The Best Speaker for my Amp

[aescully]

I want to make my amp Sound as good as possible, So I need to get a new speaker and probably new tubes for it.
I have a Peavey 112 Bandit, So my question is, what would be the best speaker/ tubes for an amp with these specifications:

80W
12" Blue Marvel speaker
2 footswitchable channels
Simulated speaker direct out with level
25%, 50%, 100% power level selector switch
Loose, tight, and medium damping switch
Effects loop
3-band EQ per channel
Vintage/classic/warm switch on clean channel
Classic/modern/high gain switch on lead channel
Pre and post gain on lead channel
High gain and low gain inputs
Master reverb and boost
Footswitch jack
45 lbs.
23-3/4"W x 20-1/4"H x 11-3/4"D

I am looking for a dynamic sound, but mainly for clean and clear to slightly overdriven blues, Nothing as heavy or distored as metal but maybe a distorted to a classic rock/contemporary indie (as lame as calling indepentent music a genre is).
I know maybe being to specific for this question but I want to throw it all out there.
Thanks for any help you can give.
-Arthur Scully

 

[louthunder]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

First of all, a Peavey Bandit doesn't have any tubes in it. It's what they call a Transtube, meaning electronic tubelike response. I would go with a good Weber, or Eminence ceramic speaker. You'll get more punch out of it w/ ceramic speaker,than AlNico speakers.

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Oh Goodness, well I guess that shows how much I know about my amp, thank you for the info. I guess I have to ask a side question now, what is the downfall of having a transtube amp?
-Arthur Scully

 

[louthunder]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Oh Goodness, well I guess that shows how much I know about my amp, thank you for the info. I guess I have to ask a side question now, what is the downfall of having a transtube amp?
-Arthur Scully

Nothing! The Peavey Bandit, in my opinion, is one of the best non tube amps ever built. That and a Roland Jazz Chorus. Some of the Lab Series amps(made by Norlin-Gibson)were good too! That being said, the Peavey Bandit is a very good amp, and a good speaker alone may be all you need!

 

[Stevo]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Thanks to some members of this forum, I recently discovered the Celestion Classic Lead 80. I have a 4x12 with greenbacks but I wanted a contender in a 1x12. It is great for warm, raw rock tone. It has nice mid projection without the spike of some other speakers. It has good bass response - better than than my greenbacks. You can usually find them for cheap. I just got my 2nd one on ebay for $60 in perfect condition. I think it would be a nice match for a bandit.

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Thank you very much, is it hard to put in a speaker?
-Arthur Scully

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

The Blue Marvel can be upgraded to a Celestion or an Eminence...there are a lot of different flavors to choose from.

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Thanks to some members of this forum, I recently discovered the Celestion Classic Lead 80. I have a 4x12 with greenbacks but I wanted a contender in a 1x12. It is great for warm, raw rock tone. It has nice mid projection without the spike of some other speakers. It has good bass response - better than than my greenbacks. You can usually find them for cheap. I just got my 2nd one on ebay for $60 in perfect condition. I think it would be a nice match for a bandit.

I just bought a classic Lead 80 8ohm off of Ebay for you guessed it $60 +s&h
I'll do a little side by side youtube comparison to show the difference, thanks for the advice.
-Arthur Scully

 

[scottish]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

you need to watch out. alnico speakers are generally bigger than ceramic ones. So if your peavey bandit has a ceramic speaker and the lead 80 is alnico then it might not fit without some retrofitting to the cab which can be a pain in the butt.

disclaimer: i know nothing about the bandit or the lead 80. just putting this out there so that maybe you have time to reverse the sale if you need to.

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

AHHH!!!:eyecrazy: whew...:approve:
the Celestion Classic lead is Ceramic, though I am not sure how to tell if the sheffield 1230 in my amp is or not, how can I tell? Would it be a problem if the Sheff is alnico?
-Arthur scully
P.S. Thanks for the warning!

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Is this for real? haha

 

[James Rock]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Most speakers aren;'t alnico and the ones that are weigh more and you can tell as the magnet looks different.

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Is this for real? haha

Unfortunetly yes it is, and I did find out that all of the magnets in question were ceramics.
I have been playing guitar since I was nine years old, I never had the cash to care about things like this and now I do so I am learning what I need to know from those who are willing to teach, Thank you.
-Arthur Scully

 

[louthunder]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Unfortunetly yes it is, and I did find out that all of the magnets in question were ceramics.
I have been playing guitar since I was nine years old, I never had the cash to care about things like this and now I do so I am learning what I need to know from those who are willing to teach, Thank you.
-Arthur Scully

Arther, We're all learning things everyday about amps, guitars, playing etc. The guy that asked,"Is this real?" is out of line. This is the place to come for any Questions you may have. Glad you're here, and by the way, the speaker you bought should work fine.

 

[scottish]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

awesome dude. glad its gonna work!!

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Thank you very much, is it hard to put in a speaker?
-Arthur Scully

Generally speaking, if you can use a screwdriver and can slide clips onto posts changing a speaker will be about as difficult as opening a coke can.


It hasn't been mentioned, but be sure you check the impedance of the speaker before you pull the trigger on a new one. You want to make sure they match. Some of them have the impedance stamped on them. It's probably a quick search on the net to look yours up if it doesn't. It's also a pretty simple measurement with a multimeter if all else fails.

Picking out the right speaker for you is definitely the most difficult part of this journey.

 

[elscorcho]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

I just wanted to put in a plug for Eminence they have many options, I've tried several they always sound great(always better than my expectations), and there tech service is great! Good Luck!

 

[aescully]

Re: The Best Speaker for my Amp

Alright here it is the Speaker Comparison. I have a more detailed description on the Youtube page at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZjfZVIq-g
But the general Idea is that the mic on the computer is pretty crappy (go figure) and before I broke in the speakers it was pretty hard to tell any difference. For the most part all of the settings are the same (which can be found on the you tube page listed above) but it does seem pretty obvious that the demo with the G-12 80 has alittle more pre gain (it was hard to get it to work the exact same at such low volumes)
Hope this is enjoyable and helpful!
-Arthur Scully
(appearantly I can't embed so once again the web site is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZjfZVIq-g )