The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

[Lewguitar]

I was extremely impressed with the new Eminence Patriot and Red Coat Series. So much so that I became an Eminence dealer.

The four that impressed me the most, and which I ordered for Lew's Guitars, were the Governor (think Vintage 30 but with smoother highs and deeper lows), the Wizard (think G12H30 but with smoother highs and deeper lows and more crunch/chunk than the Governor), the Texas Heat (possibly the ultimate 12 for high output Fender Blackface tone...it's kind of a blend of all of my favorite US made speakers from the 60's...but stronger and "better" than any of them!) and the Red Fang (think Celestion G12 Blue Alnico but smoother highs and deeper bass).

To me, even though the Governor ($89.99 street), the Wizard ($79.99 street) and the Red Fang ($149.99 street) use UK made cones and sound very, very much like the Celestion Vintage 30, G12H30 and G12 alnico blue they are an "improved" version of those speakers and seek to correct some of the complaints some people have voiced regarding Celestions...particularly the ice pick bright highs of the G12 (and sometimes the Vintage 30) and the lack of deep space in open back cabinets...the Eminence versions have smoother highs and more deep bass than thier Celestion counterparts.

They are great speakers!

Lew

 

[B2D]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Good things to hear from the Tone Yoda himself... and good meeting you at the Duncan Booth, btw! :wave:

 

[Sune]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Damnit, I want a Eminence Wizard equipped 2x12 cabinet :yell:

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Good to hear!! They are the best put there IMO. nothing beats their price.

I have two cabs loaded with them, my fave of the two has a Tone Spotter and a Swamp Thang. I put them in an old Gibson cab, far and way the best sounding cab I have ever owned. Huge, warm and open.

 

[joelap]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Hmmm... I'll have to consider them.

 

[loudriver23]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Lew,
I was wondering how the high end users here thought of Eminence speakers.
I have a Mesa Mark IV, and was wondering if the Texas Heat would be nice for this rig? Since it's a 112 combo I need a speaker that can handle the 85 watt output. Most speakers I've seen are like 30, 60, etc.. there are much fewer at 100, 120 150 etc...
Would you recommend the Texas Heat for my Mark IV?
Thanks,
Loudriver

 

[jdm61]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Lew...i just won a 50w plexi reissue on Ebay and I want to put together a 2x12....which of these speakers or combination thereof would you recommend?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Thanks guys!

And B2D, it was nice meeting you too! Even though I never got it quite straight that you were not "Mike"! Sorry about that...I kept seeing your name tag with "Mike" printed on on it. It's actually Brenden....right?

Another nice thing about the Eminence speakers is that they are MADE IN THE USA! (not China)

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Lew,
I was wondering how the high end users here thought of Eminence speakers.
I have a Mesa Mark IV, and was wondering if the Texas Heat would be nice for this rig? Since it's a 112 combo I need a speaker that can handle the 85 watt output. Most speakers I've seen are like 30, 60, etc.. there are much fewer at 100, 120 150 etc...
Would you recommend the Texas Heat for my Mark IV?
Thanks,
Loudriver

Yes, I was very impressed with the Texas Heat. I auditioned over a dozen speakers and the four I kept coming back to included the Texas Heat. It's a $60 speaker and a real steal and I did order four of them for my inventory although I probably won't have them for a week or two. It's a 150 watt speaker, BTW! No problem with power handling. It was my very favorite American voiced speaker, which to me means, less honk and crunch to the mids than the British voiced speaker. Lew

 

[loudriver23]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Yes, I was very impressed with the Texas Heat. I auditioned over a dozen speakers and the four I kept coming back to included the Texas Heat. It's a $60 speaker and a real steal and I did order four of them for my inventory although I probably won't have them for a week or two. It's a 150 watt speaker, BTW! No problem with power handling. It was my very favorite American voiced speaker, which to me means, less honk and crunch to the mids than the British voiced speaker. Lew

How is the bottom end?? THE EV Blackshadow is a little loose. Is the Texas a bit better?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Lew...i just won a 50w plexi reissue on Ebay and I want to put together a 2x12....which of these speakers or combination thereof would you recommend?

I'd go for the the Governor (like a Vintage 30 but deeper and smoother and more power handling) or the Wizard (like a G12H30 and compared to the Governor, a little lower in efficiancy and a little more crunch to the mids).

Players like me who love both the G12H30 and Vintage 30 have long felt that combining one of each in a two x 12 cab is the way to go. So you might like to do the same trick and combine a Governor and a Wizard for the best of both worlds.

Thanks! Lew

 

[B2D]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Thanks guys!

And B2D, it was nice meeting you too! Even though I never got it quite straight that you were not "Mike"! Sorry about that...I kept seeing your name tag with "Mike" printed on on it. It's actually Brenden....right?

Another nice thing about the Eminence speakers is that they are MADE IN THE USA! (not China)

LOL yeah it's spelled "Brendan" but hey 6 out of 7 aint bad! :laugh2:

Next year I gotta get my foot in the door early and get passes with my REAL name on them. :6:


As for the speakers, I had a Wizard Paired up with a V30 in my Trutone 2x12 but the cab blew up before I could really get an ear onto the things.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Hey Lewguitar - I want to replace the speaker someday on my Epiphone Valve Special 5watt amp. I was looking at the Eminence Red Coat 10" would that be a good choice?

Thanks!

 

[Curly]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

I listened to Lew test drive these speakers, and most of them sounded good to me. They had a switcher set up with quite a few cabs, so you could immediately A/ B all the speakers

I agree with Lew, the Texas Heat had a great clean sound, the Wizard and Governor had crunch and harmonics. I didn't get a good take on the Red Fang.

I was curious about the Cannibis Rex .. I meant to ask Lew to crank it, because I think these are known for a warm overdrive tone. I guess I partly want to know if hemp cones are really good, or just a gimmick.

our favorite 10 was the ragin cajun

Eminence has so many models now it's hard to keep track though. :smack:

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

I just picked up a Private Jack. I must say it has a nice warm focused midrange. Not a lot of low end thump in a open back cab,But no annoying ice pick highs . Just a nice round crunchy speaker. Because it's a 16 ohm speaker I was going to sell it. But I found the ext. output of my 2x12 is wired in parallel. The cab has 2 8 ohm speakers wired series/parallel. It always pissed me off I could never run a 8 ohm load into that cab. ( Most of my amps only run at 8 ohms) So now I just plug the PJ into the cab set at 16 and presto !! I've got a 8 ohm load.:dance:

 

[Mike M.]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Lew, what speaker would you recommend for a Marshall DSL 50? The treble on that amp needs some calming down. I tried a Cannibus Rex but I did'nt care much for it. The lows were'nt real defined and the mids seemed to have that "semi-barking, annoying quality to the ears" if you know what I mean.

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

I notice Eminence says the Texas Heat has a bit of British flavor even though it's in the Patriot line. I keep wondering how it would sound in an EL34 Brit-voiced amp?

 

[Quencho092]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

they probably mean that as in it has a bite to it, making it more compatible with hard hitting british tones.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

Thanks for the review, Lew. Great timing. I was just driving home from the supermarket, thinking about my upcoming Bogen PA-to-JTM45 project, wondering what to do about speakers, dreading paying big $$$ for a H30/V30 pair. Maybe I'll save some bucks and try a Governor/Wizard pair instead.

 

[wixedmords]

Re: The best speakers I heard at NAMM:

They are very good speakers Lew, I agree.

It is good to have more choices.