Halfback 2x12 - best speaker combination?

[LockStock]

What's your favorite speaker combo in a Mesa halfback?

With what amp? What style of music?

 

[lookslikemeband]

The head and style of music are big factors...

For blues / pop / rock = Vintage 30 and Greenback

For hard rock / metal = C90's

 

[citizen.one]

well, if you have it, put there EVM12L on top and something on botton,maybe EVM12L, ive 2x12 HB too and after ive put out that P90 and replaced by EVM, the sound is great now...just i must choose speaker on bottom,now is there Eminence MS12 and it sounds good, but ill try some different combinations...

 

[phyrexia]

I have a combo and a thiele so i can kinda speak up here.

I have kept the EV in the thiele because it's just such a mighty little cabinet I don't want to mess with the sound coming out of it. I have tried a bunch of speakers in the combo though:

-EVM 12L Classic
-EVM 12L (original speaker)
-Eminence Vintage 50
-Mesa C90
-Weber Michigan (ceramic. 90w.)
-Altec 417-8C

It matters what kind of music you want to play. The dual EV setup is wicked. I may still end up going back to it. The classic is just like the originals to my ears. For **** near anything this would do an excellent job. metal to jazz.

The Vintage 50 and the EV mixed surprisingly well. The V50s I had were pretty bright so there wasn't a huge imbalance. Two V50s were rockin' too. more of a rock speaker. bright and tight.

Lots of people like a C90 up top and a 12L in the bottom, but I didn't really like it. Once you hear the clarity and headroom of a 12L even the moderately clean c90 kinda pales. It sounded too 'blurry' I guess.

I was disappointed with the Michigan. It is very inefficient and when I plugged it up with the thiele, I could barely hear the weber at all. Checked polarity and everything. I think it would go well in a fender. A Deluxe or something. It has a nice chime, but man, I have to craank my amp to get some volume out of this speaker when it's alone.

This Altec is new to me still so I'm still honeymooning it, but it's really warm. It purrs. I like it. With the EV it works well too. I have a 4" beam blocker on it though. It has a metal dustcap, it seems like it gets harshish at high gain. I haven't done a whole lot of that yet though (borrowing an excellent tele ) so this one i think will do most styles well but I don't know if high gain heavy rock is gonna work so well with it. I can cop some santana sounds now though. among other sounds in my head.

I think a v30 up top and a c90 in the bottom would sound good for blues/rock/metal/etc.

I was talking to a guy the other day and we decided you either like the celestion sound or you like the american hifi-ish speaker sound (jbl, ev, altec, i suppose). of course some go either way. we had an interesting conversation. he has a 12L in a princeton reverb. has two michigan 10s in a musicman combo.

I have wanted to try a celestion Gold for a while. Not too many secondhand. They're too much even for me new. I like me some blues though.

Sorry for rambling.

Victor

 

[Restless Rocks]

I currently run EVM 12L's in top and bottom of my HB. I've also used the MS-12 in the top and EV on bottom for a slightly smoother sound. But for the last six months or so I've been using Combo/EV on top of Theile/EV and love it. AND it's much easier to hump around.

 

[mcruzzer]

I run EVM 12Ls in the top and bottom of both 2x12 Half-backs...awesome sound no matter what head I have powering them! And the sound is consistent regardless of volume.

Jim

Boogie .50cal+ EL84/EQ with EQ footswitch mod
Rivera TBR-1M
Marshall JMP-1 Pre-amp
Alembic FB2 pre-amp
Boogie Switch Track 395 power amp