RA Tone-Ring Cabinets

Any questions? Please Email me.. I’ll answer as soon and best I can.

When I was about 14, I heard the best bass guitar tone ever. It was my neighbor, Terry Walters. He was the bass player for Dan Fogelberg’s band (The Coachmen), here in Peoria. He played a Jazz bass through a 1964 Showman with the 15″ Tone-Ring bottom, JBL D130F speaker. I have not heard better bass toneage since. Did I say “toneage”? Good word, I’ll keep it. I got to hear that bass every week for several years until Fogelberg finally made it out of Peoria and into Nashville…. And if you want a Showman Amp head and can’t find one? I can build that for you, too. Just ask…

Email Rick HERE

Leo Fender’s engineering group came up with a clever bass reflex cabinet in the early 1960′s. The speaker is installed in steel “hoop” called a “tone-ring”. This assembly mounts to an “inner baffle” which is attached to the front main baffle via 1-by ribs, creating the “port” between the baffles. Explaining the tone character these cabinets produce is like “..trying to tell a stranger about rock’n'roll…”.(Thanks, John Sebastian!) If you haven’t knowingly heard one of these in a jazz, funk, or rock band, then your ears are in for a real treat! The 15″ Fender Tone-Ring bottom was available with a Showman head initially. By special order you could get the 12″, 15″, or a 10″ Tone-Ring bottom up-grade to almost any Fender head. Fender quit making the Tone-Ring cabs shortly after CBS bought them out. But, alas, there’s still a few rings being made. But like most good things, the end is near…. So order accordingly…

I have access to just a few Tone-Rings, both the 12″ and 15″. So, if you’re interested in a Tone-Ring cabinet, I make the best I’ve seen. No brag, just fact. The RA Tone-Ring cabinets are faithful to the original Fender design almost 100%. The difference being a small modification to the grill. The RA method is a Velcro-loaded front grill, making speaker installation and removal a breeze. Believe me, it’s a worthy up-grade. Buy one, you’ll thank me profusely. If you don’t like it ( I can’t imagine), there’s a line of players out there who would gladly take it off your hands QUICK!