Re: Converting Fender head to combo (COMPLETED)

[46346]

Hi Andy! i love custom Fender combos. as far as weight goes, i think you're right about moving from MDF to pine, and adding two vintage style 10's won't dog you too badly.

the project of adding two 8's to the head looks pretty fun... but it looks like kind of a lousy sounding cabinet in the first place.
it obviously wasn't designed for speakers. maybe i'm wrong, perhaps the right baffle could do it, but it just looks like all guts and no body. i have found that it's really good to have some empty space in the cabinet, and a bonafide speaker baffle board.

i like your idea of something like a Vibrolux Reverb cab. i generally love the open-back sound, too.
and if you go custom, maybe even make it a little taller for more internal space/resonance. ask the cab builder what they think!


i started out playing bass through an Ampeg SVT... when i started gigging guitar on nice stages, i used a Super Reverb.
so, i have a long tradition of using heavy gear, and have often used an amp dolly with good wheels. it could be a simple furniture dolly, or this - my favorite gigging tool, which can carry my amps and pedalboard (which is also stupid heavy): https://handtrucks2go.com/Superlite-Fol ... Truck.html


you might remember my Bassmania custom combo, the 3x10 blonde. one of the sweet things i did right away is put casters on it. while i still use my hand truck to negotiate crumbly parking lots and stairs, it's real dreamy to have casters in the studio for moving amps around.

i worked with JD Newell on the design, and we had a real good back-and-forth over email and on the phone. i was ecstatic to find that my little theory about internal cabinet space brought a rich and spacious low-end to the sound. it was an unusual arrangement for sure, but it worked out nicely. it's endless fun experimenting with different speaker combinations.

here it is with the blackface '66 chassis:





cheers!

I am a little torn! Obviously a combo version of the amp will be heavier but really how much heavier would it be? The head by itself is 40 pounds! Jensen speakers weigh almost nothing and the combo would have a pine cab. Where as the head is in a heavy MDF cab. Plus I prefer the sound of open-back combos. BUT! I also see the advantage of using different speaker cabs and breaking up the weight in that way. I've priced it out and it looks like it will cost ~$700

[parry]

Hey Andy,
you might want to price out a Canadian cab-maker. Give Veteran Guitar Cabs a try. I'm pretty sure Derrick will ship you a cab. He's a super nice guy and his cabinets are beautiful. I've had a few of his "F" style combo cabs and extension cabs and they were all solid. I imagine it'll be cheaper than ordering from the US, paying shipping and then, conversion on top.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category ... 666489775/

[somanytoys]

I’m actually doing just the opposite of this.

I have a couple of good 10” Weber alnico speakers I had bought (blue pup & silver) that I put into a Laney VC 30 and took out the HH Invader speakers. I could still hook up different amps to the speakers, but it is so damn heavy with the amp in it that I instantly decided against it.

I bought a nice pine 2x10 cabinet (with a removable back piece), and I’ve stained & sealed it and I’m about to put the tolex on. I’ll have to wire it, put on the hardware and load the speakers, but it’s going to be way more satisfying and lighter as a stand-alone cab than in a combo.

I’m going to put the HHs back into the Laney and sell it. It’s a good amp, but I have an AC 15 that I like better. Most of my guitar amps are heads & cabs anyway, and I won’t really miss that heavy beast, even tho it was my first tube amp. Someone with a better back will enjoy the shit out of it.

I’m all for the head & cab setup - the broken up weight distribution and the ability to fit them more easily into car spaces than a bigger combo.

[StevenO]

Hey Andy,
you might want to price out a Canadian cab-maker. Give Veteran Guitar Cabs a try. I'm pretty sure Derrick will ship you a cab. He's a super nice guy and his cabinets are beautiful. I've had a few of his "F" style combo cabs and extension cabs and they were all solid. I imagine it'll be cheaper than ordering from the US, paying shipping and then, conversion on top.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category ... 666489775/

OH, I might get him to make me a combo cab for my Showman.





I mean, when I have money again...

[jaypno]

My '68 bandmaster is in a custom 1x12 brown cab and I really like it.

[parry]

Hey Andy,
you might want to price out a Canadian cab-maker. Give Veteran Guitar Cabs a try. I'm pretty sure Derrick will ship you a cab. He's a super nice guy and his cabinets are beautiful. I've had a few of his "F" style combo cabs and extension cabs and they were all solid. I imagine it'll be cheaper than ordering from the US, paying shipping and then, conversion on top.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category ... 666489775/

OH, I might get him to make me a combo cab for my Showman.





I mean, when I have money again...

To go with that JBL - you know that'd be my favourite amp of yours

[StevenO]

Hey Andy,
you might want to price out a Canadian cab-maker. Give Veteran Guitar Cabs a try. I'm pretty sure Derrick will ship you a cab. He's a super nice guy and his cabinets are beautiful. I've had a few of his "F" style combo cabs and extension cabs and they were all solid. I imagine it'll be cheaper than ordering from the US, paying shipping and then, conversion on top.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category ... 666489775/

OH, I might get him to make me a combo cab for my Showman.





I mean, when I have money again...

To go with that JBL - you know that'd be my favourite amp of yours

Yes sir! I've been digging that speaker lately! It sounds awesome with my Dano Baritone...

[somanytoys]

cheers!

That looks really cool.
I think I recognize a Weber Silver in there on the top left - what are the other 2 Weber speakers in there?

I probably mentioned it above, but I’m putting a Silver and a Blue Pup in the cab I’m working on, curious to see what you paired the Silver with and how you like them together.

[andy]

Ok, I’m going for it! I’m getting a 1x12 combo made for me by Veteran Cabs (thanks Parry!). I have an old Jensen Concert 12 (100 watts!!) that I had in a cab and it paired so well with the Bandmaster Reverb. And my old ‘63 Fender 2x12 cab I used to use with the BMR is going to a friend who has a matching Bandmaster.

[Stratelejazzuar]

I turned my SF Bassman into a 1x15 combo way back and never regretted it. I think the Fender 2x12 cab I was using weighed more than the 1x15 combo, lol (plywood vs pine i guess).

[46346]

yes, somanytoys - that's an alnico Silver Ten, and an alnico 10A150 (or is it 125?) for the third, i have a Blue Pup in there quite often when i want to swing British, but on the set-up you see here - the third is another American Jensen style ceramic 10F150.

i think i was doing big clean bassy Surf stuff when that foto was taken, hence the two Jensen styles.

another versatile combo is the Silver, Blue Pup, and Alnico 10A150.

note that my Blue Pup is ceramic. for a Silver/Blue combo, i'm glad you have an Alnico pair, indeed i actually recommend trying to keep the pair ceramic or alnico and not mixing them - i have noted that the ceramic Blue pup is more sensitive and can dominate the alnico Silver Bell.
having the third speaker, in this case, helps balance that out.

the only way i could afford/justify experimenting with so many speakers is by buying them used at about half price... being patient and cruising the usual used gear sites. it helps that i use 16 ohm speakers in this. they seem to be less desirable/cheaper on the used market. that reminds me - i should get back to looking for a used alnico Blue Pup and see if it's a closer match.

the various mismatch in sensitivities, and of course impedance, make for interesting and unique sounding combinations of the three. i wire the three 16 ohm speakers to give 5.333 ohms to my '61 Bassman chassis which likes to see 8 ohms. this is a safe enough match but can give some load effect that i thought might be reminiscent of the famous 3x10 Bandmaster.

when it comes time to pick an especially focused direction, i can pull the wire from one speaker and get the full 8 ohm match for max efficiency, and go more American or more British in the process.

it makes for a great (but sometimes too loud) studio/laboratory combo amp, and a fantastic stage amp for larger club or festival gigs. remember those?

IMG_3797 by echoparkguitar, on Flickr

That looks really cool.
I think I recognize a Weber Silver in there on the top left - what are the other 2 Weber speakers in there?

I probably mentioned it above, but I’m putting a Silver and a Blue Pup in the cab I’m working on, curious to see what you paired the Silver with and how you like them together.

[46346]

Ok, I’m going for it! I’m getting a 1x12 combo made for me by Veteran Cabs (thanks Parry!). I have an old Jensen Concert 12 (100 watts!!) that I had in a cab and it paired so well with the Bandmaster Reverb. And my old ‘63 Fender 2x12 cab I used to use with the BMR is going to a friend who has a matching Bandmaster.

Super cool! i'm excited. glad you guys have a solid guy up there. his stuff looks great.

(is there a word like 'stateside' for being on the Canadian side?)

[andy]

Okie dokie!! The day has come.

I received the cab I ordered from Veteran Guitar Cabinets. The fellow who runs it, Derrick, is a total pro and a great communicator via email. The cab is made of solid pine, dovetailed, with a birch plywood baffle. It weighed the same empty as the empty head box! Anyway, the chassis fit great and am so pleased. Put together, it weighs maybe ten pounds (tops!) more than it did as a head with the old MDF cab. I would reckon it is closer to six or seven pounds heavier. I like the little extra things that make it look old and vintagey, like the stained inside of the cab and the "aged silverface" grille cloth. Another great benefit of going with Veteran Cabs is they are Canadian, like me, and it was considerably more affordable than any of the better known American cab builders.

The old Jensen speaker I put in sounds great. I scored that one for $50 CAD. It came in a shitty 1x12 cab that I went on to sell for $20, as well. All I need is some better RCA cables. The ketchup and mustard ones were the only ones I had kicking around.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's lovely Andy! How does it sound? Any different as a combo compared to a head with a cab?

[andy]

Thanks! It has a better balanced sound now. The closed back 2x12 I used with it before was terribly bassy. You couldn’t dial it out of the signal! Plus I think the Jensen speaker is more up my alley (tonally) than the old 2x12 Oxfords. I always feel better playing an open back combo. It feels like the sound moves about the room better and isn’t an 800hz laser beam like a closed back cab can be.