Mesa 1x15 or Ampeg 410!?!

[oddgrowth]

I have an Ampeg SVT Classic 410 HE and 2 Mesa/Boogie 1x15 Road Ready cabs (w/ eminence kappalite 3015s). The boog's really thump.

But, for a 1 cab application I'd go w/the Ampeg 4x10 HE (I have one for sale on Denver's CL for $300 right now).


I love my Boogies. I'll never sell them. You'd really need (2) Boogie 1x15s to cut the mustard live tho.

 

[joeydavidson]

Personally I'd take the Ampeg out of those 2 choices.

 

[MegaSwing]

The ampeg is 50$ cheaper than the mesa [both used]

There you have it.

The Mesa, however, ain't no ordinary 1x15.

 

[tifftunes]

The Mesa 1x15, w/ Eminence KappaLite 3015, kicks some major azz!! I recently reloaded my TL606 (VERY similar to the Mesa) with an Eminence KappaLite 3015, and just the one cab is amazingly loud!

The weight difference alone would send me to the 115. My TL606with neo driver is 45 lbs. The Ampeg is probably nearly double that...

 

[JagStang68]

if your getting a ampeg 4x10 Do not get a new one. they are crap. get the saint louis music ones. the new ones are made in Vietnam, and are poorly made.

 

[JagStang68]

No love for the Mesa? That's one awesome cab. Loud as thunder, and clear. The Ampeg weighs about 13 lbs more (72 to 85). If the money outlay is the same, it's hard to say which is better. However, if one is substantially cheaper that might tilt the deal for me. Both splendid cabs. I'll always get the lighter one, though. Worth it in wear and tear.

dont get me wrong, old school Mesa 2x15 roadreadys are the bomb

 

[mazdah]

if your getting a ampeg 4x10 Do not get a new one. they are crap. get the saint louis music ones. the new ones are made in Vietnam, and are poorly made.

One of the biggest bull***its I've ever read.
Asian Ampeg cabs are as good as US made, sometimes even better.

 

[BuffaloBass]

Where do you folks play? Ampetheaters? Of the venue's I've done a simple Mesa Scout 12 or 15" has sufficed. Anymore and its DIRECT OUT. I use a Hartke2X10 in bigger joints to get some more punch and stage montoring, but again, its direct out...

So for what I do, 4X10 are superfluous. Nice indeed, but teats on a bullhog.

 

[gbarchus]

I have an Ampeg SVT410HEN (AV) and a JBL Cabaret 1X15 cabinet. The Ampeg wins for loudness and power handling (1000 watts). The JBL wins for pure tone.

If the Mesa Boogie cabinet has a 400 watt EV speaker, I would go for that.

 

[DwaynieAD]

i know there's alot more to it than this but the surface area of the speakers on a 410 is roughly 314 square inches if i did my math correctly, the surface area on a 115 is roughly 177 square inches. now i'm aware magnets and a bunch of other variables come into play but that seems like a pretty big difference in surface area that is potentially moving air for me to ignore

 

[derridiandrift]

if your getting a ampeg 4x10 Do not get a new one. they are crap. get the saint louis music ones. the new ones are made in Vietnam, and are poorly made.

I disagree strongly.

I've owned two made in USA Ampeg SLM cabs and one Vietnam cab. The workmanship is the same. The Vietnam cabs are made of void-free plywood and have a brighter sound (different drivers, I think).

The two USA cabs were made of MDF. They sounded dark in comparison to the Vietnam cab, and on one of the USA boxes the tolex came off WAY too easily.

In my experience, the Vietnam cabs sound great and are built well. But maybe we should just let everyone continue to believe that the USA cabs are better so the prices on used Vietnam cabs stays low.

 

[georgestrings]

the ampeg will be louder and have more lows than the 115.

That particular Ampeg cab may or may not be louder than that particular Mesa 115, but it definitely won't have more lows than the Mesa... I've played both quite a bit, and that's IME... Volume-wise, it'll probably be pretty close - that's not a very loud 410, when compared to most others...



- georgestrings

 

[lowendfriend]

Trade is too constrained.....go with the Mesa PH 212!!

 

[georgestrings]

Where do you folks play? Ampetheaters? Of the venue's I've done a simple Mesa Scout 12 or 15" has sufficed. Anymore and its DIRECT OUT. I use a Hartke2X10 in bigger joints to get some more punch and stage montoring, but again, its direct out...

So for what I do, 4X10 are superfluous. Nice indeed, but teats on a bullhog.

That would be for you - I'll bet the average rock bassist wouldn't agree... I play in a couple of hard rock/modern rock bands, and a 115 isn't nearly enough for my situation - and a 410 will barely cover my needs... I mostly play clubs instead of small bars, and we always have decent PA reinforcement - but we also have 2 guitarists playing tube halfstacks and a loud drummer... Trying to use a single 115 flat out wouldn't cut it for me...


- georgestrings

 

[parsons]

I own both cabs. Dont get that Ampeg. Its not loud AT ALL. I use that cab as a practice cab or if I do use it live, it has to be with my Ampeg SVT115 to get any type of real lows.

 

[greenboy]

410 are my least favorite configs unless stacked one on another (I like 801, 610, 210 though). So I favor TL606-like 15s if those are the choices. As tifftubes said, the Kappalite 3015 can be a pretty satisfactory retrofit for them too. Very durable and can handle lots of power and low end, not as tubby/boomy as a lot of 15" drivers.

Of course, I'd like that a lot better if it was two of them, stacked. Gets one closer to the ears for one thing, and improves the dispersion too.

 

[Crabby]

I used to own an SVT810. It was a modern one with a jack on the back that allowed you to run just the bottom, 4 speakers which is essentially the same cab the OP is talking about. I was always amazed when I tried it out how bad that sounded. It was not loud, very limited low end and just sounded lifeless and cheap to my ears. Using the whole cab sounded much bigger and fuller.

I now own a pair of Mesa PH115 cabs and I can tell you that these are not typical of many other 115 cabs out there. They are very efficient, loud, full and balanced sounding with great sounding horns and no mud or honk at all in the tone. A single PH115 will put out a lot of sound and its a gorgeous deep warm yet punchy tone that is highly addictive.

I think the OP would be much better buying a quality 115 and then saving up to add another one in the future if needed rather then buying one of Ampeg's worst sounding cabs just because its a 410. Keep in mind the cab in question is a sealed 410 with fairly low power handling capacity, very limited low end and not much resale value.

The Mesa is a top shelf product that can be used with pretty much any other 8 ohm cab and will always sound good. Just my 2 cents!

 

[greenboy]

The Mesa is largely the same cab and driver as the Orange 115 BTW.

 

[JimmyM]

I used to own an SVT810. It was a modern one with a jack on the back that allowed you to run just the bottom, 4 speakers which is essentially the same cab the OP is talking about. I was always amazed when I tried it out how bad that sounded. It was not loud, very limited low end and just sounded lifeless and cheap to my ears. Using the whole cab sounded much bigger and fuller.

that's because you were only using half the cab and the other speakers were acting against the ones that were on.

btw, the idea that the newer cabs suck is a load of crap. i use rented svt's all the time, and the foreign cabs are actually way better sounding than the slm cabs that have osb, and they're as good as the earlier slm cabs that were made of plywood.

 

[greenboy]

that's because you were only using half the cab and the other speakers were acting against the ones that were on.

I'd say that's part of it, Jimmy. But I think also that the particular sealed SVT cab thing really works best when you have 8 10s coupling and not just 4. The threshold of having enough and the right bass response seems to happen somewhere in between the two (4 drivers versus 8, 4 not being enough), and I actually think the 810 baffle interactions make for a more pleasing tonal blend in general.

Not to mention of course, the effect of a taller cab and the odd placement of ears on heads rather than legs ; }