Community GGM cab

[msb]

The Great Googa Mooga made by Community .
Never heard of them . And nothing popped up when I searched the forum .
I'm curious . Anybody know about them ?

 

[Redbrangus]

Don't know much more about them other than the entire enclosure was made of molded fiberglass -- durable, but heavy as heck.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I remember those ads from way back when.

What's it SPEAKING?

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Never seen him before.

 

[msb]

 

[Redbrangus]

Great googly-moogly...so you know first-hand what an awkward package it is.

 

[Passinwind]

https://communitypro.com/perfect-70’s-bass-rig-community-ggm

And the big daddy from around the same time period:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Redbrangus]

I pushed a big PA around during the late 70's that was built around Leviathan bass cabs. Just like the above pictured GGM, the all-fiberglass enclosure was molded into a completely absurd shape that didn't stack, roll or pack in any sort of manageable way. The owner of the system addressed the issue by building a large rectilinear plywood cab around them, just like a regular speaker cab. The horn flares travelled in stacks on separate carts and a couple of stage hands were detailed to attach them before the cabs were stacked up. Yes, they were stacked, three high, by people, not a forklift...it took a pretty good detail of hands to put that third cab on top -- short guys need not apply. All I can say about the performance of Leviathans is they did get real loud -- folks were still figuring out how to do big concert PA's back in those days. Happily the days of horn-loaded subs are pretty much over. No seriously, they're over...,I don't want to talk about it.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

I used Community 90 degree horns in our PA with some Sunn 115 horn cabinets for my first good PA system in 1974 or so . Later I used the smaller 15" horn flares (4896) in a three way PA as the bottom end with 112 horns and Northwest horns for the highs . The cabs I used didn't have as long a flare as the Leviathons so they really didn't do the real low end so well but they were loud and the system sounded great for the time .

Atlanta Rythm Section used Community for their touring rig for a while and I saw a concert with Van Halen , Foreigner , Doobie Brothers and ARS outside at a large concert . Awesome sound . Thankfully like Redbrangus said the days of horn loaded systems has move forward with the advent of higher powered amps . Community had many cool speakers back in the day . They did have a 115 cab like the one in the first post .

 

[msb]

I'm grateful that cab design has come a long way .
But these things do look funky .

 

[REV]

The first band I was in had a pair of Community monitors. A single 12'' and a horn. We really abused those things and they never let us down.

 

[Redbrangus]

But these things do look funky .

I could not agree more. I would be afraid of things getting down in that big open port. Is the port duct itself flared or otherwise 'horn-shaped'?

 

[Slade N]

you need these to match - Staccato Thunder 4 Kit review | MusicRadar

 

[agedhorse]

I remember those cabinets and others like them, the good ‘ol days weren’t as good as many remember... especially those who weren’t there!

 

[Redbrangus]

the good ‘ol days weren’t as good as many remember... especially those who weren’t there!

True that.

 

[Pauly 4001]

I used Community 90 degree horns in our PA with some Sunn 115 horn cabinets for my first good PA system in 1974 or so . Later I used the smaller 15" horn flares (4896) in a three way PA as the bottom end with 112 horns and Northwest horns for the highs . The cabs I used didn't have as long a flare as the Leviathons so they really didn't do the real low end so well but they were loud and the system sounded great for the time .

Atlanta Rythm Section used Community for their touring rig for a while and I saw a concert with Van Halen , Foreigner , Doobie Brothers and ARS outside at a large concert . Awesome sound . Thankfully like Redbrangus said the days of horn loaded systems has move forward with the advent of higher powered amps . Community had many cool speakers back in the day . They did have a 115 cab like the one in the first post .

Nowadays you need to be careful to not pick up stray bits of these extinct PA systems from the side of the road:

How do you store or move something the size and weight of a refrigerator that houses one Black Widow 15"?

 

[msb]

My first gig cab was a folded fifteen in a huge cab , and it weighed a ton . And pretty mushy if my memory stands ... I replaced it with an Ampeg fridge .
And thought that fridge was about the coolest thing going . I think the Ampeg weighed more than me , but after some years it was time to use something more manageable .

 

[agedhorse]

One of my earlier PA's had 8 of the EV TL-4050's, these things were 3' x 5' x 2-1/2' deep and weighed maybe 150 pounds each. Put 4" casters on them and they were easy to roll around BUT a pain to handle. The casters made them 3' deep. I had a cabinet shop fabricate them during some of their downtime between jobs, surprisingly I am still friendly with the foreman of the shop and it's probably been 35-40 years since this project. We still laugh about the absurdity, it was that dumb of an idea in practice.

BUT, when clustered in groups of 4 or 8, the limitations of low frequency extension became insignificant and the sensitivity was a real world 108 or so down to 50Hz. They took up a LOT of space in the truck pack and in practice they were not very practical except for outdoor gigs. I sold them as soon as it was obvious that high quality bass reflex 18" cabinets and higher powered amps were a better (by far) way to go.

The good 'ol days came with a lot of challenges that many here have never experienced.

 

[sedan_dad]

Least will forget the JBL 4560's.

 

[DWBass]

I still own a set of 90s Community 2x15 subs. Has some sort of LPF to be able to connect a set of mains. I don't though. Only handles about 400w each but they thump.