5F6A Bassman head: which cabinet?

[carrejans]

So, I finished my 5F6A Bassman head. Now I'm looking for a nice cabinet.
I don't want to build it myself; you can't save that much money on making your own cabinet, I think.

I want to use it mostly as an effects amp. I use a lot of fuzz and distortion pedals. (sometimes I play clean, though)
(style: Queens of the stone age, Foo fighters,...)

I think I want to go for a 4x12.
Would a Marshall 1960 AX or TV (4x Celestion greenbacks) be a good choice? Or should I go for a more "clean" cabinet?

So, which cabinet do you suggest?

[pgambon]

Good question. I'm looking for a head shell for my Tweed Twin clone. Neither Mojo or Weber do that type of cab on regular order. Actually, if you can DYI or know someone who will tolex a box cheaply I think you can save a lot. Especally, if you have to have it custom made.

[carrejans]

I think you understood me wrong. I don't want to buy a cabinet shell. I want to buy a complete commercial available cab.

Or maybe I could ask: which speakers would you suggest?

[txstrat]

which speakers would you suggest?

Depends on what sound you like.
The 5F6A Bassman circuit is identical to the first Marshall amp circuit (except for the first triode and the power tubes/OT). They do sound very different due to the speakers as well. Somewhere on the net I read that someone had plugged a Marshall cab into a 5F6A and it (all of a sudden) sounded like a Marshall.
You might have a look what speakers those guitarrists (of the bands you mentioned) use.
That could lead you to the speakers you need for that sound.

[carrejans]

If you look for the internet, those kind of bands use like 10 different cabs/amps for one CD.

But, what speakers did Fender use?
And are these available in a commercial available cabinet at the moment?

It's so difficult to choose a cab. I don't think guitar shops will let you plug in your diy amp into their cabs to test. (I can understand why-

thanks...

[loudthud]

The original 5F6A had a 2 ohm output transformer. Does yours have other taps available? This could limit your speaker options. Weber sells several tweed amp kits as heads. Don't they sell the head cabs?

[txstrat]

But, what speakers did Fender use?
And are these available in a commercial available cabinet at the moment?

Fender used Jensen alnico speakers in the original bassman.
Somebody wrote they tend to sound this good because the magnets lost some of their power in all these years.
Anyway, I've build several amps with the "new" Jensen ceramic speakers (C12Q, C12N, C10Q) and these are my absolute favorites - pure Fender. Some Eminence speakers also sound great IMHO.
Maybe you can buy a cab and the speakers separately.
Heres the link to the Weber cabs: https://taweber.powweb.com/store/wccabs.htm#xcab

[carrejans]

The original 5F6A had a 2 ohm output transformer. Does yours have other taps available? This could limit your speaker options. Weber sells several tweed amp kits as heads. Don't they sell the head cabs?

I have 4,8,16 output impedance options.

[carrejans]

Fender used Jensen alnico speakers in the original bassman.
Somebody wrote they tend to sound this good because the magnets lost some of their power in all these years.
Anyway, I've build several amps with the "new" Jensen ceramic speakers (C12Q, C12N, C10Q) and these are my absolute favorites - pure Fender. Some Eminence speakers also sound great IMHO.
Maybe you can buy a cab and the speakers separately.
Heres the link to the Weber cabs: https://taweber.powweb.com/store/wccabs.htm#xcab

I don't want to build the cab myself, and buying it from Weber or others is too expensive for me. (I live in Europe)

Pff, it's so hard to choose speakers. Like Jensen, they have too much different speakers they sell. How do you choose.

Are there any commercially available cabs that use Jensen speakers?
Does Fender still use Jensen speakers?

Thank you guys!!

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi all,
the "new" Jensens are currently built in Italy, so they shouldn't be all that expensive for an European-based buyer; as to the way they sound, I've had the chance to install and hear some of them, and I find them to be very good value for the money, for a "die-hard vintage tone addict" though, they sound a little bit "harsher" than the older ones (at least to my ears), probably due to their Kapton voice coil former, stiffer than the "original" one, which, AFAICR, is made of paper.

JM2CW

Best regards

Bob

[txstrat]

I don't want to build the cab myself, and buying it from Weber or others is too expensive for me. (I live in Europe)

Heres a supplier in Germany, where I usually order my speakers:
Tube-Town Online-Store - TTC American Series 2x10 ttc-210am

Pff, it's so hard to choose speakers. Like Jensen, they have too much different speakers they sell. How do you choose.

Which size do you want? For a Bassman the best choice might be 10s.
The ceramic speakers ("C"-series) come quite close to the vintage sound.
Choose the right wattage. For a bassman head with a 45w OT I would choose 4xC10R or 2xC10Q.

Are there any commercially available cabs that use Jensen speakers?
Does Fender still use Jensen speakers?

From the supplier above you can order empty cabs and speakers separately. Should be no big deal to put the speakers in (you can have the speakers installed before shipping)
Fender used to use Jensen back then. Nowadays they use the Jensen ceramic in some of their models as well as special design Eminence speakers.

Hope this hepls

[carrejans]

Thanks for all the help. But I'm still not sure if I want Marshall style cab (Celestion) or Fender style cab (Jenssen).

Which size do you want? For a Bassman the best choice might be 10s.

Why is that? I know they use 4 10's for the bassman back in the days. But why should this be better than 4x12?

[txstrat]

Not better, different. Although the difference is somewhat subtle.
10s behave tighter due to the smaller diameter, generally spoken.