ASW Crossroads vs 1968 G12M clip

[VelvetGeorge]

Made this clip in the shop tonight. Cool to hear things back to back. I hope I can make clips of more speaker brands/types.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7Rn9erHew[/youtube]


George

[jape88]

Great comparison clip George, thanks for taking the time.

I know YT isn't the best at getting that 'in the room' feeling but these have come over well.
The ASW sounds great but my first impression was the '68 had a direct more focused sound against the ASW's which sounded oddly 'distant', maybe a tad wooly? that's just me btw people will think different.

It would be great to do a shoot out with others, Jim's '05 demo was great but so much more are now available. I have to say with the stash of old cele's I've collected over the years they all seem to sound slightly different to each other anyway and my own personal take on it is the aging of the cone, something I feel could be emulated but never matched

[bill bokey]

Thanks for this clip George

The ASW sounds great but my first impression was the '68 had a direct more focused sound against the ASW's which sounded oddly 'distant', maybe a tad wooly? that's just me btw people will think different.

I thought exactly the same

Were the ASW well broken in ?

It would be great to do a shoot out with others

+1

[shakti]

George doesn't really say which is which though, does he? I just listened very briefly on an iPhone, so not exactly something to base a good judgement on, but I hear one cab as sounding smooth, warm and full with bloom to the notes, and the other as much more stiff, thinner and more sterile. The first one has a woody, low-mid bump, whereas the other one sounds like it has more of an upper mid bump. I really prefer the first one, and I'm guessing it's the '68 cab. It has *that* sound, and to my ears the other one sounds kind of average by comparison...but there's one factor which you can't put into a clip, and that's the "feel" of the cab/speaker. Only the player can say something about that.

[jape88]

George doesn't really say which is which though, does he? I just listened very briefly on an iPhone

Don't want to come across as a smart ass but how can you assess the detail you have done on an iphone? youtube is bad enough at sucking the life out of recordings through even good monitors.
If you look at at the head switcher he's built you'll see the lights flip plus he's also nicely flipped the cabs left and right in the recording.

[shakti]

Because those differences were very obvious even on a puny sound source like that. But I didn't notice the light changing...I thought he was switching the cabs only. If it's two different amps, then that makes the comparison a little more complicated.

[bill bokey]

I'd love to hear both spekears in the same cab.

[Strat78]

Great comparison clip, love the amp/cab switcher, will have to make one of those. I know they are trying to duplicate the pre-rola's m's but how will that odd low end of the crossroad's settle in over the years. I liked the highs but the lows were kind of kicking in in a dull separated way on the crossrads if that makes sense.

[somethin'else]

Awesome A/B VG! Your TR cab is tight brau. The ASWs sound almost like an H30 'compared' to the '68 Ms. Or towards a Blackback. Tell ya, nothing is gonna touch that '68 cab! BUT, toss that TR cab around nice and rough every night for 10-15 years and I'll bet you it's gonna burn down close to the '68!
I love the upper mid clarity of the ASWs though...the mids of the '68s are just really mature and complex.
Nice cab switcher. Can you run 'em both together so's we can hear the 'blend'?
Tight rockin' chops, dude! You should hit the road again! (I'm projectin' now...)

[julkke]

I honestly think both sound awesome, although they do sound different. Great classic tones to be achieved on both! For my taste in this particular clip the right one was better, little more crunchy or something. Great that you bother doing these comparisons George, it sure helps a lot of people!

[vanhalen5150]

3 clicks down on the PowerBrake is what volume level decrease? Both sound good. But they do sound different. I actually prefer the left.

[jape88]

3 clicks down on the PowerBrake is what volume level decrease?

It's got an 11 click control with 3db drop, so 9db (counting fingers out loud ).

[VelvetGeorge]

Thanks for watching!

To clarify: the '68 cab is active when the green light on the switcher is glowing, the True Replica when red is on.

With good speakers, or especially headphones, you can hear the shift from left to right when one or the other is playing. I hope youtube didn't ruin this. I spent a long time positioning the stereo mic between the cabs and getting it rotated to the best position.
In hindsight, the two mic elements in the stereo mic are over/under. So one side will be positioned right in the plane of a speaker cone (in this case on the 68 cab top speaker) while the other will be low or high by comparison. In this case lower than the Crossroads voice coil. This may account for the CR sounding slightly more subdued.
An oversight on my part, I'll address for future clips.

The Crossroads have about 2 hours playing time. Still very new.

My impressions from standing in front of the cabs in person:

The 68 is more scooped, has a beautiful peak around 4k, less low end overall and is very musical.

The TR/CR has a more forward midrange, smoother upper midrange, more extended lows and a very appealing woody characteristic to the tone.

The output of both was identical! Which surprized and impressed me.
Both have a great three dimensional quality, but at different frequencies ranges. For example, the TR/CR has a blossoming low end that fills the room. The '68 has a deep sense of space that draws you in. Like a great vocal through a Neuman mic.

By comparison, the no tolex '68 straight on the right has more low end, like the TR/CR and the resonance is higher, in the low mid range. The TR/CR sounds smack dab in between the old cabs to me. Not as scooped as the old straights, almost the mid push of the old slant, very 3D and musical.
I guess I am not concealing my excitement over the Crossroads too well. Lol. But this can be a jumping off point for more comparison clips as time and projects in the shop allow.


George

[shakti]

Interesting! I actually preferred the new cab here! That scooped thing with the old one was what I didn't particularly like. I also think it sounds thinner on top, less bloom and sustain. Was it like that in the room as well? This is counter to all my experience with old vs new speakers and cabs. New ones, whether it's Celestion or Scumback, sound stiffer and with less bloom.

George, what date codes are on the '68 speakers? In this clip they actually remind me more of the earlier '66-68 Ms with paper voice coil formers. Slightly more aggressive and more of an upper mid peak.

[VelvetGeorge]

Wow Shatki, your golden ears are serving you well! Those G12M's date to June 28, 1967 (code: 28 F M) and have 003 cones.

Important point to mention since ASW was specifically cloning a '69 era M.

george