How different speakers can affect your tone

[CoreyT]

New video from Wampler from their "Chasing Tone" series.

 

[bluefade]

I liked the hm75, out of that batch.

 

[garrettb]

Timely video, since I'm currently considering a speaker swap in my Blues Deluxe. Thanks.

 

[coyote]

Yes, speakers can affect your tone.... and so can the cabinets themselves.

Over the years I have had a variety of amps and cabinets. One thing I learned early on is that adding an extension cabinet to a combo helps enrich the sound significantly, and the deeper that cabinet is the richer the tone. My fave of course is the Marshall 4x12, but a good deep 2x12 is nearly as good. I also had two Fender 4x12s for awhile, but they were a few inches shallower and you could hear the difference.

 

[László]

Yes, speakers can affect your tone.... and so can the cabinets themselves.

Over the years I have had a variety of amps and cabinets. One thing I learned early on is that adding an extension cabinet to a combo helps enrich the sound significantly, and the deeper that cabinet is the richer the tone. My fave of course is the Marshall 4x12, but a good deep 2x12 is nearly as good. I also had two Fender 4x12s for awhile, but they were a few inches shallower and you could hear the difference.

I don't disagree with you, but there are times when a shallower cabinet, or an open back cabinet, are also great. Depends on the sound you're going for. For recording, different needs seem to require different cab depths and styles, at least for me.

Then too, you can simply have a larger, but not necessarily deeper, cab, and as long as it has the same internal air volume, you should be able to have as rich and fat a sound. Different perhaps, but you still get those fat standing waves inside the cab that give the deep ones their oomph.

 

[CVS]

Timely video, since I'm currently considering a speaker swap in my Blues Deluxe. Thanks.

If you do it, please let me / us know how it works out. Why are you considering a change?

 

[11top]

Just found out those Wampler boys are good ol' Hoosiers.

 

[garrettb]

If you do it, please let me / us know how it works out. Why are you considering a change?

I'd like to tighten up the bass and get a sweeter high end out of it. I think also it's the tone chaser in me looking to take something good and make it more betterer. I waffle back and forth, though. I was considering a swap about this time last year. I've seen, like in the video above, people saying how big of a change it can make, but there are sooooooo many speakers out there and I'm not sure I want to dive down that rabbit hole.

Then again, at band rehearsal last night, my tone was absolutely ripping.

 

[John Beef]

The tubes you're using in your Blues Deluxe can also have a significant impact on your tone. Everything affects everything.

Coyote, I'm surprised you like Marshall cabinets over other 4x12s. I specifically avoided Marshall because they're made out of OSB. I went with an Egnater Tourmaster 4x12 and was very happy. Cheaper (at least at the time), and uses birch ply all around.

I used to be a die-hard Vintage 30 fan but in the last couple years started using a mix of V30 and G12H30. V30s for the sweet mids and G12H30s for extended lows and highs. Speakers are a rabbit hole, though... sticking with what I know I like.

 

[garrettb]

The tubes you're using in your Blues Deluxe can also have a significant impact on your tone. Everything affects everything.

Coyote, I'm surprised you like Marshall cabinets over other 4x12s. I specifically avoided Marshall because they're made out of OSB. I went with an Egnater Tourmaster 4x12 and was very happy. Cheaper (at least at the time), and uses birch ply all around.

I used to be a die-hard Vintage 30 fan but in the last couple years started using a mix of V30 and G12H30. V30s for the sweet mids and G12H30s for extended lows and highs. Speakers are a rabbit hole, though... sticking with what I know I like.

Oh most definitely on the tubes. I miss my original Svetlanas (and then Winged C's). I'm using Tung-Sol now at the recommendation of Jeff Andrews, who has worked on a gazillion amps and also builds a nice boutique amp line. He was a good voice of reason when I was considering modding the Blues Deluxe a while back. Tone chasing is a disease, I swear it.

The good thing about those WGS speakers is they're all around $70 new for the ceramic models, so it's cheaper chasing speakers than it is chasing effects pedals.

 

[John Beef]

The last time my wife went to retube her Ampeg SVT which uses SIX 6550s, she found out her beloved Winged Cs were no longer made and NOS one now cost $100 per tube. Ouch!! I was happy with the Tung Sols I tried in my amp so she also tried those. The bottom end is a little tighter and the overall tone is punchier in her amp, but not extremely so, and she's happy enough with it to not shell out $600 for a retube.

 

[coyote]

The tubes you're using in your Blues Deluxe can also have a significant impact on your tone. Everything affects everything.

Coyote, I'm surprised you like Marshall cabinets over other 4x12s. I specifically avoided Marshall because they're made out of OSB. I went with an Egnater Tourmaster 4x12 and was very happy. Cheaper (at least at the time), and uses birch ply all around.

I used to be a die-hard Vintage 30 fan but in the last couple years started using a mix of V30 and G12H30. V30s for the sweet mids and G12H30s for extended lows and highs. Speakers are a rabbit hole, though... sticking with what I know I like.

My Marshall 4x12s are from 1974 or thereabouts. I've never opened them so I don't know what the composition of the boards might be. All I know is that my Major head running thru them, especially with a Stratocaster, sounded glorious. Especially when cranked up

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Just found out those Wampler boys are good ol' Hoosiers.

yes, Brian is a Hoser. (Did I spell that correctly??? )

 

[coyote]

The last time my wife went to retube her Ampeg SVT which uses SIX 6550s, she found out her beloved Winged Cs were no longer made and NOS one now cost $100 per tube. Ouch!! I was happy with the Tung Sols I tried in my amp so she also tried those. The bottom end is a little tighter and the overall tone is punchier in her amp, but not extremely so, and she's happy enough with it to not shell out $600 for a retube.

My Marshall Major is from 1971. To make it workable again would require a complete rebuild, including four KT88s at $175 per tube. The total rebuild would cost around $1100.

So that amp, a collector's item, is retired... and instead, I got the DSL40c with Creamback upgrade for $700. It's a little noisier than the Major, which just had gobs of clean power, but running thru its own speaker plus a deep 2x12 vertical cab it's close enough sonically for my purposes.

 

[CVS]

I'd like to tighten up the bass and get a sweeter high end out of it. I think also it's the tone chaser in me looking to take something good and make it more betterer. I waffle back and forth, though. I was considering a swap about this time last year. I've seen, like in the video above, people saying how big of a change it can make, but there are sooooooo many speakers out there and I'm not sure I want to dive down that rabbit hole.

Then again, at band rehearsal last night, my tone was absolutely ripping.

I hear you but I can only say "Don't mess with success" or "If it ain't broken - don't fix it" I am as tempted as you to enhance my sound. I try to fight it, if I for the most part, I like what I am hearing. Being the mediocre player that I am, liking what I am hearing is not always the case, so I am always tempted to "fix".

 

[Herr Squid]

I play the Axe-FX II through so-called FRFR monitors a lot. One of the joys of the Axe is getting to experiment with all the different cab/speaker emulations that are in there. It is astounding how much difference the cab/speaker change can make. It's literally the single biggest thing that affects the tone. One of my favorites is to pair up a nice 4x12 cab with Fractal's idealized Fender Champ model. It sounds freakin' huge!

 

[garrettb]

I hear you but I can only say "Don't mess with success" or "If it ain't broken - don't fix it" I am as tempted as you to enhance my sound. I try to fight it, if I for the most part, I like what I am hearing. Being the mediocre player that I am, liking what I am hearing is not always the case, so I am always tempted to "fix".

Well, if it ain't broke, fix it till it is! I installed the WGS Reaper HP last night. Finally settled on that one after watching a big shootout using a Hot Rod Deluxe and that speaker totally killed. I have an original Blues Deluxe which is considered overall superior, but the Hot Rod is close enough. Very pleased with the results so far. I got my tighter lows. It is definitely brighter, which works well for my humbucker guitars. They sound great with the EQ controls at the mid point. Single coils are a bit too bright, but that's easily remedied with the treble control and the tone on the guitar. I think this is in part to the new speaker not being broken in yet. There's a bit of a crunch coming off the cone that I think will mellow out a bit with use.

I hooked up my phone and streamed some of the Donna Grantis solo album through it nice and loud to help break it in. I'm now working my way through the Van Halen catalog (I'm up to Women and Children...). Even if the top end doesn't get tamed much, I'll be pleased. I'd rather have more than enough and dial it back.

I agree that the amount of change it made is huge. It's like a different amp. Channel 2 (overdrive channel) is definitely much improved. It might actually become useful now.

 

[django49]

Just found out those Wampler boys are good ol' Hoosiers.

Question for Brain......."Hoosier daddy?"

 

[Maertl513]

Yes, speakers can affect your tone.... and so can the cabinets themselves.

Over the years I have had a variety of amps and cabinets. One thing I learned early on is that adding an extension cabinet to a combo helps enrich the sound significantly, and the deeper that cabinet is the richer the tone. My fave of course is the Marshall 4x12, but a good deep 2x12 is nearly as good. I also had two Fender 4x12s for awhile, but they were a few inches shallower and you could hear the difference.

I don´t and didn´t seek a certain tone by a certain amp. By accident I got an 100 W tube head (1983 made acoustic Amplification G100T) with a DIY 1x12 cab in 1995.
In 2011 I bought a Hughes & Kettner Stn 412 cab for the head. 4 Celestion G12 Vintage 30 speakers have been mounted into the cab.

One year later I purchased a Line 6/Bogner DT50 212 Combo.

And I´m very glad noticing, that one of the two speakers of the combo is a Celestion G12 Vintage 30 aswell (the other one is a Celestion custom order G12H for Line 6). Running the combo with the additional cab speakers is really enriching the sound.

 

[CatStrangler]

I don´t and didn´t seek a certain tone by a certain amp. By accident I got an 100 W tube head (1983 made acoustic Amplification G100T) with a DIY 1x12 cab in 1995.
In 2011 I bought a Hughes & Kettner Stn 412 cab for the head. 4 Celestion G12 Vintage 30 speakers have been mounted into the cab.

One year later I purchased a Line 6/Bogner DT50 212 Combo.

And I´m very glad noticing, that one of the two speakers of the combo is a Celestion G12 Vintage 30 aswell (the other one is a Celestion custom order G12H for Line 6). Running the combo with the additional cab speakers is really enriching the sound.

There is something strange about the guitar on the right.....

edit: and it looks like a very cool guitar