Which speaker for your attenuated / variac'd amp

[Megaro]

Once you guys have your EVH plexi style amp tuned to perfection AND you are using a variac / attenuator / slaving to tame the volume, what do you do about mic'ing up the speaker ? I was under the impression that much of the magic from Eddie's early tone was not just the amp itself, but that it was played at ear splitting levels into speakers that may have been distorting too. Regardless, we know they were getting pushed hard.

Specifically, I was wondering if any of you have found something aside from the usual greenback in a 4 x 12 cabinet to get in some hard driving speaker action. I have been thinking about mic'ing up maybe a 10" single speaker and pushing that hard. I have read that the Weber iso cab is only kind of so-so at this. I have also seen Pete Thorn's speaker in a closet, which looked pretty darn cool.

Just looking for some ideas. I know the two notes torpedo products have been getting some rave reviews, but somehow, I think of this forum as preferring mic'ing up an actual moving speaker.

Thanks for the input and suggestions !

[DaveMcLain]

If you've got the amp attenuated or running at reduced voltage it isn't going to be incredibly loud but with that said I personally feel that having a speaker really moving some air makes MUCH better sounding recordings. The very best recording cabinet I own is this one:



A home built 2x12 cabinet that I built for amp testing about 20 years ago. I used two Eminence 12s from MCM Electronics that I think are about 25 watt ceramic magnet intended for use as replacements for guitar amps. The cabinet is built from cheap 3/4 inch plywood from the lumber yard, screwed together using drywall screws, some glue and sealed with silicone caulk. It is dampened inside with fiberglass and it has bracing across the back panel. The volume is about as small as I could make it for 2 12 inch speakers. The cabinet is 16 ohms and I use a Peavey Automatch transformer to alter the loading to suit the amp from 2 to 16 ohms.



This cabinet is placed in isolation such as in this picture where it is placed in an upstairs closet along with the chosen mic which in this case is a Sennheiser E609. This allows it to be VERY loud yet stay easy to monitor. It has cut countless guitar and organ tracks with great results using mostly 50watt amps with no attenuation. The sound of the cabinet itself is very good with a tight low end and highs that are smooth and not too "fizzy" Since the cabinet is close mic'ed there is plenty of low end on the track and most of the time no EQ is required.

There is no real reason to spend a lot of money to get good tracks if you're willing to experiment and sometimes something really cheap can sound great.

[jnew]

I'm not so certain that the early Ed tone is pushing the speakers to the edge of destruction, as much as we see talked about. Pushing them definitely moves air, breaks up, compresses and punches the mic diaphragm real nice but a non variac'd, dimes 100 watt is probably not the answer to that magic. Not saying it doesn't sound good, but not as key as a lot might believe. Getting them to punch and squish real nice,'doesn't take a whole heck of a lot.