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I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5232]

Tue, 28 December 2004 06:39

Nighttrain1127
Messages: 13
Registered: December 2004
Location: Worcester Ma

Junior Member

They look like Kustom 4x10 cab and a 4x8 cab. I have seen 4x10 cabs but not 4x8 cabs. could they be going by the outside of the mounting hole and losing some size or are they actually 8" speakers not 10's. I have no clue what they are but I got the pair of cabs and two k200b1 heads for 500.00

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5233 is a reply to message #5232]

Tue, 28 December 2004 16:01

edforgothispassword is currently offline

edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004

Senior Member

hi guy...congrats on your latest acquisition....although I've not a clue what you've got if you are talking about guitar cabs...vintage ones...then here's what they made...

4x12 with ports on the front..same height as the old 2x12 ported cabs...just wider..small chrome ports.

4x10 in a 2x15 cab size...2 on top 2 on bottom...

these were the only 4x* cabs made.....now..if you are talking about the PA columns..yes....there was a 4x10 column and a seperate 4x8 column models...the 4x10 column had air slots on the back usually..the smaller 4x8 (only slightly smaller) column model was a closed back...however....there was a brief point where kustom slid 4x8s into the 4x10 column housing.. I have a pair of those..don't know why..budget...whatever....maybe leftovers....the 4x8 closed back models actually have good vocal sound and the sealed enclosures help keep the speakers in place under heavey wattage...the 8s in the 10 slotted back cabs however really tend to flop around and breakup more quickly...would be fun to know the history onyour rig....but for this post...no, you're not going crazy...you can very likely have two different size cones in the same model column cab...if you have something other than I'm describing..then I can only guess that you have the new kustom cabs which came in 4x12 and 4x10 cone options..no ports on the front...and yes if you were to measure the speakers you'd think you have 10s and 8s...

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5234 is a reply to message #5232]

Tue, 28 December 2004 17:53

voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004

Senior Member

Hello. Nice deal! That's a lot of Kustom gear for the money. From my experiences, vintage PA columns can sound very good or very bad for guitar. I have a pair of old Fender PA columns with four 10" 32 ohm CTS speakers in them. With my K200-A5, they were atrociously bright and tinny (which is unfortunate and suprising since that amp sounds absolutely amazing with my 4x12's). However, I tried them with a mid 80's Ampeg SS140C and a bass overdrive pedal set clean (for low end enhancement) and they blew down the house with great sound. I've never tried out Kustom columns, but if I am not mistaken they used CTS speakers as well, so I can assume they sound similar, unless they used different models of speakers; the ones in my Fenders are the horse-shoe style magnet, not the bug square magnet ones that look like shrunken 15" bass speakers.

If you use them as intended, for vocals, i'd recommend using them along with a pair of 1x15" PA cabs with horns. I use mine in this manner along with some 1x12" PA cabs (yeah, 6 cabs and 12 speakers plus 4 horns Smile

), and it gives a very very full, round vocal sound and a very nice sound for playing pre-recorded audio (not to mention it's flippin' LOUD!). I'd recommend using either your K200 or another medium-low wattage amp with these and a more powerful amp for the other PA speakers. I use my columns with a separate 100 watt amp with the EQ set flat, which allows more headroom. I let the 350 watt amp with the other speakers cover the highs and bass while these blast out the mids.

Anyway, i'd open them up and check out the speakers and wiring inside to make sure everything is up to par. Also, write down/remember the speaker numbers so you can find out their production date. I'd also recommend making sure all screws and speaker mounting nuts are firmly secured; when I got my Fender columns, half of the screws had been vibrated loose from years of use. After that, experiment and have fun!

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5236 is a reply to message #5232]

Wed, 29 December 2004 11:22

edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004

Senior Member

atta boy Void...you're dead on with the proper use of the columns...for many years I used my 4x8 closed back columns in a couple very small country club environments...it was early on and money was tight..so here's the confession on one of my PA systems..

I ran the columns as mains using a (then new) 1986 Peavey 5 channel PA, 150 watts, 6 band eq. I tossed 2 per side piezo tweeters in little boxes on top of each column to give me some top end sizzle...then out of my PA I ran a line into a Boss bass eq pedal and that into a kustom 1x15 SC combo..turned that to face the wall behind us and that was our low end..for at the dozen old farts dancing on the 12x12 floor it worked great...nice full sound..as loud as they wanted...used hot spots for monitors and an old Atlas double boom stand that went 9ft in the air and hung desk clamp goosneck lights loaded with outdoor colored flood lamps, those wired to a homemade stomp board so I could change scenes and a mirror ball...and Deb and I did a midi based duo w/live guitar and a little keys..we worked most every weekend...fri and sat at $300 a night and not once did anyone ditz my PA setup.
For larger areas where I really just needed more bass I would leave the little SC 1x15 home and bring the pair of 2x15 cabs run with their 200B head..same setup..just more on the bottom..those cabs were loaded with poly cone sub woofers.

When I finally came across a local pair of 3x15 siren cabs our PA grew. I changed out the horn drivers from the EVs? which were blown..but kept the Jenson heavies that were in there...upgraded the 2x15 cabs with eminence
Gutted a pair of black 200 housings..one had a 200 PA the other was the 200 bass chasis...got some kustom style grill cloth and made a baffle for a set of PV 22T horns and passive crossovers..those sit on top of the 3x15 sirens...the actualy sirens have a motorola 150 watt piezo..not the cheap radio shack deals...these have a much better voicing...still not a horn..but not blairy...they add a nice sizzle in the dance floor range but don't throw that far, so the 22T horns on top give me the extra coverage and a little lower range. I use an active crossover in the rack now and Mackie power amps to drive things. I've still been known to add the columns into the mix to help the vocal range..they are perfect for that..it gives me a wonderful look..a 2x15 and a 3x15 on eachside of the stage..all those chrome ports..and the columns too...and it really does sound decent.. I can't thump as hard as the 4000 watt DJs do , but that's not who we are...we are plenty loud enough for a 30-50 folks on a wedding dance floor and to cover the room and we're enough outside again for the venues we're playing....
i've thought about moving to a mackie setup..but I do have those and by the time Ihaul a pair of them in, set up the stands...lift those things onto the stands, worry about folks tripping onthe black tripod legs in the dark, then haul in the subs.etc...the sound isn't really any better...a tad different in the mids...and it doesn't visually fill the stage as well, and with only a duo or trio, its nice to have the stage look.
now...as for guitar.. I remember as a 13 yr old the local garage band older guys..had fenders and other combos and the first upgrade they would /could afford to make would be to go out and buy a single PA colum and they'd plug that into their 1x12 or 2x12 combos..gave em more volume, more air movement,etc...and usually sounded great..but the old fender amps had a lot of low end to em, which the kustoms don't...for years Ihad wanted to find a clean kustom blue sparkle 4x10 column and run that alongside my kustom 4x10SC kombo..just thought it would be cool...still might one of these days..mid life ya know..

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5238 is a reply to message #5236]

Thu, 30 December 2004 08:22

Smoke1
Messages: 107
Registered: September 2003
Location: Southern Maryland Solomon...

Senior Member

MY take on Kustom Tower Speakers: My two 4X12 53" 1969 columns are real solid. Currently I have one cab with 2 original CTS, one 1970 larger CTS and one Madison Symphony loaded and the other cab has 3 original and one larger 1970 CTS loaded and all are 16 oMh. In 70's - 90's I didn't use them for my guitar much as I had originally bought the K200B/5 PA for. We used it as our practice PA because the Kustom amp WAS OVER POWERING Laughing

the other guys amps (Jealousy) so I went out and got 2X12 combo's. We then used the Kustom PA for small private and small bar jobs and they worked great as long as you kept the guitar amps volume down and kept the amp head as FAR away from the stage & band's standing area as possible to keep the reverb tank from shaking. I love that sound Mad

. For bigger rooms we used a larger PA and used the Kustom PA as the drums amp and as separate extra vocals monitors. Later I used the amp as a duet with 2 guitars and all vocals going only into the PA head with no other amps or monitors. Now I use the PA for my in house vocals, special occasion DJ action, and Love to play my guitars thru it when ever I can and when I get the girls out of the house it time to really let loose and crank it up HAR!! HAR !! Twisted Evil

. For some reason my Digitech RP2000 modeler works sooooo much better going into the Kustom head than thru any combo amp. In fact the RP2000 fried my Fender amp capacitors out one time. The only small fault with these colums is the sound comes straight out and I recommend you put them on crossing angles pointing inward towards the stage Only if you do not mike them or if you don't use monitors. And OBTW standing directly in front of 2 of these babies side by side at a 2-6 volume settings with any added OD, Compression, Modeler, or EQ stomp boxes will hurt you sweet! Cool

!! If you ever get a pair you will keep a pair Foevermore!

Smoke1 Plays Kustom Amps & Old Tube Amps Loud in S. Maryland

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5253 is a reply to message #5232]

Sat, 01 January 2005 17:20

Nighttrain1127
Messages: 13
Registered: December 2004
Location: Worcester Ma

Junior Member

What about using these colums for bass amps? will they work? will I probably be overdriving them? BTW they are 4x8 i finally got to take them apart to see what is in there. I believe they are cts speakers.

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5254 is a reply to message #5232]

Sat, 01 January 2005 18:02

edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004

Senior Member

the 8s in the smaller closed back column cabs actually handle a surprising amount of low end when I've used them as cabs for my home stereo years ago...but those drivers are no where near what you'd need to run a bass guitar and I've got no idea how the larger slotted cabs would allow for air if you loaded bass drivers in there...could be fun ...
well, we played last night at the local country club..one of our regular holes...small place...about 80 plus guests and 40-50 on the dance floor at any one time...the 3x15 sirens served duty as mains with the 2x15 cabs holding down the thump.
I went back in time just a bit and did the old school so I was running the 3x15s with a PV CS400 power amp, fronted by a graphic eq and an electronic crossover....the 2x15s were pushed by a mackie 1400 amp which has its own crossover. as the night went on we throttled things up to probably 85%.. I had a pair of mackies on sticks as monitors on each side of the stage...they were cranked at about 60% and it was loud but it took that to get clarity with all the bass coming off the back of the 2x15 cabs and bouncing around a very lively room....lots of love from the crowd made for a very fun night...we provided a large 6x9 screen and projector so we could broadcast the Times Square...and I mix a tad of CD dj work in...(no way in hell am I gonna play YMCA...just spin the CD and watch the stupid factor climb)..but other than those brief moments of suffrage...all was great...oh...used my little SC2x10 for guitar...took the pair of em..but stage space was a premium and I wouldve blown my gal vocalist away (seeing as that's my wife..best to oblige)
Happy New Year to all...

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5493 is a reply to message #5233]

Sat, 19 February 2005 09:56

KustomDan
Messages: 42
Registered: January 2000

Member

ET,

I'm thinking the 4-8 columns that came with the K100-5 series PA (a late introduction shown in the literature as a "Kustom Katalog Supplement) had a closed back while the 4-8 columns of the K150-5 later series had two oval ports in the back. I have not compared the 4-10 and 4-12 columns, but do know that my later 300 series PA columns with 2-12 and 3-8's in each were ported in the backe with oval ports as well.

Dan Very Happy

---Owner, VintageKustom.com

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Re: I just bought what appears to be a Kustom 4x10 and a 4x8 pair of cabs [message #5498 is a reply to message #5232]

Mon, 21 February 2005 10:39

edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004

Senior Member

sounds right to me too Dan...those 4x8 closed backs that I sent to your son were the ones I was referring to...those originally came with the 100 plexi face PA head...and were the only things Ihad in the kool black fabric...the columns I have now came with the slant metal 150 PA head, are regular flat black naugha, have the 8s in em, but the column is taller and has the two slots in the back...actually allows too much air and the speakers tend to flop and break up much earlier than the smaller sealed back columns..i could probably load some meaner higher wattage eminence 8s in those columns and hit them harder all around...the only use they actually see now are side fill monitors, whereas my old close back columns used to do full duty as my main speakers in a very small club situation where we played regularly..and I ran an SC100 1x15 bass rig pointed into the corner behind us with a subwoofer driver loaded in it and a boss bass eq pedal in front to carve it out a bit..a couple piezos sat on the top of the columns to add a bit more sizzle and they columns were driven by a PV 150watt rms 5 channel 7 band graphic eq pa head..and that rig carried us for about 7 years making us $600 across a Fri/Sat night regular engagement where Deb and I did a duo with midi backing..we had as many as 15-20 couples on the dance floor and always had a respectable sound...I still would not hesitate going back to that arrangement if I needed to..it worked just fine.
I'm still thinking of finding a blue 4x10 column and running it with my blue 4x10SC combo amp for guitar...just cause that was what all the older boys did in my garage band days...they would buy a fender combo or whatever and then find a cheap deal on a PA column..just one..and run that as an extension cab..it gave em more volume but it also put a speaker up near head height which helped you hear...its just reminicing...but I'll do that someday just for the heck of it.

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