Speakers

[Don]

I recently swapped the C-90 for a Weber 12A125 (12", Alnico magnet, 1.25" voice coil - Jense P12Q replacement) in my Express 5:50 1x12 combo and can't get over the difference in the tone!

I borrowed the 12A125 from my tweed Deluxe clone. The sound is much more vibrant and 3D and the amp is more responsive than itwas with the Celestion.

The clean more sounds like a 6L6 powered, 12" speakered blackface Fender, the blues mode sounds a lot like the tweed Deluxe clone. It's a very bluesy, rootsy sound. Even the Burn mode is cool- like a hot rodded Fender!

I put the C-90 in the tweed Deluxe for safe keeping and it sounds dull and lifeless.

I greatly underestimate the tone difference a speaker replacement would cause and greatly underestimated that the C-90 is not the speaker for my style!

As a side effect, the amp lost over 5 pounds!

This is only a temporary solution, the amp is rated at 50 watts and the speakjer is only rated for 30. I usually have the masters set between 9am and 11am (though this speaker is less efficient so i might have to raise them), but I'd hate to get caught in a volume war and blow up this great sounding speaker.

Besides, my tweed Deluxe clone needs it's speaker back!

 

[J.J]

Another convert :lol:

It does seem that once you get amps this good you really have to compliment it with the speaker that suits your style.

Still for a jack of all trades, I like the C90.

 

[Rockerduck]

A studio trick that still works is to put a lower watt speaker in an amp with higher watts. The speaker sounds its best on the borderline of blowing. A lot, if not all, of pro's in studio's do it this way. It sounds really good. Playing live, I keep blowing the speaker, but in the studio its much easier to control.

 

[Don]

The speaker sounds its best on the borderline of blowing.

That's rock 'n roll!

I'm nowhere near that point in this case, tough. I'm actually playing the Express a little quieter than I would play my tweed Deluxe (5E3) clone.

Tweed Deluxes have a very narrow range of volume- they're silent until about 1-1/2 or 2 on the dial, get to near full volume at about 3 or 4 and then just get crunchier all the way to 12 with very little volume increase. To clean it up, you either turn down the guitar's volume or crank up the amp's un-used channel. You can also set one channel at 12 and the other at 6, use an A/B foot switch and have a very primative channel switching amp. You can also use an A/B/Y switch, Y cable or jumper to run both channels in parallel so they hit the power amp harder. It's a very inefficient, lo-fi amp and a blast to play! It's the amp that most people are talking about (even Mesa) when they say "tweed".

The amp only weighs about 25 pounds and jumps when you play it loud.

I just hijacked my own thread!

 

[Rockerduck]

I have a DRRI that is louder than the 22 watts its rated at. My tech buddy said the factory used better parts on that run. I stuck a V30 in it to record with. The DRRI was making it drive hard. It was sweet.I was at a music store and found the 5:50 and played it. I was impressed enough to get it after checking the build quality. I have played and gigged over forty yrs. and am still at it. I use the DRRI now for Harmonica and the Mesa 5:50 for my guitar at lower volume gigs (which has become more and more). My Marshall stack is collecting dust.

 

[jeffp]

Man! That is a beautiful telecaster! Can we see a better pic of it?jeffp

 

[BostonRedSox]

Man! That is a beautiful telecaster! Can we see a better pic of it?jeffp

JeffP, how are you liking your ED?

 

[Don]

Man! That is a beautiful telecaster! Can we see a better pic of it?jeffp

It's not actually a Telecaster. It's a USACG T-Style that I assembled 8 years ago. The finish is Minwax Wipe On Poly with no sealer. It has Fralin Pickups (blues Special neck and stock overwound neck) and Fender hardware. Unfortunately, I don't have any great pics of it.

I've since tinted the neck on this Strat-

 

[nopicknick]

Don I just bought a USACG and it is fantastic guitar. Mine has a 1pc ash body with a quarter sawn neck. Pickups are Peter Florance that sound killer.

 

[Don]

I like the color and the ash body. I'd like for my Strat to have a 2-tone sunburst ash body.

I love seeing the logos on these guitars- I don't like headstocks without logos and USACG has a nice logo, plus it's good to see people who are not afraid to have a guitar with a different brand name on it (my Deluxe clone came with the Fender logo on it. I would've liked it if the builder had his own)! Their headstock shape isn't bad, either!

 

[nopicknick]

I really like everything about this guitar. Sounds great through my 5:25 too. I changed the pickguard to a white shell.....I think it looks a little better.