tell me about 15" guitar speakers

[liquidsmoke]

Anyone here use them? I only know of the model Eminence makes but I've never heard them being played through that I know of. I also don't know any cab companies that make cabs for them. Do people just by old cheap 15" bass cabs and swap the speakers? Are 15s generally darker and smoother sounding than 12s? Babble me this jam room. Babble away.

[Hemisaurus]

Most people I know just use bass cabs, and keep the speakers. I have people playing guitar through my bass cabs fairly often, only one complained he couldn't get his icepick thru my ears signature sound.

There are guitar specific 15"s, traditionally the old Jensens and Fanes and the like were dual purpose, guitar / bass, in fact I think the old Leslie organ cabs used to use a 15" for the low side. The old Fender 2x15" cabs are pretty common, we had one knocking about the practice space, it came from a crack den (literally), bit shallow for decent bass response from a bass, gets used more for guitar.

Basically, if you go the bass cab route, try it before you throw it's original speakers away, it may sound just fine.

[justinhedrick]

i use two 2x15s live. one is a randall 2x15 w/ jaguar speakers that was supposedly made for bass (but is only 150 watts). the other is a kustom 2x15 with EV force speakers in there (not too sure if they are made for bass or not, i didn't put them in) but they both sound awesome. not as much bass as you'd expect (not OVERLY bassy), kind of scooped mids, and more high-end than you'd think (not ice-pick high end).

[Chovie D]

I have a marshall bass cab that i bought from jake with 2 15 celestians. Its a great bass cab but too bassy for me on guitar, it just adds mud to a 4x12.

I have an eminence neo somthing or other in my live rig cab for pedal steel and guitar. sounds great, crisp articulate, and its super light weight cause of the neo dyminium or whatever space age shit its made out of.

I hear alot of the older cats talkin about the JBLs dick dale used. 130"s?. Those vintage jammies sell for $125 i beleive. Ive heard em on clean country guitar and pedal steel and they sound great but I do not own any.

One of these companies like emporer or whomever must make a 2x15 designed for sludgey tones on guitar? what speakers do they use?

[Hemisaurus]

I think you'll be meaning the JBL D-130.

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/d130.htm

Used in guitar cabs, bass cabs, organ cabs, PA cabs, cinema, all over.

I imagine at least one company probably makes a clone of it.

[liquidsmoke]

Most people I know just use bass cabs, and keep the speakers. I have people playing guitar through my bass cabs fairly often, only one complained he couldn't get his icepick thru my ears signature sound.

There are guitar specific 15"s, traditionally the old Jensens and Fanes and the like were dual purpose, guitar / bass, in fact I think the old Leslie organ cabs used to use a 15" for the low side. The old Fender 2x15" cabs are pretty common, we had one knocking about the practice space, it came from a crack den (literally), bit shallow for decent bass response from a bass, gets used more for guitar.

Basically, if you go the bass cab route, try it before you throw it's original speakers away, it may sound just fine.

I've played my guitar amp and guitar through 15" bass cabs recently and I do kind of like the sound but it doesn't sound "guitar" enough in my opinion. I'm not into super bright icepick sounds at all either. I suspect that the right 15" guitar speakers would provide a bit of that bass cab sound but still cover the guitar frequency bases. Last night while Googling around the net I found this- http://www.loudspeakersplus.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=JN15
That's a lot of choices!

I do also run my guitar into a Fender 1x15 bass combo through a Sansamp bass unit but it's to add super thick low end to my tone.

[peyotepeddler]

i always looked at 15 loaded cabs as a compliment to 4x12's


if you want some more umph umph, maybe you should try another 4x12, my boogie traditional puts out more than enough essential guitar mids and lows


also remember, that at the end of the day, 4 12's have more cone area than 2 15's, so if the cab was actually designed with the right air space(usually never) the 12's will have more low mids and low end

[Hemisaurus]

PP is right, it's rare to see a guitarist using just 15's, though if he exists, I think I want to play with him, as 12's can be made ice-picky

Randall I know may a combi cab which is 1x15 and 2x12, probably others do as well.

I agree that 4x12's have more cone area, which means for equal sensitivity they will be louder as they move more air, but not nececssarily more bassy, as the speakers don't couple together as a single unit. I've seen people use a 2x15 in conjunction with a 4x12, or have one stack with 2x15 and one stack with 4x12 using two separate amps. I think George Rice did that for early HOF, he had a Marshall 4x12 and JCM800, and some 15's (I think) and a Matamp.

Don't be scared to experiment, within the confines of your amps speaker impedance range

[justinhedrick]

PP is right, it's rare to see a guitarist using just 15's, though if he exists, I think I want to play with him, as 12's can be made ice-picky

a guy after my own heart . . .

[Chovie D]

Live I play thru a single 15, but thats guitar AND pedal steel and the 15 is more for the pedal steel and because its a really lightweight speaker in a really lightweight cab...

..i should say USED to play.

[Hemisaurus]

..i should say USED to play.

You're just on a musical sabbatical 

[Chovie D]

..i should say USED to play.

You're just on a musical sabbatical 

thnx bro, thats what i keep telling myself too 

[liquidsmoke]

Don't be scared to experiment, within the confines of your amps speaker impedance range

If I only had thousands of dollars so I could truly experiment with different speakers and cabs.

[justinhedrick]

liquid, i will tell you that the BEST tones i've ever got were my randall 2x15 paired with a 4x12. it was almost perfect.

[Hemisaurus]

Oh yeah, your original statement, I know that Weber make 15's for guitar as well, and also they have a CD of all their different speaker types (I think).

Also you don't need thousands of dollars, just a few willing friends, you're already playing with your bandmates bass cabs.

[Baltar]

Didn't SRV use a Princeton w/ a 15"?

[liquidsmoke]

liquid, i will tell you that the BEST tones i've ever got were my randall 2x15 paired with a 4x12. it was almost perfect.

Very cool. I don't want to lug that much gear around though. I could see just using 2 easy to carry cabs each containing a 15" guitar speaker so long as one was a slant and the speakers had the right tone and were each very high wattage handling to provide more headroom than my 2x12 currently does. My buddy's 2x12 has 100 watt speakers and I was able to determine that it doesn't break up as much as my 2x12 with 75 watters. The main problem is my 50 watt Laney amp though but that is being discussed in another thread.

[liquidsmoke]

Anyone here into Electro Voice EVM12L's? I've been reading that this speaker just does not break up, ever. Bass, guitar, doesn't matter. I can imagine them sounding bright and maybe kind of boring but some people love them.

[justinhedrick]

Anyone here into Electro Voice EVM12L's? I've been reading that this speaker just does not break up, ever. Bass, guitar, doesn't matter. I can imagine them sounding bright and maybe kind of boring but some people love them.

i don't have any, but i know that a ton of steel guitar players use them in their peavey amps. for realz.

[clockwork green]

Anyone here into Electro Voice EVM12L's? I've been reading that this speaker just does not break up, ever. Bass, guitar, doesn't matter. I can imagine them sounding bright and maybe kind of boring but some people love them.

I run my main Matamp 4x12 with EV 12L's and love them. I don't think they're bright just have a flatter eq than most speakers which often cut highs. I have my amps fully dimed and I don't want speaker distortion so the EV's were my obvious choice since I use an old Mesa Thiele cab with one of them for home use. I also run my 4x12 with a Matamp 2x15 loaded with Eminence Big Ben's which sound great. Big, open, deep enough for the EV's to fit right in the middle sonically.

[SpaceTrucker]

I run my guitar thru just an 18in black widow sometimes. Its sounds great and kicks you in the chest. My 1820 cab is great for guitar.

[liquidsmoke]

Anyone here into Electro Voice EVM12L's? I've been reading that this speaker just does not break up, ever. Bass, guitar, doesn't matter. I can imagine them sounding bright and maybe kind of boring but some people love them.

I run my main Matamp 4x12 with EV 12L's and love them. I don't think they're bright just have a flatter eq than most speakers which often cut highs. I have my amps fully dimed and I don't want speaker distortion so the EV's were my obvious choice since I use an old Mesa Thiele cab with one of them for home use. I also run my 4x12 with a Matamp 2x15 loaded with Eminence Big Ben's which sound great. Big, open, deep enough for the EV's to fit right in the middle sonically.

No speaker break up with a dimed Matamp? Nice!

Do the Big Bens break up at high volume?

[liquidsmoke]

I run my guitar thru just an 18in black widow sometimes. Its sounds great and kicks you in the chest. My 1820 cab is great for guitar.

Good god! That sounds fun.

[liquidsmoke]

EVM12L's are like $220+ and quite heavy, are there any $80-100 speakers that are very similar and maybe lighter?

[clockwork green]

Weber Michigan's are similar...a little darker, cheaper but nearly as heavy. I have 4 of these in a Marshall cab. Good casters make a difference but other than that make your band members help. Honestly though, a 1x12 EV can easily handle a 120-watt head on 10...anything is just a bonus.