[Perk]

So having recently blown the vintage ATC speaker in my HIWATT Custom 50 combo, I have become fascinated with the nuances of the speaker world. I’m personally looking at high powered speakers to satisfy the amp, but would love to hear what others have experienced and recommend!

Vintage or modern/new?
High efficiency or low efficiency?
Ceramic or Alnico?
Heavy magnet?
large or small dust cap?
American or British or other??

Quite Intriguing

 

[loudtubeamps]

IMO , you have one of the best of the best and I have a/b'd many .Time to re-cone?

 

[Grab n Go]

I haven't done a ton of speaker swapping; I just found one I liked and stuck with it.

I really like the Celestion G12-65. Something about the midrange is really appealing to me. I've used the Heritage ones and older ones from the 80's. They're both good, IMO. Rated at 65W (obviously).

I've also tried the WGS ET65, which is similar, but brighter-sounding overall. I think there's an ET90 as well.

I also have an Eminence Swamp Thang kicking around. It's a beast of a speaker, rated at 150W. It's fairly neutral sounding. Not very forward in the mids.

Ones I replaced: Celestion G12-75, Eminence Governor. They came with the cabs. Nothing wrong with them, just not my cup of tea.

If you have a recording setup and a load box for your amp, you could try out different speaker impulse responses to approximate how your amp would sound with different speakers.

 

[Shawn B.]

If you are talking about 12" speakers (I think you are), it depends on the amplifier/cab for me.

I love the JBLD120F for its "high fidelity" sound. I have one in a homemade amp based on a Fender circuit (in a combo) and love it, but it was too much for my Deluxe Reverb and sounded harsh (I put an Eminence Cannabis Rex in that one, and it works). I've got a Weber Alnico in my Trinity Tweed Deluxe that is perfect for that amp.

Of course, none of those are really "high-powered" speakers (except maybe the JBL). I had a Celestion Neo Creamback for a bit, but it didn't move me (maybe it never got broken in properly).

 

[gtrguy]

My all time favorite for Marshalls is the Celestion G12-65 (vintage, haven't tried the Heritage version). I guess you'd call this a mid-power speaker with fairly low efficiency, heavy magnet, large dustcap and British. For Fender- a vintage Jensen C12N or Weber equivalent- mid-power, fairly low efficiency, medium (?) magnet, small dustcap, and American.

 

[Hell Hound]

My ear tends to like alnico, unfortunately. It just seems to hold together higher frequencies better.

 

[mturk]

So having recently blown the vintage ATC speaker in my HIWATT Custom 50 combo, I have become fascinated with the nuances of the speaker world. I’m personally looking at high powered speakers to satisfy the amp, but would love to hear what others have experienced and recommend!

Vintage or modern/new?
High efficiency or low efficiency?
Ceramic or Alnico?
Heavy magnet?
large or small dust cap?
American or British or other??

Quite Intriguing

I would check out the Electrovoice EVM12L and JBL E120. Both can handle lots of power and sound great in my opinion.

 

[Buzz]

JBL d130 15" vintage speaker.

 

[PBGas]

I play more of the high gain stuff so I am a fan of the V30 or Greenback or a combination of the both of them.

 

[thegame]

Celestion Marshall Vintage. Basically a Marshall spec'd V30. More articulate, harder edged & much less fizz than standard V30 spec.

 

[Frenchy99]

D120F but starting to love the V30

 

[Perk]

I’ve been fascinated by the JBL 120’s for sure, also reading up on the EV SRO and Altec Lansing 417.... does anyone know the amps these were originally featured in? Fender for the JBL and Altec is my understanding

 

[loudtubeamps]

Perk pm'ed you yesterday..re: Delta Pro

 

[BobChuck]

Greenback / Lower efficiency:
The regular Scumback M75 is my favorite...followed by my old G12-65. I tried every Scumback there is, even the PVC and Alnico.
Also tried all the Celestion GB... regular G12m, Heritage G12H and G12M, G12-35XC
Haven't try the Ceramic Cream version.

Alnico:
Celestion Alnico Cream, the best of the very best...at high and low volume. Also sounds great when underpowered.
Sold mine to try a bunch of other Alnicos. Sold them all. Looking for a second Alnico Cream at the moment.

Special mention:
Celestion Bonamassa JB-85. Sounds amazing when pushed adequately (a little stiff / not broken in yet).

 

[WCGill]

Killer:

Celestion Heritage G12H-55 | 8 ohm 12" 30W Classic Rock Tone Guitar Speaker T1234

Its hard to escape the sound of the G12H, just listen to any Hendrix recording and chances are you'll be hearing a whole raft of them powering a guitar out of the mix. For sale and ships from Canada.

qcomponents.ca

 

[zontar]

Morgan Freeman.

 

[Perk]

Anyone ever try the BH75-LD from Scumback? Seems like a really cool high powered greenback sorta deal, a la g12-80

 

[Mooh]

Lots of great choices on the market, and if I had the resources I’d have them at hand. The reality is quite different. Several years ago I tried a mess of speakers, especially Eminence, before settling on the Cannabis Rex.

 

[morepowder]

There’s a lot I haven’t tried, but for cleans I like the Alessandro SC-64 and for higher gain the Vintage 30.

 

[Markus 1]

Lots of great choices on the market, and if I had the resources I’d have them at hand. The reality is quite different. Several years ago I tried a mess of speakers, especially Eminence, before settling on the Cannabis Rex.

C-Rex all the way, for versatility IMHO