I have built a guitar amp using a pair of 12" speakers I bought cheap on ebay (I think it was 25-40 pounds the pair). They have kevlar cones. A long story short, they have good bass response, but are quite "muted" on the treble, as if someone has placed a pillow over them.
Also, they are much quiter than the 10" ones in my Fender guitar amp, but this may be because they are bigger, and therefore need more energy to be driven? Not sure about this.
I have thought of replacing these speakers with a "brighter" pair, something made more specifically for guitars, but looking around the prices are extortionate, from 60 pounds onwards each!!!
Bearing in mind that there are perfectly good guitar amps from Marshall, Fender and Vox that retail for 75, 120 pounds and 150 pounds, it beats me why a single speaker would cost so much.
Is there a place where I can buy guitar-oriented 12" speakers and avoid paying all that much?
Also, they are much quiter than the 10" ones in my Fender guitar amp, but this may be because they are bigger, and therefore need more energy to be driven? Not sure about this.
I have thought of replacing these speakers with a "brighter" pair, something made more specifically for guitars, but looking around the prices are extortionate, from 60 pounds onwards each!!!
Bearing in mind that there are perfectly good guitar amps from Marshall, Fender and Vox that retail for 75, 120 pounds and 150 pounds, it beats me why a single speaker would cost so much.
Is there a place where I can buy guitar-oriented 12" speakers and avoid paying all that much?
Its because kevlar is too heavy, and "dead"
Also because many guitar speakers have very light cones with lots of breakup
In hifi you would think of them as awfully screaming
With a guitar you would say they are crispy sounding
http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIBETA8A&browsemode=category
Click on SpeakerComponents/GuitarSpeakers
Could be that Eminence Beta8 would do too, but may lack some "body", due to size and relatively low Qts
Many guitar speakers have high Qts, as they are used with open back
Tho, shipping may be a significant cost, when we talk low priced drivers
Also, the cheap guitar speakers may not take too much power
Maybe this one
http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BMA10AGN&seeimage=YES&img_name=10AGN
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Unfortunately I live in the UK 🙂
I have a guitar amp that houses two speakers driven by two separate amplifiers. I was thinking I could combine two different speakers - they do not necessarily need to be the same - am I right?
I have a guitar amp that houses two speakers driven by two separate amplifiers. I was thinking I could combine two different speakers - they do not necessarily need to be the same - am I right?
Hi,
Weber ships worldwide. You'll still be cheaper than a Celestion.
If they've changed that policy, I ship worldwide and I'm a Weber dealer 🙂
Correct.
Quite often guitarists mix a ceramic and an AlNiCo, or even (riskier) one 12" (or 15") and one 8" (or 10").
Cheers!
Weber ships worldwide. You'll still be cheaper than a Celestion.
If they've changed that policy, I ship worldwide and I'm a Weber dealer 🙂
Correct.
Quite often guitarists mix a ceramic and an AlNiCo, or even (riskier) one 12" (or 15") and one 8" (or 10").
Cheers!
I recently bought 2 reverb tanks from the US - what mistake that was. Shipping was as much as the pair of reverb tanks, then when it arrived in the UK they added 15% tax on the whole amount - including shipping!!! And then the carrier charged me an extra 8 or 12 pounds fee for the hassle!
UK == rip off country - taxes gallore for no real benefit other than :
2/3 of the population not paying any taxes whatsoever
the army to invade foreign lands every two years or so
a hugely wasteful welfare system to cater for probably 50% of the population that do not pay any taxes
But I digress...
Anyway, I looked into Weber (briefly) and saw that at the wattage and size that I need we are over $110 per unit - I need over 80 Watts RMS since my amps deliver clean 77 Watts RMS (and if they clip that would br 154 Watts RMS!!!) and they need to be 12".
UK == rip off country - taxes gallore for no real benefit other than :
2/3 of the population not paying any taxes whatsoever
the army to invade foreign lands every two years or so
a hugely wasteful welfare system to cater for probably 50% of the population that do not pay any taxes
But I digress...
Anyway, I looked into Weber (briefly) and saw that at the wattage and size that I need we are over $110 per unit - I need over 80 Watts RMS since my amps deliver clean 77 Watts RMS (and if they clip that would br 154 Watts RMS!!!) and they need to be 12".
I built a 4 by 10 inch cab for my guitar and it has loads of treble.
They were very cheap too, around £12 each.
Search for 10 inch drivers at www.bluearan.co.uk
They have a huge range of speakers at good prices.
Sorry to hear about your economics, Akis 🙁
Sometimes they let things slip by here, other times they nail me for it. Mostly from the US they nail me... even if they're worth <$20 and international, boxes worth $1K+ aren't taxed :shrug:
Cheers!
Sometimes they let things slip by here, other times they nail me for it. Mostly from the US they nail me... even if they're worth <$20 and international, boxes worth $1K+ aren't taxed :shrug:
Cheers!
I did another listening test last evening, this time I could flik between the junk speakers I bought on ebay (12" Skytronic) and the ones inside the Fender amplifier (two 10" units) with the aid of a switch, no rewiring required, so that the difference was instantly heard. The difference was tremendous - every time I switched to the Skytronics it was as if the volume knob was turned half-way down and then someone had placed a pillow over the speakers. There was no treble and no loudness coming out of them at all.
What beats me is that I had also bought a pair of 5 1/4" drivers (Skytronics again) to improve the high ends - when I switched those in it was again as if someone had turned the volume knob way down ...
So now I have a built amplifier and cabinet, with 2 * 12" cutouts and 2 * 51/4 " cutouts and 3 independent power amplifiers at 77 Watts RMS. I need to buy 2 12" units to replace the Skytronics and then do something about the 5/14" holes...
Dear AKIS,
If this speakers have good bass and lack treble it is a woofer. A woofer talk in bass frequencies only, and is suited for Bass Guitar, Bass Keyboard etc...
You need a ''midrange'' speaker, my favorite for guitar is the Eminence Alpha15A, 15inches and just 60 dollars at http://www.parts-express.com/pe/sho...FTR=alpha 15 A&CFID=14479208&CFTOKEN=80897706
For good reasons this Alpha15A is much used in Hi-Fi as a woofer in Open Bafle speakers. 😀
Regards.
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=411+500001+1000537&Ntk=gensearch_003&Ntt=speaker&Ntx=
Have a look on here.
Also, look on Maplin's website. Not much choice, but they do have some Eminence PA stuff.
Those 12s will be less efficient because they aren't guitar speakers. The triangle:
Bass response - size - efficiency
means that you can improve one, but the others have to go. So, if you get a speaker, make it 10% smaller, you either lose bass response and keep the efficiency, efficiency and lose bass, or a combination.
This speaker is (as speakers go) small, but has bass, therefore efficiency is lower.
Guitar speakers have little bass, but that means they can be fairly small and very efficient.
Chris
Have a look on here.
Also, look on Maplin's website. Not much choice, but they do have some Eminence PA stuff.
Those 12s will be less efficient because they aren't guitar speakers. The triangle:
Bass response - size - efficiency
means that you can improve one, but the others have to go. So, if you get a speaker, make it 10% smaller, you either lose bass response and keep the efficiency, efficiency and lose bass, or a combination.
This speaker is (as speakers go) small, but has bass, therefore efficiency is lower.
Guitar speakers have little bass, but that means they can be fairly small and very efficient.
Chris
Somehow I did not know about CPC@farnell. I am not sure what it is and why the ordinary farnell web site does not have a link to these items... Thanks for the link.
In the end I gave in last night and bought two Eminence speakers from Germany, at a good price and shipping, and since it is EU there will be no extra taxes to pay. I bought a pair of 12" "The Tonker" as can be seen here:
http://www.eminence.com/guitar_speaker_detail.asp?model=THETONKER&speaker_size=12&SUB_CAT_ID=4
I spent hours looking at frequency response curves and in the end I decided mostly on those and not on the description which is too fanciful. I hope they turn out to be OK.
I also think they are way overpriced, all of them, eminence and especially celestion. I am not sure what their business model is, I presume low volume of sales at high prices and high volumes for their cheapo-made-in-China models that are fitted on cheapo-made-in-China amps costing less than 150 pounds. So I wrote to a dealer asking him why these prices and he said "they are the Rolls Royce of speakers". I wanted to ask whether they come complete with diamond encrusted chassis and solid platinum cores. But I refrained.
Having said that, I also recently paid 70 pounds for a Seymour Duncan humbacker pickup - a tiny piece of plastic with some copper wire wound around it and some bits of metal. I can imagine machines spitting out 1000s of these things per hour, like a photocopier spitting out A4 sheets, and the cost of materials cannot possibly be more than a few pounds, if that. Yet, we pay 70 pounds for them. Crazy.
No wonder women spend 400 pounds on a handbag or a pair of shoes. Men spend the same on a pair of speakers.
In the end I gave in last night and bought two Eminence speakers from Germany, at a good price and shipping, and since it is EU there will be no extra taxes to pay. I bought a pair of 12" "The Tonker" as can be seen here:
http://www.eminence.com/guitar_speaker_detail.asp?model=THETONKER&speaker_size=12&SUB_CAT_ID=4
I spent hours looking at frequency response curves and in the end I decided mostly on those and not on the description which is too fanciful. I hope they turn out to be OK.
I also think they are way overpriced, all of them, eminence and especially celestion. I am not sure what their business model is, I presume low volume of sales at high prices and high volumes for their cheapo-made-in-China models that are fitted on cheapo-made-in-China amps costing less than 150 pounds. So I wrote to a dealer asking him why these prices and he said "they are the Rolls Royce of speakers". I wanted to ask whether they come complete with diamond encrusted chassis and solid platinum cores. But I refrained.
Having said that, I also recently paid 70 pounds for a Seymour Duncan humbacker pickup - a tiny piece of plastic with some copper wire wound around it and some bits of metal. I can imagine machines spitting out 1000s of these things per hour, like a photocopier spitting out A4 sheets, and the cost of materials cannot possibly be more than a few pounds, if that. Yet, we pay 70 pounds for them. Crazy.
No wonder women spend 400 pounds on a handbag or a pair of shoes. Men spend the same on a pair of speakers.
They cost so much - at least in part - because there are buyers prepared to pay that price (as evidenced by you).
Very few things in life are priced in proportion to cost of production.
Very few things in life are priced in proportion to cost of production.
I like the Celestion G12T75, that is the 12in driver in the Marshall JCM 800 4-12 cabs. Ive had others but I like those best. I run four of those and two 18in (not LF) subs for the deep palm damped sound. I plan in D Minor tuning so I like the deep sound with the added 18s.
As you know I bought 4 speakers on ebay for my guitar amp, Skytronics… They were cheap at 20 pounds each for the 12" but very bad quality. A waste of money plus time and effort to mount them on. I did a simple test where I would direct the output of the amp from the Skytronics to 3-4 other speakers (Fender, Celestion) at the flick of a switch and the results were stunning!
At the same volume levels (as far as the amp is concerned) all the other speakers were at least twice as loud, the high frequency response (in guitar terms, up to 3-5KHz) was ten times better. I also tested the 5.25" Skytronics which have "mid range" written on the back… You would have thought these would have no issues with 3-5KHz. You'd be wrong. Very quiet like their big brothers and no frequency response at all. Pathetic.
Those speakers gave me the impression that I had built a bad amplifier. That somehow the 78W RMS I saw on the oscilloscope were not "good enough". But 78 W RMS is more than good enough if you plug on average, ordinary speakers and not that Skytronic cr*p.
I wrote to the vendor on ebay and he said I am his first unhappy customer and was I comparing 8ohm with 8 ohm…
My advice is, stay away from Skytronics. But if you want to try I have 4 for sale, virtually unused! Please PM me. 🙂
At the same volume levels (as far as the amp is concerned) all the other speakers were at least twice as loud, the high frequency response (in guitar terms, up to 3-5KHz) was ten times better. I also tested the 5.25" Skytronics which have "mid range" written on the back… You would have thought these would have no issues with 3-5KHz. You'd be wrong. Very quiet like their big brothers and no frequency response at all. Pathetic.
Those speakers gave me the impression that I had built a bad amplifier. That somehow the 78W RMS I saw on the oscilloscope were not "good enough". But 78 W RMS is more than good enough if you plug on average, ordinary speakers and not that Skytronic cr*p.
I wrote to the vendor on ebay and he said I am his first unhappy customer and was I comparing 8ohm with 8 ohm…
My advice is, stay away from Skytronics. But if you want to try I have 4 for sale, virtually unused! Please PM me. 🙂
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