The Steel Guitar Forum

Please, would someone sketch a Fender Tone Ring for me? Or at least describe it for me.. maybe in detail? I'd be much obliged... I feel like an idiot that I don't already know this, being a Fender amp fan/user for years..
Thank You loads in advance, Rick

The only "tone rings" I know about are parts of a b@nj0! Never heard of one associated with an amp, though.

These were used in some early sixtys Showman, Bandmaster, and I believe Tremolux cabinets. These cabs typically weighed close to 90lbs, unloaded, as I recall! In all of my books, I don't have a design for one! "Mr. Heideman" had one for sale several months ago on this forum, you might look him up and see if he can help.

I'd have to check with some of my "elders" but AFAIK the "tone ring" is a sort of adaptor to let you use different speakers in the same cabinet. For example, you would use a tone ring to put a 12" speaker in a Showman cab (1x15") or to turn a Bandmaster (2x12") cab into a Tremolux (2x10") cab. I think the tone rings are mainly seen on Showman cabs with 12" speakers.

It's nothing but a circle of plywood as far as I know.

Matt Farrow

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Matt Farrow
Marlen 9-string 6+2
Kustom K150

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

I dug out my book "Fender Amps, the First fifty Years" to get a better explanation. And I quote:
"The new seperate enclosure (speaking about the Showman amp) featured an elaborate porting system, with the stock Lansing speakers mounted in a metal tone ring that was attached to a seperate inner baffle board. This, in turn, was mounted on the rectangular baffle board, which was flush with the rest of the cabinet. In mounting the inner board to the outer, air space was left on the sides for low frequency waves coming off of the back of the speaker to escape, hopefully in phase with the waves coming off of the front of the speaker. This "bass reflex" method improved low-frequency response greatly, allowing the player to back off the amplifier's Bass control, freeing up more power for the middle and high frequencies. The result was a loud, full-range, distortion free sound."
Hope that helps explain the critter a little better.

here's a link to a page with pix of a TR cab and a Fender ad describing the device/cabinet

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1038749&a=10830437&f=0
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1038749&a=10830437&p=39194437&f=0

"Fender-of course!"<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 12 October 2001 at 06:05 AM.]</p></FONT>

Dave VA-
Thanks for posting that link. I never knew exactly what a tone ring was, either. Looks like it would work very well. Does anyone here have any experience with one of these ?

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Doug Earnest
Zum2000U12,Sierra12,Sho-Bud ProII D10 PV DPC 750 ProFex 112E, Fender Cyber Twin

Thanks Dave!! That page you found was just what I was looking for.. I looked for nearly a whole day ......... Cheers Mate!
Now I just gotta figure out how I'm gonna build me one... Rick

maybe a bicycle rim off an old 60's banana seat style schwinn

seriously,it'll be pretty hard to find a peice of metal like that... perhaps a local metal shop could construct one

I found one!! Now I gotta find a fabricator.. I'll soon be offering Fender (Clone) Tone Ring cabinets in 12" and 15" WITH JBL speakers... Email me if interested..