OffsetGuitars.com

edit: the build is ON!!!

I currently have a drip edge bassman head running through a 2x12 (4 ohm) vibro-king extension cab (loaded with stock celestion 30s). i've been thinking for a while of how i'd like to have a matching vintage cab, but also how i'd like to have it built into a combo for portability's sake...

SO, since a vintage cab would be even bigger than the VK ext cab i have now (and equally, if not more, un-portable), i'm pretty sure i want to go the cool route and have a 1x15 bassman combo! I also want to build it mahself .

i'm reading online that fender cabs are made with 3/4" pine, but is that the actual thickness? I was at home depot and their 3/4" pine planks aren't actually 3/4" - more like 1/2" to 5/8"...

any thoughts or suggestions on my spring/summer project? (speaker recommendations/configurations, construction methods, etc)

i found some bassman combo pr0n online to show you what i'm GASing about :



1x12:


2x10:

GET BASSMAN COMBO!!!!

I had a 1x12 and I loved it. I sold it because it was more power than I needed and I was on a quest. I do wish I had the room to do the 1x15 thing. I love 15" speakers. Do it!!!!

Damn it - I hate you both!
I have those EXACT pics saved to my HD.
I've been planning this for pretty much the same reasons, as well as not feeling bad about it getting banged all to hell carting it to and from shows.

Chris, I blame you and that damn Bassman combo you had!!
That thing was lovely, and is what got the wheels turning here.
Thanks for being an enabler!!


I'd actually considered picking up a busticated solid state or empty cab that was too big, and modify it to fit the bassman.
A little off the sides...

But I'm not sure it'd work out any cheaper though, when all's said and done...




Hmmmmmmmm... wouldn't building two, be cheaper than one?!

Well, FWIW despite the fact that I sold the bassman, the bug has not passed. I have considered building a larger cab for the tremolux, housing it with a 15".

I AM THE ENABLER!!!!!!

i'm ready to be enabled... plz enable me now! i was actually just browsing ebay for price checks on some decent SF blue/turquoise-stripe grill cloth.

still trying to figure out the 3/4" cab thickness, tho... any ideas wether "nominal width" of 3/4" laminate pine shelving board from home depot would do the trick?

go 1x15, they sound not so much better, but more unique than the average guitar cab. If you miss the little bit of treble you lose that way, you can always throw together a 2x8 extension cab to set under it to bring back some of the upper tones. Plus it will be the same width and look like its supposed to be that way.

kalipigeon wrote:go 1x15, they sound not so much better, but more unique than the average guitar cab. If you miss the little bit of treble you lose that way, you can always throw together a 2x8 extension cab to set under it to bring back some of the upper tones. Plus it will be the same width and look like its supposed to be that way.

i generally run with a tele or JM, maybe now also my 62 jag will be in the rotation, so a tamed high via 1x15 combo might work out nicely

i've been measuring all my fender heads/cabs, and it looks like wood + tolex = thickness of 3/4". i know tolex isn't that thick, but i'm gonna go with the 3/4" home depot shelving pine planks for this build.

unless i hear otherwise over the next few days...

Stratelejazzuar wrote:but also how i'd like to have it built into a combo for portability's sake...

I fell for that same logical fallacy when I got rid of my tops and cabs. Top and cab: godawful weight distributed over two separate things. Combo: godawful weight condensed in one package with a stupid single handle on top. Granted, somewhat less wood to a combo so it's lighter than a separate top and cab combined, but to not have Giant Transformers and Giant Speakers in one single suitcase thing is a really, really good idea for your back, arms, legs, mind.

It's funny how 70s Fender had these glorious looking beasts like a Quad Reverb (a half stack, but as a combo. How bizarre do you have to be to think that is a good idea) and the even more ridiculous Super Six. I imagine they probably also built a combo with 8 15" speakers, but that one was so heavy it actually collapsed under its own gravitational pull, forming a tiny black hole, so they left it out of the catalog.

as long as you do it yourself you should be fine
i was looking into having one made for my bandmaster
problem with that- by the time i would have been done i would have close to $1000 in a bandmaster-- just didnt make sense at the time
the reason why i am combo only now is the fact that i hate extra stuff-- for some weird reason the head and cab thing just bugs me-

If I had a combo, I'd probably still have a cab for it.

You guys would hate my setup. Last show we played I had an epic stack. Traynor on top of my 67 Fender 2x15 on top of a 4x12.

dug wrote:You guys would hate my setup.

For me, that would completely depend on whether I just get to watch it or have to help you carry it .

well i would never, ever, gig with that 2x15 cab live. I had one and god it weighed more than me and was too long to even take up stairs. I had to take it in through the back door when I got it.

I don't think its that heavy at all. Its just long an awkward.
I'd rather have heads and cabs than a twin or ac30. Those are insane.

except orange 4x12s, i will never own one, too big and heavy.

I am back to the head/cab but it's on the small side. I am trying to figure out if I can find room in the Tremolux cab for a 15. Hmmm