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K-150 info needed.. [message #7112]

Mon, 03 July 2006 22:22

Brian C
Messages: 4
Registered: July 2006
Location: Western PA

Junior Member

Hi all!

I am looking for some info on an amp I recently re-acquired. Yea, re-acquired. I purchased this amp clear back in 1983 from a friend along with a Gretsch guitar, played it for a year or two and then lent the combo to my cousin. The amp is a tuck and roll style, blue in color. The amp head has 150 on the front and on the back of the lower cablinet it has model number k150-2. So, I have a couple of questions.

1. My cousin has had it for the last 20 or so years. Its still in the same condition that I lent it to him in....but....the speaker is missing. Do you guys have any recomendations as to what I should put in its place? Should I try and go original or not?
2. I have looked around on the web for any info I could find on this amp. I can find some info on the head, but as far as the cabinet goes, none of the pics I have found match the look of the cabinet. It has one lower speaker, one upper, cone type speaker and two holes in the middle. I'm guessing this is late 60's era?

Thanks for any info or feedback!

Brian C.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7115 is a reply to message #7112]

Wed, 05 July 2006 07:13

stevem
Messages: 4739
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Hi, Kustom never made a production k150 combo with a 2 speaker verticle mounting, they had 1-15, 2-12 and 4-10 speaker options.Can you post a front and rear picture, that would help to try and figure out what it is you have?

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7118 is a reply to message #7115]

Wed, 05 July 2006 08:40

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

Steve, Brian is using the term "combo" but he means the K150 Piggyback model. He makes reference to the "lower cabinet". He may have a mismatched head/speaker combination.
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7122 is a reply to message #7112]

Wed, 05 July 2006 12:58

stevem
Messages: 4739
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Thanks! my brain was not as awake as the rest of my body when I read his post. Brian, if you look at the jack plate on the back of the speaker cabinet it my still say what brand speakers in came with, but sometimes the plate gets to worn to be read. If the cab is the same with as the head than it is a k100 or k150 cab, the early K100s had aluminum port tubes, the latter cabs had plastic tubes that where black to dark gray colored in the tube section and chrome plastic on the radius section out side the cab

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7123 is a reply to message #7122]

Wed, 05 July 2006 13:16

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

Another spotting tip is the early K100 speaker enclosures were slightly tapered. The top was an inch or so smaller in the front than the bottom. If the speaker enclosure is parallel, that is straight up and down, then the enclosure is from a K150 series. I'm not sure if my K100 ports are aluminum or plastic. I know my K200 Ross cabinet was aluminum and I changed them to plastic because I like the chrome finish better.
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7125 is a reply to message #7112]

Wed, 05 July 2006 20:59

Brian C
Messages: 4
Registered: July 2006
Location: Western PA

Junior Member

Hey all! Thanks for posting your replies.

SteveM, well, I checked out the back of the cabinet and it has a plague on it that says 1g+1h. There doesn't seem to be anything else in or on the lower cabinet. Also, it looks like the tubes may be plastic. The head has k150-2 on the back.

C4ster, the cab appears to be straight up and down.

So, I took some pics. This may seem like a really stupid question, but how do I post the pics?

Brian C.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7128 is a reply to message #7125]

Thu, 06 July 2006 09:06

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

It's not a stupid question. I've been a member for 5 years and I still don't know how to post pics. The namplate tells you that it has 1 guitar speaker and 1 horn. It would have a B if it were for bass, an A for Altecs and an L for JBL. You can find all of this info in the literature section. I love just browsing and checking the model numbers and deciphering the codes and admiring the colors.
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7130 is a reply to message #7112]

Thu, 06 July 2006 09:25

stevem
Messages: 4739
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

The early cabinets with aluminum port tubes have front cabinet name plates that say by ross, the latter cabs with plastic tubes have plates that carry the kustom electronics name.Brian, your cabinet would have had 1-15 and a metal altec lansing radial horn and altec driver mounted to the back of the horn. These cabinets where for guitar or keyboards and would not have come with the CTS driver that kustom used.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7133 is a reply to message #7130]

Thu, 06 July 2006 10:48

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

Isn't a G or B a KEI and not a Jensen? I see JBL and Altec listed but not Jensen. Even if the horn was Altec the speaker was not specifically listed as an Altec. A KEI perhaps?
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7135 is a reply to message #7112]

Thu, 06 July 2006 11:17

Brian C
Messages: 4
Registered: July 2006
Location: Western PA

Junior Member

Ok, great! So, I take it there should be a speaker out there somewhere that will work? I don't know a whole lot about amps in general and know enough about wiring to get me in trouble. I'm just anxious to plug it in and see how it sounds. I'm going to find out how to post pics and try and get something posted. Its really dusty at this point but it'll get cleaned up soon.

Once again guys, thanks for the feedback.

Brian C.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7137 is a reply to message #7135]

Thu, 06 July 2006 11:44

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

It's not a quiestion if there is a speaker, but rather what is your style of playing, do you need a full range speaker like a JBL D130 or E130, my preference, or a Jensen Full range, Altec, Eminence, Weber or whatever. There is some experimenting involved here. I find that I like a full range that is not too bright for guitar and a subwoofer type for bass. The next consideration is price. A good quality speaker can cost from $75 to $200 on Ebay, but then it is a crapshoot if you get what you think you are getting. I bought 2 JBL E140 speakers and the moron who shipped them, stuck them in a box with some shipping peanuts and the 2 speakers destroyed each other and I ended up reconing both. That was a learning experience. Don't be afraid to talk up your situation with local music stores. They generally have raw speakers or know where you can get one to try for a short period of time. You won't hurt a quality speaker without trying. Stick with quality brands. The sonic difference is amazing.
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7138 is a reply to message #7112]

Thu, 06 July 2006 13:03

Brian C
Messages: 4
Registered: July 2006
Location: Western PA

Junior Member

Conrad,

So, I guess probably a full range speaker would work for me. I don't play very often and when I do, its just for me and my girls. We don't have any music stores that are close around here but next time I'm in town I'll check out what they have. So, a JBL d130 or e130 should fit? I believe that should be a good starting point.

Thanks Conrad!

Brian C.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7141 is a reply to message #7112]

Thu, 06 July 2006 13:30

stevem
Messages: 4739
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

I do not know conrad, may be Les can help us out on that question. One thing that I found out last week when looking a picture of a KEI driver on EBAY is that what looked like the manufacture code was 038, now the Emiminence code is 037 so I am left to wonder if KEI labeled drivers are their for made by Eminence and stamped with a subgroup number of 038 as being made to Kustoms specs.

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7142 is a reply to message #7141]

Thu, 06 July 2006 13:57

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

I only know that at some point(?) Kustom dropped the Jensens and started using KEI which I had never heard of. I realize that KEI is Kustom Electronics. It also had the Jensen Alumuninum vented dust covers on the speaker. Was KEI a Jensen speaker? And Brian, JBL speakers may very well be overpriced but I have E series speakers in my PA columns. I payed a LOT for them and have reconed some of them. They are not for everyone, but the D130 is a wide range speaker that was an option in all of Kustom's T&R amps. With the horn, they may be too bright and if they are, you can reduce the power to the horn with an L-pad control from Radio Shack and you will love the sound. I know there are differing opinions and it is not my intention to be a shill for JBL.
Conrad

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Re: K-150 info needed.... KEI stands for Kustom-Eminence Integrated [message #7143 is a reply to message #7142]

Thu, 06 July 2006 15:52

LesS
Messages: 477
Registered: December 2002

Senior Member

KEI speakers

I have never seen a KEI speaker, but the number on most of these seems to be 038-5008-00 G.
I see the number 38 stamped on many speakers.
I don't know what it means, but sometimes when 38 is on a speaker it means 38 centimeters, which is 15 inches.. in other words a 15 inch speaker.

Also a KEI speaker pictured on this website had a vented pole piece, and the timeframe was about January 1973.
Now I never saw a CTS with a vented pole piece, so possibly KEI speakers were made by Eminence.

Does anyone know when CTS stopped producing speakers?

Sorry - that all the clues that I have.
-Les S

update
Copied from the web:
Drawing on its heritage, Kustom teamed up with U.S. speaker manufacturer Eminence� to produce a new driver exclusively for the Coupe Series.
The result is the KEI .. (Kustom -Eminence Integrated) Turbo 12 speaker. With its distinctive aluminum dust cap, the Turbo 12 is a modern interpretation of a vintage speaker design that gives the player a taste of the original speaker's unique tonal properties, which were great for clearer tones, while successfully handling more modern, high-gain sounds as well.

So KEI stands for Kustom-Eminence Integrated.
So the KEI speakers in 1973 were probably made by Eminence as well.
-Les S
VintageKustomFAQ8

[Updated on: Sun, 09 September 2007 22:17]

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Re: K-150 info needed.. [message #7144 is a reply to message #7112]

Fri, 07 July 2006 07:35

stevem
Messages: 4739
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Just to confirm our findings,last night I pulled out some of my boxed up early eminence square magnet speakers,one from a early Peavey and the 15 from a Sunn. Both 12" and 15",they all have the eminence only bump on the back of the magnet just like the KEI speakers of that era.And the 12" driver has the 038 code also.If it was not for the bump you would think with confidence that it was a CTS driver.Still I would love to know with some degree of acuracy when CTS left the musical instrument driver market!

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