Speaker pairing...2 Alnicos or 1 ceramic/1 alnico

[mattymel]

A friend of mine put something in my brain a while back regarding speaker pairing.

I had just bought 2 new Webers for my 60s Bandmaster cabinet (the real big one). I got the 12a125A and a 12f125S. I forget what the "A" and the "S" meant, but anyway...

I had always read about people recommending alnicos for "top end shimmer" and ceramics for "punchy low end". And then people usually recommended one of each. Best of both worlds, right?

Or is it? He argued that what you end up with is a watered down version of both. I will say, this guy IS a glass empty type, but what he was saying did make some sense to me with the little I know about phasing and mixing.

So I finally had a Sunday gear fest and swapped out the Blue Dog from my BF Deluxe for the 12F125 in my Bandmaster cab. I have to say I am liking what I am hearing initially.

The Bandmaster is sounding chimey and not as boomy. I think the Blue Dog has also definitely brought some mids to the the equation.

I am also diggin on the f125 in my Deluxe. The blue dog in that amp was great but I've always wanted a little more low end. So far so good.

Any thoughts as to speaker pairings in a cabinet? I wish I had another cab of ceramics speakers I could A/B and then hear together.

I actually have a 2/10 with Weber an alnico/ceramic pairing as well. May have to swap out that alnico and go full on ceramic in that one. Hmm.

 

[mattymel]

Also, I would def recommend the 12a125 pairing with the Blue Dogs. The cab sounded good before, but the shear size gave it a tendency to boom sometimes. That seems to have subsided. I am pleased.

 

[Geeze]

I am a big fan of mixing speakers - brighter and darker ceramics for Marshall circuits and ceramic / alnico for Fender style. I hear a wider more 3D sound with mixed speakers. Now if mixing women could be so easy....

Russ

 

[logdrum]

I have a mix that's not often used or mentioned because both of them are not being made anymore by the original manufacturer and one is rare.

EVM12L - 200 watt ceramic and EV SR0 (coffee can lid magnet) 150 watt Alnico. Both are very efficient. Good for 100 Watt heads.

 

[Cirrus]

I'm sure I've said the same thing on this forum before re; watering down the sound.

Obviously it hugely depends on your own ethos as a musician and what results you're aiming for. Personally, I've got a couple of reasons for preferring to stick to one speaker type in each cab; Firstly, when I play live or record, the vast majority of the time it's with one mic on one speaker. In that situation the other speaker becomes pretty pointless and only serves to make it harder to judge what's coming out of the speaker the mic is in front of - you're hearing the blend as you dial the amp in, and reacting to the blend as you play (the amp's tone informs your pick attack, location, dynamics etc).

Secondly, I like to commit to things. Artistically I find that more exiting; I like to positively *want* the sound of a V30, or a Greenback, or a Celestion Blue. Blending speakers almost feels like apologising or covering up the distinctive character of one particular speaker - "oh, the celestion blue is too flabby on the low end so I need to pair it with a tighter ceramic" being a classic example. Forget that, embrace that flabby low end and make it a feature of your tone! It's like the sonic equivalent of mixing paint; you end up with brown after a while. Or like those composite pictures of thousands of women; you end up with a beautiful face but it's a generic beauty.

Of course, that's *my* view on it as it relates to *my* music. If a blend works for someone else then it'll make them happy and I'll might well love the sounds they get.

 

[zzzezums]

Mixing is cool. If you want to hear them both though make sure sensitivity/efficiency is about equal.