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Speaker to relax the BARK

Mr. Papa

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,418
Speaker to relax the BARK?

Hello good folks,
I'm running a Heritage H-150 with Tom Holmes pickups (A4, std wind) into a Dr. Z Z-28 clone I built, into a Celestion Gold speaker, and I love everything about this setup but the very strong, harsh even, upper mid bark. Steely, like the other Z's I have had, and not in a good way, in a headache way. Any advice on a speaker that might keep the strong lows and sweet highs, but tamp down the upper mids and maybe add some low mid grind into the mix?
Thank you for any advice!
 
Last edited:

ScumbackSpeakers

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
247
The Z-28 usually works with a medium weight 35 oz ceramic magnet speaker (Scumback M75, 25w Greenback) to tame the high end. Most of my clients go with the heavy magnet 50 oz ceramic large dust cap style speakers to tame the upper mids and the treble, while retaining the low end and low mids. Going to depend on what cab the speaker is in, too, though.

You can email me if you like, or fill out the recommendation form on my site for a more detailed answer.

http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/recommend.html

Good luck!

Jim
 

EFLOW

Active member
Joined
Jan 21, 2006
Messages
590
Use a high quality driver with aluminium basket, strong magnet, etc ...

Celestion are cheap speakers with steel basket, poor magnet, they are made in China.

Here is a high quality guitar speaker :


EVM12L-large.jpg
 

EFLOW

Active member
Joined
Jan 21, 2006
Messages
590
Have a look to Eminence guitar speakers too, good components :


HempDog_12-1-17eca0222d680480e2b26f313517e619.jpg
 

Mr. Papa

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,418
Jim,
Thank you for the recommendation! I have Scumback H75-30s in a 2x12 CB cab and they are excellent. I came a cross a Greenback in a trade and put it in the Z-28 cab--works great! I may step up to a SB when this is field tested.
Thanks again!
 

ScumbackSpeakers

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
247
Jim,
Thank you for the recommendation! I have Scumback H75-30s in a 2x12 CB cab and they are excellent. I came a cross a Greenback in a trade and put it in the Z-28 cab--works great! I may step up to a SB when this is field tested.
Thanks again!
As long as you don't step on too many pedals and overcook the G12M you should be ok. Glad to hear your H75's are doing well for you in your 212 cab, too!
 

duaneflowers

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
2,522
Re: Speaker to relax the BARK?

Hello good folks,
I'm running a Heritage H-150 with Tom Holmes pickups (A4, std wind) into a Dr. Z Z-28 clone I built, into a Celestion Gold speaker, and I love everything about this setup but the very strong, harsh even, upper mid bark. Steely, like the other Z's I have had, and not in a good way, in a headache way. Any advice on a speaker that might keep the strong lows and sweet highs, but tamp down the upper mids and maybe add some low mid grind into the mix?
Thank you for any advice!

Pretty much all speakers have to be broken in (correctly) before they sound right... otherwise they sound exactly like you are describing. How much time did you spend breaking them in? Did you break them in at volumes you would be playing them at? There are a lot of shortcuts, but unless they come pre-broken in (correctly) they will not perform as advertised. My Celestion Golds and Blues seemed to take forever to break in, but once they did it was well worth the wait. :salude
 

Mr. Papa

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,418
Re: Speaker to relax the BARK?

Pretty much all speakers have to be broken in (correctly) before they sound right... otherwise they sound exactly like you are describing. How much time did you spend breaking them in? Did you break them in at volumes you would be playing them at? There are a lot of shortcuts, but unless they come pre-broken in (correctly) they will not perform as advertised. My Celestion Golds and Blues seemed to take forever to break in, but once they did it was well worth the wait. :salude
My Gold is well, well broken in, but I am familiar with the phenomenon in Blues and Golds. I think the Greenback, also well broken in, just fits better with this circuit and cab.
Thanks everyone!
 

ScumbackSpeakers

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
247
Yep, you have to break in a speaker to develop the lows and low mids, while taking a touch of treble off the top end. That's why I do 24 hour break in on a variac with all of my speakers.
 

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
I've found that a high wattage speaker also has a heavier cone, this extra weight will always attenuate highs to some extent. Whether this will be sufficient is another matter.
 
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