Best speaker / cabinet for an express

[Gibsonman63]

I am struggling with speakers for my express build. I am playing classic rock and blues, but toward the heavier side.

I would like to end up with a 1 x12 or a 2 x 12 cabinet for gigging.

Here is what I have been trying with my impressions:

4 x 12 Marshall cabinet with Vintage 30's - A little cleaner sounding than I like. Sounds great cranked, but a little too clean and Fendery at tolerable levels.

1 x 12 Cabinet with a Scumback 65W pre-Rola type speaker - In a sealed cabinet it sounds compressesed and spits out the speaker cable at any volume approaching half way up. With the Strat, that would be about 2/3 volume.

Same cabinet with an open back. I made a new back with enough opening to expose most of the magnet on the speaker. Seems to match my combos. - This one breaks up easily, but seems to have lost definition. I still need to play it somewhere other than my studio so I can hear it in a room that isn't as dead. In my studio, you won't get much out of the back.

2 x 12 sealed cabinet with Celestion Heritage speakers. Similar to the 1 x 12 cabinet, but not as compressed sounding and doesn't spit out the speaker cable. I think this is the closest I have, but there is still something lacking.

Not that I am complaining, this is still the best sounding amp I own. Being able to hear more detail is pushing me to really dial in my sound and I am just not quite there yet.

Suggestions? I have been considering an open back Avatar cabinet, but I am not sure which speakers to use.

[M Fowler]

1 x 12 Cabinet with a Scumback 65W pre-Rola type speaker - In a sealed cabinet it sounds compressesed and spits out the speaker cable at any volume approaching half way up. With the Strat, that would be about 2/3 volume.

Sounds like you better bend the jack's end pin connector some and port that cab.

Some like the 4x12 with 25w green backs.

[Gibsonman63]

I didn't mention it, but the 1 x12 cabinet has a port in the front. It is 3 or 4 inches in diameter. I took it apart and tightened the jack, but I guess the box is too small for what the amp can put into the speaker. It did the same thing with one of the Heritage speakers in there, maybe worse.

If I end up with a sealed box, I can always order speakon cable and connectors.

[Scumback Speakers]

1 x 12 Cabinet with a Scumback 65W pre-Rola type speaker - In a sealed cabinet it sounds compressesed and spits out the speaker cable at any volume approaching half way up. With the Strat, that would be about 2/3 volume.

Suggestions? I have been considering an open back Avatar cabinet, but I am not sure which speakers to use.

Time for a locking 1/4" jack. I've been putting these on all of my cabinets as of a couple months ago. No more jack puking out the speaker cable.

http://www.speakerrepair.com/mm5/mercha ... gory_Code=

[img:400:396]http://www.speakerrepair.com/ebaypics/j ... -f-400.jpg[/img]

[img:400:446]http://www.speakerrepair.com/ebaypics/j ... -b-400.jpg[/img]

Pretty sure you ordered the M75-LHDC (large dust cap) 16 ohm 65w model, correct?

[Gibsonman63]

Thanks for the suggestion, Jim. That's a much cleaner solution than the speakons and I can use the same speaker cables.

I believe that's the speaker I have I have it in a mid-eighties 1 x 12 JCM 800 Marshall cabinet, but it just doesn't seem like it is enough box for the speaker. The amp is pretty balanced overall, but I can get some serious umph out of it with just a little palm muting.

[Structo]

Wow that is crazy, I hadn't heard of a cab spitting out the plug before but it makes sense if there is enough pressure and that is the only opening.

I like the look of those connectors, I'll have to try some.

[rooster]

Sounds like you are running into the same issues I did. And I don't know exactly why this is. I think its about the speakers mostly but also about the amp and the way you hear things.

For example. A friend has a Sunn 4/12 cab, closed back cab loaded with V30s - it sounds great with the amp. Another friend has a Crate 4/12 closed back cab loaded with V30s - it also sounds great with the amp. OK, these are loud speakers and loud cabs and I wanted something a bit more vintage in effeciency. So I bought some Celestion 'EVH' Greenbacks, broke them in with a Variac, and put them in my Marshall 4/12 closed back cab. The speakers sound great in an opened back 2/12 cab, so I was really looking forward to hearing this added thump in the 4/12. It didn't happen. They sounded washed out. ?? It sounded like the amp was just overpowering the speakers actually. So I pulled the back off the cab and the speakers sounded great again.

OK, so now I am in the process of buying a piece of plywood for the 4/12 cab back, which I will port to taste, using a small router jig I have. (The jig removes about 16 square inches of material, and its shape is a rectangle that is rounded on both ends, FWIW.) I'll just start with a few holes/ports and play test it as I go along adding more ports, one by one, till I have the clarity and the thump I want. This is exactly what I did with a 2/12 cab and it sounds great with the amp. As to the cab you have with the port in front, this sort of mirrors the EV cab idea. I have learned that these designs work better with a MV in the amp, and also that a speaker with good bass is important - something like the EV12L actually.

Not much help here maybe, but I think the path/solution for you is to either get creative with your porting - as Mark said, too - or find a cab speaker combo you like and buy it or duplicate it. The good news is that the cab you CAN live with will pretty much make all amps sound good. I have learned this about the Express, yes. Which is kinda odd, eh? Somehow I always thought that a great amp, something as good as what the Express can do, would sound great into ANY speaker. It ain't necessarily so. Good luck on your speaker/cab search, BTW, its really important to get this right.

[Scumback Speakers]

I had the same jack puking out the speaker cable problem at the LA AMP Show last year when I lent two 4x12's to Metro Amp for demos. We finally had to duct tape them to the back panels.

I built three 4x12 cabs for Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) in March. He asked for the locking jacks, so that's when I found these at OCSR, and got 25 of them. They've worked well, and only stick out about 3/16" beyond the back panel. You just drill a 7/8" round hole, put them in, attach with two #4 screws 5/8" long and you're good to go.

[M Fowler]

three 4x12 cabs for Steve Stevens

Man Jim, I would love to have just one of your 4x12 cabs they are killer looking and I bet they sound good. I better get to an amp show to find out.

Thanks for the locking jack information I think I will start using those even though I can't say I have ever blown out a speaker cable in my life. I must need to play louder.

Mark

[Scumback Speakers]

three 4x12 cabs for Steve Stevens

Man Jim, I would love to have just one of your 4x12 cabs they are killer looking and I bet they sound good. I better get to an amp show to find out.

Thanks for the locking jack information I think I will start using those even though I can't say I have ever blown out a speaker cable in my life. I must need to play louder.

Mark

Mark, you're welcome for the locking jack info. As for the SS cabs, here's a pic Steve sent me from Moscow on the 1st night of the tour.

[img:533:800]http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/cabpics ... cabpic.jpg[/img]

The ray gun logo is custom artwork Steve already had, so I got it laser cut in purple and white for him to match the tolex.

I've blown many speaker cables out of cabs with Scumbacks, I'm sorry to say, and sometimes even bending down the connectors inside isn't enough to keep them in. That's why I finally went to the locking jacks, just a bunch easier than screwing around.

[M Fowler]

Great photo of one of my favorite artists doing a the Chuck Berry duck walk no less. Nice cabinet.

Chuck Berry was one of my most influential artists and Johnny Rivers on Midnight Special is how I learned bar chords as a kid.

[PlinytheWelder]

I have an Avatar Contemporary oversized 2x12 with a Scumback H55 and a H75-LHDC, both 100W that KILLS for rock tone. If you like greenbacks, these do it in spades.

Next, I want to get some Boogafunk 1x12 Thiele cabs and give a home to an EVM-12S and an Altec 417H that I have. That should work out nicely.

I also have a 4x12 with 2 EVM-12s's and 2 WGS ET-65's that I'm using on my Express clone now.

It can get very loud....!

[PlinytheWelder]

I like those locking jacks and will probably try them out...
Back in the 70's when I was doing sound in NYC we used Twist-Lock plugs and jacks like those used on generators to try and be fail safe. They worked really well, too.

[img:500:381]http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/496972/59 ... socket.jpg[/img]

[img:350:530]http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/496972/59 ... g_Plug.jpg[/img]

[Gibsonman63]

I have an Avatar Contemporary oversized 2x12 with a Scumback H55 and a H75-LHDC, both 100W that KILLS for rock tone. If you like greenbacks, these do it in spades.

Next, I want to get some Boogafunk 1x12 Thiele cabs and give a home to an EVM-12S and an Altec 417H that I have. That should work out nicely.

I also have a 4x12 with 2 EVM-12s's and 2 WGS ET-65's that I'm using on my Express clone now.

It can get very loud....!

Are you using an open or closed back Avatar cabinet? The oversized cabinet makes sense to me based on what I am hearing with my small cabinets.

[Ken Moon]

I have an Avatar 2x12 open-back cab, and I bought an extra closed back panel so I could compare.

With an Express, I really like a V30 (or the WGS V30 clone) and an Eminence Swamp Thang with the open back. The Swamp Thang is bassier and darker sounding and complements the V30 nicely. With a closed back, it sounds muddy and muffled. None of the speakers I tried sounded better with the closed back with the Express.

I should mention that the only speakers I tried in this cab were the V30, G12H30, WGS V30 clone, Eminence Swamp Thang, Governor and Wizard, in every possible combination.

A pair of G12H30s in the same cab is very nice for classic rock, but I like a bit more thump and sizzle, which the V30/Swamp Thang combo provides nicely.