LeftyBassist.com

Pros and cons and similarities and differences of all of these? I'm looking into one of these to pair with an SVTIII pro when I get the basses I want, and when I start playing out more frequently.

Not an Ampeg guy, so I have nothing to contribute. But I wouldn't mind learning something!

well. I use an 8x10e after using all sorts of cabs, ampeg, genz, mesa, peavey, 4x10, 2x15. I find that the 8x10 just has the power, it has a sound to it that just kills. Now, ill run either a GK1001rb2, a GK800rb or an ampeg svt2 through it and its so bad ass. 2 great things other than the sound, its sooo much easier than moving/hauling the mesa 4x10 I had which weighed almost as much! Second, if for some reason I need to dial the cab down and I don't want to turn my head down I can just plug into the upper 4x10 which would be 8ohms rather than 4 and that cuts the power, reducing the vol. BTW ive used SWR and eden cabs and didn't dig those either. The ampeg can certainly do the old school thing, but eq your head right and it can sound quite modern, esp with a sansamp. That's what I think anyways.

So, for gigging, jams, and some recording, you'd recommend the 810? Is it the most versatile?

I feel it is. I use it to rehearse, live and have recorded with it. As long as you have a vehicle to load it in. I use a gmc jimmy, I roll it up to the tailgate, turn it sideways, flip it up and slide it in no prob where as others I had to lift up into the truck, waaaayyy worse. Ive had many 810s, I currently use a newer one and I have no issue with it other than the weak ass tolex, but they're all like that.

I'll have to look into one then. I've used the SVTIII pro head and i love it. Broken/damaged tolex isnt a problem i guess.. I can just tape over it if need be. I've found some great deals on 810s and the only problem appeared to be the tolex

I seer a lot of that, can always strip it and roll on that duratex there's a thread about someone doing it on talkbass

So the tolex being damaged isn't a big problem then?

Broken tolex is never a problem. Just don't take the cab water skiing

My personal preference with the SVTIIIpro is a 610 cab, the ampeg 610 seems to have a better mid push to it.
The down side is they cost more and are generally more difficult to come by on the used market.

810 will be nice and loud, just make sure to run your IIIpro with the tube gain all the way out to maximize your output. You don't want to starve those speakers.

if you need a 810 for jamming that means you are playing too loud
and for recording if you mic a cab they will be micing over one speaker anyway or DI or even straight into the desk with software. (trust me , punters cant hear the differences)
Dont let seeing bigger speakers and wow factor over rule what you really need and lug around
some cabs are ported some are not, so thats what you need to deciede as well.
for me i have owned a pro3 and 810 and 410 HLF, as i got older i sold the 810 to kids who wanted the look and gigged the 410 with a pro3 for 10 years.
for practice i ended up buying the new flip top ampegs 210 cab and 15 cab with gk MB500, which made it easy for transportation and smaller gigs
I no longer have the pro3 and now use a GK 550 fusion and 410 cab on big stages,

Will do! Thanks for the advice! And darn can i still take it parasailing?

And I would only be micing one speaker for recording. As for practice, i meant pre-gig. I play in a band with three guitarists, two of which have half stacks. I've really been needing to upgrade for gigs especially. I had no issues in my past band which was a 3 piece playing small venues, but in my current i feel i will need to upgrade especially for bugger shows in the future. For being a bedroom warrior i use my old 100W combo.

Another huge reason i want to upgrade is better tone, and to be able to plug the head right into the board for recording.

well i only used Ampeg until i got the gk 550 fusion and in my opinion the GK killed it.
but amps are a whole new discussion.
i see your 100 w combo isnt going to stand up to band practice and thats a fair point
the HE's are not ported so you do get a "tigher" sound
the HLF is ported ,in the front, so you do get that lower beefier sound
i do believe the HE's are also 8 ohms?(i cant remember) , which are stackable, just remember that if you think about buying just one
and the HLF is 4 ohms ,so more designed for stand alone operation
if you are thinking about buying the pro3 then the best match IMO is the HLF410
i cant see any advantage by getting a bigger cab 810 for that amp. I mean the HLF will take everything that the pro3 will give it.

I am a big fan of the "fridge" 8x10 sound but if you don't have a roadie get a 6×10 which is awesome too. I am less convinced by the HLF pro 4x10. The cheap 4x10's made by Ampeg like the BSF 4x10 are far from being the best option in this price range.

I think I'm going to go with the810 since I'm actually finding several for great deals. Do you all think the SVT III PRO will work well with the 810?

I'm a bit late (2 days ) to this conversation, but I'll post my thoughts in case they're still of value to you.

I don't gig regularly anymore and when I do I'm usually on backline gear. But back in the day I used a combination of Ampeg amps and cabs. Here's what I found in my experience:

* Nothing compares to the sound of a P bass through an SVT and the 8x10 cab. The way it moves air, the way it punches, etc. I used this combination whenever I played 500-1200 capacity venues with an alt-country loud rock band. We almost always had help to move the gear at these larger shows, so the only pain was making sure we made room for the larger cab in the van/truck.

* When I didn't want to move the 8x10, I ran the SVT through a 4x10. It sounded good-to-great. But I quickly got tired of moving the SVT, which in the flight case had to be close to 100 lbs. I started running an SVT III Pro into the 4x10 and got the sound I wanted at a fraction of the weight.

* Touring I used the SVT III Pro and the 4x10 to save space and my back.

* In the studio I always used a B15 + direct. Never any of the SVTs.

Conclusion: The 8x10 is AWESOME but big and bulky. Try out the SVT III Pro through the 4x10 (or 6x10, although I always thought if you do the 6x10, might as well do the 8x10 ). I was able to get a sound I was very happy with using the III Pro and the 4x10 and my back thanks me. So do my bandmates because we didn't have to get a bigger van.

Hope this information helps.

I disagree. Not all music is meant to be played at comfortable volumes, it really comes down to the style of the band and the personal preference of the players.

The big difference in the cabs is the sealed vs. ported sound, and a tweeter vs. tweeter-less.

I prefer a sealed, tweeter-less cab. I use overdrive in some amount at all times and find that sound works best with a sealed cab without tweeters.
I do own a 70's Ampeg 810 but I use a Bergantino NV610 for that sound these days.

If you're buying an 810 used there's good deals to be had on them, but do your homework and avoid certain years of them. The newer ones are better built and have better speakers in them than the ones from a few years back so if you can find one from the past couple years, or one that's 15-20 years old they'd be the next best. Or a very old one if you don't mind doing the maintenance on them.

Good discussion, thank you for all of the input. And how about a double p pickup bass through the ampeg stack then?

I think I'm going to go with the SVT 810HE, definitely the SVT III PRO. What years should i avoid, what years should i look out for the good ones?

I'm new to the whole tweeter vs tweeter less and sealed and ported.. Would you mind explaining and educating me? And which categories do the SVT 810 HE cabs fall under? I'm curious.
Thank you all so far, I'm learning a decent bit

All the Ampeg variants of the 810 cab except the PRO models are sealed, tweeter-less cabs.

Thanks again Andrew! By the way, i shot you an email a little while back about contacting another member via email. Let me know if it sent or not.