Author Topic: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?  (Read 4911 times)

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Offline lucifersam76

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Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« on: December 29, 2011, 01:14:39 am »
I just bought a Sunn Spectre, I am planning on gigging with it as well as recording (bass mostly live), although I am a bit afraid it wont be loud enough. I was wondering if you guys think an ampeg 1510 cab would be good for this it has a 15 and a 10 in it and is 175 watts/8ohms. it is hard to find a cab with 4 10's in it much less 4 12's that isnt to many watts for the 60 watt spectre head (although I hear its more like 117) :evil:. I hope I made a good choice in this ampeg cab. I played a Sunn Spectre in like 1996 and loved it. im just now getting around to getting one and unfortunately I haven't been able to find any good deals on Sunn cabs, thus my decision to go with ampeg cab.

-Sammy

Offline EdBass

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2011, 07:23:22 am »
I just bought a Sunn Spectre, I am planning on gigging with it as well as recording (bass mostly live), although I am a bit afraid it wont be loud enough. I was wondering if you guys think an ampeg 1510 cab would be good for this it has a 15 and a 10 in it and is 175 watts/8ohms. it is hard to find a cab with 4 10's in it much less 4 12's that isnt to many watts for the 60 watt spectre head (although I hear its more like 117) :evil:. I hope I made a good choice in this ampeg cab. I played a Sunn Spectre in like 1996 and loved it. im just now getting around to getting one and unfortunately I haven't been able to find any good deals on Sunn cabs, thus my decision to go with ampeg cab.

-Sammy

 :? How can a cab be too many watts for an amp? If loud is your goal, you normally would want as many speakers as you can get; keeping in mind that the higher the sensitivity the louder the speaker/cab.
I've never personally used an Ampeg 1510, but from what I've read people seem to like them for bass.

Offline Isaac

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2011, 11:08:23 am »
Okay, Sammy, let's clear up a few points. First, it's a Sceptre, not a spectre. A spectre is a spirit, a ghost, or an organization of James Bond villains. A sceptre is a royal staff.

Next, as EdBass pointed out, a cabinet can't "have too many watts" for an amp, because cabinets don't "have" watts. What cabinets do is handle input power, which is measured in watts. So it's not possible for a cabinet to have too much power handling. If you have a 60 watt amp, it might burn out a 25 watt speaker, but not a 100 watt speaker. It certainly won't burn out a 200 watt speaker.

Properly measured, a Sceptre with a tube rectifier will put out 60-80 watts. No way it's going to put out 117. Even if it did, that's only 3dB greater than 60 watts, so it's no big deal.

I don't know where you live, but 4x10" bass cabinets are everywhere these days, and 4x12 guitar cabinets have been everywhere since the 60's. I have no idea why you can't seem to find any. Old Sunn cabs are rare, so I'm not surprised that you can't get a good deal on one (whatever "good deal" means to you). However, the Fender era Sunn cabinets aren't usually all that hard to find. Look around for a Model 410H. I quite like mine.

I'm not familiar with the Ampeg 1510, but I think you'd be better off with a 1x15", 2x15" (like the Fender era Sunn Model 215), or a 4x10". Other guys like 2x12" cabinets. I have no opinion, not having tried any for bass.

Are you aware that the Sceptre is a guitar amp? That's not an issue, of course. I've used mine for bass many times, with excellent results. Just thought I'd mention it.
Isaac

Offline lucifersam76

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2011, 07:37:24 am »
hey everyone. yeah I realized I was misspelling sceptre but it was to late, the damage had been done. but now that I know what they mean I like spectre better. as far as the cab/watts question I posted, I have to admit that after 25 years of being a musician one would think i would know more about this, HOWEVER and as strange as this is I have never owned a stack of any kind, I have only owned combo's. this will be my first "stack" and whats even weirder is I took about a years worth of audio production classes awhile ( many years and brain cells) ago, and this still has escaped me. I have been around stacks, played them, and borrowed them, but never matched them up for purchase, and the guy at the local music shop as well as a few friends of mine who I trust have told me its not THAT big of a deal to have a cab that can handle 500 watts with a 60 watt head but that it will effect my sound as I will lose alot of "headroom" as they put it, and it will sound smaller than it could. I was told it is best to have them kind of close with the cab having a higher rating like. 60 watt head with 175 watt cab, seems to me this would only matter with bass. I dont know maybe I understood them wrong. anyways as far as the 410's go I didnt get one because of this reason, also I tend to like 15 inch speakers as I really love the sound and tone of the ampeg fliptop (at full volume) , they are just not quite loud enough for what I need. and ISSAC im glad to hear the sceptre worked as a good bass amp! I hear it is almost impossible to believe that they are 60 watts, and I also hear that they were rated low as many old tube amps were thus the 117 watts comment. I am also a guitar player and need a good guitar amp so I think my choices are pretty good. only problem is the scepter deal didnt go through yet so now I am considering a ampeg v4. gotta have vintage tube. love that sound so much.
thanks for the info guys
~Sammy

Offline lucifersam76

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2011, 07:42:28 am »
ISSAC, my other question to you would be how did the sceptre do at high volumes? with a full band?

Offline Isaac

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2011, 10:53:44 am »
First, it's IsAAc, not ISSac!  :-D

The band makes a big difference. I played the Sceptre through a single 15" (Sunn 115S. I really miss that cabinet!) with a country band, and it was fine. One reason the Sceptre and its clones sound so powerful is that they have a 6dB roll off on the low end. That makes them sound a little bit brighter, keeps the lows from sucking up all of the power, and helps them to sit better in the mix.

On the other hand, I have played my Model T (150 watts) through a Model 215 AND a Model 415H, and it was barely loud enough, though it did have a nice edge of distortion. The difference was that this was with a bigger band, and outdoors. So the band and the venue make a big difference.

Note on the Model 415H: I really like the cabinet, but it does have a horn tweeter, and can sound harsh when the amp starts to distort. It's much better played clean.
Isaac

Offline CLD

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2011, 11:06:00 am »
SPECTRE also was James Bond's nemesis ...  :-)
Sunn since June 1971!
1971 Sorado, 2000S, Coliseum Bass, Coliseum Lead
1970 200S; 1974 Coliseum 880

Offline Walt-Dogg

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Re: Whats a good non-Sunn cab for a Sunn Spectre?
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2011, 02:19:20 pm »
SPECTRE also was James Bond's nemesis ...  :-)
"Dr. Know" was on the tele last night.
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