This was the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Metal.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The Celestion Vintage 30 is quite possibly the world's most popular guitar speaker. Here's why it's been terrible for music.
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About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
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Hey Glenn!!! how about recording guitars with many room microphones?
I'm in the minority 😫
@@Dm3qXYthat’s coming!
Hey Glenn! Love your work! Your advice and knowledge has really upped my game in the production world! Kind of funny that you throw anything other than the Vintage 30 into this mix because I have quite the speaker for you to try! Have you ever recorded an EV12LM? Dude! These speakers are a game changers when it comes to tone! I have recorded, played live, and just straight jammed with these speakers. So at first what’s funny is that at first when you listen to these speakers they sound rather strange compared to Celestions, or any of the major brand speakers out there. At first when I was just jamming with them I didn’t like them, but the first time a Mic got introduced to them especially in a live or recording setting….dude that’s all you hear! Even in my band I’m the only guitar player that sonically shines unless the other guitar players in my band (I have 3 in my band including myself) unless the other guitar players really push their mids. Even then, they sound really thin. Recording them automatically (and dude I use a ribbon mic in the middle and an SM-57 towards the middle of the cone to the outer rim) it is HUGE! I don’t know what EV did with these speakers…but my god they sonically destroy everything else I’ve ever played or have jammed with ever since. They sound strange when you put them in a closed back extra big cab. In your ears they tend to push more low and mid range than high end, but in a mic….the BEST sound with minimal effort. I used to have trouble with my vintage 30’s capturing all my tiny nuances and sounding like a real guitar, but more in the moment type sound. I don’t know…it’s strange…but I definitely think you’d be blown away by these speakers. 300w per speakers and weighing in at 30 pounds per speaker…yeah it’s a heavy cab but so worth it! Would love for you to try out so EVLM’s and tell me what you think! Doesn’t matter if the amp is solid state or tube….sonically….youre the ONLY guitar player that will ever stand out…
Okay, I will subscribe, but be kind Glen, I am just a Bass Player ;)
I swear to God, if they start putting glowing LED lights on speakers to make cabs look like gaming computers, guitar players will suddenly give a shit about it.
That's legit a cool idea for a stage prop or a studio mood setter :D
I can imagine having your cab glow lots of red will look so metal :D
@@Mr.Goldbar Saw a local punk band that had lights synced to the guitars in their cabs
@@TitaniusAnglesmith that should be adopted by a major arena band if you ask me :)
@@Mr.Goldbar I did this on my bass rig, not to the speakers tho, but the 19" 6U rack case and it looks really nice on stage. I ran a LED strip around the inside of the front opening and also to the back, which eliminates the need for a flashlight if some connection fixing needs to be done.
Revv cabs light up 🤣
Hey All, Ignazio here from Jensen Speakers.
Glenn, this is by far one of the most enlightning videos made about speakers and their importance on the guitarist's tone. Very well done, thank you from the whole community!
And thanks to everyone who listened and commented on the Jensen Raptor tone.
Quick info: the Jensen Raptor is a 12", 100W, ceramic magnet, 2" voice coil, and it's designed to work well in either open, closed and ported cabs.
In our view, the speaker is SO critical because:
1) it's by far the most complex filter you can apply to your tone. Not even the most sophisticated EQ can mach the compexity of a speaker curve. Only an IR can come really close, but this introduces a whole new set of variables and opens a completely different discussion, so let's forget it for a second.
2) it's the very LAST filter in the signal path, right before your ears or your microphone(s). Everthing that happens before, is filtered and colored by the speaker. Guitar, pickups, pedals, amps, etc.
Therefore, experiment and test, with a good common sense and some sort of quasi-scientific approach, trying to exclude variables, as Glenn did.
And then play loud, rock hard and have fun. Sometimes a different speaker may be the perfect tool to reach the tone you always wanted to have.
Any curiosity, info, tech talk... feel free to hit me at anytime! I love sharing what I learned in all these years of guitar blasting!
It's refreshing to see a manufacturer here.
@@GruntPa101 Thank you! It's always super interesting checkin' out what the players think, like, use!
And if needed, it'll be our pleasure to go down the rabbit hole of tech talking!
I literally came to the comments to mention the Jensen. Lol glad to see you provided solid details and your word.
I changed speaker in my cheap Line 6 15watt practice amp to Jensen C8R and change in sound its huuge. Maybe higain sound its not the best(it's old Line 6 so we must excuse this plastic sound) but the crunch its really agressive. This cheap speaker loves power so when i add volume nearly 12 o clock its "breaking" and shows power like there is booster in signal chain. Speaker its louder than "Custom" Line6 speaker, crisper and have something in tone thats for me it's "live". Thats my thoughts after changeing my speaker to Jensen. Good job all good people in Jensen, next speaker will be something more metal and modern than C8R also from Jensen.
I'm liking those Raptors.
I think a lot of guitarists used to disregard speakers because we had a misconception that speakers were supposed to be neutral in sound.
Actually yeah, that was sort of the implication wasn't it? Differing volumes and quality levels, sure, and perhaps some tailoring to the amp they're build for....
But basically just a conduit to present the sound of the amp, was frequently implied if not stated.
that is confusing high-fidelity home audio systems, which is supposed to be "faithful", with amplification, which is intended to add character/personality.
Which is kind of hilarious really, if you've ever heard what's going into a guitar speaker..
That was me. For some hair-brained reason, I wanted to hear the amp's tone and not the cab's, so I hauled around a 4x12 loaded with EVMs for years thinking it'd give me an "uncolored pure tone". Then I tried a 1960BV cab and realized how much better it sounded.
Then guitarists are still at fault for mistaking 'flat response' studio monitors and guitar speakers.
I mean just play a recorded song through a guitar speaker instead of a HiFi speaker or studio monitor, it sounds like absolute garbage.
I worked that s**t out when I was still in my teens!!! this is not difficult stuff.
I was never truly sold on Glenn's theory until I actually did the tests. My friends & I spent days in my warehouse changing out speakers in various sized cabs & playing at high volume. The results were exactly as Glenn had said. Older amps gained new versatility through this & newer ones sounded even better than the manufacturers intended. Yes, it was crazy expensive to do & yes, I have a place to do it where volume is not an issue, but as a player with decades of experience who has never been very experimental with my tones, it was an eye-opening experience & has led to me swapping speakers in a lot of my modern amps in order to get the most satisfying tones. Remember, when companies are cutting costs to keep an amp at a determined price point, skimping on the speaker is one of the first places they go. It's good to have your preconceived biases tested in many aspects of life this way so that you're not just spouting bullshit that you've 'seent' on the internet..
I painted a Seymour Duncan logo on my cheap Amazon pick ups and my guitar tone looked so much better
😂😂
You probably wired them wrong and can't even tell.
I wrote EMG 81 on my Seymour Duncan JB, and now I can only play hardcore metal! 🤘
Thats very smart 😮
This video is incredible. So methodic, so informative, so objective - all the while being entertaining. This has been the pattern that has definitely taken shape over the last couple of years on this channel in my option. I am truly grateful for your work and have learned an immense amount from this channel. Absolutely stellar job - I don’t see any possible way this video could have been improved in any regard whatsoever. Just top notch work - well done and thank you!
What's always blown my mind - in my band - we work hard on our guitar sound, for live - so that the two rhythm guys complement each other, NOT cancel each other out - so after hours and hours of working on our tones to jive, live- we've ALSO discovered the speakers made all the difference. The funny part: when playing smaller venues - and other bands want to "share the back row" WITH OUR Cabinets... - then bitch when they've lost their sound - I just laugh and think of Glenn. He's right, no matter how hard some people don't want it to be true. hahaha..
You must be a very polite band ;)
Complement refers to something that completes something else, while compliment means a remark "especially in the form of admiration, esteem, or approval".
@kitko33 thanks for the English lesson. Fixed.
the whole guitar tone depends on a shit ton of things. Without any real experience i know that by simply being a fan of Dimebag Darrell, who had a huge amount of interviews, i think it is for a reason stated what amps he used, what strings he used, what effects he used, what kind of speakers, microphone And the microphone angle, as during a recording it all has an effect.
Complementing each others tones is a nice touch, i once wanted to make a rig with a doubler (again Dime influence), but a had 2 different amps (Randall Diavlo and Spark 40), so it was very hard to build a tone that would complement each other, so the use of 2 amps together sucked. This short story shows how difficult tone building is and it is even more difficult if we speak about 2 guitar players that would cumplement each other with their tones and at the same time, hopefully be somewhat different. Many people don't realise this "small" trick, which creates a huge difference in the result. Many great bands have this, out of my mind I can pick slayer, as kerry and jeff had slightly different tones, but not too much different, so they sounded amazing together. What is the name of your band? I would love to hear the way you sound? Also, where are you guys based, what country?
@@kitko33 TH-cam should have a button for us to click when someone is super helpful, you know a "value add" type of person.
@nicolaemira5726 It was a tough one - both used 5150III's and the respective speaker cabs. Different guitars, different pedal set ups - Just a lot of similar frequencies. We messed with all the settings, in the end, it boiled down to one keeping their cabinet and the other switching to an oversize mesa - then we zeroed in on who carried the chunk and who carried the definition - by adjusting mids and bass levels. We don't have our bass player a lot, as he works out of town - but we still sound great, live. I have a couple clips on the youtube channel of some live play, this passed halloween and summer - and our album is on bandcamp - which can be found in my community post. (I can't put a link in a comment for some reason) But we're a bunch of older dudes that do this for the fun and the music. Based out of British Columbia Canada. Burn It All.
Great video dude, this is so unbelievably overlooked… I guess speakers just aren’t sexy enough.
Although I feel compelled to point out that Galileo died peacefully in his home and was not tortured to death.
Love you bro, see you at NAMM
This had to have taken a lot of time, patients and effort. Much appreciation from this viewer. Thanks, Glenn!
Patience
@@eyedunno8462 These are musicians we're talking about here. Either one works.
@@eyedunno8462 No actually the participants in the study were patients in a hospital for guitar players with carpal tunnel.
I feel bad for the patients.
Glenn, because of you I bought several Mojotone speakers and I can’t believe how they changed my sound! I can’t decide which I like best so I built a 2x12 cab with a BV25m and a BV30. I love the combination with my Orange Rockerverb 50. I mic both speakers and blend them. I still have my vintage 30 Orange 2x12 cab so I have many options now. I plan on ordering some other brands to try other combinations. My live sound is way more interesting now.
The worst thing to happen to metal players and players in general is guerrilla marketing tactics. People worry about spending too much time spending money instead of practicing and they wonder why they sound like ass? Here’s a hint: It’s not the amount of dollars you spent.
Gear should only be a tool to achieve your music ideas.
Tone is in the practice.
Yeah, but my guitar’s wood is super rare and you probably never heard it. Doesn’t that make my tone superior?
Guerrilla marketing not only affects metal players. The sheeple in general have fallen for the lies of Guerrilla marketing. As proven by the number of people that fell for the lies of the governments of the world and the pharmaceutical companies and lined up to get their jab. 🤷🏼♂️
@skratchrapture Speakers. It is in the speakers.
The pioneer era of metal aka the 80s was a great time to be alive because "the metal sound" had yet to be discovered, and every band still had it's own unique sound.
Like metal isn't from the 60's.
very true. There were also more guitar players and less resources, so experimentation in volume was a natural result to stir the pot up.
@@flacidhouse350 metal is not from the 60s, what a weird thing to say.
@@mat.b. Well it's something people who know what they are talking about would say. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple. Get a clue kid.
@@flacidhouse350 literally no one would say that. You can't just list 70s rock bands and pretend you have a clue. 🫴✨
Its a tough one between the WGS reaper and the Hesu demon, they both did something in the high end that I really liked.
That Reaper cuts like a sushi knife in a lead context, without any need for additional volume
Can confirm the WGS reaper goes hard
WGS Reaper was so good!
I learned that the speakers make all the difference for any audio back in the '70 when building my first component stereo system. Risley Audio had a wall of all the speakers they sold in their sound room, Klipsk (sp?) through JBL's, and would put on ELP Trilogy's, From The Beginning and switch between speakers. The difference was amazing!
There is a reason Studio Monitors are used in studios, accurate reproduction.
Frank Zappa even went to the extreme to mix one of his albums using the most commonly sold speakers of the day, one of JBL's. But of course with the compression inherent in Vynal records it failed to reproduce accurately.
Great Video!
I remember those walls. It was like the only time it was ok to go around pushing all the red buttons. Push the button, sample the speaker.
This concept was everywhere by the 1990s. Now it's gone.
One of the most important guitar recording videos, period. Between this, the cab irrelevance for close mic'ed heavy guitar, and the high degree of insignificance when it comes to pick up choice, you're killing it, Glenn! Great job, keep up the good work and keep up the best attempt at scientifically investigating claims! ❤
Adding a Vintage 30 in the sound test would have made it complete and once and for all let people hear the differences to this popular speaker.
My guitarist swears by Jensen. He wants nothung to do with Celestions because "everyone else" uses them.
Watch the video. Let me know what you think of the Jensens
I’ve got a Jensen Tornado Stealth 65, and love it. The neodymium magnets make it so much lighter, as well; the V30 I’ve got next to it feels twice as heavy, and not in the musical way.
@@SpectreSoundStudios Why ask me? As you can see, I'm a bassist, so Rule #2 applies.
lol
I'm all over the Jensen speakers. I am considering checking them out as an addition to my rig. I don't really know too much about these things as I go to the shop with my head and play through whatever bass cabs they have. If there's one I REALLY like, I get it home to A/B against my curent.
Could you do a bass speaker shoot? I've been using, pretty much the same rig for about 9 years, now and would like to hear what's out there without spending $200 a pop.
Even within the celestion brand there are so many different colors of speaker sounds. I have many amps and many speakers, there is no best speaker for guitar.
Thank you for the demo of the band playing with different speakers. I'm interested in trying out which ones I'll like the most. I only wish the clip was longer with more of the rhythm comparisons
Hi Glenn, how did you preserve the exact same mic position after the speaker swap? I think backloading would be better for this purpose. Or did you remove the cab entirely, and after the swap, you placed the bottom to the exact spot? The position and the distance of the mic to the speaker are some of the variables that should also be fixed, cause an inch shift can change the sound quite noticeably.
This!
Great video! One remark though on the front loading cabinet if I may. A lot of speakers have foam or other isolation material on the front. When you use those in a front loading cabinet, you should put some isolation material on the back between the speaker and the baffle. Otherwise you'll have the metal rim of the speaker vibrating directly against the wood of the baffle without some kind of buffer.
I have a 2x12 that used to have a V30 and a Lynchback, mic'd with a SM57 and a ES906.
Got a pretty individual sound.
Swapped out the V30 with a Greenback, lucky enough to find a guy that wanted a V30 and had a Greenback and it sound pretty cool imo.
Also made mixing a little easier, as I wasn't fighting the top end from the V30.
I love the sound of the lynchback, but they’re so hard to find, now.
Friend of mine has been telling me it’s the speaker for well over ten years, couldn’t understand why he had dozens of speakers everywhere in his house, until I decided to try out something to replace the 70/80 Speaker that came in my DSL20C. Amazing how much things changed in tone. Settled on a Creamback Neo. Huge difference in tone. And I’m not a metal player. Classic Rock, Blues, Country, and many odd 80’s cover tunes in my bar band. Learning speakers sound different depending on the amp type, cabinet size, and open/closed/ported cabinets opens a lot of possibilities for me. Appreciate what you’re bringing to the table here.
The Neo Creambacks are amazing!
I tend to go with a brighter speaker, like the greenback or cream back. I don't play modern metal, but do play a lot of 70's-90's metal. The amps I use tend to have more mids, as opposed to modern metal players using less mids and compensating with the vintage 30 mid hump.
Ever tried Jensen? For me, the two Jensen speakers I bought were the best gear purchases I ever made.
The V30 is way brighter than the creamback. The v30 accentuates the upper mids where the greenback / creamback starts to roll off
I put an eminence Texas heat in my Peavey bandit red stripe. Man I love that sound. I get compliments on my playing through that amp all the time. Phenomenal. Thanks Glenn for the hard work you do. I wish guitar players would just say 'I bought it because I wanted it.' Then we could all get on with our lives.
Has to sound fudging amazeballs..I'm a Peavey guy I have a few silver stripes. Ultra and bandit..KILLER
When do guitar players say I bought it cuz I "didn't" want it?? tf?
Hey Glenn. Have you ever considered releasing IR's for all these different speakers? I know that myself and a lot of other guitarists would love to have access to these types of speakers for plugins and modellers
second this, I'd fork up some cash for that!
I once experimented with a P-bass, MXR compressor, an un-modded 1971 Fender Champ, and a few different 8" speakers. For the purposes of the test, all knobs were set to 10, and the test took place in an old Amish barn. The EV 8" dual cone (can't remember the model) was the only one that could handle the beating and it.just.sang, it was glorious!
since your early videos about the speakers and the good replacements for the V30, I have installed a Hesu Demon in my 1x12 Mesa Cab (Cab from 2012 - I think the version you categorised as bad) early last year. Best decision ever! the sound difference is just incredible! Thanks again for all the videos you do to inform us even if it goes against some hard beliefs we have regarding tonewood, speakers, pickups etc.!
So I have a Hesu 2 x 12 cab with the Demon speakers fitted as you’d expect and that lives in my home studio. For band rehearsal and live a have a Peavey Valveking 4 x 12 (cost me £21) with whatever standard speaker it comes with and never really thought about the difference as the volume used in each environment is so different I didn’t really notice a difference. Until I brought my Hesu to band rehearsal! Oh wow, the whole band noticed the difference in sound. I’m now going to swap out at least two of the Peavy speakers for Hesu Demons! Awesome video Glen!!!
All of them sounded great!
There's something so right about the Mojotones that made me prefer it over the others. The Jensens had some annoying frequency I can't really tell, and the rest of them sounded very similar. I would love to see them compared to the more popular Celestions just as a reference point, if someone prefers the V30s over all of these more power to them, at least they're informed :)
The mojotone greyhound speakers sound sick. SO do some of the WGS speakers like the Veteran & Retro 30.
I agree, the Mojotones really had an excellent sound to them. I also liked the Celestions quite a bit. Mojotone is an extremely underrated company imho - their pickups are incredible too. I even prefer them over the excellent Lollars and Fralins I've had, when it comes to clean tones.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to do the hard work for the benefit of us all. Know you are appreciated!
Episode idea. I think this would be useful us metal heads.
Which pick ups rejects the most noise under high gain?
This is a sick idea dude
Actives.
My guess is actives and particularly Fishmans, as they're a PCB design instead of copper wire.
EMGs are also a guess of mine, as they're so quiet you don't even need to ground them
@@Mr.Goldbar My guess would have been EMG's as well. I have them in two of my telecasters that I use for metal. They are quiet but not completely quiet. Glenn has convinced me there is no real tonal difference between pick ups under high gain application. What we all fight though is noise. Is there a pick up out there that reigns supreme in combating noise? Might be a useful test. I'd do it myself but I do not have the resources, time, or frankly needed skills to be swapping an array of pick ups.
Lace Alumitones are almost zero noise as well.
Speaking of speakers, I've just acquired a pair of Kali LP-8s to replace my smaller KRK Rokits. I also learned the very basics of REW and found a couple of resonances in my room, managed to tame them a bit and wow does everything sound so clear 3D now. The separation of sounds is something I've yet to have worked with and I can actually hear the changes I'm making to my mixes!
Glenn, recently David Maxim Micic made a video explaining why speakers matters the most in a guitar tone. Perhaps you can collab with him or make some references to his video? Maybe then other guitar players will be much more open minded to accept this truth when they hear it straight from a very talented guitarist.
Big fan of DMM and thought that video he did on speakers was absolutely fabulous. Definitely made me think of Glenn and his quest as well to show how speakers are the true tone shifters. A collab would be absolutely amazing to see!!
@@happycadaver His demos, explanations and examples with the closed vs open backed cabs were brilliant. I do believe a lot of people will change their mind if they hear it straight from any musicians that they respect. Glenn is Glenn and people who refuse to accept him as a great audio engineer will never listen to his advice. Having someone like DMM onboard should help.
DMM is one of these modern progressive players many bedroom guitarists like, I'm curious to see how him and Glenn will vibe together :D
Many weeks ago I said that metal tones are now all the same, no one listened to me. Now you do a video on it. I can even hear the difference on my crappy TV speakers and on headphones it's massive.
Hi Glenn,
This is a long one, so strap in 👀
A quick crash course in T-75 history, it's worth noting that they've had several iterations that all sound different, like the V30 (original Marshall Vintage, made-in-UK "Mesa" V30, and the 2004+ made-in-China) the sound of the T-75s over the years has changed, around the same times as the V30.
Essentially there are 3 main variants of the T-75:
- The original 80s JCM800 spec, well loved and had the plain "white" label (some had vented magnets but this arguably doesn't affect anything)
- JCM900 spec, the first with the white+black stripe label, made in the UK, far less popular than the original. This was the variant Kristian Kohle used in his scathing video on the T-75
- Current production made in China. Even more gravelly and obnoxious sounding
A while ago I picked up a white label version from the 80s and I'm using it in my 1x12 DSL at the moment. It sounds so much better than the modern made version, and works well with mid-strong Marshall tone stack. Obviously it's a Celestion from the 80s so it's a bit thinner than the V30 and the Green/Creambacks and needs to be treated differently.
If you're going after classic 80s T-75 tones, it's definitely worth looking for an old one. If you really can't find one, the Eminence Man-O-War is meant to be based on the original T-75, or G12-65/Classic Lead 80 will be the closest things within the current Celestion family, and sound good in their own right.
I also found a recording someone made that showing the differences between the old/new:
th-cam.com/video/yeBu08KT2QY/w-d-xo.html
Hope this helps, and good luck in the eternal quest for tone!
@@Danielrguitar92 yeah I agree they're not as dreadful as their popular opinion, though they are quite hard to tame.
The next step on from "tone is in the speaker" is understanding what tones are in what speakers, and how to get the best out of each. Most reviews and comparisons I see where people bash speakers is when "Speaker X" is treated identically to a reference V30, and then being disappointed that they don't sound better than a V30, without stopping to think what else it brings to the table, or if an EVH/Recto (EQd for a V30) boosted with an SD1, and an SM57 square on the cap might not be the perfect compliment for everything.
For people in a creative industry, musicians sure lack creativity when it comes to their way of working
Lots of thoughts on this video. I was just getting into production during the golden hour/dusk of the Sneap forum. Andy Sneap was still posting on it. some random guy was doing free guest solos on records (who turned out to be Per Nilsson), Colin Richardson was sharing his GML8200 settings, Mark Lewis his 6505 settings and his parallel EQ chain on a Black Dahlia Murder recording. I also was learning from early modelers about tone, and specifically the GNX3000, and found myself gravitating towards two cab models called "Grnb412" and "Fane412". My first introduction to speakers being different.
The T75 can be really good, but it's very much a "fix in the mix" type of speaker from impressions reading forums and my experiences. One of the things I remember seeing on the Sneap forum was the Sm57/421 duct taped together, pointed right in the middle, and low passing the hell out of it. I believe I recall Andy doing impulses responses on the cab that he did Dead Heart In A Dead World with (I believe a 1960 with T75s)
The Sm57 is also a cliche in my opinion. Changing a mic can have a profound affect on the recorded tone. I don't think the Sm57 is the best mic for all speakers (for me, anyway). I really like the heil Pr20 on v30s for example, but hate it on Greenbacks.
As a strict guitarist who never bought into the hype of pickups and tone wood , your videos have bright me joy and new areas to look into with buying gear. Than you good sir.
As someone who uses DV77’s live and in recording for my band, I completely agree. Now I’m thinking of getting a couple of those HESU Demons to pair with the DV77’s. Great video Glenn! Keep up the good work! It’s much appreciated!!
Damn really liked that fat snare sound :) To me the combination of sounds from all sources is where it's at. Doesn't matter if your guitarsound is the greatest ever if your drums sounds dull or the bassplayer plays crappy you are out of luck. Now I would point out that I'm a live sound engineer and as such I usually have to take into account whether it's a large stage compared to a club gig. But it boils down to the ability of the musicians to recognize the different scenarios and set the sound of their own gear accordingly. A full blast 100Watts amp in a small club will only make life HELL for everyone involved except the mindless guitarist. I could go on forever about this but you get the point.
I don't know how people don't get it.
I went to Guitar Center and played an Orange Super Crush through an Orange cab and it sounded awesome, but I could only afforded the combo version of the amp and when I played it at home it didn't sound anywhere near as good as the head and cab, and that was when I learned that the speaker in the cab was a V30 and the combo had a G12K-150 in it, and after some TH-cam speaker comparison videos, I knew that the speaker is DEFINITELY the biggest part of your tone.
How other people don't know that is just beyond me...
I have an Axe-FX (I'm one of those, Glenn, 😉) and I once looped a riff and cycled it through all the amp models and then all the IR's. The latter by far gave me the greatest changes in tone. I'd say get a large selections of IR's, loop a riff and see which IR you like best, and then try the corresponding speaker.
GENIUS!!
That is actually exactly how I discovered that I am a really big fan of the Celestion Creamback. By far my favorite Celestion, with the Greenback being an almost close second.
After I bought my very first tube amp I had to find a cab for it. I came across a 212 with WGS Reaper HP's (as it turned out much later) without knowing anything about speakers and all the stuff. Friend of mine told me "It's not vintage 30's but sounds good". I nodded as if I understood what he was all about. So I plugged in and strummed a couple of chords and thought to myself "well, thats heeeeeeeeeeaaaaavyyyy" - and bought it. I 've changed quite a bit of amps, but that cab is still with me and I am more than happy with what it does all these years. And even in the video I liked wgs more than the others. Lucky me, I guess =) Anyway, thank you Glenn for what you are doing. Wish your videos were available years ago when I was a newbie )) In the very beginning due to lack of experience we tend to make mistakes and lose time and money chasing stupid phathoms. Now with your videos it has become much harder to. Well, provided that you are not a complete moron
In this mix the hesu demon seemed super balanced and open on the top end. Also really liked the dv77 quite a bit. Would be cool to see it against the v30
the Hum-No was a lifesaver in my home studio - for some reason I got the worst freaking ground hum from my nearfields and I couldn't fit the Morley Hum Eliminator where I was plugging in. The "in-the-cable" design of the Hum-No was perfect.
5 of my favorite speakers ever. And tbh I think a lot of people are experimenting with more than V30s, as I’m in a shit ton of groups and a lot of people are experimenting with DV77s and I love it. I also blame Kristian Kohle for that hahaha
BTW that mix sounds incredible!
Switched to a dv77 impulse as my main a few years ago and i love it. And yeah, i found out about this speaker from him )
GLLLEEEENNN!!! Still always lovin your content brother!! I'll just say right out, I've always used my cab and speakers for TONE and pickups to give me different responses with that tone. Being a tech for over 15 years has taught me one thing, THE PRACTICE AMP I ALWAYS TEST MY WORK WITH ALWAYS SOUNDS THE SAME PEOPLE!! When changing out pickups, shit tons of metal rigs, I have learned that the same amp always had the same tone but the response, like achieving squeals and chugs easier from the different RESPONSES of the pickups, was what would change on the guitar. Getting more or less high or low end "response" out of the pickup is the height of the poles to the strings changing how the pickups respond to the waves of the strings at different levels. This is compared to the poles acting like a mic in front of a speaker cab, different distance and angle will pickup the "same" waves the strings are producing while reacting to different areas of the waves at different positions. And I'm sorry to all the "tone wood" lovers out there, but a Duncan SH-1 "59 Model" pickup sounds exactly the same in an Epiphone as it does a Gibson......
The amount of work Glen puts in his videos tho 😯😍
That Reaper really surprised me. Might be a worthy replacement for my Celestion G12T-75 that I don;t much care for these days.
Several years back, I purchased a $90 Vox VR15 (obviously NOT metal, but I use it pretty much wide open) and promptly blew the 8" Jensen that came in it. I don't like anything of mine to be like other guitarist, so I decided to pull the head out of the amp and build my own cab to house the head a new 12" speaker with a higher wattage handling. A buddy brought over several speakers, including Celestions Green Back and Vin 30, a very old Peavey Scorpion (if memory serves). I had a Carvin 10" (sounded a lot different and pretty cool!), an Eminence The Governor, and another 12" that escapes me now. I was playing my '95 Strat (single coils) and the differences were HUGE! At one point, I told him that I was listening with my eyes and asked if he would swap the speakers without me seeing what I was playing. We did that and I settled on the Eminence, hands down. Speakers are EVERYTHING! Thanks for your channel, I've learned a lot!
Much more noticeable difference than pickups make. I liked the DV-77 the best.
When it went to the Hesu Demon, I recognized some of Ola's tone.
Great video Glenn. I am using the Green Backs in my 2x12 cab and I love them. Even for higher gain. Great explanation on how the speakers change the tone the most significantly. Just like with car audio. It’s crazy how most people ( even musicians ) can hear a difference in your car when you swap out the factory speakers for better once, but can not grasp the concept that this same tonal shift is what is happening in a speaker cabinet for a amp. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family
I worked for Celestion USA back in the early 90s. We sold a lot of Vintage 30s even then. I found two things make a big difference in a speaker's sound. The first was the size of the magnet, the more gauss in the gap the stronger your motor. The other was the cabinet, IIRC Vintage 30s were a good combo speaker (open back cabinet), but Greenbacks were better in a 4 x 12. It may be all different now. I just know that when I replaced the G12T-75 in my Marshall combo with a Classic Lead 80 (56 oz magnet vs 36 oz) I suddenly had an amp the had warmth and bottom. I haven't worked for Celestion in 30 years, so no dog in this fight. By all means try the Jensen or Eminence or whatever.
Thanks for sharing!!
Really awesome video! Really well informed and great breakdown and examples. I really enjoy the lecture style of videos you do, the brief history of where we came from to where we could be and why. The strongest statement you said in this video is "Start thinking like and engineer, not a guitar player." I love that train of thought.
I remember working as an engineer on a project years ago, during a session the client turned to me an said (paraphrasing as it was many moons ago), "If you can't push one button and make this sound profession, we'll go somewhere else..." I think it was this day I started mixing and editing without the musicians in the room. You main statement reminded me of this.
Great work Glenn, really informative and entertaining. I can only begin to imagaine how much effort has gone into this one. Any chance of the Get Evidence Roundtable making an appearance again? - some fascinating discussions in those!
I'm just a hobby musician (loving prog metal, djent ...) but I strongly support the notion that cabs and speakers make a significant difference with regard to the outcome at the end of the signal chain. If I had to make a ranking I would say 1st Amp, 2nd speakers/cabs und 3rd guitar. Currently I'm using - among others - four different cabs with V30 speakers (Diezel 2x12, Diezel 4x12, Mesa Road King and Harley Benton 2x12). The differences between them are remarkable, but not in the sense of better or worse. They are just different. The cheap Harley Benton for example excels (IMHO) when bringing slightly distorted tones to shine.
Very cool video. I wouldn't mind also hearing a comparison of how those speakers sound with a bit cleaner tones, though I understand this is not the focus of this channel.
With many (most?) guitarists these days recording with cab sims, experimenting with speakers has become much easier and I would hope this will eventually lead to more varied tones. My personal discovery made thanks to the cab sims has been that if it's the midrange of the Vintage 30 that you are after, but you don't want the typical V30 tone, then 10 inch speakers can be a very interesting alternative.
The DV-77 is easily my favorite speaker and has been since it released, and I've used basically nothing else. I've done some of these comparisons as well, with a few of the same speakers like the hesu demon and the reaper. That being said I don't care if everyone is using v30s, or anything else, as long as their tones are good. It comes down their style and songwriting. I use DV-77s for literally everything I do, blackened death metal, old school death metal, doom metal, thrash, whatever, because it sounds great for high gain all around.
I think the issue isn't the gear, I think the issue is not using v30s, I think it's bands not separating themselves and all doing similar things musically. The last Goatwhore album was done with v30s according to Sammy, and that record sounds entirely different from Periphery's releases, which also sound entirely different from all of the modern Exodus albums which are done with v30s, and so on. Stop harping on the gear so much and focus on good and cool song writing, and as always, good riffs.
Absolutely love your work, Glenn. Quick question for you as I value your opinion on such a topic the most- I know this video was specifically for speakers that AREN'T Celestion, but I was curious what your thoughts were on other Celestion products? I know Iommi used seventy 80s at one point, Kirk Hammet has a signature Randall cab with rocket 50s I believe, and I really enjoy the sound of my Kustom q412a which came factory-loaded with celestion super 65s. After seeing this video I'm extremely tempted to swap the speakers in my Randall RG412 to Jensen Raptors. The factory speakers sound fine, but "fine" isn't good enough. Please keep up the awesome content! 🤘
Wow Glenn amazing information and you presented it with such professionalism! I’d love to just be able to hang around your studio while you work to try to soak up some of your knowledge. My views on gear have changed drastically since I’ve been watching your videos. I use to worry about all the wrong things like tone wood and pickups. I actually did my own speaker challenge between a Celestion 75 and a Reaper 75 HP and what a difference. I sold the Celestion and I’ve been playing my Orange Super Crush through the Reaper and will never look back! Thanks 😁
The thing no one talks about is, the amp and speaker will change how you PLAY.
With hypothetical rig A, you may dig into the strings more and palm mute higher.
With rig B you might palm mute soft and let notes ring out a bit more.
Man I loved the Sneap forum back in the day. Helped me out so much. I remember seeing you, Ola, Ermin and many other greats on there posting some great advice. The area where you could post your mixes and get feedback was such a great learning tool, haven't found anything like it since.
Thanks for all the work, Glenn!!!
Thanks Glenn, great video! Totally guilty of expecting pickups to add the secret sauce to my sound but my ears were opened when I didn't take my own cab (Vintage 30 and Creamback 75H loaded) and I used the house cab in a rehearsal space we rented....totally different. was a beaten up Marshall 4x12 fuck knows what it was loaded with but it sounded mega. For all I know it could have been loaded with G12's/greenbacks/something else. Using a different cabinet and speaker does change your sound way more than a pickup swap ever would...I liked the Jenson speaker in this video.
Great demonstration and a point well made. Thank you Glen. However…
may I ask you to do it all over again in order to demonstrate compliance/resonance vs damping. I suspect this will have an even bigger influence on the way a guitarist performs than frequency response does. Some speakers feel spongy (or one might say “smooth”) because of poor damping, and others feel more responsive, because of better transient response (I suppose this could be described as the mechanical equivalent of slew rate). It’s a more difficult thing to objectively test for, but I’m sure your up for the task.
I built a new Marshall mg412 empty cabinet and filled it with 2 Eminence dv-77 and 2 Celestion vintage 30's and insulated the back panel lightly. I'm 46 y/o and have owned at least 50 different Cabs in my life easily. My current setup is IT for me. I have a PRS Archon 50 mk2 head and and run a Pepers Dirty Tree and I have never had a better sound in my career. Never. From Metallica (old and new) to Pantera to Tool, it does it all. A big change I made is installing an EMG 57 in the bridge of my Schecter Hellraiser. My search for versatility and robust hard, razor sharp sound is done. Now maybe I can enjoy playing.....lol. Awesome Channel!!
Hey glenn!! Love your videos - they have taught me more about "what matters" as far as tone goes and what doesn't than anything else I've read or watched.
If you happen to see this comment maybe you can help me out - I have 3 Amps on hand (will be 4 tomorrow!) - a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, a Fender 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb, a Marshall DSL40C and (arriving tomorrow), a Vox AC30C2 - the one with 2 12" Celestion G12M greenback speakers. I also have the matching 1x12" Fender Deluxe cabinet for the Hot Rod Deluxe, which I am actually using with the 65 Deluxe Reverb right now in a stereo configuration with the Hot Rod Deluxe (left is Deluxe Reverb+ Cab, Right is Hot Rod Deluxe). Right now, while I don't have friends who are interested in or motivated enough to learn an instrument so I could potentially form a band, I'm stuck trying to learn as many of my favorite songs as I can. These range from lots of things with very clean tone (The Allman Brothers, Phish, etc.) to things that have some pretty heavy tones (Led Zepplin, The Who, Tool, etc.). Oh and just for the record my guitar is a Fender American Ultra HSS Strat (Artic Pearl just like the one I've seen in your hands in some of your videos - I changed out the tortise shell pick guard for a Pearloid white guard, otherwise it has the all the stock Fender bits and pieces)
My question for you is this - with my 1x12" cab and the Vox, I can ostensibly have 2x12" speakers pushing air on both sides. Do you have a recommendation of what speaker(s) I could use to get the best of both clean and heavier sounds? Are the Celestion greenbacks worth keeping in the Vox? Any information at all you could give me to point me in the best possible direction would be greatly appreciated!! I'd be happy to read anyone else's opinions as well!! Thanks!
This is great! This lets me know that my 10 year quest to get the tone I got from a borrowed cab at a gig, was not in vein! Turns out, it was the speaker NO ONE wanted to suggest to me, as most people dismiss it, and hate it, due to it's top end roll off. The Celestion G12M-70. The Vintage 30 is awesome, but it's not everything. Anyone that has used a V30, and recored with one, knows the mid range "shelf" they have, that you need to turn your amp up louder, to get over. And sometimes that "shelf" can just get annoying over time. Thanks for the recording of some other speakers to check out!
You promised this video a while back and you definitely delivered. Everything measured, all tests only changing by one variable (the speaker) and a great range of said variables. Great job! I would’ve loved to hear the Hempbacks you were talking about earlier, but this will more than do.
Wanted to show you don’t have to use Celestion for a great sound!
I'm so glad to hear your opinion on the V30. Because I've hated the V30 since I've ever heard it! It's bright and harsh to my ears. Can't stand it.
What I DID fall in love with, is actually the Mesa Black Shadow Custom 90 by Celestion. Much smoother and doesn't wear my ears out. I special ordered a Mesa Trad Slant with those C90s and love it. Curious to know if you've ever used one and your opinion? I'd love to get a mic specifically matched for that speaker if you have any opinion on it. Thanks! 👍🏻🤘🏻
hahaha great use of that UHF clip
Edit: do you have videos about mic'ing cabs? I'm seeing y'all pros w/ condenser microphones right up to the grill, and I'm curious to see your interface/DAW settings vs settings when using something like a 57. Cheers!
The other John Browne did a really great video on V30's, which shows that even the same kind of speaker can sound vastly different from another. So I get your point about 'every guitar tone sounds the same today' , I agree about that. But I dont think it's the speaker that much, as it is more in the whole todays standard on making heavey music: tons of highly saturated gain, same kind of production for the mix (super modern, mainly Plugins with presets, overcompressed drums, shrill Vocals, etc.), and youtube guys telling you 'HoW To GeT A KeEeEwL MeTaL GuiTaR SoUnD!!11' (No pun on you intended). I think all this stuff results in a very similar idea for many different people in what a 'good high gain tone' is supposed to be like.
Glenn, I missed the part where you explain that guitar speakers are sound producers, not reproducers. The way they are driven, i.e. level & attack, introduces dynamic harmonics that form the "colour" of the sound. Just like how picking & strumming changes the tone depending on how hard & where you pluck the string. So, the musicians who really gets to know their setup & how to pull the sounds they want have the advantage.
Also, a single frequency response at some nominal 95dB at some distance to compare drivers just gives a snapshot from a single perspective in the frequency domain. And that assumes that your measurement setup is truly reproducible. Have a look at the waterfall plots available in REW to get a sense of how frequencies ring over time.
Thanks & keep up the great vids & supporting the Kali guys.
Glenn! This was a great video to show the differences between some great speakers, but can we ever hope to see some 10" speakers? I've heard some of the stoner bands have gotten their tones by using a Fender DeVille 4x10 combo. I got my hands on a pair of old Marshall 1965 4x10 cabs, and for us old farts it's nice to have a smaller, lighter cabinet whether we're lugging our gear to a gig or moving stuff around in the studio. I'm also thinking that adding in 10" speakers will just be more colors in our palette. Back in June I caught Yob's show in Boston and walked up to Mike Scheidt after their set and said, "What, no more Monson guitars?" because he was playing a Dunable Gnarwhal that night, and he said, "Why limit yourself to the 8 pack of Crayolas when you can have the 64 pack?"
As someone who plays a digital rig (helix) this is all so obvious. Changing your IRs is a massive change. More dudes need to sit down and at least play with a digital set up and actually demo some of this gear, at least virtually before forming opinions, because vast majority of guitarists simply parrot bullshit they read online.
Great and very much needed video! Not that much of a metal guy and I adore a lot of the "cliche" sounds, but most of them were incorporated into some of the best rocknroll records in history, by greatly dedicated innovative and intelligent artists. In my opinion, the sound is firstly in your brain. Just play your part and experiment with the signal chain to decide what speaks best to you. I believe tone comes from guitar and amp, but the SOUND is pretty much 100% speaker. As for the topic - got rid of all the V30s I had in my amp as soon as I realised that. Greenbacks and Creambacks are the go to for me now.
GLENNNN!!!!! im starting to feel a little bit neglected as a bass player. Would love to see all these tests (pickups/amps/cabinets) done with bass gear. Personally i hear pretty big differences in bass pickups, but am open to being proved wrong
Thanks for the comparison and taking the time to show the Frequency Response Charts. Seeing the differences helps a lot in understanding why the Speakers can sound so different. Every increase of 6-10dB at the same frequency doubles the volume or perception of loudness. That is non-trivial.
Ppl will mod their amps and roll tubes, but the biggest mod you can do is swap out to a different speaker 🔈
Thought most ppl already knew what a huge difference speakers make, not only in tonal characteristics (eg a Celestian Greenback sounds way different to a Vintage 30 or even an Alnico blue) but also SPL.
A speaker’s sensitivity rating is also a factor. Again, comparing say a Vintage 30 to an EV will be huge.
Thanks Glenn for making this video 😊
NEED YOUR OPINIONS GLENNNN.. GOT 2 DOUBTS....
Firstly, this is one of the best videos I have seen on guitar tone. I watched your guitar pickup comparison video and was at awe after realising that I don't need the upgrade to Fishman Fluence for distorted tones XD.
Again, the most accurate comparison you've put in my opinion, just by the way you showed the marginal impact of tone due to speakers, and ONLY speakers. (Even though you had to readjust mic placements every time after switching speakers, but I think that was unavoidable).
I would love to know how did you get those speakers' frequency response? As a home studio recorder, I really feel the need to calibrate my studio monitors to get a flat/unbiased response. Any tips on studio monitor calibration given I cannot get too much acoustic treatments in my bedroom?
Another thing, how to implement swaping speakers concept on an amp sim to get an unique sound? Even though I get a cabinet impulse response, that is again not very original to me!!
OPINIONSSSS GLENNN ...
😂
Thank you for all the explanations!
I like Jensen approach.
They have samples that are being re-recorded with each speaker.
Hence, you can check out how same signal sounds via all the speakers.
I am typical "playing at home" enthusiast. I ended up with ENGL Ironball with custom cabinet with Jensen C12R. It surprisingly doing well with hi-gain. There is no that harsh sipping of V30.
The next project is even more conscious choice of a speaker. IRs are there, so everybody can choose what sounds better to them with real amp. Ironball SE is game-changer here, since you can just upload IRs to the amp without spending a lot of time in a laptop.
Thank you for talking about the things I don't even think about , ever . Perhaps this information will help if I ever decide to record my noises .
Ugh, Glen, between this video, the one you did on cabinet geometry and materials, and the several you've done on pickups, I have tried so hard to get my friends to consider what you've proposed. I think perhaps since we're all in our late 40's/early 50's, they're still committed to getting the big name stuff, however (read: Fender Strat, Les Paul, Marshall with Celestions, etc.). Hopefully, after I send this vid to them, they'll begin to pay attention a bit more. And the irony is? I'm a bass player. Haven't dragged my knuckles since the late 90's 🙂
coming from a childhood filled with car audio, this is also hilarious because it was all about the drivers and enclosures, even optimizing driver parts and doing crazy stuff like doubling up spiders, dual wound voice coils, different pole piece designs, magnet swaps, playing with cone materials and surrounds, matching impedance, nerding out over Thiele/Small params, playing around in BassBox Pro, trying to optimize band pass and transmission line enclosures….
Guitar cabs and players seem to largely not care about any of this. Here’s a fun experiment: hook your hifi amp up to your guitar cab and see how music sounds through it. I’ll bet it sounds terrible. Sure; it’s not designed for that, but lots of guitar cab speakers sound like crap because they are. Guitar amps and pedals are not hifi in any way. Put a quality guitar preamp, or even better, go direct into a Hi-Z input on a $500+ preamp and run that out to some studio monitors. Compare that to your guitar amp tone. Maybe you like the sound of the amp and cab, but they’re not at all accurately amplifying the input signal. Not that I think anyone actually care about the opinion of some random internet guy who has zero albums under his belt and has never played in a band seriously, but I think Kempers through high-quality PAs sound better than almost any guitar amp head + cab I’ve heard…and swapping cab IRs is fun, easy, and cheap. Sounds kinda obvious but when you have an accurate and relatively flat way to amplify the signal and turn that into air movement, it’ll accurately amplify whatever you put in instead of distorting it in specific and probably bad ways, so you can change the sound upstream and have the physical electroacoustic output system change that as little as possible. Once you’re dealing with IRs, you can make it sound like anything, or sound like something that doesn’t / couldn’t exist in the real world. Instead, we’ve been thinking literally inside the box for far too long IMO.
Kick ass video Glenn❤ maybe they ought to put flame emitting lights around the edge of the speaker then maybe the guitarists That play by numbers will take notice! LOL seriously though that is a huge difference even what little samples you played. But I guess you figure 90% of your audience is visual so you showed the graphs which makes sense. But I could hear it when you clicked from speaker to speaker there was a huge shift in the midrange which is where the guitar sits in the mix anyway. I feel like you have almost single-handedly started a shift in thinking amongst metal guitar players😮 Keep up the good work my friend maybe you can teach somebody something so they learn It quickly and not in 10 years like it took you. And that is not a knock on anything you do or have done. Matter of fact I have vintage 30s in one of my stacks at the studio in the other one I have g12-75s. And I did that purposely so that I could get different sounds but I run the stacks in the stereo. And it does sound pretty good. I have heard that blending vintage 30s with other speakers can give you a great distinct tone. Okay my friend See you on the next one Thanks!!!🤘
One thing I never quite understood is how people thought that sharing the cab on "shared backline" gigs ever was a good idea. Nobody would even think about playing through a different amp, guitar or FX setup but sharing cabs for some reason was considered OK since it took some effort to take them on/off stage and mic them up. Thank god IR loaders became a thing in the mid-2010s so I could just hand my pre-tested IR sound to the mixer and use my own cab for personal monitoring. Having a pleasant sound on and off stage has been so easy for me since.
Brilliant video. I like your tone in this one, (no pun intendeeee.. who am i kidding ofc it was intended). Sure sure, a littlebit of "shaming" in the start but overall very good. Educational, to the point, show and tell. Telling it how you found it to be, and then backing it up with alot of "science" and actual experiments. Love it. Anyone not understanding it at this point, and still think "tonewood" on the guitarbody makes any difference. Well, im not sure there are hope for those guys.
Edit, sorry, Id like to add aswell i really like how you promote trying out things. The difference in sound/tone/flavor on those speakers you tried are quite significant. And instead of telling us, the audience, which one is "the best", the message is clear: Think (more) like a sound engeneer, try out stuff and not only by twiddling the nobs on your overdrive or screamer. You never know when you will find the next killer metall sound!
Glenn, I've been playing guitar for round about 10 years now and have been watching your channel off and on throughout that time, but I consider myself much more of a hobbyist than a musician. I'll never write a song, I'll never play in a band, and I'll never [semi]professionally record something (and to be clear, I'm ok with that), but some day I may upload a cover or two if I can ever get myself to actually practice (i.e. I'm still shit at guitar). Up until this year I'd been playing my electric guitars acoustically. I'd never plugged in my guitar to an amp; never even owned a cable. However now that I've actually started buying some gear (got some nice headphones and an interface in Feb. and have been using some great free plugins on Reaper), I plan to buy more hardware now that I can afford to do so. There are so many opinions on the internet and channels talking about recording and how to set up gear and whatnot, but few to none of them actually do much to empirically verify things, let alone have the focus on metal that you do, and that's all I play. Thank you so much for all the time you've spent educating the dumb populace (me), or I would have eventually dropped tons of money on gear that made no difference and I didn't know how to use. And remember, fuck you, Glenn! 😃🖕
Awesome vid Glenn! Would be interested in a nerdy breakdown on how you record a frequency response with REW.
I'm not a metal guy (to me David Gilmour is a shredder) but, this clip really taught me a lot. Will pay more attention next I'm shopping for a speaker cab. Thank you Glenn.
A very informative video. Thank you for taking the time to conduct all the tests.
Why not go with an amp/cabinet/speaker setup that is flat through its range and color the sound with an EQ?
I wish I saw this video when I was 18, great stuff Glenn. So much time spent on different tubes, pickups, and so so many variations on the same pedal circuits. Gonna get some new speakers, I'll bite the bullet and do my homework instead of worrying about how a return will go if I screw it up
My God Glenn great video! Serious Grand Slam out of the fucking Stadium! The thing I liked best was the fact that you were able to use both visual and auditory representations of your findings. Which I think could be a big help since we hear with our eyes more then our ears apparently. I mean my God is there a generation of visual artists who couldn't draw and decided to make music instead? Must say that Hesu Demon was damn killer, loved that tone even through my shitty cellphone speaker it sounded unique, and piercing. As always keep up the great work! Metal til the sun turns to Iron!
I think people assume that because speakers are simple on paper and the spec sheet says 2 speakers have the same specs, that they will sound the same.
But in reality, every little change in the construction of the speaker (or at least the electrical and moving components) will effect the frequency response etc.
Slightly different stiffness or thickness of rubber in the surround, a slightly different weight in the cone, different number of turns in the coil, different strength of magnet etc etc. Will all change how it manages to convert an electrical signal into sound.
Hi Glenn, One complaint/Suggestion - at 13:00 you go through the isolated rhythm track, but you kind of bounce around quickly. I know you're just playing to it show there's a difference, but it would have been cool to have those tracks play a little longer on each speaker. I'm taking notes for future purchases and that short bit wasn't really enough ;) great video as always. The thing I giggle about is you were the one leading the charge towards the HB cabs with V30's, I understand though now the metal market is flooded. I've gone back to my old Create cab for a lot of stuff. I still love my V 30's, haven't played the cream backs yet, hope there's enough of a difference where I don't feel like a dumb ass having spent the $$ on them.
I’m a audio engineer and guitarist that loves Metal! I currently use a vintage 30, but after watching your video I’m planning on buying a Hesu Demon speaker!
I would love to see a video on different bass speakers and IRs especially. Working from home I’m using IRs 95% of the time, and I have found it next to impossible to find information on Bass IRs.
I built a few 1x12 cabinets with removable grills and t-nuts for the speaker screws so a speaker swap only take about 5 minutes and can be done repeatedly. I'm not sure if every speaker brand uses the same screw patterns, but Celestion and Eminence do. I prefer Eminence mainly because I got sick of Vintage 30's which made me hate Celestion. But, within a quick 10 minutes you can mix and match speakers for an infinite number of combinations. And you can go on TH-cam and watch/hear people demo all of these speakers.
Oh, and the sound guy at the local club that mics the 4x12 cabinet on the bottom corner speaker. Yeah, I've got two different speakers in the cabinet. So now just show up with one 1x12 cabinet with the preferred speaker for the gig and just mic the 1x12 into the PA. Hell of a lot better than lugging that 4x12 around. I get the sound I want, don't have to lug a bunch of gear and the guy running the board's life is just a tad bit easier and the band is generally happier that the volume knob is not controlled by the guitar player.
My senior year in college was right at the time the PMRC got warning stickers put on albums (I did a speech against it) just to put a time perspective on it (about 1985/early 1986). I remember the professor at that time repeating many times that for any sound reproduction scenario, concentrating on hi fidelity stereo systems, the speakers were the most important part of the sound. The speakers would determine what you were hearing. If you had the top of the line turntable/tape amplifier, etc., but had cheap speakers, it would not sound good. Basically this same argument but for stereos almost 40 years ago.
How awesome it is to compare the EQ responses visually! Goes to tell how much the speaker can modify the tone. Good luck accomplishing those changes with your hands/Wood/PUs 🙊