Rick,
I got the speakers in the cab. As this is a new rig for me it is all new in every way possible. To start off with just the speakers is nearly impossible to describe due to the above but I will try best I can.
First off, these are basically Brit speakers (made in China) in an old American Fender Cab (mid 60’ish) with a home modified Epi EBO. I bought them used but in pristine condition so I am assuming they are broken in a little.
The amp is a Bassman 10 unmodified as near as I can tell, but it has had some work as two of the pots have been changed (new knobs and brighter metal pots…I didn’t chase down the pot numbers) and the OT has been replaced (with a correct but newer I think) OT as the pattern on the chassis shows different mount marks. The numbers are correct for a BM10 though 021848 and it kind of leans to one side which tells me it has been dropped, but it isn’t leaking or shows any signs of being HOT. I am running two JJ 6L6GC with two RCA black plate 12AX7’s and a well balanced Raytheon 12AT7 V3 driver. The amp has no hum or buzz. 50 watts RMS with maybe 100 watts peak (prolly closer to 70 or 80 watts peak/max I am guessing). The amp warmed up about 20 minutes before I hit the first note and raised the volume as I progressed in the bass/normal channel. All amp knobs were at 5 and I used the master volume only as this was the initial fire up all together. I later changed channels but kept the knobs at 5 except as noted.
The cab is an old 60’ish Blonde Bassman dual cell cab that has been well taken care of, re-Tolexed about 10-15 years ago and has no rattles I have found yet with a good deal of batting inside, wired parallel for 8 ohms as these are 16 ohm speakers. The piggyback mounts were plugged for this trial run. My Bandmaster Reverb head cab does not fit the speaker cab piggyback holes. That is going to change!
The bass is a Chinese made Epi EBO (cheapest wood they can find = prolly Asian Pine) with Grover pegs, a 60’ish neck pup, with a DR. Bill T-Bird tailpiece, 3 point stock bridge, 300 k-ohm Audio volume pot, a 250 k-ohm Linear tone pot, both CTS and a replacement hand rest/bridge cover with light flat La Bella’s and shielded wiring replacing the Chinese crap. Ohh yesss…and my unchromed Fender tug bar! (lol out of respect to Uwe of course)
They seem to have plenty of bass for 12 inchers. Maybe a bit shy in mid range and high but I have a mudbucker slammed up against the neck so no surprise there, but they seem to deliver all the mids and highs the fart hammer pup can make and they do it with clarity. With a channel change later to bass/studio, I was able to raise the mids and it sounded good like an EBO should. They take everything this 50 watter has to offer. The bass is full and a lot better than I can remember a BM10 being. The cab held up fine. Kind of like an old whore with a new dress = all the equipment is there and can still perform just the aesthetics seem a bit dated but who can tell with the lights out? The speakers do not sound flabby or loose. I can peg the master volume (all other knobs at 5), a lot better than I could (duh…that has been awhile ago!!!) on the BM10 of yesteryear before the amp reaches its peak and started to sound a little strange but I think most of THAT is not knowing how the bass, amp and speakers are going to work together as they were all strangers till this morning.
I blew the speakers in my old BM10 but that has been a long time ago. I do remember that I had a problem with volume (not over 7 please!!!) in the original BM10 and the cheesy speakers it had. (I corrected that problem with a new GK 350 watt RMS with a folded horn bottom rig in 1974…WOW!!! Big dog at the time, and prolly still respectable now days, truth be known). My original amp seemed to break up early but I really think it was those cheese ball speakers.
Over all would I do it a little different if I had to do it again? MAYBE!!! I plan on getting a 15” speaker cab (a tone ring if possible as I have the plans and a fairly good idea of how to make an aluminum tone ring out of an 18” wok cover if I can’t find one! no new fancy cabs or crossovers for me thanks!), to go along with this setup and my JBL 15” is still setting in the box. It would be nice to know how a 4x10 would go with the 15 incher, but I have what I have and at this point I am happy with my choice. I can see a different setup coming in a 4 ohm change for this cab vs. the present 8. Over all lacking a bit of presence when it comes to warmth but it should prove to be a nice cab very supportive of a big bottom end cab that is if I have the watts to push both. The warmth and presence I am talking about only comes wth big watts and lots of speaker area. This would be good for small to medium sized venues with beer smoke and other things that go bump in the night.
Prospective New Fender tone ring replacement item..hehe.
