Speaker swap

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
Thinking of putting an Eminence Swamp Thang 12" 150-watt 8-ohm Replacement Speaker in my mustang lll and taking that speaker and putting that in my Monoprice 15w.
Thoughts?
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
The speaker in the Mustang III is a VERY efficient, FULL-RANGE speaker DESIGNED for digital amps without all the amp/speaker interplay required of a speaker for a tube amp. The Swamp Thang is DESIGNED to interact with the power section of a tube amp. You would be degrading the performance of both amps by doing that.
 

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
I try to research some of this stuff and some things I just can't find or i'm not asking the right thing when I ask Google. That's what I like about this forum. Someone always knows something about something. Thanks RR.
 

GeeDub

Mojo Seeker
I put a Swamp Thang in my Mustang III several years ago after watching this demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-bIy0V2M14 and personally think it sounds much better than with the stock speaker. Of course, this is my personal opinion and your ears may hear it far different from what mine do. The Swamp Thang is a very good speaker, so best wishes in your deicision.
 

Elwood

Blues
I have a Rajin Cajun in my SuperChamp2. To my ear this brings a lot of clarity and depth to the amp, regardless of the simulation setting. I have the original right here in my old amp and would not even go back.

On my Rumble 200 I dropped Eminence a line. I have a very nice, brand new 15" spkr from them and I was thinking about putting it in my bass amp instead of the stock one. The Eminence tech was prompt and very clear that the stock speaker was better in about every regard for this application, that with the horn in the cabinet and the digital tones a replacement would be a downgrade.

So there, one foot in each canoe. I guess I agree with all the above, depending.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
I dont know (I cant speak individual speaker), about a month ago I changed out the two turbosound speakers in my Buggera 2x12 to a Swamp Thang Mixed with a Texas Heat.

Now it is powered by a Buggera 1990 infinium (Marshall JVM 900 clone)120 watt tube head. I can say I am over the top happy with it. I do kick the EQ on to tame the highs a little, very solid midrange and a tight bottom end with this mixture......................and it is freaking loud, even on 1/2 power.(triode mode). The seperation between the low/mid.high frequency is so much better.

I have played it with my Ibanez guitars and my tele. I have not played a ton of blues through it, but, I can say for rock, I have zero reason for anything else (amps or cabs). When you really dig in on lead stuff it even makes me sound good.

Not sure how to phrase this.................................Before, it was like bringing a nice girl home for Sunday dinner, now, it's the girl you aint gonna introduce to momma, ever, and when you do marry the Sunday school Girl, this is the one you dream about.

I am with @Rancid Rumpboogie on some of this. Depending on which setting you are using on the Fender Mustang, I think you will lose a lot. The original is a very generic designed to use with the modeling amp. I believe (from trying with my Mustang V), the 80's and Stadium rock settings, as well as the metal God................sounded pretty decent. When I switched over to some of the more bluesy and tweed style, I thought it was a little horrendeous.

Overall, my usage with the Mustang head is for quick sound changes for playing around without any thought. My other amp is designed to get the sound I want while using the Avid 11r the coloring. Short story long...................if you are dialing in one tone, probably okay (be prepared for some bottom end though and a lack of mids), but if using multiple tones, I dont believe you will be happy
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Don’t assume just because someone else is thoroughly convinced of something, that means they are right.

A better speaker can make a ho-hum amp into something you love to play.

Fender tends to use crappy speakers in their amps, especially the entry level, or cheaper amps. Like the Mustang, or the Blues Jr. But even a Fender Twin Reverb, or Hot Rod Deluxe can sound tremendously better with a better speaker. I have never upgraded a Fender stock speaker and not been pleased.

That all said, I’m not sure of your choice of speaker. The Swamp Thing is a real bassy speaker. It actually is recommended for jazz due to it’s lack of high frequencies. They have some nice sounding speakers in the Legend series. My favorite is the Texas Heat, or the Wizard, or the Tonker.

Emminence has a really good website, with sound samples of all the speakers, with different styles of music.

As far as this business of using a neutral speaker on a modeling amp? Yeah, ok, but it’s still a guitar amp. The supposed need for a neutral speaker is, greatly exaggerated. Besides, the stock speaker is crap, it’s from Fender.

Lastly, why burden the Monoprice with Fender junk. That amp would also benefit from a better speaker. Possibly even more than the Mustang.

If you do get a new Eminence speaker, give it some time to break in. They sound harsh initially. But after 20 hours or so they mellow out and get really sweet.

I’ve used the Lil’ Texas speaker in my Fender Twin. It sounds the same as a Texas Heat, but uses the lightweight neo-magnet, and saves some weight. 4 lbs vs 8 lbs.

Use your ears to judge how something sounds. For example


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9-bIy0V2M14
 

cowboy

Blues, Booze & BBQ
my .02...

I'm kinda with Rancid on this one...but you can try it and see what happens...no big deal to change it back if it doesn't work...

all that being said, my experience is that swapping speakers is a huge rabbit hole...in the end what you are hearing in a combination of many variables...guitar, pickups, amp wiring, tubes, speakers, etc...and your hands...I've swapped out speakers and had good luck and vise versa...

I will add that modeling amps are a new beast...with the ability to change amp sims, speaker cabs, etc. and add IR's, we have another rabbit hole...right now I'm "enjoying" (another learning curve) with my Headrush and FR speaker...tonal options are unreal...

my bottom line: "listen" to your ears...later.

cowboy
 

Norfolk Bill

norfolk uk, just knoodling along
As ive not been able to see Jims posts for a few years lol,,,im guessing he said that most modelers come with a flattish responce curve speaker fitted so that the speaker does not colour the amp models too much ,,and he's right. adding a coloured speaker will maybe improve some models and badly effect others as in closness to the intended tone, but hey you might like the difference.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
My thinking is that with a SS modeling amp, you need a super transparent speaker, not one designed to add bass, emphasize mids, give more sparkly highs, or anything else. The SS modeling and its built-in speaker emulation take care of all of that. You need a speaker more in line with a great sound-reinforcement speaker like for a PA, not one designed for a tube guitar amp. Now, if you want to muck around with that, of course go ahead. Tube amps are a completely different story.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
It depends on what you want from your amp. I had a modeling amp. It was either set to Fender Twin or Fender Champ mode. I tried the other models, but I liked the Fender the best, so that’s where it stayed.

I don’t agree with this neutral speaker theory stuff. If a guitar sounds good through a speaker, it sounds good through that speaker.

There are things about speakers that make them sound good, besides the variability of tge response to pitch, aka the frequency response.

Clarity is one of them. When you strum a chord do you hear 6 different strings, or just a general mush of a chord? A good speaker has clarity, and can distinguish the different sources. A good hifi speaker with a good set of things driving it, will allow you to clearly pick out separate instruments and voices.

Dynamic response. Guitars are some of the most dynamic instruments out there. Drums have more, but then comes guitar. The ability to reproduce the dynamics of a guitar requires an amp that can do it, and a speaker that is also capable. This is one area that puts most tube amps ahead of solid state. If you like your sounds compressed and limited, then you aren’t going to hear much difference between tubes and SS. But if one of the things you like is dynamics with a tube amp, then you want a speaker that can do them as well.

I have a modeling speaker from Eminence. It even has modeling in the name. It sounds fine. A little more treble and mids than a normal guitar speaker. But I’ve heard guitar speakers that were more trebly than it as well.

I think what it comes down to is finding what sounds good to you.
 

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
Well it appears to be like (pedals) a rabbit hole I'm not going to go down but thx for the replies.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
So... the solution: A better quality, flatish freq response curve, speaker.
If you are trying to "fix" a problem with your Mustang speaker, there is no problem to fix ... it has the best speaker in the world for that amp. Just what exactly is your problem?
 

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
Don’t assume just because someone else is thoroughly convinced of something, that means they are right.

A better speaker can make a ho-hum amp into something you love to play.

Fender tends to use crappy speakers in their amps, especially the entry level, or cheaper amps. Like the Mustang, or the Blues Jr. But even a Fender Twin Reverb, or Hot Rod Deluxe can sound tremendously better with a better speaker. I have never upgraded a Fender stock speaker and not been pleased.

That all said, I’m not sure of your choice of speaker. The Swamp Thing is a real bassy speaker. It actually is recommended for jazz due to it’s lack of high frequencies. They have some nice sounding speakers in the Legend series. My favorite is the Texas Heat, or the Wizard, or the Tonker.

Emminence has a really good website, with sound samples of all the speakers, with different styles of music.

As far as this business of using a neutral speaker on a modeling amp? Yeah, ok, but it’s still a guitar amp. The supposed need for a neutral speaker is, greatly exaggerated. Besides, the stock speaker is crap, it’s from Fender.

Lastly, why burden the Monoprice with Fender junk. That amp would also benefit from a better speaker. Possibly even more than the Mustang.

If you do get a new Eminence speaker, give it some time to break in. They sound harsh initially. But after 20 hours or so they mellow out and get really sweet.

I’ve used the Lil’ Texas speaker in my Fender Twin. It sounds the same as a Texas Heat, but uses the lightweight neo-magnet, and saves some weight. 4 lbs vs 8 lbs.

Use your ears to judge how something sounds. For example


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9-bIy0V2M14

As owner of a Blues Junior and a couple of Monoprice amps, none of which see a lot of use, the idea of a reasonable price upgrade has some merit. While the Monoprice would clearly benefit from a better speaker how far should one go down this rabbit hole? And as for the Junior the idea of mods and a better speaker and use that speaker to upgrade the Mono...no?

While I have my better amps that I use at home I see some benefit to upgrading these lower amps, but how much should one polish a turd, or should I just trade the Junior on a better Fender?
 

Tayport

Blues Newbie
As owner of a Blues Junior and a couple of Monoprice amps, none of which see a lot of use, the idea of a reasonable price upgrade has some merit. While the Monoprice would clearly benefit from a better speaker how far should one go down this rabbit hole? And as for the Junior the idea of mods and a better speaker and use that speaker to upgrade the Mono...no?

While I have my better amps that I use at home I see some benefit to upgrading these lower amps, but how much should one polish a turd, or should I just trade the Junior on a better Fender?

Interesting, I had been considering putting an Eminence in my Monoprice and upgrading the tubes. I wondered how much of a difference it would make. I would like to hear opinions from the experienced amp guys here.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Just tinkering.
Exactly. Nothing wrong with that.
My recollection of history isn't the best, but I recall hearing something about a guy that tinkered endlessly with various different materials until he came up with something that turned electricity into light.
 
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