Ampeg SVT-212AV

[OldManC]

I've been wanting to try one of these and finally found one at a decent price. Of course when it got to me one of the speakers was intermittent, and distorting whenever it cut in at full volume. The seller says he's willing to work with me on getting it straightened out, so I'm trying to decide the best route to take. Ampeg lists these as "custom Eminence LF driver(s)" but I can't get my local service center to return an email, which makes me less excited to give them any money to fix this.

Do any of you know whether these have an equivalent that I can order from somewhere else? Or, is this worth trying to get fixed? FYI, the cone looks perfect, so I'm guessing it's the coil? I really don't know...

[amptech]

I do warranty repair on Ampeg amps, l can ask Yamaha for advice and come back to you. Feel free to notify me if I don't respond here the next couple of days

[OldManC]

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

[Granny Gremlin]

Before you do anything else check the connections.  Most major manufacturers use slide on connectors vs soldering the wires to the terminals.  One connection may be dirty or slipped off (they can loosen or oxidize over time).  If look securely attached try cleaning them and crimping them back on better with some pliers.

Then if you don't have a meter to check for open or short coil, try pushing the cone gently in/out - hear any rubbing?  No rub don't mean no problem, but if you do hear it then you know its toast.

[OldManC]

... hear any rubbing?  No rub don't mean no problem, but if you do hear it then you know its toast.

Yep... I looked up speaker repair (it's been 40 years since I had a speaker repaired) and most places only mentioned reckoning. I think the coil is toast. Is that repairable these days?

[amptech]

Yep... I looked up speaker repair (it's been 40 years since I had a speaker repaired) and most places only mentioned reckoning. I think the coil is toast. Is that repairable these days?

Unless you find a workshop that recones for a living, it is rarely recommended to recone. In some cases you can justify reconing very rare or expensive speakers. We have a speaker factory in town, and they give me two new speakers rather than reconing one broken

[Granny Gremlin]

Exactly, a pro recone can often cost as much as a new speaker (C$120 give or take at my local guys; so no shipping both ways, which really makes it more expensive) and just isn't worth it.  They won't be able to reuse the cone and just replace the voice coil.  I get it done all the time, because 120 is still cheaper than most speakers but it would be close to the line for an Eminence... though if yours is a weird custom OEM, it may be the only option if you really want to replace it exactly (or cheaper because special = more money usually).

[OldManC]

That makes sense about reconing/coiling.

One of the reasons I'm asking about all this is to see if the "custom" bit in Ampeg's description really only means re-badging. I wouldn't want to pay more for an OEM speaker if there's an off the shelf Eminence equivalent.

[gearHed289]

You are probably right that they're nothing custom, but just re-badged.

20-something years ago, I bought a pair of tens directly from Ampeg (SLM) because I didn't know what model of Eminence to get. They are the ones used in the old, super beefy PR410HLF series. Cast frame, 150 watts. They're still kickin hundreds of gigs later.

[Nighttrain1127]

 Most speakers used by Ampeg and Fender ect. are custom in some way and not just off the shelf speakers.