Well you gotta hand it to Ampeg, they certainly made a wide variety of different and unusual speaker cabs and amps back in the 1990's/early 2000's.
I cannot find my Ampeg brochures from back then but just a few I recall from memory:
1. Isovent - these apparently don't get much love around here but the concept was rather interesting. IIRC they had two 15" drivers arranged in an isobaric configuration, then a pair of 10" drivers and a horn up top. Pig heavy of course but interesting nonetheless.
2. An 8" x 8 cabinet. Maybe others besides SWR made these back then but I guess it got you a lot of the fridge vibe without quite as much weight
3. A 6.5" x 8 cabinet, the SVT-806HE - I actually own one of these and love it. Eight 6.5" polypropylene drivers in two chambers with a tweeter (you can bypass the tweeter with a jack on the back panel). It's like a 3/4 size fridge (even the logo is downsized) but weighs about half as much (85 pounds).
While not a great low B cabinet this thing has the kind of transient response you have to hear to believe. I use mine with a B2-R head (so 350 watts into the four ohm cabinet) and it's a great, very loud sound.
4. SVT-150H head. This was the transistor amp section used in the B3 series combos only in a small head that looked like a classic Ampeg. This was designed to pair nicely (in size and depth) with the SVT-806HE.
5. B2 combo with four 8" drivers. This thing was HEAVY (like 100 pounds) but you could also pair it with their 4 x 8" cabinet to make an 8" x 8 combo stack that put out 350 watts.
6. B3158 combo - Another neat one, had a single 15" and a 8" driver as well. Was biamped internally with a balance knob to pan between the two amps/speakers.
Was also pig heavy but had rear wheels and a handle to move it around
7. B328 Combo - I wanted to buy one of these back in the day but could never find one new and the used ones I checked out were overpriced and not in great shape.
150 watt amp section from the B3 line, two 8" drivers and a horn in a tiltback cabinet.
Also like all the Ampegs from that era kinda heavy, 58 pounds I believe
8. SVT-350H Head - this was not all that weird but put the B2 amp section in a conventional looking SVT head enclosure. Big brother to the SVT-150H
9. I cannot remember the model number but in the catalog they also offered a 2 x 15" folded horn cabinet. I think it weighed like 200 pounds!
10. PBC-228 combo (this came out around 2001) of which I own. A neat concept, two 8" drivers and a 200 watt Class D amp section. Poplar wood and Eminence Neo drivers used for the cabinet so it weighed only 31 pounds.
The amp section was sort of a mashup of the PB-800 (dual channels, sweepable mids) with the back panel of the PB-250. Oddly though rated at 200 watts into four ohms (what the amp was wired for, no extension speaker jack) even though the PB-250 was rated at 250 watts into four ohms.
Great concept that didn't really work out. I bought mine as a blowout sale because it was cute, small and a bit of an oddity, but it does not get very loud and does not have a lot of low end. But it's a cool little amp
11. Various cabinets with Coaxial drivers for some of the speakers instead of speakers and a horn. I can't remember them distinctly but I think there was even a version of the SVT with this setup.
12. The "Pro" series which were versions of existing designs only I think they took more power and they certainly weighed a lot more. I believe the Pro version of the SVT Fridge was like 200 pounds.
13. B1-R: I guess since the B2-R was one of their more popular amps and sold for $499 back in the day, they decided to put the B3 amp section (150 watts at 4 ohms) into a small rack head. Not sure how many of these they sold
14. Preamps - the SVP-Pro which was highly regarded (I own one and I love it) but they also made a "Billy Sheehan" version which was drastically different. I think there might have been a third preamp as well.
So that's the ones that I remember, feel free to chime in with the ones I left out.
Anybody else like me own any of these interesting products from that era?
I gotta believe one thing that sent SLM into bankruptcy and the arms of loud was just too damn many products. One of the versions of the brochures I have is a foldout one, must be 50 different products!
Analogeezer
I cannot find my Ampeg brochures from back then but just a few I recall from memory:
1. Isovent - these apparently don't get much love around here but the concept was rather interesting. IIRC they had two 15" drivers arranged in an isobaric configuration, then a pair of 10" drivers and a horn up top. Pig heavy of course but interesting nonetheless.
2. An 8" x 8 cabinet. Maybe others besides SWR made these back then but I guess it got you a lot of the fridge vibe without quite as much weight
3. A 6.5" x 8 cabinet, the SVT-806HE - I actually own one of these and love it. Eight 6.5" polypropylene drivers in two chambers with a tweeter (you can bypass the tweeter with a jack on the back panel). It's like a 3/4 size fridge (even the logo is downsized) but weighs about half as much (85 pounds).
While not a great low B cabinet this thing has the kind of transient response you have to hear to believe. I use mine with a B2-R head (so 350 watts into the four ohm cabinet) and it's a great, very loud sound.
4. SVT-150H head. This was the transistor amp section used in the B3 series combos only in a small head that looked like a classic Ampeg. This was designed to pair nicely (in size and depth) with the SVT-806HE.
5. B2 combo with four 8" drivers. This thing was HEAVY (like 100 pounds) but you could also pair it with their 4 x 8" cabinet to make an 8" x 8 combo stack that put out 350 watts.
6. B3158 combo - Another neat one, had a single 15" and a 8" driver as well. Was biamped internally with a balance knob to pan between the two amps/speakers.
Was also pig heavy but had rear wheels and a handle to move it around
7. B328 Combo - I wanted to buy one of these back in the day but could never find one new and the used ones I checked out were overpriced and not in great shape.
150 watt amp section from the B3 line, two 8" drivers and a horn in a tiltback cabinet.
Also like all the Ampegs from that era kinda heavy, 58 pounds I believe
8. SVT-350H Head - this was not all that weird but put the B2 amp section in a conventional looking SVT head enclosure. Big brother to the SVT-150H
9. I cannot remember the model number but in the catalog they also offered a 2 x 15" folded horn cabinet. I think it weighed like 200 pounds!
10. PBC-228 combo (this came out around 2001) of which I own. A neat concept, two 8" drivers and a 200 watt Class D amp section. Poplar wood and Eminence Neo drivers used for the cabinet so it weighed only 31 pounds.
The amp section was sort of a mashup of the PB-800 (dual channels, sweepable mids) with the back panel of the PB-250. Oddly though rated at 200 watts into four ohms (what the amp was wired for, no extension speaker jack) even though the PB-250 was rated at 250 watts into four ohms.
Great concept that didn't really work out. I bought mine as a blowout sale because it was cute, small and a bit of an oddity, but it does not get very loud and does not have a lot of low end. But it's a cool little amp
11. Various cabinets with Coaxial drivers for some of the speakers instead of speakers and a horn. I can't remember them distinctly but I think there was even a version of the SVT with this setup.
12. The "Pro" series which were versions of existing designs only I think they took more power and they certainly weighed a lot more. I believe the Pro version of the SVT Fridge was like 200 pounds.
13. B1-R: I guess since the B2-R was one of their more popular amps and sold for $499 back in the day, they decided to put the B3 amp section (150 watts at 4 ohms) into a small rack head. Not sure how many of these they sold
14. Preamps - the SVP-Pro which was highly regarded (I own one and I love it) but they also made a "Billy Sheehan" version which was drastically different. I think there might have been a third preamp as well.
So that's the ones that I remember, feel free to chime in with the ones I left out.
Anybody else like me own any of these interesting products from that era?
I gotta believe one thing that sent SLM into bankruptcy and the arms of loud was just too damn many products. One of the versions of the brochures I have is a foldout one, must be 50 different products!
Analogeezer
