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Should I buy some Ampeg 10" from the mid 70's?

T

Toffa

Sep 10, 2007
45
18
#1
Hi,

as I already mentioned here, I have the opportunity to buy some 10" speakers from a mid 70's 8x10 cab from Ampeg for a few Euros. Should I buy them to build a cab on my own (2x10s for studio/micing purposes, like the new micro cab from ampeg for example)?
Or does that make no sense because 30 years old speakers will sound like cr*p?
 
#3
Toffa said:
Hi,

as I already mentioned here, I have the opportunity to buy some 10" speakers from a mid 70's 8x10 cab from Ampeg for a few Euros. Should I buy them to build a cab on my own (2x10s for studio/micing purposes, like the new micro cab from ampeg for example)?
Or does that make no sense because 30 years old speakers will sound like cr*p?
Click to expand...

They are more compliant than new SVT speakers. I would figure out the dimensions of the original SVT cab chamber they were in. One potential problem is that they are 32 ohm speakers, two will be 16 ohms in parallel. I would build a 4 x 10 at least. They sound good though, better than the new ones to my ears.
 
#4
NOS speakers that old can be a bit of a gamble.

They are made of treated paper, after all, and it does not last forever. The paper gets harder and more brittle as it ages, so you might be OK or might get some nice looking old speakers that will fail quickly if used.

It depends on how and where they were stored. Stored in a hot place they may be brittle and useless. Stored in a damp place they may have other problems. Stored in a normal room temperature area, in boxes, they might be primo.
 
#5
These are no NOS speakers. As I wrote, they are from an 8x10" cab and pretty well used I guess (switched owners a lot for sure).
This guy can sell me 4 speakers with one broken (can be reconed).

21€ for each speaker (not the broken one) isn't cheap but not very expensive either. But I don't know if it's really worth an experiment... :help:
 
#6
Hi, Toffa.

As You can't really use 3, and the modern (not necessarily better) 32Ohm alternative costs 77€ in Thomann, that leaves only 56€ for the reconing each of the "OK" speakers.

Obviously, if those baskets have alnico magnets and You can get them reconed with the proper kits, it's said to be much better than the newer ones.

I'd probably buy 'em, but that's just me, I buy almost anything if I think there's a need somewhere in the future. I have about 1000 M^3 of all kinds of "useful" junk to prove that :D.

I was going to suggest something around 15€ each anyway ;).

Sam
 
#7
One other point about old speakers is the foam connecting the paper to the metal frame may be all that has deteriorated and can be fixed by the owner DIY. I did it with stereo speakers from the 70's. Quite satisfying as they work fine now.
 
#8
hey, toffa, what are you going to use for materials when building your cab? I've built several speaker cabs in the past, and it was a lot of fun because I love carpentry anyway, bass, proaudio cabs, ect. There's a lot of vibration from bass cabs, and i've seen how the manufacturers can make several wood pieces into one piece. let me know if you need any advice. have fun! fogbass
 
#9
mntngrown said:
One other point about old speakers is the foam connecting the paper to the metal frame
Click to expand...
With very few exceptions pro-sound drivers don't use foam surrounds. Most non-premium vintage drivers don't even have separate surrounds, there's just a couple of corrugations at the cone edge. As for recones, obtaining OEM kits for drivers that old is difficult at best.
 
#10
if they're from a 70's 8x10 youll have to deal with the 32 ohm issue as stated above, especially if you want to build a smaller cab.

i have a vintage ampeg 4x10 (b40 cab) and i've replaced all the original speakers (32 ohm square mags) because they didn't sound that great for my application (loud rock band). i dropped new speakers into the cab, rewired to series/parallel and haven't looked back, but thats just my own preference. i felt that the original speakers didn't quite suit my needs.
 
#11
fogbass said:
hey, toffa, what are you going to use for materials when building your cab? I've built several speaker cabs in the past, and it was a lot of fun because I love carpentry anyway, bass, proaudio cabs, ect. There's a lot of vibration from bass cabs, and i've seen how the manufacturers can make several wood pieces into one piece. let me know if you need any advice. have fun! fogbass
Click to expand...

Hi fogbass

I don't know which materials I'm going to use yet. Do you think it's relevant which materials I take? The 2x10 chambers are relatively small so I thought there isn't much resonance. But if there is, I'm going to take something similar to the ampeg cabs.

btw, it's not my first DIY cab :)

Thanks for all the help so far.
 

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