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Restoration of a Custom Kustom 200-B1 [message #29777]

Mon, 03 August 2026 22:08

jajamezsz
Messages: 2
Registered: August 2026

Junior Member

Hi, I'm new here but have done a considerable amount of browsing already. I inherited a 200-B1 setup from a local musician who passed away. The leather was all beat up and the whole thing kinda smelled like old beer, so I tore it all down and cleaned it up. Bought some scrim foam and actually managed to score a roll of Emerald Green Naugahyde! I also have access to a beastly Singer sewing machine, at least for a little while, so I'd like to get this show on the road. Of course, I went through all the trouble of making an account and posting on this site, so naturally I've got some questions.

I can't identify the speakers in the cabinet, but I can describe what I've found out so far. The two bottom speakers are 8ohms each, and measure a perfect 4.0 in parallel, but the top speaker is 4ohms and has a weird metal cone with a brass bell at the center. There's a Sprague 430P capacitor in parallel between the middle and top speaker and the whole setup comes out at 5ohms, I think (the capacitor kinda screws up my measurement, if I'm not mistaken). I don't even want to power this thing up unless I can be sure it'll pass the smoke test (Ker-zap! Poof!).

Thanks for all your help - all questions, facts, and opinions are welcome. I will continue the thread until it's done and let you all know what's up when it gets interesting.

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Re: Restoration of a Custom Kustom 200-B1 [message #29778 is a reply to message #29777]

Tue, 04 August 2026 05:01

stevem
Messages: 4902
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Hello and welcome.

It’s sounds like you have either a 3-15” cabinet or a 3-12” cabinet.

The 3-15 cabinet was available with 15” metal high frequency horn in the top position.

You can find pictures of it in this sites Literature section, both in a cabinet with a front view and separate out of a cabinet.
Does what you have look like that?

Normally a 3-15 cabinet that did not have the horn was loaded with 3 16 ohm drivers wired in parallel for a 5.3 ohm load on the amp.

If you want to try your k200 head then use your two lower drivers and the amp will be fine.

Please note two things.

1) you have to make 5 post that I approve ( like this one) that I allow to go up to the web board before a post that you make will go right up on its own.

This is for spam protection.

2) this site does not allow photos to be posted.

Good luck with your rebuild and reply back if you have any questions.

[Updated on: Tue, 04 August 2026 05:03]

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Re: Restoration of a Custom Kustom 200-B1 [message #29799 is a reply to message #29777]

Wed, 02 September 2026 19:30

jajamezsz
Messages: 2
Registered: August 2026

Junior Member

Hi, and sorry for the long wait to reply. I've done a goodly amount of work on the subject and found that I do indeed have the 3-15 setup with the metal horn and filter capacitor. The letters are quite faded but it seems like CTS speakers from 1967.

I fixed a tear in the bottom cone with some special glue I got off eBay. Cleaned up the electronics as best as I could and plugged into the Low jack on the Normal side (as opposed to Bright). No pop, no smoke, but I was definitely picking up the cell phone tower across the street. Tried the High side and started messing with more gain until POW! The gnarliest screech of feedback I've ever witnessed, I mean it was an interdimensional screech that left me ringing for some time...I'll make sure to stay in the Low side for now and try to not ever point the instrument at the speakers...Whew!

Gotta say, though, my bass really sings through this thing! I've been playing through a crappy Peavy tube amp for years (2-15's) and this Kustom just blows it away!

Well, now it's pretty much just sewing time...still I'm just a little worried about that subtle digital background noise and that darn feedback! I wonder if there's a circuit to filter out the cell phone tower...and I wonder why the feedback was so intense...but anyway, thanks for tuning in! And thanks for all your help!

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Re: Restoration of a Custom Kustom 200-B1 [message #29800 is a reply to message #29777]

Thu, 03 September 2026 08:14

stevem
Messages: 4902
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

A mod you can do to filter out radio problems is to add a cap and resistor in series from the blue wire off of each pair of input jacks too the ground lug of the jack .

A .005 uf 10 volt cap is first, then a 47K 1/4 watt metal film type resistor.

The voltage rating on the .005 uf cap really does not matter, as long as it’s above 10 volts.

You will have to unbolt the jack from the chassis some to get this 47k resistor soldered to it unless you have a better then a 40 watt soldering iron.

In terms of your feedback issue when plugged into the amps other channel that tells me that more than likely that volume pot is bad and does not turn off the audio signal from your guitar.

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Re: Restoration of a Custom Kustom 200-B1 [message #29815 is a reply to message #29800]

Tue, 22 September 2026 18:56

rodak
Messages: 538
Registered: October 2001
Location: Georgia

Senior Member

Thanks for this, Steve! I have a K200-B2 that sometimes picks up radio, so I'll be putting this fix in soon (which, for me, means sometime in the next 12 months!)

www.combo-organ.com

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