What a difference a speaker makes

[Deleted member 5962]

I debated bumping my old Archon thread. I had said several times in it, that I was going to try the Archon with my Red Fang Alnico. Now that was not quite as easy as it sounded, given the Archon is on one side of the room and the RF cab on the other.

"But DTR, I thought you were a big strong man who claimed to be the PRS Forum Roadie." Well, I'm not all that strong, but that's beside the point. The cabs and guitars on the Archon wall go from door to corner. There's no room over there. (Get to the reason for your post before I stop reading) OK!

Wife was gone for the weekend so I moved some things around and put the Red Fang cab in front of the door to try with the Archon. I remember years ago one of my guys I buy form at a music store was talking speakers and said "50% of your tone is the speaker. Changing that, changes everything." If you throw "and cab" into that, it's probably pretty close to accurate. The RF is in an open back cab. So....

Playing the Archon through it was a whole different thing So far, Archon> Mesa 2x12 vertical recto cab = by far the most modern/aggressive tones. Archon into PRS 2x12 cab = aggressive/warm/piney... and Archon > 1x12 Governor > 1x12 Private Jack = Vintage/Modern. A real nice mix of both.

Playing the Archon through only the Red Fang at first and of course the cleans were even better than anything I'd heard before. Just killer. Boost, little verb and OD... just great. But the OD channel.... oh boy. It is definitely a different overall sound. I've said that the Archon was up there with the Bogner Ecstacy amp I played years ago. When I played that amp, it was through a 2x12 with Greenbacks (old ones, broken in and not crispy like new ones). The Archon>RF sounded MUCH more like that type of smooth refined tone even at high gain. Different. Fantastic!

Then I plugged it into 1x12 Private Jack (greenback type) > 1x12 Red Fang. This was an awesome combination and one I could live with forever on that amp unless I was playing face melting metal. For classic rock to 80s metal, AWESOME!

Then I dialed in my "fat gainy bluesy" tones I had previously dialed up on the Archon. HOLY CRAP!

I could now see getting a 25 watt Archon combo and dropping a Red Fang in it.

I'll stop now since this is long. Two words for Archon owners: YOU NEED TO TRY AN ALNICO SPEAKER ASAP!!! (ok, more than 2).

 

[László]

Great post.

 

[andy474x]

Speakers are cool - couldn't agree more that they're a huge part of tone!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

It's amazing how one amp can go from "modern" sounding to "vintage" sounding to a mix of the two, just by changing speakers/cabs. The differences are significant enough, that it would be very easy to not know it's the same amp.

There is a "chewiness" to the tones with Alnico that just sounds great, clean or any level of gain, it's there.

 

[bodia]

Great post.

This!

 

[watelessness]

dang it, DTR!!!!!!!!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

To add, I did not try the Red Fang + Governor (v30 ish) combination. Next time around, I'm going to try that, plus the open back RF cab over the Mesa Thiele C90 cab.

Also, post was too long, so i didn't add the Fuzz Factor. I recently got a Fulltone Mas Malo. The night I had the RF over there, used but the Fulltone 69 and The Mas Malo (modified Muff). EASILY and BY FAR the best either of these pedals have sounded with any speaker combination and the Archon, except the Gov/PJ.

Prior to getting the Mas Malo, I had commented for years that I thought Fuzz pedals didn't mate well with V30s. I've sold a few GOOD fuzz pedals before I realized that. Blaming the amp or the pedal. Then I tried a few with the PJ and it was a whole different ball game. Same with the RF. It LOVES fuzz. That said, other then FUZZ STUFF, stuff specifically done originally with fuzz or just for "that" effect, I really prefer ODs to Fuzz overall. Every boost or OD I threw at this Archon>RF or Archon RF>PJ combo sounded great! That chewiness to the notes is just something else.

So, now I'll say what I really should have said in the OP. ALL of you guys who have Customs, HX/DAs, Dallas, Blistertones, etc. (you know who you are!) need to try an Alnico speaker by itself, and then mixed with another speaker in a 2x12. I can't recommend this strongly enough. Unless you are a hard core modern metal guy, it just sounds great for everything else. Just do it!

 

[watelessness]

you still suck, man! just when i thought i had all the amps and guitars i'll ever need, now you've given me a budding speaker obsession. is this payback for nagging you all those months to get an archon?

 

[veinbuster]

But I don’t have a 2x12, just a pair of 4x10.

 

[elvis]

Let's not pretend that you're not all metal guys. Keep the Mesa 2x12 and be done with it

 

[Deleted member 5962]

But I don’t have a 2x12, just a pair of 4x10.

Oh, they make 10s! And they kick butt as well. Heard one in a Dr. Z Monza and it was LOUD! Guy said he giggled it and the other guitar player in the band used 100 watt Marshall half stack and he had no problem keeping up

 

[dmatthews]

MMMMmmmmmm.... open back....
Homer drool...