Ampeg SST 4x12 cabinet

[Hangman]

I have always wanted to check one of these out. Its got the solid state amplifier module built into the cab, and 4 altec 417 12inch speakers. its gotta sound so huge. has anyone ever played one? heard one?

they must not have made or sold many, because I never see them.

[CorkyJr]

I have always wanted to check one of these out. Its got the solid state amplifier module built into the cab, and 4 altec 417 12inch speakers. its gotta sound so huge. has anyone ever played one? heard one?

they must not have made or sold many, because I never see them.

Hi Hangman,
There was an SST for sale recently on Ebay. It looked in great shape and sold for $1000. for the head and two power bottoms. Not the big seller they thought it would be and was only in the catalog for only one year I did however learn to play bass on an SBT. Talk about sound, wow. Any tone you wanted and all the volume you wanted. I could have bought the rig years later but I had no way to move it easily. My first Ampeg was a V4B head and a B25B cabinet with Altec Lansing 421a speakers. Same great sound and easier to move.

[Hangman]

Bummer, I'm sad I missed that one. however depending on its location It might've been out of the question. Those cabs are big and heavy.

If anyone does own one, I would love to see some pictures of the guts. I wanna see how the amp mounts in the cabinet, and so on. I just want to have some thorough documentation of these amps

[Jon K]

Both Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme used the ST-42 cabs back in the day with QOTSA. All of them were white. I think the cabs had been on the road with The Faces in the 70's. And the guys bought them at an auction.

Josh had his cabs set up towards eachother for some reason. Any ideas on why?

Here is a picture of Nick with the cabs set up the same way. A picture of Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys was constantly on the amps for a couple of years

You can spot them at nearly any QOTSA live video from 1999 - 2003.

[meexiko]

I think they used the cabs that way because the volume of the ampegs is massive. If I remember correctly Josh used a VT-40 as clean amp (ok, not so clean, but his idea of clean tone) and two heads, maybe two V-4, or maybe a V-2 into a V-4 that goes to the two cabs.
I remember a video where Nick moved the cabs to let the sound coming out more straight to him, like he needed to hear better what he was playing.

[Hangman]

That is awesome! The St-42 cab has a massive, huge sound. I have the ST-42 cab, but the SST 4x12 cabs are externally similar, with the same speaker compliment, but they were meant to be used with the SST preamp. So each cabinet had its own solid state power amp built right into the cab. The head was simply a preamp.
it was their top of the line solid state amp. the power amps are basically the same amplifier that the ST-42 colossus used. I've just always wondered how it was mounted, and if the internal divisions and ports are the same as the ST-42 cab.

I did once work on one of the White V4 amplifiers that Faces used. apparently they just had gobs of white ampegs made.

[70spbase]

Hello I have the SBT bass version of the SST. It has the same amp in the cabinet. I have attached some pics as you requested. Mine has been modded to accept a speaker input or the onboard amp into the Altec 421A's. Hope the pics help.

[Hangman]

Wow! That is exactly what I wanted to see! do you have the SBT preamp too?

how does the SBT cab sound?

would you mind if I used your photos on another part of this site?

[70spbase]

Wow! That is exactly what I wanted to see! do you have the SBT preamp too?

how does the SBT cab sound?

would you mind if I used your photos on another part of this site?

Ahhh those speakers have so much tone! It sounds great Altec Lansing 421A's! I run an ampeg V6B with a sans amp VT bass DI. I do not have the SBT preamp.. sadly. I have been looking for years and had 1 in Canada ebay last year on the radar but it sold I think the day after I saw it. I am now trying to find one with or have someone build an SVT preamp, I already bought the PC boards and I'm waiting for a decent price in town. You are more than welcome to use the pics, If you want more let me know.

[drfingerz]

I have always wanted to check one of these out. Its got the solid state amplifier module built into the cab, and 4 altec 417 12inch speakers. its gotta sound so huge. has anyone ever played one? heard one?

they must not have made or sold many, because I never see them.

Hi Hangman,
There was an SST for sale recently on Ebay. It looked in great shape and sold for $1000. for the head and two power bottoms. Not the big seller they thought it would be and was only in the catalog for only one year I did however learn to play bass on an SBT. Talk about sound, wow. Any tone you wanted and all the volume you wanted. I could have bought the rig years later but I had no way to move it easily. My first Ampeg was a V4B head and a B25B cabinet with Altec Lansing 421a speakers. Same great sound and easier to move.

I used an Ampeg SST as a pre-amp for my Fender Rhodes piano for many years. The signal then went to a V4B head and two B25 bass cabinets. Originally it had Altec 421A, then EVB 15", then JBL D140's and finally Gauss (don't remember the model number. My favorites were the EV and the Gauss speakers. Since I ran the Rhodes as a bass instrument also, this set-up worked really well for my needs. Years later I sold the V4B head for $80.00 and the unloaded speaker cabs for 50 dollars each. If I had only seen what they would be worth today !