Bone Idol

Inside of my Varislope III.... The top view is obviously a little dusty but the underside is like new! Managed to find the original paper label, showing production date of 25 April 1961, so a little later than I thought... Having said that, I was only one and a half years old when this was made.... It's probably in better nick than I am I didn't realise that I had cut the umbilical lwad and the remote lead, so I do have plugs to use for a re-wire... Result. It has lived in my workshop on top of an old EverReady Sky Queen for longer than I care to remember, so it would be fantastic get it going again.

Cor!.... These look interesting and frightening all at the same time!... I take it I'd have to make some sort an enclosure to put them in? Would it be a good idea for me to open-up the Varislope & take some photos of its innards for you to have a look at?.... Pointless making a power supply if the rest of it is shot... I did take the bottom of it a while back, I think it's point to point not pcb... But I could be wrong...

Wrong schematic... Typical me! Soldering... Funny that, as I've just received delivery of the soldering iron that everyone is going-on about on the 'Soldering Irons' thread! Over the years I have soldered stereo insert cables for mixers, wired up numerous guitar looms and jack leads etc... I have a tin of Baker's Flux and a brand new soldering iron... What could go wrong! 😉

Sounds like it may well be beyond my meagre capabilities It's a lovely bit of 'objets d'art' (what they'd probably call 'Man Cave' nowadays!)... I was kind of hoping that it would run on mains voltage and I could just 'hook it up', but from what you say it sounds like it originally got its power from the radio's transformer... I did find this schematic on the internet, but it's all a bit Chinese to me!... I've had it since the 80's when I had the whole radiogram and we used the radio section all the time, it sounded great even though Mono amd Medium Wave radio was looked down upon at that time, but you couldn't fault its tone.

Another weird thing that I'd love to try and use is this valve pre-amp made by Leak, it's called a Varislope III ... It came out of the same 1950's radiogram as the Celestion speaker that I put in the Danson 540. I know it's a 1950's Hi-Fi pre amp but I've always wondered what it would sound like when used with an electric musical instrument... Anyone ever heard or tried one of these? This photo is from the 'net as mine is in the shed!... Unfortunately I didn't think to keep the umbilical lead when I took it from the radiogram, so I have no idea how to wire it up

Forever Autumn - Justin Hayward

I had a Fender Bassman which I bought for 40 Euros (about £28 in 2010) in a rural junk shop in France. I don't think they knew what it was as it was on a shelf filled with microwave ovens and electric grills. I had no way of testing it, so I bought it blind and had to wait a month until I got home to try it, but it was perfect!... It was too big & too loud for me and I wasn't playing much bass at that time, so I sold it on and made a small fortune! (which makes a bloody change!). When I was given the B&H speaker cab I was also offered the Bell & Howell 631 projector for free... These 'Film-O-Sound' projectors have a 15w all valve amp built into them, which some people seperate for guitar use... But it's a lot of work, and these projectors and their amps run on American voltage and the one offered to me came without the transformer. I'm a terrible hoarder, but even I couldn't justify having the projector!.... But I also have another small projector cab, it's an all aluminium mid 1950's speaker cab called a Danson 540. The original speaker in the box was dead but being a hoarder, I'd kept hold of an old 8 inch Celestion speaker from a valve radiogram that I'd had in the 80's, which was made in June 1956... The marriage of the two was like it was meant be! It's no wonder that my wife calls me 'Steptoe' The Danson 540 cab now fitted with a 1956 Celestion speaker.

An added bonus.... Yesterday, just for the hell of it, I plugged the Bell & Howell cab into my little Bugera guitar amp (the little bugger as we call it), cranked it and put my es335 through it and..... WOW!... I thought that given as the Celestion Pulse 12 is a bass guitar speaker it would sound dull and unappealing with a guitar going through it, but how wrong was I?.... It knocked the Celestion 8-15 that I'd installed in the Bugera into a cocked-hat. I'm really surprised at this... But shhhh.... Don't tell the guitarists or they'll all want one!

Son Of My Father - Chicory Tip

Mary Of The Fourth Form - The Boomtown Rats

Cosmetically, I'm thinking about changing the shape of the apperture in the front fascia... This is how it looks now... And this is my latest idea... It's only a Mock-Up photo but I think it would look more in keeping with it's original form... And would also have the added advantage of providing a place for a single port (if I decided to go down that route). I would very much appreciate everybody's comments on the proposed 'new' shape of the grill.... Cheers.

More great advice... Many thanks... I still haven't had chance to wind it up loud, so I won't even consider porting until I know what it sounds like under load... But according to all the advice I've had from this post is sounds like it would be more trouble than its worth, and also I think that a port would not look right in a cab of this vintage.

It's great.... Just so long as your secretary has small hands! 😉

I was thinking just the other day how small the dots were on my bass... It must be an age thing, as i had to do the 'Tippex' trick on my guitar amp a couple of years ago... Makes me wonder how I get through the day in one piece...

That's brilliant, many thanks for your advice. To answer your questions... At the moment it sounds (to me) ok, although I haven't had the chance to crank-it yet. The bottom end sounds fine but at low volume everything sounds fine! The rear door is great now that I have put some self adhesive door draught-excluder on the joint, the latch & hinges are surprisingly sound. I am getting sthe odd rattle at certain frequencies which appear to be coming from the wire mesh on the original half-moon vents in the rear door. I did blank these off with hardboard (and sealed with silicone) on the inside... Perhaps the mesh will have to go!

I've kept hold of it, the cone and coil appear to be in good order (no rips or drag on the coil)... But I think these were made on a budget, hence the lack of a name plate... I also think that it may well be 16 ohm as most of these projector cabs were 16's.

You're absolutely right! I did have a quick look at the 'maths' of it all and it made my head hurt... The software looks like the right way to go so maybe I'll have to take two deep breaths and try again!

I Was Made for Dancin' - Leif Garrett

I fully understand that, it's jut a bit of fun for around the house.... As I said at the begining, it will have limitations, I just want it to be the best that it can be. Do you have any advice on size of port or port length?

Bush Doctor - Peter Tosh

They must be raving...

Right Said BetFred - Bernard Cribbins

You Better You Bet - The Who

First off.... This is for home / light rehearsal use.... I'm not expecting to play the Albert Hall with this thing!.... But I would like it to sound as good as it possibly could, given its limitations... And mine! A while back I was given this Bell & Howell 631 projector speaker cab, complete with its 12" Jenson 'fan-frame' speaker and thought it would make a nice little home bass cab project. So far I have swapped the speaker for a Celestion Pulse 12, added a jack socket and plate, blanked-off the two semi-circular vents to the rear of the cab and added a bit of padding to the inside of the rear door, along with some door seals. I also added some 1960's grill cloth that I had knocking around. (which I might change at a later date). I had to increase the diameter of the apperture in the baffle plate as the Celestion was about 10 or 12mm larger but the baffle retains its felt lining. I also had to remove the extruded aluminimum grill as it rattled like a snare drum. Having removed the original grill, I then opened up the lower portion of the front of the cab to match the apperture in the baffle plate as the original design had the bottom of the speaker behind the fascia. To port or not to port?... That is the question... At the moment it's more or less a sealed cab, but quite a small cab, somewhere around 36.3 litres. It's hard to be exact as the sides on the cab taper inwards as they reach the top. I could possibly fit one or two 2" ports in the the front fascia but 'tuning' them would be another area where I'd need some advice. I will probably 'square-off' the front of the cab's opening (see mock-up photo) as I don't really like the 'smiley face' front it has at the moment. The amp for this cab is a T.C. Electronic BAM200... So nothing too heavy or ambitious. Photos... 1 - How it looked originally (not mine as I forgot to photograph it in its original condition). 2 - As above.... 3 - How it looks at the moment 4 - Inside View 5 - Rear View 6 - Mock-up for 'new look' front. So... Your thoughts, comments and advice would be most welcome.... Many thanks.

"Where's that 'effing lute player?...... Where's that 'effing lute player???"... Oh I'm terribly sorry.... It's my 'pre-minstrel tension'