Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

As stated in his email to me, Dan's personal favorite of all the Hot Cabs was the 1x15 enclosure, more commonly known as the 115-G cabinet. As seen above left, and from the front it resembles the 12" cabinet in virtually every detail. At upper right, and with the snap-in grille removed the 15" speaker can be seen.

But as seen at upper left, this 115-G cabinet features an open back design which Dan said he liked best for the type of music he played. However, and as can be seen in the brochures section, all of the various models of cabinets were available in both open and closed back designs.

I never got a chance to get him to elaborate more on why he liked the tone of the 15" speaker cabinet with the open back design over the other cabinets, but am guessing it was just smoother overall for playing jazz music but the open back cabinet design soon raised an even bigger question. If all of the cabinets were available in both open and closed back designs, why was the wooden post so integral to the closed back design? Since the open back cabinets obviously did not employ them, what did the post do or offer that made it so different? Unfortunately, we may never know the answer, for as stated above, I never got the chance to follow through on these types of questions.

Notice the jack on the cabinet in the lower left corner, while the photo at upper right reveals the label seen on the back of the cabinet. The label reveals that the speaker model number is DG15A which can handle 150 watts, and is rated at 8 ohms.

Another type of cabinet produced was the 210-G Hot Cab. At upper left, and with the exception of the Dan Armstrong name not on the grille cloth material, and the Cerwin Vega name at the lower left the cabinet looks just like the others. At upper right, and with the grille cloth removed - two 10" speakers can be seen.

As seen upper left, this particular 210-G is also an open back cabinet and reveals that the speakers are wired in parallel. As seen upper right, the label on the back tells us the cabinet can handle 300 watts of power, and the speakers are factory wired for 4 ohms - but literature states it can be rewired for 16 ohms - which seems to tell us that the DG10A speakers are 8 ohms each, and wired in parallel, but can naturally be wired in series if desired.

Another cabinet produced was the 410-G, and this one features an open back type cabinet that houses four 10" speakers. As seen upper left and right the cabinet has a carrying handle on the top, but also features scoop type handles on the upper sides of the cabinet that allow one to cup their hands in and carry.

As seen upper left this 410-G cabinet has an open back design, and like the other cabinets, features a plywood interior. Notice the speaker jack located at the lower left of the cabinet as well as the label missing from the upper back of the cabinet. However, and as can be seen at upper right (though a little out of focus) the back label of a 410-G cabinet is still somewhat legible. Seen better in the enlarged view, it reveals the internal components consisting of four 10" DG10A speakers that together handle 600 watts. The cabinet is rated at 8 ohms.

As seen upper left, other cabinets were also available, such as the 412-G Hot Cab which is a standard 4X12 type cabinet that employs four 12" DG12A speakers that can handle a total of 600 watts, and is rated at 8 ohms.

At upper right, this 410-G cabinet features a closed back design, and with one of one of the speakers removed, the plywood back can be seen. However, unlike my G-112 cabinet, (which is also a closed backed cabinet), there is no wooden post behind the speaker. This seemed odd to me after corresponding with Dan about the post seen earlier in this section.

However, going back to the 412-G cabinet, and as can be seen above left & right, internal photos reveal why there are no posts seen behind the speakers. The cabinet posts on these enclosures terminate at the speaker baffles, rather than at the actual speakers.

The 412-G has the same top and side type carrying handles as the 410-G but being a 4X12 cabinet they are, naturally, a bit larger, yet somewhat more sought after by collectors & aficionados due to their rarity.

The fuel that flamed the Dan Armstrong · Cerwin Vega · Hot Cabs would continue into the late 1990^s - then begin to dim, and finally fizzle out. As Cerwin Vega & Dan Armstrong parted company Dan may have been wondering what his next move was. Little did he know that Ampeg was about to celebrate their 50^th Anniversary. Little could he suspect that history was getting ready to repeat itself.