Well, I finally received my Celestion G12T-75 speaker from Avatar speakers. The first speaker either got delivered to the wrong address or someone took it off the porch. When I didn't get it after 2 weeks I sent an e-mail off to Avatar. Dave (the owner I believe) was nice enough to call me at home. We looked up tracking, and FedEx showed the speaker was delivered. I live in an apartment complex, so FedEx left it at the wrong door or somebody swiped it. Anyway, Dave sent me a new one at no charge, pretty nice I think. :D
Putting the speaker in was no problem. You have to take the back panel off the amp, and then the 6 screws that hold the head in. You do have to take the head out to get the speaker out. But it was pretty easy, took me about 30 minutes total. Probably the most difficult part was getting the head back in. It is an extremely tight fit. There is aluminum tape on the inside of the cabinet for shielding, I tore this a little bit. Maybe Fender's way of knowing if someone has been working on an amp voiding the warranty?? My amp is about past warranty anyway, so I was not worried.
The Celestion G12T-75 is the stock speaker Marshall uses for many of it's cabs like the 1936 and 1960 cabs. It is known for getting good scooped mids type sound. Because my band plays pretty heavy Rock music, I have been trying to coax a little more of a Rock tone out of my HRD. So, I thought this speaker might work well for this.
When I first fired the amp up, the speaker made some funny noises for a minute. It even lost volume at one point and then came back up. But after that it was fine. I have played it many hours now and had no problems whatsoever.
The speaker did change the sound of the amp, but not drastically. I noticed the highs were not quite as bright or sparkly as before. The lows seemed more in control. This has always been my biggest problem with the HRD, it has a big boomy bass. If you crank bass up and try to get a "heavy" tone the amp can rumble and howl a little. I think this speaker corrected that, although I have not had a chance to play this speaker at high volumes yet. We have a practice Wednesday, so I will get a chance to push the speaker a little.
It is hard to describe, but the amp does have more of a Rock tone now than Blues. This is good and bad. I wanted Rock tone, but I loved the Blues tone of this amp. The HRD is definitely a Blues amp. If you love Blues it is excellent. So I kinda miss the warm chimey tone a little. But I can always put the old Eminence back in, so I am not worried.
I made some new discoveries about the HRD this weekend. I played it alongside my Marshall DSL401. I really love the overdrive channel on the DSL401, it is awesome. You can perfectly nail that AC/DC tone which I love. It is hard to beat a great Marshall overdrive.
But I A/Bd the amps. So I would play one and then the other. One thing I tried was to get that great crunch overdrive out of my HRD. This is where I found out some unexpected things.
First, the HRD has more bass than the Marshall. I don't think people would expect that, but my HRD has far more bass than the 401. But it is a softer bass. It is spongy like a Marshmellow for lack of a better description. The Marshall bass has a sharp edge on it. This was very noticeable.
I did find that I could get the HRD Drive channel to sound like my Marshall. I wish I would have known this a few years ago. Anyway, for you HRD and DeVille owners, if you have not been pleased with the Drive channels, try these tricks. You might be pleasantly surprised.
To get CRUNCH out of this amps Drive channel:
Keep bass down. I found between 4-6 is best. 4 for humbucker pickups, a little higher for single coils.
Mids was funny, it can sound good at 0 for a scooped mids tone, but you can also go up to get a more cut through tone for lead guitar. I found 7-8 was about best.
Crank treble up. I actually liked it all the way to 12, but between 10-12 is good.
And here is the biggest secret of all. TURN PRESENCE WAY UP. This absolutely will make the biggest difference and get you a good cruncy tone on the Drive channel.
Also, keep Gain (Drive) turned way down. This is something else I discovered. The Fender actually has more gain than the Marshall. It is misleading though, because it is grainier. If you want a Marshall type crunch, keep Drive down from 4-5 on humbuckers, maybe 5-7 for single coils. But if you go higher you lose the crunch.
Also, when listening to these two amps side by side, you realize (or at least I did) that the Fender distortion is very much like a Fuzz. I think this is why people are not so happy with the Drive channels. It is not sharp and crisp like a Marshall or Peavey. So, you gotta keep the gain turned down.
I couldn't really decide if I liked the Bright switch on or off. They both had advantages.
I like this new speaker and am going to give it some time and see how I like it. So far pretty good. But I would not recommend that you go out and do this yourself. The difference is subtle. This speaker works well, I think the biggest advantage is that it will control the over-boomy bass. But it also takes out some of the beautiful chime of this amp. It still sounds very pretty, but not as pretty as before.
But try those settings on Drive. Bass down (4-5), Drive down (4-5) Treble up (10-12), but most importantly, crank Presense way up. You will be surprised at what a good CRUNCH you can now get out of this amp.
When you want a lead, then go to More Drive.
Wes
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Nice write up Wes. Have you ever tried running the line out from the 401 into the HD. Set the 401 for the overdrive tone and have the HD set to a clean setting .
Joe
Wes, I play through a Deville 2x12" quite regularly, and can't wait to try out these tricks of yours. I too have discovered that trick with the presence, but not the one dealing with the gain. Usually, my tone through that amp is a great deal of Fuzz, and it'll be interesting to see if I can get more crunch out of it.
Another thing that I like with this amp, and it doesn't really apply to low volumes, is the natural distortion. On a few occasions, i've had the pleasure of putting the amp on the clean channel, but cranking it to about 5 or 6, and playing my Les Paul through it. Much more crunch, and less fuzz. Hopefully, that's what the amp will sound like once I turn down the gain a bit.
At any rate, i'll be sure to let you know what I find next time I get a chance to play through it (probably this weekend).
Joe
Yes, this last weekend I experimented with both amps a lot. The Marshall has a DI out with cabinet simulator. I have ran this into a PA before and liked it. But it did not sound good into my HRD. I tried both into the instrument input on the Clean channel with all tone controls in the middle. It was very harsh sounding. I could have spent some time seeing if I could get a good tone, but it was so bad I didn't bother. I also went into the Power Amp In on the HRD. This was just as harsh.
I hooked this new speaker up to the DSL401. It was much softer than the stock speaker. It actually made the DSL401 sound just like my HRD. This leads me to believe that I could try this speaker in my HRD. I think it is a Celestion Greenback.
But I really don't want my HRD to sound exactly like the Marshall. What good is that??
I also went from the Preamp Out on the HRD into the Marshall. This made the Marshall sound like my HRD.
Since I last wrote I have played more on my HRD with this new speaker. I really like it. I can get some great ZZ Top type tones now which I love. It has a smooth but deep low end. It sounds like presets called "American Blues" on many multi-efx pedals. The overdrive is tighter now, but sweet sounding.
Tonight is practice, so I get to crank it. This speaker will probably take a while to really break in, but I should get a good idea of it's potential tonight. I'll write tomorrow.
xg5a
Let me know how you like those settings. It's good to swap ideas. :wink:
And I completely agree on cranking the Clean channel up. If you can get it up to 5 or 6, this amp starts to take off. That is when it sounds awesome. :twisted:
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Wes to let you know I removed one of the doubles.
Joe
Thanks Joe
Well, we had a good practice last night, so I was able to crank the amp up. It is hard to describe, but my amp definitely sounded different. I have had this amp a long time and I know what it sounds like. As I hoped, the bass was not nearly so boomy, so I was able to push up the far left fader on my EQ pedal a little. The extra low end was nice. I also noticed that this speaker takes a little off the highs as well. I have an overdrive preset on my GFX-1 that I use for quite a few songs like Cocaine and White Room. It seemed to take a little of the edge off this preset, so I might have to push the gain up just a little. I also have a preset just for leads. I really liked the sound of this, very smooth and pretty. My clean Fender preset with a little chorus I use for most rhythms was not quite as bright. I like this, it is more of a Rock tone than Blues, just what I was aiming for.
Oh well, it's hard for me to describe sound. But I like this new speaker. I'm sure that it will change a little in the next few weeks as it breaks in, but so far I am very pleased and glad I tried it.
I have pretty good gear now. I have not really wanted a new guitar, amp, or PA gear for awhile . But now I think I will start trying new speakers in my amps. Trying modifications is fun and interesting. Who knows?, I might even try out some new pickups.
Like you Joe, just looking for that perfect tone. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Its always good when a practice goes well. I've always been that way about using different equipment and experimenting to see how far I can push the limits beyond. There is just something about the tone from driving a 100 watt tube amp into a dummyload as a preamp. Then add effects post.
Joe
