What's your fave speaker?

[Laurent Brondel]

My Mk3 green stripe combo came loaded with an EV Force 12 speaker, not sure if original to the amp, but I kept it for about a minute. After trying a bunch of speakers I had around I quickly settled for a Celestion V30, which to my ears complements the amp perfectly and actually makes the small cab sound big and not boxy at all.
I used my SOB head with a 2x12 loaded with late ‘70s Celestion G12-80’s for a while, beautiful cleans, crisp and deep, but a bit strident and too edgy with gain. Much better with a pair of V30’s as well.
Greenbacks sound great with the 2 amps, in 4x12 and 4x12 cabs, but are a bit soft, especially with cleans.
I use those amps “on the edge”clean, with pedals for various levels of gain, so I do not use the channel switching on the Mk3 at all, although the rhythm and lead channels sounds great as well, it’s not my cup of tea.
What speakers do you guys use with your Marks?

 

[woodbutcher65]

EVM-12Ls for Mesas (and sometimes good for most any amp) and Celestion Greenbacks and (reissue) Creambacks for anything related to a Marshall for sure. My favorite cab setup is two Greenbacks and two Creambacks in a Marshall 1960A cabinet.

 

[Markedman]

The Boogie Fillmore 75 is a great choice. The guys in the band noticed and liked the speaker right away when I first used it in an open back Boogie 1X12 cabinet. The speaker has gotten better over time and I'm going to buy a second one to put in my Roadking 4X12 cabinet to mate with 2 EVM12L's. I'll use that in stereo with a 1974 Marshall 4X12 with 25 watt creambacks.

 

[CoG]

Markedman, you found the secret sauce too - mixing EVM-12Ls with a less hi-fi speaker! Gives you a very versatile cab that really lets you hear the amp.

My favourite cab is a Recto slant with a pair of EVMs and a pair of Emi RWBs, sounds good with literally everything I've played through it.

 

[rarebitusa]

Markedman, you found the secret sauce too - mixing EVM-12Ls with a less hi-fi speaker! Gives you a very versatile cab that really lets you hear the amp.

My favourite cab is a Recto slant with a pair of EVMs and a pair of Emi RWBs, sounds good with literally everything I've played through it.

Cool suggestions... been looking for something different to pair with an EVM12L in a vertical 2x12 cab I'm putting together. Already have a Recto cab and a 1x12 EVM12L and a few others. Each have their own vibe.

Who OEMs the FM-75 for Mesa?

 

[Markedman]

The Fillmore is Eminence.

 

[rarebitusa]

The Fillmore is Eminence.

thanks... so now I'm curious, which 12" Eminence model would come closest to the FM-75, would it be the RWB? I actually have a closed back 1x12 with a Eminence Lil Texas but never tried pairing it with the EVM... time to give that a try

 

[skelt101]

thanks... so now I'm curious, which 12" Eminence model would come closest to the FM-75, would it be the RWB? I actually have a closed back 1x12 with a Eminence Lil Texas but never tried pairing it with the EVM... time to give that a try

The CV-75 would be the closest to the FM-75.
https://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=CV-75

 

[CoG]

The RWB is very "smooth" and on its own you usually see it in D-styles, Fuchs, Carr, anything that has blackface DNA. I paired it with the EVMs to round off a little of the aggressive highs I get from my Mark III and the blue channel on my RA100, and warm up the 'plinky' cleans that I get from the Mark if it's dialed in for heavy crunch.

 

[rarebitusa]

thanks appreciate the input... so yea this Lil Texas actually blended well with the EVM, so now I see/hear where this is going. Always liked the EVM paired with the V30s but this is definitely a nice alternative to that. Looks like the RWB won't break the bank so may give that a whirl at some point.

 

[Laurent Brondel]

thanks... so now I'm curious, which 12" Eminence model would come closest to the FM-75, would it be the RWB? I actually have a closed back 1x12 with a Eminence Lil Texas but never tried pairing it with the EVM... time to give that a try

The CV-75 would be the closest to the FM-75.
https://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=CV-75

Do you know if The Fillmore is just a rebranded CV-75, or if it's a slightly different design?

 

[skelt101]

Do you know if The Fillmore is just a rebranded CV-75, or if it's a slightly different design?

Sorry, I don’t have the answer to that question. You might try Eminence, but I have a feeling they will tell you it is an exclusive speaker and can’t reveal any differences. However, the Fillmore is based on Mesa/Boogie’s favorite old Vintage 30 and the CV-75 is modeled after the Vintage 30, so the two should be in the same ballpark.

 

[Laurent Brondel]

So I've put an Eminence CV-75 in my MkIII and it's a great sounding speaker in that amp!
Similar to the V30, but more detailed, with a bit more top end and a slightly tighter bass response, which makes the midrange a hair less aggressive, but it stills cuts through.
Still curious about the Fillmore, but I hardly imagine it is "better", maybe slightly different.

 

[rgx612a]

I use V30's with my Mark series amps, but I use R2 and the Lead Channel the most. The clean channel gets little use.

 

[xdg999]

The MS-12 is my favorite. It's smooth and thick but might be too warm for some players. It pairs nicely with an EV in a 2x12 or 4x12. Warms up the sterile sound of the EV's. Another speaker I really like is the Celestion Redback. Sounds great in a 1x12 combo or 4x12.

 

[Kenny1207]

I've loved JBL speakers which I have in my 1978 Super Sixty. It came with an Altec 417-BH speaker which I removed and replaced with a new JBL. Then I would run a 2-12 open back cabinet with Weber speakers.

btw: Laurent, I absolute want one of your acoustic guitars!!! I knew you played electric guitar but had no ideal you could be here, but heck why not!

 

[Jay Omega]

I just converted my Mark IV from rackmount to a combo, and used the Celestion red-back (G12H-150). It handles 150W, which is good for the Mark IV, and sounds great in an open back cab.

TBH I never liked the V30 in an open back cab. I tried a few speakers, EVM-12L, EM-12, MC-90. Red back was the winner!

 

[themisfit138]

I have been very happy with the Celestion G12T-75 in my Silver Jubilee cab. The 75s really fatten up the tone of any amp. They work especially well with the older Marks. The V30s in the recto cab just don’t cut it after hearing the two back to back.

 

[Laurent Brondel]

btw: Laurent, I absolute want one of your acoustic guitars!!! I knew you played electric guitar but had no ideal you could be here, but heck why not!

Ha, thank you! I’d be happy to build a guitar for you. After playing Fenders & Marshalls almost exclusively, I’m expanding a bit and got curious about older Mesa’s.

 

[MesaTone]

I have always wanted a slightly warmer JBL that would take high gain, and have spent bundles of paychecks buying speakers. I have several JBL's from back in the day, so I know what I'm looking for. I never came close, so started buying the usual suspects looking for something that spoke to me, but there was always something I didn't like, either the EQ was wrong, too little high end, too little low end, sounded good clean but not dirty, sounded good dirty but not clean (CL-80), everything was a compromise. Mix this, mix that, Celestion, Mesa EV, Emi, other Webers, but nothing that sounded like a warmer JBL that could handle high gain.

So, on one last roll of the dice, I ordered a Weber CV124F. OH, MAN, here it is! A full frequency response speaker, just like a JBL, slightly warmer (the British influence) that will handle gobs of gain, then turn around and sound absolutely beautiful with a clean tone, and everything in between. I hear some Fane when it gets going, without that harshness around the note edges that Fane's get.

I will add that of the dozens of speakers I've played over the years with my Mark's, I have never had a speaker that had so much natural sustain to it. The notes just last and last, like the speaker is some kind of musical instrument itself. This is the only speaker I enjoy playing without a delay pedal on.

This is the speaker that every fine combo amp should come with. I had a Mesa MkIIA combo and MkIV head for years, and this is the speaker that Mesa should be putting in their amps. I wouldn't mix it with anything, it's absolutely perfect the way it is. Two are better, and four are God tone.