Peavey 1810 (what the heck is that?)

[superbassman2000]

hello,
I know its actually a cab and not an amp, but I hope somebody here could help me. I recently bought a Peavey 1810, because it was cheap. anyways, I was just wondering if anyone else had one. It's kind of an interesting setup, it has two ten inch speakers, and a big 18 inch speaker below it. also, if anyone has (or had) one, what amp did they use? or (a little more general) what amp could I match to a 200 watt 4 ohm cabinet?
thanks for the help,
Charlie

 

[joshsmog]

yorkville!

 

[ESP-LTD]

It was made in late 70's and then became the 1820 (about the same rig). It has a pair of Scorpion 10's and an 18" Black Widow. I suspect it could tolerate a lot more than 200w. I was told once that Lynyrd Skynyrd used to use them but I have no proof.

I don't believe they are bad sounding cabs at all, but they are not small or light by any means.

 

[Dan Loader]

You should be able to pump far more than 200watts into them like ESP said, modern Black Widows can tolerate up to 1000watts program, those 10"s should be able to take about 100watts *each*.

 

[brianrost]

Peavey sold two biamp heads to use with the 1810, the Max (a CS-800 power amp mated to a preamp and loaded into a flight case...wicked heavy, but it was the world's first 800 watt bass head) and the MegaBass (a 2 x 200 watt unit with stereo chorus built in; it could be used for biamp or stereo operation).

Because the cabinet has a built in crossover you could also use it with any bass head. At the time the 1810 was made, the Bass MkIV was Peavey's most popular head.

There was also a 3620 cabinet, two 18" and 2 10"...man that thing weighed two tons!

 

[rok51]

I used to have a pair of 1810s in the early 80s. Used them for about 13 years. Weighed 122 lbs each. I got older. Wasn't fun to carry them up and down stairs by myself anymore. Not a bad cabinet, but the 18 inch speaker doesn't have enough room to breathe, which limits its low end capability...hence the marginally larger 1820 model(not much of an improvement, IMO). The cabinets were plywood and well-made. The only problem(recurring) that I had was that over time, the speaker surrounds and spiders would come unglued leading to an ugly "flapping" sound. Easy to fix...just re-glue them.

 

[NV43345]

Tony Franklin used them on his Blue Murder tour
with John Sikes. It was an arena tour. He had
alot of them.Sounded great. I saw a used one at
Sam Ash the other day,I had not seen one in years.

 

[guyplaysbass]

I gigged heavily with an 1820 (redesigned version of the 1810) and a Max Bass Amp. I never ran into any trouble and had low end for days. If you've got the back muscles to move it and around 800 watts (which was perfect IMO) then you'll have a great sounding, indestructable, affordable set-up. Oh, I always ran it bi-amped. Full range it kinda sounded like sh*t! Hope this helps.

 

[pyrohr]

My cousin has one of those, like a refridgerator I must say. He told me once he got home after a gig and found out the elevator was out of service (it was about 6 in the morning). He told me he put it against a fence with a chain around it, walked up to the 3rd floor and went to bed. He went down that afternoon and it was still there!. He uses it for his outdoor stuff like outdoor wedding gigs and other large outdoor stuff. He uses a 800RB head with it. I think he also plays it bi-amped. It's a real ground shaker. It will handle much more than 200 watts.

 

[WalWarrior]

My cousin has one of those, like a refridgerator I must say. He told me once he got home after a gig and found out the elevator was out of service (it was about 6 in the morning). He told me he put it against a fence with a chain around it, walked up to the 3rd floor and went to bed. He went down that afternoon and it was still there!. He uses it for his outdoor stuff like outdoor wedding gigs and other large outdoor stuff. He uses a 800RB head with it. I think he also plays it bi-amped. It's a real ground shaker. It will handle much more than 200 watts.

That's Funny as ****! Ha ha! I have the same Rig, a 3620 cab with a powered Peavey 2X10 enclosure atop of that. Then the Peavey Mark IV head. I use this as a secondary rig.
It's one heavy bastard that's for sure.

 

[enderwaves]

that was the first bass rig i ever played through. a peavey mkIV head w/ the 1810 cab. it was ridiculous loud, and never left my buddy's basement. i can't attest to the sound, as i was 13 at the time, and loud was all that mattered.

 

[Chef]

I ran two 1820's with a Peavey Pro 1000 preamp into a Crown power amp, putting 800 watts into each cab, full range.
They took that for about 10 years, then I traded them for two Henry 8x8's.

They're tough, well made, and quite heavy.
Good point on the older peavey speakers coming unglued; and the easy fix.

 

[Mon Rominee]

Ran my SVT through it for 8 years. Never blew a driver...sounded great. I have a spare BW 18 basket if you're interested.

 

[slap2much]

I used one for about 4 years with a GK 800RB, biamped (I think -- been a while). Never got close to taxing it...I second the points made about how damn heavy it was and how loud it could get. The combination of 8" and 18" made for a weird sonic mix, lots of low rumble from the big driver and a kind of midrangey bump from the small ones. Went to smaller cabs and 10" to 12" drivers after that, smoother sound but less thump. It was a great P-Bass cab...

 

[MoD_Scotty]

Tony Franklin used them on his Blue Murder tour
with John Sikes. It was an arena tour. He had
alot of them.Sounded great. I saw a used one at
Sam Ash the other day,I had not seen one in years.

LOL! There's a blast from the past! Tony Franklin is awesome. I loved the stuff he did with Tony McAlpine(sp) back in the day.

 

[DEVILMAN]

James Hart has 2 of them! They sounded great at the last NJ GTG with his tube amp. Shame he ain't around much these days to elaborate on his...

~S~

 

[James Hart]

James Hart has 2 of them! They sounded great at the last NJ GTG with his tube amp. Shame he ain't around much these days to elaborate on his...

~S~

I'm around at least a few times a week still.... with the "new posts" link uncapped (use to die at 27 pages of results max) I miss less now

as said, heavy as heck but sound great with my Classic 400 head and ERBs.

 

[Jason Hollar]

I owned two of the 1820's in high school (late 80's).

We used them for a our band PA system under some PV 15+horn cabs.

Of course, when we had a pro sound system, I used one or two of those to supplement my stage rig which was the crazy loud PV DataBass combo. I had some Ashley power amp that drove both boxes nicely.

I also owned a MegaBass head for a while -- killer loud too. Kinda wish I still had that one...

One guy from Hbg used one of those 1820 cabs for years. He made a folding wooden box/stand and raised it up a foot or so. Sounded tight & solid with his P Bass & pick rock style.

 

[Stev187]

Rather than start another Peavey 1810 thread, I will tag on to this one to keep things tidy in the archives.

Q. Can someone post the technical specs of the Peavey 1810 and 1820 cabs?

Specifically, I'd like to know the ohm rating of the 10" Scorpions and the same for the 18" Black Widow. How is the cabinet wired for full range and bi-amp, and what is the crossover. I imagine someone here has this--it does not appear to be on the Peavey site or online.

--Steve

 

[bass32]

I owned the 1820 and a Mega bass head. I purchased both new in the late 80's. Played it full range and bi-amped. Sounded good either way. I really liked the built in chorus. I finally got too old to move the heavy sucker around, so I down sized.

Just last month I sold both the head and cabinet to a 16 year old aspiring bass player for $350.