Vintage Ampeg Cab: Restore or Enjoy the Road Wear

#22
Thanks everyone for all the thoughts so far, much appreciated! To clarify for anyone who misunderstood. The second photo was of another cab, this one has no stickers. The 610 I just sold on to another and he was so stoked about the kid stickers on it, it had me thinking.

@LowG, @Wasnex, and @JimmyM , I'll grab some photos when I get a chance, they are not originals but modern China speakers not designed for this cab. Found the photo of em. I am kinda tempted to find some originals if the price isnt bad. Sorry I didn't clarify well that these were non OEM. Do your thoughts still stand?


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2saddleslab said:
If the cabinet structure is sound, and there's no wood damage under the tolex, I'd probably let the kids have at it and sticker bomb the snot out of it.
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dc-upright said:
My daughter is 40, when she was 7 or 8 she put kitten stickers and the like on my p bass case. They are still in there. There is no way I have ever regretted letting her do that and sometimes I look at them, go back in time and smile!

I say option B
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Thanks guys, those are exactly my thoughts, I also didn't even think about the down the road memories.
 
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#23
Novarocker said:
Thanks everyone for all the thoughts so far, much appreciated! To clarify for anyone who misunderstood. The second photo was of another cab, this one has no stickers. The 610 I just sold on to another and he was so stoked about the kid stickers on it, it had me thinking.

@LowG, @Wasnex, and @JimmyM , I'll grab some photos when I get a chance, they are not originals but modern China speakers not designed for this cab. Found the photo of em. I am kinda tempted to find some originals if the price isnt bad. Sorry I didn't clarify well that these were non OEM. Do your thoughts still stand?
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Nope! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...iPwMegQIFxAE&usg=AOvVaw2PnsrQtO9Sh0aU4lHTNRfd
is the speakers you want in a 410hlf. Full Compass is out but you can probably find them elsewhere using that part number. Won't be real cheap but not prohibitively expensive.
 
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#24
Novarocker said:
First off, the cab sounds amazing and is really in great shape as a whole. I do plan to put different drivers in there, unfortunately the originals are gone. Just some wicked cheap eminence guitar speakers, like 30 watt ones, are in there.

Outside of that, I feel like there's not going to be a good way to restore the grill without replacing the grill cloth. I don't really feel like I want to. Certainly the same goes for the tolex, which I would paint if I were to strip.

Curious on people's thoughts for/against it. I plan to either:

A. Clean up the tolex and everything else. Then attempt to remove the paint from the grill or replace the cloth.

Or

B. Embrace it, let my kiddos sticker bomb it and call it good. For reference to the start of it on another cab (see second photo).

I'm leaning toward B right now.
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Side notes:
I love the stories behind sticker bombing stuff and my kids enjoy it so much. There's a back story to what's got me thinking I need to really let em do it on this, but I wasnt sure with it legit being a vintage cab.

Also, I've read most of the threads on here about replacement speakers and even reached out to a few of those for more details, but I'm always game to hear more recommendations from anyone. I'm leaning towards Celestion pulse 12s as the first set to try.
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what cab is that?
 
#25
JimmyM said:
Nope! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...iPwMegQIFxAE&usg=AOvVaw2PnsrQtO9Sh0aU4lHTNRfd
is the speakers you want in a 410hlf. Full Compass is out but you can probably find them elsewhere using that part number. Won't be real cheap but not prohibitively expensive.
Click to expand...

Wait I'm confused, the cab is an old V4 cab with 12s.


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@Adienn7 see above. Not sure exact year(s) it could be from, but it's definitely am earlier version w/ silver badge and silver grill cloth. Early-mid 70s I'm assuming.
 
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#26
Also, on the speaker front for those mentioning to leave them in, they're 35w guitar speakers, so the handling is 140w for the cab. They don't fart out, but I would like to put something with better power handling to let pushing my BTA be a possibility.

I've read and chatted with JohnK on his experiences and may end up that route but we'll see. I'm in no rush to replace them just yet.
 
#28
Novarocker said:
Wait I'm confused, the cab is an old V4 cab with 12s.


View attachment 7005555

@Adienn7 see above. Not sure exact year(s) it could be from, but it's definitely am earlier version w/ silver badge and silver grill cloth. Early-mid 70s I'm assuming.
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For some reason I thought your 610hlf was what you were talking about, and I thought it was a 410hlf. Now that I use a phone for web surfing almost exclusively, I can’t see the pics so well.
 
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#29
JimmyM said:
For some reason I thought your 610hlf was what you were talking about, and I thought it was a 410hlf. Now that I use a phone for web surfing almost exclusively, I can’t see the pics so well.
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No worries, I feel ya. They certainly weren't the best photos by far, either.

Out of curiosity, is my memory correct and these cabs were marketed with both the V4 and V4B bass head, just used different speakers depending on the intended use?

@five7 I would agree, though from my understanding on previous threads of people using/changing speakers on them with excellent results. See the above comment too. I think it was an either or cab, just depending on speakers.
 
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#30
Novarocker said:
No worries, I feel ya. They certainly weren't the best photos by far, either.

Out of curiosity, is my memory correct and these cabs were marketed with both the V4 and V4B bass head, just used different speakers depending on the intended use?

@five7 I would agree, though from my understanding on previous threads of people using/changing speakers on them with excellent results. See the above comment too. I think it was an either or cab, just depending on speakers.
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Your memory is almost accurate, but while there were V4 and V4b cabs, V4b was a 215 in a folded horn enclosure.
 
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#33
Novarocker said:
No worries, I feel ya. They certainly weren't the best photos by far, either.

Out of curiosity, is my memory correct and these cabs were marketed with both the V4 and V4B bass head, just used different speakers depending on the intended use?

@five7 I would agree, though from my understanding on previous threads of people using/changing speakers on them with excellent results. See the above comment too. I think it was an either or cab, just depending on speakers.
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No, The V4 cab is 4x12, typical infinite baffle guitar half stack box.
The V4B was never offered with a 4x12; instead, the V4B cab was a 2x15 reflex horn.
 
#35
Eitherway, it sounds great. I plan on saving the guitar speakers and swapping in Celestion pulse 12's.

If my math is right there's roughly 1 cu ft per speaker.

The current speakers provide about f3 of 103hz, fb of 156hz and an atrocious etc of ~3.2. While the pulses will give about f3 of 80hz, fb of 97hz, with a respectable qtc of 0.91.

Better yet, they appear to run on the bright side too.

Curious to see how much that translates to in person for the lows.
 
#36
Lucked out and found a pair of pulse 12's barely used locally for $100! Just got done swapping them in, removing the old speakers and "sealing" the holes for the other two. Tested it out last night and was impressed.

Cranked it up this morning once the house emptied out and it's really good. I highly recommend these as a replacement. Did some quick math and it turns out to about 2.2 cu ft per speaker when loaded as a 2x12. No dampening material is in there, I plan on adding some soon. Same with acquiring another pair of the same speakers.

I'm more than satisfied right now and was surprised at the amount of highs these can still put out.

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