Speakers for low tuning

Calsip

Calsip

New member
I am playing in E standard, Drop D, and Drop A right now. I have a speaker (some Jensen) and go high to moderate gain in practice. The amp head I use at practice is just a Joyo Zombie but my home practice setup is usually Vintage 30’s with an Orange head and an OCD thrown in.

I love the zombie (especially for it being $150) but the speaker in my home made cabinet can’t handle the Drop A with the saturation like it does with the other tunings. I don’t mind the vintage thirty but I don’t really think it sounds as good in that low of a tuning.

What are some good recommendations for speakers at the low of a tuning and distortion; I will be building the cabinet myself so feel free to throw out all the ideas you want about the actual cabinet material and shapes too.
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

Maybe this derails from your original question but how about trying one of those sub woofers for guitar from ISP?
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

I use a 2x12 cab with an Eminence Swamp Thang and Texas Heat. I usually play in D (or A in my 7 string), with a sick amount of gain and they seem to handle it quite well.

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Re: Speakers for low tuning

the weber ceramic michigan with paper dome sounds good with low tunings
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

I just use greenbacks and vintage 30s and all my guitars are in C standard. I’ve used evm-12l, swamp thang, texas heat, gk-100... always prefer the greenbacks. The V-30’s are just ok... but not bad enough to swap out lol.
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

OP, the suspension design and magnet size of the speaker has a ton to do with drop tuning performance.

My preference is a tighter suspension on a larger magnet 10" over 12"s and 15s for super lows. -you want 2 10" speakers for every 12 inch speaker you would use to exceed the low end performance -and 4 for every 15" if you use 15s at all.

most 12"s will flub and crap out from slow movement and suspension return on low end duty -unless they are designed for it.
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

I have a Metaltronix 4x12 cab with 4 old Made in England G12M-70 Celestions... handles high gain VERY well at low tunings... I have a 120 watt tube head and it thumps... palm muting chugs are focused and not flubby/farty..
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

I would get an EVM 12L or Eminence Legend EM12, maybe a Hempdog 12. Huge speakers, stupid power handling, I can barely carry 2 loaded in a cab.

In a Thiele-small box, Mesa has a nice one, Hughes and Kettner has a new ts12 version and the dr Z Z- best box is awesome for a 2x12. Plans are all over to build your own.

That speaker is fairly flat sounding and has great extension below 100 hertz. In a TS box you should have bass below 80 hertz or so without the roll off of normal speakers or cabs.
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

NegativeEase said:
OP, the suspension design and magnet size of the speaker has a ton to do with drop tuning performance.

My preference is a tighter suspension on a larger magnet 10" over 12"s and 15s for super lows. -you want 2 10" speakers for every 12 inch speaker you would use to exceed the low end performance -and 4 for every 15" if you use 15s at all.

most 12"s will flub and crap out from slow movement and suspension return on low end duty -unless they are designed for it.
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I run my POD XT Live into a ‘73 Super Reverb. Never in a million years would I have chosen this amp for aggressive metal, but the four 10s sound awesome with my D/drop C six strings, B tuned 7, and F# 8. I’m usually bouncing between a Recto, JCM2000, or the Line 6 Lunatic models, EQ set more on the scooped side but with enough mids for definition. Tons of gain on the B and C tunings, much less on the F#, but it all works very well.
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

^^
That makes me wonder how one of those 8x10 Ampegs would sound like.

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Re: Speakers for low tuning

Demanic said:
^^
That makes me wonder how one of those 8x10 Ampegs would sound like.

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The later ones (post 1970s) without the smaller square magnets, and with the shorter throw, tighter suspension can really take it in spades. Just need to EQ back in some mids from the guitar
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

NegativeEase said:
The later ones (post 1970s) without the smaller square magnets, and with the shorter throw, tighter suspension can really take it in spades. Just need to EQ back in some mids from the guitar
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Lol, like that's a problem.

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Re: Speakers for low tuning

I would get a 1x15 speaker cab!
It all depends on the rest of the band..
Is it for playing live or at home?
 
Re: Speakers for low tuning

Almost any guitar speaker is designed to produce tones well below the range of what the guitar can generate. Think about it you can plug a keyboard into a guitar amp and it sounds fine. It is more about finding a speaker that has the characteristics you want not about finding one that can handle the lower frequencies.

Scott Ian uses Celestion Green Backs, last time I checked he tuned down to C# and his tone is not flubby or muddy.

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Re: Speakers for low tuning

I also find that running too much bass from a pedal into the front of an amp tends to make it sound flubby.

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