutting out any mud and allow you to boost the lows that sound good.

Or a notch filter/eq might help too.

 

I'm glad I scrolled down through the thread before posting. I was going to comment that the OP's drivers were the PS15C, not the PS15. I've the PS15 in a small combo amp. Meh. It was priced appropriately I guess.

 

Thats entirely plausible. Pondering an HPF of some sort myself, the Tech 21 Q Strip looks cool for this, plus would be a nice thing for DI gigs.