Fender Bassman 2-15; help needed.

[Cloff]

So, this Saturday I’m picking up an empty Fender Bassman 215 for just under €40 (just under £35 converted). At first, I only wanted to buy it for the recessed Fender/ Cerwin Vega/ Peavey/ etc. handles it has, which my Peavey F800B is missing (and with its 25/ 30 kg isn’t much of a lightweight, especially without handles). After taking those off, I was thinking of just selling it.

But then, the idea to keep it and find some speakers popped up in my head and I started looking. But with those ideas also came some questions.

So here they are:
1. What year is it? The only Fender 215s with info I can find on the web are the diagonally placed and taller ones, but the ones with a vent at the bottom are much less common.
2. What were the original speakers that came with it? EV’s/ JBL’s or something?
3. What are good replacement speakers? I already found a set of EV SRO 15L and 15B for something around €200 (approx £170). Good price/ speakers for a bass cab?

See attachments for photos of the cab. Any info which i’m not asking for but is good to know is also more than welcome.

[Jono Bolton]

I don't know how useful this is to you, but my Peavey 2x15 has two Behringer active PA subs in it. They don't sound very much like traditional 15s though, they're full-range drivers so have bags of clarity which no one expects (myself included). I can't imagine they'd be expensive, but I also can't imagine they'd be easy to find either.

[3below]

Measure the internal dimensions of the cabinet, the port slot width, height and the shelf length and post them up on here. You can then use the modelling software WinISD and see what drivers might work. You might find nice people will come along, model some speakers for you and make suggestions about drivers and suitable port sizes.

Edited September 1, 2016 by 3below

[Bassnut62]

I used to have on of these unloaded and experimented with loads of fancy ass speakers; in the end I cam back to some nice tight Emminence 15s. THey were about £80 each 15 yrs ago and they sounded great; but the cab was liable to farting. So I strengthened the cab by glueing and screwing wood battens down all seams and then braced it front to back too....and it sounded incredible, tho v heavy!

[Dan Dare]

Ah, memories. I put a couple of Black Widows in mine when the original drivers died. Not light, but what a sound. Couldn't carry it now at my advanced age.