The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bass Amps & Effects => Topic started by: sniper on October 18, 2009, 10:02:07 AM
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been working on a project that took me away from my basses for awhile, well i'm back! now i'm wanting to put together a couple of cabs (or one good one) to go with my 50 watt Fender head and i managed to get a pair of Celestion G12T-75's for a song. (i think i'm a slut for what i percieve as a good buy as my junk/parts box testifies!!!)
well, what is the next move? has anybody put these with a pair of Celestion V30's in a 4-12 cab or has anybody used them by themselves in a 212 cab for bass?
i am thinking about using them by themselves in one cab and finding an efficient 15" for another bottom cab to go with them. a 50 watt Fender isn't very loud but it has been 35 years since i messed with a "F" 50 watt amp. i know my old bassman 10 had speakers that sucked big time! the tone was good but the speakers were sad as i remember. this will be only used for small to medium venues but i could use it for larger gigs if it were micked...maybe.
any suggestions like what are the better empty cabs out there?
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Avatar sells empy cabs with many options in coverings and grille cloth. They have a very good reputation for both quality and service. Of all the "cab companies" I've looked into, they seem to be reasonably priced as well. I ahve only purchased speakers from them so can't speak personally about their cabs.
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Welcome back, Guvnor...!
(only 4 months of catching up to do... :o)
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Avatar make a nice and very affordable cab, but I did not know they would sell one empty. The only negative to Avatar is that they mount their speakers with wood screws. It is VERY worth a little effort to drill out the mounting holes and put in TBolt anchors. The wood screw thing is not good , but the design and sound of the cabs are top notch. Anything comparable that I could find was double the cost and to actually beat them about three times the cost. I've been using a 2 12" and tweeter cab for a couple years and I couldn't be happier :)
Rick
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Avatar make a nice and very affordable cab, but I did not know they would sell one empty. The only negative to Avatar is that they mount their speakers with wood screws. It is VERY worth a little effort to drill out the mounting holes and put in TBolt anchors. The wood screw thing is not good , but the design and sound of the cabs are top notch. Anything comparable that I could find was double the cost and to actually beat them about three times the cost. I've been using a 2 12" and tweeter cab for a couple years and I couldn't be happier :)
Rick
I agree. Be careful when handling the front grill screen...the edges can be razor sharp. It's also worth inspecting the jackplate and using Loctite on any small nuts that could vibrate loose. Hint: it's hard to Loctite the small hardware bits if your fingers are shredded and bleeding. >:(
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Direct from the Avatar website:
"Bass cabinets are not sold speakerless...loaded only"
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Celestions are not one of my favorite speaker for bass, but after thinking about it a while, I recall them working out pretty good in pretty basic cabinets. They may work well in something like a simple 2 12" Bassman cabinet . Marshall cabs were nothing fancy and they worked pretty well in those. I can only recall a couple of guys who ever ran Celestions in fancy schmancy designed cabs, and they didn't really get me excited. Maybe there's a reason they respond well to a pretty basic cabinet. I'm not a sound engineer and I dunno ???
Rick
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1970 Marshall 4x12 slope - original celestions, still working well (the 3 that are left...!) but as soon as I can scrape together the readies a new set (make undecided) will be going in...
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Kenny,
You can probably sell those Celestions to a vintage freak and get enough to buy a half dozen of whatever brand you want ;D.
Those things are pretty darn pricey for what you get and not that easy to find either. I tossed out a blown 4 ohm75 watt 12" Celestion guitar speaker from the 70s a couple of years ago(forget the model no.). I held on to it for years in hopes of getting it reconed , but my speaker guy couldn't get original parts to do it and he advised not using some generic crap. Threw it away when I moved and six months later the SOB calls me up and tells me he found original parts >:(. Still , it would have been about double what a normal recone would have been. Vintage Altecs and JBLs are the same story .
Rick
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Never considered that... thanks for that, Rick... I have to get something operational before trying that idea, though... we have a postal strike looming so have had to curtail my junk sales... :sad:
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FYI
hi, just got off the phone with Larry @ this place:
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Rodgers/index.html
he was very nice, answered all my dumb questions and made some reccomendations. his lead time seems very reasonable, and in general he seemed very knowledgeable about the subject of "F" cabinets.
me thinks this is a person to deal with when it comes to a quality cabinet purchase, but you get what you pay for supposedly. (his prices are a bit high, but a quality product usually is)
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Soooo......what kind of recommendations did he make for you?
Rick
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1) first he recommended a Fender cab to go with the head for asthetics
2) second he told me to basically try for very close to original specs (think measurements and wood type ... solid vs plywood, finger joints vs cheaper ways to make wood joints, etc) with a few updates (?..splained in a bit) to try for as close to a vintage sound as possible and the fact he uses a newer type of glue that he believes is better than the original type. he did say he uses original types of finger joints and wood types in all his constructions and that he uses tighter tolerances than Fender did originally
3) third he answered my dumb question "like what is a tone ring?" ... which was Fenders way of porting a cabinet ... and repopping those tone ring mounts gets expensive
4) fourth and last his lead time is about 7-10 days to a customers door.
he did not make any specific speaker recommendations as i
a) didn't ask and
b) i told him what type i had to work with already
he does offer options as aged grill cloth, tone rings mounts, colors of tolex and possibly others but i didn't get into options very much
ciao ... the pup
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Sounds like you found a good one...
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Sounds like a good plan to me. My vote was a Bassman ;D
Rick
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FYI
hi, just got off the phone with Larry @ this place:
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Rodgers/index.html
So that's where Larry got to! He did a a Blackface Super Reverb that I found back in the late 90s. His work is top notch - and FWIW his prices haven't changed since then! (at least not on the Super)
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nice thought Rick, i have been leaning towards a bassman also and have been looking for some on the Bay.
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here is what i came up with:
1) it is a mojo cab with dove tail joints
2) is 25$ less expensive than from mojo
and
3) it replicates the fender bassman 212 cab
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280156963784&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
i also found a guy that sells the fender 15" tone ring kit...i will post more news about that when i get it.
ciao...bill the dog
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Does that mean I shouldn't have sold my 60's Bassman 2x15 cab (no speakers) for $125?
Oh well, that was last summer....
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For a brand new cabinet that is a dead on Fender clone (without a Fender nameplate), that sounds like a decent deal. Your only other real alternative is to keep sniffing around for a good used one and honestly, I think I'd rather do the new. Buying used you're likely to see a lot guys who think they have some priceless vintage piece , and I really don't understand that point of view for a speaker cabinet . The head is a different story ;)
Rick
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I agree. I figured a 40-year-old cab with no functional speakers was just a 40-year-old cab. I was OK with getting more than $100 for it.
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right on!!
too much glue, old wood (think not a solid hunk or small numbers of large hunks like in bass guitar making) to fall apart and the ever present PURESTS who drive up the price of vintage pieces, or the scammers who try to sell junk on the bay.
thanks, bill the dog