Speaker for a 1x12 cab (Recommendations)

[Bonzo21]

Played combo amps nearly exclusively for most of my life (I had a 4x12 in high school for a breif period, but that is another story altogether). I recently acquired a 1x12 cab (closed back, pressed particle board) in a trade and want to run a variety of low watt heads into it. I don't play out so I'm looking for just versatility at home for fun. I'm looking for a 12inch speaker that would get along with a lot of different amps covering mostly blues, rock, and some alt-rock. My play time is broken up between say 1/3rd cleans, 1/3rd at breakup, 1/3rd at medium gain crunch. Any recommendations?

Currently looking at a 12" Celestion Creamback

 

[Go Nigel Go]

Speaker voicing is definitely a "thing", but given that you are already talking about using different heads and the like, your settings are going to be the biggest thing in determining your sound. As long as the speaker can handle the power being thrown at it, you can control the voicing of the signal to get the sound you want in the end from just about any speaker.

I am sure you are already aware that if you change the speaker in a given combo and use the same settings, the sound from the amp can change quite a bit, which is probably why the question has come up. It is certainly possible that a one speaker will give "better" results in a given combo than another, but there is not one speaker that will always sound best or "make any amp come alive". It is all about the combination of amplifier, speaker, and settings.

The Celestion is a quality speaker that will give years of service. There are a host of others out there that will do just as well, so I would look at price as probably the deciding factor. You can watch some "speaker swap shootouts" and get some idea of what various speakers sound like relative to each other in the same amp and settings etc. , but the number one takeaway you should probably get from them is that while the speakers are objectively different, there will no consensus on which is "best". Put the same speakers in different combos with different players and settings and you soon won't know which way is up any more.

You can certainly select a speaker you like best in a specific combo or application, but for a general cabinet with multiple potential sources I don't know that it matters as much as the settings you use. Short of pairing a specific speaker to a specific head, I would just get one to handle the highest power level you will be likely to throw at it and move on.

 

[Chuteboxehero]

O

Played combo amps nearly exclusively for most of my life (I had a 4x12 in high school for a breif period, but that is another story altogether). I recently acquired a 1x12 cab (closed back, pressed particle board) in a trade and want to run a variety of low watt heads into it. I don't play out so I'm looking for just versatility at home for fun. I'm looking for a 12inch speaker that would get along with a lot of different amps covering mostly blues, rock, and some alt-rock. My play time is broken up between say 1/3rd cleans, 1/3rd at breakup, 1/3rd at medium gain crunch. Any recommendations?

Currently looking at a 12" Celestion Creamback

I have a Friedman 1x12 closed back with a Creamback and it sounds great! Very versatile. I've run everything from a 1w Diablo or a 6505MH up to using it out of a powered Kemper and it always sounds good.

 

[Maguchi]

Played combo amps nearly exclusively for most of my life (I had a 4x12 in high school for a breif period, but that is another story altogether). I recently acquired a 1x12 cab (closed back, pressed particle board) in a trade and want to run a variety of low watt heads into it. I don't play out so I'm looking for just versatility at home for fun. I'm looking for a 12inch speaker that would get along with a lot of different amps covering mostly blues, rock, and some alt-rock. My play time is broken up between say 1/3rd cleans, 1/3rd at breakup, 1/3rd at medium gain crunch. Any recommendations?

Currently looking at a 12" Celestion Creamback

I got a Carvin V112E 1×12" closed back guitar extension cabinet. I get a good sound with several different amps. It's got a Eminence GT12-8 speaker and weighs just 25 lbs. I play similar genres of music, blues, rock etc. and get the sounds that I need for those styles, like clean, edge of breakup and crunch. As @Go Nigel Go says, varying the settings for each amp and guitar you use will dial in good sounds with the same speaker.

 

[smitty_p]

Plus one to Eminence speakers.

I have a 12' Eminence Red Coat CV-75 in a 1X12 cabinet paired up with a Rivera Clubster 25 watt head.

I think it sounds very good. I came to this decision at a recommendation from one of the techs at Sweetwater. I think it was as a great bit of advice.

 

[Decadent Dan]

A friend recently X’d new redbacks and creambacks in a 4x12. They sound good together but I wouldn’t want either by itself.
My ears get fatigued from Vintage 30’s and the creamback doesn’t sound far off from that, imo. Warmer but still annoying mids.
I would go with a Celestion G12T-75 for an all purpose. Or check out that Eminence 75 suggested earlier. It has a bigger magnet than the Celestion 75.
As much as I like greenbacks, they’re not really suitable in a 1x12 unless your playing low wattage amps.

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

Eminence Legend 1258 is a nice all around, versatile speaker. Not too much of any one thing. Would work well in your situation.

 

[Decadent Dan]

I was also going to say Eminence Legend.
I know an amp builder who uses those as a stock speaker in his combos and cabs.

 

[Bonzo21]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I am still unsure. Listening to some clips and stuff, but there are soooo many factors that you really can't nail down how much of the sound is the speaker. I've been looking at Eminence as well (thanks smitty and decadent), the CV-7516 is starting to look like it would really do my thing.

 

[Decadent Dan]

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

Just

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I am still unsure. Listening to some clips and stuff, but there are soooo many factors that you really can't nail down how much of the sound is the speaker. I've been looking at Eminence as well (thanks smitty and decadent), the CV-7516 is starting to look like it would really do my thing.

A word of caution: Youtube videos tell you little about what a speaker will sound like with your amp and guitar. But if you watch a comparison video, they will tell you that "A is brighter than B" or "C has more midrange than A". Comparing video to video is mostly useless unless you can get a baseline like "Oh, everything in this video has less treble compared to that other video".

 

[Col Mustard]

+1 on that caution...

Listening to amp videos or speaker videos... you have to ask yourself
"What am I listening to this through?" "What am I hearing, anyway?"

I play computer videos through a Boze radio that I've had for decades.
It's plugged into the back of my 'puta, and I've used it that way for
a very long time. Boze little speakers sounded great all this time.
Everything sounds good enough for fun listening. But do I trust it to
educate me on the nuances of one speaker vs another? no.

Do I trust it to educate me on a shoot out between a
Gibbie and an Epi? No. I listen to videos like that for fun. That's all.

So I'm going to second the recommendations by Nigel and Smitty...
Just buy a decent speaker, install it and don't worry so much.
Play music and don't fuss. Different amp settings will make it sound
like a different speaker every day.

Or buy five high quality speakers and plug them all in one at a time
and listen. A good way to drive yourself nuts. Keep the one that
sounds best, and sell the rest. (not recommended)

 

[Go Nigel Go]

+1 to the above. When watching any sort of speaker shootout, you have to remember that the speaker makes a difference at the sound source, but then the microphone and signal chain used to record it makes a difference, the way the signal is processed will be impacted by the speaker choices made by the editor for their studio monitors, then that mix gets routed (and possibly processed further) on it's way to your computer, your computer may apply EQ and "color" to the signal, and finally the speakers you use for playback will also affect the sound you ultimately hear. That doesn't even address indivdual mixing skill and tatses, as well the impact of hearing loss and other psycho acoustic variations.

Can you expect the sound you hear from a youtube creator to sound like the same test speaker in your rig at your house or rehearsal space? Almost certainly not. I do think however that a speaker that exhibits a given change compared to another in a fair test will show a similar trend in your application. If speaker "A" is darker than speaker "B" in the shootout, I would expect you would see a similar change on your end. Will it sound like the video? Most likely not, but if you have speaker "B" in your amp and want something "darker", well, speaker "A" might just fill the bill even if both don't sound anything like your amp and settings compared to the one used to shoot the video. It pays to have realistic expectations, and understand how much can affect what you ultimately hear from the video to your living room.

 

[Col Mustard]

+1 on the above... *grins

Oh and here's one more thing you may not understand...
Speakers have to break in. Think about THAT for a minute.
Maybe a month, six weeks... depending on how much you
practice.

You can buy one brand new and
install it in your custom cab and hate the sound...

So then you buy another one and do the same and hate the
sound. And on and on...

Until you plug your guitar into a friend's amp (that he's had for
some years) and love the tones you hear. So you ask him,
"what speaker(s) are in this amp..."

...and he tells you it was the first one you bought, that you
thought you hated. Go figure.

Moral of this story: If you buy a good quality speaker and
install it in a good quality cabinet, and play a good quality guitar
into a good quality amp on top, your equipment will probably
do what you need done.

 

[Go Nigel Go]

Yup, so many things make a difference, big or small. Mic placement alone can make an unbelievable difference in recording. A quarter inch left or right, up or down, backwards or forwards on the speaker cone, even the angle in the same place can make an audible difference. Same thing with micing acoustic instruments.

 

[Will V.]

If you want a British style speaker the Creamback 65 is a good choice. Johan Segeborn was also impressed with the Mojotone British Vintage speakers and I have a pair of the BV-25M waiting to go in my 2x12 once I get off my duff. But those are only good options if you think you’ll be happy primarily with a British style speaker. If you want more of a jack of all trades, you might look at the Mojotone Greyhound which sits in between the American and British voicing.

 

[DrBGood]

I'll muddy up the discussion by saying that I like 2X10" waaay better than a single 12". Low frequencies are tighter and none of that harsh beam that most 12" are prone to shoot. I always felt the need to position my cab in a way that didn't shoot that beam in my face. Yes I tried beam blockers, not great.
The plus for 2X102 Is that you can mix two different sounding speakers, a bit like going stereo. I have two 2X10" cabs with each a VOX VX10 that is dark. Each has another 10" that spices up the cab with clearer mids and highs.

Haha ... sorry about that.

 

[Bonzo21]

Sorry for ghosting y'all, its been a crazy month. Yeah I am aware that youtube videos can't faithfully recreate the sound of a speaker, or that there is an impact on sound from everything else in the chain as well (including of course the amp itself!). At the end of the day though, there is no simple solution short of trial and error. I wish there was a place you could go to try out a bunch of speakers, but such a place does not exist. The best I can do is listen to videos, and look at the graphs the manufactures post, ask for people's advice, and read descriptions (even if they are mostly subjective and full of marketing jargon).

 

[Go Nigel Go]

That pretty much sums it up.