Speaker selection for 50 watt bass head.

stokesdead · Post by **stokesdead** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:37 pm

OK first some info. The amp is going to be a 68-69 50 w bass built from George's parts. The 4 x 12 I currently have is an Avatar at 8ohms and loaded w/ Celestion G12-H's sounds good but I haven't heard it with more that 20 watts pushing it. In general I like the sound of the G12-H in combo style amps but really don't have any experience with them in a 4 x 12 since this is my first higher powered amp head.

The sound I am going for I would describe as Duane Allman inspired but I still want some higher gain tones ala Warren Haynes and Zeppelin. So I don't even know if the amp I am building will get me all those tones but I am hoping it will. I really don't use pedals except for my H&K rotosphere.

So I know a lot of discussion has happened already on the subject of webers and scumbacks and heritage speakers but the main focus seemed to be a VH tone and G12M speakers I think. What should I try for the sounds I described above.

I have heard Duane could have used 2 JBL-D120 and two of the stock celestions. Would I need two similarly voiced speakers to get that sound. Or should I stick with a mix of celestion type speakers for more versatility?

I would really like to keep two of the Celestion G12-H's I have, if at all possible and only replace 2 speakers but I am afraid if I order the weber JBL-D120 replicas I will lose a lot of versatility of the cab to do some higher gain tones.

OK what do the experts say......

~Chris Stokes

908ssp · Post by **908ssp** » Sun May 06, 2007 9:49 am

In my experience the JBLs would work fine for the high gain as do the Hs I just think neither give you the classic rock voice of early Greenbacks. I use a genuine 68 50 watt bass head and run pre-rola greenbacks it does the classic rockers just fine I do need a treble booster for LZ tones and a fuzz for Hendrix but this is as they did as well. I don't think Celestion Heritage g12h-30s sound anything like their early name sakes at least not like my set. As to whether to run an 8 ohm or 16 cab I don't think it makes much difference. I think 16 ohm speakers are more common so easier to get what you want when you want it.