JohnnyGuitar
New member
How do you build a speaker to be voiced as British or as American? Is it in the shape? parts? something beyond the understanding of mortals??
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The difference in construction between Brirish and American voiced speakers
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JohnnyGuitar
New member
Re: The difference in construction between Brirish and American voiced speakers
Anyone?
Anyone?
ginormous
Understatmentologist
Re: The difference in construction between Brirish and American voiced speakers
"British" voicing = the sound of Marshall, and all their clones
"American" voicing = Fender, and all their wannabes
For Fender, the original equipment speakers were made by JBL, Utah, Jensen, CTS, Eminence and a few others. Their emphasis was on durability. More often than not, especially from JBL, stronger roll surrounds (to stand up to the higher outputs) and aluminum dust caps (for the brighter top end, and also to better cool the voice coil) became common in the 60's. Ironically, Leo Fender's severe hearing problems made him emphasize the volume and high end on his amp designs from the beginning. His deafness inspired him to try and make others deaf!
For Jim Marshall, Celestion was the speaker of choice. A thicker, meatier sound, largely the result of heavier cone material and a paper/fabric dust cap. His amps became louder, because the musicians got into an "arms race" of volume with each other.
As the wattages of amps increased, so too did the speaker ratings, out of necessity. Before these changes, it was common to see a 4x12 with all the cones blown to hell after a gig. It still happens today, although it's more likely that somebody forgot to mute/standby the amp before unplugging his axe!
Building a speaker has many variables: the strength of magnets, the type of wire used in the voice coil (thin/thick, flat/round, etc.), the metal used in the baskets (stamped or cast, steel or aluminum), and so on. These are choices for the primary frequencies reproduced, and durability of wear. A home hi-fi speaker in a guitar cab? Fuggedaboutit!
"British" voicing = the sound of Marshall, and all their clones
"American" voicing = Fender, and all their wannabes
For Fender, the original equipment speakers were made by JBL, Utah, Jensen, CTS, Eminence and a few others. Their emphasis was on durability. More often than not, especially from JBL, stronger roll surrounds (to stand up to the higher outputs) and aluminum dust caps (for the brighter top end, and also to better cool the voice coil) became common in the 60's. Ironically, Leo Fender's severe hearing problems made him emphasize the volume and high end on his amp designs from the beginning. His deafness inspired him to try and make others deaf!
For Jim Marshall, Celestion was the speaker of choice. A thicker, meatier sound, largely the result of heavier cone material and a paper/fabric dust cap. His amps became louder, because the musicians got into an "arms race" of volume with each other.
As the wattages of amps increased, so too did the speaker ratings, out of necessity. Before these changes, it was common to see a 4x12 with all the cones blown to hell after a gig. It still happens today, although it's more likely that somebody forgot to mute/standby the amp before unplugging his axe!
Building a speaker has many variables: the strength of magnets, the type of wire used in the voice coil (thin/thick, flat/round, etc.), the metal used in the baskets (stamped or cast, steel or aluminum), and so on. These are choices for the primary frequencies reproduced, and durability of wear. A home hi-fi speaker in a guitar cab? Fuggedaboutit!
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