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which orange cab for an SVT?

#21
I really want to re-address this since it was my biggest question; this is referring to the sp410's:

"I don't know much about Isobaric amps, but according to Orange, the front two 10'' speakers i believe are sealed off from the rest of cab. The back two are ported. In theory, it seems to me that this would be the best of both worlds in a way, you could get that "sealed ampeg cab" sound that the ampeg 8x10s have with the two front 10's, and you could get the deep lows that the ampeg 6x10 and 4x10 get with the two ported 10s in the back. Am I not the first person that's noticed this?"

anyone?
 
#22
I run my 72 SVT with a Berg nv215 and I'm making a vintage grill cloth for it. The sound is amazing.

Recovering in orange if you want the color isn't all that hard and cheaper than 2 cabs. The nv610 is bad-arse as well.

I may have someone recover my svt and berg in red just for fun.
 
#23
andrew said:
I don't have personal experience answers for you, but the bass player from the band Soul Control uses an Ampeg SVT-VR with a pair of the Orange OBC410 cabs. He uses a Fender jazz bass and a Malekko B:Assmaster distortion pedal. Killer sounding set up.

I think Soul Control might be playing in Seattle tonight if you want to check this combo out yourself.
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yea, I'm not sure if I would survive one of their shows :p

any songs of theirs that you know might have a hearable bass part?
 
#27
TheNightLife said:
nope. the svt tube heads are only 4ohms or 2ohms.
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I know that it's listed that the SVT only takes 4-2 ohms, but I was talking to a guy at Emerald City guitars, Seattle, and he was telling me that I could run one of either of the orange cabs instead of two and that it didn't matter much.

Could you blow a speaker doing this or something? what's the worst that could happen?
 
#28
countrybass007 said:
I use two Orange cabs to get a 4 ohm load, an Orange OBC115 and an Orange SP212. The OBC115 is a ported 15, the SP212 has 1 12 ported and one sealed. Great sounding combo of cabs, at a cost of a bit under $1,400.00 The Orange Isobaric cabs are amazing! My OBC is white, so so much for the orange paint concept.
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i guess i overlooked this post before... you said that one of the 12s in the sp212 is ported and the other is sealed? are you sure the other is sealed? The main question I've had about the sp's is if the front speakers are sealed or not.. orange doesn't have a lot of great info on their gear.
 
#29
snakesandarrows said:
I know that it's listed that the SVT only takes 4-2 ohms, but I was talking to a guy at Emerald City guitars, Seattle, and he was telling me that I could run one of either of the orange cabs instead of two and that it didn't matter much.

Could you blow a speaker doing this or something? what's the worst that could happen?
Click to expand...

You wish what could happen would be as simple and cheap as a blown speaker.

It could be a complete amp meltdown.
 
#31
snakesandarrows said:
I know that it's listed that the SVT only takes 4-2 ohms, but I was talking to a guy at Emerald City guitars, Seattle, and he was telling me that I could run one of either of the orange cabs instead of two and that it didn't matter much.

Could you blow a speaker doing this or something? what's the worst that could happen?
Click to expand...
it all depends on the volume you play at and how long you do it. it will probably be ok for a while as long as you keep the volume down, but it can eventually stress the tubes and possibly the output transformer. i have used an 8 ohm cab with rental svt's before and they worked just fine and there was no problem. but i play at volumes most of you guys would laugh at, and i would never ever do it to my own svt.
 
#33
What happens if the SVT ohm switch is set at 2 Ohms but you are actually plugged into a 4 Ohm Cab?

Curious...

I'm gassing for some Orange cabs as well, so I'm interested in what the suggestions are in this thread. I'm running an SVT-HD into an NV215 and sounds killer...
 
#34
Groover said:
What happens if the SVT ohm switch is set at 2 Ohms but you are actually plugged into a 4 Ohm Cab?

Curious...

I'm gassing for some Orange cabs as well, so I'm interested in what the suggestions are in this thread. I'm running an SVT-HD into an NV215 and sounds killer...
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of any impedance switch on a tube SVT - there sure isn't one on my '70s model. There are two 4 ohm jacks - you can run two 8 ohm cabs parallel off one jack to make a 4 ohm load, or one four ohm cab. Two four ohm cabs, one out of each jack.

I'm at a loss as to why anyone with a Berg cab would want an Orange to be quite honest.
 
#35
Orange cab gas in my case is for a 3Pro, but intrigued on how they sound with an SVT as well. The NV215 is honestly a perfect match for the SVT-HD IMO

Here is a pic of the back panel. The SVT-HD is the Skunkworks model made in 87/88 which was supposedly a replica of the original SVT. See Impedence switch to the right.
 

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#36
nysbob said:
I'm not aware of any impedance switch on a tube SVT - there sure isn't one on my '70s model.
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That started with the later models. Instead of having the jacks wired to transformer taps (ie both plugged in = 2 ohm tap) there was a switch to go between 2 and 4 ohms. The earliest for sure were the skunkworks models, I'm not sure about the MTI models, but at least everything from the late 80s and after has a switch.
 
#37
Groover said:
What happens if the SVT ohm switch is set at 2 Ohms but you are actually plugged into a 4 Ohm Cab?
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Being over the rated impedance can cause arcing in the tubes, something to do with the plate voltage being different than expected, which in turn can damage the output transformer.

Edit - details from here: http://www.geofex.com/tubeampfaq/tafaqndx.htm

Extended A: It's almost never low impedance that kills an OT, it's too high an impedance.

The power tubes simply refuse to put out all that much more current with a lower-impedance load, so death by overheating with a too-low load is all but impossible - not totally out of the question but extremely unlikely. The power tubes simply get into a loading range where their output power goes down from the mismatched load. At 2:1 lower-than-matched load is not unreasonable at all.

If you do too high a load, the power tubes still limit what they put out, but a second order effect becomes important.

There is magnetic leakage from primary to secondary and between both half-primaries to each other. When the current in the primary is driven to be discontinuous, you get inductive kickback from the leakage inductances in the form of a voltage spike.

This voltage spike can punch through insulation or flash over sockets, and the spike is sitting on top of B+, so it's got a head start for a flashover to ground. If the punchthrough was one time, it wouldn't be a problem, but the burning residues inside the transformer make punchthrough easier at the same point on the next cycle, and eventually erode the insulation to make a conductive path between layers. The sound goes south, and with an intermittent short you can get a permanent short, or the wire can burn though to give you an open there, and now you have a dead transformer.
 
#39
The front speaker is kind of sealed, but not like in a regular sealed cab. In a regular cab, the moving speaker causes the internal air pressure to go up and down, which in turn dampens the motion of the speaker. In an isobaric cab you don't get this as the speaker behind it moves foward in unison, keeping the air volume and pressure between the two speakers almost constant.

This might be a negligible effect though so for all intents and purposes it could behave like a 'best of both worlds' cab as you suggest. All I know is they sound great, deep deep lows, punchy and vintage sounding all at once (and I only have the SP210).
 
#40
nysbob said:
I'm not aware of any impedance switch on a tube SVT - there sure isn't one on my '70s model. There are two 4 ohm jacks - you can run two 8 ohm cabs parallel off one jack to make a 4 ohm load, or one four ohm cab. Two four ohm cabs, one out of each jack.

I'm at a loss as to why anyone with a Berg cab would want an Orange to be quite honest.
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Because despite everyone saying Berg is best, you will still find players who like what they like, and fair play.

Ive tried one Berg cab and sold it on, but im not ruling out future purchases if the pricing over here goes back to normal.
 

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