Our real business is amplifiers, but I've said it many times on this site, what you hear is the speakers. We're not in the speaker business, but we want our amps and you to sound the best possible. So, we offer speakers in support of our amplifiers.
Not all speakers are created equal. Here's a look at three 12 inch speakers. The two on the left are Celestions. The one on the right is a Weber speaker built for Club Amps. Take a look at the magnet structures. Take a look at the Celestion in the middle. If you have a sealed back 4x12 cab there's at least a reasonable chance that what's inside is a small magnet speaker like this. They can handle the power. That's a function of the magnet, the voice coil and the stiffness of the cone suspension. But, the magnet structure and the cone are what influences the sonic signature of the speaker. A small magnet speaker will not have the great tone of a speaker with a larger magnet. That doesn't mean it will sound bad. It's hard to explain the difference. But, you will recognize the difference immediately if you hear small magnet vs large magnet speakers side-by-side.
Another quick look at speakers. This is a look inside a Club 4x12 cab being assembled. It's the upper or open-back half of the cab. You see a Weber-built Club speaker attached to the baffle. sitting in the foreground is a small magnet Celestion of the type found in many economy 4x12 cabs. Take a look at the magnet structures. There's a complex balance associated with speaker design. The magnet structure is an important influence in the tone or sonic signature of the speaker. Generally speaking, bigger is better.
Speakers are interesting contraptions. The surround,
the part that holds the outside of the cone to the frame, and the
spyder that holds the "small" end of the cone to the frame act like a
springs trying to keep the cone from traveling too far (and damaging
itself or the voice coil). The voice coil and magnet structure are
trying to make the cone move back and forth and make "noise". In the
case of guitar amplifiers that noise is often a "big noise", so big
that it can damage the speaker. Speakers with high rated power
handling have very big magnet structures and large voice coils, both to
manage the cone movement and to dissipate heat. They also have very
"stiff" surrounds and spyders. It's always a balancing act. The stiff
surround actually keeps the speaker from being loud or articulate at low levels in the process of
keeping it from destroying itself at high power. And, then there is the cone itself. The diameter, material, curvature, ribs or lack-there-of and the dust cap all have a very big influence on the lows, the mids and the highs and how they propagate through the air.
Many contemporary speakers have high power voice coils and magnet structures to handle the punishment of 50W to 100W+ amps. Yet it was 20W-50W speakers from Jensen, Oxford, Utah and CTS and 20W and 30W speakers from Celestion that gave us the classic sounds that are the "standards" of classic electric guitar. One of the reasons for 2x10, 2x12, 4x10 and 4x12 speaker configurations was to let each of the speakers share the power from the amplifier. The standards for speakers have changed with high power amps and intentional overdrive. Eminence and Celestian are probably the volume leaders in guitar speakers these days. They have understandably brought out speakers with high power ratings to accommodate (and survive) the 100W amps and overdrive styles that have become so common. As I've said elsewhere, we like speakers from Weber. Their lower power speakers match well to our lower power amps, but they have some very impressive high power speakers as well.
Club emphasizes amps in the 20-50W range. Most guitar speakers have to be "pushed" to sound their best (unless the sound you prefer is very, very clean). A 100W speaker may not be getting pushed at 20W or even 35W. The way I look at it, that 100W speaker may actually be pushing back. But, a speaker designed to operate at 35W will be giving it's all. The good news is that this isn't the stone ages any more. The speaker materials, cones, voice coils and magnets have all improved. My 1966 50W amp blew-up two sets of Utah 15s that should have been able to handle 100W, but couldn't handle 50W sustained power. A contemporary 50W speaker can really handle 50W (at least for awhile). So back to the point of this paragraph; Club Amplifiers are going to sound best driving speakers designed to operate at lower power. We've had our custom speakers designed and built with our "Club" power levels in mind. That's why you will find us recommending and using Weber speakers for most of our products. Celestions like the Greenback and H30 can also be good.
That said, we have easy access to Weber, Eminence, Celestion, Jensen and WGS (American made Celestion clones). If you want something different we'll find a way to get it.
Here's what we offer:
1 x 10 enclosure with selected Weber, Eminence and Jensen speakers
1 x 12 enclosure with selected Weber, Celestion, Eminence and Jensen speakers
1 x 15 enclosure with selected Weber and Club custom speakers
2 x 10 enclosure with selected Weber, Eminence and Jensen speakers
2 x 12 enclosure with selected Weber, Celestion, Eminence and Jensen speakers
2 x 15 enclosure with selected Weber and Eminence speakers
4 x 8 enclosure with selected Weber and Jensen speakers
4 x 10 enclosure with selected Weber and Eminence speakers
4 x 12 enclosure with selected Weber, Celestion and Eminence speakers.
Virtually all Club enclosures are built with 13 ply plywood (there are some exception), black tolex and grey (salt-and-pepper) grill cloth. All are built to order. We don't stock cabinets. We will quote a price and lead-time based on the speaker(s) you specify. If you want something special and we can do it we'll quote it.
Not all speakers are created equal. Here's a look at three 12 inch speakers. The two on the left are Celestions. The one on the right is a Weber speaker built for Club Amps. Take a look at the magnet structures. Take a look at the Celestion in the middle. If you have a sealed back 4x12 cab there's at least a reasonable chance that what's inside is a small magnet speaker like this. They can handle the power. That's a function of the magnet, the voice coil and the stiffness of the cone suspension. But, the magnet structure and the cone are what influences the sonic signature of the speaker. A small magnet speaker will not have the great tone of a speaker with a larger magnet. That doesn't mean it will sound bad. It's hard to explain the difference. But, you will recognize the difference immediately if you hear small magnet vs large magnet speakers side-by-side.
Another quick look at speakers. This is a look inside a Club 4x12 cab being assembled. It's the upper or open-back half of the cab. You see a Weber-built Club speaker attached to the baffle. sitting in the foreground is a small magnet Celestion of the type found in many economy 4x12 cabs. Take a look at the magnet structures. There's a complex balance associated with speaker design. The magnet structure is an important influence in the tone or sonic signature of the speaker. Generally speaking, bigger is better.
