How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

[Naps]

I have an old 4x12 that has some generic speakers, and I was wondering how hard would it be if I ordered some new speakers, to put them in myself? I was thinking of making it a 2x12 and either leaving 2 of the original speakers in and disconnect them. I was also thinking of taking them out and leaving the holes. It's a closed back cab and that could act like two big ports or something. Anyone have any advice to give me?

Also, what are some good speakers for a reasonable price? I beleive I've heard people mention Weber, but I don't know who sells them.

 

[B2D]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

I just wired up a 2x12 cab myself... Got a Trutone 2x12 shell with Weber speakers that Thames hooked me up with and it's pretty simple to do if you have good soldering skills and a proper diagram.

www.avatarspeakers.com sells a wide variety of speakers for reasonable prices. Weber sells them on their site, www.webervst.com

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

Simple stuff, just need a soldering iron and a proper diagram. I used 14 guage wire, and actually noticed a pretty significant difference in sound.

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

I have recently re-wired 7 Marshall cabs and 1 Mesa with car audio subwoofer 12 guage wire from Radio shack made by Monster cable and it rocks. I first used the 16 guage and it was way better than the Mesa stuff. I then went to 12 guage and couldnt be happier. A bunch of friends heard it and wanted their Marshalls done. So now I am in business re-wiring my Buddies cabs? I think the internal wire is more important than the speaker cable. We had a tone party after reharsal tonight and tried cords, tubes, pickups, caps, tone pots etc. Learned alot and find Voodoo cords to be the best followed by Pro-co, then Monster. Tubes, El34 svetlana and Sovtek 6l6 then svetlana, then JJ 6l6 in that order. I will post the rest in anaother thread.


Definately re-wire your cab.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

12 guage is really good. Keeps the Z of the wire to a minimum and keeps the low end nice and tight. Years ago Sam's Club was selling 12g Monster cable in 50' packs for $25!! 50 cents a foot for decent 12g wire is VERY cheap. I bought many packs and wired my home theater, rolled my own wires for the PA and made a nice 5 footer to connect my head to my cab.

RE: leaving the speakers off. A good working port is not just a hole or two in a speaker box. It's a correct size and in a correct place. So the two 12 inch holes probably won't act like a port. That said, try it both ways and use what sounds best to YOU. I'd imagine you'd get a more open back kind of sound with no "dummy" speakers in the holes.

As for brands. I like Celestions and Carvins. But there are many good brands out there. It's a pretty subjective topic.

Keep your eye on efficency rating. ("X"# of dB per watt of input @ ~1meter) A speaker rated at 100dB per watt will play MUCH louder than a speaker rated at 97dB driven by the same amp. Every 3dB in efficency makes a BIG difference in potential volume. So if you are looking for maximum volume or want to max out the clean headroom of your amp look for a speaker with a high rating. If you don't need a ton of volume and want to be able to run your amp hotter look for a speaker with a lower efficency.

It's funny how folks and manufacturers get all hung up on watts when it's the efficency of the speakers that makes the real difference in volume potential.

 

[Curly]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

It's hard to recommend a speaker without more info ... the rest of your gear, type of music, etc

Avatar Speakers is a good source for Celestions and Eminence

Webers are sold at WeberVST.com

Jensen RIs can be found several places, like VintageSpeaker.com

 

[Naps]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

Awesome guys. Thanks for the info!

About my current set up-

MIA Strat with C-5 in the bridge, JB jr. mid and lil 59 neck. rosewood board, and probably alder because it is a solid color.
TSL 60 head
Fender 4 x 12 with unknown speakers.
Blue strat body with texas special single coils and maple warmoth neck.
I'll probably be getting a JB / Jazz or phat cat combo and do some pup swaps sometime in the near future.

What I play - rock, anything form GnR to Green day. Pretty much anything with distortion. I do like to play around with the clean channel with some blues-type stuff.

 

[theodie]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

SlyFoxx and Klinkdetroit, I have two nearly brand new Marshall cabs. One is a 1960B and the other is a 1960AV. If I rewired these with the high quality 12 guage wire, will it greatly improve the tone? What effects on tone does it have? I thank you fellows for any help.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

Webers and Emi's are American-made. Celestions are now made in China.

If you email Dave at Avatar or Ted at Weber and tell them exactly what you're looking for tone-wise, what guitars you play, your amp, your music styles, they'll come through in spades for you.

I highly recommend both Eminence and Weber. Those new Red Coat series Eminences are on par with the bestt of the old Brittish Celestions (which, of course, are now made in China).


If you want to "port" it, or turn it into more of an open back type cabinet, take out two of the speakers. If you want to keep that closed back, tight bass, big thump, leave the old pair in and get two new ones.

There is a HUGE thread on The Gear Page in the Amp section on these new Eminence. Apparently the Tonkers are supposed to be killer in the classic closed back Marshall brittish vibe thing.

If you love that classic Marshall thing, Tonkers or Govners would be a great choice. If you check the Eminence website http://editweb.iglou.com/eminence/eminence/pages/products02/patriot/patriotredcoatmain.htm

Teh Private Jack is supposed to be based on the Celestion Greenback.
The Red Fang is supposed to be comparible to the Celestion Blue Alnico
The Govenor is comparible to the Vintage 30
The Tonker is comparible to the G12H30.

I would not hesitate to mix a Tonker and a Gov'ner in the same cab. Both are ceramic.

Or, mixing a Tonker with a Red Fang would be interesting.

Weber and Avatar both sell these speakers. Avatar has excellent prices.

Now that older Fender cab probably had american toned speakers.

If you want to try to gain some of that Stevie Ray Vaughn grit, I LOVE the Texas Heats. Just a classic American speaker tone with a huge tone all across the spectrum. I have a pair of them in my 68 Pro Reverb. I think they're more of an open back speaker.

Just kinda depends on what you wnat to do. I've tried several of the new RedCoat/Patriot Eminence's and they've all been outstanding. I got to play thorugh a ton of them at the NAMM show A/B/C/D... a bunch of models.

Nice stuff, American Made.

Then again , so are the Webers. Email Ted and tell him what your goals are.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

http://editweb.iglou.com/eminence/eminence/pages/resources02/guitarXref.htm

Eminence comparison with other style amps and speakers. Good reference.

For a TSL cabinet, they recommend a Gov'ner and a Private Jack. Or a Stonehenge and a Tonker.

What fun, all these choices.

 

[Hellion]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

I like Emminence speakers. They're the same as Carvins. And they're reasonably priced

 

[Naps]

Re: How easy is it to wire a speaker cab? and what are good speaker brands?

What fun, all these choices.[/QUOTE...lso other wires. I think as big as 10 guage.