Ok, so here's the full story (as hard as it is to believe). It's not quite what you think. But it's a good story that I love to tell, and I've also got two questions about speakers that maybe you can help me with (see bottom).
So I found an Ampeg 8x10 on the street on trash day outside of a frat house here in central PA. I was out for a walk with a girl I was seeing and thought from far away that it looked like an 8x10, but that couldn't be, and when we got close, I couldn't believe my eyes. I very calmly said that I think we needed to get this. We went and got my car and she and I loaded into the back (By the way - she was a very nice girl who was, as you can imagine, very, very patient and understanding to help me pick a hundred pound hunk of speakers out of the trash).
Anyway, so the cabinet...
Here's the bad: It was in really bad shape - no tolex, painted red, no grill cloth (although still had the frame attached). All speakers were water (or more likely, beer) damaged - it looked like it had been left on its back outside in the rain. Everything covered in a layer of filth. All speakers had dented dustcaps. Four speakers had red spraypaint on them, and had torn paper cones. Someone had idiotically torn out the 1/4in jack and attached a 1/8in male pin that looked like it was taken from computer speakers - it was purple - with electrical tape that was hanging out the back. Like you would hook it up to your laptop or something. No casters.
So I took it, and refurbed it - a fun project. New tolex, new corners, casters, popped the dust caps back out, cleaned the speaker papers, new grill cloth, painted the speakerboard - everything. It was actually surprisingly cheap - maybe $80 or so for the whole project, and a lot of labor. I didn't replace the grille cloth. I'd love to, but at $30-40/yd, it's just not worth it (this is my first question - see below...)
I also re-wired it to be two 4x10s, one for the good four speakers, one for the blown four speakers (which actually sound fantastic - I'm not even joking). Or you can run the two together. I ran the codes on the speakers when I had them out, and six were from 1969, two from 1971, no kidding. I was amazed. I'm assuming it is an early 70s cabinet because of the two 1971 speakers, but maybe it's a late 60s and just had those two replaced at some point.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. I have two questions that maybe someone can help me with:
1) where can I get cheap grille cloth?
2) I'm thinking about refurbishing the speakers - new cones, surrounds, dust caps. I'm assuming that sending eight speakers out and having this done is way beyond my budget. So I'd like to do the work myself - has anyone done this? Is this a good idea? Any suggestions of places to get a recone kit?
So I found an Ampeg 8x10 on the street on trash day outside of a frat house here in central PA. I was out for a walk with a girl I was seeing and thought from far away that it looked like an 8x10, but that couldn't be, and when we got close, I couldn't believe my eyes. I very calmly said that I think we needed to get this. We went and got my car and she and I loaded into the back (By the way - she was a very nice girl who was, as you can imagine, very, very patient and understanding to help me pick a hundred pound hunk of speakers out of the trash).
Anyway, so the cabinet...
Here's the bad: It was in really bad shape - no tolex, painted red, no grill cloth (although still had the frame attached). All speakers were water (or more likely, beer) damaged - it looked like it had been left on its back outside in the rain. Everything covered in a layer of filth. All speakers had dented dustcaps. Four speakers had red spraypaint on them, and had torn paper cones. Someone had idiotically torn out the 1/4in jack and attached a 1/8in male pin that looked like it was taken from computer speakers - it was purple - with electrical tape that was hanging out the back. Like you would hook it up to your laptop or something. No casters.
So I took it, and refurbed it - a fun project. New tolex, new corners, casters, popped the dust caps back out, cleaned the speaker papers, new grill cloth, painted the speakerboard - everything. It was actually surprisingly cheap - maybe $80 or so for the whole project, and a lot of labor. I didn't replace the grille cloth. I'd love to, but at $30-40/yd, it's just not worth it (this is my first question - see below...)
I also re-wired it to be two 4x10s, one for the good four speakers, one for the blown four speakers (which actually sound fantastic - I'm not even joking). Or you can run the two together. I ran the codes on the speakers when I had them out, and six were from 1969, two from 1971, no kidding. I was amazed. I'm assuming it is an early 70s cabinet because of the two 1971 speakers, but maybe it's a late 60s and just had those two replaced at some point.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. I have two questions that maybe someone can help me with:
1) where can I get cheap grille cloth?
2) I'm thinking about refurbishing the speakers - new cones, surrounds, dust caps. I'm assuming that sending eight speakers out and having this done is way beyond my budget. So I'd like to do the work myself - has anyone done this? Is this a good idea? Any suggestions of places to get a recone kit?
