Speaker Recommendations

[jbylake]

Speakers are the hardest thing to decide on, because you just can't go down to the music store and listen to them all. So maybe one of you Guru's can give me some suggestions.
I live 15 minutes from Dave Allen of Allen Amps, and he is completely re-doing a Bassman head for me.
I was using this head in a new Peavy closed back CAB with 2 front loaded "Green" 12 in. Tone Tubby's. This was a brand new cab, someone bought the head, so I got the cab for next to nothing. Problem is, I've alway played open back fender combos and cabs. The CAB sounds great, very smooth with super tight bass response. BUT...I'm a blues player, my amps usually all have AlNico magnets, and break-up easier and sound a little "looser". Question:
A: should I cut the Cab back, maybe six inches down. Or B: Can someone recommend a good starting place as possible speaker replacements.
I play Blues almost Exclusively, from Overdriven SRV, Robin Trower, Albert King 'clean', to (puposely lo-fi) covers of old stuff by Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, back to Hendrix...etc..etc..
Should I sell the Cab and start over? I'd rather not, if any of you can make some recommendations for me.
Thanks ahead for Your time and expertise.

j. :confused:

[FUCHSyea]

Speakers are a pain in the ass and once you find a good speaker for one amp its not always the "best" choice for all your amps. Factors such as cab design, placement withing the cab and back configuration (i.e. open, ported, closed) A great resource for cab design is the book by LONDON POWER: Speaker Cabinent Design for Musical Applications

Check it out it gives you resources to find the right speakers as well as cab design based off of configuration as well as design- also there's another forum on cabinet design on this forum you should checkout cuse cabniet wood can play a big roll in tone (i.e. pine tends to be bright) hope this helps-

a recomendation though for blues for me the Celestion Vintage 30 has great feel very open and smooth makes your amp "breath" more too. if your using a dark amp head you could try a Greenback G12 get more of a lead tone-

[Deformed^]

The London Power: SCDfMA book is somewhat interesting, but doesn't cover more than the basics. It recommends purely ported cabs, which isn't guaranteed to give you the best sound regardless of speakers. Low wattage v30's, greenbacks and v12-60's will distort very early in a ported cab. It will sound rich, full and dynamic at fairly low volumes, but crank it even slightly and your speakers will be emitting uncontrollable cardboard-like sounds which will kill them quickly.

I have gathered some general guidelines in my time as a cab constructor. The london power book says that more speakers in a cab usually won't make much difference in perceived volume. What it fails to mention, is that more speakers means that the same amount of air can be put into motion with less cone excursion, i.e. less distortion from the speaker at louder volumes. Yes, a cab with 4 speakers will have more headroom than a cab with similar design and only 2 of the speakers.

Also, ported cabs sound great for metal, rock and stuff where you need lots of controllable bottom. The bottom end will be a bit looser than in a sealed cab, but not loose in any way if properly built and with suitable speakers. I prefer ported speakers loaded with hi-wattage, high efficiency speakers like the eminence texas heat and swamp thang. That way I can create my distortion within the amp where I can control it.

Sealed cabs are tighter in the overall response, and won't reproduce frequencies as low as the ported ones. The air within a sealed cab works agains the cone excursion of the speakers, damping lower frequencies which in general makes sealed cabs sound more bright and trebly.

Infinite baffle or open-back cabs have little or no bass, and you must be careful to choose speakers suitable for the application (they need a high total Q, making these speakers very stiff). These cabs work great for pristine clean, but are in my opinion useless for any kind of distortion. However, that is totally subjective, so as in most other cases with gear, you have to try it for yourself.

For blues? I'd try a oversized, sealed cab with v12-60's. They're a bit dark when used clean, but sound awesome when distorted.