SF Twin speaker review

[boobtube21]

Well I finally got new speakers for my Twin so I thought I'd post my dumbass opinion on them.

I bought a Weber California (ceramic, 80 watts, 8 ohms, 2" voice coil, 101 sensitivity) and an Eminence Swamp Thang (ceramic, 150 watts, 8 ohms, 2" voice coil, 102 sensitivity), both used on Ebay.

The test amp is a '78 Fender Twin, 135 watts with master volume and pull boost for those that aren't familiar. I used a 90's Squier strat (Wayne) and a Carter pedal steel, both clean, no overdrive as this is my pedal steel amp.

I tested each speaker individually first by installing them both in the amp, and connecting one at a time. I kept the impedence correct by connecting the speaker being tested to another 8 ohm speaker laying face down on the floor behind a closed door.

I dig the Weber California a lot. It has sharp but smooth highs, and some good midrange punch that should cut through the mix nicely. It also seems a tad louder than the stock blue label Fenders. It closely resembles the "Lloyd Green" sound I was looking for. I actually seem to recall reading somewhere that the California was modeled after the old JBLs they used to put in Twins, and that's likely what Lloyd used with his Twin if he wasn't using 15's (which is more likely).

The Swamp Thang on the other hand is not my cup of tea. It's got that "icepick treble" I'm not a fan of. It also seems to lack the mids I was looking for, and oddly enough even though it's rated 1 db louder than the Weber it seems a little quieter. It does have a powerful kind of sound though and probably just needs some more "breaking in time" so I'm going to hang onto it.

To complete the test I connected them both together. That didn't sound so hot to my ears. Again the icepick treble, and it seemed like the Swamp Thang sucked all the mids out of the California.

I reeeeeally like the sound of the Blue Dog and the California together, nice and smooth but at the same time sharp and punchy. Problem is the Blue Dog is only 50w. I'm thinking I'd like a ceramic 75 or 100w, or just a higher wattage alnico Blue Dog to install permanently in there with the California. Only thing is the Blue Dog is only 99db sensitivity I believe, and I need all the clean volume I can get.

So the hunt's not over, but I think I'm close! Hope this review was helpful to some of you dumbasses.

[chuckocaster]

i had cali's in my 78 twin, with a pull boost. clean as hell, great tone, just not my tone. nailed "the nuge" when cranked all the way up.

maybe a celestion gold is in your future? that might be a good next experiment.

[phantomman]

Hey BT, why not jus' go with a pair of the Weber Californias? Seems like the sound you're lookin' for that will cover both 6-strings an' yer pedal-steels. I've heard these speakers before in a friend's custom 2x12 cabinet juiced up to a Mesa Boogie an' they sound mighty sweet......similar in many respects to the D/K-120 Alnicos from JBL with mebbe a skosh less "shimmer" at the top end.

[steve25]

Try a beam blocker on the swamp thing, or brake it in for 8 to 10 hours out of the cabinet with a variac.
Thats a high wattge speaker and I have found they need to be hit with 60 watts or so when new in a open back cabinet to bring the lows and mids up to match the highs, so thats loud playing!

[ziess]

To complete the test I connected them both together. That didn't sound so hot to my ears. Again the icepick treble, and it seemed like the Swamp Thang sucked all the mids out of the California.

Were they maybe installed out of phase?

Glad you like the California though.

[ES350]

Try the paper dome Cali's---all the presence of a JBL without the metallic high end.

[Wilko]

I gigged my 135 watt twin for many years. The Icepick is always there.

I had a few simple rules that kept it sounding good:
1. Bright switch stays OFF.
2. treble never above "5"

Keeping with that, it sounded great with any speaker.

[Gris]

Couple of observations. The Cali is indeed punchy and has incredibly tight bass, also smooth on top, but to me lacks sparkle. Don't be put off by sensivity rating that aren't a perfect match. A speaker, like a blue dog, with a different voicing will add to the mix and be heard notwithstanding being paired with another speaker rated 'louder.' For a while I ran a Weber Cali 10 (paper dome) with a Weber 10A150B and it sounded great. Ultimately, in that 2x10 amp I wound up with the Cali and JBL which was rated a few decibels less and it was a killer match because the JBL had the high end the Cali lacked...

[boobtube21]

Thanks for the comments/ suggestions everyone.

I could be wrong about this, but as I understand it a speaker will tend to take on a little bit of the sonic characteristic of whatever speaker it's paired with. I think that's actually why it sounded like the Swamp Thang sucked all the mids out of the California, because it had previously been connected to the Blue Dog. I definitely got the polarity right. I've heard out of phase speakers before, it makes a pretty distinct sound--valid point though Tommy.

And you know what, for all my careful analysis, I never cranked the thing up very loud. Mostly because the Eminence already made my ears hurt at low volume (bright switch off, treble about 5 or so), but also because I suck at pedal steel and have no desire to crank myself up on it unless I have to. I didn't think of the high wattage being a factor though. I guess the Eminence could be like the Twin itself, you have to push it harder to get the goods from it.

Well the Blue Dog's already back in there and the Swamp Thang is in a box somewhere (I'm moving) so that test will have to wait. I'll look into the Celestion, and I've thought about 2 Californias (mine is a paper dome BTW) but I think I have my heart set on a Blue Dog. I've got time to kill though. If the band plays again before we record in Nov I can always throw either the Swamp Thang or the blue label back in there temporarily.