2016-10-17 Speakers: Part 2

Fellow Audiophiles,

So we are talking about speakers. Again? Yeah.

"Say what?"

Yeah, we need it loud. LOUDER!

I covered speakers in layman's terms last week, now I am going to give you my experience on what I have/use/hate/throw in the trash.

First off, for the most part, EVERY amp that comes with an unknown speaker, likely sucks. Hard fucking truth, even the Celestion and Eminence 'designed' speakers suck 99% of the time. Also, there are very few speakers that are smaller than 10" that are halfway decent, the exception is in some vintage low watt vintage amps (5F1 for example). 10" speakers can be great, but not the piece of junk sitting in your practice amp though.

"OK, so Trashed, you seem to like 12" speakers?"

Yeah. I do.

I have (literally) more than 30 speakers around my house/studio when you add up all of the cabs and combos.

I am mainly going to cover newer production speakers, I am not well versed on the vintage speakers.

Celestion Vintage 30's - Rightfully (or wrongfully) the most iconic go-to speaker for a lot of things. Tight bass, huge upper mids, decent power rating (60w). Some complain about 'honk' and that does happen with some amps, however, they are well received. Orange, Mesa, Engl, etc. all use them. The sound good with anything from Fenders Blues Jr.s to Peavey Wolfgangs, to Mesa's, Oranges, Marshalls, 5150's, etc. The only amps I have that totally disagreed with the V30 are my Splawn Promod and Splawn Nitro. I have no idea why, they just don't get along. One last thing is that V30's take a long time to break in. If you just got some new ones, give them a month with medium volume playing, they really open up.

Celestion T75's - Infamous thanks to Marshall. They are the standard in the 1960a cabs, and are overall an industry standard for 80's JCM's through today. Not much to be said, a little smoother on the top end and a little less mids, they are pretty friendly overall. I sometimes find them a little 'bland' with some amps, I LOVE mixing them with V30's (and it is relatively common).

"So Trashed, you like Celestions?"

That sounds like a dumb question, YES.

Lets continue!

Celestion K85/K100. These are my FAVORITE speakers. Period. They are 100% identical other than country of origion. K85's were British (confirmed with Celestion's representative), they changed the wattage rating. I have mostly K85's, A LOT of them. They are more low mid focused, and have a nice smooth range, and a lot of bass. I buy up every K85 I find locally. I have around a dozen. They thunder, they get along well with anything high gain, and to be honest i haven't tried them with any of my more vintage amps, but I am sure they will do fine. My Splawns and Peavey 5150, and Orange Rockerverb LOVE them. 

I... need... more. I like to use them with V30's, but not always.

and.. last for the day, the speaker that started it all...

Celestion G12m Greenback - Vintage Marshall and Vox's favorite speakers for the most part.* They seem to 'compress' (if that is the right term) as they get pushed harder, which is one of their well known traits. They are picky about how hard they are pushed. They need to be pushed, but only to a degree, they are OK quiet too. They have a low sensitivity, so they are noticeably quieter than other speakers when pushed, for example the V30. I don't really know what to say, but they are just legendary. The only downfall is that they are 20-25W. That limits their use in a lot of scenarios. With a 2x12 cab, you can't run a lot of amps, as it is <50W. So if you want to run a high wattage amp, you need a 4x12". Kinda sucks. To be completely honest, that limits my use of them. 

I think this will turn into a part three for next week.

Cheers! 

You keep playing I keep bitchin',

Trashed.

*i must note that Vox are also known for Alnico Blues

2016-09-05 Tube Amp Maintenance

Greetings to the Brotherhood of  the Quest for Audible Pleasure in the form of Guitar,

The Resentment:

This is one thing that boils my blood on a regular basis (unfortunately almost daily). It usually comes in the form of some uninformed, inexperienced player armed with an arsenal of bullshit online knowledge. Most of this "knowledge" is from another uninformed idiot spouting off something that they don't know either that they heard from somebody else. This is like the small snowball that rolls down the mountain getting bigger and bigger, and leveling a small town,

Now lets get on the topic... "Tube amps are expensive to maintain."


"Well I can't get a tube amp because I can't afford tubes."

 Immediately I call bullshit. yep, right then. I call it so fast that they cannot even get a word in.

My next retort is this: "Do you not play your guitar because you have to buy new strings?" "Do you not drive a car because tires wear?"  Following my statement this blank stare. EVERY time, always the same face.

So lets get down to it. How long do tubes last? There are still plenty of tubes out there from the '60's, as NOS (new old stock), some unused, some partially, and some that have been used since then.

For example i have NOS RCA tubes in a '70's Musicman amp, they are (to the best of my knowledge) the original tubes. This is not normal, but they are out there. I have pre-amp tubes from the '60's, my prized tube in my collection is a Telefunken 12AX7, I have a dozen others as well, some more RCA's, and GE, a few JAN Phillips around too. Current production tubes aren't made to that standard though anymore, but yet again you aren't paying $150 for one tube.

I use a lot of JJ ECC83's, i have probably 50 (yes, fifty) of them in various amps, and I just bought 40 (yes forty) more when they were on sale. I have been using them since 2009 and have only lost two or three, they are able to be had for about $10 brand new from some dealers. They are extremely reliable.

Regarding pre-amp tubes, you can expect a five year lifespan (minimum average) for current production 12AX7's. under moderate to heavy use.

Regarding power-amp tubes, they have a slightly shorter lifespan. If you use them a lot and are gigging, I would replace them every other year. *KEEP the spares though so you have them down the line.* They are also more expensive than pre-amp tubes, but not a whole lot more.

Bottom Line - Tubes are a wear item, just like strings, socks, and tires. I would be very surprised to hear that dumped more than $20-$40 a year (averaged) into tubes, I am sure some are out there, but few and far between, that would be HEAVY use, bordering on abuse.

Having said that, the Resentment and Rant were kind of in one this week.

As always, hatespam is welcomed, comments are fine too.

Cheers, and may you find much pleasure with your musical endeavors,

Trashed.





 **One thing that i purposely not discuss is brand, other than just a causal reference or reference gain levels. i will save that for another week**