Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

[Gunny47]

I was thinking about different amps today since the honeymoon period of my new strat is starting to wear off, and I realiz that I could use a smaller amp. (my Gibson GA5 doesn't deliver exactly what I am looking for). But I wanted an amp I can goose with a pedal or crank up and get some thicker tones. Mainly tones that are sorta dirty, and sorta not, but still have plenty of richness and fatness to them. So I was considering something larger than my GA5 but smaller than my Tweed Twin (speaker size and wattage) and of course having a different flavor of tone would not hurt. Looking for a more British sounding amp. I was most interested in the Reinhardt MI-6 which is a 6V6 loaded 18 watt type amp. It has one normal channel with a typical volume and tone knob layout. Then there is the "bright" or modern channel with a 3 band EQ, and a master volume and gain or preamp volume. I think this would come in handy for practices and if I had a smaller gig I could crank up the normal channel. Just more options instead of the tremolo.

Anyway, this was my latest gas sorta thing. I'm broke from the strat, but still working of course and hopefully I'd be able to get the amp by the time the summer comes around. If I were to get an 18 watt clone (any other suggestions would be nice as well), what sort of speaker would you put in the thing? The MI-6 id get in a 1x12 combo format. I was thinking of squeezing the most headroom out of it and considered either bass type speakers or another high powered Weber thing. I was really leaning towards those Dickey/Duane tones with the JBL clone from Weber with the paper cap and the bass cone type (give a certain tone plus that extra headroom). I was trying to stay away from the typical greenback or vintage 30 option so I could develop sorta my own tone with this amp (6V6s + nonconservative option would seem cool in my book). What do you guys think about that setup? Please tell me your other suggestions. Thanks bros!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

My opinion is play what you got! You have a killer rig already and if I were you I'd just work my @ss off learning how to work it! Now, that said Im sure you'll keep looking for another amp let me just tell you this...an 18 watt combo is not gonna be much less volume that your twin...I know that seems crazy but it's true!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

I have a 15 watt head...it plays....loud!!
Falling in love with new equipment is not going to solve much

 

[jeremy]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

im gonna break from the pack and say that a 12-18w amp is probably very useful. not that you need it but one more in that range wouldnt be a bad thing.

never tried a reinhardt but lower wattage 6v6 amps are pretty nice. i wouldnt go crazy on a speaker though. you already have a 5w amp which should be good for practice and lower volume dirty jamming. the twin will get you a nice medium volume clean tone or loud ass dirty tone. the 18w with the right speaker will fill in the missing area which is a clean tone with the volume of the small amp cranked or a dirty tone the volume of the twin clean. i wouldnt go crazy with the headroom on the speaker or you will loose the versitility.

i have five tube amps from 12w to 35w and it means that i have an amp that will fit almost any situation that i play in. i dont really use pedals all that much cause i can just grab the amp that will work for the volume of the gig. of course pedals are smaller, lighter and less expensive than amps

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

My favorite 18 watt amp is my 70's Mission Amps modified Fender Princeton Reverb...but it uses a 10" speaker and the ten I settled on for it after trying quite a few was an older Weber C10NQ. Basically Weber's version of a '66 Jensen C10N but with a softer cone, like that used in a C10Q, to give it the tone of an "old" speaker.

My favorite 12 would be the Celestion G12H30 and it's what I use in my 22 watt Fender Deluxe Reverb amps.

Lew

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

When used with a single 12" I also prefer the G12H speaker...in a closed back by the way!
But it also sounds great in openbacks!

 

[Dave]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

I'm happy with my sIII TMB w/G12H30 in it-it covers a lot of ground and has a pretty large, evenly balanced tonal spectrum to it. I'm saving for a 2-12 cab with maybe a Red Fang/Wizard vs. other combo.

Then comes the Z-28!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for an 18 Watter

My favorite 18 watt amp is my 70's Mission Amps modified Fender Princeton Reverb...but it uses a 10" speaker and the ten I settled on for it after trying quite a few was an older Weber C10NQ. Basically Weber's version of a '66 Jensen C10N but with a softer cone, like that used in a C10Q, to give it the tone of an "old" speaker.
My favorite 12 would be the Celestion G12H30 and it's what I use in my 22 watt Fender Deluxe Reverb amps.
Lew

Is Bruce squeezin 18 watts out of your Princeton? Thats killer!!!

Gunny, I know I didn;t really answer your question so here is a little info...my 18 watter of choice is a 62 brown Deluxe...say what you will, it stomps every 18 watt Marshall I've ever heard in the dirt! Anyway, my speaker in it is a 1968 silver frame Alnico Celestion...the later ones with the 102/3 or 102/103 cones are a tad different from the blue celestions...the ones like mine have the same cone and voice coil from a G12M20 from the same time period so they are rated for 20 watts and it sounds perfect in this Deluxe for overdriven tones!

FWIW, the one I have I got from a guy in Canada and he was using it in a homebrew 18 watt Marshall clone he built...he really liked the silver alnico but wsanted to try a pre rola greenback and had to sell one to buy the other, he emailed me a few weeks later and wanted to buy the silver back!