What Speakers Do You Rate and What do you hate

[Tiki love god]

I hate Vintage 30's, especially in a combo. All midrange no bottom end..
70th Aniversary G12's are much better for the same price. The Centuary G12 Vintage is amazing.

[JMV]

I've gotten along well with every Weber I've come across. As far as Vintage 30s are concerned I've both loved and hated them depending on what amp/cab/setting I was using them in.

The G12Hs are pretty solid, standard speakers for a British amp.

[dudu]

You have to be kidding me. The V30 has one of the biggest bottom ends. In an open
back combo any speaker would sound small, though.

That being said, I like the V30 for all possible applications & the G12M for classic rock
and blues. The G12-65 is a great Greenback replacement in a 1x12 cab due to the
extra power. I hate the G12T-75 and the CL80.

Haven't tried any others besides an Eminence Governor which I like and more recently
a Tayden V30 clone which sounded really really good.

[captcoolaid]

I like Warehouse speakers. I used to have a Lopo cab that i ran 1 75 and 1-30 watter in. loved that thing.

[LtKojak]

Celestions G12-65 are my favorites.

Eminence I like the Tonker, Tonker Lite, Cannabis Rex and Tonespotter.

Another favorite of mine is the EVML.

HTH,

[thinkgreen]

i like the clestions G10 greenback, good all round thick sound to my ears. hate the clestion custom in my little ac4tv, it dosn't seem to have enough drive and brakes up a bit early for my liking. but i can live with it till i can afford to replace it. but im toying with the idea of making i 1x12 cab with a g12 greenback and give the speaker the air it deserves

[hillbilly]

Two things I pay attention to is sensitivity and frequency.

One of the biggest misunderstandings by guitarists, as it pertains to guitar speakers, is decibels (dB's). 2 speakers that differ by 3 dB's in sensitivity...one will sound sound twice as loud as the other (both in specific frequency and in overall volume). How does this apply to sensitivity and frequency?

• If you have a speaker with sensitivity of 97dB (Celestion G-65), and a speaker with 100dB sensitivity (Vintage 30), the Vintage 30 is going to be more efficient with the same amount of power. Thus, 'twice' as loud every 3dB increment. If you play small clubs, this matters alot...the best option is an inefficient speaker that you can turn up a little bit without shattering ear drums...

• Look at the 2 graphs below...one is the G12H, the other the Vintage 30. Look at the difference in a) the frequencies, and b) the SPL's (Sound Pressure Level) and the differences in dB's.

Heritage G12H:

Vintage 30:

The G12H has a fuller bass response, +/- 4dB at 30-55hz...at about 1.5K, the G12H has +/- 2dB less, which means that 'ice-pick' midrange is less with the G12H...and easily 3dB less at 3K, another ice-picky frequency, which means that at 3k, the Vintage 30 is twice as loud at the frequency than the G12H. There are other differences if you stare at the graphs long enough...

My main speaker cab is a '69 Marshall 'Bass' 4x12 with 55hz G12H's...it can handle the low-end, warm on top, nice mids...no ice-pick...

[tazzboy]

I like Ted Weber Speakers.

[Tiki love god]

I had a G12-65 for a while, best lead tone for single notes but did not like the way it broke up to early when playing chords with a bit of overdrive. In a 4x12 the V-30 has decent bottom end but in a 1 x 12 combo it is just too focused in the high mids. I think it would be great if Amp manufacturers let you spec the speaker you want with your amp rather than having to buy stock and end up with a speaker that they bought in bulk. Maybe that is where Amp builders could take the lead from boutique guitar builders. Has Anyone tried Ceriatone amps. Awsome tone for the money. Just got a HRM 50 and sounds amazing with my 1 x 12 G12 Centuary Vintage

[LtKojak]

Originally Posted by Tiki love god

I had a G12-65 for a while, best lead tone for single notes but did not like the way it broke up to early when playing chords with a bit of overdrive. Just got a HRM 50 and sounds amazing with my 1 x 12 G12 Centuary Vintage

The Celestion G12-65 is the best speaker for the dumble-like amps. BOTH single note AND chordwork.

The Tonker, Tonker Lite and Tonespotter are good too...

[jerrypilot]

Really rate Celestion Alnico Golds , replaced a pair of V30s with them in an open backed cab . I found the V30s to be fatiguing to listen to over the course of a gig , an unpleasant , to my ears , mid range hump . Also have a Marshall 1960 B 412 wit G75s , don't like them either !

[Sterling # Sound]

I like my:

- Celestion G12h25's in my '67 Marshall cab - warm, chirpy, loads of presence
- Fanes 12 inch 50watts in my '69 Laney cab - big chimey sound
- Weber 12 inch unknown speaker in my Evil Robot combo - like Celestion
- Goodmans for 60s tone

Generally dislike:
- Celestion V30s
- Eminence
- EV speakers

On the other hand, if a speaker has been played for decades and is nicely worn in, it will usually sound better to me than newer ones.

[Sterling # Sound]

Also, I did not like the Heritages as much in my reissue Marshall cab. Way too icepicky.

[freefrog]

Like equally what I have currently in my amps:
G12-65.
G12T75.
Jensen C12N.

Dislike what I had previously. From "worst" to "not pleasing for me":
G12 Century Vintage - hated the high mid peak and what I perceived as a sterile attack: downsides of neodymium?
Eminence MegaTon: appears to be a kind of EV12 clone but sounds boring.
Wharfedale. Not for guitar amps, I'm afraid.
Eminence Tone Spotter: copies the G12-65 but sounds fake to my ears. Too "ceramic".
Not a fan of G12-80 either, nor of the V30.

I have apparently more love for relatively "light magnet" models. Heavy magnets generate too much mids for me.

Have the feeling that it really depends on the amp and cab used, though: with ALL the 6L6 powered amps that I've owned until now, it was extremely difficult for me to find a satisfying model of loudspeaker... In fact, all the "disliked" models mentioned above were even associated with 6L6's so I wonder if finally it's not these tubes themselves that I mostly dislike (excepted with a Jensen)...

[tdarian]

With my DR Z MAZ18s, I used both Celestion Golds and 70th Ann G12H30s. Unlike many, I actually preferred the G12H30 as I liked it's deeper, tighter bass response, although the mids in the Gold were glorious and I certainly understand their allure.

What I hated about these speakers is the rediculous amount of break-in time required for them to smooth out, which eventually does happen. I'm talking a minimum of 40-60 hours of hard hard continous pounding before that "ice picky" thing abated to the point of tolerance. Several folks sell these speakers with a "break-in service" applied to them before shipping.

When I sold my Zs and got a Redplate Blackverb (dual 6L6 Blackface/Tweed/"D" tones) I kept my DR Z 1-12 convertable cab with the well broken in and by then smooth G12H30, and ultimately replaced the Celestion with a Warehouse Guitar Speaker (WGS) Retro-30.

Man, what a speaker the Retro-30 is! These things are equally as efficient as the G12H30 @ 100 db, and they handle about 70 watts as I recall. This speaker sounded fabulous with a Mini-Z Head (5 Watts) and also superb with a 20 watt Jet City JAC20H. I wish more speakers sounded this "right", right out of the box.

I'd have to think that the other Warehouse speakers are equally as proficient at what they do.

[WolfeMacleod]

I have a pair of Celestion G12M-70's. Hated them. Harsh and very bright.

Replaced them with a set of THD Longhorns. MUCH better, richer sounidng.

[alexmania]

I generally use a Marshall JVM112 Combo with it's G12B which is great for Zep and just fine otherwise. I don't like the lack of air coming from any 1X12 so I have two extension cabs...One is an Avatar with a Celestion Blue which I use in small clubs and the other is a Marshall JVMC212 that has a Heritage and a Vintage Celestion for larger rooms. The amp is plenty loud but I find that pairing it with one or the other extension cabs to go from a mini 2X12 stack to a slightly less mini 3X12 stack makes a huge difference in the tonal response of the amp.

I can't find one speaker to do it all and having this arrangement gives me a lot of tonal personality and breadth from sparkly clean to crunchy without mush. I guess no one speaker does it for me.