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Replacement speakers for Vintage Ampeg 8x10

Zentner

Zentner

May 5, 2003
1,378
337
40
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
#1
Anyone have any suggestions for a speaker that will take copious amounts of sound? I'll be running a pinned blueline svt into the cab- and I want some speakers that will hold up, but still keep that vintage kinda growl. As I said, it's an old square back 70's ampeg 8x10.

I'd like something a little better than the typical speakers used in the current Ampeg 8x10's, but I'm not sure what's best for a cab only 16" Deep that will take the abuse of 300W of SVT that's on 11 everything.

(Yes I have very loud guitarists. Yes- That loud.)

thanks!
 
#3
If you haven't blown the speakers you've got already, sell it and then use the 600 bucks you were going to spend on drivers with what you've got, and buy a custom cabinet that will for sure absolutely take the pounding.

I believe the following has been recommended before as a better implementation of the "sealed SVT" sound.

A kappalite 3015LF in a ~4cf cab, crossed over around 200-300hz to a trio of 10" guitar drivers, vertically aligned, in sealed subchambers.

Blowing 400-600 bones putting new drivers in an 8x10 is a waste of money when you can do better at 1/2 the weight. Heck, you could use the money buying an SVT with better drivers too. Or another cabinet. Anything would be better than replacing 8 drivers in my opinion.
 
#4
Well, I have a pretty good resource for inexpensive speakers... so I could go with a set of 18sound 10" for pretty decent prices.

I'm definitely not looking to just have the same speakers as a new 8x10... I think they sound pretty crappy- I'd like a higher efficiency driver with a tiny bit more handling (125-150W min?) that's very vintage-voiced that will really give that ampeg growl.
 
#5
I'll add- this cab has no speakers currently.... I'd love to recone the speakers if I had them..

As far as 15's go- I already have 2 2x15's and a 4x15- So I think I have that side of things covered. :D

I'd love a higher powered Alnico magnet speaker if I could find one... And maybe find one for less than $350 too. Ahh we can always dream.
 
#6
if it were my cab, i would look at it two ways:
since stock straightback cabs sound so good, i'd either try to get some original sounding speakers like the weber vintage 10's.

or if i wanted to make sure that it wouldn't pop one every so often, i'd might try eight Eminence 2510's . the cab would be ALOT lighter to move around, and have a thermal capability of 2000 watts, with probably better xMax ratings than most of the other 10's that go up to 4kHz are available.
 
#9
The problem is that high power speakers all sound like crap (unless you like that sort of thing, and a lot of people do, so it's not crap to them I guess). No high end at all, and too much low end. For 32 ohm speakers, there's really only two choices:

Weber CTS SVT clone speakers at $100 a pop, 50w handling each for a total of 400w (www.webervst.com)

Jensen Mod 10/50, 32 ohms at $50 a pop, 50w handling, available anywhere.

The Webers are the safest choice, but I hear good things about the Mods from those who have used them. Don't know if 8 of them will take an SVT cranked to the hilt...it can put out 700w peak power past the 300 clean.

Now you could wire 8 ohm speakers in series/parallel and make it 4 ohms, but I have no idea what would work the best. Eminence may have something with more high power that could work that way. You need freq response of in the ballpark of 55 hz - 5 khz for it to work like vintage. Might want to send them an email and see if they can recommend something other than the stock SVT speakers, which are $100 and have no high end. You can EQ the high end back in a little but it isn't quite the same.
 
#10
Zentner said:
Those Webers are intriguing.... I'd expect to massacre those.
Click to expand...

if you're diming your amp, you probably would.

2510's are good sounding neo's, and i think that you'd never blow one. I've cranked my SVT for all its worth thru only four of them and they held up great, and it was deafening.
they also sound ALOT better than the current Eminence speaker's that ampeg is using.
 
#12
Johnk - I'll reiterate that putting deltalites in a 4x10 or 8x10 is almost always going to be a waste of money. Been round and round on that one and basslites are just better - they do better in the size (usually around 1cf per driver) and are significantly cheaper.
 
#16
rpsands said:
Johnk - I'll reiterate that putting deltalites in a 4x10 or 8x10 is almost always going to be a waste of money. Been round and round on that one and basslites are just better - they do better in the size (usually around 1cf per driver) and are significantly cheaper.
Click to expand...

that's your opinion, and that is fine. i put two 2510's in two of my 2x10 cabs i couldn't be happier with the results. i actually tried the basslites first and didn't like them anywhere near as much.
 
#17
It could be the tuning and it could be that your 2x10 has more space per driver than a 4x10 or an 8x10. It's pretty common. Carvin's 2x10 for example (BR210N) has around 1.6 cf per driver, vs. closer to 1.1cf per driver for their 4x10 cab (br410N).

Could also be that the top end of basslites is not as pleasing to your ears, which is of course a matter of taste, but recommending 110.00 drivers for an 8x10 is pretty brutal. After shipping he's going to be out nearly 900 bucks.
 
#18
rpsands said:
It could be the tuning and it could be that your 2x10 has more space per driver than a 4x10 or an 8x10.
Click to expand...

actually, my 2x10 cabs are tiny. they are Hartke Transporters.

rpsands said:
Could also be that the top end of basslites is not as pleasing to your ears, which is of course a matter of taste, but recommending 110.00 drivers for an 8x10 is pretty brutal. After shipping he's going to be out nearly 900 bucks.
Click to expand...

i think that the 2510's just had more punch, held together longer before distorting and just sounded better to me.

they may be to pricey for him, but i wasn't really concerned with the price in my suggestion, as much as trying to recommend a speaker that would hold up to an SVT that is being dimed. i get 2510's for ALOT less than $110.00 (i get them wholesale).
 

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