Speakers in older Bassman RI

[vintagecrunch]

I picked up a older Bassman RI and really dig it. The original owner had it tweaked and it has some nice NOS tubes which really seems to add something to this amp... My question is what are the speakers in this thing? He said they are the original blue frame speakers and they seem real smooth. Should I keep them or maybe upgrade them?

Thanks

 

[Griz]

I picked up a older Bassman RI and really dig it. The original owner had it tweaked and it has some nice NOS tubes which really seems to add something to this amp... My question is what are the speakers in this thing? He said they are the original blue frame speakers and they seem real smooth. Should I keep them or maybe upgrade them?

Thanks

Pics would help.

I had a 1991 RI '59 Bassman, and if yours is from back before Fender switched to Jensen speakers then you will probably have Eminence blue frame alnico 10's. They were stock with that amp until the Jensens came along. They are excellent speakers, very tough to beat at any price, and very difficult to obtain as after-market items.

If yours has Emi's, don't get rid of them. Nothing sounds better in that amp.

 

[Mike Fleming]

That is what they are, and they are great. The pre-LTD bassmans only came with 2 types of speakers, the eminence blueframe alnicos, and then brown ones after that.

 

[notchfox]

X3. Those Emi blue frame alnicos with the paper formers in the older Bassman RI's will be tough to beat. No reason to be looking to improve on anything here, they're great sounding speakers. AFAIK all the new Emi "blue frames" you see for sale use Kapton formers and have a higher power handling capability. Can't comment on the "Kapton" sound though, never heard them ....

One thing I would do though is check the soldering on the (4) RCA ends for the speaker wiring. Found one of mine with the tip never soldered correctly. In the end I installed a 1/4" jack and a Super Reverb harness.

 

[vintagecrunch]

Thanks guys, I do think they sound real nice. I was thinking about switching out two with some "Britsh" voiced ceramic speaker for fun. I want to use this amp as a grab and go when I can't use my big amp rig. With that, anyone mix Alnico and Ceramic speakers?

 

[wingwalker]

You already know that they are blue frame Eminence and they they are great speakers!

In answer to your mixing speakers...one half of my main rig is a custom build V Front 2x10 tweed Super. I use one alnico (Weber 10A100T) and one ceramic (Weber 10F1250 and thats a killer set up. You get the classic reedy/honky break up and crunch from the alnico and a tighter more bass heavy punch from the ceramic.

 

[buddyboy]

Funny how times change. When the RI Bassman came out in 1990, I was ready to pounce. Actually had one. Great amp. However, almost every article and review of that amp circa 1990-1994 commented that the weakest link in the quest for the "Vintage Bassman Tone" was that the blue Eminence speakers didn't sound like Jensen P10R's. Players were asking for a more "proper speaker." The RI Jensen P-10R's began being used shortly thereafter. They don't sound like original P-10R's either however.

 

[vintagecrunch]

Well I wouldn't know what the "proper" speaker sound is, just want something that sounds good. Will checkout the Webers

 

[wingwalker]

I agree, those blue Eminence are not the correct sound but I prefer them to those "reissue" Jensen speakers...a full quad of weber 10A100T's would be as close to the "right" sound for a tweed Bassman as you could get short of a quad of late 50's P10R's...

 

[Mike Fleming]

Your idea of getting some british speakers in there might work well. For a while fender custom shop was putting out an amp called the "Bassbreaker", a Bassman RI with 2 V30s. A lot of people I know loved it.