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Award-Session Speakers
Q. Does your electric guitar sound great until you hit open E on the sixth
string and hear a huge bass increase? Have you spent fortunes on replacing
pick-ups and hours adjusting your guitar, only to find it's still there?
So, what is the cause then?
A. It's probably your guitar speakers. What? Yes, they have what is known
as a 'free air resonance' (Fs) at about 75-90Hz. When you play a note at
open E (82Hz), F, F# or G, the speaker jumps into resonance and requires
very little power to produce a huge acoustic output increase. This is very
noticeable with a guitar speaker fitted into an open back cabinet of a
valve amp, or one of the newer design solid state amps with FDD (Frequency
Dependant Damping) in the output stage.
So what's the solution to this? Replacing your speakers with a type giving
an Fs at around 75Hz or lower can help. The Celestion Vintage 30 is an
example.
It is also true for the same speakers fitted into a closed back cabinet,
except that the resonance increases in frequency to around 110Hz, open A
on the fifth string.
A pair of G10 Vintage drivers in an open back cab will resonate at around
110-115Hz, whilst replacing the open back with a closed back will 'tune
up' the cab to around 160Hz, Open D on the fourth string. This is a great
way of getting more warmth out of your guitar rig.
It's also a very good idea to mix speaker types in a 2 or 4 x12" cab to
obtain more low frequency output over a wider spectrum. Some boutique amp
makers do this already to give better low frequency coverage and warmth. A
Vintage 30 (Fs=75Hz) and a G12M Greenback (Fs = 88Hz) make a possible
combination, but limited to a 2 x 12" cabinet with 50 watts power handling
or a 100W 4 x12". This would also be true with other speaker makes too.
Another combination, for higher 120W power handling would be a Vintage 30
and a G12 ClassicLead 80 (Fs=85Hz) in a 2 x 12" or a 240W 4 x 12" cab.
Some times a 2 x 12" cab with two speakers the same can be just too much
when both speakers are at full resonance, making the bass get in the way
with certain types of music. This is quite common, we've found, with big
Fender amps like the Twin Reverb, for example.
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