80's-90's thrash/hardcore tone, a speaker discussion.

[mightyjoeyoungxnj]

Morning all,

Long time no see! I've been out of this game for a little while (damn, a year or more) w/ a new career and a move so gear has fallen down the list of priorities. Now that I'm settled, it's slowly making it's way back up.

Anyhow, I've been on a recent 80's & early 90's thrash/hardcore kick and have noticed a common theme among the general tone/gain structure of these bands and albums. Now, I first noticed this tone on "Ride the Lightning" and was convinced that this album was pure G12T-75. It had that scooped midrange and somewhat fizzy high end, but it fit the time period and I still love that tone.

I'm aware that most bands at the time used some form of a Marshall, usually boosted with a tubescreamer or SD-1, though some bands of the time may have switched to the channel switching JCM 800s as well. This also got me thinking that some of these bands may have been using the G12-65 as well. I'm not very familiar with these speakers due to limited playing time, but I suspect some of these albums may have featured them as they were installed in certain 800 cabs of the period.

Anyway, I've put together a list of songs that feature said tone and was wondering if you guys could decipher whether they are all 75s, 65s, or generally just discuss tone from the time.

Sodom "Agent Orange"

Leeway "Make me an Offer"

Exodus "The Toxic Waltz"

Cro-Mags "Death Camps" (not sure about this one)

And the obvious being Metallica "Ride the Lightning" and perhaps "Master of Puppets" (pretty sure MOP was 65s)

Thanks and it's good to be back!

 

[AmpliFIRE]

JOE!!!! Good too see you back buddy! Anyway, the amp is more important than the speakers in all of those clips. A good JCM 800 boosted will get you where you need to be tonewise. Most people prefer 65's (including myself), so that's where I'd go as far as a cab is concerned. Check the GC used site as they always seem to have a few floating around...

 

[mightyjoeyoungxnj]

JOE!!!! Good too see you back buddy! Anyway, the amp is more important than the speakers in all of those clips. A good JCM 800 boosted will get you where you need to be tonewise. Most people prefer 65's (including myself), so that's where I'd go as far as a cab is concerned. Check the GC used site as they always seem to have a few floating around...

Paige! how's it going?

Yeah, the amp is definitely what's driving the tone, but I'm more interested in that signature 80's midrange that's going on in all of those clips. Because even though they vary a lot on the high end, that midrange is pretty similar.

 

[neilli]

Didn't Metallica use EVs at that point?

 

[atrox]

Honestly. I just sold one JCM800 cab with 75's and still own one JCM800 cab loaded with 65's. The 75's being the original old G12t-75's, they sounded a lot different than todays (chinese?) G12t-75. They had a little bit more oomph IMO.

At volume, scooped and fizzy would not describe the old G12t-75. In fact, other than the G12-65's mid hump (in a good way), they both felt like they had the same highs and the same lows. Neither had a lack of mids in the slightest.

I preferred the G12-65 cab, but ended up X pattering them for 2 identical cabs. When i put them all back into their own cabs, i didn't notice a whole lot of difference.

I still have that 65 cab, but am solely using the Friedman cab now as it fits better with my BE100

 

[rottingcorpse]

I never looked inside the Marshall cabs we used back in the 80s. Whatever was stock back then was the standard. It's not like we had the financial ability to try different quads of speakers. Hell,we were lucky to score 4x12s back then.

 

[HilltopExplosion]

I can get that tone with a Celestion g12h30 70 ani, Especially when mixed with a v30.

 

[Racerxrated]

Honestly. I just sold one JCM800 cab with 75's and still own one JCM800 cab loaded with 65's. The 75's being the original old G12t-75's, they sounded a lot different than todays (chinese?) G12t-75. They had a little bit more oomph IMO.

At volume, scooped and fizzy would not describe the old G12t-75. In fact, other than the G12-65's mid hump (in a good way), they both felt like they had the same highs and the same lows. Neither had a lack of mids in the slightest.

I preferred the G12-65 cab, but ended up X pattering them for 2 identical cabs. When i put them all back into their own cabs, i didn't notice a whole lot of difference.

I still have that 65 cab, but am solely using the Friedman cab now as it fits better with my BE100

This! I have 4 65s from '81 loaded into an MF280 cab, sounds great with my 2204. Grabbed an 800 1960A cab from '85 and those stock 75s sound fantastic, very close to my 65s in fact. NOTHING like 75s usually sound like. They have the vents on the back.

 

[Dopethrone]

h100 were in my JCM800 cab

 

[Beyond Black]

I never looked inside the Marshall cabs we used back in the 80s. Whatever was stock back then was the standard. It's not like we had the financial ability to try different quads of speakers. Hell,we were lucky to score 4x12s back then.

This^^^. I'd go to the music store, and try out a bunch of Marshall cabs and take the one that sounded best, without even questioning what speakers were inside. If we asked the guy what speakers were in there, he'd say "Celestions." That was back when a used JCM800 or JMP could be had all day long for $350 and used cabs for $200, and they were EVERYWHERE.