Re: Eminence's Celestion equivalents?
My wife owned a small backline company for several years. At is height, she had about 35 guitar amps and 20 speaker cabs of varying size.
With the exception of a few specifics, most all of the speakers were Eminence. For those interested, here are some observations I made over the years:
1. Governor/Wizard
A combo of (either 2x12 or 4x12) these two offerings it is real hard to beat in general. It is a safe bet most players will dig it.
They sound good with guitar...period. I sold a Red Knob Twin to a "Jazz Snob" (he studied with Vic Juris and Grant Geissman) that had this pairing. This guy loved it for Straight and Hard Bop Jazz. They sound awesome in a 4x12 for Blues/Rock as well.
2. Texas Heat
I love all types of speakers for a lot of different amps. There is Never Just One Answer. But from the perspective of a backline company, trying to be all things to all people.......There is no speaker that sounds better in a BF/SF Fender. They survive a lot of power and really suit that period of Fender quite well.
3. Tonker
We had only one Hiwatt. It was a 1972 DR504. We sent it out with a 2x12 loaded with two Tonkers. I never heard it compared with Fanes in an A/B situation. But a couple of guys that were staunch Hiwatt players said the Tonkers did an admirable job of The Fane Sound. One player that used the rig for a few weeks in Nashville asked me if the cab was Fane loaded. He eventually bought the head and cab from us.
We also had a rebuilt 1969 BF/SF Twin with Tonkers. I thought they did great duty in That amp also.
4. GB-12 and Private Jack
While none of the Eminence are supposed to be a Celestion Clone, I thought these two sounded most like the speaker they were designed around.
Yeah, if you want a Green Back with more machismo, you will love one of these two speakers. I built two Ceriatone plexi clones...a 1986 and a 1987. They frequently rented with a 2x12 loaded with either a GB or a PJ. Got many compliments about the speakers and amps sounding like a Real Marshall.
5. Tonespotter
I am not a 65 expert...just going by what a few players told us.....that the Tonespotter was definitely in the 65 ball-park and the guys liked it a lot.
We never had a very good Dumble or JCM 800 clone....closest would be a (JCM 800) Dr Z SRZ-65 LE head and a 2x12 with Tonespotters. Guys that were into that 1980's stuff really liked the Tonespotters for the early days of high gain sound.
That head and cab were at a Blues Festival (think Tommy Castro and Samantha Fish) and those players said it was great.
6. C-Rex
If I had a gun to my head and had to choose ONE speaker for all players.......
7. Red Fang
Not sure what to say. This is a speaker that I DID A/B. A fine speaker in its own right, but not sure how close it is to a Blue. The Blue WAS broken in and probably had 10 years of play. The RF maybe only 50-100 hours, so who knows.?
We had a Vox AC30CCH. I did all the Lyle Caldwell mods, and also installed a Merc Mag Choke and a Heyboer OT (Woden Clone). This head sounded as much like a 1966 Vox AC30 as can be expected. We tried A LOT of speakers in the 2x12. For the first year it rented with 2x Blues from the early 1970's. But the collectors price on those speakers was so great, I was afraid somebody would eventually forfeit their insurance deposit just to nab the speakers.....so we pulled them and went on a speaker safari.
What we ended up with was a 2x12 with
1x Emi Red Fang
1x Weber Blue Dog ceramic 50 watt
Not sure what that proves about the Red Fang, but there you go.
8. Red White and Blues
Not sure why I do not "like" this speaker more. It sounds quite good in many amps, and with many different styles of playing. I would say it is a Great BF/SF Fender speaker.
For a very long time, Andy Fuchs defaulted to this speaker in his builds.
I would say it is rather "smooth", sounds good when pushed, and really has no bad habits. I have not heard it enough times to have much of an opinion I guess.
Eminence really hit a Home Run with their Legend/Patriot/Red Coat series of speakers. They are well made and sound as "good" as any speaker at any price. It all comes down to your own ears. The best way to demo speakers is to not know what is in the cab.
People SAY they hear all kinds of stuff:
Phase
Capacitor dielectric material
Bobbin construction
Wire size
etc etc etc
Buy the amp and speakers you like, no matter what name is on them or what The Internet says is hip.
good luck
