Custom made cabs - changing the speakers

[Dawn Patrol]

I use a 5150 and the original cab, which sound good to me, but I always want what I don't got. There have been some threads about guitar-cabs and it started me to think. Is it possible to change some of the speakers (in my 5150 cab), with different speakers from maybe a mesa-cab and marshall-cab. Maybe replace one 12" with a 10". So in the end you got a cab with a 5150-speaker, a mesa speaker, a marshall speaker and a 10". Can it be done? I know that its not only the speakers that make the sound, also the construction of the cab, but hey you can't get it all...

 

[Razorjack]

Having 4 different types of speaker in one cab might not sound too good (i've not tried it though).

Two Celestion Vintage 30's and Two Sheffields (5150 stock speakers) sounds good in a 4x12.

It can be done, you just need to make sure all the speakers are of the same resistance (4ohm, 8ohm, 16ohm) and that they are wired correctly (parallel or series).

The only thing you would have to do is make a wooden surround for the 10" speaker so that it fits in the 12" hole in the cab.

 

[black sugar]

If you're gonna mix and match speakers in a 4x12, I would recommend doing so in top and bottom pairs. Not to be Capt. Obvious or anything, but you'd want good low end speakers in the bottom and good high end speakers in the top.

The end goal is to have some sort of sympathetic resonance which brings out the "good" characteristics of your speakers, and you maximize the chance of this by having more of the same type of speaker. This is beause they will all react to the input signal in exactly the same way in terms of breakup, output level, and frequency responce.

It can get to be somewhat of a costly experiment (believe me), and if you mix and match too much, you're probably gonna end up with mush. But never say never. I actually have a little bastard cab with one 12" in the bottom and two 10"s (matching) in the top slant and it sounds huge. Go figure.

I would recommend doing some research. Try www.avatarspeakers.com (they use a popular blend of Celestion G12H30's and Vintage 30's in some of their cabs), and www.eminence.com and www.celstion.com as starting points.

Razorjack had a great point about matching the speaker impedance as well. You can find wiring diagrams pretty easily online.


Bryan

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Thanx for the comments. I understand that using 4 different speakers in the cab can make the total(the 4 speakers combined) sound bad or "muschy". I'm not thinking of using the cab in live situations, only for recording. And depending of what kind of sound you are looking for, you maybe want to use a 10" or a marschall-speaker etc. and not all the speakers at the same time, since I usually only mic-up one of the speakers, or maybe you want and that can then be arranged. I will look in to the links that were posted and think about this a bit more. I'm just trying not to buy 3 or 4 different cabs but still have a lot of options when choosing the guitarsound. More comments are welcome...

 

[black sugar]

Oh, ok. That changes things if it's gonna be a close mic only cab. Hmmm... I've never heard of anyone trying that. Yer an innovator!

If you want markedly different but useful speakers, you could try a Celestion Vintage 30 (rhythm) and G12T-75 (lead), an Eminence V12 (rhythm), and a Celestion G10 Vintage (clean) if you want a 10". The rhythm/lead stuff is just my opinion where they might be best suited.

Let us know how it works out.


Bryan