Scumback

[philmanatee]

Just received and installed my Scumback 55hz high power H30. Played it at band practice tonight, I'm pretty impressed. I had been experimenting with some sylvania 6ca7's in my express, which sounded pretty cool with the emminence I had been using. With the scumback it was too much in the bass range, then I switched back to the amperex el34's that I had been using. WOW! They really lit that speaker up, the extra bass response is really cool with the express. I play through an early 60's single 12 tone ring bassman cabinet, and this speaker with the express is going to be a great gigging rig. I've read a lot of positive reviews of these speakers, but found it pretty hard to cough up that kind of money for a speaker. I've got to say I'm impressed, and Jim is a great guy to deal with. Phil

[gnugear]

After comparing the H30s (55hz blackbacks) to my Greenbacks, I have to say I prefer the 25s. Just a personal preference of course!

[philmanatee]

I've got a Hiwatt cab loaded with ceramic bluedogs that I'll try to dig out tomorrow and I'll let you know what I think of those. I can tell you that I won't be hauling a 4x12 to any gigs though! Phil

[sliberty]

I just love the ceramic Blue Dog in my 5e3 cabinet. I am looking forward to hearing what you think with your Express.

[johnspeck]

I have had my 4-12 cab loaded with a combo of two Weber alnico Blue Dogs (30-watts each, light dope) and two Celestion 25-watt Greens, and it sounded great. I can only imagine the ceramic versions are even better suited to the closed-back 4-12.

[dobbhill]

Phil-I'd love to learn more about the tone ring cabinets. Do you have any info/resources? Is yours original? How does it compare to the typical sealed 2-12" Bassman box?
Thanks, D

[philmanatee]

The tone ring cabinets for bassman were very short lived, I believe only the tube rectified blonde bassman with 8 ohm output impedance used it. All other bassman heads had a 4 ohm output impedance and used a 2 12 cab. My cabinet is beat and when I got it the baffle was cracked and a 15 was installed with no tone ring. Larry Rodgers made me a new tone ring baffle and told me I should try reversing the phase on my speaker. I ab'd the speaker phase reversal and thought it sounded slightly better reversed. I've found that g12h30's are my favorite in this box, but I've smoked a few. I was quite excited when I found out about the scumback speakers because they made a version of the g12h30 with higher power handling. After listening to all their clips the 55hz model was the sound I was looking for. The tone ring cab seems a little more live than my 2 12 bassman, but my 2 12 is a black one and the wood is different than the earlier blonde ones. Phil

[philmanatee]

I finally pulled out the Hiwatt cab loaded with ceramic bluedogs, they sounded good but didn't blow my mind. The big suprise was my 2 12 bassman loaded with altec's, that I had pulled out of some old monitors and had the aluminum dust caps changed. The altecs sounded really cool! Quite different than celestions, smoother yet totally usable. I may take the altec's it to a gig tomorrow. I have some low wattage fanes I'm going to mount in a cabinet next chance I get. Phil

[Mark]

Speaker and cab combinations with Trainwreck style amps have been largely overlooked for sometime here.

I would love to hear more of your finding about speakers and speaker cab with these amps. I was thinking of using the Scumbag 55Hz speakers with my Express when I get funds to get it all happening. Though there may be better options out there.

I also have a Fender Bassman 2 X 12" cab that currently has Kendrick speakers in it, and I'd like to put something better into it. The common suggestion is Celestion Vintage thirties, or some sort of Weber speaker.

Any thoughts on that one?

[908ssp]

I have played mine through lots of different speakers and cabs. Four different 4x12s just last weekend. In my opinion it sounds best with the darkest most midrangy ones like my Pre-rola greenback 1960b cab or a pair of Tone Tubby alnico hemp speakers. It sounded most like EVH with my pre-rola G12H30-55hz 1982a cab or a cab of G12M25-75 Blackbacks from 1978. Besides all those vintage cabs the Scumback 4x12 was real close louder then the old speakers and cabs and a touch brighter. The Scumback cab is for sale can't keep them all.

I run Amperex 6550 power tubes and Mullard 12ax7 pres, the Mullards keep the middle strong and the 6550 push the top and bottom.