Speaking of speakers...

[aknapp]

Hobby guitar player here, and gtone's speaker question raises a separate but related question.

I'm looking for 12" replacement speaker (either WGS or Weber) for a homemade cab, driven by a VHT Special 6, with a Weber attenuator on the way (volume is a concern).

Given the relatively low wattage amp/attenuator combo, are their any benefits to getting a 75-watt vs. a 20-30 watt speaker?

Maybe I should buy gtone's old speaker...

TIA

[gtone]

Pretty hard to go wrong with WGS - they have so many "flavours" to choose from, they're quality made in the US and very affordable. What kind of music do you play? Is there a particular tone you want your amp to cop? This will largely determine what you should try.

I've also had great results with Weber, Celestion, Tone Tubby and vintage Jensens; not so much with Jensen reissues or older (80's-90's) Eminence unfortunately.

[aknapp]

Pretty hard to go wrong with WGS - they have so many "flavours" to choose from, they're quality made in the US and very affordable. What kind of music do you play? Is there a particular tone you want your amp to cop? This will largely determine what you should try.

I've also had great results with Weber, Celestion, Tone Tubby and vintage Jensens; not so much with Jensen reissues or older (80's-90's) Eminence unfortunately.

I play mostly 60-90's "hard rock" (Zep/Cream/Scorps/FF/CT). Not looking for a particular tone, just wondering if, because I'll be using the attentuator, if there would be an advantage to a higher-wattage speaker.

Since the attenuator will roll off the lows (right?), the attentuated tone might sound more balanced with bass-biased speaker.

Or maybe I'm thinking about this too much, and I shouldn't have had that 3rd energy drink already!

[backinit]

I have an ET65 that sounds great, but in a low wattage application I would be tempted to try the greenback clone.

[gtone]

Since I've never used one, I can't comment on an attentuator's/brake's rolling off the low frequencies, but maybe a speaker with a broad frequency response will do well in that application. For most of the lower to moderate gain stuff you listed, it'd be hard to beat a Greenback (WGS clone is Green Beret, IIRC) - very smooth, easy and sweet breakup in that range to cover a lot of classic rock ground. They tend to get a little wooly and muddy (too many nasty overtones?) when you venture into higher gain territory (Scorpions?) or even when you kick out a a lot of volume under medium crunch with a single driver, however. At least that was my experience - YMMV.

WGS' Reaper might be a better all-rounder - a little slower to break up, a good solid bottom end and fairly balanced EQ. Best of all, it stays very musical under loads of gain or volume, even standing alone. There's likely others that could work well also...

[gtone]

Maybe I should buy gtone's old speaker...

You can have it for shipping cost if you want to try it, though I'm pretty sure it's not what you're looking for. Some dude on E-Bay's trying to sell the same speaker for $100 - wishful thinking - the complete Kalamazoo amp didn't cost that much!

[aknapp]

Thanx for the comments, backinit and gtone.

I had pretty much narrowed down the WGS speakers to the ones you mentioned, the Green Beret and Reaper, leaning towards the Reaper because of the "all around" nature.

[hardheartedbill]

I just found a peavey Sheffield for 20 bucks in a pawn. Matches up well w actual greenback. I'll be looking for the more at that price

[gtone]

Occasionally, you can get a really good used speaker score on the cheap, often with quality vintage stuff like old ceramic and alnico Jensens for Fender amps. Almost everyone is on the lookout for "grail" speakers so they don't come cheap, nor does much of anything newer (be cool to score a Tone Tubby alnico or a Celestion Gold for $20, huh? Just never happens...). There are a few really good-sounding speakers flying under the radar though - Bill mentioned the Peavey Sheffield, their Blues Marvel, Black Widows, etc. come to mind.

Still, it's hard to beat the value you get from a WGS for a new speaker, and newer Eminences too, FTM...

[velorush]

I've got a Reeves Custom 12PS (12 watts, Class A) out of which I pulled the stock greenback clone in favor of a Celestion Blue I found earlier this year at Martin Music.

It's... oooooo! Tasty!

[Jakeboy]

The attenuators will roll off some highs but the attenuators will have controls to add the highs back...but this is only at high levels of attenuation. Get whatever speaker you want and adjust the attenuators to taste. We live in the golden age of speakers! Lots of choices and at good prices used.