Favorite Speaker and Why?

[Raiyn]

Aw go ahead. I won't even censor you.

That's one site I venture into only when hunting for info that's already been posted.

Same, and only then if I'm desperate.

 

[Keefoman]

these blackstars have a marshall vibe. id like to brighten up the cleans

I would say Greenbacks give bright and crisp clean with Marshall-esque amps.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

Brand? I have always been partial to JBL.
Size? For guitar 1X15 or 4X10; for bass 1X18 and 2X12 or 2X10.
Model? I have lost that info somewhere in the dusty recesses over the decades since I left the biz.

I did know a guy who played through 2 Fender 4X12s - loaded with 1 JBL, 1 Altec, 1 EV, 1 Gauss, 1 CV, 1 Black Widow, 1 Pyle Driver, and 1 Celestion.........

 

[Space1999]

Brand? I have always been partial to JBL.
Size? For guitar 1X15 or 4X10; for bass 1X18 and 2X12 or 2X10.
Model? I have lost that info somewhere in the dusty recesses over the decades since I left the biz.

I did know a guy who played through 2 Fender 4X12s - loaded with 1 JBL, 1 Altec, 1 EV, 1 Gauss, 1 CV, 1 Black Widow, 1 Pyle Driver, and 1 Celestion.........

I wanted to go into a rave over JBL speakers myself. I have used JBL studio monitors for 24 years exclusively.

But never in a guitar amp. But you can hear JBL’s in a guitar setup anytime.
Just head over to YT and watch or listen to The Grateful Dead from 1974 onwards.

Jerry Garcia used them in two and three speaker cabinets with McIntosh power amps and Fender Twin preamps (They gutted the amp and racked the top of the Twins).

And Jerry’s signature sound was a clean and sparkling tone with a low end clarity to die for. True he had amazing guitars and magic fingers but all that can be ruined in an inferior amplifier setup.

JBL has making speakers since the beginning and has the most expensive/extensive testing facilities of any speaker manufacturer anywhere.

There is a lot to be said about that.

Pat

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

I wanted to go into a rave over JBL speakers myself. I have used JBL studio monitors for 24 years exclusively.

But never in a guitar amp. But you can hear JBL’s in a guitar setup anytime.
Just head over to YT and watch or listen to The Grateful Dead from 1974 onwards.

Jerry Garcia used them in two and three speaker cabinets with McIntosh power amps and Fender Twin preamps (They gutted the amp and racked the top of the Twins).

And Jerry’s signature sound was a clean and sparkling tone with a low end clarity to die for. True he had amazing guitars and magic fingers but all that can be ruined in an inferior amplifier setup.

JBL has making speakers since the beginning and has the most expensive/extensive testing facilities of any speaker manufacturer anywhere.

There is a lot to be said about that.

Pat

The Dead were using JBLs way earlier than that.

 

[soulman969]

I couldn't wait to begin using JBLs in all of my bass cabs back in the 60s and early 70s. The low end clarity vs anything else available then was a huge difference maker especially playing higher powered tube heads.

 

[Töñə ÇH@$əR]

I would say Greenbacks give bright and crisp clean with Marshall-esque amps.

i was considering seling it and getting the blues junior that comes with one

 

[Raiyn]

I dunno, I like the Waza Blue Bell in my Nextone Special, it's like it was made for that amp....oh, wait, yeah.

 

[Space1999]

The Dead were using JBLs way earlier than that.

I thought that Jerry had that wood cabinet with the JBL’s built during The Wall of Sound year in ‘74.

Are you saying he was using JBL’s in his Twins prior to that?

Thanks.

Pat

 

[Space1999]

I dunno, I like the Waza Blue Bell in my Nextone Special, it's like it was made for that amp....oh, wait, yeah.

I am guessing they are called Blue Bells because they have an Alnico Blue magnets behind them?

Pat

 

[Raiyn]

I am guessing they are called Blue Bells because they have an Alnico Blue magnets behind them?

Pat

The magnet housing is blue.

They claim to copy the "Blue Bell" G12 Celestions, but they don't directly name Celestion.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

I thought that Jerry had that wood cabinet with the JBL’s built during The Wall of Sound year in ‘74.

Are you saying he was using JBL’s in his Twins prior to that?

Thanks.

Pat

I'm not home to check my resources right now, but if memory serves Jer had pulled the speakers from his Twins & was running one of them as a preamp to drive a MacIntosh power amp into Alembic cabinets by '68 o '69, and had JBLs in the Twins prior to that.

While Bobby & Phil spent some time using Gauss, I don't recall when that was - butd they used JBLs most of the time, as well.

Bear also had JBLs in the PA ; there were numerous different tweeters over the years, but (except for the year or two of Gauss in BW's & PL's set-ups) the 18", 15", 12", ans 5" speakers they used were all JBL from mid to late '66 on were all JBL.

If you have a deep interest in their equipment see "Gearheads" subforum at dozin and the "Grateful Dead Equipment Discussion" subforum at rukind. I also highly recommend Blair Jackson's excellent (though not error-free) book Grateful Dead Gear: The Band's Instruments, PA Systems, And Recording Sessions 1965-1995. (This last I have kept in the upstairs bathroom for years. When I finish, I start over; don't know how many times, but I'm definitely into double digits. But then, I'm a Deadhead, a guitar geek, a soundman, and an historian - and there are those who would classify any one of those as weird......)

 

[phonepi]

thanks for laying it out like that. everybody on the gear page demanded i name my genre lol. they were rudely adament about it. i just want clarity and dynamics

Thanks ! Yes indeed : a speaker gives primarily a tone, not a genre of Music...

If Clarity, Cleanliness, Dynamics, Fidelty and Efficiency are what you after, The Electro-Voice EVM12L would be a great choice. I personally consider it the Epitome in that field... But it's me, OK ?

- Clarity, Cleanliness : don't expect compression, tone changes with increasing loudness from an EVM12L, you will be well deaf well before it arises...

- Dynamics, efficiency, fidelity : with at least 100dB/W/m (in fact, rather 103dB/W/M) , this speaker is able to play at night bedroom volume with all the crispness and wide band you would expect, that you will retrieve unchanged at high volume levels, where most other speakers have capitulated (i.e. compression of the bass, barking midrange, dirty-shrilling hights...)

That said, not everybody likes the EVM12L, and by far :

- it's a straight speaker : it will not "arrange" your tone, it will "magnify" it. I mean, if your amp has a "poor, lousy" tone, you will have that "poor, lousy" sound... For that reason, many players consider the EVM12L as too "Hi-Fi", if I can say so.

- it's a heavy speaker - one of the heaviest 12" - with a mass of 9kg. When installing an EVM12L, your amp weight increases from 4 to 6kg... Not negligible per se.

For a time, Eminence developped the EM12N, which is a Neodymium version of their EM12, the latter being a clone of the EVM12L. The EM12N offered the great advantage of being a lightweight speaker, but maybe Eminence fronted problems with it, because it is discontinued now, AFAIK...

In my (DIY) Serial Tone Killer amp, the EVM12L is the premium choice loudspeaker... Here I wanted wide tone and versatility, no matter the loudness :

The EVM12L do the job as expected... Too bad for the weight, it's the sound that counts !

That said, there's certainly many other speakers offering clarity and dynamics... The problem is still the same : you have to buy them to test and know them !

P

 

[Raiyn]

Sorry for the video quality, but this what I could get.


Truly my favorite speaker. I somehow managed a second row ticket for this.

 

[imnotcreative]

I quite like the sound of the Jensen P8R alnico vintage i have in my Vox AV15. Nice warm sounds but still clear, on higher gain aswell
In my Marshall dsl 5cr i have the stock Celestion TEN-30 which sounds pretty good to my ears. Typical Marshall tones one expects.

 

[Space1999]

I'm not home to check my resources right now, but if memory serves Jer had pulled the speakers from his Twins & was running one of them as a preamp to drive a MacIntosh power amp into Alembic cabinets by '68 o '69, and had JBLs in the Twins prior to that.

While Bobby & Phil spent some time using Gauss, I don't recall when that was - butd they used JBLs most of the time, as well.

Bear also had JBLs in the PA ; there were numerous different tweeters over the years, but (except for the year or two of Gauss in BW's & PL's set-ups) the 18", 15", 12", ans 5" speakers they used were all JBL from mid to late '66 on were all JBL.

If you have a deep interest in their equipment see "Gearheads" subforum at dozin and the "Grateful Dead Equipment Discussion" subforum at rukind. I also highly recommend Blair Jackson's excellent (though not error-free) book Grateful Dead Gear: The Band's Instruments, PA Systems, And Recording Sessions 1965-1995. (This last I have kept in the upstairs bathroom for years. When I finish, I start over; don't know how many times, but I'm definitely into double digits. But then, I'm a Deadhead, a guitar geek, a soundman, and an historian - and there are those who would classify any one of those as weird......)

Thanks for the info. I have been on rukind for a while. But like you said so much erroneous information or people like me who get lost in all of the info. LOL

I’ll take that recommendation on the Blair Jackson book.

Pat

 

[phonepi]

I quite like the sound of the Jensen P8R alnico vintage

Yes. I think about this one for a old Oahu "moter-of-toilet-seat" LapSteel amplifier. Its frequency response may correct the quite dark tone that this kind of amp shows...

T

 

[Töñə ÇH@$əR]

Thanks ! Yes indeed : a speaker gives primarily a tone, not a genre of Music...

If Clarity, Cleanliness, Dynamics, Fidelty and Efficiency are what you after, The Electro-Voice EVM12L would be a great choice. I personally consider it the Epitome in that field... But it's me, OK ?

- Clarity, Cleanliness : don't expect compression, tone changes with increasing loudness from an EVM12L, you will be well deaf well before it arises...

- Dynamics, efficiency, fidelity : with at least 100dB/W/m (in fact, rather 103dB/W/M) , this speaker is able to play at night bedroom volume with all the crispness and wide band you would expect, that you will retrieve unchanged at high volume levels, where most other speakers have capitulated (i.e. compression of the bass, barking midrange, dirty-shrilling hights...)

That said, not everybody likes the EVM12L, and by far :

- it's a straight speaker : it will not "arrange" your tone, it will "magnify" it. I mean, if your amp has a "poor, lousy" tone, you will have that "poor, lousy" sound... For that reason, many players consider the EVM12L as too "Hi-Fi", if I can say so.

- it's a heavy speaker - one of the heaviest 12" - with a mass of 9kg. When installing an EVM12L, your amp weight increases from 4 to 6kg... Not negligible per se.

For a time, Eminence developped the EM12N, which is a Neodymium version of their EM12, the latter being a clone of the EVM12L. The EM12N offered the great advantage of being a lightweight speaker, but maybe Eminence fronted problems with it, because it is discontinued now, AFAIK...

In my (DIY) Serial Tone Killer amp, the EVM12L is the premium choice loudspeaker... Here I wanted wide tone and versatility, no matter the loudness :

The EVM12L do the job as expected... Too bad for the weight, it's the sound that counts !

That said, there's certainly many other speakers offering clarity and dynamics... The problem is still the same : you have to buy them to test and know them !

P

yeah, i worry that ill upgrade my speaker and end up disappointed but i do that with every decision i make lol. wish me luck when the time comes. thanks for the insight.

 

[Töñə ÇH@$əR]

It's what I was going to suggest. It would seem to take you in the direction you want to go. FWIW I believe Celestion offers much better speakers than the 70/80 but those end up in many amps as the OEM stock speaker due to their lower cost. Less costly speakers is how Amp mfgs keep prices in check to hit a certain price point.

You can also look to Eminence and Warehouse Speakers for Brit voiced US made equivalents of Celestions. The Emi Governor is their take on a V30 and for Warehouse speakers it's their Veteran 30. Both are also excellent versions of a Celestion V30 albeit not all that much less costly.

And you already seem to be aware of the need to go through a period of breaking any speaker in so I won't cover that again. Happy hunting.

i hear theyre good for subtley brightening the amps tone. how true would u say that is?

 

[soulman969]

i hear theyre good for subtley brightening the amps tone. how rue would u say that is?

Which speaker or speakers are we talking about?