What's speaker breakup?

[FL6]

Not sure what it is or what it sounds like.
Are there any examples out there?
I'd like to be able to tell if my rig is getting it or not.
I have a 50W tube amp and a 4x12 Peavey cab with 4-100W Sheffields.

[demonufo]

A 50W amp feeding four Sheffields? No I doubt you're getting anywhere even near speaker breakup territory. The sheffields were kinda designed to avoid it.

[FL6]

I didn't know that about Sheffields.
I suppose my post is a 2 part question in that I wouldn't know speaker breakup if it hit my on the head.

[908ssp]

Actually the wattage rating of the speakers has NOTHING to do with when the speaker breaks up. A 15 watt speaker can burn up while never exhibiting break up and a 100watt speaker can break up at 5 watts. The one doesn't mean the other.

That said typically there is some correlation but not always. Speaker break up typically is volume related the signal gets loud enough that the speaker no longer responds in a linear fashion it starts to change the tone usually by introducing a kind of distortion call speaker break up. Some people describe it as a bark, or as cracking noise. Some people like it some don't. Unfortunately the only way you'll hear it is to turn up till you do.

[sixpakldp]

The best way to hear it is to listen to speakers that are known to break-up and those that do not. Here is a speaker shoot out with a ton of different types of speakers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWK0sa7tlfI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The celestion greenback and G12H30 are speakers that are known to break-up earlier than others. An example of a speaker that does not break-up much would be an EV-12L which is also in this shoot out.

However, be warned that all three of these have particular characteristics about them that also make them sound different. For instance a greenback and a G12H30 can be essentially the same exact speaker with the only difference being the magnet (M magnet vs H magnet). The larger H magnet on the G12H30 rates that speaker at a higher 30 watts which means it does not break up as soon as the greenback. However, the magnet also shifts the tone of the speaker emphasizing the lows and highs and not as much mids.

Another good way to get an idea of speaker distortion would be to listen to the original version of "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks. The distortion you are hearing there is speaker distortion.

[FL6]

So breakup is distortion?
Would that mean that some tones out there have possibly power tube distortion and speaker distortion at the same time?
How would you tell?
You could also add preamp distortion too?
I'll check out the shootouts.

[sixpakldp]

I would equate speaker break-up to speaker distortion . . . but I am not a speaker expert. There are powers other than I better suited to answer that, but from experience I can take an amp with my 4X12 set it at a point that sounds pretty darn clean, take two speakers out of it an load them into a 2X12 at the same point and the guitar sounds distorted.

Here is an example of me doing that, listen to the song called "Miss You" here: http://www.purevolume.com/WestwardHollow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is my strat into my plexi set clean through a 2X12 of G12H30's in the intro and verses (not a good idea, 50 watt of speaker and 100 watt of amp, however I did this for recording purposes only with an attenuator and a MV to push the speaker a little at lower volumes). There is a hint of speaker break-up going on here. By the way, although these tracks are on a website they aren't finished and really shouldn't be on the web yet. In any case, hope this helps.