I'm wondering which speakers may work best with my '66 bassman in a 2 12 configuration. I've watched all the videos and right now I'm thinking it's either the G12c, Veteran/Retro 30, or the Reaper (possibly Green Beret?) I'm open to a mixture of any of these. However, my Bassman has been modded to where the normal channel is more blackfaced and the bass channel is more of a drive channel. I currently have it set up with a Vintage 30 and a Greenback and it seems to work really well with the amp but I'm just looking to improve it slightly. The reason I'm switching speakers is because right now the amp is running at 8ohm instead of the 4ohm that it likes. I'm wanting good fendery cleans but I'm also wanting it to sound really nice when the amp is driven hard too. I'll be playing mainly country (old and modern), but with some southern rock, and rock also. Thanks!
'66 Bassman 2 12
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Closed or open back & cab dimensions, please?
It's a avatar traditional cab that is 21"H x 28.5"W x 12"D. It can be open back or closed back but I play it open back at the moment
Cool, sounds like the same Avatar cab I have ... and my second fav amp is a '65 Bassman w/the bass Chanel Marshall voiced, too!
Okay, since you state:
"I'm wanting good fendery cleans but I'm also wanting it to sound really nice when the amp is driven hard too."
And, since you like the GB/V30 combo you now have ... I would go Retro30/ET65 (a most versatile combo), or Retro 30/Invader if you want it to stay voiced mostly as it is no with the Vint30/GB ... except with a smoother, and more extended top end and a tighter bottom.
How do the ET65 and Invader compare exactly? and I know you have a similar Bassman so are there any other combos that you think would work well for a country/rock sound?
the ET65 is much darker. the Invader is very GB flavored, with a nice upper-mid urgency.
So many variables ... but I'd probably go with the ET65/Ret 30 combo ... or Liberator/Ret 30
I ended up going with the Retro30/Et65 combo and it sounds great! Sounds warmer and a bit fatter to me. BUT I have a question. I'm not getting quite the overdrive/breakup from the amp as I was before. It's good because I have more head room on my clean (normal) channel but I can't drive it on the bass channel side like I would like to without it being CRAZY loud. I went from pushing the amp at 8ohm to pushing it at the optiumum 4 ohm with the Retro/ET so I know that is partly why I can't drive it as before. If I were to switch out the ET for a invader/reaper/green beret, would that possibly give me more of the breakup/drive that I'm looking for?
Yes, since the old Bassman only has a single 4-ohm output tap ... running it at 8-ohms means it was only in the neighborhood of 20-watts ... and breakup would occur much sooner. Of course, properly matched, the amp will have not only more clean headroom, but also a much more solid, useable bottom end.
The Invader(s) would in fact give a little more of the overdriven FLAVOR ... since they are more urgent in the upper mids.
The GB would give a little actual speaker cone breakup, and even more of a throaty mid-heavy tone than the invader.
Another option is to re-bias the amp to run a bit cooler ... which will give similar results to the 8-ohm load ... but in a way that the amp will ultimately find more pleasing :-)