Wooks79 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I was wondering about this and thought I would ask... Why is the ampeg 1x15 (Svt-15e or b-115e) only able to handle 200 watts at 8 ohms? It just seems ridiculously low, and after looking at the specs for ampeg heads, I can't find any of their amps that would be able to be used with just a 1x15 at 8 ohms and not be too much power for their 1x15 or even any that would be fine at 4 ohms with 2 of their 1x15's! As far as I understand, a lot of them mean that I couldn't even combine a 410 and 115 as at 4 ohms, most amps would still be giving it more than 200 watts?! Is it just me that finds this silly, or have I got something wrong? Eg, if like I do, I have 2 1x15 8 ohm ampeg cabs, the list of their amps that I CAN'T use is - B2RE, SVT 3 pro, SVT 4 pro, SVT 7 pro, SVT 8 pro, SVT CL, SVT 450h etc etc... If I am wrong, please site right, but as far as I can read it, I for example, couldn't put an SVT 3pro through my 2 ampeg 8 ohm 1x15 cabs?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 [quote name='Wooks79' post='1195233' date='Apr 10 2011, 11:49 PM']If I am wrong, please site right, but as far as I can read it, I for example, couldn't put an SVT 3pro through my 2 ampeg 8 ohm 1x15 cabs??[/quote] You can. You just don't want to be cranking the amp up to '10'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fitzmaurice Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 [quote name='Wooks79' post='1195233' date='Apr 10 2011, 06:49 PM']I was wondering about this and thought I would ask... Why is the ampeg 1x15 (Svt-15e or b-115e) only able to handle 200 watts at 8 ohms?[/quote] Because it's honestly rated. 9 out of 10 drivers with ratings higher than 200 watts can't actually make use of more than half their power rating before running out of excursion, and any more power added gets no additional output. Ampeg rates its drivers closer to the actual power the can make use of, not what it takes to cook the voice coils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 [quote name='Wooks79' post='1195233' date='Apr 10 2011, 11:49 PM']....If I am wrong, please site right, but as far as I can read it, I for example, couldn't put an SVT 3pro through my 2 ampeg 8 ohm 1x15 cabs??....[/quote] You can. There is a local bass player who runs his passive jazz bass through an SVT3PRO and Ampeg 115 and 210 cabs. Both cabs are rated at 200 watts and he's louder than I can take without ear plugs. The original Ampeg SVT810 was only rated at 300 watts and it was used on stadium sized stages! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 [quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1195260' date='Apr 11 2011, 12:41 AM']Because it's honestly rated. 9 out of 10 drivers with ratings higher than 200 watts can't actually make use of more than half their power rating before running out of excursion, and any more power added gets no additional output. Ampeg rates its drivers closer to the actual power the can make use of, not what it takes to cook the voice coils.[/quote] This... either Ampeg use really poor drivers or there is quite a bit of nonsense in some speakers ratings. Even to this day, I still never run an amp at the same rating as the cab and expect to get away with it for long. Quiet jazzer excepted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan670844 Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 [quote name='Wooks79' post='1195233' date='Apr 10 2011, 11:49 PM']I was wondering about this and thought I would ask... Why is the ampeg 1x15 (Svt-15e or b-115e) only able to handle 200 watts at 8 ohms? It just seems ridiculously low, and after looking at the specs for ampeg heads, I can't find any of their amps that would be able to be used with just a 1x15 at 8 ohms and not be too much power for their 1x15 or even any that would be fine at 4 ohms with 2 of their 1x15's! As far as I understand, a lot of them mean that I couldn't even combine a 410 and 115 as at 4 ohms, most amps would still be giving it more than 200 watts?! Is it just me that finds this silly, or have I got something wrong? Eg, if like I do, I have 2 1x15 8 ohm ampeg cabs, the list of their amps that I CAN'T use is - B2RE, SVT 3 pro, SVT 4 pro, SVT 7 pro, SVT 8 pro, SVT CL, SVT 450h etc etc... If I am wrong, please site right, but as far as I can read it, I for example, couldn't put an SVT 3pro through my 2 ampeg 8 ohm 1x15 cabs??[/quote] I don't know about the 15" but I have some emminence drivers from an ampeg cab they are the BP102's they have a pretty high sensitivity so they don't need to have a lot of juice to be loud and produce a good full range sound i.e good bass response, they sound fantastic, I use them with a valve hifi amp, I built 6V6 SE (with a little bit of top from a little crossover tweater) I guess a lot of their stuff is designed to be used with SVT valve stuff i.e. 300 watts. I think that is the secret to why the svt's were so loud. The BP102 is an amazing speaker even now, but for the late 60's very remarkable!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmshaw37 Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 i was wondering this, as the speaker inside it is rated at 400 watts rms! and i can agree, i've played probably over 100 gigs with mine on its own, and never really felt it wasnt loud enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.