Re: 2x10 speaker cab...tell me your experiences.
I've always felt that two 10" speakers are better than a single 12. And in recent times, I have come to the conclusion that 2 x 10 cabs are more suitable for most of my purposes now. My own reality is that I have a bad back, I drive a sedan (and getting a 2 x 12 cab or combo in and out of the rear seat is difficult enough in that situation even when fully fit), and the fact that nowdays many or most places I'm likely to play have noise restrictions. 30-50 watts is probably going to be plenty of power for most situations i find myself in.
To that end, I now have two 2 x10 cabinets. One is loaded with a pair of Celestion G10 Greenbacks, which are listed on the Celestion website as being 'the 10" that thinks it's a 12" '. The other cab is loaded with a pair of Celestion 10" Alnico Golds. The Greenbacks are rated at 30 Watts each, and the Golds at 40 Watts each. I purposely purchased 8 Ohm versions of these speakers so that in pairs, there are two wiring options for cab impedances (2 x 8 Ohms can be wired in series for a total of 16 Ohms or in parallel for a total of 4 Ohms. I currently have each cab's speakers wired in series so each cab is a 16 Ohm load ).
The Greenies have sounded great straight out of the box, the Golds sound good but i suspect they need more break-in time to really reach the classic tones, but even at this early stage their qualities are evident. I've been running the cabs with either a Laney VC15 or my homebrew Matchless DC30-based amp.
I recently found some people to jam with in the small town where i've been living in recent times. I have used the Matchless clone head with the 2 x Greenback cab with Strats and humbucker guitars and the sound is impressive. It sits perfectly with bass and drums, although the cab is raised from the floor. The GBs sound full and clear but not harsh. If i felt i need a bit more, I could easily run both the 2 x 10 cabs together (a total load of 8 Ohms). Of course an advantage of that would be that I could have one cab on each side of the stage or playing area.
So far I've had nothing but compliments on my sound and how it fits in so well with bass and drums, leaving them with plenty of air space for their frequencies whilst still retaining quite a fat sound for the guitar. I am not a fan of super-bright sounds, and the Greenbacks, whilst no doubt sounding a little less deep than their 12" brothers, still sound full and fat, but in a more controlled way, which is kinda what i was aiming for.
Obviously they're not going to cover all the bases for every type of player, but for my current and future needs, they fit the bill perfectly. The cabs are compact and not heavy, they are much easier for me to transport and they provide versatility ... I can use the GB-loaded cab, or the Alnico Gold loaded one, or both. They can make 15 watts sound big, or slightly tame a 35-50 watt amp and keep the sound focussed and in it's own sonic space, rather than intruding heavily into the low frequencies occupied by drums and bass. I still own my Celestion-loaded 2 x 12 cab, but for most of my purposes, it will stay at home and the 2 x 10 cabs will be the ones that travel.
So it's early days yet for me with my new 10" cabs, but so far it all seems very promising. I should point out that I don't play metal or need that closed-back 4 x 12 thump and thunder. I play (or attempt to) most other styles, from classic cleans through indie/ alt. to classic rock, with Strats, Telecaster and mahogany/humbucker Gibson-based instruments, i.e. pretty traditional guitars ... the hottest pickup would be the JB/Custom bridge hybrid in one of the mahogany guitars. They all get represented extremely well through the speakers, although it must be said that my amp is a big element in the quality, too.
I think with 10" speakers, some of the sonic differences between brands and models might be clearer and more obvious. For example, I once built a rig for a friend that had a 35 watt head and a pair of 2 x 10 cabs. I loaded them with 10" ceramic Jensens, and although they made the amp sound very loud, the tone was, to my ears, very brash, harsh and 'in yer face'. Kind of ugly for my tastes. The Celestions i have, both the Greenbacks and the Alnico Golds, may be a little less efficent, but they bring a kind of 'controlled' version of the sound of their bigger 12" brothers, and that's what my new quest has been about ... creating some of the classic sounds at more contained volume levels, in keeping with the way many or most playing opportunities (jamming, reahearsals, gigs) are nowadays.
If you're playing in some situation with, say, 50 watts and a 4 x 12 cab and you are forced to turn it down to low levels, it can be frustrating as that rig won't give up the good stuff until it's being used at reasonable settings (at which point it's often simply too loud for the environment you find yourself in, particularly with vintage-style amps). The 2 x 10 configuration seems to contain the extremes to some degree and allow for a full, fat tone at more controlable sound levels.
And with lower-wattage amps, 15-20 watts, a pair of 10s makes for a nice full sound like the big boys.
So i'm a big believer in the versatility of mulitple 10" speaker configurations for low and medium power applications where there may well be volume restrictions but you still want to get great rock tones. My personal experiences so far are verifying this, and the transportation aspects are so much easier than moving multi-12" cabinets.
(btw, at some stage i will mis-match the speaker pairs, and try one Greenback and one Alnico Gold in each 2 x 10 cab).
