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Does the Ampeg 810 "good years / bad years" argument extend to 610hlf?

pablomigraine

pablomigraine

Commercial User
Feb 9, 2005
3,458
611
New York
neuraldsp.com
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Director of Commercial Sales - Neural DSP
#1
There's been a lot of talk lately about the various years which the Ampeg SVT-810e was manufactured regarding different materials / construction etc.... I have noticed some dramatic differences in sound in one SVT-810 Vs. another.... but does anyone know if this argument extends to the SVT-610HLF? Was this cab ever made with lesser speakers or either particleboard or OSB?

Any opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks!!

PRW
 
#4
Sure...the SLM cabs were mostly made with OSB, for one. The LOUD cabs are plywood. I also think the imported speakers in the LOUD cabs are better, with more high end and mid content. The older 410HLF's go super low at the expense of upper mids and highs. The new ones are a little tighter on the bottom, but just enough to cut down on the excessive rumble of the older cabs.

I would assume same holds true for the 610HLF, which is a cab I like quite a bit more than the 410HLF. The 810e and 410HLF are two extremes, and the 610HLF sits in the middle of them. For me the 810E is king, but I think the 610HLF gets unfairly slagged because it's more middle of the road.
 
#5
Didn't the 610hlf used to be (or still is?) essentially a sealed 410 and a ported 210 all in one box?

If they used the same 810 speakers in the sealed portion I would assume the same changes apply to the same years. The bottom ported 210 section would use a different spec speaker. Likely the same one they use 4 of in the 410hlf considering mass manufacture , etc.
 
#7
will33 said:
Didn't the 610hlf used to be (or still is?) essentially a sealed 410 and a ported 210 all in one box?

If they used the same 810 speakers in the sealed portion I would assume the same changes apply to the same years. The bottom ported 210 section would use a different spec speaker. Likely the same one they use 4 of in the 410hlf considering mass manufacture , etc.
Click to expand...

All six speakers are the same 6 ohm driver (they have to use a different driver to get a 4 ohm total rating). The internal bracing is similar to the others but the holes in the baffle board between the pairs of drivers are much larger on the 6x10 than on my 8x10 so I'd say there probably is enough air movement internally that it should be considered a ported 6x10, not a sealed 4x10 and ported 2x10.
 
#11
coreyfyfe said:
All six speakers are the same 6 ohm driver (they have to use a different driver to get a 4 ohm total rating). The internal bracing is similar to the others but the holes in the baffle board between the pairs of drivers are much larger on the 6x10 than on my 8x10 so I'd say there probably is enough air movement internally that it should be considered a ported 6x10, not a sealed 4x10 and ported 2x10.
Click to expand...

Ampeg 810 is sealed. No holes. Are you speaking of another brand?
 
#13
Other than being a little on the boomy side, I really liked the room filling volume that cab produces. Was it a great sound? Not really, but when going head to head with a hard hitting drummer and a Marshall 100 watt tube half stack it got the job done. Mic'd it sounds fine as well. Wasn't bad either.

The main Head I used with it was a Trace Elliot rack mount from the 90's that was rated at 500 or 600 x2 for wattage. I could rip paint off walls with only 500-600 Trace watts. The cab took the beating just fine.
 
#15
will33 said:
Didn't the 610hlf used to be (or still is?) essentially a sealed 410 and a ported 210 all in one box?

If they used the same 810 speakers in the sealed portion I would assume the same changes apply to the same years. The bottom ported 210 section would use a different spec speaker. Likely the same one they use 4 of in the 410hlf considering mass manufacture , etc.
Click to expand...

joeydavidson said:
^no, all speaker chambers are ported in the 610hlf, I had a look inside mine when I had it.
Click to expand...

The source of all the confusion regarding the four-sealed / two ported 610 HLF was this picture appearing in the owner's manual:

SVT610HLFpanel-f3432cbb4dadf38fc7fd89458f432722.jpg


which makes it appear as though the top four are sealed in pairs, which is not the case...
 
#16
Quickie said:
Could you clarify? That's one of the cabs I have owned in the past and am thinking about again.
Click to expand...
USA 410HLF's I've played have always had way too many lows and not enough midrange for my tastes. The newer ones, however, seem to have dialed the lows back just a smidge and gave more weight to the upper mids and highs. Still not my favorite cab, but I think it's a lot better now.
 
#17
JimmyM said:
USA 410HLF's I've played have always had way too many lows and not enough midrange for my tastes. The newer ones, however, seem to have dialed the lows back just a smidge and gave more weight to the upper mids and highs. Still not my favorite cab, but I think it's a lot better now.
Click to expand...

I agree in terms of the 410HLF.... way boomy, artificial -sounding lows.... the only 610HLF I have ever played is a brand new LOUD-era one from last week. I have to say.... I was really impressed.... best sounding Ampeg cab I've ever heard. Second best out of the four 610 cabs I've tried and WAY more even a response across the range than the Mesa. Plenty of mids, and clear and articulate mids at that... the lows were much tighter than the 410HLF and it didn't sound as "artificial" as that cab in the low-bass..... plenty of 110Hz "Shove"... only complaint was the weak sounding tweeter and big "notch" around the X-over frequency... the hallmark of all inexpensive crossovers and tweeters. I bet a Selenium tweeter and beefed-up Dayton Xover would do wonders for this cab. The porting seems identical to the 410... I doubt there was ever any attempt at actually "tuning" the cabinets to the drivers in terms of cubic volume, port size, length, flare etc.... but the porting worked much better with 6 drivers as opposed to 4....
 
#18
I just acquired a SVT610HLF, this guy had it for a number of years, check this out, when he got it (new), the cab was covered in carpet, not vinyl.... I'm in the process of clearing all the carpet off and I'm going to raptor line (or similar) the whole thing. ANYWAY - to my surprise the cabinet is particle board, not plywood.... I'm going to get a little more info on when it was made.

(about the carpet, he got it from a local dealer, we are almost certain they got it re-covered due to it getting ripped/torn somehow, I found a tiny triangle of vinyl under the carpet when tearing it off... they never told him, they said it came new like that,)
 
#20
evanjbass said:
I just acquired a SVT610HLF, this guy had it for a number of years, check this out, when he got it (new), the cab was covered in carpet, not vinyl.... I'm in the process of clearing all the carpet off and I'm going to raptor line (or similar) the whole thing. ANYWAY - to my surprise the cabinet is particle board, not plywood.... I'm going to get a little more info on when it was made.
Click to expand...
Yep, unfortunately, pretty much all cabs made by St. Louis Music except for maybe the last year they owned Ampeg (2005-2006, that time) were made of OSB. The owner of SLM was convinced of the "superiority" of OSB and would not bend until right before he decided to retire.
 

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