speaker recommendation? should I change speaker?
MLC2006
Posts: 861
Fender Blues Deluxe. stock Fender Eminence speaker
I'm about at the end of the road with this amp. too muddy. can't turn bass up any at all without get nothing but mud. clean is fine, but jacking up the volume for natural amp drive or using a pedal is good for nothing but mud.
aside from changing the speaker, I've done everything I know to do......
-I got a 1x12 extension cab with the Celestian speaker.
-I changed the tubes to Winged C 6L6 and Tungsol 12AY7 and biased to their best sound
-I got an MXR 10 band EQ
none of this has cured the muddiness.
should I change the speaker? is it even worth it? I've turned a $600 amp into a $1200 amp and it's still good for nothing but mild blues. realizing it's got "blues" in the name and it's not a metal amp. but I see no reason why I can't get a 70's classic rock tone and why it's so damn muddy.
should I change the speaker? or should I say fuck it and put the thing on ebay and get a better amp?
if you think I should change the speaker, which speaker?
thanks.;
I'm about at the end of the road with this amp. too muddy. can't turn bass up any at all without get nothing but mud. clean is fine, but jacking up the volume for natural amp drive or using a pedal is good for nothing but mud.
aside from changing the speaker, I've done everything I know to do......
-I got a 1x12 extension cab with the Celestian speaker.
-I changed the tubes to Winged C 6L6 and Tungsol 12AY7 and biased to their best sound
-I got an MXR 10 band EQ
none of this has cured the muddiness.
should I change the speaker? is it even worth it? I've turned a $600 amp into a $1200 amp and it's still good for nothing but mild blues. realizing it's got "blues" in the name and it's not a metal amp. but I see no reason why I can't get a 70's classic rock tone and why it's so damn muddy.
should I change the speaker? or should I say fuck it and put the thing on ebay and get a better amp?
if you think I should change the speaker, which speaker?
thanks.;
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
I think you might just have the wrong amp for you really.
You could try a higher wattage speaker or a closed back 4x12 cabinet if you can take the amp to a store and try it out to see if that tightens you up sufficiently... but the flabbiness might be inherent to the tone.
Tweed amps have a loose flabbiness when over driven as kind of thier character but if you want to make one more run at it. You could try a higher wattage speaker.
Why not E Mail Ted Weber at Weber speakers and describe what you're looking for. He might have something for you and he's got some good you tube links to tones on his site, he also works with Fender on some special projects so he might know about the issues with that amp you're having already.
If you like the clean you might be ok just going with a different character speaker. I think you are looking for a tighter sound though so I'd say less breakup is what you want and probably a higher wattage speaker.
I think you're going to want something in the british spectrum with a warmer tone.
There are several you could go with G12-T75 G12-65 Vintage 30 or the G12H (Heavy) greenback are ones to look at as well as the heritage models. I think you're looking for a slightly more compressed warm overdriven tone
Celestion speakers website has a tone selector that will help and Eminence has much better offerings as well such as the Governor and PVT Jack.
Mojo Tone has a great blue frame british 12 I like a lot too. It comes stock in Swart Amps Tweeds and is very nice in that combo. http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/speakers.asp?id=45004&s=British%20Vintage these are them.
Happy hunting, Hope that helps.
Your best bet would be to bring the amp to a good tech to see what the problem is. That will cost around $75.00 or so for a diagnosis but at least you will know for sure what it is. It may be something as simple as the speaker being hooked up out of phase.
You may even want to try a different guitar, if all you have been using is one particular one.
Good luck, I hope you get it fixed without too much trouble.
the clean is great, the reverb is great. I don't even have a problem with the drive channel, which I've heard other people say they don't like. but the EQ is downright awful. the bass is like you say....flab. no sharpness at all. if I put the bass past 3, it's mud. if I lower the bass, then the treble takes over too much. then, I turn down the presence to take down the harshness and it turns back to mud. the MXR EQ doesn't do much more than accent or cut the already crappy onboard EQ.
that's a good question that I haven't even done, but thought about earlier. I'm going to try that tonight. thanks.
It would be nice if you could just change up the EQ stack and tweak it. You could try the EQ in the loop if there is one but a speaker change might help you out quite a bit actually. I would first take Pipers recommendation and see if the external cab helps at all. A closed back extention cabinet would tighten you up considerably if you aren't running the internal speaker.
yeah, I'm going to try that with just the extension cab.
I forgot, yes, the extension cab is a completely closed back.
I've already tried the EQ through the effects loop, but it makes no difference. with the the MXR, I can sharpen up the treble and/or boost or cut the mids, but it doesn't help at all with the flabbiness/muddiness of the bass.
the only reason I thought about the speaker was because I was reading reviews of the amp on harmony-central.com and somebody said the stock speaker was crap (for the same reason as mine) and said they changed it to a Jenson c12n and it did they trick.
I am not opposed to spending money if it will do the trick. but what I've added so far is excessive considering it really hasn't done much. if it'll work, I'm all for it, if not, there's a 2x12 jcm800 on ebay that I'm looking at, realizing that the clean won't be as good, but that maybe I can get some sort of balance out of the EQ and still be able to get a dirty sound.
the extension cab speaker is a Celestian G12P-80. what's your opinion on that? I'm going to listen to it closely tonight as well. but if I had to replace it too, I would.
I'd rather spend another $200 or more on this amp than go through the hassle of selling it and buying a new amp. I just want to know that at some point, I'm going to get what I'm after if I keep upgrading this amp.
went home for lunch and tried both speakers out individually.
the Eminence speaker is brighter and more rigid, less "body".
the Celestian speaker is fuller, deeper, and more body.
both are somewhat flabby on the bottom end. the flabbiness seems to start with the Eminence and the Celestian seems to make the problem worse. they both, imo, sound better separated than together. but I would not say that I'd prefer an overall sound from either one. meaning, neither one separately is too terrible, but neither blows my mind either.
I'm going to mess around with it some more tonight.
A higher-wattage speaker will probably help out some. In the Celestion world, a G12T-75 would be my recommendation, but I'd go one step further and recommend a Mesa Boogie/Electro Voice Black Shadow speaker. The higher-wattage capacity will prevent speaker breakup and flab in the lows when pushed. You could probably come close to curing the sound altogether by replacing the extension cab you have now with a Mesa Boogie Thiele cab, and then put a G12T-75 in the combo amp.
But ultimately, I think it'll always fall short of what you're looking for. There are other amps out there that would give a tighter, more controlled low-end.