I should preface by saying that I play shows with modern and lightweight amps and cabs, and I completely understand and appreciate their advantages. However, as I've gotten older I've developed a certain love for old, obsolete, unpopular cabs. I'm curious if this resonates with anyone. There is an odd feeling that washes over me whenever I see someone trying to dump a gnarly old cab that's far past it's prime... it's a mix of nostalgia and ambition... I'm inexplicably compelled to restore it to it's former glory and give it a new life and continue it's story.
This is true for certain brands more than others... my favorite brand as a kid was SWR, and these amps and cabs were "it" for me. The Goliath Sr 6x10? My dream. The Henry 8x8? I was obsessed. At one point I ripped an SWR ad out of Bass Player and glued it to the front of my Trapper Keeper. I was a very weird young man lol but the end-all-be-all was the Big Ben 1x18. This was just about the coolest thing to ever exist.
Fast forward ~20 years, and now we live in an age where you can't give this stuff away... and my love for these iconic cabs has only grown. And every once in awhile I get the opportunity to fix up one of these old gems... for your consideration is the end-all-be-all, the original Big Ben from Sylmar, CA with the original speaker:
I bought this on CL for $100. Note the emblem with the word subwoofer written as "SUB WOOFER". I love it! The previous owner's cat had used the rat fur on one side as a scratching post, so I stripped it and refinished with black Duratex. Other than that I did nothing, it's in perfect working condition, and once again it's pumping out the low end. I'm not playing shows with it... it just lives in the practice space where my shoegaze band rehearses, and it's right at home in that high volume situation.
Something I wasn't expecting was how much props I would get for using heavy old gear, mostly from bassists. I've gotten stopped a few times for players to inspect it and share stories, and one guy got really excited and said "I had TWO of those back in the day!" and it brings me a ton of joy to hear what an impact this particular cab had on people's musical journeys... and how much love it gets for being such an old and unloved cab!
This is true for certain brands more than others... my favorite brand as a kid was SWR, and these amps and cabs were "it" for me. The Goliath Sr 6x10? My dream. The Henry 8x8? I was obsessed. At one point I ripped an SWR ad out of Bass Player and glued it to the front of my Trapper Keeper. I was a very weird young man lol but the end-all-be-all was the Big Ben 1x18. This was just about the coolest thing to ever exist.
Fast forward ~20 years, and now we live in an age where you can't give this stuff away... and my love for these iconic cabs has only grown. And every once in awhile I get the opportunity to fix up one of these old gems... for your consideration is the end-all-be-all, the original Big Ben from Sylmar, CA with the original speaker:
I bought this on CL for $100. Note the emblem with the word subwoofer written as "SUB WOOFER". I love it! The previous owner's cat had used the rat fur on one side as a scratching post, so I stripped it and refinished with black Duratex. Other than that I did nothing, it's in perfect working condition, and once again it's pumping out the low end. I'm not playing shows with it... it just lives in the practice space where my shoegaze band rehearses, and it's right at home in that high volume situation.
Something I wasn't expecting was how much props I would get for using heavy old gear, mostly from bassists. I've gotten stopped a few times for players to inspect it and share stories, and one guy got really excited and said "I had TWO of those back in the day!" and it brings me a ton of joy to hear what an impact this particular cab had on people's musical journeys... and how much love it gets for being such an old and unloved cab!
