Anyone playing guitar thru a 15" speaker?

[myoldfriend]

What do you like/not like about it? What brand/model? Cabinet config (ported, ply/solid, oversize, open/closed back) What kind of music, etc...

[mars_hall]

Recently I have taken a detour, playing my Legacy III through a pair of cabinets I built that are about 24" cubed. There is a small 3" port in the face. The drivers themselves are EVM-15Ls. They are very clear and the volume of the cabs give them enough low response that they sound very good at low volume. Once you start to crank them passed a point, the tones start going up in the higher frequency spectrum that are a little less pleasing. That said, all cabinets/speaker combinations will vary as you push the paper through its dominant resonant frequency. The sound never stays the same across all power levels.

 

I typically play the Legacy at the 18 W setting, which tends to have much more high content than when I switch it to 50 or 100 W.

 

Bottom line, depending om where you are pushing the speaker up and down on the power curve of a given amp, the perceived frequency response of the speaker will change as components limits kick in. For a given volume level, either higher or lower frequency content will be realized. Amps/speakers are part of a dynamic system that changes, both electrically and physically.

[pressure]

In the sixties I played a Kustom 200 thru 2 speaker columns with 3 15" Altec Lansing speakers in each (2x3=6 total). Each cabinet was closed back with 2 ports on the front. They were definitely oversized, at about 5' tall. We played the blues, after all it was Chicago. About sound quality... who cared! It was way, way, way loud and I never ever got lost in the mix. That's my experience with 15" speakers, I hope that helps.

[DetroitBlues]

I had a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15 Combo. Lots of bottom end, but in bulky cabinet that wasn't too heavy, but very cumbersome. I like it, but I cannot say if it was much better than a 1x12. The back of the cabinet was ported and I played rock and blues.

[Gitfiddler]

One of the best sounding amps I've ever owned was an old blackface Fender Pro amp. Wish I had that one back!!

 

More recently I too had a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15. Really nice sounding amp...not as great as the old Fender, but nice.

 

15" speakers don't get as much love as 10" or 12", but that big speaker can really sound sweet in the right amp.

[silverbeard]

I've played my H535 through a '59 Fender Bassman (reissue) with a 15" Jensen. Add a little outboard reverb to the front end of the amp and it equals the sound I hear in my head. Now if only my playing matched the sound I hear in my head !

[t0aj15]

For several years now I've been using a pair of Eminence Commonwealth 15's, one in a Lopoline cab which was originally designed as a Marshall 2x12" (30"x24"x12") knockoff that I ordered with the baffle cut for a single 15". It is a birch ply cab with a closed back. The other is also in a Lopoline cab but it is 18"x18"x14" and is also birch ply but is a totally sealed, front loaded cab that I use for smaller tube heads (Boogie Mark IV, THD Univalve, etc.) as well as the newer Quilter SS amps I've been using lately. These are fairly efficient speakers with a sensitivity reading of 101.5 db @ 1 watt input and a power rating of 225 watts @ 4 ohms each. Fender claims they worked with Eminence to design this speaker in an attempt to recreate the mighty JBL-D130F speakers that Fender used in their top of the line Dual Showman amps back in the 60's-70's. IMO they more then succeeded. You can't get these speakers to break up. The bottom end on these speakers is quite simply the best I've ever heard in a guitar speaker with the mids and highs both being crystal clear. The large cab I originally bought to use with my Carvin X100B head but for the last three+ yrs it's been hooked up to my Fender Super Sonic 100 head (where it belongs). I've always been a big fan of guitar speakers with very little breakup and before these I used a pair of Boogie Thiele 1-12" ported cabs loaded with EVM-12L's for about 15 years before I came across these speakers. I still have the Boogie 1-12's but they see less and less use as time goes by.

[111518]

I haven't played it much recently, because I haven't been playing the outdoor gigs I once played with some regularity, but I have a Rivera BM-100 Chris Duarte that has the 15" Mars Hall mentioned: EV15L.

 

When I bought the amp, I was planning to buy the Rivera Rake, a 40 watt amp. But, the shop I had contacted set me up in a private test room with the Rake and the BM-100, and the chance to bring a couple of guitars and test the amps as long as I wanted, and there was simply no way the Rake, with a 12, sounded as good as the Duarte. I ended up with the 100 watt amp, even though I really didn't need the power, and wasn't thrilled about the weight. (An EV15L in any tube combo is going to produce a heavy beast.)

 

In hindsight, I think most of the difference I heard in the amps was that speaker. It has a very rich sound at low volume, and remains transparent and very tight at high volume. I've heard/read that pedal steel players really like them --makes sense the EV15L would perform well in that very demanding situation. The tradeoff is that the speaker is very heavy.

[ironmike]

I've been playing blues and jazz out of my 68 supro thunderbolt for over 25 years with the 15 inch jbl k series speaker,which I pulled out of a floor monitor from the steel wheels tour,pretty damn good set up,but I am now waiting on a jazz suprema from rivera that has a 15 inch eminence big ben. ..We'll see..

[212Mavguy]

My 15 inch experiences include:

 

Magnavox p232 30-ish watts ring alnico

 

CTS square ceramic magnet 40 watt

 

Jensen P15LL reconed at 16 ohms 40 watt

 

Jensen LM 155 Vibranto 100w ceramic

 

Jensen C15PS concert speaker 40-ish watts ceramic

 

JBL MI-15 75 watt ceramic

 

JBL G135-8 200 watt ceramic

 

Alec Lansing 418B 16 ohm alnico

 

Alec Lansing 418B 16 ohm recone with paper dustup 100w

 

Alec Lansing 418H Series II 8 ohm 150w

 

I've learned a lot from listening to each type over a period of years. The inexpensively built ones with the stamped steel frames within my collection tend to be outperformed, especially at louder volumes for clarity and dynamics by the cast aluminum frame units. Period.

 

A single 15 might end up sounding better at a gig than a pair of 12's and be more portable if you cab it up appropriately.

 

The JBL MI-15 (paper dust dome) is outstanding clean and dirty has non of the ice pick shrillness of the D series and other aluminum domed earlier JBL 15's when pushed into the dirt. It weighs around 7 1/2 pounds or so. That's monster performance with the weight of a cheap stamped frame speaker and none of the tonal drawbacks. The G135's can be had on eBay used for a song, same build type, bigger VC and very powerful as well as articulate. Of all the 15's in my collection, that G135 has the most response to picking dynamics. Three inch voice coils with the wire flattened to fit more in the gap can do that. It's magnet weighs twice as much as the 2 1/4" VC's MI-15, but still lighter than the EV 15L. EV's equivalent to the JBL MI-speaker series is the Force series. The JBL's were designed to have smoother dirty tones than their earlier models. They are outstanding for either guitar or bass, they are full range speakers with more low end and more top than many competitors. They are out of production.

 

The best cleans and most articulate dirt come of my Altecs. The 418's are unmatched for their cleans. If you have a great tone chain in front of them, they will amply reward their audience, if something in the chain is lacking it will be stripped nakedly transparent. The Altecs have the best low volume performance of my 15's regardless of tones clean or dirty. They are out of production. They are useful for evaluating circuit mods/ settings, different tone caps, tube rolling, very, very honest speakers.

 

The Maggie 15-s had a big, but loose low end and did not sound even from bottom through the top, I doped the outer edge of the cone with some liquid electrical tape and that got them to sound much more appropriate for what I wanted.

 

The CTS sound great, and are a great low cost alternative to more expensive new production units, can find them for like 60-100 bucks plus shipping on the used markets. they do guitar or bass, and are a great fir in a vintage Ampeg B-15 fliptop. You can steer their tone a fair amount by how you cab them up. They are heavy. The magnets are like six inches square and are around two inches thick.

 

The Jensen P15LL is a failed experiment, the recone did not have enough top end. Perhaps the VC gap might be too large for what I was trying to get or the cone paper was too heavy.

 

The Jensen LM155 Vibranto is one of their vintage treasures. Niiiiiice sounding and can take a lot of gigging. Great with a fumble clone in semi closed back old Valco cab. Originally for guitar or bass.

 

The Jensen C15PS came out of a Harmony 420 amp, it sounds OK but not as full as the cast frame speakers. Plenty of top end with this one.

 

These are my experiences, your mileage may vary.