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Ampeg v9 help (please look)

C

Colton Turley

Guest
Dec 29, 2013
23
2
Kentucky
#1
So a 70s ampeg v9 cab popped up at my local music shop. They want 850 on it and I may not be able to get them down much. It's rough but I know I'm not gonna see another one up for grabs for a long time so is it worth it? And if you have any info about them please feel free to share. Also, what do they usually go for? Thanks
 
#3
They offer no advantage to the 810 IMHO but they are cool to look at and have very nice speakers for the day. The power handling is low on them, though, so if you're looking to crank an SVT at top volume through them, you should look to newer 810s. No way I'd do $850 unless they were absolutely pristine, 100% original and working.
 
#5
JimmyM said:
They offer no advantage to the 810 IMHO but they are cool to look at and have very nice speakers for the day. The power handling is low on them, though, so if you're looking to crank an SVT at top volume through them, you should look to newer 810s. No way I'd do $850 unless they were absolutely pristine, 100% original and working.
Click to expand...


I was thinking that was definitely steep considering I payed 500 for my 8x10 that was perfect.
 
#6
"The 9x10 speaker cabinet had a Thiel QB3 aligned vented baffle arrangement, with 3 compartments housing 3 speakers each. Like the SVT, each compartment was totally separate and isolated from its neighbors. The 9 10-inch speakers had an impedance of 5.3 ohms each and were wired so that the total nominal impedance of the cabinet was 4 ohms...." "At 166 pounds for each enclosure, this was little solace for the musician or roadie who had to mobilize and demobilize a V-9 rig." The V-9 head and cabinet were designed for guitar, which is why the head had reverb and a distortion circuit.

I once had a V-9 cabinet. Sounded fantastic. A major bitch to get thru normal doorways - quite a few times I had to turn it sideways and drag it in - but that was in my younger days. Another bassist friend had the V-9 head. It was definitely a brighter sounding head than my SVT.

They were built to handle the 300 watts the V-9 put out and did it quite well.

My only question is: where are you going to find a 5.3 ohm speaker?

BTW. The one I had had a missing speaker when I got it. Luckily SLM had an Eminence speaker on hand for it. Set me back $50 at the time (maybe 20 years ago). Also, I traded a Music Man SB2 bass guitar for mine.
 
#9
Select whatever speaker you prefer, hook them up in series of three, yielding three parallel paths. 4+4+4 // 4+4+4 // 4+4+4 = 4 Ohms.
No need for "odd impedance" drivers, unless a total impedance with an "odd value" is needed.
 
#10
The ampeg book states that the speakers in that cab were 5.3 ohms but the math doesn't work out for a 4 ohm cab if they are 5.3. Most people say that it was a mistake in the book and the speakers should be three trios of 4 ohm speakers in series parallel. I haven't seen one of these cabs in person, they're fairly rare, but I believe they were guitar cabs weren't they? The V9 is supposed to be the guitar version of the SVT - same power amp chassis but the preamp was geared towards guitar with the distortion controls and such so the cabs might be a little more high-tuned.

I wouldn't pay $850 for that cab unless you were really looking to have it as a rare piece.
 
#11
Like I said earlier, I HAD one. Mine was in fantastic shape (other than a missing speaker). Yes, they were voiced for the V9 head to be a guitar rig and were set up in sections of 3 speakers each. My cabinet must have been an oddball as mine was all sealed - no ports. And it was freaking loud. Sounded great with my 76-79 SVT head.

I traded mine off for cash and a smaller cabinet. I still regret it.

And no way in hell would I shell out $850 for a V9, especially since you can get 8x10 cabinets for $500 or less. They're nice oddities, but when you start running into clubs with regular sized doorways and have to turn your V9 sideways to get it inside it can be a pain....
 
#13
All the book says about the V9 is that it was an SVT power amp with a new preamp section, a new speaker cabinet with 9 10" speakers and reverb. And there's also a picture of the V9 cabinet, but I still don't remember mine having ports like this one....
 
#14
I've heard my friend's one a few years ago, with the matching head. Sounded great until the head started burning. He had it repaired but sold it eventually, it never sounded the same apparently, maybe a bad repair job.

I don't remember any ports either.
 
#15
Bim1959 said:
All the book says about the V9 is that it was an SVT power amp with a new preamp section, a new speaker cabinet with 9 10" speakers and reverb. And there's also a picture of the V9 cabinet, but I still don't remember mine having ports like this one....
Click to expand...

If we're talking about the same book, page 177 has a little piece on the V series which is from where the quote above is taken ("thiele QB3 aligned..."). The picture in the book is definitely ported (2 per chamber) but maybe there were changes in production over its short lifespan?
 
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