Combining Different Speakers In One Cab?

[andy]

Hi there,

Back to my Fender amp thing! I have finally decided on a Fender Frontman 212r to back me up for the time-being. I have ordered one, and it should arrive at the store today- I haven't played the thing yet and I'm already onto upgrading it!

I 've been thinking about speaker upgrades, and left to my own devices (and someone elses wallet!) I would probably pop in a couple of Jensen C12Ks, but budget being an ever increasing factor I am scouring ebay for options. As speakers come up, I may save plenty of dough by not trying to match a pair, but by mixing models or makes- I've seen a couple of amp builders combine different speakers in the past (even, surprisingly, Gibson a few years back, using 12"s and 10"s).

Assuming that the two blend well in an overall sense, it could even provide some good mic-ing options, perhaps a Celestion for drive sounds, and a Jensen for cleaner tones, or mixing a 'top and bottom' speaker (G12T-75?) with a more midrangey one (Vintage 30?)

It could be an adventurous journey into rich, versatile tonal heavens, or a recipe for awkward phase cancellation and all round non-suitability...

Anyone tried mixing different speakers in one cab, and is this to be recommended, or am I getting into false economy out of desperation here??!

[RJB]

Brad Paisley has been mixing speakers forever. here is a picture of 2 different speakers in his Dr. Z cab.

[nomadh]

I too was wondering if anyone had good rules of thumb about mixing speakers. I suppose they should always be the same ohms, series or parallel. What happens when you run 2 8 ohms in parallel with a 16 ? Is that how some 3 speaker amps work? I also suppose that if the sensitivity (dB/mW or SPL) was different you may not hear the less sensitive speaker.

[JohnH]

I think mixing speakers can be a fine thing to do. Even Marshall choose to combine different Celestions in their Vintage Modern range (Greenback and Heritage).

I like the sound of the Vintage 30 in my open-backed DSL combo, combined with G12Ls in my closed back AVT cab.

John