Got my free cab.. what the hell is it?

[daydreamdelay]

This came up in the Traynor thread.. someone on a local board was giving a beat up unloaded cab away, at first he thought it might be a 70's Hiwatt. I jumped on it but someone beat me to it, apparently he checked it out and ruled out that it was a Hiwatt and said he thought it was a Park or Laney and walked away so it's dropped into my lap. It looks like it could be a Laney, I'm getting a Sovtek vibe but I honestly have no idea. It turned out the seller.. err, giver away guy? literally lives around the corner so he dropped it off for me a few hours ago. First thoughts...

yeah it's definitely beat.. cool

it's a slant cab.. I hate slant cabs

it's free.. who gives a shit if it's a slant cab!?!?!

it's screaming for Greenbacks 


so here it is, whatever it is...

[zhivago]

I'm getting a Park vibe....hmmm...the only thing that looks out of place for some reason is the chrome corners...dunno why...it's probably just me

regardless, it looks beat up cool!

[daydreamdelay]

wasn't Park a cheap Marshall line in the 90's? I'd assume they'd use MDF like the lower end Marshall cab's.. I don't know a lot about cabs but this seems fairly solid 

[daydreamdelay]

just read this.. apparently Park goes back further than I realized, I looked for pics of their cabs but like you mentioned.. none with chrome corners, I suppose those could've been added at some point?



Booming Business in the 1960s

By 1966, rock and roll was booming and so was Marshall's amplifier business. The company continued to develop new and improved products, such as a series of new amp heads that drove the Marshall sound harder than ever before. To cope with increased orders, a new factory was opened that doubled the firm's production capacity. That same year, Marshall's son Terry left to pursue a career as a musician, and the company was renamed Marshall Amplification. Business was so good that in 1996 the Rose Morris Agency approached Marshall about becoming the exclusive distributor of the company's goods. Marshall agreed to a 15-year pact. The contract barred the company from distributing amplifiers under the Marshall name. To continue to provide products to one of its loyal former distributors, Marshall launched a new brand—Park. Park amps, which were identical to the Marshall brand, except for the nameplate and price, remained in production until 1982. The company later developed another side brand, Kitchen-Marshall, for Kitchen's, a retail chain in the English city of Leed's. Kitchen's, who provided sound and lighting rigs for clubs and other venues in Leeds, asked Marshall to produce a Kitchen-brand PA system. Marshall offered a compromise, putting both firms' names on the system. The brand was on the market until about 1969.

Jim Marshall soon regretted his alliance with Rose Morris. The distributor boosted the price of Marshall equipment so high—by approximately 55 percent—that it became prohibitively expensive for most musicians, especially in export markets like the United States. Over time, those artificially high process substantially depressed Marshall's amp business. To supplement the lost income Jim Marshall expanded into other areas, including the establishment of non-music shops and department stores in London. Even in this area, Marshall proved to be an able businessperson. In the late 1970s when the Rose Morris contract was about to expire, he sold the shop leases. "When I sold them in 1979," he told Rich Maloof, "I made far more money selling leases than I ever did from amplifiers."

[daydreamdelay]

Sovtek?

[dinosaur]

I don't know enough to ID them by sight like that, but older Parks are great.  I played through a friends vintage Park half stack a few years ago and it was fantastic.  They are fairly sought after.  I think the guy from The Hold Steady plays through one these days.

As long as it's solid wood, it will rock for you.

[zhivago]

hey Justin, sorry for the late reply...I know  I appear online, but I'm actualy working on some packaging, and I got my browser minimised.

Park got a "budget rep" because Marshall used the name in order to bring out cheaper stuff....kinda like Gibson did with Epiphone.

there are some Colorsound-looking Park fuzz pedals that trade hands for a fortune on UK ebay, they are meant to be among the best...I have heard great things about their old amps, and I do see them from time to time in the London shops

maybe the corners were added later...the cab definetely looks very British to me

[daydreamdelay]

that's interesting.. I never knew that about Park, well I knew it was the budget Marshall line but I thought it was more recent and didn't realize some of their stuff is desirable. Like I said, I don't know a whole lot about cab construction but this looks ok to me.. whatever it is it definitely appears to be better than the mdf Marshall cab and old Peavey 212 I've had in the past.. it's been so long since I had anything but a combo.

Now I've got to figure out what to put in it.. and on top of it 

[mjet]

Park suffers I think because of the Marshall-linked crap practice amps made in the last 90s - they appear to be real crap.

From a NAMM Press Release:

"The Park name has adorned may of Britain's finest amps, from the mid 1960s through the early 1980s. In fact, many are now much sought after collectors' items. Park amplifiers have always been designed & engineered by the same team of British designers responsible for all of Marshall's great amplifiers. Today, Park manufactures a full range of cost-effective combo amplifiers that are built to Marshall's exacting standards."

In other words, cheap rubbish. Here's a photo.



However, the "vintage" Park stuff is well-sought after and quite rare. Occasionally I see a Park head on UK eBay. Cleartone Musical Instruments (CMI, though not to be confused with the Gibson owned "Chicago Musical Instruments" from the 70s) is another one of the Marshall "brands" that popped up while Marshall was tied to the distribution deal with Rose-Morris.

Here's a CMI PA Head from the mid-70s. I have a 100w version of the same amp but some moron tried to make it Marshall-ish and stripped the finish & lettering off of the faceplate. I'm working on bringing it back to original appearance now.



As for that cab, I think you lucked out either way. The early 70s Laney stuff was top. So whether it's a Park, a Laney, or pretty much any other 70s vintage cab, you did well!

[daydreamdelay]

cool.. I only knew of the crappy practice amps, just like in the pic but these old ones look quite cool 

[mjet]

Here's a cool photo of a Park combo:



And a Park 2x12 cab...

[i love sharin foo]

It almost definitely looks like a Sovtek to me. That would explain the white piping, the chrome corners, and the texture of the covering. I like the Sovtek stuff. I had a MIG50 Tube Midget before

Justin

[mezcalhead]

Yeah, my bass rig contains a Sovtek 4x10" bin. I like it a lot.

The white piping is certainly consistent with a Sovtek cab. Is it a 4x12"? Here's a Sovtek 4x12 completed ebay auction - link probably unstable.

In any case, it's certainly worth having. Would go nicely with a BF Bassman head.

A free cab, and now keeping the JM? It looks like your luck might be turning ..

[daydreamdelay]

man I really hope it is.. been a rough last few weeks

the cab looks pretty close to that one but older I guess.. the grill and piping are the same, chrome corners are different but are chrome corners, the input jack is totally different but again I assume this one is a good deal older.

[Soiouz]

Have no idea what it is...  But great find none the less.. It does not look bad IMO.