Ampeg Cab - Simple Upgrade

[Thornybank]

I took an Ampeg SVT-115 Classic cab in p/x.

Sounded awful and wimpish.

My tech checked to see if it had a pathetic driver.
No - cast frame (Chinese) Eminence.

Snipped the spade connectors and hardwired the speaker - big improvement in mid (any at all, now).

Hmmm...

Connection to the crossover board is a fiddly crimp on with spring contacts onto two rectangle bar thingmies all in a nylon junciton thing.

Snip.
Solder.

NOW IT IS A CAB!!!!!

Sounds amazing - 100X improvement.
Wow!

Ampeg - shame for that fiddly crap tone sucking nonsense. And they retail @ £549!?!?!??

Worth it after the mod, though. A great cab trying to get out.....

[bigjohn]

I'm really not sure about the chinese ampeg stuff...

they had their problems with the PCBs being botched out there and have now moved their whole production line?

I've spent £100s getting ampeg stuff brought up to spec in parts and labour (and that's all been "US" built)... at least that worked when I bought it though


Although - now you've got it fixed it'll be fine. As my man who fixes this stuff says (despite being a lover of quality) it's decent stuff, it's just built sh*t. But then he's not got a good word to say about anything other than Mullard and Powersoft.

Oh, early Sansui (for hifi) Leeds built Celestion, good pioneer, yamaha and some other stuff I've not even heard of are ok too... amcron, uk built carlsbro etc. Peavey stuff doesn't break but sounds sh*t...

At least the ampeg stuff gets a mention and he'll fix it rather than you having to sling yer hook. If yer lucky.


Ampeg stuff comes into it's own when it's been tweaked a bit.

Edited January 7, 2010 by bigjohn

[Thornybank]

If there was a list of 'waht to do' to get the music out of the gear, then here could be a standard shop prep routine that undoes all the jive.

What amazes me is that a cab that is 'worth' £549 when it is sorted out is hiding inside something that sounds like s*** that they charge £549 for.

That's £449 for a logo?

[Cat Burrito]

Luckily I have all older USA stuff but I hate it when decent makes cut corners

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='bigjohn' post='704836' date='Jan 7 2010, 09:46 PM']Oh, early Sansui (for hifi)[/quote]

I have an old Sansui stereo amp, I bought it for 20p and took it apart for a pot clean. Really quite something inside, big and full of point to point stuff.

[umph]

[quote name='Thornybank' post='704816' date='Jan 7 2010, 09:29 PM']I took an Ampeg SVT-115 Classic cab in p/x.

Sounded awful and wimpish.

My tech checked to see if it had a pathetic driver.
No - cast frame (Chinese) Eminence.

Snipped the spade connectors and hardwired the speaker - big improvement in mid (any at all, now).

Hmmm...

Connection to the crossover board is a fiddly crimp on with spring contacts onto two rectangle bar thingmies all in a nylon junciton thing.

Snip.
Solder.

NOW IT IS A CAB!!!!!

Sounds amazing - 100X improvement.
Wow!

Ampeg - shame for that fiddly crap tone sucking nonsense. And they retail @ £549!?!?!??

Worth it after the mod, though. A great cab trying to get out.....[/quote]

so soldering things on instead of connecting them with spade connectors made it sound better? sounds like you've been sold snake oil chap.

[umph]

[quote name='bigjohn' post='704836' date='Jan 7 2010, 09:46 PM']But then he's not got a good word to say about anything other than Mullard and Powersoft.

Oh, early Sansui (for hifi) Leeds built Celestion, good pioneer, yamaha and some other stuff I've not even heard of are ok too... amcron, uk built carlsbro etc. Peavey stuff doesn't break but sounds sh*t...[/quote]
sounds like he knows his stuff then!

[Thornybank]

[quote name='umph' post='706150' date='Jan 8 2010, 11:25 PM']so soldering things on instead of connecting them with spade connectors made it sound better? sounds like you've been sold snake oil chap.[/quote]

I wasn't going to bother replying to this one, but here you go...

...try it and see just how much dif it makes. In almost every case.

Because it does, friend. I have many, many dozens of heads and cabs and have heard ithat dif many, many times.

This isn't snake oil or attitude:

Solder involves the full circumference of each strand and locks the mechanical contact in place.

In a non-vibrating, oxygen free environment you could maybe trust a friction contact -if he crimping put more than one or two cables strands into contact with the spade in the first place.

And as soon as there is oxidation or less-than-perfect contact, how much signal is getting through?

Ever needed to clean an input jack? Same thing.

[paulie]

Cheers for the info

[umph]

[quote name='Thornybank' post='707192' date='Jan 9 2010, 10:38 PM']I wasn't going to bother replying to this one, but here you go...

...try it and see just how much dif it makes. In almost every case.

Because it does, friend. I have many, many dozens of heads and cabs and have heard ithat dif many, many times.

This isn't snake oil or attitude:

Solder involves the full circumference of each strand and locks the mechanical contact in place.

In a non-vibrating, oxygen free environment you could maybe trust a friction contact -if he crimping put more than one or two cables strands into contact with the spade in the first place.

And as soon as there is oxidation or less-than-perfect contact, how much signal is getting through?

Ever needed to clean an input jack? Same thing.[/quote]

sorry didn't mean to offend you, generally if one strand of cable makes contact it'll conduct through the rest. Obviously the clamps aren't ideal especially in a cab where there going to eventually work their way loose or become tarnished and cause problems, whereas directly soldering will bypass all these problems but the method of connecting it isn't going to have a massive effect on the sound!