These amps and heads are larger than the previous 100, 200, & 400, series amps. Is there a reason for this such as the larger volume was found to be needed for speaker reasonance or something? Or did they just want to be different from the previous amps? How long before other people took over from Ross and went to the tolex covering and loosing the famous roll and pleating character we all love so well?
ET Messages: 146 Registered: October 2000 Location: Charlotte NC
Senior Member
trouble is...when you talk with Bud...you get so much information at one time that it tends to blur...I remember Bud saying that he was disapointed, even to the point of considering buying the business back from the Baldwin folks, when they started showing up with non-padded rigs..."the whole point of kustom was the tuck n roll"...something like that...anyway...Bud's controlling interest was long gone from the biz by around 71-72ish and I don't think you'll see anything of his personal contribution in either the cosmetic design of the slant metal face era, nor in the mechanics...why straight cabs versus slant cabs...air space...perhaps...but more likely production savings...why are the slant heads so huge that they hang over the sides of their cabs...hell if I know...there's no excuse for that...especially on the little 150 rigs..they just lost their proportions in my worthless opinion...never cared for them that much..not that they aren't good rigs...just grew up with the plexi stuff in my most formative years and that's what's engrained in my brain....alot of the guys here like using the extra power of the later rigs and I'm not going to knock em...but I'm off track (as usual)...uh..what was your question again?....
Thanks ET I like the plexi Kustoms best too. The 150/250 stuff is /ed too but it just wider for some reason. I suspose the sound thing was just wishful thinking on my part. More power is always a good thing. But from what I've seen in most Kustom heads they did'nt have a room problem at all for the electronics. I really shocked, not literally but figuratively the first time I looked in a Kustom head interior compared to my Bassman's head internals.
ET Messages: 146 Registered: October 2000 Location: Charlotte NC
Senior Member
yeah..take away the tubes and all the mounting needed for those heat generating bulbs of glass and you can save some space in those heads...gotta remember that we're talking 60s here....what a huge step in the science of instrument amplification..way ta go Bud Ross!
stevem Messages: 4738 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
Kustom speaker cabs where always on the small side of what would be proper for the best bass responce with the size of speakers used.(ex) the 3-15" cabs are the internal volume size that the 2-15" cabs sould have been. Thats why they went from the slant front cabs to the striaght front cabs for more internal volume. They made the base of the slant front heads to match the top of the new cabs.Speaking for myself as a bass player, I prefer the bass responce of the slant front cabs for a 4 string bass. They roll offjust enough of the fundimental tone so the cab is bottom heavy and boomy at loud volumes. But for a 5 string bass, that low B string likes the larger cabs.
stevem Messages: 4738 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
P.S the K250 cabs where also larger due to the internal volume used up when they put a 250 power module in the cab when you bought a k500 that came with two cabs.
stevem Messages: 4738 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
Senior Member
HI, in my first post I wanted to say that I like the fundimental bass roll off of the slant front cabs, and even the 250 style cabs. Other cabs of that era like Sunn and Acoustic are larger, and like I side uneven and boomy at certian bass freqs.
Yes the Peavy 2x15 cabs were larger too. But they are much harder to get in a car's backseat and for me I did'nt like the sound or the two ohm impedance. I've only seen one 250 Kustom. Where as the 150's seem to be much more common. Don't know why. But thats very true the 250 cabs would have had to leave room for that second power amp on the powered cabs.
KustomBlues Messages: 490 Registered: June 2001 Location: Michigan
Senior Member
The 250 powered cabs had straight sides, not angled like the 200 cabs. The power module sits in the bottom of the cab, with the panel at the bottom with the cord holder brackets. You could unscrew just the black module panel and pull it out, or unscrew all 31 screws and take the whole back board off... I have pics here if you need to see what the heck I'm trying to describe. :-) Deb
I've never seen one but I think I'm understanding what you are describing. Thanks Deb! I've only seen the 150 and 250 amps. Do have a connection somewhere to drive the slave cabs?
KustomBlues Messages: 490 Registered: June 2001 Location: Michigan
Senior Member
Yup, there's a module out jack on the back of the 250 heads. Plug a shielded (not speaker!) cable from that jack to the input of the power module cab, and wa-la you have awesome stuff happening! :-) Deb