Best speaker cabinet match for the Electra Dyne head

[skunizzi]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering what you guys think about cabinets. I currently own an ED combo unit, but I am trying to get my hands on a used head for a decent price. The reason for this is because the combo is darn heavy and the head is more pratical for me. I have a cabinet where our band plays so moving a head is way better... Anyways, I was wondering what cabinet you guys feel is the best match for this amp. The reason I ask is because I tried plugging my combo into a Marshall JCM800 Super lead 4x12 and I liked the sound better than what I was getting out of my combo. I think it is also due to the fact that the Marshall is old and broken in.

So what do you guys use and like?

Let me know!

 

[Birdy]

Depends on what type of music you play, volume you play at, etc.
For me, I love the tone of my old AX Marshall with Greenbacks.
I find that (for me) the best tones at any volume level are in the 90w
setting. Sounds more organic or more bloom.....or whatever....you know
what I mean :|
With this cab, pre-amp tube swapping ( V1,2 and 3) along with
great aftermarket guitar pickups, I can nail the tones that I like to play.....without
OD pedals. Think John Fogerty(CCR days) or Mike Ness(Social Distortion).
I still love this amp every time I play thru it !

 

[jeffp]

Birdy; i have a cab...2 x 12 rectifier with V30`s. I don`t have the amp. I`m sending my brand new RA back. Overwhelming mids. Not for me.I`ll be looking for a long head ED. I can`t wait to get it swapped. I`ve been reading all the posts I can trying to learn about the ED which was actually my second choice. Now its first. How is the ED for RockNroll? old rock, classic rock>...70`s, 80 s rock? Is the gain smooth? and is the tone warm? Can it do Lynrd Skynrd, Bryan Adams, Creedence,Hendrix, and Clapton? Do you recomend it for that type of rock? jeffp`

 

[Birdy]

Jeff....if I would add anything to what I said in the post I made before yours;

When I had my 2x12 ED combo I really liked the V30 speakers. But the kicker for
me was when I plugged into my Greenback cab. I got a great "organic, 3D tone" that
prompted me to get a head and sell the combo.
I also LOVE my clean channel tone(which I trim). It rings like a warm bell...for lack of
a better description....especially with my Firebird.
IMO...it's an awesome classic rock amp.
I'm sure a 2x12 cab would sound killer also....I haven't played thru one yet with my ED.
I don't gig, and my son has a Marshall full stack at his house so I just take my head and plug
into one of his greenback equipped cabs for jamming. Mine just stays here at home.

ED + 4x12 greenback cab =

 

[J.J]

Birdy; i have a cab...2 x 12 rectifier with V30`s. I don`t have the amp. I`m sending my brand new RA back. Overwhelming mids. Not for me.I`ll be looking for a long head ED. I can`t wait to get it swapped. I`ve been reading all the posts I can trying to learn about the ED which was actually my second choice. Now its first. How is the ED for RockNroll? old rock, classic rock>...70`s, 80 s rock? Is the gain smooth? and is the tone warm? Can it do Lynrd Skynrd, Bryan Adams, Creedence,Hendrix, and Clapton? Do you recomend it for that type of rock? jeffp`

Hi Jeff, I've been following your comments about the RA. When I first heard about the RA I thought perhaps it would be better than the ED, but after hearing the Mesa sound clips it looked like my ED would be safe afterall. If you have not seen the Mesa clip with Marcus doing the ED demo, look it up. That clip is a good one.

I'd sum up the ED tone by saying the clean mode has great Fender black face vibe and the two vintage gain modes behave like early Marshalls.

Both the Clean and Vintage low can be quite warm. The vintage high is not as warm and can be very cutting (some people would say harsh or fizzy). I still love Vintage high, but find I have to be a little careful about the settings. Contrary to a lot of the other Mesa amps, more gain = more harmonics and brighter tone with the vintage gain modes. Clean mode just keeps getting warmer as the gain goes up.

Vintage low does the Clapton Beano tones well for me. ACDC lives there too . 70s and 80s rock is well covered from my perspective The over drive is very touch sensitive, uncompressed and full of interesting harmonics that shift around. I think that has a lot to do with the "organic" tone comments the ED regularily gets.

 

[jeffp]

Thanks a lot for the info. That`s what i need. I`d MUCH rather talk to ED owners to hear their experiences with their amp than chance it. I`ve seen the clip. it`s good just hard to judge any sound quality online.Our local MB store is out. They have no ED......tell me wait 3-4months if i place order. The salesman i talked to who`s been there forever never even heard of the ED. i had to tell him about it. Anyway I`m interested in classic rock. My son checked one out for me on a recent trip a few hundred miles away and said he thought it was pretty warm but couldn`t turn it up either.thanks again. jeffp

 

[J.J]

In person is always much better for sure, but that clip is pretty honest. They just seem to capture what the amp is like in a normal room without the studio magic. Another clip that I think is really good is the Haggertys Stiletto Vs Lonestar Vs ED.

Here is the thread http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=49981

Everyones idea of warm varies, so here's what I think on the subject. The ED has a peak in the upper bass / low mid region (according to Mesa) and I find that area greatly responsable to my perception of warmth. With the ED just moving the bass control will move the tone from warm to cold. Often I have to turn the bass down to get enough cut.

I mostly use a C90 speaker with my ED because I like it better for the Blues I play. The V30 is probably better for rock and if I get on a rock kick I'll change to my V30. The V30 has less bass and does need more to be dialed in to keep things warm.

 

[jeffp]

Ok...I have the 2x12horizontal rectifier cab. I would like to change one of the V30`s out....C90?...G12H?...G12-65?. What do you think?

 

[DWAKO]

With the ED the cab can really make or break this amp. You could have the amp paired with the wrong cab for your style and think it's the amp's fault. I was working on the other guitarist it my band's Marshall Vintage cab with the Marshall G12s and I used my ED to test it out to make sure I had fixed it and my Electra Dyne sounded hauntingly close in tone to his Marshall JVM 410-H (with more low end thump of course :wink. Also this week my band played at Cornerstone Festival in Bushmell Illinois and most shows I played with my 2x12 Road King/4x12 V30/G75 (x-shape) which has a much more cutting upper mid-range (which would usually bother me but it is paired well with the other guitar players JVM where he has the mids cut a good amount). But one show was backlined and I threw my ED on top of Marshall 1960 lead which has G75's a believe and it sounded great as well, it had a lot smoother upper mids with a fairly tight bass response. Out of all of them I still like my Mesa stack best but keep in mind i push my ED towards higher gain sounds with a Screamer/graphic EQ on my M9 in front (tube screamer to tighten up the low end and give it more attack and the graphic EQ to dial put unwanted middy frequencies and dial back in some low end recto-like thump). The road king 2x12 is great by itself if a really cutting mid range it what you like. It's really a matter of trial and error and demoing a bunch of cabs until you find the one that suits your sound, but V30s are always a great place to start looking.

 

[J.J]

Speakers are such a big part of overall tone. I'd say chaging a speaker will almost always have a bigger effect than changing tubes.

I have a Marshall 1960 with the G75s and I love it with the ED. Dwako is right on the money, tight bass.

The only Celestion speakers I have are the V30, C90 and G75. I do want to get a G12H and a G12M to see what they sound like.

The only Rectifier cab I have tried with an ED was the 2x12 vertical. The bass was to loose and woofy sounding for me even with the V30s. The C90 and V30 combination does sound good and helps balance the tone, but I'd be a little worried the extra bass from the C90 in a rectifier cab would make things worse.

I'd like to get a 2x12 Stiletto cab and swap a V30 for a C90, but that will still sit very low. The other option is to get a 3/4 back 1x12 with a V30 so I can make a mini stack with my current 1x12, but that is more gear than I want to carry.

 

[bhurst462]

I have two EDs and run them both with 2x12 Avatar open back cabinets loaded with a G12H30 and a Greenback, and the tone is awesome. It's a great mix of frequency. I highly recommend that speaker combination.

 

[jeffp]

what about the power rating.....I love the G12H(30watts), and the greenback(25W) but on the 90watt mode it could blow?I`d like to try the V30 and the G12H together in the 2x12 rect.? what say you? jeffp

 

[J.J]

If your not playing metal at live band volumes you have little to worry about. My V30 and C90 speakers both start to sound bad long before I get to the design power limit. I have found a single C90 (90 watts) gets unbareable cone cry running in 45 mode with the master around 12:00 and that was already way louder than I need to be. You will still get ear spliting volume with the combination you want to run.

I'm considering getting a pair of greenbacks to run with my ED.

 

[bhurst462]

I like to run my head at 90 watts because I have another guitar player and the extra headroom is nice, and I think it sounds better. The cab breaks up very nicely when pushed and I can't see any issues with it only being a 55 watt cab. Keep in mind that it's usually better to have more power than too little. Being under-powered is what can generally blow speakers. However I will say that I haven't had the master volume past 10:30 though. This amp gets freaking loud fast, and most of the places we play anything louder than that and it gets to be way too much. Plus with the cabinet being lower powered, I think the ED gets into its sweet spot at a lower volume, but that is just my 2 cents for what its worth.