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Ports History [message #26695]

Tue, 08 May 2018 23:31

oren hudson
Messages: 274
Registered: March 2008
Location: Gastonia, NC

Senior Member

I recall reading somewhere the general info on when the ports were added to the cabs. My brain has failed on remembering that info and I don't seem to find it in a search, so here goes. When did the ports first start? Was there a difference between guitar cabs and bass cabs as to whether or not the ports were installed? I ask because I've looked at a (terrible) pic of what the owner says is a gold covered cab. He knows nothing else about it. Appears to be gold or possible silver 2x12 or 2x15 with the ...by Ross emblem and no ports. Any clues? Thanks.

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Re: Ports History [message #26697 is a reply to message #26695]

Wed, 09 May 2018 00:15

chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

From what I remember, all cabinets after a certain point had ports cut into the baffle board, but not all cabinets had the front mounted aluminum or chrome port bezels.

I have an early horizontal 2X15 cab that has no ports. All of the vertical cabinets that I have seen have ports. Pleat will have a better answer for you, I'm sure.

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Re: Ports History [message #26698 is a reply to message #26695]

Wed, 09 May 2018 06:07

stevem
Messages: 4775
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Lol! And I have a early horizontal 2-15 white cab with the baffle holes !

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Re: Ports History [message #26699 is a reply to message #26698]

Wed, 09 May 2018 06:59

pleat
Messages: 1454
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

The early Frankie cabinets were offered in a 2x15 side by side, and then went to a vertical 2x15 and 3x15 cabinets. Most early cabinets have portholes behind the grill cloth and some don't. Bud said in the early years he was cutting the holes by hand and broke his saw, he said he didn't have the money to replace the saw, so he concentrated on just cutting the holes for the 15" speakers. Looking at the side of the cabinets, they had a slight taper narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. The K200 A cabinets were 12 T&R wide and had 3" ports behind the grill cloth, or as a 20.00 up charge, you could get the 4" aluminum ports. Name badge would say Kustom by Ross Inc. Sometime in 68 Kustom started building all the cabinets with the port tubes as standard. The 69/73 cabinets changed to chrome plastic ports and the name badge said Kustom Electronics Inc.
pleat

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Re: Ports History [message #26702 is a reply to message #26699]

Thu, 10 May 2018 11:50

kustomoholic
Messages: 227
Registered: March 2009
Location: Tulsa,oklahoma

Senior Member

My blue 2-15 vertical Frankie cab has no ports. (11 pleats) I stuffed it full of insulation to make the cab feel bigger. I used it with the Blue Frankie head and it sounds decent with the 2 15" Eminence drivers I salvaged from a La15 and what was in my Charger that I swapped in an Altec421a-8h. I used that Frankie rig in Indy in 2011.

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Re: Ports History [message #26703 is a reply to message #26695]

Thu, 17 May 2018 21:12

BrianBB
Messages: 46
Registered: November 2008
Location: Fayetteville, Ga.

Member

I have a charcoal vertical 2x15 Frankie head and cabinet. No ports cut in the baffle.

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Re: Ports History [message #26704 is a reply to message #26695]

Fri, 18 May 2018 05:57

stevem
Messages: 4775
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

It would be great to have the manufacture date off of the speakers, then we may be able to start a data base and pin down when the change over was to baffles with holes.

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Re: Ports History [message #26705 is a reply to message #26704]

Fri, 18 May 2018 23:19

oren hudson
Messages: 274
Registered: March 2008
Location: Gastonia, NC

Senior Member

I opened the cab up and found that they were obviously CTS square magnet speakers, but sadly, no numbers anywhere on the speaker frames. Other notable items: slotted screws used on the back panel, no sealer (turned to tar) used on the back panel and a blank speaker jack plate. It sounded amazing when I cranked it for a while with an SVT head!

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Re: Ports History [message #26706 is a reply to message #26695]

Sat, 19 May 2018 06:14

stevem
Messages: 4775
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Most CTS date codes are on the magnet.

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Re: Ports History [message #26709 is a reply to message #26706]

Sun, 20 May 2018 21:27

oren hudson
Messages: 274
Registered: March 2008
Location: Gastonia, NC

Senior Member

Success! I got the cab out in the bright sunshine Sunday and took the back panel off. I looked and looked and looked at the speakers for the code. Nothing. I then got a large magnifying glass out and a super bright blind your eyes flashlight and scoured the magnet at all angles for any possible trace of the numbers. I did manage to find a very faint number with a hint of green that CTS typically used. After detailed examination, made out the prefix to be 137. Then the big mystery date numbers - date code is 638. So, looks like a mid '66.

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Re: Ports History [message #28658 is a reply to message #26695]

Mon, 11 July 2022 10:45

MrShake
Messages: 22
Registered: August 2021

Junior Member

I know I'm digging up an old thread, but I've been playing through my K200B-1 and non matching 2x15 (acquired separately) for the past year and have been consistently impressed with it. The head is a 1969 that had a hard life before I got it.

My cab is a black, tapered, 11-pleat cab, so, from the Frankie era. No sealant, blank jack plate, no front logo, no ports.

I got it on clearance at Empire Guitars in Providence, RI, where they apparently used to have a huge Kustom collection. It was the last one, at $160. I've been playing it in Boston ever since.

Unfortunately, my speakers are a pair of 1970 CTS. They sound great, but I'm assuming between 1965-1969, someone blew the originals. Everything else is in top condition, barely a scuff, so I assume it wasn't a smashed baffle or anything.

Sorry I can't add more to the historical record with original speaker date codes, but wanted to leave a record of the cab in this thread for posterity. Thanks to everyone for sharing their information.

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Re: Ports History [message #28659 is a reply to message #26695]

Mon, 11 July 2022 11:39

stevem
Messages: 4775
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Thanks for posting the info that you have!

What is the impeadence of those drivers ?

The originals where 16 ohm which when wired in the way the factory did made for a 8 ohm load on the amp.

This then limited the amps output to some 50 watts of clean power instead of 100 wats with two 8 ohm speakers and a 4 ohm load like the amp was really designed for.

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Re: Ports History [message #28660 is a reply to message #28659]

Mon, 11 July 2022 12:50

MrShake
Messages: 22
Registered: August 2021

Junior Member

You're quite welcome. The drivers are 16ohms, wired for 8ohms total. I'm excited to finally take it to the practice space this weekend and plug in a second 1x15 8ohm cab and let it rip at full capacity of 4ohms. Thanks for the tip!

I forgot to mention, mine also has the original handles replaced with the later chrome/plastic ones, but you can still see the holes for the original handles in the vinyl. I feel like this supports my theory of a factory replacement of the speakers around 1970, where they swapped for new handles to replaces the originals which I imagine were broken.

And for what it's worth, my cab also has slotted screws.

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