5 D-style Amp Speakers Tested!
by Brian ~ March 31st, 2008. Filed under: Speakers.Frequency response tests were conducted on five speakers which are popular for D-style amps. Each speaker was mounted in a TL806 type cabinet and driven by the clean channel of a 50W non-HRM D-clone amp. In order to minimize tone stack effects and approximate a flat response, the amp tone controls were set to Treble-0; Middle -10; Bass-0. All effects were off.
Speakers were positioned in the same spot in the room and the set-up was left unchanged for each test - which hopefully resulted in uniform impact of environmental effects (room, mic, amp) so that measurements could be compared on a relative basis.
The speakers tested were:
- ElectroVoice EVM 12L
- Celestion G12-65 Heritage Reissue
- Eminence TonkerLite
- Eminence Deltalite II 2512
- Scholz Sugar Cone
Tests were conducted using a Behringer B5 omnidirectional condenser microphone using the Room EQ Wizard software package for tone generation and analysis.
Here are the measured frequecy response plots:
Electrovoice EVM 12L
Celestion G12-65 Heritage Reissue
Eminence TonkerLite
Eminence Deltalite II 2512
Scholz Sugar Cone
Cheers!
Brian
April 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the great post!
I remember the impression that the EVM12L was quite smooth and the G12-65 had more character… now I can see the big dips in the upper mids and lower highs of the G12-65 and the low-end on both looks identical.
I’m curious about your impressions of the Tonkerlite… for the $$$ it looks like a comparable speaker in terms of the plotted characteristics… how’s it sound?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:43 am
Hey mark, you’re most welcome!
I am very interested in the Tonkerlite for this application as well. It’s pretty well priced and with it’s Neodymium magnet, it’s super light-weight. Makes toting around those cabs a little easier on the back for us old guys!
Sound-wise, the general character of the Tonkerlite is not unlike the G12-65. However, if you look at the graphs, there’s a mid-range scooping in the Tonkerlite that’s pretty evident. It’s quite audible as well compared to G12-65. As a result, the G12-65 has more presence and has a slightly higher apparent loudness (the subject of a future post I think!) IMHO. Whether this is better or worse is entirely subjective - and as I said, the overall character of these two is somewhat similar, so some tweaking of the tone controls might close the gap further.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
[...] 5 D-style Amp Speakers Tested! [...]
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the info.
The Deltalite II 2512 looks pretty close to the EVM 12L. How does it sound in the theile cab?
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey patc,
The Deltalite II looked pretty good on paper, but I found it lacking in use - in particular (iirc as I haven’t used it for a little while now) it seemed to be a bit boomy and lacked sparkle compared to the EVM 12L. I’ve pretty much given up on it for a guitar speaker.
IMHO and for what I like, the best neodymium speaker I’ve tried to date is the Celestion G12 Century. The G12 Century Vintage is also showing promise.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Hi Brian, Have you tried/compared the Jensen 12′ neo speaker to the G12 Century and TonkaLite.
Thanks Allan
September 24th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Hey Allan,
I’m reluctant to pass judgment on the Jensen 12 Neo because it’s been a long time and I’ve never evaluated that speaker with a Dumble-style amp. That said, I tried one shortly after they came out. It was a loaner and did not have an opportunity to compare it to any of the other speakers tested in this roundup and it was under different conditions with a different amp.
At the time, I was evaluating speakers for King Amplification http://www.kingamplification.com/pages/amp.html in a large cabinet, open back configuration. My take at the time in that cabinet was quite positive. It struck me as a very good, American style (read Fendery) speaker. It was pretty efficient with a good (but not boomy) bottom end. My only reservation was a slight lack of sparkle and character. FWIW, at the time, with the amp I was using (the Uptown 38) in the large open back cab, I was quite blown away with the Tone Tuby Ceramic 12″.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Thanks for that Brian, I have a Jensen Neo and Tonkalite coming so will try them in my amps, a Ceriatone OT and Fender Pro Reverb, I’m interested in ‘lightening the load’
AJ
October 8th, 2008 at 8:37 am
FWIW, if you decide the Tonkerlite leaves you wanting, I’d suggest the Celestion G12 Century Vintage (neodymium) or if you have the bucks, go for the Celestion G12 Century (also neodymium). I’ve decided I prefer either of these over the Tonkerlite in a D-style amp application.
Good luck Allan!
November 17th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
How did the Scholz and EVM compare in the room? I own a pair of the Scholz, originally in a Buzzbomb, but recently moved them into a Jenkins Highway 61 open-back. I am extremely impressed. Was thinking about an open-back or even one of the new ported 1×12s by Hermida or Glaswerks and know that those cabs are targeted for the EVM-12L, but I just dig this Sugarcone so much, I wondered what differences you heard side-by-side. The graphs seem to indicate entended lows and highs on the EVM and a substantially different looking midrange. What do you hear?