I have an original Carivin Belair that came with Carvin VL12 speakers. I blew one and replaced it with an ET65. It sounds great but now I want to get rid of the other harsh sounding Carvin speaker.
What would be the best option for this amp. It was very brite/ice pick with the orginal speakers.
I am considering:
1. Another ET65
2. Vet30
3. Retro 30
The Belair is a 50 watt tube combo with an open back.
Thanks
Another ET65 ... for sure!
How would G12C/S compare to ET65 in Carvin Belair?
Thanks
See:
http://wgs4.com/difference-between-et65-g12-smooth-cone
Ah...never mind. I just read the info on the ET 65 and the recommended pairing with the Veteran 30.
So there you are.
My vote goes for the dual ET65s - a great overall speaker. In fact, I'm starting to think mixing speakers is overrated anyway. Unless you make a really poor choice, the small incremental gains from two different speakers is not worth agonizing over which ones to pair. When you think about it, you're likely taking two speakers, one strong in the bottom and top end and another that's strong in the midrange to have a balanced set. You're better off balancing a set of speakers to the tonal characteristics of the amp.
Update to my old post. I ended up with the ET65 and Veteran 30 combo in the Carvin Belair. I have to say I get so many compliments on my sound both at loud and soft volumes. (blues, jazz, indie, classic rock sounds)
I recently recorded on an album with the amp with both speakers mic'ed. I was playing a low gain setting with my strat.
The ET65 sounded almost totally clean and the Veteran 30 much dirtier. I think this is because of the scooped mids on the ET65.
Because of this reason I think you need the Vetreran 30 in the mix to add character to the sound. I would be worried in a live situation cutting through with only ET65s.
I do want folks to be careful when hearing "scooped mids" in reference to the ET65 ... which is actually a VERY warm, organic, natural sounding speaker ... it's NOT "scooped" ... but rather, it has less of the UPPER midrange spike (2-5K) that is common in guitar speakers ...making it sound a bit extra-full in the LOWER midrange area (200-600hz)
I believe there may be some wrong information beginning to circulate out there about the ET65 being a "scooped" speaker ... with a pronounced dip in midrange (600hz-1.5k) ....
Ok I have an update a few years later on the Belair. In my music room (carpeted office) the ET65 and Retro30 sound very balanced and pleasing to the ear (with almost a stereo effect). I have also noticed that the ET65 sounds much cleaner than the Retro30 and this bugs me live when i stand on that side of the amp. Also I originally wanted to tame the ice pick sounding amp but now I feel it needs more chime to cut through live. The ice pick was probably the crap stock speakers. I am considering another retro30 or the ReaperHP which I remember had a nice high chime to it. What do you think? I usually play slightly orverdriven to sustain overdrive for bluesy rock/jam band style.
Sorry I meant Veteran30 not retro 30.