Does Grill Cloth Really make a difference?????

[tonmazz]

God I wish Marshalls were front loaded and you could swap them around. I think we need Lugo to do a grill cloth shootout. I so want to like these speakers.

 

[Hollywood]

You guys have GOT to be joking...??!!??

Seriously???

I profess complete and utter ignorance if this is indeed the case. I'd never in a million years concurred with this notion. Ever. I'm going to have to learn a bit more about this, as honestly?? I would claimed SNAKE OIL the moment someone woulda tried to feed me this.

Kazy.
V.

Keep thinking it is snake oil, while I keep having killer tone No BS with grill cloths...

Well tell me more, like - how does it work? I can sense it would be a potential high end hiss filter to an extent, but when things really started pushin', I wouldn't have thought it would make a diff.

I ain't arguing with ya, I'm actually pretty intrigued

V.

I will give you an exaggerated example. Take a blanket and throw it over the cabinet and play. Now take it off and play. You should hear a difference. Grill cloth is like this… thin cloth like Marshall black lets through more than a nice tight basketweave.

My old gig cabinet had 2 grill cloths loaded on it...since I was using 75's. Small check over basketweave...

For quite a few shows I used to hang womens bra's over the front of my cabs..
This must have made the frequencies more 'cut through' mix wise because it made all the nipples in the front rows stand out more.

Bunch of dudes in the front row at that show??? You're a sick man!

You my friend should remove yourself from the village people fans forum. I can tell your thinking has become dominately alpha male. Now where did that Elton John CD go ?

 

[Doubleneck]

God I wish Marshalls were front loaded and you could swap them around. I think we need Lugo to do a grill cloth shootout. I so want to like these speakers.

Don't forget the quality of materials, wood, metal handles or plastic handles & wiring between a Marshall Handwired with heritage 30's and a Marshall 1960 AX cab are going to be different, also did you use the same speaker cable? There all going to affect the sound.

 

[tonmazz]

God I wish Marshalls were front loaded and you could swap them around. I think we need Lugo to do a grill cloth shootout. I so want to like these speakers.

How is your cab wired? Wiring changes tone as well. I prefer series/parallel.

I've got them in series. Maybe thicker wire?

 

[tonmazz]

God I wish Marshalls were front loaded and you could swap them around. I think we need Lugo to do a grill cloth shootout. I so want to like these speakers.

Don't forget the quality of materials, wood, metal handles or plastic handles & wiring between a Marshall Handwired with heritage 30's and a Marshall 1960 AX cab are going to be different, also did you use the same speaker cable? There all going to affect the sound.

That's a great point, I should ask Artie to pull his apart so we can see what the differences are.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Great! A whole other can of worms! Thanks!

+1...........Son of a bitch, it makes sense but never would have thought.

 

[tonmazz]

Great! A whole other can of worms! Thanks!

+1...........Son of a bitch, it makes sense but never would have thought.

Can't win man!

 

[stoneage cabs]

Grill cloth thickness does have an impact on all freq, but most noticeably the highs.

A thinner weave [black bw/check] are very acoustically transparent, and SNP/Cane are very thick, and offer the most filtering. YMMV.

Original Marshall weaves in order starting with the thickest:

1- Cane
2- Salt-n-pepper [aka basket weave]
3- Reissue Blues Breaker
4 -Black Basket Weave
5- Large Check

You can view them here:
https://www.stoneagecustomcabinets.com/page6.html

 

[russellconner]

i remember way back when i bought my 4x12 rectifier cabs...the mesa literature mentioned the "dipped jute" grille, which was designed to sweeten the highs.

russell

 

[tonmazz]

Grill cloth thickness does have an impact on all freq, but most noticeably the highs.

A thinner weave [black bw/check] are very acoustically transparent, and SNP/Cane are very thick, and offer the most filtering. YMMV.

Original Marshall weaves in order starting with the thickest:

1- Cane
2- Salt-n-pepper [aka basket weave]
3- Reissue Blues Breaker
4 -Black Basket Weave
5- Large Check

You can view them here:
https://www.stoneagecustomcabinets.com/page6.html

Thanks! This is great info, it really explains a lot as to why same speakers could sound so drastically different in two different cabs. I have the large check and hate ice pick highs so probably the best choice for me. But I wonder if it's at the expense of some other frequencies that I actually like?

 

[Dallas Marlow]

How can it not make a difference, especially when your miced up, it's the ONLY thing between the speaker and the diaphragm of the mic aside from the mic's grill it self! It's got to play a role in bouncing waves around and eq'ing the speakers etc.,!

 

[Meathead]

I like cane and basketweave grill covering. I went for cane on my last project.

Guitar tones are all about adding color and comb filtering with your amp, cab design, speakers, etc...

 

[Scumback Speakers]

It makes a big difference, at TGP....

Actually it makes a big difference...here, on stage and in the studio. I've tested cloth side by side for years now just to make sure (obviously I'm in a position to do so).

I'm prepping cabs for the LA AMP Show. I have two identical 2x12 cabs here, same speakers, but one has the EC BluesBreaker Pinstripe cloth, one has Marshall basketweave.

Whipped out my Koncorde (Komet Concorde clone) to test both. The basketweave cloth cuts the highs quite a bit better over the pinstripe cloth.

When I tried this test with a Marshall 100w last January, though, the Marshall sounded better with the EC cloth over the basketweave.

It's going to depend on the voicing of the amp. Bright amps, thicker cloth (basketweave), darker amp, EC Pinstripe BluesBreaker cloth sounded better. There were 8 guitarists in the demo room at Tone Merchants when we did this test for 90 minutes. Same M75 65w speakers, wired the same, same cab, the only difference was the cloth. 7 out of 8 (me included) preferred the EC BB Pinstripe Cloth over the basketweave. Be advised, that EC cloth is $450 per 4x12 piece, so it's a considerable cost upgrade.

But all of my personal cabs have it now....YMMV.

 

[steve_k]

It makes a big difference, at TGP....

Actually it makes a big difference...here, on stage and in the studio. I've tested cloth side by side for years now just to make sure (obviously I'm in a position to do so).

I'm prepping cabs for the LA AMP Show. I have two identical 2x12 cabs here, same speakers, but one has the EC BluesBreaker Pinstripe cloth, one has Marshall basketweave.

Whipped out my Koncorde (Komet Concorde clone) to test both. The basketweave cloth cuts the highs quite a bit better over the pinstripe cloth.

When I tried this test with a Marshall 100w last January, though, the Marshall sounded better with the EC cloth over the basketweave.

It's going to depend on the voicing of the amp. Bright amps, thicker cloth (basketweave), darker amp, EC Pinstripe BluesBreaker cloth sounded better. There were 8 guitarists in the demo room at Tone Merchants when we did this test for 90 minutes. Same M75 65w speakers, wired the same, same cab, the only difference was the cloth. 7 out of 8 (me included) preferred the EC BB Pinstripe Cloth over the basketweave. Be advised, that EC cloth is $450 per 4x12 piece, so it's a considerable cost upgrade.

But all of my personal cabs have it now....YMMV.

And now you know the rest of the story.....

Jimbo - you got a Komet Concorde? Shit, I would love one of those but they got to get so freakin loud to break up. They are sweet though.

G'day

 

[Scumback Speakers]

And now you know the rest of the story.....

Jimbo - you got a Komet Concorde? Shit, I would love one of those but they got to get so freakin loud to break up. They are sweet though.

G'day

Steve, no I have something a little better. I have an Allen Meyer's built Koncorde clone (Komet Concorde design) but it's got a couple of upgrades (big surprise, right?).

I have the fast/gradual footswitch, the Friedman bass cap mod to tighten up the bass, and I have ANOS glass in the amp.

Telefunken in V1, Amperex Bugle Boys in V2/V3, plus (drum roll please) two RCA labeled Mullard XF2 EL34's for power tubes....and then there's this POS looking head cab it came with.

 

[steve_k]

And now you know the rest of the story.....

Jimbo - you got a Komet Concorde? Shit, I would love one of those but they got to get so freakin loud to break up. They are sweet though.

G'day

Steve, no I have something a little better. I have an Allen Meyer's built Koncorde clone (Komet Concorde design) but it's got a couple of upgrades (big surprise, right?).

I have the fast/gradual footswitch, the Friedman bass cap mod to tighten up the bass, and I have ANOS glass in the amp.

Telefunken in V1, Amperex Bugle Boys in V2/V3, plus (drum roll please) two RCA labeled Mullard XF2 EL34's for power tubes....and then there's this POS looking head cab it came with.

Oh yeah. That is a sweetheart there Jim. Not to mention, those tubes in it are some real gems.

Steve

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Yeah, it's a great amp, especially since I got the upgrades done (thanks to Allyn and Dave). It will be at the LA AMP Show on top of an M75 loaded cab.

 

[stephen sawall]

That amp is just beautiful.

I tried the blanket over the cab thing and really liked the sound. Put a quilt over my head and am getting the best tones yet ....

 

[Scumback Speakers]

That amp is just beautiful.

Thanks!

I tried the blanket over the cab thing and really liked the sound. Put a quilt over my head and am getting the best tones yet ....

This sounds like that scene out of "Crocodile Dundee".

 

[tonmazz]

Well Art and I just compared the two cabs. Construction is the same and they are wired the same. Mine sounds darker and more muffled with the large check and his sounds brighter and more open with the salt and pepper. Now the only other factor is possibly that I put mine together with 4 different speakers, they came from four different places so maybe they arent broken in evenly? Is this a possible factor as well? What would be the best way to even them out and break them in? Help!