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New Speaker Cabinets!

Well, I’m excited. As quite the perfectionist, I’m always looking for ways to get better guitar sounds, studio mixes, better tasting coffee, or pizza...the list goes on and on. Lately, I’ve been dissatisfied with the guitar tones I have been getting in the studio. I know they have more potential. It really depends on the project—sometimes the guitars don’t feel punchy enough, and other times I wonder if I need to have some different speakers available so I can get a larger variety of tones.

After my buddy Darren Rust told me about his experience with a Nashville session player and his equipment, we got to thinking about it. His guy would use a 4 x 12 with four different speakers in it, and sometimes, he would also use two amp heads. It sounded intriguing, so I talked with Darren about ideas for a 4 x 12. An important reason why I wanted a 4 x 12 was so I could push more air while recording, and get more low end if I wanted it.  I knew I wanted to put four different speakers in mine for tonal flexibility. I wanted to have the cabinet wired the normal way, but I also wanted each speaker wired to its own jack. This would allow for further mixing and matching between speakers and amplifiers. I needed to have a custom cabinet made to make this happen, so I emailed Nic at New Vintage Amps, whom I had met and chatted with for a while at a show I played a couple years prior. I told him the type of cabinet that I was after, and he thought he could build it for me. I had been wanting to try out the New Vintage stuff and this was a perfect opportunity to do so. I went with his straight cabinet design but I had him do a slanted baffle so it angled up slightly. I decided to get white tolex with a black grill cloth since my debut album had somewhat of a black and white theme. (I also thought it would look really cool!) I also had him build a closed back 2 x 12 that is about 11 inches deep so I could use the New Vintage stuff at smaller shows. The 2 x 12 has a very tight and punchy sound that will come in handy in the studio as well. For speakers in the 4 x 12, I went with a Celestion Vintage 30, a G12H, a G12T, and a Greenback. In the 2 x 12, I went with Weber Silver Bells.

I finally picked them up a couple of weeks ago, and they rock! Not only are they beautiful looking, but they also sound fantastic. Now I feel like I have more of the tools that I’ve been waiting for to help achieve a great guitar sound!