New Speaker Cab Day!

[Brian Krashpad]

I bought a funky piece of vintage gear yesterday, a 2x12 cab with Jensen c12R's in it. !t was made as part of an accordion amp. Probably about '65 according to the Jensen date codes.

Seller's pics of the actual cab I bought:







Unfortunately the rating on the whole cab is only 50W (each speaker is 25W), so most of my amps will blow it up. Since I bought it for a song I'ma clean it up and flip it. I think I can net $40 or so.

[warren0728]

that cab is very cool! too bad it won't work for you....

[deeaa*]

Why it won't work? I don't find any problem in using a 50W cab with any amp out there. I've pretty much always used a 50W cab with all my amps, be they 100W or whatever. They sound much better, too, than something with too much wattage. I think the ears will tell you it's getting too loud way before you blow it up...

[Brian Krashpad]

that cab is very cool! too bad it won't work for you....

It'd actually be perfect for that little head of yours.

[Brian Krashpad]

Why it won't work? I don't find any problem in using a 50W cab with any amp out there. I've pretty much always used a 50W cab with all my amps, be they 100W or whatever. They sound much better, too, than something with too much wattage. I think the ears will tell you it's getting too loud way before you blow it up...

I'd rather not risk it with a vintage piece. Friends of mine more in the know about tech matters have told me that to be really safe the overall wattage for a cab should be at least one and a half times the wattage for a head. There's no sense risking it when I have a perfectly fine 2x12 with 75W Celestions in it.

[warren0728]

It'd actually be perfect for that little head of yours.

i know

[deeaa*]

True dat but it's like saying to be really safe driving one should never exceed 30mph...also true but maybe a bit overly cautious. No reason to turn an amp so loud it breaks a speaker no matter what wattage. I mean, an amp only outputs the wattage you let it produce with the master volume. I for one think if you work speakers a little closer to their limit the better the sound. Those 380w or what marshall cabs never really open ip even with a 100w amp but smaller wattage cabs sing already at reasonable volumes.

If you want a good bedroom sound, stick like a 10w speaker after yer 100w head...and it sounds good even at 0,5 master level.
My cab was 50w, two greenbacks from the seventies or late sixties, and I used it with every amp I ever had from 120w ss head thru 100w jcm800...These days it's however 100w since I added two more speakers.

[FrankenFretter***]

Nice cab, Brian. From the back it looks a bit like a large space heater, but the front is way bosstastic! If either of your speakers is bad, I have a Heppner that would be a perfect replacement. Good luck with the flipping!

[warren0728]

did you ever sell the cab?

[Brian Krashpad]

No, still have it, was waiting for anyone who might've seen the original ad on craigslist to forget about it. But meanwhile, I found out it's worth considerably more than I thought. In my initial mental pricing of it, I just compared the speakers to the current Jensens of the same model. But a bud on another forum told me that amp snobs consider this sorta thing like this: old Jensens> new Webers> new Jensens. And he gave me the current Weber analog for these, which run $100 each.

[deeaa*]

One thing you could also do is just wire a couple of 25w resistors onto it as if they were speakers, a simple L-pad type thing but with speakers as well for a total of 100w. Then you could use bigger amps and not worry about accidentally turning it up too loud. Or bigger resistors for even more wattage. Kinda a virtual 4x12...

[warren0728]

that's cool brian....sounds like you should keep it if you don't have much in it! dee's idea sounds good to me....

[Brian Krashpad]

that's cool brian....sounds like you should keep it if you don't have much in it! dee's idea sounds good to me....

No, I'll be selling it. I don't need a second 2x12, and I could use the bucks.

[warren0728]

know what you mean about needing the bucks! good luck with the sell!