Sometimes We Get Lucky

As many of you know I sold my Custom 15 (Fender) several months back. It was the right thing to do but I missed it tremendously. My Cyber Twin SE does a great job but there is nothing like the custom 15 for super clean sound. Last week I saw a what was advertised as an original 77 Fender Vibrasonic with a replacement speaker. After having done a fair amount of research, I decided this deserved to be looked at. It appeared all original except for the speaker. It had surprisingly good tolex and the grill was dirty but not torn. One of my complaints about the custom 15 was the weight. It was 71 pounds. So much for weight, this baby is 85 lbs. How's that for logic coming from a guy my age! The kid did not know much about the amp but he didn't have the original footswitch with it and I happen to have an extra at home. Keep in mind that this is not considered collectable from a vintage standpoint but this era was some of the best amps that Fender ever built. All hand wired and this was a model with the Master push pull control introduced in the later 70s. I would estimate that this is a late 76 or 77 model.

The first thing I did was remove the chassis. It is original and 3 of the transformers dated late 1975 and one 1973. The wiring was unmolested except for a toggle swicth that had been labeled as half power and full power which had been added. I like that! After checking out the chassis I gave it the full sound check. It did have a noisy tube on warmup that lasted for 3 to 4 minutes and it is a very clean, quiet amp. I isolated the noisy tube to V4 and replaced it. Wow, does thing sing with my Classic S. The Custom 15 had an Eminence Commonwealth speaker in it, a gem designed after the original JBL D130 F. It is very good. This one had an Eminence Red Coat Big Ben. It is awesome and my original plan to find a JBL has changed. The JBL will not hold up in a 100 watt amp anyway. They were only safe up to about 50 watts. I recently looked at a Peavey Delta Blues with a 15 and it didn't wow me. II will never forget when I first plugged in the Custom 15. It was Wow!. I had that same reaction when I plugged in this Vibrasonic. Anyway, a happy kid here in Minnesota as life is good and I can't believe I found this thing as they are scarce. Here are some photos and the icing on the cake is that the price was sweet! --Darwin

Nice pick up there Darwin!

Those Eminence Red Coat series speakers are the bees knees IMO. I have a Private Jack in my Blues Junior and it completely transformed the sound from anaemic, restrained and a bit sissy (the stock speaker), to loud, proud and round with a lot more character.

Rock on sir.

Congrats on a great score!

Ken

Great amps. I still kick myself for not buying one of those while I was on holiday a couple of xmas' ago.

As a user of heavy amps, I've found that if an amp is on castors then it's not an issue unless you find yourself at the TOP of a steep staircase. Going up is easy, going down makes it much harder to balance.

And +1 on what Phil says about the Red Coat speakers, I have two Wizards (dumb name...) in an amp that kick arse.

Noice!

I really like the sound of 15" speakers

Also I too have a redcoat speaker, a little 10" Ramrod in my Lexington Reverb, they seem really well built and sound very nice so another +1 to Phil.

Phil, I am extremely happy with the Big Ben. BTW , you son sure takes cool bird photos. I am still waiting for the paint!

Thanks Ken, I am lucky to find one. I finally have something close to vintage.

Jamie, The weight doesn't bother me a lot. It has casters and I can imagine a young, strapping dude like you with one of these on each arm!

Ahryn, A lot of Red Coats stepping up here tonight!

I went through the schematic in detail tonight and found out that the push pull master cuts the reverb in about half and increases the high frequency. Something I won't use but the rest of it sooooo sweet. This thing is at least 36 years old, older than many of you on the forum. It's more than half my age and basically this was a Leo design!!! Remember, he was an electronic genius that designed an amp that would handle an electric bass. I think I will have a cold one!. -- Darwin

eminence speakers are great. i have 2 custom eminences in my twin (factory installed and a huge improvement over the original stock speakers) and a custom eminence in the two rock. i also have a cannabis rex in my 67 ampeg, and the 57 tweed (original speakers are put away), and use a delta pro with my ots50. i am thinking about putting red white and blue or patriots in my bigger ampeg. so far eminence was an improvement over any other speaker i replaced, including jensens, celestion and jbl, webber to name a few.

Darwin, great find, congrats.

When I had my Morris Amp built, he suggested that he upgrade the speaker and its an Eminence Red Fang. Amazing speaker and love the clean sound.

Good for you!

Thanks everyone, looks like we have some Eminence fans here. The custom 15 had the Eminence Commonwealth but it is only available in 4 Ohms. The Big Ben does it well!-- Darwin

What a great amp find, Darwin!
They have a lovely wide sound, and can even do pedal steel really well. I remember recording Brian Cole with one a few years back and he was sounding superb.

And chalk up another Eminence vote here. Proof that great sound can also be decent value.
I'm super-happy with a Red White and Blues in my Deluxe Reverb. It sounds grown-up and confident, and I agree with Louis about Eminence beating some expensive famous names.
The RWB seems to have no harshness or any of those hollows that can be flattering for a while and then drive you nuts because they can't be got rid of.

Noice!

I really like the sound of 15" speakers

Also I too have a redcoat speaker, a little 10" Ramrod in my Lexington Reverb, they seem really well built and sound very nice so another +1 to Phil.

My Mesa Subway Blues has a custom Eminence "Black Shadow" speaker. I contacted Eminence to find out more regarding the specs. They said it was custom built to Mesa's specs, but the closest thing in their product line was the RAMROD. It's a great sounding 10" speaker.

Nicely scored, gratz!

I got lucky again today. I stopped by AGB and Tim had a recently reconed JBL DF 130F that was in excellent condition. It was also priced very right and I already have it installed. It will take a while to make up my mind but it sounds extremely clean and articulate. I think that the Big Ben may have a bit fatter low end. I will rig up a speaker mount so I can truly A/B them at some point. Its amazing what you run into when your not looking!-- Darwin

YES !!
My D131's are my absolute fave..on a sweep test you can hear some cone buzz (these are older cones) but in use it isn't
prominent and is part of the flavor , if that makes sense.

Is the dust cap intact? Those aluminum caps can throw a coil out of compliance if they are dented.
Eager to hear your impression. I love the top end compression that makes it really easy to get that classic tele
sound. I've pushed mine hard...(creamy smoothness at higher decibels)
The weak point I find is the lead wires leading to the terminal posts...just as they leave the back side of the cone.
If it's not fraying or too oxidized it'll probably be reliable. (the one I can see looks new with a nice blob of shiny solder, so I guess just a general heads-up on older JBL's )

If you have the speaker wire length, it's a good practice to mount the speakers with the terminal wires on the bottom.
If one of the wires become detached, your chances of one shorting out on the other is significantly decreased.
Your protecting your amp health that way (short=zero ohms).

(Just tell me that you turn it on its side when you play and I'll shut up )


elwood

Elwood, this one is like new, new dust cap, cone, wires to the cone, everything except the magnet and the frame. It sounds great. I am going to build a cabinet so i can A/B them but my initial feeling is the JBL is extremely clean and articulate. I think the Big Ben has a fatter bottom. More on that later.-- Darwin

Sweet.
I think the stamped frame speakers have a low mid resonance that older cast jbl frames don't.
As you can tell I love the old grey boat anchors, I wish I was there to hear your new amp...no matter what kinda tires
you have past the tranny.
Happy Trails and Congrats.

elwood