The Love of Unloved Cabs

[jerry]

“There’s a whole lot more to rock’n’roll than whining about how much stuff weighs”

— Samuel Clemens

Not at my age!

 

[Chickenwheels]

For your consideration: EVM15L (&B) in TL606 bins.
I had fun finding, restoring and gigging this beauts for a couple of years. They’re a great size and shape for moving around, and not too heavy. The EVM15 is such a unique the beautiful sounding driver. With PA support and some care (low wattage amp) you can get by with one, but a pair is sublime.
There was a time where these were ubiquitous, but high wattage amps and sexy new brands killed them off. I remember going into a bass shop in Sydney around 2000 and there was literally a mound of them piled up on a wall. Probably traded on Eden kit.
I sold one to a friend a few years back and played through it the other day. Sounded gorgeous, especially the mids.

 

[Chad Michael]

JBL 4625b. Here is one in excellent condition, mine looks like it has been through a war and dropped off of a large mountain...

 

[Chickenwheels]

Rat Fur. Aromatic.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Nice! Crate was loading them with JBL if I recall correctly.

Close but no cigar. I'm guessing this is the original badge.

 

[faulknersj]

I love this post! I have an old school SWR 1x15 but I’m not getting any sound out of it. Would anyone know where I would get a proper replacement 15” speaker for it by chance?

 

[gstaats]

I did this with an Ampeg DD-15 cab a couple years ago. I already had a really good condition SVR-215 and decided I wanted to DD-15 too... I gig with barefaced BB3's and other light gear... But the "compact" 4x15 stack that the DD-15 + svr-215 makes just scratches the like of Ampeg oddities from the early 90's that actually sounded good. I had an isovent in the 90s, and bought another a couple years ago, but quickly sold it. Just didn't like the tone. The DD/SVR cabs just sound really good.

 

[chris1327]

Like many I did SWR for a minute or two during the heyday. Where I lived it wasn’t Ampeg but ACC Acoustic that was king, every bass player seemed to own a black Rickenbacker with a 360. Stll have some myself … buying them for next to nothing. This whole rig was $200.00 total.

View attachment 5361438

truly a thing of beauty! 10/10

 

[chris1327]

View attachment 5361525
View attachment 5361527
Rat Fur. Aromatic.

wow i love the retro vibe, but they’re also really sharp looking? i’d be proud to rock that!

 

[4stringfarley]

Like many I did SWR for a minute or two during the heyday. Where I lived it wasn’t Ampeg but ACC Acoustic that was king, every bass player seemed to own a black Rickenbacker with a 360. Stll have some myself … buying them for next to nothing. This whole rig was $200.00 total.

View attachment 5361438

an old acoustic folded driver cab was for sale cheap not long ago locally. I just couldn’t find anywhere to store it.

 

[chris1327]

I did this with an Ampeg DD-15 cab a couple years ago. I already had a really good condition SVR-215 and decided I wanted to DD-15 too... I gig with barefaced BB3's and other light gear... But the "compact" 4x15 stack that the DD-15 + svr-215 makes just scratches the like of Ampeg oddities from the early 90's that actually sounded good. I had an isovent in the 90s, and bought another a couple years ago, but quickly sold it. Just didn't like the tone. The DD/SVR cabs just sound really good.

View attachment 5361535 View attachment 5361536 View attachment 5361537 View attachment 5361538 View attachment 5361539 View attachment 5361540

ok i realize i’m just dishing out love over here, but that setup rips! i’m obsessed! there’s four 15s? are the other 2 in the back? my mind is blown

 

[gstaats]

ok i realize i’m just dishing out love over here, but that setup rips! i’m obsessed! there’s four 15s? are the other 2 in the back? my mind is blown

Yeah, the rear 15" drivers are crossed at 150hz. Here is a view inside the cab.

 

[Gabu]

SWR was 'IT' for a minute and then all these other brands popped up and became the cabs of the year!! I think if any cabs were unloved it may have been Carvin and Peavey.

Peavey was the cats meow when it came out with the BAM.

 

[lowendrv]

A few years back I sent a bunch of mediocre condition old school cabinets to the "chipper", the drivers were worth (way) more without the cabinets than with the cabinets. I left empty cabinets out at the curb hoping every morning that they would be gone, but nobody would take a single one even for free!

Put a for sale sign on it . Will be gone by morning .

 

[Esteban Garcia]

That's not old

 

[Pauly 4001]

This cabinet certainly deserves little or no love. It's a Peavey SC 115 which is more of a PA cab but makes a fine little single 15" until you need to load it in or out of anything

And speaking of not loving to load in or out:
ever try to carefully load a tuck and roll 3x15" Naugahyde cabinet into a Camaro rear cargo hold without spinal or Naugahyde damage?

 

[jerry]

This cabinet certainly deserves little or no love. It's a Peavey SC 115 which is more of a PA cab but makes a fine little single 15" until you need to load it in or out of anything

And speaking of not loving to load in or out:
ever try to carefully load a tuck and roll 3x15" Naugahyde cabinet into a Camaro rear cargo hold without spinal or Naugahyde damage?

In the 70's I had a 3/15 Kustom cab with Altecs that I used to load into a Pinto hatchback, that cab crushed too.

 

[Standalone]

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:

View attachment 5361057

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!

That cab is so great that I changed my TB name to “Standalone” back in the day after posting my amazement that it is so full range that it could be a standalone cab.

It’s basically an 18” Bag End - and go figure, my cabs of choice for years now have been the classic Bag End 15” S15 cabs

 

[Derek Kay]

This is the smallest 15" ported cab I could find. Trace 1152.
Bought it empty and cheap, loaded it with a reconed EV 15L and gigged it for many years.

The wedge monitor shape was easy to carry, legs and chin unimpeded. A square cab has to be carried to one side.

Heavy by todays' standard but so was the sound. Paired it with a EV 12S: 400w @ 4 ohm. Clear and efficient.

 

[allen_m]

Peavey 1516. Preferably two of them. I’ve got one of the “reissues” from the late aughts but nothing is more nostalgic to this old man than the ones with the silver stripes and lightning logo.