Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

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Kinx
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Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by Kinx » Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:41 am

I have a chance to buy early 70s (1971 probably) 2x15 Bassman cab from my buddy for a very good price (300 e) - I used it once for a gig few years ago and it sounded amazing with my Mesa Mark I amp, both for clean and dirty tones - I am just concerned about originality of the speakers . He said there are some kind of Jensens inside, but I found various information about the original speakers online, various sources state that the speakers should be either JBLs or Oxfords. The cab itself looks pretty clean for it's age. What were the original speaker options back in the day?
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Paul-T
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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by Paul-T » Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:45 am

Online references are usually unreliable: ask him for the parts number, the EIA code, which if it's original will tell you the supplier and a rough production date.

If they are Jensen, but the number falls in the right time frame, I would relax and assume they're original.
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rumfoord
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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by rumfoord » Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:50 am

It could also be possible he's misremembering. I'd agree that you should just take a new/closer look.

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MayTheFuzzBeWithYou
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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:51 am

And even if these are not the original speakers (as it happened in my impulse Bassman 2x15 cab buy...would have loved to have 2 JBLs but it came with Eminence speakers) it's still an awesome price and will sound killer!
Love them 15" speakers with guitar!

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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by Horsefeather » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:40 pm

JBL D140Fs were an optional upgrade for those cabinets, which came standard with the square magnet "Fender Special Design" speakers. At least in some years. Either type of speaker will make you happy. Guitar through those cabinets is monstrous! Dick Dale plays through TWO of those 2x15 cabinets.

Here's an example of mine, which is a Bassman 50 with two D130s, so not exactly what you're dealing with but still demonstrates the general character of the sound. The lead is going through a Fender reverb tank into a Traynor YBA-1A and then the Bassman 50 cabinet.

https://soundcloud.com/user-395164699/apache-18

Edit: I just realized you already know what it sounds like since you've played through it before.

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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by Kinx » Wed Nov 28, 2018 3:28 am

thanks for all the info guys :)

I didn't have a chance to open the cab yet, but it sounds HUGE. however it doesn't have the best definition on it's own, it works best if paired with additional 1x12" speaker (in my case celestion alnico gold or altec 417-8h). Right now I'm using it with Salvation Audio modified Randall RM100 with Salvation custom modules (awesome system if you need one versatile amp) in a 70s prog rock project (a special tribute to one of my all time guitar heroes, Radim Hladik - check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5mxDsOIZk I'm the guy with CBS era JM ) and everyone is really impressed.
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Re: Fender Bassman 2x15 cab for guitar

Post by s_mcsleazy » Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:22 am

i've only ever used one of these 2x15's for bass and they were terrible. so they might be ok for guitar
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