Speakers Are A Major Influence On Your Guitar Tone

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Ritchie's Party Hat
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Speakers Are A Major Influence On Your Guitar Tone

Post by Ritchie's Party Hat »

It goes without saying that the speaker is the final filter for your tone.

And a major filter it is.
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Re: Speakers Are A Major Influence On Your Guitar Tone

Post by RockyStar »

Why yes, yes it is!

Everything in the chain matters. It is odd to me how little the speaker is ever considered overall by most people. I am tired of my cab options being a greenback or a vintage 30 but those cab companies are fancy and tricky. The sharp ones now are giving you a cab with 2 vintage 30's and 2 greenbacks. They are tricky, you gotta watch them close...keep an eye on them. :lol:
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Re: Speakers Are A Major Influence On Your Guitar Tone

Post by Floyd Eye »

I have a '61 Fender Brown Deluxe. When my old man bought it in the 70s it had a Utah speaker in it. Growing up I played the hell out of it with the old man's "74 SG special. ( I still have both ) Originally this amp would have come with an Oxford speaker in it. I can't comment on what it sounded like stock, but it must have been ok since it was Keef's favorite amp and Clapton is known to have used them. At any rate it had a Utah in it when I first encountered it. It sounded ok, but I was young and heavily into Black Sabbath and Kiss so I had an MXR D+ in front of it at all times. Eventually I blew the speaker to hell. And I don't think my dad ever had the amp serviced. He may have replaced some tubes. He also stupidly used black Kiwi shoe polish to turn it into a "Black" Fender amp.
About 10-12 years ago I took it apart and started trying to get the shoe polish off it and gave up. I did send the chassis to Don Butler in So Cal and have it serviced. He replaced the caps with period correct NOS caps and replaced 1 of the power tubes and put a grounded power cord on it. I put a British V30 in it and it sounded really good. I have about 30 great old 12AX7s I started rolling around in there. Then I bought a matched pair of 40s Blackplates and it sounded wonderful. Then I bought a Celestion Cream 90 and it sounds unbelievable. So I believe it is a combination of great power tubes, great preamp tubes ( I have a Mazda Silver Anode in V1) and the Cream 90. It really didn't give me a massive erection though until I put that Cream 90 in it. Chimey, a little dark, beautiful clean tone. Open it all the way up and roll the tone off with an American Telecaster or a Les Paul and it sounds like a little Marshall half stack.

So yeah, speakers make a huge difference. V30s are good, but a little ice picky. These 90 watt Alnicos are smooth as fuck and break up fantastically when pushed though.
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