Post by gatorblue on May 27, 2019 14:29:39 GMT -7
I noticed Joe Walsh's interview and was particularly interested in his request for "inefficient speakers" for his namesake amp. It took me a few years of playing in all sorts of settings to realize that most of the speakers in the new amps have had increasingly more live and more efficient speakers. This may be great if you need max volume out of your amp and max headroom, but some of the best sounds I get when I'm recording or playing small venues are from old inefficient speakers.
Several years ago, a guy was parting out speakers from a Hammond B-3 cab (vintage 69) and they were 10" "Wurlitzer/Jensen" speakers with a very small magnet and 8 ohm rating. I bought a couple--just because I like to experiment and most of my amps have 8 ohms resistance. They sat around in a box for a couple of years. Then one day, I stuck one in an old speaker cab I had that was made for a 10" speaker. I plugged in a nice 25 watt class A amp and wow! incredible sound---truly a nice early rock overdrive w/o doing anything except turning the amp to about 7 and playing straight in. sustain and controlled feedback with my 335 was the best I'd ever experienced in 35+ years of playing. in essence, I was able to get the sound of that amp on 7-8 without blowing the doors off studio, but still get that great sound and one that in some ways was better for some applications. Then I remembered a blog post by Dr. Z in which he described how the speaker is just as important to the sound as the electronic design, the cab and the tubes used. Don't know why I don't see more about this subject. I have a Weber brake and a couple of my amps have master control, but to me if you can lower your volume with a less efficient and smaller speaker, the tone is much thicker and better by going this route.
I'd be interested in any discussion on this topic. -- Gator
Several years ago, a guy was parting out speakers from a Hammond B-3 cab (vintage 69) and they were 10" "Wurlitzer/Jensen" speakers with a very small magnet and 8 ohm rating. I bought a couple--just because I like to experiment and most of my amps have 8 ohms resistance. They sat around in a box for a couple of years. Then one day, I stuck one in an old speaker cab I had that was made for a 10" speaker. I plugged in a nice 25 watt class A amp and wow! incredible sound---truly a nice early rock overdrive w/o doing anything except turning the amp to about 7 and playing straight in. sustain and controlled feedback with my 335 was the best I'd ever experienced in 35+ years of playing. in essence, I was able to get the sound of that amp on 7-8 without blowing the doors off studio, but still get that great sound and one that in some ways was better for some applications. Then I remembered a blog post by Dr. Z in which he described how the speaker is just as important to the sound as the electronic design, the cab and the tubes used. Don't know why I don't see more about this subject. I have a Weber brake and a couple of my amps have master control, but to me if you can lower your volume with a less efficient and smaller speaker, the tone is much thicker and better by going this route.
I'd be interested in any discussion on this topic. -- Gator