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Old speakers, like in Ampro boxes

ZR

Asked by ZR,

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ZR Veteran HFCer

ZR

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I had a chance to get an old Ampro speaker box that I guess were mainly for film projectors. They had a big 12-15" speaker with one of those big metal bell covers over the magnet assembly maybe 5" deep. Anyone know anything about these? I would GUESS that they came from the 50's to 60's. Just wondering if they might have a cool speaker inside.

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tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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One of my favorite "guitar amps" when I was a youngster was my dad's Bell & Howell 16mm movie projector, dating to the early to mid 1950's. The detached speaker cab wasn't very heavily built, but certainly up to the job it was designed for. It had an Alnico 12 with the big ol' cover on the back of the magnet. If memory serves, it was blue, but not a Celestion. Coupled with the mic input and tube amplification on the projector itself, you could slap that thing with a humbucker, dime it and do early Santana all damn day with it. Sounded great.

Those are some early low-watt alnicos that should sound pretty doggone good. They're probably fine for a lunchbox amp, but I don't think I'd hit them with much more power than that, 15 watts absolute tops.

I've got a pair of 12" Rola alnicos from 1962 out of a Hammond, just sitting in the garage, waiting for the right cabinet. They sounded great until the organ tonewheel croaked.

crunchee Veteran HFCer

crunchee

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^This^. It sounds "Blues approved" to me! It's like those old Astatic and Shure bullet mikes, they weren't meant to be harmonica mikes in the beginning...but they work just fine anyway! B)

JohnnyB Veteran HFCer

JohnnyB

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There's a http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com'>vintage guitar store in Seattle that often gets in old tube amps and alnico speakers from the '40s and '50s. Every one I've heard sounded fantastic for classic rock or clean-to-dirty overdriven blues. You have to observe the limitations mentioned above--nothing over 15 watts and even then, watch the volume. For more volume, mic it into the PA system or into a cheap but powerful SS amp (e.g., a '70s SG 100w 2x12).

gtone Veteran HFCer

gtone

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Ampro cabs are mainly from the early to mid 40's, at least the ones I have come across in pawn shops and so on. I bought an old pa speaker cab once like the ones they used in schools and shoe-horned in a 5F1 chassis into it and voila:

Zottola5F1.jpg

ZR Veteran HFCer

ZR

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Thanks for the info...wow that amp ^^^ is awesome...nice job...wonderful cabinet.

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