tommy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:27 am

zircona1 wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:01 am I bought a Music Man amp, am having fixed up, and the repair guy says I should consider new speakers, b/c the ones I have are kind of rusty.

Are Celestions the best brand to go with? Does the kind of sound you're going after make a difference? Are new speakers easy to install? Budget is $500.

Apologies in advance for all the novice questions.

FWIW - rust should have very little effect on the speakers. I say if they work and don't sound bad, there's no real reason to change them unless you are chasing a certain sound. That said, Celestion make great speakers and typically sound "British" which loosely means more mid focus with pleasant speaker breakup. They are also on the higher $ end. Your amp likely had more "American" sounding speakers, which loosely means a more scooped hi-fi sound. Eminence makes great speakers too in both camps. Warehouse Guitar Speakers make clones of popular british and american sounding speakers and I personally think they are an excellent choice. Not sure which MM amp you have, but if you get speakers, make sure the impedance matches what the original were, and at MINIMUM get enough watts to cover what your amp's RMS rating is. Ideally closer to double that, especially if you are running the thing over half on the volumes.

But again, I'm a firm believe in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Having said that, speakers can make a huge difference in how an amp sounds.

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:20 pm

tommy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:27 am

zircona1 wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:01 am I bought a Music Man amp, am having fixed up, and the repair guy says I should consider new speakers, b/c the ones I have are kind of rusty.

Are Celestions the best brand to go with? Does the kind of sound you're going after make a difference? Are new speakers easy to install? Budget is $500.

Apologies in advance for all the novice questions.

FWIW - rust should have very little effect on the speakers. I say if they work and don't sound bad, there's no real reason to change them unless you are chasing a certain sound. That said, Celestion make great speakers and typically sound "British" which loosely means more mid focus with pleasant speaker breakup. They are also on the higher $ end. Your amp likely had more "American" sounding speakers, which loosely means a more scooped hi-fi sound. Eminence makes great speakers too in both camps. Warehouse Guitar Speakers make clones of popular british and american sounding speakers and I personally think they are an excellent choice. Not sure which MM amp you have, but if you get speakers, make sure the impedance matches what the original were, and at MINIMUM get enough watts to cover what your amp's RMS rating is. Ideally closer to double that, especially if you are running the thing over half on the volumes.

But again, I'm a firm believe in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Having said that, speakers can make a huge difference in how an amp sounds.

Yeah, I always thought the Music Man stock speakers sounded pretty good. If they're the alnico ones, they might be worth getting reconed rather than replaced. If they're ceramic, Eminence Legends should be pretty close.

I don't like most Celestions in an open-backed cab.

Which Music Man is it?

zircona1 wrote: 212-HD One Thirty

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:20 pm I don't like most Celestions in an open-backed cab.

tommy wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:52 am

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:20 pm I don't like most Celestions in an open-backed cab.

Yeah, I don't really either, but I do like the Lead 80 and G12H-100 in open back cabs.

zircona1, if you are going to replace those speakers I'd suggest 75-watt speakers at minimum.

zircona1 wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:48 pm

tommy wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:52 am

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:20 pm I don't like most Celestions in an open-backed cab.

Yeah, I don't really either, but I do like the Lead 80 and G12H-100 in open back cabs.

zircona1, if you are going to replace those speakers I'd suggest 75-watt speakers at minimum.

Something like this, maybe?

https://celestion.com/product/g12t-75/

tommy wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 1:01 pm

zircona1 wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:48 pm

tommy wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:52 am

Yeah, I don't really either, but I do like the Lead 80 and G12H-100 in open back cabs.

zircona1, if you are going to replace those speakers I'd suggest 75-watt speakers at minimum.

Something like this, maybe?

https://celestion.com/product/g12t-75/

I'm a bad person to ask, because I hate that particular speaker in closed AND open back cabs - and I also like to mix speakers. I'm a huge fan of the WGS ET-65 and WGS Veteran 30 mixed. But I only have experiences with those in a closed back cabinet and that would only result in 120-watts for a 135-watt amp (which will be fine for most people). I've had a couple of Marshall 2x12 combos that I liked the G12-65 in though - but they were 50-watt combos. The reissues are probably too expensive for what you want, but the WGS ET65 is a modified clone of that. Looking at their website now they have a 90-watt version, but all of their speaker prices have gone WAY up. So they aren't really the cheap option anymore.

If it were me I'd probably avoid Celestion altogether for a 2x12 combo and go with a mix of an American and a British voiced Eminence (whatever people are saying mixes well).

But again, if the OG speakers in the amp still work and sound good to your ears, I wouldn't bother upgrading.

zircona1 wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 2:16 pm

tommy wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 1:01 pm But again, if the OG speakers in the amp still work and sound good to your ears, I wouldn't bother upgrading.

Well, the repair guy already took one of them out because the fabric around the speaker - whatever it's called - a sizable amount of it had rotted and left a hole. He replaced it with something from a Rhodes for no charge. But he's saying not to play it too loud. He gave me the one he took out.

Garth wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 2:55 pm

zircona1 wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 2:16 pm

tommy wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 1:01 pm But again, if the OG speakers in the amp still work and sound good to your ears, I wouldn't bother upgrading.

Well, the repair guy already took one of them out because the fabric around the speaker - whatever it's called - a sizable amount of it had rotted and left a hole. He replaced it with something from a Rhodes for no charge. But he's saying not to play it too loud. He gave me the one he took out.

I guess I'd probably consider recone I mean unless the rust on it is TERRIBLE. Even then you should be able to remove everything from the basket and hit it with a wire brush or angle grinder w/ wire brush attachment, get all the rust off the frame and give it some rustoleum rattle can and be good to go for years.

I have OG speakers in my MusicMan HD-130 and totally love them.