| Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4528] |
Thu, 22 July 2004 16:42  |
fuzzy4dice
Messages: 49
Registered: June 2004
Location: NJ
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Hey Guys,
A few weeks ago I was posting in the repair section about my New Kustom K100-1 with a 15" CTS in the Cabinet. From what I found out this is a bass amp.
I've been really testing lately (as I just want to use it as a bass amp for rehearsals). Two major problems.
1. The low inputs seem to be louder than the high inputs. It's ok, because I just use the low. But this is a major indication that something is wrong in Kustomland.
2. With my bass setting dimed and the treble at 12 o'clock...I can barely get the sucker past 10 o'clock before it starts to break-up.
Now, I thought the early break-up might be the 30 year old speaker, but I pluegged the head into a 4x12 cabinet the other day and the break-up was nearly identical...thus...indicating that the head is where the problem lay.
I am up for taking it to someone to repair it...unless you guys have any other thoughts or suggestions. I know it's a 30 year old 50 watt bass amp, but I really feel like it should have way more balls than this!
talk to me guys...and Thanks,
ezt
http://img69.photobucket.com/albums/v211/fuzzy4dice/2004_061 9Image0001.jpg
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4531 is a reply to message #4530] |
Fri, 23 July 2004 12:40  |
LesS
Messages: 478
Registered: December 2002
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Hi, ezt,
I agree with ET. It is not really "breaking up early" - you are just hitting maximum output (before distortion) at the 10 o'clock setting. This is normal. If you set the bass control on 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock, you would be able to turn the volume to about 11 o'clock or slightly higher.
As long as your K100 plays fairly loud and clean it probably does not need to be repaired.
The K100 cabinet 1x15 is not the greatest cabinet for bass. Some bass players are perfectly happy with small cabinets like this, but I think you are not one of them. You sound like you need a Kustom K200 cabinet 2x15.
When using a low powered amp like a K100 for bass, the speaker that it is used with is very important - a 2x15 with a larger cabinet is a better choice than a 1x15 with a smaller cabinet.
You should put the bass tone control on 11 o'clock (or 12 o'clock) and try putting your speaker cabinet in different positions to see if you get an improvement in bass response. Try putting the cabinet horizontal instead of vertical. You might even want to try it facing backwards 3 feet from the wall. Try putting it in different corners of the room. This idea probably sounds dumb, but you might like the change in the bass response.
The way I use EQ is: I always start flat and I add or subtract (in small increments) to solve a specific problem or for a specific reason. In other words, I would start with the bass on 11 o'clock and then if I wanted more I would put in on 1 o'clock, I would not just turn it all the way up.
The reason I would not turn the bass higher than 11 o'clock is because this boosts the bass mostly around 100 Hz. It would sound muddy because this ruins the tonal balance of the bass guitar sound. When you have proper tonal balance, all fundamental tones (the basic low sound) and their harmonics (the highs) are approximately the same volume. Boosting the bass around 100 Hz is bad because many bass notes are below this (open G = 98 Hz, D = 74 Hz, A = 55 Hz, E = 42 Hz) and most bass cabinets already struggle to play back the fundamentals below about 70 or 80 Hz with proper tonal balance. Most bass players would not want to lug the big cabinets (like the Kustom 18 cabinet) that can play the lower notes with proper tonal balance.
(That is the problem with small bass amps like the Peavey Microbass. When you play bass (especially low notes)thru one of these you are hearing almost all harmonics and almost no fundamental. What is sad about small bass amps like the Peavey Microbass is that they are incapable of playing almost any bass note with proper tonal balance.)
-Les S.
[Updated on: Fri, 23 July 2004 23:46] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4533 is a reply to message #4528] |
Sat, 24 July 2004 01:14 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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They do break up fairly early and other than lowering the volume pot on your bass guitars control panel there is little to be done about the lack of headroom in a Kustom 100.
Years ago I played in a rock band. I went over one day ampless to practise. I know I know but they said to come on we've got and amp here for you. When I got there it was a 100 with 2x12's. Nice looking little but I said but fella's this thing will never be loud enought. The guitar player simply came over and and ran his hand across the controls to ten. Its distorted like hell but it was loud enought LOL..
I might get flamed for this but even the two hundred heads do not have enought headroom for me on bass. I run my bass into a small behringer mixer and from there into a centron power amp into two Kustom 200 cabs. Two other Kustom amps sit beside them when I'm on stage and the power signal is then also fed to those two Kustom heads which then power the other two cabs albeit at a lower volume say about one and a half to two or eight oclock as some people prefer to call it. The mixer and the power amp are hidden out of sight. So for all the world it looks like a set up of two double cab Kustoms. Just loud clear ones.
Of course this kind of headroom maybe unneeded at reshearsals. But I do love headroom. Now for guitar or keyboards none of the above is neccessary. One Kustom 200 is more than sufficient for those instruments. Bass just requires more power for the frequencies its in.
Another problem you have here is not much speaker area. After all you are only using one fifteen. Its kinda like from the bass point of view of bringing a knife to a gun fight. You should be using at least a 200 with two fifteens and let the guitar player use the 100. You are asking a lot of a little amp thats only fifty watts Rms for bass. No other amp company in the world can do any better in that wattage area in your situation for a bass amp than the little Kustom. The short answer is you need a bigger stick.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4535 is a reply to message #4532] |
Sat, 24 July 2004 05:59 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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I just reread this thread. Wondering how or why you had a 16ohm fifteen in there in the first place. The one hundred I played thru had two twelves in it and they were a cut above the norm as the fella who owned the head and cab took them out of a 3x12 Kustom 200 that he converted to guitar speakers. The two twelves in the one hundred made it eight ohms total impedance.
I still dout that you get what you after though. Its just too small amount of power going thru a speaker than can't pump as much air as a two fifteen cab.
Still I'd like to have a 100 cab myself as I don't have one in my collection. If you would you like to trade for Pa board give me a buzz? That is if you need a PA board. But as I said the little amp would probably be more than enought for guitar and if it breaks up with them early so much the better so it can be used for something by you. They make good keyboard amps too.
I use a two hundred head on my Leslie for keys it replaced a Bassman that broke up too early. Even the eighty eight key yami piano sounds great thru it. However bass looses a lot of volume even before the pickup transfers it to the amp. The piano is all electronic generated. As I've said its just hard to reproduce those frequencies of a bass with a low powered amp into just one speaker that can't move that volume of air needed even if you had the power. Even active pickups don't help. As you can see I tried everything. You could try changing the speaker board to two twelves and pump a two hundred head into it if you are determined to use it for bass. As they would move more air.
I've used them for almost everything else though and they are maid of all work except bass.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4537 is a reply to message #4536] |
Sun, 25 July 2004 04:45 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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Your right it certainly appears stock (nice pics by the way). I have never played thru a one fifteen 100 hundred before as the only ones I ran ever ran thru were the two twelves wired for eight ohms. I think it would increase your volume quite a bit to go with a eight ohm fifteen and you might gain a little more headroom. Sometimes it only takes a little for some applications. However I could'nt take the lack of clean headroom on four on the volume control on a two hundred head even. However thats just me. I have ran thru some other amps with one fifteen and was not too pleased with them either.
The two hundreds begin to break up there on four too. So now I like the power amp with my Kustom cabs. That solution would probably work for you too. But still again you're back to that one fifteen can only move so much air problem again.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4538 is a reply to message #4528] |
Sun, 25 July 2004 10:19 |
edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004
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Senior Member |
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good posts all...and nobody gets flamed around here for opinions...ok..well maybe me but i usually deserve it...
I always wondered about the little 1x15 cab..cause I believe that cab was originally spec'd to be built as a 2x12 which it does very well..very deep, etc...and I've suspected that kustom just decided to change the baffle and throw a 15 in there for the bass rig option...but that doesn't mean the air space is right, nor the size of the ports...regardless I agree..take the head into your local tech and he can quickly measure all the compnents...he'll know in a few seconds if any thing is leaking or out of range and they are easy amps to work on.
Then yeah...change to an 8 ohm speaker...you should hear the difference..but keep it a real effecient speaker...don't try to push say a PV black widow or Emi Kappa with that little head..
Now..as for the 200 2x15s not being enough...ok..dude, flame time...(grin) from 1975 through 1987 my primary stage rig was a 200 head with a pair of 2x15 cabs loaded with CTS..never could afford to upgrade to JBLs ...but I do like the tone of the CTS..warm and full...our sound man would constantly beg me to turn down and let him handle more in the PA...fact was that while I wasn't hearing as much as I wanted on stage with that dang drummer slamming the crash cymbals in my ears...the back of the house was gettting kicked with bass..the only rig worse than the kustoms was an ampeg SVT rig that was a shouse system I played at one club all the time...couldn't hear a thing from it on stage...just felt the sound pressure moving my bell bottoms around...but the bouncers at the door were loosing their teeth to my bass tones...low end takes a bit to roll its waves around... I've used those same 2x15 cabs as the low end for my small club/wedding band PA since 1987 when we switched to being a midi band (sad I know).. I loaded them with sub long throws in the bottom and mixed some eminence cones up top and for a long time I drove them with a kustom 400 (100watts rms per side) for lack of any other amp... I tried a PV CS400, but found that the kustom 400 , at a fourth the rated output, performed as perceptable well as the PV..in fact the kustom still has more, and a tighter, punch than the Mackie 1400 amp that I have also tried..don't know why...but the point is that for 300 guests at a wedding on a tight dance floor we have never come up short on bass running the pair of kustom 2x15s for subs.
I do have a little SC 1x15 100 combo that I've used for bass practice through the years..with a CTS load it kept up to where I could hear it..not fell it mind you...but it did ok volume wise. A number of years ago when we were broke I loaded a sub speaker in that little bass amp and we would play small country club gigs (maybe 15 couples on the dance floor) I ran a pair of kustom 4x8 columns with some piezos added on top for my mains, took a seperate signal from my PV PA head, ran that into a boss bass eq pedal and then into the SC1x15 bass amp which I would turn around and face into the back wall..usually in the corner of a room..the bass would bounce off the wall and get some help from that and carry my low end into the room...we actually got a nice warm balanced sound and you'd be amazed how much low end I got...hell they could even do the electric slide with feeling (I know..pitiful, but it paid the rent)...again..my point isthere are some tricks being recommended here which are worth a try and fun to mess with.. I can highly recommend the boss bass eq pedal..it'll let you really get control of the amp, the room...add/cut freqs up to 15db that they kustom preamp doesn't have..kustoms are great transparent rigs.. love em for that...but i also love what happens when you through some extra signals in front...people forget, or don't realize...a big part of an amp's output rating depends on the voltage coming in..ok.. I'm done rambling..just enjoy talking kustoms...ya'll Play Loud! or as loud as ya can...ET
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4546 is a reply to message #4545] |
Tue, 27 July 2004 03:14 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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I'd say emience delta. But I still think two twelves will be more to your liking. Try looking on the Kustom amp parts of this forum. Deb has some Twelves on there she is talking about that sound like they are good ones.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4547 is a reply to message #4528] |
Tue, 27 July 2004 07:38 |
stevem
Messages: 4774
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY
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Hey, dont forget gang. The best way to double the acoustic wattage(the loudness that your ear senses) is to doulbe the amount of speakers you are using. Bass notes have to move alot of air, and a 80HZ note has half the natural energy of a 160HZ note, and a 40HZ note has half again the natural energy of the 160HZ note.If a amp and speaker set up was just able to give you the SP LEVEL that made you happy with a 160HZ note, than the amount of wattage, and the amount of air that the seaker(s) could move would be way below what you want with the 80HZ note, no less the 40HZ note.Yes a more efficent speaker will give you more clean head room, and some more SPL, but you still have the same amount of cubic inches of cone area!What is needed is one of 2 things. eitheir bouble the cone area with the same amount of wattage, or double the amount of cone excursion(or travel) with the same amount of wattage.The latter in real life all most always needing a minimun of 400 to 500 watts RMS for a high cone travel speaker. And the again, more cone travel needs a bigger volume speaker cab!Yea, its not a happy trade off, more stuff to drag around eitheir way.For me I would rather show off my kustom cabs.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4548 is a reply to message #4547] |
Tue, 27 July 2004 08:14 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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At least they roll good LOL.. Yes thats exactly why I went to the power amp and disconnected the middle speaker in the 3x15. Due the excessive angle up that top of the 3x15 they just don't have the internal volume for three fifteen inch speakers. But with that one speaker disconnected it fine. The other channel of that amp drives a 2x15 and it will really hit you with some golf balls coming out of those ports in it when you thump that bass. Whereas the 3x15 does'nt have to push as much air out thru the ports. I actually think it sounds a little bit better than the 2x15 cab now.
Steven and I are in total agreement you need more of everything for bass. More power, more speaker area, and more internal volume. At least a 2x12. You might add a 2x15 cab to it and change its fifteen to and eight ohm and be Ok if you are just determined to use it for bass. My smallest guitar amp is a Pro Jr. and I dout that a 100 could keep up with it and still stay clean then the both of us would be gone and eaten up whole when a good drummer was added in.
The smaller cabs are best left to be practise amps for bass or for the collections. As Steven pointed out you simply need more power for the lower notes of bass by a huge factor. They make a dandy guitar amp though.
If you deciede you need a big Pa board I'll swap you even the cab for the sunn sixteen channel board. But if I were you I'd be hunting a 2x15 cab and if you want to use that one add two twelves or a eight ohm fifteen in that cab with the two fifteen cab. My wife is always trying to get me to add a small cab to our collection. She has no idea of their limitations she just thinks they are cute LOL.. Like the big cabs had a baby Har..
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4570 is a reply to message #4565] |
Thu, 29 July 2004 21:56 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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Sadly I would say yes from my experience. But it should be a little more headroom if you change to that cab. I'm sure you got the same lesson from Steven's reply as mine. It just takes more power and speaker area for bass to project than guitar. However if this is to be a band practise or small club amp you just might gain enought headroom with the four twelves to make you happy in those inviroments. But at large venues.
I may play a little too loud LOL.. But even a two hundred is on the edge to me in the head department. The 2x15 200 cabs are fine for me I just want more watts to drive them with. Then I can fill up anything I will ever play in including outdoors. A two hundred Kustom is really only a hundred watts and thats thru two 2x15 cabs. Thru one 2x15 its much less percentage wise. You are only getting 50 watts with your 100 thru eight ohms. So as you can see your really not even getting fifty watts with your single, sixteen ohm, fifteen inch speaker. That change to four ohms in the 4x12 cab will help you to get the full fifty watts the little head has to offer and the four twelves will push way more air than the single fifteen you have right now.
Thats why marshall went to the four twelve cabs years ago to get that projection of all that air being moved by all of those twelves and its a loud combination.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4580 is a reply to message #4528] |
Fri, 30 July 2004 13:31 |
edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004
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ouch!...that last note struck a match or two....FLAME TIME!!!!..no not really...but fair 'nuff...question deserves an answer in defense of our fanatical fascination of all things tuck n roll...
First...set yer way-back machine back to 1964...and if you don't catch the pun in this last comment then I am really blowin smoke here cause I'm talkin to a 16 year old or something...but anyway...the 60s market consisted of best efforts rigs like the fender bassman and cadilacs like the showman at a blistering 85 watts for guitar it was great...but the poor bass players were struggling to be heard as anything more than a dull boom..if you wanted to cut through a bit better you learned to use a pic on your fender jazz bass.
Two markets existed...the young guns that were flooding into the doors or music stores wanting to be the next Rickie Nelson or Beatles...and the pocketbooks could justify small rigs to play in the basement and garage..the 2x12 and 1x15 piggybacks hit the spot incredibly well..for one thing, the piggyback style gave the impression of a larger rig..many of us learned early on that extra conage was a help and it was not unusual to see a small fender combo plugged into a tall skinny pa column just to try and get extra throw.. I personally stacked my little K25 1x12 combo on top of a kustom 2x12 cab and ran a Y adapter into the plug so I could have all 3 12s running...dropped my ohm load, added a ton more low end, and the overall result was great...never mind that I had no clue what I might be doing to abuse my amp...which, btw...has never given up.
Now that said...yeah..the chase for power was on by 1970 and RMS was quickly forgotten for things like instantaneous peak response and peak output on a clear day with a tail wind and a full moon...so compared to todays monster mega-thousand watt rigs...how do the kustoms compare...
For one thing..I have a hard time keeping current product going for 30 months, much less 30 years...have to pay more than premium dollars to get real wood not pressboard, and lord knows there's enough screws in the back of a kustom cab to build a small house.
I also am not a tech...but there is a diff in the design of the kustom amps..they potentiate off of full..or something like that...and I think that changes the way the amps respond to input levels.. I'm talking way out of school..but here's the reality...I get a tighter, punchier bass from a 200 kustom than I do from say a PV CS400..have to go all the way to a CS800 and blister it onthe input signal to make it sound better...my kustom 400 head..the original PA/bass head at 100 watts rms per side gives me as much volume as my mackie 1400 power amp with all its gadgets...is there a measurable db diff...probably...are my speakers partly to blame for efficieny, cab air space, etc...sure...but the end result is that to my ears the kustoms are getting it 30 years on and I have to go significantly higher in pro audio gear to play in the same arena...now facts are...Bud just wanted to make a kool amp and the focus was on the cosmetics...but he did care about sonics..and had some solid amp design done back then...in fact it was his committement to the working man that made him change his amp designs to a setup that had less tone but was incredibly stable..better to be able to play the whole gig than to shine for 2 songs and have to go home...through the years, my fenders have folded, my marshalls have folded and i have had a couple problems with kustoms i bought used that were mistreated...but they have never ever left me on stage..and if you scrap all this crap I've been feeding you and make me fess up...the real reason I play em and have since 1969..they just look kooler than anything I've ever seen...and I've got enough ego that its important to me as a player, to have a cool backline....now go out and buy yerself an SVT, or Dave Eden or Aguilar, or GK, or SWR..all good amps..have some of each in my warehouse...but fair warning...somewhere someday, sometime you're going to flip a purple jewel light back on... I guarentee it...Play Loud! ET
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4583 is a reply to message #4580] |
Fri, 30 July 2004 16:11 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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ET:
Just a note of thanks here for all of your insightful posts. I'm relatively new around here, but more times than I can remember, I've shouted a Right Arm! I mean Right On! to the elegant words that you have written here, not only about Tuck and Roll, but about the whole history of the industry. Back in the 60's, I used a Fender Deluxe sitting on top of a 2x12 Bassman Cabinet and only dreamed of a Kustom K200 with 3x15 cab. Thanks again. Bill
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4589 is a reply to message #4583] |
Sat, 31 July 2004 01:07 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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I think you may have gotten the wrong idea from my posts. Kustoms are great amps. I have five and none are for sale. In their day they were a notch above the other amps for bass. But Ross left and company did'nt continue to develope the way he invisioned it. So Kustom was unable to evolve like ampeg, peavy and fender did. We perserve its past heritage.
I still use my orginal Kustom cabs with the orginal Kustom speakers for bass with my power amps. The heads I use for keyboards, monitor amps, and guitar. So they are a maid of all work. A rymthm buddy of mine and I are playing for a wedding next weekend. I'll be playing a yamie piano thru one of my Kustoms and he will playing bass thru another one.
A 200 Kustom can and will support bass in that kind of venue. But you can't expect a 1x15 kustom not even putting out fifty watts thru one fifteen inch speaker to compete with a guitar player with a hundred watt Twin and a heavy drummer. You will lose every round and finally a TKO if it continues. Everything has its limitations. So to me the Kustoms can do anything but bass cleanly in large venues and thats saying a lot. As to what old Ed said its true. I still have a 66 Fender Bassman that I've owned since 1970 and though its a great guitar amp it can't hold a candle to a Kustom as a bass amp. Those are its limitations
Actually Fender got it backwards on that one. The Bassman circuit should have been a guitar amp and the Bandmaster should have been a bass amp. I love my Kustoms and my Fender amps. Nothing looks finer on stage to me than a mass of vintage amps. As I've said I'd still like to have a one hundred in my collection. I'd find something for it to do LOL..
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4596 is a reply to message #4594] |
Sat, 31 July 2004 23:42 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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Not really you bought one of the smallest bass amps Kustom made in the Kustom line up. Back in the day I can't remember anyone here using a Kustom 100 at a large venue for bass and no one expected it to do one. Bass players got a two hundred right off the bat. I knew one fella who used a Kustom 100 for guitar but did'nt for bass. We all knew the one hundred would'nt cut it for bass in a large venue just like guitar players of the time did'nt use a Fender Tremolux for guitar at large venues. You got yourself at least a Super Reverb of bigger places. If you are just using it for recording then I think you've got a fine amp. No need for any loud volume for recording. So you got what you paid for
In its time I would still disagree with you it was better than most bass amps. The Fender Bassman of the period did'nt have the headroom the Kustom had. I also had played thru a 6x10 ampeg at that time and the Kustom two hundred was way ahead of it. In fact he used the ampeg at practice and took one of my Kustoms to play our gigs with for bass. That amp was the top of the line of the ampegs at the time but the Kustom 200 was still better.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4612 is a reply to message #4528] |
Tue, 03 August 2004 07:29 |
stevem
Messages: 4774
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY
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Yes, the B15 speaker is rated at 100 DB, A great loud window rattling level.And as far as that vox sound that was taked about, I have found the same thing about my 100 head for guitar, they have a great crunch type distortion, while not getting to sloppy or to loud. I had a 100 with 2-12s for bass in middle school,. the band was guitar with a 40 watt fender 2-12 proreverb, organ with the small, mabe 30 watt leslie,and unmiked drums, and at practice the 100 was just enough but the only gigs we played where school dances in GYMs!!In those big rooms my amp had no chance. It helped a little when I feed it into our K200 8-12 PA, but I could only bleed it in some, or the vocals would suffer.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4619 is a reply to message #4614] |
Wed, 04 August 2004 00:22 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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I'd still change it over to two twelves if I were you. Try those drivers deb is suggesting and make yourself a back board for the little cab for two twelves. You'll move more air and in the long run that will do more to make you happy with the amp than any other thing you can do for it at the moment. I kinda went down a long road before I got to where I'm at now with the power amp and Kustom cabs.
I tried different speakers. I used a y cord to hook two, two hundred head and cabs together. Then I used a memory man pedal with a preamp to use two at once and boost one in the process. Those and a few experiments before I finally came to the power amp soluton. I hung in there though until I made my Kustom cabs do the job and I'm glad I stayed with them. I love these old amps.
Again this not because Kustoms are bad amps not true. You just have to suit the amp package to the task. If took a Fender Tremolux and used it where I should be using a Bassman I could say that all Fenders are bad amps but that would'nt be true. I would just be using the wrong amp for that task. A little Tremolux with 2x10's is still a cool little amp just as the little one hundred is. Just not right for the task if you need a Bassman however.
Once you get the right amp on the job you'll love the Kustom that gets the job done.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4628 is a reply to message #4626] |
Thu, 05 August 2004 00:25 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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NO you won't need any other type of preamp. Kustom one hundreds were often build from the factory with two twelves. It would be the preferred route to take if you keep this cab for bass use. Just get a piece of plywood cut it out to match your present one (speaker board) in length and breath. Then cut a hole for each twelve and position the portholes you already have between them just like you can see on any 2x15 cab on here. Trust me it would be the best mod you could make if you plan to keep that cab.
Those speakers that deb is talking about are good ones for this job and not too expensive. The twelves will be some work but worth it. If you don't feel comfortable doing this job you might consider getting a 2x15 cab. I don't think that I would waste my time with putting in another single fifteen. There is a 2x15 cab for sale on the classifieds of this board. Check it out you might could work up a trade with them.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4662 is a reply to message #4528] |
Mon, 09 August 2004 20:48 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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Oh it will take for a while. Its like you might actually lift five hundred pounds today and get away with it. But keep it and sooner or later your back will pop. You might get away with three sixteen ohms fifteen or twelve inch speakers better. That would be a 5.4 ohms. They would only be a little less than the designed eight ohm load but four is pushing it pretty hard. I think you get the picture. So get three one fifteen cabs, one three fifteen, or one three twelve cab.
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4665 is a reply to message #4664] |
Tue, 10 August 2004 00:23 |
QModer
Messages: 413
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member |
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Why the sixteen ohms is because your amp likes the eight ohm load and wired as they would be with sixteen ohm speakers then if for some reason one speaker did die the other one would keep on pumping and tide you over until you could repair it. Where as if you eight ohm speakers wired that way you'd wind up at four ohms not good for the amp. Not a good thing to have the amp go out completely at a gig either. Kustom's used sixteen ohm speakers and thats why the two twelves would be best in your cab. You'd get exactly the load your little guy wants to see and he will do his best to preform for you then.
The two hundred amps use two cabs with with 2x15's each because they like to see a four ohm load. So you can see how two eight ohm fifteens wired just like your little Kustom would be would then provide four ohms just like a two hundred Kustom would wanna see. So one cab with a two hundred head could provide a lot of punch. Bud Ross did do some thinking when he designed these amps. There are reasons to get the two hundred amp.
Don't ever worry about being a bother. Believe me we Kustom freaks here are much more obsessive over this stuff than you but its contaigious LOL.. I saw a one Hundred head in a store and as usual my wife wanted it. But there was no cab. Rats!
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| Re: Early Break-Up On Kustom 100-1 [message #4668 is a reply to message #4666] |
Tue, 10 August 2004 09:26 |
pleat
Messages: 1454
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi
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Senior Member |
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I don't remember if your head is the K100-1 or the K100-2 head with reverb. The K100-1 is the two channel head and the right channel has more gain than the left channel. The left channel on the model 1 head has about the same gain as the single channel model 2 amp. I have owned both and prefer the model one for tone and gain. If you do add a 8 ohm 12" with the 15" 16 ohm speaker in the same cabinet or even if you kept the cabinet original and added the 12" 8 ohm in another cabinet, the amp will see a 5.3 ohm load, which is better than 4 ohm, but not the 8 ohm the amp wants to run at. I would get the 12" in 16 ohms to make life easier, but if you are going to cut a hole in the cabinet for the 12" you may want to just start with a new speaker board, cut it for for the 12" and the 15", you can also cut out a extra piece of wood with the outside diameter of the 15", then cut a 11 3/8" diameter out of the center to make a second mountin ring if you decide down the road you want to do the 2 12" speaker combination. Just remove the 15" speaker, bolt the ring in place and secure the second 12" speaker in place of where the 15" sat. Using 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel will give you the 8 ohm total load to the amp. Make sure the speakers are phased correctly.(cones move in the same direction, different brand speakers may not move in the same direction when wiring plus to plus on the terminals.) Making a new speaker board you would preserve the original speaker board and give you a chance to experiment without altering the original speaker board. I would suggest you have the amp looked at by a tech, make sure the amp is in good working condition, get what ever speaker brand/combination and go with it. If it is still not enough, then hunt for a K200 head and match the head to a 4 ohm speaker load. I know I suprise everyone who see's my charcoal single 12 K50 running next to a brand X 100 watt amp. They laugh at it until they hear what the amp can do on stage.
Don
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