I have an early 70's bassman 2x15, with a pair of square magnet CTS speakers that both need reconing. The question is, do I recone (about 60 a speaker) replace the speakers outright, or just dump the thing on craigslist as is?
depends
Well if I keep it I'll be using it for guitar, I think whoever had it before me thought they could use it with a newer bass head. The cab itself is in really good shape though.
From memory, the CTS drivers were the cheaper ones, and the JBL/Altecs that came in the premium ones were the ones to have. Probably should verify with people more specifically interested in vintage Fender cabs. If it is for guitar, its all going to be down to tone flavours, guess you have no idea how the CTS sound working, you can score other guitar 15s though, that have a full set of specs for comparison to stuff you do know.
Mr. Foxen is correct. i would not waste money reconing those CTS drivers. They are well known for not being good.
This is that same cab with the CTS's in it. I have since replaced them with Eminence delta 15B's...
Thanks for the input, I'll probably hold off till I find a good deal on some new speakers, since it doesn't seem like they're worth the trouble reconing. I don't think I'd get more than 75-100 selling the empty cab, so that doesn't seem like a viable option either.
http://www.usspeaker.com/eminence%2015-1.htm (http://www.usspeaker.com/eminence%2015-1.htm)
I was looking at some of the legend 151's on usspeaker a while back, they don't have the bass response of the deltas but seem like a better option for guitar use. Or I could throw in some of those dirt cheap seismic audio drivers haha, I'm pretty sure they're eminence clones. I think I might hold off for a minute though, I found a pretty sweet deal on a lab series bass head and its matching cab at a local pawn shop earlier today that I might pick up when I get paid.