Advice on speaker combos in 4x12 cabs

  • Thread starter Thread starter MadAsAHatter
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MadAsAHatter

MadAsAHatter

Well-known member
I currently have a couple of speaker cabs that are somewhat mixed up from dropping in spare speakers I had on hand. I’m wanting to resituate everything to make use of as much as I can and bring out the best sound.

This is what I have:
  • Two Eminence 2x12 cabs that will be together for a sorta split 4x12
  • Eganter Armageddon 4x12
  • Egnater Vengeance 4x12
  • Homemade 2x12 I built w 3/4” birch ply.
  • Four Egnater Elite 75’s (from the Vengeance cab) 16Ω
  • Two Egnater Elite 100 (from the Armageddon cab) 16Ω
  • Two Celestion G12T-75 (also from the Armageddon cab) 16Ω
  • Two WGS Retro 30 16Ω
  • One WGS ET-65 16Ω
  • One WGS Retro 30 8Ω
  • One WGS ET-90 8Ω
  • Three Celestion 70/80 8Ω

I pretty much like how all the speakers sound individually so there’s no problems here; I’m not trying to fix something any of them are lacking or have too much of. Given the configurations I’m working with I’m not sure what will pair best with what.

I’m not opposed to buying another speaker to make a pair (like getting another ET-65) instead of having a single, but would prefer to make as few additions as possible… I already have more speakers than cabs to fit them in. Selling some to get others isn't the best option. I don't know of any local shops that buy speakers and I don't think it's worth the hassle to put on craigslist or reverb/ebay. Like I said I'm trying to make best use of what I have without adding to the list of extra stuff I don't have room for.
So out of what I have, what speaker combos would work well together and what would end up being a sonic mess?
How would you put everything together?
 
The hours of playing to figure out the answers is the best part of having all that stuff.
 
Nigel said:
List the top 5 tones from guitarists/records you have in your head.
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I don't have any guitarists/album in my head as a specific tone I'm trying to achieve. I do Heavy Rock, Classic Thrash metal up to about early 90's metal. I don't so the down tuned brutz stuff much and I'll play a little 90's grunge now and then.
One cab will mostly be with my group of modeling type amps. I have the Synergy Pittbull and IICP with plans on getting the Uberschall and one of the Marshall-ish ones (maybe the HBE). Also a Line 6 DT25 that's being used as the power amp for the Synergy stuff and a Peavey Vypyr tube 60.
Another cab will go with my BlueVoodoo 300 head. That one gets it's own cab since it's 300 watts is too much for my amp switcher to handle. It has a decent modded Marshall sound that I'd call somewhere between a plexi & JCM 800/900
The last will be with what I consider my main group of amps. Currently it consists of an ENGL Inferno and Steve Morse. Once some builders are able to fight through some supplies shortages I'll be adding a few more to this group. I plan on getting a Hellion from RedPlated, one of Monomyth's Skeleton Keys and probably a KSR Ares.
 
I second @glpg80

Retro 30s with 75s in an X would be my choice of what you have.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I don't have any guitarists/album in my head as a specific tone I'm trying to achieve. I do Heavy Rock, Classic Thrash metal up to about early 90's metal. I don't so the down tuned brutz stuff much and I'll play a little 90's grunge now and then.
One cab will mostly be with my group of modeling type amps. I have the Synergy Pittbull and IICP with plans on getting the Uberschall and one of the Marshall-ish ones (maybe the HBE). Also a Line 6 DT25 that's being used as the power amp for the Synergy stuff and a Peavey Vypyr tube 60.
Another cab will go with my BlueVoodoo 300 head. That one gets it's own cab since it's 300 watts is too much for my amp switcher to handle. It has a decent modded Marshall sound that I'd call somewhere between a plexi & JCM 800/900
The last will be with what I consider my main group of amps. Currently it consists of an ENGL Inferno and Steve Morse. Once some builders are able to fight through some supplies shortages I'll be adding a few more to this group. I plan on getting a Hellion from RedPlated, one of Monomyth's Skeleton Keys and probably a KSR Ares.
Click to expand...

Sell some stuff, get real Mesa T4416 V30's and x-pattern them with 80's GT-75's. Basically, you want an OG Bogner Überkab. Newer offerings won't have the real sound you crave, as those tones were made with the original formulas of those speakers before Celestion changed the manufacturing process.
 
glpg80 said:
Our of all of those I’d X pattern the retro 30s with the G12-75s and call it a day.
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DanTravis62 said:
I second @glpg80

Retro 30s with 75s in an X would be my choice of what you have.
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That's been one option rolling around. I've read that it a pretty popular combo.
I've also read that Retro 30's paired with ET-65's are a good combo too, equivalent of a V30 / G12-65 mix
 
Retro 30's are not V30s and I couldn't sell them fast enough when I bought a Trace Elliot 4x12 that had them mixed with real V30's.

ET-65's are the shit, however. :)
 
65s are really mid and upper mid focused, and the Veterans from what I have heard are more present in the low-mids and don't have much top-end in comparison. I think they would probably fill each other out nicely.
 
Nigel said:
Retro 30's are not V30s and I couldn't sell them fast enough when I bought a Trace Elliot 4x12 that had them mixed with real V30's.
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Yeah, I agree with you on that, the Retro 30's aren't V30s. The mid humps are at different frequencies; Retro 30s mid spike is more in the mid to low mid range as opposed to the V30 and it's upper mid spike.

HarryCooter said:
65s are really mid and upper mid focused, and the Veterans from what I have heard are more present in the low-mids and don't have much top-end in comparison. I think they would probably fill each other out nicely.
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I think that's why people have favored that combo, those two speakers seem to fill out the mid range and compliment each other well.
 
I dont want to sound contradicting here but my experience with the Retro 30 is different.

Retro 30 : More upper mid voiced than V30 , also has less bass than V30, very clear.

Veteran 30 : A bit more low mid than V30, also darker.

Reaper : A bit scooped but also a very clear sounding speaker , also thin compare to a celestion H type speaker.

I prefer Celestions over every other brand I have tried including Eminence and Fane. But thats not to say someone else won't think the opposite. All of these companies make a good speaker its just preference.
 
the4thlast1 said:
I dont want to sound contradicting here but my experience with the Retro 30 is different.

Retro 30 : More upper mid voiced than V30 , also has less bass than V30, very clear.

Veteran 30 : A bit more low mid than V30, also darker.
Click to expand...

I hear the Retro 30's emphasis more across the mid-mid frequencies slightly bordering on the lower mids where it's not as ear fatiguing as the upper mid hump from the Vintage 30. I can't comment on the Veteran 30 since I haven't played through one.
Though It's been a while since I've played through the Retro 30 by itself so I may be remembering it wrong.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I have what I want to do figured out.... at least for now to see how it all works out.
  • I'm going to keep the Armageddon cab as is in it's stock configuration: 2 Elite 100's and 2 G12T-75's in an X pattern. I'll use it with my main group of amps.
  • The Vengeance cab will go back to stock configuration of 4 Elite 75's. This will go with the DT25/Synergy.
  • One Eminence cab will get the 8 ohm Retro 30 and ET90. The other will get the 16 ohm Retro 30 and ET65. They will be run in parallel with the Blue Voodoo. It'll be a slight mismatch, but I calculated the overall impedance will work out to 2.66 ohms. This should be fine with the BV transformer set to work with 2 ohms.
  • Lastly, I'll throw in a pair of 70/80s into my homemade cab.
I'll see how that all sounds and works out then go from there.
 
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