Speakers in Vox AC30

[Eggmann]

I have a newer Voc AC30cc2. I play an ES335, Strat, Tele and Dano 56u2 through it. I record original stuff in my studio but play in a side band doing very accurate covers of Cream, Led Zep, hendrix and other big guitar stuff from the late 60's/early 70s.

I am learning to like the AC30. It has the standard issue 8 ohm Warfdales. I would like to experiment with some other speakers I have. I am a little baffled on which ones would work best. The choice is between 2 (8 ohm) Jensen Alnico 5 p12N's with bradn new recones or 2 (16 ohm)Celestion G12M creambacks.

I will eventually get a pair of Alnico Blues, but not in the near future. Which set of speakers will get me closer to that sound?

Thanks for your input.

Doug

[Rolsen]

You should check out vintageamps.com for volumes of discussion on this very topic. Here's what I have (I've got an AC30 cc head) in my 2x12 Avatar cab: Weber Alnico Blue Dog and Celestion G12H30. Lotsa talk about keeping one Wharfdale in there and complementing it with an alnico of some sort. The best bang for buck is the Eminence Red Fang alnico. Weber is more expensive, and the Celestion Alnico Blue even more. If you really want to break the bank, get a Celestion Alnico Gold.

With my les paul equipped with SD Seth Lover PAFs through my vox setup, it always sounds very 'zep-like' to me.

[norton]

riveratv.com has a couple of pretty interesting speaker demo's at that address.

I'm no rivera fan or hater... but I love them for the really neutral speaker comparison they did. It prevented me from buying a speaker on "internet reviews" alone.


I'd recommend checking their clips before doing anything.

[KennyLusk]

You should check out vintageamps.com for volumes of discussion on this very topic. Here's what I have (I've got an AC30 cc head) in my 2x12 Avatar cab: Weber Alnico Blue Dog and Celestion G12H30. Lotsa talk about keeping one Wharfdale in there and complementing it with an alnico of some sort. The best bang for buck is the Eminence Red Fang alnico. Weber is more expensive, and the Celestion Alnico Blue even more. If you really want to break the bank, get a Celestion Alnico Gold.

With my les paul equipped with SD Seth Lover PAFs through my vox setup, it always sounds very 'zep-like' to me.

I'm a fan of Eminence speakers too and love them in Fender amps for tight bottom end and chimey high's on a Strat or Tele. But my Vox cambridge twin is loaded with Celestion Bulldogs and they handle a variety of voicings really well, from Strat to Archtop. My '67 Harmony Meteor sounds really beefy in the lows with the Celestions, the right amount of mud in the low-mids and offer a nice bite in the upper mids and high's when I crank the volume. They also breakup nicely when I need them to, very smoothly IMO. When I roll in a pair of Mullards for that "wooly" feel, you hear it. When I roll in NOS RCA's for a silky sort of hi-fi quality, you hear it. With a Vox amp I don't think you can go wrong with Celestion's. Haven't heard the Creamback's yet but Celestion always delivers what they say in their marketing.

And as Rolsen said, Gibby style buckers are just so wonderfully Pagey through a Vox with Celestions it freaks me out sometimes how fantastic the tone is when the guitar is just plugged straight into the amp. Really classy and substantial.

[Eggmann]

Thanks for all your insight.

Does anyone have any experience with Jensen Alnicos (p12n) in an Ac30?

[slowcentury]

I love the Alnico blues. I used to have an AC30 with the blues and it blew away the Warfdales. Honestly a night and day difference. I imagine greenbacks would sound pretty great in an AC30 too. Definitely check out the Weber speakers. Their build and sound quality easily rivals that of any other speaker company. They make super faithful recreations of some great vintage speakers at a reasonable price.

[joninc]

i got 1 red fang in mine and have been liking that a lot. thinking about trying a greenback to replace the other wharfdale for a diff tone.

[xhavepatiencex]

I have the warfies in mine, I love my the amp so much I have a hard time believing other speakers could make it much better. Though mine has a replaced OT and some other tweaks.

[lyman]

I have the warfies in mine, I love my the amp so much I have a hard time believing other speakers could make it much better. Though mine has a replaced OT and some other tweaks.

replacing the OT can make a huge difference, if it's a crappy transformer you're getting rid of.