jibbski Messages: 2 Registered: August 2009 Location: champaign IL
Junior Member
hello, i'm new to the site.
i own two kustom 215 cabs. one is newer, rectangle design with shiny ports, the other is older, a slant style 215 with duller ports.
i recently purchased a 315 cabinet, unloaded and am looking for speaker suggestions. i'm probably going to play bass through it and am looking for a good driver. i've considered 3 of the 16 ohm eminence force deltas... or possibly 3 of the guitar warehouse brand fifteens at 16 ohms each. i wouldnt be worried about the impedence, but i like to use an ampeg V4 that won't go below 4 ohms. my other bass amp, a GK1000RB, will take 2 ohm loads. i want versatility, obviously.
so that being said, should i go with a series or parellel wiring configuration? is there anything that anyone else reccomends?
btw, my newer 215 is loaded with eminence force speakers, which i think sound pretty good for bass and or guitar. the other, is loaded with some vintage "rola" speakers, and sounds great with a fender vibro, but low wattage.
thanks, i'd be happy to share any info i can to this site.
pleat Messages: 1452 Registered: June 2004 Location: Belding, Mi
Senior Member
First off, welcome to the site. I think one importatnt thing to consider is the impedance over brand. Since you may want to swap or sell a kustom cabinet at some point to get another kustom. I'd go with 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel. So a 3x15 cabinet loaded with 16 ohms will give you a 5.66 ohms and will work great on a K200 or K250 head. Kustom used 16 ohm speakers in just about every guitar and bass cabinet they made. The newer non slant cabinets with the silver thread in the grille cloth used 12 ohm speakers.
By staying around the 4 to 8 ohm cabinet impedance you can run just about any head without fear of the amp heating up and shutting down or blowing the amp.
Amp power rating in wattage varies with the impedance and most modern bass amps have ton's of wattage and even though they state they will run at 2 ohms, I still prefer to stay around 4 ohms. Some manufactureres rate their amps at 2 ohms to inflate the RMS wattage to a big number, but it's still a buyer beware type of information regarding wattage and impedance.
Just my opinion.
Don
BC Messages: 583 Registered: March 2000 Location: Kentucky
Senior Member
I used a pair of the warehouse guitar speaker bass 15s in a 2x15 cabinet at the Kustom convention in Chanute in June and they were great. I was amazed with the clarity of the speaker as well as the range. The construction of the driver is also high quality. The Bad news is they just had a price increase and vintage speakers can be bought for the same price. Sorry, I have no experience with the Deltas. BC
oren hudson Messages: 274 Registered: March 2008 Location: Gastonia, NC
Senior Member
Another welcome to the forum jibbski. If you're interested in putting original speakers in your cab, I may have 3 matched CTS 15s. Two are original to my '68 200 cab and another one that was in another cab. I'd have to look at the 3rd for mfg. date. I'm in the process of upgrading the '68 cab to the optional JBL D140Fs and may consider selling the CTSs that are in it now. Not sure that I'm going to sell yet, but just thought I'd through this possibility out to you. Enjoy your Ks.
jibbski Messages: 2 Registered: August 2009 Location: champaign IL
Junior Member
thank you all for the kind replies.
yeah, i think i'm going with the WHGS Fifteens... and yes, the price increase isn't that awesome... but i've got a pair of the twelves in a homemade cabinet and absolutely love them....
i'm interested in the original replacements, though i'm weary because when i bought the galien kruger i absolutely ROASTED the pair of origional's i had in my newer cab (shiny ports, silver thread).... i like using distortion pedals with my bass, which makes it harder to hear when i'm being bad
I have a simplified version of calculateing speaker operating resistance. Well here it goes, Parrellel= speaker ohms divided by # of speakers parrelleled and add the ohms for series connection. Example three drivers in parrellel (16ohm+16ohm+16ohm as the example in question) and (16 being the ohmage of the speakers) 16 divided by 3 = 5.33. Series connection you add the resistance to get a total (16+16+16=48 ohms). So far it has't failed me so correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks STEVE