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Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6966]

Wed, 10 May 2006 16:29

megaforceone
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2006

Junior Member

Greetings and salutions,
Hello this is Mark and I am now a proud owner of a Kustom '66 L795 black tuck and roll "Frank" and 2x15 P15 Jensen cab. I want to thank every one on this message board for giving me a wealth of knowledge before my Kustom arrived. I've been going through thread after thread for weeks now and gained a lot of respect for all the TnR diehards out there.

I play bass in Cape May from San Diego Ca...
www.capemayrock.com
www.myspace.com/capemay

But enough about me let's talk about the amp. The Frank head is in immaculate shape. I doubt that anyone has been playing this amp in years. I plugged the bass in ('78 P-bass with EMGs) with a Y splitter going into both LOW imputs. I got a lot of volume but the top speaker was rattling. The lower speaker sounded fine. This prompted me to take off the back and see what the speakers were (since the seller on e-bay wouldn't open the back, It was one of those e-bay drop off stores). I found Jensen P15's inside...so I plugged a strat in and the amp sounded incredible. The reverb and the trem are awesome.

So here's my question ladies and gents...are P15's made for guitar and not bass???
I tried an Ampeg 4x10 with the head but didn't get ample volume from it so I can't use it on stage or rehearsal
So now should I be swapping out these Jensens ???
Any suggestions ???

Mark
Bass master general
www.capemayrock.com

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6970 is a reply to message #6966]

Thu, 11 May 2006 07:45

stevem
Messages: 4738
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Hi, and welcome. Do you mean you are now in cape may N.J from CA? Or is there a cape may CA? Those Jensen alinco magnet p15n models are worth a fortune, just log onto coldsprings electrical works and check out the prices, I have one in my 1954 gibson amp and its worth 250 dollars. The problem is the they are not for bass, at least with the wattage that the kustom has.These now old speakers where made with paper voice coil formers, and the coils where attached to the cone with animal based glue. This glue drys out greatly after 40 years and all of these speakers will eventuly fail when played enough, and low bass frequencys will only serve to hasten that end. I have the orignal Jensen adds from the early 60s, and these top of the line p12n and p15n driver where rated for a wapping 28 watts if I remember right, or may be its 25 watts.You can play bass thru it at home use volumes but if you are going to play out with it, and even if not I would strongly suggest replacing the speakers and boxing up the orignal ones to maintain the rigs value. If one or both of the orignal ones fail on you, yes you can get it reconed but the orignal replacement parts can not be had any longer, so you end up with a driver that does not sound quite like the original. Treat them with love.I have a 76 P bass that I put in the active EMGs about 20 years ago.There a model for a jazz bass that they do not even make any longer, and of all my six basses,even my Carvin with the 18 volt system and the monster 1/4 inch alinco magnet pickups I like the sound of the P bass with the EMGs the best. I just wish the neck radious was flatter.

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6972 is a reply to message #6970]

Thu, 11 May 2006 13:45

megaforceone
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2006

Junior Member

Thanks for the suggestions Steven !!!

Actually the name of the band is "Cape May" and were from San Diego California. And yes there is a Cape May here in San Diego
but it's a street, not a town.

Ok, so those speakers will come out. I'm looking into getting something from Weber but the question is which 15 to get ???
Alnico or ceramic ???
How many ohms ???
Which wattage ???
Honestly, if the old Jensens are worth that much I'll probably use them to finance the new speakers, and possibly a power amp
neatly tucked away to give me more headroom.

I love my p-bass, she's a real workhorse. I also recently acquired an Italia Maranello bass in gold sparkle. I highly suggest to anyone to look into their guitars and basses. They're
well made and very affordable, not to mention the vintage look
of all their models. You can match the guitar to your rig if
you have a gold, silver, blue, or red sparkle Kustom.
www.italiaguitars.com

Mark
Bass master general
www.capemayrock.com

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6976 is a reply to message #6966]

Fri, 12 May 2006 13:22

stevem
Messages: 4738
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

The main thing that you need to know is that those early kustom heads put out their full wattage at 8 ohms not 4 ohms like most of the latter heads.Parts express carrys the eminence speaker line and the parts express part number 290-419 eminence driver sounds great for bass, and is a 16 ohm model so you can wire them in parallel to get the needed 8 ohm load. The speaker list for 114 dollars, but you have to call parts express to get the price on eminence drivers, it most times comes to 30% off.

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6977 is a reply to message #6976]

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:46

megaforceone
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2006

Junior Member

Your a scholar and a gentleman...
Thank you very much Steve !!!

I put in the order today and having them rushed out here. If
all goes well I'll be using the rig at our next show. Once
again thanks for sharing your knowledge...

Mark
Bass master general
www.capemayrock.com

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #6979 is a reply to message #6966]

Mon, 15 May 2006 07:09

stevem
Messages: 4738
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

I just hapened upon that 60s jensen spec sheet over the week end and the P15N model was rated at a whopping 20 watts, and the P12N model at 18 watts. Its no wonder that so few of them have survived till now with original cones and voice coils.

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #7005 is a reply to message #6977]

Tue, 30 May 2006 10:58

rodak
Messages: 511
Registered: October 2001
Location: Georgia

Senior Member

megaforceone wrote on Fri, 12 May 2006 17:46

What did they charge you for those (if I'm not being too nosy)? I was curious, because I have a friend who resells Eminence speakers, so I emailed Parts Express for their price, and was a bit surprised to see they're not discounting it much. They quote a list price of $96.99, and their price is $87.29 (Steve, where did you get that list price of $114?). My friend Bernie (www.bltsound.com) sells the same speaker (Delta 15B 16ohm) for $67.50. I knew he was a little cheaper than partsexpress, but I didn't know it was THAT much difference.

www.combo-organ.com

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Re: Please allow me to introduce myself... [message #7006 is a reply to message #6966]

Tue, 30 May 2006 12:44

stevem
Messages: 4738
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Thats a nice difference in price!I forget if I got that list price from the parts express site or from my catalog that day.

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