Don't understand this 'suggestion' from the Ampeg website:

[steelbed45]

Yea, I could see marketing bending some absolutes, but geez, isn't this a flat out lie as to how they explain this will work.

That can't be a good look for Ampeg.

I know and am friends with 6 of the local bassists in my area. While I've mentioned TB in the past, I remain the only one of us on here.

They mix cabs. They drink from a shoe. They do all kinds of stuff that TB would lose their (expletive) minds over.

My point is, it's my belief that not too many people actually care about this issue. To them, Ampeg = bass.

Posting here is preaching to the choir.

 

[Old Blastard]

So far I've understood the majority of answers in this post. But I know someone will soon release the math heads and I will be confused by the infractive arctural inverse logarithms and buried beneath woofers, tweeters, watts and ohms.

 

[beans-on-toast]

The best way to do this sort of math is in your head. If it sounds good, it is.

 

[alienstarguest]

I myself sometimes find the ooey gooey sales and marketing speak a bit much in many magazine and web based lingo. I see it all the time, and have become accustomed to it.

My issue here, is this BS came from the page that publishes the spec sheet for that specific gear. We know that within spec sheets a little wiggle room can be expected, and that is fairly common across the industry. But that is just a matter of learning how to interpret specifications. We've become familiar with this from very early publications and most companies are on the same level playing field.

Even quotes like "this is the finest guitar, hands down, that you will ever own", is somehow playfully expected in a lot of marketing.

The absolute 'bull' quoted by Ampeg in the original post, to me (and apparently others by reading this thread), is just egregious lies.
I can expect certain market speak, but flat out lying is a step that's really getting my goat.

What's next?... "all our amps safety plug into every known electrical outlet in the world without any adaptors or adjustments by the owner".

 

[Roland GR 88]

The absolute 'bull' quoted by Ampeg in the original post, to me (and apparently others by reading this thread), is just egregious lies.
I can expect certain market speak, but flat out lying is a step that's really getting my goat.

If you really want to make your point......just buy another brand.

 

[drittal]

a 4x10 has almost twice the speaker cone area as a single 15 and it has four times as many voice coils driving it! given similar build quality/design/cab size, it isn't even close, the 4x10 approaches the volume, power handling and low end of two of those fifteens!

the idea of "15 for lows, 4x10 for highs" is mostly hearing with your eyes and missing what the speaker cabs in question actually do.

As pointed out in another post, the 15" cab in question has a roll off frequency 10hz lower than the 4-10" in question. So yes, the 15" cab in question will go lower, louder.

This also says nothing about whether the sound is boomy or punchy.

It might be a great combination that has the boomy lows and punchy mids some desire. Automatically dismissing it because it mixes cabs is as great an over generalization as stating 15" cabs go lower.

 

[Spidey2112]

Here is the literature from the SVT 15e cab page:

When only the fat, warm sound of a 15” speaker will get the job done, we highly recommend the SVT-15E. Armed with a massive five-pound magnet, the SVT-15E’s custom-designed 15” speaker generates chest-thumping low end like nobody’s business—all the way down to 33Hz. Team it up with the SVT-CL head and an SVT-410HE, for top-end, and you’re guaranteed to get the dance floor moving.
........................................
Does this make any sense given the 15e and 410he are full range cabs. The literature implying the 15 handles low end and the 410 top end. I thought that was a bi-amping thing. The SVT CL being the suggested amp. ???

I'm thinking it's a 'marketing' thing...

 

[static0verdrive]

Aw gee, I hate to ruin a good "Let's bash Ampeg for no good reason" thread, but...

The SVT 15e goes down to 33 hz and tops out at 3k. The SVT 410he goes down to 43 hz and tops out at 18k if you use the tweeter, 5k if you don't. Now a more elegant solution IMHO is to use the SVT 410hlf if super low end with super highs is what you like, but this is another option, and it's an option using sealed cabs vs the 410hlf, which is ported. And while I don't mind using ported cabs at all, there are many bass players who do. Now I don't care for this combination and I prefer matching cabs, but a 410 + 115 is very often used by bass players. And in speaking with them, many of them love their unmatched cab rigs, too. This has not escaped the attention of many amp companies' marketing departments, and many companies play into it. Ampeg is by far not the only one who does.

As for the potential phasing issues, yes, there can be some when mixing cabs in this fashion, but there are also some companies that go out of their way to make sure that certain combinations of their cabs keep these issues to a minimum, so it's not a given that all mixed cab rigs will work poorly together.

Again, I'm not agreeing with them that this is an ideal combination. I'm very much on record saying that I prefer matched cab rigs, output of a 410 vs a 115 is usually unbalanced, and random pairing of a 410 and 115 because you assume that the 115 will go lower and the 410 goes higher is listening with your eyes. But in the case of the SVT 410 paired with the SVT 15e, it actually does work like that. Substitute the SVT 410hlf for the 410he, however, and it no longer works like that.

So by all means, feel free to continue the bashfest, but try to remember two things:

1. A lot of bass players use similar combinations and love them.

2. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy a rig you don't like.

3. Knowledge is power, but as I've learned over the years, incomplete knowledge is incomplete.

As usual Jimmy beat me to it... I was going to post "the 15 is full-range? I'm surprised, most don't have a tweeter like a 210 or 410 (and that's from several companies - seems like a borderline standard)."

While a 410 gets the lows, maybe the 15 sounds oomphier?

While I am not against mixing driver sizes (I am in the process of replacing my Traynor TC1510, which is 2x10 + 1x15, with a 210neo + 115 neo - they're both 400W 8 ohm cabs) I would imagine that a 410 would handle a lot more power than 115. Therefore maybe 210 would make more sense so you aren't "wasting" money on the 410 when the power going into it, after being split in two for the two cabs, wouldn't be too much for the 210 anyway? e.g. In my case (Traynor) the 210 and 115 are both 400W, but the 410 is 800W, and my 500W head is only sending 250W to each cab... so the 410 would just be overkill, no?

 

[Jay Corwin]

How dare Ampeg try to market their products to people with catchy phrases and general terms....because no amp manufacturer has ever done that. Why the nerve...wot intarnation!

Seriously - just go buy a bazzilion watt 4 pound combo with Neo's in it if you hate Ampeg products.

 

[aproud1]

If you are buying solely based on ads or marketing, good luck to you. You probably aren't getting everything out of your Car, Razor, Frozen pizza or internet service.

 

[I am Soma]

ampeg turned me into a newt. burn them and their marketing strategy!

 

[I am Soma]

If you are buying solely based on ads or marketing, good luck to you. You probably aren't getting everything out of your Car, Razor, Frozen pizza or internet service.

I purchased a Invalid Link Removedstyle Jacks frozen pizza. It wasn't very mexican'y and it didn't make me warm. I swear they only care about making money.

 

[beans-on-toast]

@aproud1

Thought that you would relate to Elvis and his Ampeg bass.

 

[kpc]

Aw gee, I hate to ruin a good "Let's bash Ampeg for no good reason" thread, but...

The SVT 15e goes down to 33 hz and tops out at 3k. The SVT 410he goes down to 43 hz and tops out at 18k if you use the tweeter, 5k if you don't. Now a more elegant solution IMHO is to use the SVT 410hlf if super low end with super highs is what you like, but this is another option, and it's an option using sealed cabs vs the 410hlf, which is ported. And while I don't mind using ported cabs at all, there are many bass players who do. Now I don't care for this combination and I prefer matching cabs, but a 410 + 115 is very often used by bass players. And in speaking with them, many of them love their unmatched cab rigs, too. This has not escaped the attention of many amp companies' marketing departments, and many companies play into it. Ampeg is by far not the only one who does.

As for the potential phasing issues, yes, there can be some when mixing cabs in this fashion, but there are also some companies that go out of their way to make sure that certain combinations of their cabs keep these issues to a minimum, so it's not a given that all mixed cab rigs will work poorly together.

Again, I'm not agreeing with them that this is an ideal combination. I'm very much on record saying that I prefer matched cab rigs, output of a 410 vs a 115 is usually unbalanced, and random pairing of a 410 and 115 because you assume that the 115 will go lower and the 410 goes higher is listening with your eyes. But in the case of the SVT 410 paired with the SVT 15e, it actually does work like that. Substitute the SVT 410hlf for the 410he, however, and it no longer works like that.

So by all means, feel free to continue the bashfest, but try to remember two things:

1. A lot of bass players use similar combinations and love them.

2. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy a rig you don't like.

3. Knowledge is power, but as I've learned over the years, incomplete knowledge is incomplete.

Well said Jimmy. Just exactly what I was thinking. If you like it, it works!

 

[buldog5151bass]

Since when does marketing mumbo jumbo count for anything?

 

[40Hz]

Aw gee, I hate to ruin a good "Let's bash Ampeg for no good reason" thread, but...

Aw man! If you're gonna muddy up the waters with inconvenient truths and some actual facts…

-----

Y'know it's funny. I wonder why so many people say: "I don't understand" or "That's stupid." when what they really meant to say was: "I don't agree "

Weird.

 

[aproud1]

@aproud1

Thought that you would relate to Elvis and his Ampeg bass.

View attachment 1070844 View attachment 1070845

Damn. That's amazing.Thank you.

 

[40Hz]

FWIW, Michael League of Snarky Puppy uses a 4x8 and 4x10 cab on stage. And he had bottom and tone to last for days last time I caught him live.

So to second @JimmyM 's earlier point, it might not be so much what it is as long as it gets the job done and sounds good doing it.

 

[aproud1]

ampeg turned me into a newt. burn them and their marketing strategy!

You know what else floats in water?

 

[InhumanResource]

seriously?

(OK, you're new here so no jumping down throats ).

do some reading in the zillion "mixed cabs" threads or "15 and 4x10" threads that always happen around here, very worthwhile once you get past all the bickering and angst.

upshot is, 4x10s have more lows than 1x15s, not less, and mixing cabs is not so awesome compared to identical pairs of the right cab.

(watch this thread, it'll become another one of those long, angst-y "mixing cabs" sagas by the weekend; you'll get some actual experts, some pseudo-experts, references to victor wooten and flea using mixed cab rigs, appeals to "art" instead of "science", maybe some infractions from the moderators. should be epic...)

It depends on which 410 and which 115 we're talking about. If Ampeg designed these two cabinets to go together then this advice might be solid. I have no earthly idea.

I can say my own life craves simplicity so when my own 410HE based rig needed more horsepower, I just got another 410HE and things work great. I've also owned a 115E in the past (it was my first non-powered cabinet) and can say it is truly a great piece of gear. I'd happily gig a pair of those and might do so in the future when I get bored of the 410's.