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NAD: Double Baffle B15 Cabinet by Vintage Blue

Lovep

Lovep

Mar 17, 2011
1,606
3,060
Indianapolis, IN
#1
I pick up this replica Ampeg B15 double baffle cabinet over the weekend. First, I must say the craftsmanship is top notch! It weighs about the same or slightly heavier than my PF115HE. The dolly-which is very sturdy—definitely adds to the weight.

I love the tone that this produces. It doesn’t go quite as low as the PF115HE, but it has a tight low end and very present mids. Combined with the PF50T, the tone is superb. It has a bell like tone in the upper part of the neck that is very special.

I could not be more pleased with Mark’s product at Vintage Blue. We chatted a bit before I placed my order and he was pleasure to work with.

BTW, he doesn’t attach the logo since it’s not an Ampeg product. He does sell you the logo and drills the holes to make it easy to attach. It took me less than a minute.

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#4
Ahort said:
Beautiful cab. Is this a standard double baffle cabinet by Vintage Blue or was there anything custom ordered?

Thanks,
Alex
Click to expand...

Alex - after looking at my notes this cabinet was pretty much what I would consider a 'standard' double baffle cabinet, with the following exceptions:

1) since it was being used with a PF-50T there was no amplifier tray or shock mounts
2) the tolex was black check rather than the standard blue check
3) the speaker jack was 1/4" rather than the standard 4-pin XLR
4) the Ampeg logo was installed by the owner; there would normally be a Vintage Blue logo instead
 
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#7
Vintage-Blue said:
Alex - after looking at my notes this cabinet was pretty much what I would consider a 'standard' double baffle cabinet, with the following exceptions:

1) since it was being used with a PF-50T there was no amplifier tray or shock mounts
2) the tolex was black check rather than the standard blue check
3) the speaker jack was 1/4" rather than the standard 4-pin XLR
4) the Ampeg logo was installed by the owner; there would normally be a Vintage Blue logo instead
Click to expand...
Do you offer an option to attach a PF-50T (or PF-20T) to your cabs?
 
#8
That is extremely cool, I did not realize someone was making these things.

I am confused though, what does the term "double baffle" mean? Looks like the driver is rear mounted (which in the olden days was kind of a standard thing) but are there two baffle boards at the front instead of one?

Nice workmanship indeed on that cab congrats!

Analogeezer
 
#12
kranahan said:
Do you offer an option to attach a PF-50T (or PF-20T) to your cabs?
Click to expand...

I do now. Back when I built those cabinets though I did not have a solution for attaching either one of the new PF heads. They simply are too large to work in a standard-sized B15 cabinet, even if you enlarge the opening. The issue is the depth of the new heads compared to the vintage heads. Since that time I have worked up an alternate version of the cabinet that does work with the new heads. To make the necessary tweaks the cabinet depth needs to be increased from 14" to 16". That allows the new heads to fit in the top of the cabinet. The other dimensions stay the same. You just have to be careful not to use a speaker with too large of a magnet or the amp may hit it when inverted.

B15 mod.png
 
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#13
Vintage-Blue said:
I do now. Back when I built those cabinets though I did not have a solution for attaching either one of the new PF heads. They simply are too large to work in a standard-sized B15 cabinet, even if you enlarge the opening. The issue is the depth of the new heads compared to the vintage heads. Since that time I have worked up an alternate version of the cabinet that does work with the new heads. To make the necessary tweaks the cabinet depth needs to be increased from 14" to 16". That allows the new heads to fit in the top of the cabinet. The other dimensions stay the same. You just have to be careful not to use a speaker with too large of a magnet or the amp may hit it when inverted.

View attachment 4430422
Click to expand...
Hi Mark, Thats good to know! These sound like nice improvements to accomodate the PF50T. I really like the 14" depth of my cabs though. I wonder if the increased depth makes for a deeper (for lack of a better word) sound?

Have you ever considered making a vintage 2x15 cab?
 
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#14
Vintage-Blue said:
I do now. Back when I built those cabinets though I did not have a solution for attaching either one of the new PF heads. They simply are too large to work in a standard-sized B15 cabinet, even if you enlarge the opening. The issue is the depth of the new heads compared to the vintage heads. Since that time I have worked up an alternate version of the cabinet that does work with the new heads. To make the necessary tweaks the cabinet depth needs to be increased from 14" to 16". That allows the new heads to fit in the top of the cabinet. The other dimensions stay the same. You just have to be careful not to use a speaker with too large of a magnet or the amp may hit it when inverted.

View attachment 4430422
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thank you for the information. I'll definitely purchase a cab from you if I decide to get a PF-50T again.
 
#15
Lovep said:
Hi Mark, Thats good to know! These sound like nice improvements to accomodate the PF50T. I really like the 14" depth of my cabs though. I wonder if the increased depth makes for a deeper (for lack of a better word) sound?

Have you ever considered making a vintage 2x15 cab?
Click to expand...

Patrick - no, I've never considered building a 2x15. I don't know what design I would use and I'm not smart enough to come up with a design on my own that would perform well acoustically. Also, the larger cabinet would be more of a pain to ship.
 
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