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Double Bass Cab for a 1984 Walter Woods 100Watt Stereo

dsamudio

dsamudio

Oct 22, 2007
259
223
Fort Worth Texas
www.dsbass.com
#1
This was the first pro amp that I bought and I retired it 4 years ago (still have the original paper work and manuals). 2 days ago I got the trusty Woods out of its bag to trouble shoot my rig and it sounded and worked great (as it did 4 years ago). The only reason that I changed amps was due to power needs from my cover band.

I want to use the Woods as a small rig amp and I am open for suggestions for Cabs. The small rig will also be used for electric work as well. I have a big sounding 7/8 with a Fishman Full Circle that I use in Orchestra, a 1979 Pre EB Music Man Sabre, and a Late 80's Spector with a Aguilar Pre amp and Spector Pickups.

I am thinking some kind of:

1x12 (maybe with a tweeter) or 2x10 (with some low end)
200 Watts in 4 ohms.

4 ohms will give me 150 Watts from the amp and leave me some head room on the speaker.



If you suggestions on a brand or think of another option, please let me know.

Any suggestions are welcome.

D.S.
 
#3
dsamudio said:
I want to use the Woods as a small rig amp and I am open for suggestions for Cabs. The small rig will also be used for electric work as well. I have a big sounding 7/8 with a Fishman Full Circle that I use in Orchestra, a 1979 Pre EB Music Man Sabre, and a Late 80's Spector with a Aguilar Pre amp and Spector Pickups.

Any suggestions are welcome.

D.S.
Click to expand...

dsamudio,
I owned the MI-100-8. It's got a great pre amp. That will get you a long way. I used a Euphonic Audio VL 108 with mine but that was with DB only although it works with my PBass just fine. The Music Man and the Spector are different animals altogether since they have active pre amps. I'd probably go with a bigger cabinet like the Wizzy 12 Mline if you are going to double.

Ric
 
#5
Back in the 80's when your amp was made the popular small bass cabs all were single 15 inch. Walter's reference cabs in his workshop were 15's. I think that's the sound he had in mind at the time when designing the amp. But as you know, a WW Amp sounds good with just about any size cab! I still use my early 80's M-100 8 sometimes, it's been around the world, twice!
 
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#6
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
Bag End. I used an '86 Woods with two Bag End 15" cubes to amplify electric basses and they got along wonderfully. After I upgraded to a '98 Woods (also 150W at 4 ohms) I picked up a Bag End 2x10 and that worked great for me too.
Click to expand...

That is funny.

When my first Cab finally died in the mid 90's I went to a 4x10 Bag End Red Dot and that is my main Cab today. I still love the sound of the Woods through the Bag End, but for cover band gigs, there are not enough watts.

Thanks for the Bag End Recomendations.
 
#7
Mike Carr said:
Back in the 80's when your amp was made the popular small bass cabs all were single 15 inch. Walter's reference cabs in his workshop were 15's. I think that's the sound he had in mind at the time when designing the amp. But as you know, a WW Amp sounds good with just about any size cab! I still use my early 80's M-100 8 sometimes, it's been around the world, twice!
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. That is good to know. I will remember that as I try different Cabs. And you are right, the WW still sounds sweet.
 
#8
tornadobass said:
My current preference for this kind of rig is a Wizzy 12...and some might recommend the Wizzy 12 M-Line. Good volume from a fairly small cab.
Click to expand...

After your post I did some research and the called Mark Gollihur. After talking to Mark the Wizzy is also on my short list. I am leaning toward the M-Line because of the Electric work that I do.

Thank you for the recomendation.
 
#9
I've played Walter's amps for many years and my personal experience has not been favorable with the WW and Wizzy M Line combination. I have 2 M Line's now and they sound fantastic with EA heads, but I would not recommend them with the WW. I second the suggestion of a good single 15 cab.

You might also consider selling the WW and buying the EA Doubler and a Wizzy M Line. That would make a great doubling rig.
 
#10
dsamudio said:
When my first Cab finally died in the mid 90's I went to a 4x10 Bag End Red Dot and that is my main Cab today.
Click to expand...

My profound sympathies to your back. How does your chiropractor like the boat you bought him?

I'm not surprised the Woods doesn't have the horsepower to drive that monster. The smaller BEs, in my experience, have no problem making a heck of a racket driven by 150 Walter Watts at 4 Ohms. At 8 Ohms, less so. The fundamental is not as strong as other cabs, but with DB, I think that would be advantageous.

I had one occasion to try my '98 Woods, which would be clearer-sounding than your amp, in a store, with a Wizzy 10 and an M-line Wizzy 12. The former did nothing for me while the latter sounded pretty good. I hesitated to recommend them because the Bags can be had secondhand for almost nothing and, like Zappa's modern-day composer, refuse to die. You should see mine.
 
#11
Back in the day, the early 80's I remember being very impressed with 15 inch cabs made by Gary Raymond. Also a very hip 15 inch box was made by a company called Energy. Bag End's were also used a lot. I used my M-100-8 at first with a big 18 inch bulletproof cabinet made by Road, this was a Electro-Voice 18 built into a box that doubled as a flight case, one heavy mother fo' ya'! I hoped to find something smaller and lighter, the Road was very hard to get in and out of the back of my VW and people who didn't know better made fun of my little amp brain sitting on top of the huge speaker. All of my gigs were electric bass in those days, my DB playing came later in life. I got very lucky in about 1983 and found and bought what is a very rare piece. An Walter Woods Brand Speaker Cabinet. It came with a 4 ohm Gauss 15, rated 400 watts. I bought mine from a bass player in LA who played for Johnny Mathis' road band. There were not many made. Walter had an deal with guitarist Peter Woodford (Bob Bain's sub for Tonight Show) to produce these to compliment his heads. But for reasons unknown, this partnership ceased after a very short time. Monty Budwig had one. Steve Rodby had two. A fine female electric bass player, Valda Hamnick had two. There is one other fellow here on Talkbass that either had or still has one, but I won't reveal his identity because if he's still got it and ever wants to sell it I want first crack at it. Why? Because then I will then have my very own Walter Woods Stack! Even if I never used it much it would be the super rig I allways wanted when I was young. I went to Valda's house for a lesson once, saw her stack with the two matching cabs and the Woods head on top, plugged my electric bass and well...it was great! This was before I got mine. I used to play some pretty loud gigs with my single 15 rig. More than enough for DB and just enough for many electric gigs. The last time I saw Walter was in about 1997, I brought my amp to his house for service. He had one set at ear level on his workbench as his reference rig. I asked him if he might want to sell it to me, His answer, "no way!" I now live in Asia and was unable to bring my Woods Speaker with me. But it is safely tucked away, hermeticly sealed inside an extra large Funk and Wagnalls mayonaise jar, in a secret location somewhere in Southern California. If I ever get back there for a visit I'll take a photo of it to show you guys. True story, really, no kidding!
 
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#12
Mike Carr said:
....... I got very lucky in about 1983 and found and bought what is a very rare piece. An Walter Woods Brand Speaker Cabinet. It came with a 4 ohm Gauss 15, rated 400 watts. .........The last time I saw Walter was in about 1997, I brought my amp to his house for service. He had one set at ear level on his workbench as his reference rig. I asked him if he might want to sell it to me, His answer, "no way!" I now live in Asia and was unable to bring my Woods Speaker with me. But it is safely tucked away, hermeticly sealed inside an extra large Funk and Wagnalls mayonaise jar, in a secret location somewhere in Southern California. If I ever get back there for a visit I'll take a photo of it to show you guys. True story, really, no kidding!
Click to expand...
Mike,
I had a 8 ohm 15 "Gauss Mounted in one of the smaller Bag End Mid Bass cubes. Alongside a JBL 140D and a Altec 421 8H II the Gauss was the best sounding speaker of the three. I saw that picture of the Walter Woods Speaker here on talk bass it's buried in one of the threads somewhere.
 
#13
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
My profound sympathies to your back. How does your chiropractor like the boat you bought him?

I'm not surprised the Woods doesn't have the horsepower to drive that monster. The smaller BEs, in my experience, have no problem making a heck of a racket driven by 150 Walter Watts at 4 Ohms. At 8 Ohms, less so. The fundamental is not as strong as other cabs, but with DB, I think that would be advantageous.

I had one occasion to try my '98 Woods, which would be clearer-sounding than your amp, in a store, with a Wizzy 10 and an M-line Wizzy 12. The former did nothing for me while the latter sounded pretty good. I hesitated to recommend them because the Bags can be had secondhand for almost nothing and, like Zappa's modern-day composer, refuse to die. You should see mine.
Click to expand...

I see the Chiro every 2 weeks and it really cuts into my equipment habbit. :crying:

I plan on playing through any cab I am interested in before I purchase.

:rolleyes: Maybe by going to 2 73 lbs. Bag Ends I can cut my Chiro trips down to once every 3 weeks!!!!:rolleyes:

My only concern with the 1 Bag End is 8 ohms and I am looking for a lighter rig. I have to back a full orchestra a couple times a year and if it is a Big Band/Orchestra gig the artist tend to want a big fat bass under the Orchestra.

Of course,... if I need more I can always bring in the Bag End 4x10 and my Eden WT800C.

I guess that the slightly lighter Bag End cabs also goes on the Short list.

Thanks
 
#14
The notion of a WW cab is romantic.... truth is that the Gauss 15 is one heavy driver! Though the Gauss 15 is one nice piece of gear indeed. I doubt that Walter did anything special with his speaker design other than make it as small as possible.
 
#15
Heavy indeed! Mine weighs in at about 50 lbs. But at the time that was considered to be a featherweight speaker box. We used to think of the old 2-12 Fender Bassman speaker cabs as small, so to have something the size of the WW box was real cool. The name plate on the back of it says Walter Woods Mini Amp 4 ohms. I could get a real big "old school" kind of tone out of it with the Fender P Bass. It could cover most electric gigs until people came to expect 5 string and the scooped Marcus Miller kind of sound. At that point most everyone that I knew in LA that was trying to stay competitive had to get the SWR rigs, I ended up having to do that too while I trying to do the LA electric bass thing. Much happier doing my little jazz gigs here in Asia on mostly double bass now!
 
#16
Yup, back then I remember seeing John Patitucci heft one of those WW cabs over his left shoulder after burning the stage down playing upright with Chick Corea. Whew! All those old alnico magnet 15's are great sounding for bass instruments in different ways. I love them, I just don't like to lift them anymore.

For the OP. I think that any of those EA cabs would be a very nice match to the WW.
 
#19
dsamudio said:
That is funny.

When my first Cab finally died in the mid 90's I went to a 4x10 Bag End Red Dot and that is my main Cab today. I still love the sound of the Woods through the Bag End, but for cover band gigs, there are not enough watts.

Thanks for the Bag End Recomendations.
Click to expand...

There was a pair of 15" Gauss drivers from the 80's still I boxes being sold on CL a year ago, I considered purchasing but passed
 

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