Stevie

Richie

Turned out they weren't G12-65s I had but G12-50s, and even one of them in combination with one of my Rock Driver Pros, it made my cab sound like complete bollocks. Took every ounce of warmth out of my tone, left everything sounding hideously sterile and weak. Dunno if 65s sound any better, but just thought I'd say something on the 50s. Might've thought a vintage Celestion would have sounded better, but these things are absolute crap. Fortunately though they're worth a bit as a pair so I'll stick them on ebay at my earliest convenience.

StevieK

Oh man, sorry to hear that! I'm glad it wasn't the 65s cause I've read some mixed reviews but fortunately they're not as bad as your experience with the 50s.

Just out of curiosity, how old were the speakers? I had to log several hours of playing into my vintage 30 and g12h before they opened up and lost that stiff sound.

Richie

I checked the serial numbers, the pair of them are from 1979, so I would assume any breaking in they needed has already been done. I could be wrong, but I couldn't put up with that kind of tone for a week or however long just to find out.

It's weird though, 'cause I kind of liked the clean tone I got through them, it was actually almost Roland JC-120-ish. I mean proper squeaky clean. Quirky as it was though, it wasn't a pleasant tone, and overdriven it sounded awful. They seemed to like my Big Muff though, which was particularly strange...

StevieK

Oh yeah so that's definitely not the case with a 30 year old speaker. Well if you do wind up with g12 65s I'd be interested to know what you think, if I end up with them I'll let you know too.

Checked out EVM12Ls before? I'm very interested in them.

Richie

I haven't, but my dad swore by Electrovoice speakers when he was in a band (he had a blackface twin that he put a single 15" speaker in), so I wouldn't mind looking into them at some point.

That said, the speakers I have are pretty decent, early 90s model Celestion made out of the UK exclusively for Hughes & Kettner, basically an 80 watt V30. I managed to get a pair of them for

StevieK

You know I'm into the Dumble thing, and I'm putting together a Ceriatone Overtone Bluesmaster 50 watt kit. I just got a really good deal on some blackplate RCA 6l6s and am still on the hunt for either some NOS Telefunken or RCA 12ax7s. I also put in an order for the Mercury Mags for this amp.

So anyways this all may play a role in what cab configuration and speakers will work best, everyone suggests g12 65s or evm 12ls for dumble type amps, and ported cabs (as this is what two rock and dumble both use in their cabs). But who knows, my ceriatone isn't a real dumble, or two rock even, and my tube choice and effects choice may not sound so great with either speaker, so I'm left scratching my head. I wanna make the best choices early on so hopefully I can put the Dumble GAS to rest. For a while at least...

I'm very interested in pairing the right cab, with the right speakers, with the right amp, with the right tubes, with the right guitar/pickups, with the right touch from my fingers, at the right time, etc. Yeah for some that seems silly, but the guys I like for tone (SRV, Hendrix, Carlton, Ford, Mayer) were/are all very picky about what they played through. And anyone that really plays well has at least some basic gear requirements that they prefer.

I'm starting to see tone and music in general like cooking food. You can add too much spice, and please people who like spicey but piss someone else off. You can not add enough and please people who like it mild but piss the spicey people off. Some want their food blistering hot, others like it to cool off. Some like vegetables and fruit, some like meat and potatos. And everyone has different appetites on different days. I love my tone some days, and hate it other days.

I wanna find a middle ground, while at the same time making myself happy. You cant please everyone, but you can certainly make an effort.

Richie

Hmm, end of the day I think you can only please yourself, so you might as well tailor your sound as much you can. Like you say, you can't please everyone, so I don't see much point in trying, it is after all, your tone, no-one else's. But that said, I think if you stumble upon any combination of amp/ valves/ cab/ speakers that makes you go "wow, that's perfect" then that should be your tone, and there's not much point in continually searching for more expensive or sought after gear. For instance, I believe I've basically found my amp, and my speakers. Valve-wise, I'm satisfied with Electro-Harmonix (far more so than JJ at least), but would like to try other things, and would like very much to upgrade my cab. In the meantime, we can only keep searching. 😀

StevieK

And wasting our paychecks! 😕😆

Richie

As long as it keeps us happy, it isn't a waste. 😁

Richie

I just got a step closer to my perfect tone incidentally, put a VOS Mullard in my Vox Big Ben overdrive. So much meat now. 😁

StevieK

Yeah NOS tubes really do make a difference, before I tried them I was always skeptical, but my first quad set of RCA 6l6s in my twin made me a believer.

StevieK

Check out hi test guitars, great prices on NOS tubes.

Richie

Sweet, will give them a look. 😀

The Mullard I used actually used to be in my amp, it came with 4 of its original 6 Mullard valves (both EL34s and 2 of the 4 ecc83s, 1 of which has now gone into the pedal. The other 2 pre-amp valves are apparently made by Mazda. Who knew?). The power tubes are pretty much dead now, but I still have a good pre-amp valve there. Considering putting it back into the amp but not sure how big an impact 1 out of 4 being a Mullard (the pre-amp valves currently there are JJs, with EH power valves, I plan on replacing all the ecc83s there with EHs at some point) is going to make.

OceanTurquoiseMetallic

All of my amps are 6l6 so I dont have first hand experience with el34s. That being said I've heard good things about TAD el34s.... their 6l6 is almost as good as SED c-wings.

For preamp tubes I like Tungsram N0S for distortion & JAN 5751s for cleans. Both are switchable with 12ax7s