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Kustom 3-15 cabinet weight?

iu

I think we're going to need a bigger rig. Those Kustom cabs are incredibly heavy.

Schnabel railroad car 1.jpg


M. M.
 
I've posted this many times but I saw a bassist at a neighboring high school when I was a kid in 1969 with a Fender bass V and a Kustom with the 3 x 15 cab, blue sparkle. Only time I've ever seen either one outside of photos, the player was great, the amp was a kind of distorted IIRC. The only tune I remember is 'Take Me For a Little While'- Vanilla Fudge and the bass player did the little solo just like Tim Bogert did.
 
When I was in HS, an area music retailer started selling Kustoms at a pretty deep discount and they moved like hotcakes. I can't imagine how many guitarists traded in their blackface Deluxe, Pro, or Twin Reverbs for a big stack. (The store owner didn't have any problems re-selling them to his country music customers -- they didn't really much go for the Kustom thing.) The bass player in my own combo (I was playing keys) traded in his '66 Bassman with two 212 cabs for a Kustom 200 with the 315 cab and it actually was a noticeable improvement. (But gosh I'd like to have that Fender amp now. :D) Our rhythm player bought a blue sparkle rig with two of the 215s cabs. They had JBLs in them and sounded so much better than the column speakers we were using for the PA that we made the guy let us use them for that. It wasn't too hard, as he was also the main singer, but I know he chaffed at buying a new rig and still having to use his old one for guitar. I don't remember either the 315 or the 215s as being especially difficult to schlep around. They came with decent casters, at least compared to what you otherwise saw on amps in those days. The 315 has the same leverage advantage a fridge has -- you can lean it over into a vehicle or onto a stage and then pick up the bottom and slide it pretty easily. The basic 200 amp was pretty durable -- more reliable than many of the solid-state amps of the era. IMO, the sparkle covering was more durable than the plain black or white -- it had a tough clear vinyl sort of "overlay" over the sparkly part. I remember seeing Sly Stone in 1969 and his whole band had matching white 'roll-and-pleat' Kustom rigs, which contrasted nicely with the black grills and looked pretty sharp. The sound system was a typical concert rig of the era, but the band had some of those white Kustom PA columns laid down on the floor in front and pointed back at them -- one of the first times I personally was aware of someone using stage monitors.
 
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I had a high school girlfriend that called Kustom amps "carnival seats". The vinyl was very similar to the stuff on ride seats, possibly even the same stuff!

If it is the same stuff then it certainly is tough. I have a memory of getting a cut on my leg as a wee lad from a torn vinyl seat on a ferris wheel. Probably mid 70s.
Cheap diner and corner bar seats too.😎