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Non ADA Gear => Speakers & Cabinets => Topic started by: Ludachris0606 on November 28, 2016, 06:26:59 PM

Title: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Ludachris0606 on November 28, 2016, 06:26:59 PM
I'm thinking of swapping out my speakers in my Marshall Cab.. so what speakers have you guys had good/great results with that works with the MP-1 well?

I'm currently running through a newer marshall cab with the stock celestion g12t-75s.. sounds great for heavier passages but seems to lack any singing harmonics quality for hard rock/80s type leads. I'm leaning toward a vintage voiced speaker that plays "smooth mids" if that makes sense.

Some speakers I'm considering are G12-65 heritage, vintage g12-65 or g12t-75 (from original JCM800 Cab), g12h30s, Scumbacks, Maybe greenback flavored (but would be overpowered wattage wise)

Main Rig
Yamaha Pacifica HSS w/ EMG-81(Bridge)》Furman》ADA MP1》TC G Major》Peavey 50/50 Power amp》Marshall 1936 2x12 Cab w/ Stock G12t-75 (2013 plywood model)

I know the guitars not the greatest, I'm saving up for a customized HSS Strat or Charvel.. but doesn't seem to contribute to this issue based on other rigs I've played it through.
Let me know if have any insight or suggestions!
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Slimjim on November 28, 2016, 11:11:17 PM
I have the 81 pup in my Strat copy, the MP-1, and the 50/50, but I am not a session player who has to cover drums with full volumes. My opinions are of what sounds best to me, and what I enjoy with a SM57.

Alnico Blue. The first word to come to my head is 'note bloom'. Why is that? Is that the best I can describe it? To me, a speaker pretty much IS the amplifier. They actually perform with an amp, and the Blue is the most outspoken 'performer' of any speaker I have tried. Small fortune, yes. Low wattage, yes. Sometimes these negatives outweigh any pluses.

Alnico Gold, said to be its high watt brother, is more of an average performer. I would say the Gold is close to a Vintage 30, minus the bottom end.

You have your rhythm tone, high gains and mid scooped chuncking down some grooves but for solos I use an alternate patch, mids centered, and volume pushed. Treble and Pres are identical on both patches. EQ (or boost, etc) pedals are often used with great results... but I'm an admitted pedal snob and wanted to hear all of these speaker voices for myself. In hindsight, a simple EQ pedal might have been the straight forward solution.

Greenbacks are now available in 4 flavors.
-G12M (Heritage 20W)
-G12H (55) (Heritage 55Hz bass cone 30W) (Hendrix)
-G12H (75) (Heritage 75Hz 30W) (less bass)
-G12M Greenback (Reissue 25W)

I think you will like these a lot, with the 55Hz and the Reissues as standouts.

The Cream 65s are loaded with bass, they are my most thunderous speakers. I use them for the Mesa because no where else did I require that level of smash. If you played Stratocaster single coil pickups exclusively, the Creams would appeal to you for entirely different reasons. I tried to reply as though I were an 81 user, enjoyed high gain, and rock/metal (coincidentally, that's me).
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: vansinn on November 29, 2016, 01:53:35 AM
Here's a pretty cool thread with comparison vids on various speakers, tested against oneanother in the same environment:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771 (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771)

The dude has other interesting test/comparison vids on his youtube profile..
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Griphook on November 29, 2016, 02:38:07 AM
I also use G12H-75 for my live Setup, miced up with an AUDIX I5. I really like that sound. My Cab has on side opened and the other one closed. That's also a thing to consider.

For my home rig I have a closed 2x12 G12k-85 Cabinet.
I also like that ones too. They are a bit warmer and they deliver a little more pressure, due to the completely closed cabinet. I like them more for their Clean- and Low-Gain Response

Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: MarshallJMP on November 29, 2016, 09:19:08 AM
You could also check out this shootout of 27 celestion speakers done by Johan Segeborn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skfVh5qagoo

Maybe put in a mix of different speakers in the cab.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Dante on November 29, 2016, 12:25:12 PM
For my home rig I have a closed 2x12 G12k-85 Cabinet.
I also like that ones too. They are a bit warmer and they deliver a little more pressure, due to the completely closed cabinet. I like them more for their Clean- and Low-Gain Response

I'm looking for a pair of warmer speakers for my 4x12 (not right away, just thinking ahead). I have noticed myself turning the presence down on a lot of patches since I got the cab, that tells me it is a bit brighter than my 1x12s. So....I'll compromise and try a pair of something else. Thanks for posting about these, I'll look into them.

I'm also going to YouTube to check out those videos
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Kim on November 29, 2016, 03:57:47 PM
That Youtube speaker comparison was pretty interesting.  (I didn't make it all the way through yet, though.)  I wonder if Johan mentions anything about the new speakers still being "new" or have they already been "worn in"?  That would make a significant difference in the sound as well.

"Harsh" sounding speakers can settle down a bit after a fair amount of use at higher volumes.  That said, if I'm using new speakers I won't make a judgement on them for some time unless they are really obvious that I won't get along with them.  If I get used speakers then I'll be quicker to judge them as to if they are what I'm looking for.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: vansinn on November 30, 2016, 01:32:12 AM
Fully agree on speakers needing some play-in time; same thing with headphones.
Took me some two-three weeks with my Mackie HR-624 MKII studio monitors.

Hehe, an easy way to do this is simpy using a small transformer with a single diode halfwave rectifier and a capacitor, resulting in a 50/60 Hz semi-sine wave. Do this for a few hours, and follow up with a white noise generator to cover the full spectrum - but do expect neighbors going mad, as high white noise levels is actually used for torture.. C:-) >:D :nono:

I'll ask Johan if those speakers were properly massaged before the tests..
One of them sounded a Bit harch to me, and the Creamback sounded more laid-back than Creamy to my ears.
Interestingly, in Slimjim's resent post in here (the Ibby post), the Creamback part sounds just like I would've expected a Creamy backed speaker to render, so..
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Slimjim on November 30, 2016, 02:36:21 AM
Drop tune songs love the cremeback speaker, no doubt. The g12h-55 her greenback is also a unique voice, at first it was unruley until I tried that with the Peavey Classic 50/50 el84 amp, used the pres and res controls to tame the tones, I liked what it did for the amp.

If we could really frame the answer around that amp and emg 81 pickup, you would end up with some great options that also play cleans if the creme 65 and green 55 (those are hz #s which define how low of freq the speakers reproduce). This would also help the mp-1 reproduce the low drop tunings use.

I believe the OP was using the PV Classic 50/50 and EMG81 w/MP-1. LOADS of fun... The Blue is the one speaker that impressed me and pleased me for clean tones, for which it is often used. If you never play cleans, then the blue is avoidable and the crushers are nice. That's why I use the Eminence TeX Heat, it has that tone built in. Its sterility makes it not the best option for warm classic leads, again the creme and green sufrace as top picks.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Slimjim on November 30, 2016, 03:19:00 AM
Huge disclaimer: I separated those 2 speakers because I would lose all bottom end to phase cancels on a Recto circuit. The dual rec is feisty... and caused me to put these two on dif amps, as shown in SIG.

The 50/50 can shape output, with pres & res  So please take w/grain of salt.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: rnolan on November 30, 2016, 04:19:46 AM
For what it's worth, the cab 2 cabs I used in my MP1 days were a 2 x 12/8 ohm 50w, open back cab (made as a Bass top end box) fender twin speakers (eminence no doubt) 40 years ago vintage.  This worked well with MP1 Mixer Quadverb B200s rig. I also used an old Yamaha quad box wired stereo (2 x 4 ohm so all sps 8 ohm) which worked very well, fried 2 speakers (one side) so replaced with Plessy 12U50s and rewired so Yamaha + 12U50 per side, these Plessys are GREAT speakers if you can get your hands on them and are peeerfect for MP1, lovely and great bottom end, warm, nice and articulate, plenty of sparkle without pain or fiz.  I have 90w boogie celetions in 2 of my ADA split stacks, and 75w celetions in the other (stereo/mono) split stack.  I like them but the plessys were much better.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Ludachris0606 on November 30, 2016, 07:48:14 PM
Thank you all for the info thus far! I've read each one and will respond better when I get some free time but for now..

So I unplugged the effects and BBE and plugged the Ada straight into the power amp to cab. The dynamics seemed to improve slightly in the attack and note separation but the harshness or "ice pick" seemed to stick out (more so  standing in front the amp). As I said before I love my rhythm tone with this set up but as I run up the neck the whole sound seems uni-directional like no matter what notes I'm playing it's focused on one or a few low mid (?) frequencies.. So im assuming its mainly the speakers but could this just be the nature of a closed back cab I'm not used to or something else?

Now I'm not detuning or playing any nu-metal (95% of the time anyway) usually more classic rock and hard rock, lots of 80s metal with OD1 and OD2 generally in the 4's or 5's..
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: vansinn on December 02, 2016, 02:46:32 AM
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771 (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771)

..I wonder if Johan mentions anything about the new speakers still being "new" or have they already been "worn in"?  That would make a significant difference in the sound as well.

Yup, he did pre-burn the ones that were new, using pink noise overnight; the others were used massaged-in speakers.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: rnolan on December 02, 2016, 06:23:45 AM
Whatever speakers you use (and most things seem to sound a little brighter initially when they are new, speakers, tubes, strings etc), you need to tweak your eq a little to accommodate them, so try to do it there if you can.  The Fx will smooth things off a little, the BBE ?? it adds all sorts of things and I've not played with one  :dunno: .. but good to get your basic tone sorted and how you like it before adding anything else.  If there are frequencies you are finding too predominant (ICE pick ?), see if you can turn them down a little with one of the MP1 eq bands (eg pull down the mids a bit or presence ?).  Or turn up others to compensate ? but as much as you can, do it loud at stage vols then turn that down as required or the dynamics don't work as well/balance.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: Ludachris0606 on December 02, 2016, 08:10:55 AM
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771 (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=316771)
Whatever speakers you use (and most things seem to sound a little brighter initially when they are new, speakers, tubes, strings etc), you need to tweak your eq a little to accommodate them, so try to do it there if you can.  The Fx will smooth things off a little, the BBE ?? it adds all sorts of things and I've not played with one  :dunno: .. but good to get your basic tone sorted and how you like it before adding anything else.  If there are frequencies you are finding too predominant (ICE pick ?), see if you can turn them down a little with one of the MP1 eq bands (eg pull down the mids a bit or presence ?).  Or turn up others to compensate ? but as much as you can, do it loud at stage vols then turn that down as required or the dynamics don't work as well/balance.
..I wonder if Johan mentions anything about the new speakers still being "new" or have they already been "worn in"?  That would make a significant difference in the sound as well.

Yup, he did pre-burn the ones that were new, using pink noise overnight; the others were used massaged-in speakers.

I've watched a few of Johan's videos previously.. very interesting/informational for sure. One that captured my attention is this video where he compares the old and new g12-t75's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iqfNCidmMs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iqfNCidmMs)
Non-Johan comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opyh-6hn9Hk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opyh-6hn9Hk)
I'm not sure how much the cab itself or mic placement is a factor here but there is a significant different between vintage and modern voiced, probably more than just break-in IMO.

So figuring the MP-1 was modeled after a (hotrodded) JCM800 why not get the speakers in those marshall cabs.. So I pulled the trigger on a set from ebay last night.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-CELESTION-G12T-75-W-OEM-SPEAKERS-12-SPEAKER-X-2-from-MARSHALL-CABINET-C188-/272469525109?hash=item3f70730275:g:NM4AAOSwcUBYP1C6 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-CELESTION-G12T-75-W-OEM-SPEAKERS-12-SPEAKER-X-2-from-MARSHALL-CABINET-C188-/272469525109?hash=item3f70730275:g:NM4AAOSwcUBYP1C6)

I'm not sure of the model year but appears to be the original model from a JCM800 cab... Took a chance on 'em so I hope so anyways!
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: MarshallJMP on December 02, 2016, 01:27:46 PM
The JCM800 cabs had 4 different speakers over the years. They started with the G12-65's and in their model 1982 cabs G12H100's.Then by the end of 83 they started using the not so popular G12M70 speaker to go to the G12T75 speaker by the mid 80's.

That aside, I really didn't know there was such a huge difference between the old and new G12T75's.I'm really amazed by this.
Title: Re: MP-1 Speaker Suggestions
Post by: rnolan on December 02, 2016, 08:55:12 PM
 :whoohoo!: , new speakers are coming your way  :thumb-up: >:D

I think I posted this before (https://www.melbournemusiccentre.com.au/auxpage_lorantz/).  The Lorantz speakers are definitely worth considering.  I want to get a pair at some point for my open back 2 x 12 cab.