Sound Garage Tales

With help from my buddy Peter, I narrowed down the speakers I’m going to try out with the 1×12 (or 1×10″) Gabriel Stinger 7 watt combo. For some mysterious reason I lean towards the 10 inch speaker configuration more than the 12 inch. The Stinger is a 7 watt single ended amp, and I assume it will  perform better through a 10 inch speaker because of the more focused sound dispersion characteristic. I suspect bass will also be more tight as compared to a 12 inch speaker. Here is a list and also a video update on the Stinger status. Hope you enjoy it!

Weber 10F150T (replacement for Jensen 10q)
Weber AlNiCo Signature 10
Weber 10A125
Webber AlNiCo Silver Ten (Silver Bell)
Webber AlNiCo 10V (paper or hempcone)
Webber AlNiCo 10VS (paper or hemp)
Celestion Greenback 10
Celestion AlNiCo Gold 10″

And of course I’ll have the 12″ counterparts available, like the Celestion G12H30, the AlNiCo Blue, and the Greenback G12M.

Later on I will post the results of this speaker shootout for the Stinger amp. Will post a video with the sound bites also and let you guys vote for the best speaker!

I am curious to hear if you have a specific speaker in mind that you would suggest testing the Stinger with! Please leave a comment below!

I started using this clever 3 Way Input for all my 2 x 12″ Speaker Cabinets last year, found in Dave Hunter’s The Guitar Amp Handbook, a fabulous book that every serious guitar player should read it. Dave writes with a clear, accessible lingo, and the the book gives instant access to some of the most important aspects and facts of the guitar amplifier, revealing the myths and hypes of the cork-sniffers that are floating out there.

I can’t tell how much flexibility it adds to the way you can use a regular 2 x 12″ (or 2 x 10″ for that matter) speaker cabinet! In a nutshell Dave writes:

“Here’s a cool little mod that I’ve put onto a number of my own speaker cabs, especially those with mix-and-match speakers of different characteristics that I tend to use a lot for recording in addition to gigging”

I am using a blank cabinet dish drilled for three input jacks (preferably UK made switchable Cliff), and wire it up as in the diagram below. Make sure you respect the speaker polarity connections on it, otherwise you might end up wiring them out of phase, and your speaker cabinet will sound weak and boxy due to the two speakers canceling each other.

This way, your regular 2 x 12″ speaker cabinet becomes super-flexible to be used in multiple settings such as:

• a “virtual” 1 x 12″ speaker cabinet by tapping into one of the speakers individually (8 ohms/each), capturing each of its own particular flavor in a recording session.
• a regular 2 x 12″ with both speakers connected in series at double their impedance (16 ohms)
• stereo configuration speaker cabinet, running two guitar amp heads into each individual speaker input (8 ohms/each)
• a 4 ohms total impedance speaker cabinet for amps that have multiple outputs of a single impedance (Fender, etc.), using two speaker cables for each jack in a parallel connection.

Here is the wiring diagram I am using for my Gabriel 2 x 12″ Slant Speaker Cabinet with convertible back, but the mod can be used on any 2 x 12″ or 2 x 10″ speaker cabinet configuration.

Pop in a combination of Celestion speakers of your choice, (I prefer pairing the 8 ohm AlNiCo Blue Celestion Speaker with a 8 ohm G12M Greenback Celestion Speaker speaker) and you will have an outstanding sounding and very flexible speaker cabinet!

UPDATE (Dec 20, 2011): On of my blog readers, Lee Campen sent a parallel wiring version diagram that will actually let you use two 16 ohms speakers. This way you can tap both of them at 8 ohms or each one separately at 16 ohms each! Thanks Lee!!!