Hello. I picked up an older Carvin Belair 2x12 50 watt (4xEL84) amp. It has Carvin-branded Eminence VL12 speakers. For some reason, the speakers are 8 ohm, for a total of 4 ohms. This restricts using an extension cabinet, so I want to replace the speakers with 16 ohm speakers.
Clean the amp sounds OK. On the overdrive channel, the amp is very mushy. I have to run the bass on about zero, the mids low and the treble pretty high. Pretty much yuck.
I hooked up the amp to every speaker I have with these results:
1. Carvin extension 2x12 cabinet - two 16 ohm Carvin GS-12-75 speakers. Sounded a little better, but still some what mushy.
2. Jension C12K 8 ohm (in a Fender Deluxe Reverb re-Issue) sounded pretty good. Sounded a lot like the Deluxe Reverb.
3. Celestion/Marshall "Gold Back" speaker in a Marshall DSL401 combo (probably not a very good speaker) - sounded ok, but a little flat - still better then the stock speakers.
4. Celestion G12P-80 (in a Fender FSR Hot Rod Deluxe) - this speaker actually sounded pretty good. The mush was gone, the bass and mid controls actually were useful and did what one would epect them to do. The highs were pretty nice too.
So, I think I need speakers that are simular to the G12P-80. I think I need speakers that asen't overwhelming in the bass and mids.
I'm really confused. I've looked at Celestion, Eminence and now WGS speakers. I'm not sure what to buy. This site, with the forum and communication seems like it may be my best bet. And I do like to buy American USA when I can.
Who has repleaced speakers in a Carvin Belair? Who has suggestions? Would the HM75 be a good choice? I've had G12T-75s in the past and they seemed to have really tight bass and mids, with ample highs. Or would some other speaker be a better choice (ET65)?
Thanks for any and all help and suggestions!
Check out: https://wgs4.com/replacement-speakers-gibson-lab-series-l5
Your Rx is the same: one G12C & one Retro 30 ... thank me later :-)
I have one of those I bought new last December. Now the one thing I noticed is the soak channel has way too much gain for a supposed vintage amp. It just plain gets muddy way too soon.
The first thing I did was replace the speakers After checking with Vaughn, I ourchased the ET65s and they do sound much better than the stock speakers. Much more open and even with the treble way down very clear and stringy sounding.
The next thing I did was to replace the stock tubes with a set from Eurotubes . I bough the Blues version #2 which leaves the clean channel as it is but reduces the gain on the soak channel. The entire set is all JJ and the phase inverter is matched as well, that is both side are evenly matched for output.
The effect was very noticeable right away. The lower gain on the soak channel tamed it and now to my ears more vintage and less muddy sounding, tighter and more defined.
The ET 65s did the trick for me but sometime down the road I may want to try Vaughn's suggestion.
Outside of doing the Hasserl mods, this was the easiest way.
I love the sound of this amp for blues and jazz.