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Best Ampeg 810?

#21
I played an 06 plywood recently and felt about the same. Definitely an improvement over the OSB cabs, but not as bright as the newer ones. But even with QP's, which are not the brightest pickups on the market, that's a lot of treble boosting you're doing. Of course, if it's working for you, then that's all that matters. Carry on!
 
#22
It brings up a good point on the "dark" cabs, are the guys who say they are dark pick or finger players? Active or passive guys? I play spectors w emg's with a pick so I'm thinking the dark cabs may work better for me actually. I really shoot for the Alice in chains/ Tantric tone with a good amount of hi mid growl / snarl from my svt 2pre.

Thanks to the ampeg guys who know their stuff chiming in. I hope I didn't give too much bad info. Just going on what I read /remembered until the real guys showed up :)
 
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#25
JimmyM said:
I played an 06 plywood recently and felt about the same. Definitely an improvement over the OSB cabs, but not as bright as the newer ones. But even with QP's, which are not the brightest pickups on the market, that's a lot of treble boosting you're doing. Of course, if it's working for you, then that's all that matters. Carry on!
Click to expand...

yea i do feel that's quite a bit of treble boost too. but when i close my eyes and just listen, it works. also i use rotosounds that are very dead. i don't like new strings so maybe that makes it a little darker, idk. i'm sure if i had a brighter p/u in there i might be able to turn the treble down but, the 1/4 pounder is working for this gig.

i will say this, i wouldn't kick a new 8x10 outta bed for eating crackers. i really think they sound great.

i too have played an osb 8x10 a few months ago and it was a little darker and seemed to have less mids. had to really crank the mids on the 4 pro with it.
 
#26
grendle said:
It brings up a good point on the "dark" cabs, are the guys who say they are dark pick or finger players? Active or passive guys? I play spectors w emg's with a pick so I'm thinking the dark cabs may work better for me actually. I really shoot for the Alice in chains/ Tantric tone with a good amount of hi mid growl / snarl from my svt 2pre.

Thanks to the ampeg guys who know their stuff chiming in. I hope I didn't give too much bad info. Just going on what I read /remembered until the real guys showed up :)
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking. my tone is pretty bright. A dark cab may just take the edge off. I just missed an early 70s Ampeg 810 for $250. sucks, LOL
 
#28
With an SVT set flat, I feel the 810e cabs come off as dark. It's the amp's voicing meeting a cab with a mild top end that comes together that way to me. I like my vintage 810 a lot more but I'm not sure how to characterize it exactly yet. I plan to do some videos of that and my B15N and V4BH so people know how they sound and what to expect from another TBer trying to help. :D
 
#29
Ya, well with an SVT set flat, you have a big 100 hz hump and everything else tapers off gradually down the pike. EQ can change it radically, though, and if you like a brighter sound, you can make those dark cabs work with EQ. I prefer not to, though ;)
 
#30
does speaker wear have anything to do with the 'darker' sound?
i've heard a few ampeg 810's, but they all had different speakers, so i'm not sure i can judge the cab and not the speaker.

mine's a 2005 810AV, it sounds great, and sounds event better in the anvil case. (bitch weight though)

a former bandmate had a vintage 810 with jensen speakers, and it sounded great as is. i'm jealous because he's got a lighter rig.
 
#31
oinkbanana said:
does speaker wear have anything to do with the 'darker' sound?
Click to expand...

No. If I'm remembering the details correctly, going by part codes, eminence changed suppliers for their speaker cones around the time that people pinpoint a change in tone for the speakers. When loud started off-shoring, they also used a slightly different eminence speaker and went back to plywood for the cabs.

oinkbanana said:
mine's a 2005 810AV, it sounds great, and sounds event better in the anvil case. (bitch weight though)
Click to expand...

I believe it was BFM that commented on something like this recently, he said the added external padding reduces vibrations and reverberations or some business like that. Essentially, it helped to stabilize the walls of the cab and focus sound forward.

oinkbanana said:
a former bandmate had a vintage 810 with jensen speakers, and it sounded great as is. i'm jealous because he's got a lighter rig.
Click to expand...

What kind of jensens? The cabs originally came with CTS speakers and switched over to eminence in the late 70s and have been eminence ever since, but I'm sure over the years people put all kinds of stuff into these cabs. (I think the only exception to that is the eden upgrade available at one point)
 
#32
Well I just got a pretty good deal on a mid 90's dark 8x10 (osb) and an ampeg b4r head. Their both rough but functional. The tolex is half gone and it will be getting a fresh coating of bedliner this weekend. It is definatly a darker bass heavy sounding cab with that head. I need to try it with my svt though. Not bad sounding , but definatly bass heavy and could be considered muddy. Not as punchy as my 70' was but not unuseable as is. If I put the Jensen mod 10's in should I do 2 or 4? Also how much will they drop the wattage? It may have one questionable speaker as it sits ( bottom right crackled a bit at high volume with the bass boosted) over all not bad for $600 for both.
 
#33
I would only put in two on top. Four was overkill for my uses, I just had four bad drivers to start with. Consider your power handling 400w RMS to be alright to the Jensens.
 
#34
grendle said:
Well I just got a pretty good deal on a mid 90's dark 8x10 (osb) and an ampeg b4r head. Their both rough but functional. The tolex is half gone and it will be getting a fresh coating of bedliner this weekend. It is definatly a darker bass heavy sounding cab with that head. I need to try it with my svt though. Not bad sounding , but definatly bass heavy and could be considered muddy. Not as punchy as my 70' was but not unuseable as is. If I put the Jensen mod 10's in should I do 2 or 4? Also how much will they drop the wattage? It may have one questionable speaker as it sits ( bottom right crackled a bit at high volume with the bass boosted) over all not bad for $600 for both.
Click to expand...
If yours is late 90's, you likely don't have the dark speakers. That change took place in mid-2000 according to Eminence. If you change any out to Mods, probably two should be enough but that's a matter of taste. PH drops to whatever one Mod handles x 8, so roughly 240-250w real world and 400 thermal.
 
#35
JimmyM said:
If yours is late 90's, you likely don't have the dark speakers. That change took place in mid-2000 according to Eminence. If you change any out to Mods, probably two should be enough but that's a matter of taste. PH drops to whatever one Mod handles roughly 240-250w real world and 400 thermal.
Click to expand...

So they might not like my 1200w power amp..... Lol. What do the new stock speakers run? I gotta see before I go buying stuff though. I'm usually pretty aggressive with the boost but it sounded pretty good when I rolled it back. Not as tight sounding as the new 610 I played though. Might have been the head though too. Just psyched to have an 8x10 again :)

The sn# is 181DEA0073
 
#37
Yeah it is.

Looks like it had a repair on the bottom in its past. No worries though its Definatly solid lol. I only played it for a few min but it had a ton of low end. I think a lot of it was the head. Gotta tweak stuff with new gear to see what it likes, but the bed liner is going on tomorrow and we'll see where it goes from there. Still psyched any way :)
 

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#40
Oh my gosh I ran my SC120 into my '72 810. I got the cab on a good deal, no vintage lust necessary. ;) Those two are SO loud. That head feels almost as powerful as my SVT did. :eek:

It blows me away through my PF115's but that 810 is huuuge sounding. To be honest, the SC120 can push the Ampeg's speakers to their limits. Comparably, it would be into overdrive in the 115's to get to that volume level with no knob tweaking. I can't complain, that amp eats up two pickup basses with dead strings and brings them to life!
 

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