Speakers Cornered

There is an immense ball of confusion out there about speakers, as I'm sure you've noticed. Alnico, Ceramic, paper cones, Hemp cones, wattage, decibels - all the disagreements are a sure sign to me that there's really not much difference anyway. What's the big deal about old speakers - as opposed to old designs?

(Waits for stones to start flying)

IMHO, old speakers at first get nice and round and mellow, they tend to sound less forward, with looser bass; then the top end goes altogether as the cone gets flabby. Is that good? Maybe there's some point that's wonderful somewhere before vintage turns to just plain old, but everything changes...

Deep breath. People like alnicos but I can't really hear the difference separately from all the other differences between speakers.

And lots of manufacturers identify the process of 'earlier break-up' - but I'm not sure I want to push my speakers that hard, can't be good for them.

For me the best thing about valve amps is what they add to the top end - a lovely mix of harmonics that makes a clean guitar really chime and sing, and makes distortion musical. I like a speaker that doesn't get in the way of that. Colouration? For me, less is more. My favourite guitar amp speaker isn't a dedicated guitar speaker but a high-quality all-purpose driver - the Eminence Delta Pro 12. This is a cast frame speaker very much in the mould of the old Electrovoice speakers of the 70s and 80s. These will let you listen to your amp all right; they don't add much colouration to the sound and won't distort or 'overdrive' as they are rated 400 watts. What I like best about them is the tight powerful bass their solid construction gives; everything else sounds a bit flabby by comparison, you really feel you can 'dig in'. A Twin with a pair of these in is a tool for world domination. Cost about £80 apiece though.

Pity Ted Weber is in the States (see my links page). His alnicos are not stupidly priced and sound good. The Signature series are only about £25. But you have to think about shipping and taxes. If you're out there and you're ever moving house from Kokomo, Indiana to Godalming, Surrey let me know before you pack the container, there's a few things I might ask you to slip into your ottoman.

Oh yeah, I like Celestion ceramics. They colour your sound (...er, but you just said!) ...ok, but in kind of a good way. Have a look at a response curve for one. Jagged-looking peaky stuff at the top end. That's what gives them that toppy / crunchy sound that goes so well with Marshalls (if you don't value your high-frequency hearing too much). I think it's OK, the Celestion sound, and it can decorate a dull-sounding amp in a valvey way so long as you don't turn it up too much and start cutting people's heads off, but it is like so many things in this life of ours, a question of taste. Tip: if you're thinking of buying an expensive Celestion ceramic try the cheapest one instead. Smaller magnet, slightly less efficiency and so slightly less volume (GOOD) but the inimitable lo-fi Celestion mouthful-of-ground-glass sound is still there. Their cheapo 8-inch guitar speaker, I forget what they call it, costs about twelve quid or something and sounds excellent in a baby combo, forget little alnico nonsense things for one-hundred-pounds-jesus-christ-almighty and try one.

Jensen ceramics are quite cheap and I think they sound good. But more meat than the alnicos, nice tops. But - always these buts - it is worth shelling out for a Jensen P8R for your silverface Fender Champ.