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new speakers for a 70s Ampeg 2x15

#48
sickest beast said:
How could that be true if Electric Amps Cabinets come with Kappas or Delta15s? Their tube amps are in the 200-400watt range.

Does it have to do mostly with the Ampeg cabinet size?
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It probably has to do with how little they cost them. Don't assume that just because a company manufactures and sells speakers that they have a high level of audio engineering expertise. Most don't even have qualified loudspeaker engineers on staff.
Any opinions on the EVM-15L? or EVM-15B
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Obsolete, long out of production. The DL15 series replaced them and they're now obsolete as well. The Eminence Deltalites and Kappalites are the best drivers made in their price range. All you needed to know was told to you on the first page of this now way overlong thread. :rolleyes:
 
#49
billfitzmaurice said:
It probably has to do with how little they cost them. Don't assume that just because a company manufactures and sells speakers that they have a high level of audio engineering expertise. Most don't even have qualified loudspeaker engineers on staff.
Obsolete, long out of production. The DL15 series replaced them and they're now obsolete as well. The Eminence Deltalites and Kappalites are the best drivers made in their price range. All you needed to know was told to you on the first page of this now way overlong thread. :rolleyes:
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But if I stop at your opinion, that would be very limiting wouldn't it? Don't think I'm not still weighing the options you gave me.

Also, just because a speaker is obsolete, doesn't mean much. Not everything needs to be as high-tech as possible. There must be reasons besides price that kappas, deltas etc. are still popular.
 
#50
There are a handful of people on here whose opinions I give great weight to...Bill is one of them. If you're looking to build a cab the most efficient way possible, I would give lots of weight to Bill's opinions because he's got about 40 years designing cabs to be efficient and sound as good and even response-wise as cabs possibly can sound.

He's also on record as not liking the designs of speakers from the 60's and 70's, many of which vintage nuts on here absolutely love, me being one of them. For example, I seriously doubt that Bill would ever design a cab around CTS 10" drivers like the old Ampeg 810's, but in an 810, I think they're the best drivers I ever heard, and I'm not nearly as concerned with them going low and taking lots of power as he might be. You can get that with new Ampeg 810's and I hate them. As much as I respect what he does, I part ways when it comes to old school Ampeg. The reasons Bill says the Deltas wouldn't work are the exact reasons I like them. Go figure.

That said, I've yet to try the 3015. Who knows? I might like it better in my B-15 cabs. But I'm satisfied with them as they are, so I never bothered. So basically it's a choice between flatter response, higher power handling and low freq capability vs. the old school Ampeg tone, which is not much below 60 hz and a strong midbass (125-200 hz).
 
#51
JimmyM said:
He's also on record as not liking the designs of speakers from the 60's and 70's, many of which vintage nuts on here absolutely love, me being one of them.
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Not quite. Those drivers work very well when matched to the same amps used with them originally. But there's not a lot of sense using a vintage driver that farts out at 40 watts with a modern 400 watt amp. By the same token there's no point in using a 3015LF with a 60 watt tube head. And should someone want to use tens with the same specs as the '69 CTS drivers with an SVT head full tilt by all means do so, it will sound great. :hyper:
Just remember that you'll need sixteen of them. :crying:
 
#52
billfitzmaurice said:
Not quite. Those drivers work very well when matched to the same amps used with them originally. But there's not a lot of sense using a vintage driver that farts out at 40 watts with a modern 400 watt amp. By the same token there's no point in using a 3015LF with a 60 watt tube head. And should someone want to use tens with the same specs as the '69 CTS drivers with an SVT head full tilt by all means do so, it will sound great. :hyper:
Just remember that you'll need sixteen of them. :crying:
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Yeah...badass!!!

:D
 
#53
sickest beast said:
Any opinions on the EVM-15L? or EVM-15B?
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I use them and like them. My main gigging cab has a single EVM 15L. However . . . they are an old design and have quite a few very important limitations that almost certainly make them a poor choice for replacements for your cab (as billfitzmaurice said).

1) They require a carefully sized cabinet and port in order to make them work properly not to mention sound good. If your stock cabinet isn't the correct size and the ports are wrong the speakers will sound like poop. There is simply no practical way to make these drivers sound good in that cabinet.

2) Their output falls off dramatically below about 60 Hz. Trying to force them to reproduce bass below this by EQ'ing in more low end is a recipe for blowing them up.

3) There are much better alternatives that are more plentiful and cheaper.
 
#54
hbarcat said:
I use them and like them. My main gigging cab has a single EVM 15L. However . . . they are an old design and have quite a few very important limitations that almost certainly make them a poor choice for replacements for your cab (as billfitzmaurice said).

1) They require a carefully sized cabinet and port in order to make them work properly not to mention sound good. If your stock cabinet isn't the correct size and the ports are wrong the speakers will sound like poop. There is simply no practical way to make these drivers sound good in that cabinet.

2) Their output falls off dramatically below about 60 Hz. Trying to force them to reproduce bass below this by EQ'ing in more low end is a recipe for blowing them up.

3) There are much better alternatives that are more plentiful and cheaper.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

By tomorrow I should know whether I'm going to re-cone the original speakers or go with something new.
 
#55
Well I finally got it.

Model #: B25B
Serial #: 105888

It has an Impedance Selector switch: 4ohms or 16ohms

I don't have my Ampeg B200R here, so I ran my little Fender Frontman at 16ohms and it sounded wicked.

Apparently the speakers still work, just not very well at high volumes. Actually, it might just be one of the 15s. They have square ceramic magnets on them, the bottom 15 has different mounting screws and masking tape on the back of the magnet indicating it might have been re-coned already. Top 15 as far as I can tell hasn't been touched.

It's in surprisingly good condition considering I paid $150 Canadian for it. Nothing is missing, all original. I've seen the exact same cabinet in much worse condition go for over $250US.

Could anyone help me identify what year it was made? (i know it's 70s) and maybe what speakers are in it? The guy I bought it off of said the speakers are original Eminence from the Ampeg factory.

Pics coming in the next hour or so... when I'm done playing through it. :)
 
#58
First thing I'd do is get rid of the switch. It's not standard and is of zero use to a bass player. 16Ω with a SS amp will give you very little power availability and with a tube amp there are few that will match into that impedance. Vintage amps from the UK are all that come to my mind.

As for Bfitzmauruce, he makes his living designing, writing (see Audio Express magazine) and consulting on loudspeakers. If you were to pay for his advice, offered freely on this site, it would cost you a lot. IMO if Bill says it is so you can pretty much take that to the bank. If he recommends a speaker for your application you'd be wise to take that recommendation and implement it.

Paul
 
#59
Couldn't I just leave the switch on 4ohms? Would getting rid of it serve any purpose?

I'm starting to think I'd like to keep the cabinet as original as I can.

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Here she is. Other than changing or re-coning the speakers, I might re-cloth the baffle, get a new input jack plate, and remove the casters and put rubber feet on it.
 

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