Favourite speakers and cabs for Trainwreck amps.

[Roe]

The foh amps differ greatly from the stage amps in angus’ case

[Doxie man]

WGS Vetern 30 & WGS ET65 in a semi open back, oversized 2x12 format. It’s pretty much about the best speaker cab rigs I’ve ever heard......that applies to just about any amplifier Ive heard through it as well.....the only exception being a Plexi.

[andresound]

FWIW.. I tried my recent build of TL606 cab (loaded with a 70’s EV15L), with my Trainwreck Express, and it sounded great!! The TW express can be a bit lean in the bottom end compared to my 102 build, but sounded very punchy in this combination.

[rooster]

Recently I was fortunate to pick up a pair of 1969 (KB31) manufactured Vox Celestion Silvers (alnico) with the original Rola XX 102 003 marked cones. These came out of a Thomas Organ (transisitor) Super Beatle, 8 ohm @. These speakers are rated at 15 watts @ and I have to say there is a reason why these speakers are considered the Holy Grail of speakers. I'm blown away. My other cabs sound fine, I'll stick with my earlier review, but these speakers are not of this earth amazing. If you can find a pair BUY THEM.

[Colossal]

Recently I was fortunate to pick up a pair of 1969 (31KB) manufactured Vox Celestion Silvers (alnico) with the original Rola XX 102 003 marked cones. These came out of a Thomas Organ (transisitor) Super Beatle, 8 ohm @. These speakers are rated at 15 watts @ and I have to say there is a reason why these speakers are considered the Holy Grail of speakers. I'm blown away. My other cabs sound fine, I'll stick with my earlier review, but these speakers are not of this earth amazing. If you can find a pair BUY THEM.

Wow, that's very cool. What a great score. I love the alnico sound.

[Scumback Speakers]

Pretty sure those Vox alnicos were good for 20 or 25w each if they're from 69...even then, I wouldn't crank your Express and pedals (like you need those, right?) to 10 with them.

[rooster]

Oh, I'm being careful, Jim. And let me say that even as you are playing out of them, and everything sounds amazing (like you always hoped it could sound?), you are also considering that you might blow one up. Damn. It's like dancing on a knife blade - but the dance is so GOOD, eh? There's one on Reverb right now for $400. If there's a rich man among you....

[Scumback Speakers]

I sold my last two for $450 each. They are great sounding, but you need to be careful! Enjoy!

[mike9]

My favorite cab for my Express clone is an Avatar ported 2 x 12 bass cab loaded with a Scumback ceramic and a Weber alnico. I have a 10" Weber alnico Fane clone @ 100 watts. I'm going to try it in a Pure 64 1 x 12 type cab with a 10" baffle. I that sounds good I'll work on a combo.

[andresound]

FWIW.. Played a gig with my Express using a Dumble style open back 1x12 loaded with a Celestion GOLD. Sounded great and received plenty compliments on tone from musicians who attended.

[norburybrook]

by accident I turned a combo cab into a sealed/ported 1x12 cab and matched it with an express and it sounded great. So good that I had to build another as a spare. They went to the Crossroads guitar festival with Eric Clapton last year and sounded amazing.

so basically a sealed, front ported (port is a just a rectangular cutout) with a Celestion Classic lead 80. It has the same bottom end thump that a 4x12 gives you, it'ws quite remarkable.

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M

[Mark]

Marcus, you played through this rig at the festival?

[norburybrook]

Marcus, you played through this rig at the festival?

No, my friend Alan Darby played with Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton at the festival with it.

here's a picture of it next to John Mayer's Dumble . You can see the original converted combo speaker cab and the two Express amps the hole in where the amp was became a port. I made a piece of wood with a rectangular port and covered it with vox cloth and attached it in the hole then made a closed back. It sounded so good i made the one in the picture above.

John Mayer-marcus Express.jpg

M

[bcmatt]

cabs.jpg

I've sort of re-entered this question again of what speakers to use with my Express and Liverpool. I experimented quite a bit. I wanted something that sounded lively and pretty open, while also having some smoothness and mostly being able to avoid that "fizz" that can show up on the top end with a lot of speakers. My Express is easily my pickiest amp and will push that annoying fizz with most speakers. My Liverpool used to be bad for it too, but I've modded it a bit more from stock and I think the "cut" control helps with that issue.

Long story short; the Celestion G12M-65 Creamback has been the perfect answer to that picky Express. It still sounds open and complex while really taming that fizz. I built an open-backed hardwood 2x12 that I eventually put Creambacks in that works really well. The previously best I could get to work was a WGS Retro30 mixed with a WGS ET-65. The ET-65 does calm that fizz and sounds pretty balanced as well, but it just sounds a little more dull and sterile compared to the Creambacks.

About 5 years ago, I decided that I wanted to live the dream and finally get myself a proper 4x12. I was thinking something well-built and solid like an Ampeg V4, Traynor or Mesa Cab. I managed to get a good deal on a used Mesa Roadster cab that is significantly larger that a typical Marshal cab, and it has a closed back and open back side to it. I replaced the Blackshadow (Celestion C90) and Vintage30s that were in it with 4 modern 25 Watt Greenbacks. Since I much prefered the creambacks to vintage 30 style speakers, I figured why not try some greenbacks since they are the same style of speaker as my creambacks, but I could get them used at like half the price of acquiring creambacks.

Well, now 5 years later, I barely use that 4x12... not because it is too big, but because the greenbacks just don't sound nearly as nice as the creambacks. They are not vastly different... just a bit brighter, but way fizzier. So, now I finally am motivated to get creambacks into that 4x12. As an experiment, I tried my 2 2x12s with my Express One has Creambacks, and the other has a couple ET65s. They sounded huge together, and I imagine a lot more what I'd like my 4x12 to sound like. I A/B'd them with the Greenback cab and it was no contest. Most my amps can sound ok with the Greenbacks, but they all sound better with the Creambacks.... and the Express needs those Creambacks to not sound like trash.

So now, it looks like the cheapest way I can get 4 Creambacks is going to be about $850 CDN after shipping, taxes and brokerage. I could mix and match and get 2 Creambacks and 2 ET65s, but I'd only save about $50. I'm just preparing my speech for my wife.

[Roe]

Long story short; the Celestion G12M-65 Creamback has been the perfect answer to that picky Express.

the creamback neo and v-type are both good with the express. the neo sounds crisper (and somewhat brighter) than the 65. the v-type is smoother, with less harsh 5k treble yet good high mids and some higher treble