2016-10-20 Speakers: Part 3

Here we go Speaker Junkies:

Scroll down about a foot, and you will see my previous two parts if you haven't been keeping up with this thriving blog.

"So Trashed, a lot to say about speakers?"

Yeah.

"You seem to favor Celestion?"

Yeah.

"So because it's a Celestion it must be good?"

HELL NO.

Not all speakers are created equally. Celestion makes some [to put it lightly] shitty speakers. The Rocket 50's are straight up trash. The only thing they are good for is removing the magnets and use it to pick the metal bits off of your floor in your shop. Seventy80's, another junk speaker. Just flat out terrible. There are some others, my Celestion M-70 in my Ampeg is pretty much shit too, but it is workable.

"Trashed, you seem to talk about Celestion a lot. Are there any other good speakers?"

Yessir! Eminence makes some excellent speakers, a lot are cheaper, and to a degree many of them are based off of- you guessed it- Celestions. Swamp Things and Governors are a good combination. I am not a fan of the Legend, but may people like it.

I don't have a lot of time on Eminence, I have owned relatively few.Why? I buy up cheap cabs on craigslist that have good speakers, typically under $200 for a 4x12". That is why I have a shit-ton of K85's and V30's and T75's. Cabs get sold or burned, sometimes kept.

"Damn Trashed, that sure is luck!"

If you look and know what you are looking for its not that hard. The only issue that is sometimes is insurmountable is fitting a 4x12" in your Mustang. What is the lesson here? Know somebody with a truck. It's not that hard.

What matters other than speakers?

Hot-Damn! I thought you would never ask.

Enclosures. There is a whole field of science regarding cabinet design, and stupidly a lot of debate. Why was the 4x12" born? because the speakers were 25 watt, and the heads were 100 watt. So thus it came to be the standard. For the most part sealed cabs offer little difference from each other, the main thing is quality of wood. MDF for me is a no-go, and what you want is 3/4" 13 ply Baltic birch. A good seal is to a degree an important thing as well.

Regarding the open-back or ported design, it gets jumbled fast. I don't even want to get into that. Maybe another blog sometime in the future.

So what do you pay for in a cab? The largest portion is the speakers, the second? the logo on the front. That 'Mesa' logo on the front is worth a few hundred most of the time. [Saying this I own two Mesa cabs and love them]. Wood is to a degree, but not what you think it would be.

Do you need 4x12"s? No. Its actually a stupid thing if you are going to have to haul it around. That is why I have 2x12"s as well. I haul around 2x12"s and keep my 4x12"s around the house/studio.

Ugh. I am soooo sick about talking about speakers.

That wraps up your mid-week edition,

Keep on bitchin' and I will keep on postin'.

Cheers,

Trashed.