Best Ghia speaker for pretty cleans

[colinfromportland]

Hi forum,

I know there are a lot of 'best Ghia speaker' discussion on here, and I *have* read a bunch of them.

But -- I beg your indulgence to start one more thread, to focus on pretty cleans.

99.9999% of speaker demos on youtube consist of people shredding with the amp pushed into overdrive. I don't try to shred anymore. I'm old, and I like to play jazzy chords with the amp set clean, and let them sustain for as long as possible, while my dog looks at me with bored eyes.

Back when I was a young gigging guitarist I never got into speakers for some reason... too busy swapping guitars I guess. So the whole subject of speaker comparison is pretty new to me.

I am a couple weeks into Ghia ownership and so far I have tried a 10" Greenback and a 12" Eminence Legend (all it says on the back is "made for Victoria", no model number). It's been eye-opening to go back and forth. The Legend seems very full-spectrum. I roll off some volume on my strat to tame the highs, and it sounds really good. The Greenback is *very* full, much meatier than I expected. If I leave the volume and tone wide open, the finger squeaks and attack noise are a bit too much. If I roll things down a bit, they get manageable but some of the nice sweet high end goes away too.

Not sure if this possible, physically, but to my ears it seems like the Legend delivers a bit more in the sustain phase. 

If the internet didn't exist I would just use the Legend and life would be perfectly splendid. But since I know there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum I can't help but ask :-)

Any recommendations for Ghia speakers in the pretty cleans dept? (any size)

Thanks!

[tumeniamps (Tom)]

Celestion 10 inch Alnico Gold. Great all around speaker in a Ghia, and beautiful cleans. Overdrives wonderfully as well

[scottyc13]

I think the Celestion Vintage 30 has lovely cleans with my Ghia. I run the volume around 10 for edge of breakup. I can dial back the volume on my Strats and Tele to get a great clean sound. My Gretsch has a bigger punch, but dialing back the master on it cleans up.

[colinfromportland]

I know there is a lot of love for the Gold on this forum...

And, to be fair, this is a non-shredding demo on youtube --



-- though it's in a Super Champ, and the sound quality is not so hifi... it's hard to hear what the highs are doing.

[nick0]

I run a 10" drZ speaker with a 10" Celestion Alnico Gold in my combo. Sounds nice to me. Z speaker is full low end. Gold has some chime.

[simpleton]

The Eminence Legend 1258 (perhaps what the Victoria speaker is close too) as well as a pair of the 1058 have been some of my all time favorite speakers. The pair of 1058 were what I ran with my Ghia, but I currently have the 12” version with a different amp….but still love the speaker. Consider WGS speakers for a substitute of the Celestion suggestions…..I liked their Reaper ( a G12H30 copy w/ less shrillness) and in their American style the G12c/s (perhaps in the Legend wheel house)

[John]

10" Celestion Gold....and your search will be over. (that is, if your combo is a 10)

And don't be afraid to use the tone control on the strat. In some circumstances, the Ghia can be a bit bright. But there's no treble or presence knobs to control the crispy high end. Just roll back the tone knob on the guitar.

[wally]

I have a pair of Weber 10f150Ts with light doping in my Shorty 2x10 cab…beautiful cleans….articulate, harmonically rich.
Drawback….they are loud!!!! Yeah, my 2013 Carmen Ghia head needs to go back to Ohio for a MV and/or I need a good attenuator.

[harold]

I have a 2-10 model. What are the thoughts on the Warehouse Retro 10. 60 watt?

[runninwiththerevil (Matthew)]

I know a lot of people are fans of a 10” Red Fang. It is efficient and more watts than you need. Lots of head room.

Will it give you a sweet top end with your cleans? If I just read various forums I would say yes. But my personal experience with the RF in a Ghia 110 was not something I liked. It was too loud and let too much of the hifi-ness of the amp through. The Ghia is great for how it really puts out what you’re giving it. But I felt with the RF it was too unforgiving.

[John]

Apr 24, 2024 20:55:01 GMT -7 runninwiththerevil (Matthew) said:

I know a lot of people are fans of a 10” Red Fang. It is efficient and more watts than you need. Lots of head room.

Will it give you a sweet top end with your cleans? If I just read various forums I would say yes. But my personal experience with the RF in a Ghia 110 was not something I liked. It was too loud and let too much of the hifi-ness of the amp through. The Ghia is great for how it really puts out what you’re giving it. But I felt with the RF it was too unforgiving.

My 1x10 ghia combo came with the Red Fang.  I couldn't get it out of the cabinet fast enough.  It was not for me. To my ears it had a lower midrange bump that was unpleasant. I know others have said they like it with the ghia, but I didn't.  I would not classify the RF as a 'sweet top end' speaker.  Yes, it was efficient and therefore LOUD. That could be a plus or minus depending on someone's volume needs.

I was playing a tele in a modern country band at the time, and I needed a tone that got me in that genre. I played the RF for about an hour at stage volume....and I felt something was off.  I tried adjusting the tone control on the amp...and it made no difference.  That tone in my head was not there.  I took a chance on the 10" gold, put it in and played for three seconds...THREE seconds and stopped.  YEAH!  THAT'S the tone I've been looking for. 

10" Gold with the Ghia. 

[pcns]

Apr 23, 2024 20:23:48 GMT -7 nick0 said:

I run a 10" drZ speaker with a 10" Celestion Alnico Gold in my combo. Sounds nice to me. Z speaker is full low end. Gold has some chime.

The Dr Z 10 is hard to beat. Its a powerful speaker with lots of head room.

My overall favorite is the 10" Greenback but if if you solely focused on cleans the Z 10 is worth checking out. Not sure where you can buy then though. I have 2 of them and they are not for sale! ha ha

[jpaul7]

I am currently using a Red Fang 12” on a head and a Celestion creamback 10” on a 1x10 combo and both speakers give me sparkling cleans. Both speakers work really well on this amp.

[cfidave]

Celestion A type 12", gives me wonderful Fender like cleans. ( Carmen Ghia).

[scottyc13]

I’ve tried others, but as I said above, the Vintage 30 is lovely.

[G'OlPeachPhan]

I’m with the V30 camp for great Ghia cleans. M65 Creamback is excellent, too, for ‘woody’ sounding cleans. Using the guitar tone and volume controls is key with the Ghia for any speaker to dial in the top end and amount of grit. For cleans it can be nice to turn the amp up a bit past where you need the volume to be, and then back off the controls on the guitar until it’s just right.

[scottyc13]

May 24, 2024 16:14:51 GMT -7 G'OlPeachPhan said:

I’m with the V30 camp for great Ghia cleans. M65 Creamback is excellent, too, for ‘woody’ sounding cleans. Using the guitar tone and volume controls is key with the Ghia for any speaker to dial in the top end and amount of grit. For cleans it can be nice to turn the amp up a bit past where you need the volume to be, and then back off the controls on the guitar until it’s just right.

This is how I set up using the guitar volume control with my amps. The pot acts almost like a tone pot too. Down to 9 1/2 and it rolls off a little treble and gain the the amp.

[colinfromportland]

Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe I will have to try the V30.... I have seen them used on my local craigslist.
Kind of surprised about that rec - I have never played one, but in the Dr Z AMA video on speakers, the main thing he calls out re: the V30 is that it is good for cutting through live.

Also surprised no one mentioned the Blue. I have never played one of those either. It seems like a must-do, at some point.

High end -- I roll down the volume on my strat and tele to around 7.5, 8 and that works for me with the Ghia, leave the tone wide open. I have Lollars in both, and their official company line is that treble loss when rolling down the volume pot is not a thing, but... I think my ears and almost every guitar player alive would disagree. I've been curious about maybe trying an EQ pedal at some point, but I love going no-pedals with the Ghia so far.

Also, mine has the PPIMV added on the back, and I do find that the high end behaves a little differently depending on where the master is. It's subtle and I'm not 100% sure yet if it's really happening, or the tone madness is taking over :-)

[G'OlPeachPhan]

May 25, 2024 8:50:33 GMT -7 colinfromportland said:

Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe I will have to try the V30.... I have seen them used on my local craigslist.
Kind of surprised about that rec - I have never played one, but in the Dr Z AMA video on speakers, the main thing he calls out re: the V30 is that it is good for cutting through live.

Also surprised no one mentioned the Blue. I have never played one of those either. It seems like a must-do, at some point.

High end -- I roll down the volume on my strat and tele to around 7.5, 8 and that works for me with the Ghia, leave the tone wide open. I have Lollars in both, and their official company line is that treble loss when rolling down the volume pot is not a thing, but... I think my ears and almost every guitar player alive would disagree. I've been curious about maybe trying an EQ pedal at some point, but I love going no-pedals with the Ghia so far.

Also, mine has the PPIMV added on the back, and I do find that the high end behaves a little differently depending on where the master is. It's subtle and I'm not 100% sure yet if it's really happening, or the tone madness is taking over :-)

Ghia’s voicing and tone control match up particularly well with a V30; That’s why you read about so much love for the Ghia + V30.

[lowbudget]

May 25, 2024 10:43:56 GMT -7 G'OlPeachPhan said:

May 25, 2024 8:50:33 GMT -7 colinfromportland said:

Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe I will have to try the V30.... I have seen them used on my local craigslist.
Kind of surprised about that rec - I have never played one, but in the Dr Z AMA video on speakers, the main thing he calls out re: the V30 is that it is good for cutting through live.

Also surprised no one mentioned the Blue. I have never played one of those either. It seems like a must-do, at some point.

High end -- I roll down the volume on my strat and tele to around 7.5, 8 and that works for me with the Ghia, leave the tone wide open. I have Lollars in both, and their official company line is that treble loss when rolling down the volume pot is not a thing, but... I think my ears and almost every guitar player alive would disagree. I've been curious about maybe trying an EQ pedal at some point, but I love going no-pedals with the Ghia so far.

Also, mine has the PPIMV added on the back, and I do find that the high end behaves a little differently depending on where the master is. It's subtle and I'm not 100% sure yet if it's really happening, or the tone madness is taking over :-)

Ghia’s voicing and tone control match up particularly well with a V30; That’s why you read about so much love for the Ghia + V30.

If you set the wayyyback time machine’s dial all the way clockwise you’ll see that Doc’s original recommendation for the Ghia was the V30. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve proven him wrong on speaker recommendations because umm, it’s never happened. 

I always come back to what he said. My cat looks at me and says “what were you thinking, fool?”.