speakers

bluesfloyd

New member
hi guys,

i have a vox ac15 amp fitted with one G12M green back speaker,(made in china)

what speakers do you guys recommend if i wanted a darker/ less bright sound ?????

all the best, bluesfloyd.
 
Re: speakers

cannabis rex is a great sounding darker speaker, also louder than a greenback which may or may not be a good thing for you.
 
Re: speakers

Boy...I never thought the standard M Greenback was all that "bright"...but these terms can be tricky to use.
In addition to the C-Rex...I would say the Eminence RW&Blues will do what you want.
Keep in mind, as jeremy already mentions, the Eminence MIGHT be quite a bit more efficient (louder) than your current Celestion.
But.....If you can possibly afford it...speakers seem to be the one thing that guitar players are lacking in most.
I would encourage you to Buy and KEEP a few. They almost last forever, and are a Great Tool to have available. Assuming Impedance...they work in any and all guitar amps.
good luck
 
Re: speakers

vox ac15s are bright amps.
greenbacks have some treble but they are not what i would consider bright and present. They are more vocal, warm and inefficient. Really cool for a vintage 60s vibe, but not much bass on offer.

cannabis rex will make your amp louder and will make the most of the fairly modest bass end of your amp. it will smooth off the tops a little also. Its a really sweet speaker but it will change the character of your amp a lot. I think they are best suited to fat bell like jazzy tones and they are best suited to the eq curve of classic fender voiced amps. Ac15s do not pump out much low end, so all the extra low end capability of the cannabis might be just sitting there unused, but the smoother, rounder top end and more american style flat frequency response in the mids might just end up taking away a lot of the stuff that makes your amp cool in the first place.
It might sound killer tho so i have to admit this is purely conjecture in the context of an ac15. I love CR's in low wattage fenders and i love ac15s, but ive only ever heard them with british type speakers.

Something else to consider is the private jack. It wont roll off your treble (which i know you want, but hear me out), but it will fill in the low end a lot compared to a greenback - especially noticeable in a 1x12 situation. Not as quite much low end or volume as a cannabis, but probably more closely voiced to the characteristics of your amp. So what you will get is a speaker that maintains the character of your amp as it is now, but with added punch and firmness. Its also a bit louder than a greenback, so it will fill in the frequencies you are wanting more of right now, but you wont lose that rich swirly harmonic presence that ac15s have on offer. They sound great in open back cabs too which is where greenbacks often seem to fall short.
 
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Re: speakers

I use a Cannibis Rex in a convertible cab (currently closed) with my Picovalve. You'll still get plenty of treble, but I think it will make the most of whatever low end that the Vox is producing, just because it is so efficient. It gets my vote. Or try the Screaming Eagle ( don't let the name fool you). It seems to have a much flatter eq curve, but not shrill like the name would imply ( like a certain pickup that I know of).
 
Re: speakers

i also agree that the greenback speakers are not inherently bright sounding. i think they sound fantastic and although i've never owned a vox (but have heard them) i would think a greenback speaker would sound great through one. maybe turn down the tone on the guitar and/or amp?
 
Re: speakers

I think you need a new amp.

hi BrainS.
thanks for your comment, i have got a good lists of speakers to consider from the above posts , and from that i will pick one and try, also i will try some new tubes in my amp, and if i am still not happy with my sound , i will look at other amps, but first i will trying valves, speakers, etc because it ends with me learning more and more and i am happy with that,


all the best, bluesfloyd.
 
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Re: speakers

hi guys,
in my vox ac15hw i have one g12m greenback, 25 watts, 16 ohms, 75hz speaker, if i change the speaker what do i need to note, can the new speaker be more or less watts, what part do ohms/hz play when changing speakers, my amp is 15 watt and the speaker is 25 watt, what happens if i used a 120 watt speaker?????

all the best, bluesfloyd.
 
Re: speakers

you can use as high a wattage speaker as you like. Speaker wattage is purely an indicator of how much energy (measured in watts) in the form of heat it can throw off and continue to operate safely.
Bear in mind tho, that the higher wattage speakers are built more robustly than their low wattage counterparts. Due to the use of larger diameter voice coils etc. Higher wattage speakers generally tend towards having less treble detail (kinda like high output pickups vs low output pickups). However there are plenty of low wattage speakers that are muffled and dark, and high wattage speakers that are clear and articulate - because there is a lot more to the story.

When it comes to speakers it is not the wattage that tells you how loud it is. The wattage rating just tells you how much you can put into it without blowing it up.

It is the speaker sensitivity that tells you how loud it is. This number is usually in the 90 to 105db range.
As far as this goes, with one watt of input power, you can expect to get around 100db of volume. Every time you double the wattage input you get an extra 3db of volume increase. So 2 watts will give you 103db, 4 watts 106db, 8 watts 109 db and 16 watts 112db.
As such, with a 15 watt amp using a 100db speaker you can get just as much volume as a 30 watt amp using a 97db speaker. However, if the 100db speaker is only rated to 15 watts (such as the clestion alnico blue) you could potentially blow it up with a 30 watt amp.

The resonance (75hz in your case) is the frequency at which a speaker most readily responds to an electrical impulse. You can generally say that a speaker with a lower resonant peak will have a darker voice than one with a higher resonant frequency. Resonant frequency is just a part of the puzzle that creates the sonic character of a particular speaker. You don't have to worry about choosing a speaker based on that because there are many other factors that have a large bearing on tone. A good way of at least getting a rough idea of what a speaker will sound like is by looking at its frequency graph and compare it to the speaker you have now.

When you choose your new speaker just make sure that:

1. the impedance of the speaker matches the impedance of the amp's output. Most common amps have an 8 ohm out for a single 8 ohm speaker. the 16 ohm output is generally for two 8 ohm speakers run in series. However, your AC15 amp is designed to run with a single 16 ohm speaker - which is why it comes stock with a 16 ohm speaker. So its an easy one...get another 16 ohm speaker to replace it.

2. The wattage rating of the speaker should equal or exceed the wattage rating of the amp. As long as you have a speaker rated for at least 15 watts, you can't go wrong.

3. Try to choose one that is known for sounding good in open backed cabs. Closed back cabs provide a nominal +6db increase in bass frequencies, so in the case of your greenback, they are popular in closed back cabs (think the old marshall quads where 4 of them can handle 100watts and provide plenty of thump), but alone and in an open back cab they can tend towards being a bit light on in the low end.
 
Re: speakers

hi guys,
big thanks to the last two posts, lots of info to help me choose a speaker,

all the best guys, bluesfloyd.
 
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