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K200 Model I? [message #5021] Wed, 03 November 2004 13:36 Go to next message
Kraigo is currently offline  Kraigo
Messages: 5
Registered: November 2004
Junior Member
I have a chassis from a Kustom bass amp. The front and back panells have been spray painted over, new holes have been added to move the speaker jacks to the front and an RCA jack of unknown use has also been added. No cab.

The electronics are all there, but no accoutriments. It has two sets of four knobs (two columns, two rows, left hand and right hand side of the amp).

Inside it says "K200 Mod. I" in magic marker. I'm hoping to make a little Frankenstein amp out of it. Rehearsal, whatever.

1) What is the output power of the amp?

2) what impedence does it want to see?

3) What do the knobs do? I'm guessing two channels, volume, treble, mid, bass. I'd like to label them, so for your cut/paste pleasure:

Left side, Top, left:
Left side, Top, right:
Left side, Bottom, left:
Left side, Bottom, right:
Right side, Top, left:
Right side, Top, right:
Right side, Bottom, left:
Right side, Bottom, right:

Thanks in advance for any help.

KO
Re: K200 Model I? [message #5023 is a reply to message #5021] Wed, 03 November 2004 16:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
voided3 is currently offline  voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004
Senior Member
Hello. Sounds like you have a K200-B1. They were usually used as bass amps since they don't have effects, but they work nicely for guitar too. They are 100 watts RMS, 200 peak (hence the name) and they can be used within 4-16 ohms. Despite being only 100 watts, these amps give a lot of volume; with a single 15" it gets louder than my Fender Bassman 200 1x15 combo (and I use mine with a pair of 2x15's usually!). For bass, I'd reccomend using some combination of 15" speakers or a 4x10 cab, and wiring the speakers so the amp gets a 4 ohm load so you get the most power without damaging the amp.

Here's the control layout:

Left side, Top, left: bright channel volume
Left side, Top, right: bright channel bright on/off switch
Left side, Bottom, left: bright channel bass
Left side, Bottom, right: bright channel treble
Right side, Top, left: Normal channel volume
Right side, Top, right: normal channel bright switch
Right side, Bottom, left: normal channel bass
Right side, Bottom, right: normal channel treble

The four inputs each have a different use too. On the left side bright channel, the farthest left jack is the "low" input, which is for regular input levels, and the one to its immediate right is the "high" input, which has a resistor on it for really high output pickups (with regular pickups it's really tinny; it works pretty well with actives i've found, but i don;t think it was intended for that since active pickups weren't around in the late '60s). The right side normal channel inputs serve the same purpose, except the jack closest to the jewel light is the "high" input and the one to the farthest right is the "low" input. The RCA jack is stock if it's on the back; it's a preamp output, otherwise, this may be an earlier model (the K200-A1 which didn't have the RCA jack) if it's obviously and add-on.

As you can see, for only having four knobs on a channel, you can get a lot of different sounds. These are great amps and work well for just about anything; i've used mine with guitars, basses, and keyboards. The speakers you use with these amps really color their tone heavily since they can cover a huge frequency spectrum; with a bass cabinet they can make air blow out of the ports and with guitar they can really give some bite. Anyway, good luck with your amp!


P.S.-keep an eye on ebay for a cabinet or a broken head to put the chassis in, they show up on rare occasion and if it's a busted amp, you have a parts donor then too.
Re: K200 Model I? [message #5024 is a reply to message #5023] Wed, 03 November 2004 18:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kraigo is currently offline  Kraigo
Messages: 5
Registered: November 2004
Junior Member
Thanks for the reply.

The front panel is all painted over and additional holes have been drilled into the front panel. I'm thinking this is of no use as a collectible piece.

That's not to say that I'm not looking forward to using it in a project. I've got an old Fane Crescendo 12". I'm not sure what the wattage is. The older Crescendos apparently had three models: 100 watt, 150 watt and 200 watt. The 200 watt has reasonable T/S parameters for a bass cab.

Since the speaker is 14 lbs (it'll suck a tweezers off a bathroom sink from a foot away) I'm going with the assumption that it's the 200 watt model.

This is going to be a fairly beefy combo amp to leave at a rehearsal space. If it sounds great and puts out some SPLs it may get a promotion.

Thanks again for the reply - it is truly, truly appreciated.

KO
Re: K200 Model I? [message #5025 is a reply to message #5023] Wed, 03 November 2004 19:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kraigo is currently offline  Kraigo
Messages: 5
Registered: November 2004
Junior Member
BTW, I'm in Minneapolis - are you in the west part of Wisconsin or more to the east?

KO
Re: K200 Model I? [message #5044 is a reply to message #5021] Tue, 09 November 2004 00:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
voided3 is currently offline  voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004
Senior Member
Hello. I live in Cedarburg, about a half hour north of Milwaukee, so definetely eastern side. Good luck with the amp!
Re: K200 Model I? [message #5083 is a reply to message #5044] Tue, 16 November 2004 14:47 Go to previous message
Kraigo is currently offline  Kraigo
Messages: 5
Registered: November 2004
Junior Member
The cab for the Fane is done. I had three sets of T/S params for three different Fane Crescendos. Which was the speaker I had? I found a description on line of how to find out what the free air resonance (Fs) of a speaker was. That was enough for me to identify the speaker. It was the one I wanted as near as I could tell.

I found that the Eminence Delta Pro 12A speaker also liked the box I was designing, so I went into "dual use" mode: If the Fane sucked I could design a cabinet that would take the Detla Pro 12A (a great, but relatively expensive speaker at $130 on line).

I finished the cab (functionally, not cosmeticly) last night. I've only played it a touch with the five string, but the four string P-Bass is something to behold with the Kustom into the Fane. There's enough high end (no two way system required) to make you think my fingerstyle playing was with a pick. I need to put the bass control somewhat past noon to get it to sound full. The sound is loud but fairly tight.

It actually sounds fairly decent if you slightly overdrive it.

Thanks again for helping me get this squared away. I need to replace the cord with a three prong, but the "I wonder if this will be worth the effort?" period has past. This little rig has merit.

KO
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