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How old is this Ampeg SVT 810E?

Anaba

Anaba

Oct 2, 2009
10
0
Tychy, Poland
#1
Hi guys and girls,

I'm about to test above mentioned cabinet and I'm GASsing for it.. No tolex left, one speaker repaired with "original recone kit" (Does it affect the general sound significantly?), the magnets are square shaped and besides.. well it's pretty beaten up. There no sign of serial number, at least not in the format I'm used to.. Pictures will be in the link below :)

Another question.. As I use GK700rb 2 head with 480W output power at 4Ohms, will it kill the fridge which can handle 400W only? do I have to be cautious with output volume? How do I know when I push the cab with to much power? Will it start to fart? I will be testing it with 700rb 2 and fender pbass 51 RI.

Asking price is 816$. Just to let You know :) not asking if it's good or not, I know it's high!

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So please help me out here, I'm doing my reading here since last few days but nothing on tb helped me out.. Im going to test it day after tommorow.

Peace!

Mike
 
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#2
Perhaps mid 70's. The model that was introduced after the flatback. If you could pull a speaker there is usually a date code on the basket or the back of the magnet.

If the speaker was reconed properly, it will be as good as new. No sound difference. The cone doesn't look the same as the other ones, it could simply be that it has a larger dust cap.

I would be careful with the more powerful amp. In an ideal world, I'd want a speaker cab with a 900W capacity, double what the 810 is rated for. It isn't just the volume level but also the tone settings. Cranking the bass pushes the speaker harder as well. Listen for farting. If it doesn't sound good, you are pushing it too hard.

Test it with your amp if you can. If you play with the volume cranked, you might want to look for another alternative.
 
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#3
At least mid to late 70's. As b-o-t said, best bet is speaker numbers. Get those off of one or two and we can help you figure it out. It's not fatal to mismatch power and capability, you just have to use your ears and common sense. Even in matched rigs, the same can be true.
 
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#5
The codes can vary depending on the age and make. Look on the magnet or on the rim of the metal basket on a lot of speakers. Below is an example of a CTS speaker from 73. The manufacturing code is the manufacturer (CTS=137, Eminence= 67 for example) followed by the year and the week of the year.


CTS speaker.JPG




An Eminence speaker has a similar code. 67- year week. Here is a video from Eminence.



​
 
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#9
sharkbait130 said:
I'm having a total brain fart here. I know it's been discussed in here. Are the old CTS square back speakers 30 watt or 100 watt speakers. Might be helpful for the guy to know if he has a 240 watt cab or an 800 watt cab.
Click to expand...

Yes the CTS speakers that were in the flat back were rated at 30W each, the 810 cabinet was rated for 240W. Ampeg used to recommend using two cabinets with the 300W SVT tube amp. The square back magnet Eminence speakers that were used in the later 70's slant back cabinets were also rated at 30W. In 1977 the literature, for example, still rated the cabinets at 240W. People claim that there speakers were conservatively rated and that the cabinets could handle 350W.

The later 810E with the speakon connectors was rated at 800W, it had 100W speakers. The cabinet shown above is not an 810E as far as I can tell.
 

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#10
I will let you know tommorow how it went, I will be also testing an Ampeg SVT-2 Pro blueline amp with T2PW190011 S/N and I have no idea how old it is. Sorry for the off-top, but I don't want to trash TB with another topic, do You have a clue how old this SVT 2 Pro is? I did some reading but already the first letter "T" is an unknown :)

Here are some photos of above mentioned amp.

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Well anyway know I'm more worried about the fridge. The guy which tries to sell it to me states that it is 810E and it can handle 400W of power. Is he wrong? How can I proof it to him, so he doesn't try to rip me off.. Is there any way to check how are those speakers rated?

This rig suppose to be my dream come true after 10y of playing bass, I kinda have a feeling that I will be disappointed..

Thank for all your help! I'm going for testing tommorow 11:00UTC ;)

Mike
 
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#11
Anaba said:
T2PW190011
Click to expand...

Serial numbers can have issues. The first three are supposed to be the model number. If the W1 is actually a WI, possibly September 1996. W is world wide market. The next letter is the year starting with A=1988, so I would be 1996. Sometimes the use 1 for I.

A modern 810E can handle 800W RMS which will be fine with your Eden amp. The question is, is the cab an 810E or an earlier version. The metal tag tells me that it an early model. The first thing to do is to look at the speakers which will allow you to estimate the manufacturing date of the cab. They switched from CTS to Eminence speakers around 1972. It wasn't until 1980 that the cab's power capacity went up to around 350W. Prior to that it was rated 240W. If the speakers are not original, then it could have a higher power handling capacity.

Try the cab and see how it sounds.
 
#12
You are really helpfull B-O-T! I will test it both on GK 700RB 2 and SVT-2 Pro (i never owned an Eden ;)) first with 480W and the latter with 300W. Basically the cab will start to fart out when pushed too hard? Will that be the sign of underpowered cab?

Is there any way to tell for what output is the speaker rated? I will find out easily tommorow if the speaker is a CTS or Eminence, but from what I've red in this topic both of them were rated at 30W. That means that either way the cab will handle only 230W of power, the only way that it could handle more power is new speakers?
 
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#13
There is no way to determine what a speaker is rated at other than to review the specs. A manufacturer will perform their own test and determine what they want to rate a speaker at. Some companies will rate their speakers more conservatively than others. A 30W speaker may be able to handle 50W for instance. Ampeg rated their cabinets at 240W. They can take more. Ampeg also wanted to sell two cabinets with the SVT. Rating the cabinets conservatively allowed them to sell more cabinets.

As a cabinet is pushed too hard it will start to fart out as you mentioned. The distortion will not sound good. Look on YouTube for examples of overextending a speaker. It will help you know what to listen for.

Another thing to consider. These are vintage speakers and time has no doubt taken a toll on them. It isn't unusual to have to re-cone old speakers and that can be expensive. Yes, changing the speakers will allow the cabinet to handle more power. There are a few good alternatives available. Normally these speakers are rated at 32 ohms each and they are all connected in parallel. This allows the cabinets impedance to be 4 ohms. In the 810E, Ampeg uses this Eminence speaker. Another alternative is the Eminence B810 speaker. Or finding a more recent 810E cabinet. I imagine that used Ampeg 810 cabinets are a lot more expensive where you live than they are in the US.

There isn't really a sign of an underpowered cab. Some people like to push their speakers into distortion. Mostly this is done with guitar amps that push the amp and speakers hard. Not so much bass amps. If the cabinet is rated at a power handling capacity that is much more than the amplifier is capable of delivering, it will not be pushed into distortion.
 
#14
Beans has given great information.

I just wanted add a couple things - I also tend to think this is a late '70's SVT cab (I don't think they were using the "E" designation back then).

As others have said, the only way to date that era cab is by checking the date code on the speaker.

The late '70's model is rated to handle 350-400 watts. I owned a '77 model for many years - during that time I was in a pretty loud band and I pushed that cab very hard with an SVT (to give you an idea about the bands stage volume, our guitarist would sometimes have his Fender Super Reverb on full volume) - and that cab handled it without distortion or speaker failure.

If I remember correctly, the speakers in my cab were made by Eminence and had square magnets.

I recently saw my old 810 on my local Craigslist - I wanted it back for sentimental sake, but I thought better of it - as I own a Heritage 810E already.

Maybe $800.00 for an Ampeg SVT810 is normal in Poland? I don't know - but the tilt back '70's cabs do not usually go for any more then the later used cabs do around here - *(edit - add) - but a nice pre mid '74 Square-back with original CTS speakers will usually fetch a bit more.
 
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#15
With these cabs, there is a difference between what they are rated for and what they can really take. For some reason these cabs sound better and seemed more efficient than some of the later models produced after 1980. You could get more out of them. The biggest exception being the Heritage 810. At least to my ears.
 
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#17
So I brought home the mentioned above SVT 2-Pro and a different ampeg fridge.. A pre-1994 SVT 810E made in USA cabinet! I have difficulties with reading S/N (photo of it will be below, maybe someone can understand it. I have no idea what letter "E" stands for but according to general system it's from 1992. It has a new pair of eminence speakers in the lowest row from 1994 and six others are original. I will check the date tommorow.

Generally you guys were right! That 810 I wanted to buu soundes really sweet. Much warmer and vintage than newer 810E. But it lacked power... At 40-50% percent of SVT-2 Pro power the speakers started to fart, this reconed one was the loudest one to fart. I think it was the sound of speaker cone hitting the coil. I loved the sound but it couldn't handle the lows od my 51' P-bass RI. It was all ok with a custom jazz bass! Below you will find the picture of speaker magnet. They were from 1974, so there we have the age of the cab :)

So i took the other cabinet home. It doesn't sound this good, but maybe when I will forget how did the vintage 810 sound like I will like it much more :) could you please confirm that it's really from 1992?

I will test my new rog with my drummer tommorow so I will tell you more about it. And crap this cab and amp are really heavy!! We moved SVT-2 Pro and two 810 fridges upstairs and downstairs today..

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Thank you guys! You prevented me from making a bad decision!

PS. @Bass 45 - I think there is no way of getting a fridge here in Poland for less than 800$.. With all that shipping..

Mike
 
#18
Congratulations on the new amp and cabinet.

The bottom speaker looks like it is 137 74 which would mean a CTS speaker made in 1974 as you said. A lot of rust.

The cab says that it was made by SLM Electronics. I think that they owned Ampeg between around 1986 and 2005. I would pull a speaker and check the date code for best reliability. I can't read the serial number clearly.
 
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#19
It appears that you got a 1991 cab - if I remember correctly the new SLM serial code started in 1988. The fifth digit is the year - with '88 = A '89 = B etc..

The letter "E" simply stands for "Enclosure" - like speaker "enclosure".

Congrats on the rig. That SVT 2-Pro looks like it has seen some action! A real player;)

I don't have a 1991 Ampeg catalog, but I do have an '89 and a '93. The printed specs were the same in both. Here is a scan from the 1989 catalog (check out that sensitivity rating!)

1989 Catalog 001.jpg
 

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