yuzerneigm
Active member
Has anyone ever used the 100 watt Altec 417 H in their Mark?? Might be getting one soon and wanted to see how the alnico magnet sounds compared to the ceramic of Celestions or EV's. Any thoughts/experience?
Altec 417 H
- Thread starter yuzerneigm
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Restless Rocks
Well-known member
The 417-8H is my favorite speaker of the late 70's. Think Carlos and the Mk I Abraxas sound. The cleans are luxurious and the distortion has a "toothyness" from the metal dome. It's unreal for pushed fenderish breakup. With the higher gain and saturation available from today's amps the metal dome goes into a nasty metalic shrill sorta thing.It's the perfect speaker for the Mark I or a good ole black face fender but not modern heavier sounds at all. Others may have a completely different impression of them. But me and Carlos liked em.
Mi first Mesa mark ii way early 80's came with one altec was a mesa from the late 70's sold it because it was too loud and i dint at the time knew how to get the sound's i wanted cost me $400 that was in 83..... hey i was just a kid :? ****yuzerneigm said:
scottywompas
Well-known member
I have an old 417 that I have never liked in any amp. It came in an amp i bought a long time ago but I have tried it with everything except my MKiv.
It definatly does have that Santana sound though.
Scott
It definatly does have that Santana sound though.
Scott
yuzerneigm
Active member
Well, I just got the Altec and installed it in my Mark III. All I can say is it's much sweeter than the Black Shadow that was in there! Sounds very Santana with sweet round highs, great robust midrange and deep lows. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more of these to install in my other cabs. Does anyone know if there's a speaker in production that compares to the old Altec 417's??
scottywompas
Well-known member
mxr2000 said:
I just didn't dig the frequencies it emphasized. Every amp I tried it with sounded like that Santana tone and that's just not the sound I'm looking for. I have a few old EV/SRO's that have been with me for 15 years and my ears are just used to them.
I was going to sell the 417 but it has a small rip in the paper about a half inch although it doesn't affect the sound. I just figured no body want to pay money for it so it's just stuck in a 1x12 cab taking up space in my closet.
Scott
