Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

In the new Bass Player magazine John Paul Jones talks about many early amps that he blew up and killed ... one of them was a Rickenbacker with a 30" speaker ...

Yeah, I have three of those cabinets, only two have speakers and one of those speakers is defective. The one that is working sounds unbelievable. I recently met with Transonic designer Bob Rissi and he recalled that these cabinets were exceptional in their linearity. The speakers are fragile though. Put any kind of power to them and they're history.

Are those the EV 30" speakers they made back in those days?

Nowadays...carbon fiber cones...I'm thinking...

Last nite our bass player was playing his JG4003 through his newish Ampeg SS rig, which just received a second cab with a single 18 to go with the 4-10 that he already has. The difference is palpable. The drummer said, "I can feel you in my feet". This could become a song title, BTW.

So, what would a 30 sound like? (I remember my Transonic literature lists twin 15s or a single 30 as options...)

And, if they couldn't handle any power, then what's the sense?

In the mid eighties we had a 30" EV loaded in a 72 cubic foot cabinet that was used in the noise and vibration lab. .

Did you play your Rick though it?

Madison or somebody else used to make a bass cabinet with a 24" speaker ...

the old amps didn't have much headroom in power wattage or in how much the cabinet could handle ...

these days if you want low end these speakers will give it to you !!!

http://www.cerwinvega.com/

jps wrote:Did you play your Rick though it?

I wish, but I didn't have a Rick at that time. I heard that the EV was only good from 60Hz and down, but I don't know that for a fact.

Well, you're right Paul, what was the sense? Apparently, back in the days before intelligently miked venues, you would normally use all three cabinets (!!) anytime you used the setup (which was supplied with a 200 watt transonic head) or risk blowing up a speaker. How inconvenient is that? These cabinets are HUGE! But it will rattle your tibia, femur and other sensitive body parts as well as allow you to be heard clearly several hundred yards away. And a note for the record: It's a cast frame 30" EV. I put 50 watts into it and all is well.

I plugged an SVT head into a Transonic 4x15" once. Holy moley. BOOOOOOOOM

Sunn used to make a 4x15 cabinet ... it sounded absolutely awesome

Wow! 4x15 transonic......I forgot about those!

Good Lord. I thought the "30 inch speaker" reference in the RIckenbacker book was a mistake. You mean they really did make cabinets with 30 inch speakers? Amazing! What a thing to have. Are there pictures anywhere?

I have a picture of all three 30"cabinets set up side-by-side if I can remember to post it the next time I run across my pix. I'm a bit disorganized (as Kenny has seen). My shop is like 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound sack.