Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

ilan wrote:Please explain why would anyone want an old speaker cabinet? Bass speaker/cab technology has made giant steps in the last decade, they are now smaller, lighter and significantly louder without farting out at living-room levels, why not get something more modern? You can hook it up to your favorite vintage tube amp if you want. Is there something here I don't get? Please enlighten me.

I have two light (as in weight) Avitar cabinets and they sound great. Easy to bring to a gig and carry up stairs. I also have two SVT cabs. One square back and one with the handle, both from the 70's. The sound from both of those cabs is unmatched. If I had the back for it they would be at every gig because I can "feel" every note out of the SVT.

#1 - that is a BEAUTIFUL SVT cab. Priced about the same as a new one, it is a better cabinet - plywood, not chipboard - with better sounding speakers. There's nothing else like it. The only thing resembling a downside is that they are only rated at 240 watts. An original SVT rig consisted of one head and TWO cabs. But, I've been using them on and off for 20 years with no issues, and I'm a ROCK player.

#2 - to answer Ilan's question - I agree with everything Bob Young said.

If you can get that cab with a '72 head, you are going to have the king of all bass rigs! Vintage SVT heads have the most variable range of tones, with the simplest array of controls I've ever experienced. Again, there's nothing else like it.

And in closing... They're really NOT that bad to cart around. Your only real enemy will be stairs. So grab your singer and put his *** to work for a minute! You might not want to do this on something as clean as this one, but I put a pair of handles on the bottom of the cab. Helps a LOT! The tilt back setup works great, and you can slide it right into the back of your SUV/van/pickup. You DO have one of those, right?

rikk wrote:The sound from both of those cabs is unmatched. If I had the back for it they would be at every gig because I can "feel" every note out of the SVT.

OK I can't argue with that!

I have only played current SVT's but never a real 70's rig. If Gil gets the amp head too, maybe I'll get my chance to try out a real one.

gibsonlp wrote: Bob: there is only 1 store that sells them and they sell only the RI ones...
AFAIK there is not even a single vintage SVT in Israel.

I'm pretty sure I bought the only vintage head in Lima, every player knew this head and no one either had the money or knew how to fix it, I was lcuky i had the money and knew how to fix it and scooped it for 300 bucks. I still use it to this day with the same used power tubes I threw in it in 2001.

gearhed289 wrote:#1 - that is a BEAUTIFUL SVT cab. Priced about the same as a new one, it is a better cabinet - plywood, not chipboard - with better sounding speakers. There's nothing else like it. The only thing resembling a downside is that they are only rated at 240 watts. An original SVT rig consisted of one head and TWO cabs. But, I've been using them on and off for 20 years with no issues, and I'm a ROCK player.

#2 - to answer Ilan's question - I agree with everything Bob Young said.

If you can get that cab with a '72 head, you are going to have the king of all bass rigs! Vintage SVT heads have the most variable range of tones, with the simplest array of controls I've ever experienced. Again, there's nothing else like it.

And in closing... They're really NOT that bad to cart around. Your only real enemy will be stairs. So grab your singer and put his *** to work for a minute! You might not want to do this on something as clean as this one, but I put a pair of handles on the bottom of the cab. Helps a LOT! The tilt back setup works great, and you can slide it right into the back of your SUV/van/pickup. You DO have one of those, right?

Yeah they have 30 watt speakers all paralleled but they don't break up or fart at all and they last and last. A 72 head would be great even if it beat up at a decent price, because parts are fairly easy to find for them and they are easy to restore because of that reason.

Still waiting for the seller to get back to me with the price and details on the head...
I managed to find a shipping company that is willing to ship the cabinet for $265 to Milford, MI from Portland...
I didn't know the seller has a head when I requested the quote, my plan was to ship it to my in laws, find a head, ship it there and then ship everything to my place (sounds more expensive, but with international freight shipping adding the 85lbs of the head is very cheap compared to having 2 separate shipments).
If I will buy both items from him directly, I will look for a freight company to ship it directly to Israel.

Kareene does know who's carrying that around, right?

Nobody
It's not that I have a gig on a weekly basis, heck, for now I don't even have a gig on a YEARLY basis...
I plan to use it in our rehearsal room and once we finally record...

gibsonlp wrote:Nobody
It's not that I have a gig on a weekly basis, heck, for now I don't even have a gig on a YEARLY basis...
I plan to use it in our rehearsal room and once we finally record...

I don't know if Israel has 110V or 220V but the heads can be converted by any competent tech to either voltage.

220, why not just hook it up to a 220->110 transformer and leave it original?

Apparently the seller has the head but he doesn't want to sell it he says it is really nice and he'll never find another one...
So I am back to shipping it to my in laws instead of directly to me, and then finding a head, shipping it to them again and only then - ship everything home...

Patience is a virtue!






















NOT!!!

gibsonlp wrote:220, why not just hook it up to a 220->110 transformer and leave it original?

Well it's not a huge thing to do, it would still be original except for a couple of soldier joints as the tranny has both 110 and 220 taps, all you do is tie the two wires in the middle of the primary together and use the ends of the primary (coil) if you know what I mean. I would have a tech do it though. When I brought mine back from Lima it was wired for 220V and I changed it, they made them that way for international sales. It's a pain in the old heads as the wire colors tend to all blend together from age so to be safe I traced them all before I did it, I recapped it too which is not fun either as the original caps are not available anymore, but again any competent tech acan do it, I'm neither a tech nor competent and I did it. i did go to tech school years ago though. Tubes last practically forever in those though including the power tubes.

jps wrote:Patience is a virtue!






















NOT!!!

Patience? What's that?

Jackpot!
Local freight company just sent me an offer:
$400 to ship the cabinet all the way from Portland, Oregon to My house in Israel! Is that a good deal or what???