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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink '72 Fender Twin (silverface) speaker conversion

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jimbones
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Joined: Nov 21, 2012
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Link Posted on Jun 14 2023 12:51 PM

I've been considering converting my Twin from a 2 x 12" to a single 15". Could those of you who've done it chime in with your experience?

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terma_reverb
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Joined: Apr 17, 2012
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Greece
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Link Posted on Jun 14 2023 01:22 PM

Hey Jim, I haven't done this exactly myself, but there was some interesting discussion about this lately here. Cool

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DaveMudgett
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Link Posted on Jun 14 2023 09:37 PM

As I wrote on that other thread referenced above, pedal steel players frequently convert 2x12" Twin Reverbs to 1x15" format. In fact, the silverface Vibrosonic Reverb amp is precisely that - a Twin Reverb chassis in a 1x15" cab.

There is a wrinkle to converting a roughly post-1971 Twin. Right around that time, Fender moved from a screw-in floating baffle to a dadoed-in baffle. So it is a bit of a PITA to remove the 2x12" baffle and dado in a 1x15" baffle. And you generally pretty much destroy the original 2x12" baffle taking it out. Honestly, most guitar players don't like 15" speakers - surf guitarists are the relatively rare exception, along with many pedal steel players. So you're also probably hurting the amp's resale value. Anyway, you should look to see what you have. There may be some '72 Twins still with the floating baffle.

Anyway - I did this once to a 1970 Twin with floating baffle. I tried it, decided I preferred 2x12", and changed it back. No harm, no foul, it cost what it cost to make a baffle and try the 15" JBL I had on hand. It went back to stock a few days later. But I would not mess with a dadoed-in baffle.

The obvious question to me is - what is your goal in moving to a 15" speaker? If you are expecting it to sound like a Dual Showman Reverb head into a closed back 15" cab, you may be disappointed. The difference between the open- and closed- back cabs is significant to my ears. Personally, if I really wanted a Showman-into-15"-cab sound, I'd get a repro head cab for the chassis and a 1x15" or 2x15" Showman cab. Fairly recently, I traded away my '68 Showman head and 1x15" cab. These late-60s to 70s 1x15 or especially 2x15" refrigerator cabs are not very desirable to most guitar players - everybody wanted my head, but hardly anybody wanted the cab. I refused to separate, so someone eventually snagged it. I routinely see the cabs pretty reasonable at guitar shows and elsewhere. For quite a while, one could hardly give them away. The value seems to have gone up a bit, but I still see them pretty cheap. One of the issues is that they are very hard to ship, hence one is generally restricted to selling in a local market.

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synchro
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Link Posted on Jun 15 2023 08:12 AM

Speaking of my Twin conversion; there was never a point there I woke up thinking that I had to get a 15” speaker for my Twin. It was more a matter of wishing to preserve the health my back, and wanting to break the Twin into two, lighter pieces.

This wasn’t a trivial undertaking, costing somewhere in the region of $900 dollars, circa 2010. Hey, no complaints whatsoever, it came out great, but it was costly. The main factor in choosing a single 15 was to centralize the weight of the speaker within the cabinet, making it less ponderous to carry. The fact that it sounded great was just, as Bob Ross would have said, a happy little accident. (Uggh!) Whatever

Would I recommend a 15” speaker for a Twin? Absolutely! However, it’s not as simple as choosing to wear a different color of socks. My experience is with a closed-back cabinet, which give the bass a bit more punch, and that definitely is a factor. However, as a general rule anything will favor lower frequencies when it’s larger. Whack the steel hull of a Great Lakes ore boat and it’s going to resonate at a low frequency. The same goes for cymbals, guitar strings, speakers, or anything else. So yes, a 15” speaker will get you something, but is it favorable from a cost-benefit perspective? That’s an individual question. If anybody near Tucson would be interested in buying a Twin in a Showman style cabinet, shoot me a PM. Shipping it would be cost prohibitive, but I’m not anticipating any more Car Show gigs, so it’s rarely used, these days.

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DeathTide
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Link Posted on Jun 15 2023 09:15 AM

It's not difficult if you have minor woodworking skills. You just have to make sure to get a 4-ohm 15" speaker and some wood and screws. Mine was a 72 and the baffle was chipboard glued in. It had to be pretty violently chiseled out. Then the grooves were filled with small and long cut pieces of wood. Then I installed little blocks to hold the baffle. Full disclosure, we had to make for baffles before we got it right, due to some pretty sloppy measuring. By the time we had the right one I guess I was too exhausted to take pictures. So I would have to take it apart to take pictures of it. I did find a couple dark and terrible pix. I kept the old grill cloth, which I had stomped on in the 2000s when it was a 212. I kept the bar cutting right through the center of the speaker, and I love it so much. I may have to make beam blockers for all the other cabs!

I really wanted the speaker to be in the middle so my friend who is good with a router helped me make a very nice baffle. First we made a big hole around 14 7/8" or so, and then another smaller diameter, making a ledge inside the cutout. This way the speaker can be mounted the traditional way, from the back, and clear the huge transformer.

I freaking love it. I always fantasized about a Vibrasonic or a pro, but now that I have this amp I don't think I really need those. It's not quite as low-endy as a showman, but a great tone. Super aggressive and cool. I only have brown face and black face Shoman so I can't really compare to a silver face, but it sounds absolutely brilliant. By far the best Twin, and I have five of them!

so this is kind of weird, but I have come to prefer 12" speakers with reverb, and 15" speakers with clean.

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Daniel Deathtide

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