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Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28936]

Wed, 22 February 2023 11:48

GaryLC
Messages: 52
Registered: December 2012

Member

Hello again!

Can the Kustom 3-15" (with one being the 15" horn) be used as a bass cabinet? I'm being told that it would be fine, but seems to me that using a bass with it could damage the horn, or at least produce a sound totally unlike the standard 3-15" cabs that were all speakers.

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28938 is a reply to message #28936]

Wed, 22 February 2023 15:59

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

You will not damage the horn because there is a crossover cap to keep low frequencies out of the horn.
You may not also get the best bass sound out of it either since these 2-15 and horn cabinets where not intended for bass.

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28942 is a reply to message #28936]

Thu, 23 February 2023 20:22

rodak
Messages: 511
Registered: October 2001
Location: Georgia

Senior Member

I thought I had read that the volume of the 3x15 cabinet wasn't really large enough for the 3 15" speakers, so I've always figured maybe with just two speakers and a horn it would be more ideal. Of course, I suppose it depends on which speakers are inside. Has anyone ever done a Thiele-Small calculation for that cabinet and some of the offered speakers (JBL, Altec, CTS)?

Plus, if you use two such cabs (with 16ohm speakers), you'd be presenting a 4ohm load to the amp(at least, in the lower frequencies), which is the ideal(lowest) impedance the K200s are meant to drive. You could always wire in a pad to be able to dial in the horn if you like that, or just dial it out altogether. I'm not sure how risky adding the horn in would be, impedance-wise, so maybe that isn't a good idea.

The 3x15 rig was always so impressive - having two of those suckers, well.....

www.combo-organ.com

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28945 is a reply to message #28936]

Fri, 24 February 2023 06:32

GaryLC
Messages: 52
Registered: December 2012

Member

Thank you, Steven and Rodak!

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28949 is a reply to message #28942]

Fri, 24 February 2023 15:16

GaryLC
Messages: 52
Registered: December 2012

Member

Rodak,

I was in a rock band back in the early 70s that did a lot of Queen, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, etc. I played through an Ampeg SVT with two 8-10" cabinets! Sixteen 10 inchers in all. I'm 69 now.....no way could I ever do that again. Smile

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28951 is a reply to message #28949]

Fri, 24 February 2023 16:26

rodak
Messages: 511
Registered: October 2001
Location: Georgia

Senior Member

Yeah, an SVT "fridge" with two 8x10s would seem to be the ultimate bass rig. I never had the pleasure of playing through anything so powerful.

But the Kustoms just "look" so much cooler, imho.

www.combo-organ.com

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28954 is a reply to message #28951]

Sat, 25 February 2023 07:19

GaryLC
Messages: 52
Registered: December 2012

Member

I totally agree! There isn't an amp out there that match the "coolness" of a Kustom!

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28955 is a reply to message #28936]

Sat, 25 February 2023 08:12

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Keep this in mind .
Do to the way the Human ear responds to sound if you had a 10 watt amp running thru one speaker and wanted to get it to be twice as loud by means of just wattage you would then need to step up to a 100 watt amp, or you could just add another speaker.

So a original SVT tube amp on its own with its 320 watts is not twice as loud as a Kustom 200 for example, but it does have just amp wise 3 times the clean head room.

Now let's factor in even just running one of those SVT cabinets with there 8 10" drivers and now you can see where the added volume at your ear comes about.

The Fender PS400 amp( for guitar or bass) with its 435 watts was a monster!
But it had a special made output transformer made such that you needed 3 cabinets to get all of that 435 wats of RMS power.

These where offered with either a a big 4-12" cabinet for guitar, or a 1-18" cabinet for bass.

At the 1974 trade show I was allowed to play bass thru one of these powering two of the 1-18" cabinets and one of the 4-12" cabinets all at the same time, and as you might guess it was insane

[Updated on: Sat, 25 February 2023 08:24]

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Re: Kustom 3-15" cab with 2 speakers and 1 horn used for bass. [message #28958 is a reply to message #28955]

Sat, 25 February 2023 19:24

GaryLC
Messages: 52
Registered: December 2012

Member

Steve,
You are so right. I think a lot of us have always thought that double the wattage, the louder the sound. Not true. As much as I loved the SVT, two of my main gigging amps were a Fender tube Studio Bass, with 1-15"......which kicked ass, only rated at about 200 watts peak. And then a Mesa Boogie D180 head with a Mesa 2-15" cab....which probably blew the SVT away! Sound is so subjective.....

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