610/810 lack of market/ practicality

[mike257]

If you're keeping it at home, and shifting it around by yourself, probably a bad move.

I replaced my 410 and 15 with an Ampeg SVT610 a few years ago, and I love it. It's a breeze to move around until you hit the stairs, but it's perfectly manageable with two of you. The big handle and castors make it a breeze to 'tip and roll'. It lives full time in our practice room, and only travels in a van, so the practical aspects are kind of dealt with by the fact that I'm rarely moving it on my own.

If you've got a band, a van, and somewhere other than your bedroom to keep it, then go for it!

[burno70]

Whilst I totally love the bad ass aesthetics of an 8x10 there's just no way on earth I'd have one - too much like hard work and there are so many great sounding and infinately more portable options available to bass players nowadays.

Soundwise and apart from height - can an 8x10 really give you anything not available in a more portable option? I doubt it.

[51m0n]

Getting whatever your rig is up high is the best solution to the volume issue.

I use a 410 simply because I just love the tone from the cab. Its big, but reasonably portable compared to other 410s (not so much a couple of 112s though).

I find that even with a 410 I need to get it up high to make the most of it. But thats because I want tohear the bass really loud in my 'onstage mix'. If I had a bigger cab or just put it on the deck and cranked it (it would go loud enough like that) I then overpower the band in the rest of the venue. Not so good!

There is a place for 810s and 410s etc, and thats in the back of a big rig that gets loaded and unloaded by a bunch of hired muscle - they are called roadies I believe - I've never had a team of roadies schlepoping my kit so I wouldnt get such a huge cab.

If I were to get one I'd be looking for a Bergantino NV610 though, cos they sound uttely monstrous and are surprisingly small...

[dan670844]

[quote name='AsterL' post='1351922' date='Aug 26 2011, 12:52 AM']So whilst looking on a infamous bidding website, I've found several absolute bargains on 810s and 610s at the moment.
Its quite funny seeing as they are the most expensive to buy out of any cabs, yet at the moment have no resale value what so ever. Why do you guys think this is?

And on a sidenote, (this my seem like a silly question) But how practical are 810/610s to move and live with?
I've never actually gig/seen/moved one before. Are all the horror stories true and is this why they have no resale value?[/quote]


Plus's

That certain tone you get from them esp sealed units (see ampeg)
Great dispersion and percieved loudness (see ampeg)
Efficient with the watts you put in again see ampeg SVT's are only 300watts but connected to a sealed 8x10 with correct drivers they a skin peeling loud.
Great definition across all the frequencies due to the fact you got 8 drivers all doing their little bit.
They look cool

negativess

Bleeding heavy 70kg's plus bulky, need a big car strong back and friends.... you cant shift them on your own
From a bygone era of low output power amplifiers a sh*t/no pa support you needed to make those watts count
With a modern SS amp they are just too loud you don't need that volume if you are pushing 400-600watts in them, are you mad haha!!
Watch you ankles ouch that hurts when they drop on them
Turning up at the rose and crown with a 8x10 isnt going to make the land lord very happy, if you can get it in the door that is.....
Cause of the bulk they rapidly get fooked in, torn and bashed unless they are in FCase (even heavier), but some people say they look cooler roadworn!

IMO great stuff but with modern amps just so overkill for almost everything, amplifier and cab design has come a long way in recent years, good performance can be had from much smaller lighter stuff these days, thats why they are so cheap, [u]no one wants them.

[/u]
Let it go save money and buy good quality modern designs stuff from Markbass, Aguilar Eden, SWR EBS, and Barefaced etc much more suited to anything everybody likely to do. Don't make the mistake of buying inferior gear, heavy older stuff that you will be pushing on again in a few months cause you've had enough of it. You just loose money, Save up buy that high end Aguilar/Eden/Markbass/etc mosfet rig, expensive yes, but its light, sounds fantastic and will last a very long time and if you want to move it on you wont loose much money. It does make me laugh on here as a lot of people are constantly rolling/ selling on the mediocre /guitars amps they have got and don't like , I have had the same amp for nearly 10 years and in the main one bass, yes they where bloody expensive, but previous to this I was a gear roller, looking back on it, spending the £2k on an amp and the ouch on the Guitar has actually saved me money!!!........

[ben604]

A quick one from me. I've never enjoyed/had as much power/tone than when I had a Markbass 6x10. It was small enough to fit in my focus boot without putting the seats down and a one man lift apart from stairs. I tried 2 x Acme 2x10s and they just weren't loud enough. If you can get a the sealed, Markbass 6x10 without the tweeter, it's the perfect cab in my opinion.

I now play though the PA, 2 x 15" tops and a 15" sub, with a little bit of foldback through 2 x JBL Eon 15s which is a good compromise if you've got the PA for it.

[bertbass]

Hi to you all. Before I go on to defend the humble 8x10 I must put in context where I’m coming from.

I play in a band, just one band. The band owns a van and we all travel to gigs together so we all arrive at the same time and all hump the gear in and out of the venues. Only one vehicle to park as well. When we are not playing the gear stays in the secured van until the next gig so no unloading when we get home. None of us enjoy jamming, you can only wake up this morning in E so many times.

Unless it’s a repeat gig, we don’t know what to expect until we arrive at the venue, large, small, indoors or outdoors. We are totally self contained and the equipment we have and need, is sufficient for a venue of up to 1500 – 2000 capacity.

I need a bass rig that is capable of filling any venue. I can DI the bass if needed but I still want to hear my bass on stage, I am an important part of the band’s sound after all and not just there to make up the numbers. My chosen weapons are a Carvin B1500 and Carvin 8x10.

The job of a speaker cabinet is to move air and for bass lots of it and no matter how modern a speaker is it will still only move so much air before power compression becomes a factor. Ignore the wattage rating of the cabinet it’s the voltage that the speaker will take before power compression that’s important and that is a lot less than you think.

An 8x10 will take a lot of volts before power compression becomes a factor.
An 8x10 has a small footprint on stage, smaller than most combo amps.
An 8x10 is easily moved about. They all come with wheels you just tilt them back and wheel them along. The easiest cabs I’ve ever had to move.
Half the speakers in an 8x10 are near to your ear so no problem hearing what you’re playing. Much better that your ears hear the sound rather than the backs of your knees and you actually hear your sound rather than a treble less rumble.
Door steps, no problem, just drag it over them.
Stairs? Easy, one lifts by the handles at the top and another uses the handy handle on the bottom.
I’d have to say that an 8x10 is easier to move than a bass drum in a case and certainly lighter than a Mesa Boogie in a flight case.
My 8x10 has done every gig from the smallest pub to large outdoor events. It’s always sounded superb. I’ve just wheeled it to the back of the stage, stuck the amp on top, plugged it in and played.

Would I suggest that you get one of the knock down priced 8x10s that you’ve seen for sale? Without a doubt. Buy one and never look back, better still buy two. How cool would that be?

[Bankai]

Due to not having a van and having to put my amp in the back of a relatively small car, I'm thinking about going along the 410 or 610 route rather than full 810.


I've had the lightweight solution, but I am moving back to the big rig. It's just not quite the same